European Union x big techs, quiz of the week and what matters in the market

ANDsta is this Friday’s edition of the FolhaMercado newsletter (25). want to receive it from monday to Friday at 7 am In your email? Sign up below.

In the week in which the dollar reached its lowest value against the real since the beginning of the pandemic, the market was also attentive to a billion-dollar offer involving stock exchange companies and to government efforts to lower fuel prices.

Take the quiz to find out if you’re up to date on what’s happened in the last few days:

EU x big techs

The Member States of the European Union (EU), the Commission and the European Parliament reached an agreement this Thursday (24) that paves the way for a broad regulation of the activity of big techs.

The new rules are scheduled to take effect in January 2023 and have been classified as historic by members of the European Parliament. They can also serve as a precedent for similar measures in other territories.

Understand: The focus of the legislation is on companies with the acronym “Gafam” (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft), but it also affects others, such as the TikTok network and the online booking site Booking. Among the rules that would be imposed on big techs:

• They will have to offer email application and search engine options when the user buys a new smartphone.
• Companies will not be able to place their services or products at the top of searches, to the detriment of offers from other brands.
• The user will be able to download an app without having to use the app store of the company that manufactures the smartphone and will be able to uninstall the apps that come with the devices.
• Big techs will also not be able to sell information about the preferences and type of content that the user consumes on their networks to other companies.

Reaction: the tech giants hit are against regulation. Apple, for example, said the new law could create “useless vulnerabilities in terms of confidentiality and security” for its users.

why it matters: This is an important episode in the government’s struggle to regulate big tech, which had been marked by strict Chinese rules on the one hand and, on the other, by American legislation considered to be lax.

States set ICMS on diesel

The states defined this Thursday (25) the single ICMS rate on diesel with a maximum limit of BRL 1.006 per liter in the country, but each entity can subsidize a lower tax collection.

Understand: most states currently charge an amount below the new rate and should continue with this level so as not to increase taxes for consumers. Acre will be the only one that will charge the maximum amount of R$ 1.006.

• The new rates take effect on July 1. Until then, they follow the current levels, which were frozen in relation to November prices, before the shock in oil prices caused by the war.
• The new amount was also calculated based on the frozen charge. The definition came after the law passed by Congress and enacted this month that changes the ICMS charge on the pump value (which varies) to a fixed rate on the liter.

Will zero tax take effect? The government measure that ends the import tax on ethanol will reduce the price of gasoline (which contains anhydrous ethanol in its composition) by less than 1 cent, according to an expert interviewed by sheet.

The reason for the calculation is based on Brazil’s miserable dependence on foreign ethanol (2%). The government, however, projects that the measure will reduce the price of gasoline in BRL 0.20with the argument that the exemption will increase the share of the imported product in the domestic market.

And the alcohol? Considered an alternative to gasoline for flex-fuel cars, the fuel also became more expensive after the mega-increase announced by Petrobras at the beginning of the month. The high reached 5%according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.

• With the surge in oil, ethanol becomes more demanded, especially in states where the bill is on your side (understand the calculation here). With the supply remaining stable, the greater demand tends to increase the price.

take a break

To watch:

• “Free fall”: Documentary interviews former Boeing employees, journalists and aviation experts to show what’s behind the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. In the Netflix catalog.

Boeing returned to the pages of non-economic news this week after a plane made by the company crashed in China with 132 people on board.

The accident: the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 fell at an almost vertical angle and lost 8 km of altitude in less than two minutes. The circumstances of the accident still puzzle experts.

It’s not the same: despite speculation that emerged on social media shortly after the accident, this model is considered safe and is the predecessor to the Boeing 737 MAX, which has been banned from flying in China for more than three years, since the accidents in 2018 in Indonesia and in 2019 in Ethiopia.

Remember: the 737 Max was Boeing’s response to French competitor Airbus, which had developed an aircraft that airlines loved for its fuel economy.

The rival’s sales success led the American to accelerate the process of creating the new model, ignoring the best safety practices, inserting a new device (MCAS) unknown to the pilots that would become fatal.

In addition to the economy: