A gold stream is “probably the most attractive” option for Canadian miner Turquoise Hill Resources as it seeks funding for a copper and gold project in Mongolia, the head of mine financing company Wheaton Precious Metals said on Tuesday.

Turquoise Hill last week began arbitration proceedings against its biggest shareholder Rio Tinto to seek “clarity” on financing for Oyu Tolgoi, one of Rio’s biggest growth projects.

Streaming is a type of alternative finance that generally involves an upfront payment by the streamer to a miner, which repays the loan by supplying metal at a later date.

A “gold streaming transaction” is among options under study by Turquoise Hill to plug a funding gap for the project estimated at $1.7 billion as of the end of the second quarter, the company said.

The aim would be to reduce the size and delay the timing of any equity rights offering.

“Definitely from a Turquoise Hill shareholder perspective I would say it is probably the most attractive way of financing that project,” Randy Smallwood, president and chief executive of Wheaton Precious Metals, told Reuters.

He declined comment when asked if Wheaton was in active talks. Any such deal would require approval from Rio.

“That’s one of the challenges that I think Turquoise Hill has,” he said.

Turquoise Hill and Rio declined comment.

Additional debt or a streaming agreement are not in Rio’s best interests as both options would leave the miner carrying all the risk but with a higher cost of capital than a direct equity funding option, Bank of Montreal analyst Edward Sterck said last week in note.

The Oyu Tolgoi deposit in south Mongolia is jointly owned by the Mongolian state and ranks as one of the world’s largest known copper and gold deposits.

(By Jeff Lewis; Editing by Chris Reese, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and David Gregorio)

US President Donald Trump has issued an order banning American investments in Chinese firms the government determines have ties to the Chinese military.

In the order, Mr Trump accused China of "increasingly exploiting" US investors "to finance the development and modernisation of its military".

The ban is to go into effect in January.

It could affect some of China's biggest publicly-listed firms, including China Telecom and tech firm Hikvision.

Throughout his administration, Mr Trump has made efforts to disentangle the US from its close economic ties with China.

He has raised border taxes on billions of dollars worth of China goods and imposed sanctions on some of its tech companies.

Relations between the two superpowers have also soured over issues such as coronavirus, and China's moves in Hong Kong.

Why US-China relations have reached a low

Officials said the new order had been under review for months. It applies to shares owned directly or indirectly in 31 firms identified by the US earlier this year as backed by the Chinese military, a list that includes tech firms and large state-owned construction companies among others.

US investors have a year to comply with the rules.

Mr Trump, who recently lost to challenger Joe Biden in the US presidential election, is due to leave the presidency shortly after the order goes into effect.

Mr Biden has not outlined his China strategy, but during the campaign he promised to challenge the Chinese government on similar issues as Mr Trump, including trade abuses and cyber-theft.

Mr Trump's stance on China is one of the rare areas in which he has sometimes received support from both Democrats and Republicans.

Several politicians in Congress have also proposed laws to block US investment in firms the White House designates as threats.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump ordered the pension fund for government employees to abandon a plan to invest in Chinese companies. The US has also said it is considering de-listing Chinese firms from US stock exchanges if they do not comply with US audit rules.

The efforts come as US exposure to companies listed on Chinese stock exchanges has grown.

But such investments remain a small fraction of overall US holdings. In a report earlier this year, researchers for financial regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission estimated that US mutual funds held about $43.5bn in Chinese stocks and bonds at the end of April.

A spokeswoman for the Investment Company Institute, a trade association for mutual funds and other money managers, said it was reviewing the order and had no further comment.

The price of the world's top cryptocurrency, bitcoin, briefly surged to $16,157 on Thursday, hitting a high not seen since January 6, 2018. Analysts say that a number of companies appear to be warming to the digital currency.

Bitcoin was trading up two percent at $15,830 as of 12:34 GMT. It is now up 123 percent on a year-to-date basis and has gained nearly 50 percent so far this quarter, according to CoinDesk.

Analysts have attributed the price growth to the cryptocurrency having recently received validation from several public companies and prominent investors as a store of value asset.

“Against the backdrop of stimulus from the Federal Reserve, we expect investors holding cash to continue to allocate to bitcoin,” Kyle Davies, co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, told CoinDesk.

“The interest so far in 2020 has been primarily from institutions, and we could see more retail participation when bitcoin breaks its previous all-time highs of $20,000,” Davies added.

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Last month, fintech giant PayPal announced it would add new features letting users trade bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoin. By early 2021, it plans to let customers use cryptocurrencies to shop with its network of 26 million retailers.

Another fintech company, Square, which is run by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, said in October it had bought $50 million worth of bitcoin. Square has long offered crypto services to users of its popular Cash app.

The world’s best-known and most valuable cryptocurrency, bitcoin has more than doubled in price this year, akin to its rally in late 2017 that saw it narrow in on the $20,000 mark.

Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has today announced that Unitel will be the first ever broadcaster in Mongolia to show the AFC competitions in the period from 2021 to 2024.

The deal includes all major AFC national team and club competitions, including but not limited to the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar, the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup from the 2021 season, the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 and the AFC U23 Asian Cup Finals 2022 and 2024.

Unitel is one of the most subscribed telecommunications companies in Mongolia and through their channel UniLive and digital service Look TV, Unitel will provide extensive live coverage of all Mongolian national team and club matches.

Dato’ Windsor John, the AFC General Secretary, said: “We are delighted with this ground-breaking partnership in Mongolia, one of the aspiring nations in Asian football. This deal demonstrates the value and appeal of the AFC’s competitions and we thank Unitel for being the first Mongolian broadcaster to partner with the AFC.”

Munkhbat Enkhtaivan, Content Strategy and Planning Director at Unitel, said: ‘’We are delighted to announce this new partnership to secure one of the most prestigious sporting competitions in Asia. Football is becoming increasingly popular in Mongolia and we are proud to be able to offer AFC competitions to our fans to fulfil their needs and boost the wide range of entertainment Unitel has to offer.’’

Patrick Murphy, Board Member and CEO at Football Marketing Asia, said: ‘’We are thrilled to have Unitel as our valued media partner in Mongolia. Football is growing among grassroots and we are excited about the prospect of Unitel further strengthening the presence of top Asian football in the region.’’

The Mongolian Government has decided to change from a state of advanced emergency readiness (third degree emergency situation) to one of public emergency readiness (second degree emergency situation) nationwide for five days from 12-17 November. The cabinet held an emergency meeting yesterday night at 10.00 p.m. after a local truck driver and his family members tested positive for coronavirus. The truck driver was confirmed positive after completing 21 days of mandatory isolation. Before he was confirmed as having infection, he and his family members had watched a concert at the UB Palace – this is a large public venue in the west of Ulaanbaatar; potentially the consequences could be disastrous.

During the second–degree emergency period, people are banned from leaving home unless it is for vital needs such as buying food or attending funerals. In addition, public transportation will only run in the morning from 07.00 a.m. to 10.00 a.m. and in the evening from 5.00 p.m.to 9.00 p.m. Most employees will work from home; however, energy, health workers, media, food production plants and supermarket staff will work regular hours.

If the situation worsens, the Government will impose a state of national emergency situation (first degree). Mongolia first announced a state of advanced emergency readiness and preparation in late January after the Covid-19 pandemic started with in Wuhan, China. Since then, the Government has extended the period of the advanced emergency readiness and preparation multiple times. As a result of these prompt and strict measures, until very recently there have been no local transmissions and to date, no deaths.

(11 November), the National Emergency Commission decided to suspend all charter flights scheduled to be conducted in November to repatriate Mongolians stranded in pandemic hit regions. According to Deputy Prime Minister Ya. Sodbaatar, all flights will be suspended for an indefinite period until the government takes control of local transmission cases which started with a truck driver who was confirmed having coronavirus infection after leaving an isolation center.

Mongolia repatriated over 160 of its nationals yesterday from Tokyo with charter flight by MIAT, Mongolian airlines. The airline is conducting another flight to Seoul today (12 November) for passengers who applied to go to South Korea; however, it returned without any passengers – just but medical equipment.

Subsequently, the following charter flights are now suspended:

-to Seoul on 13, 18, 20 and 27 November

-to Frankfurt on 19 November

-to Tokyo on 25 November.

New York (CNN Business)Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla filed to sell millions of dollars of his company's stock Monday -- the day the pharmaceutical giant announced positive data about its coronavirus vaccine.

The company's shares soared after Pfizer and European drug company BioNTech said early data suggests the vaccine could be more than 90% effective.

The transaction was part of a regularly scheduled plan set up by Bourla to periodically sell some of his Pfizer shares.

Bourla sold 132,508 Pfizer (PFE) shares at a price of $41.94, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That works out to proceeds of nearly $5.6 million.

A Pfizer spokeswoman said in an email to CNN Business that the sale took place because Pfizer shares hit a predetermined price as part of a plan authorized by Bourla on August 19.

When asked if Pfizer and Bourla thought to cancel the stock sale due to the perception that Bourla might be cashing in on good news, the spokeswoman said that "these are predetermined plans managed through a third-party stock administrator."

Another Pfizer officer, executive vice president Sally Susman, also sold shares Monday as part of a prearranged plan. Susman sold 43,662 shares at the same $41.94 price that Bourla sold at, a transaction valued at more than $1.8 million.

Many executives sell stock at predetermined intervals to diversify their portfolios. But they can delay the sales to avoid appearances of capitalizing on one-off events that can boost company's shares.

Bouria told CNN's Sanjay Gupta that he learned of the trial's results Sunday, a day before they were made public.

Shares of Pfizer surged nearly 8% Monday and were flat Tuesday. BioNTech's (BNTX)stock has rallied even more sharply, rising 15% Monday and another 8% Tuesday. Pfizer's stock fell more than 1% Wednesday.

The Pfizer stock sale comes just a few months after executives at Moderna (MRNA), a biotech also working on a Covid-19 vaccine, sold shares following the release of promising trial results.

Critics accused Moderna of overhyping the vaccine trial results, but the company nonetheless raised $1.3 billion in a stock sale immediately following the vaccine trial announcement.

Executives then sold tens of millions of dollars worth of Moderna shares before the company's stock price fizzled a week later.

Some former SEC officials called on Moderna to be investigated for potential illegal market manipulation.

As the coronavirus pandemic sparks calls for more state intervention, emerging economies face tough choices to determine whether an increased role for government will have positive or negative long-term consequences.

The latest Transition Report from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) says 45 per cent of people in the EBRD’s post-communist economies now favour higher levels of state ownership.

Citizens also increasingly expect the state to be able to reduce the health and economic risks they face.

Past epidemics have been shown to leave a large dent in people’s trust in the economic and political institutions that underpin democracy and the market economy.

The new report shows that individuals reaching adulthood during major recessions tend to have more positive views of public ownership and income redistribution.

In her foreword to the publication, entitled The State Strikes Back, the EBRD’s Chief Economist Beata Javorcik says the ability of emerging economies to deliver successful policies against a backdrop of increasing state influence depends crucially on the quality of institutions and public governance.

“The economies of the EBRD regions stand at a crossroads, with decisions on policies and institutions that are taken now potentially determining their paths for decades to come. The current period of crisis and upheaval triggered by the global pandemic represents a valuable opportunity to lay the foundations for a wealthier, fairer and greener future,” says Javorcik.

Weak institutions would allow the “grabbing” hand of the state to siphon off resources meant for people in need, give jobs to friends and family and let state banks be used for political gain.

Firms that could not operate profitably in a low-carbon economy may be kept alive as “zombie companies”, and firms that are nationalised during the pandemic may never be privatised.

On the other hand, good governance would allow the “caring” hand of the state to guide economies through the transition to a green economy, transparently providing essential support and adopting forward-looking policies.

Javorcik notes that privatisation, deregulation and measures to reduce state interference in the economy were the dominant trend following the collapse of communism in the late 1980s.

The EBRD was created at this time precisely to promote a smooth transition to private-sector-driven market economies.

Since then, however, the 2008-09 global financial crisis and subsequent recession have demonstrated that market forces alone will not always provide socially optimal outcomes and government intervention is needed to combat climate change and to deal with the increasing challenge of economic inequality.

The EBRD combines its investments across 38 emerging economies with support for policy reform that fosters good governance, economic inclusion and sustainable development.

The new report notes that state-owned enterprises continue to play an important role in the EBRD regions, providing almost half of all public-sector employment. It says they can be a stabilising force for economies, providing employment during downturns and in disadvantaged regions.

However, governments are not particularly effective in the management of state enterprises, which are likely to be less innovative than their private-sector counterparts.

State-owned banks have grown in importance across the EBRD regions since the mid-2000s and become major competitors to the private sector, because many have less stringent lending standards, lower net interest rate margins and a higher tolerance of non-performing loans.

A willingness of state banks to assume risks can help soften the impact of economic shocks. On the downside, however, firms that borrow from the state financial sector tend to be less innovative and show weaker productivity growth.

This is partly a reflection of the fact that state-owned banks may be more susceptible to political interference in their lending decisions and so channel finance away from more productive firms.

The report also says that EBRD economies are falling behind in the enforcement of policies that help reduce carbon emissions, in the wake of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

In the short term, the EBRD regions have to build transition to a green economy into post-Covid-19 recovery plans. In the medium term, the state must address the market and policy failures that are impeding the transition to a green economy, with an emphasis on effective carbon-pricing strategies.

In the longer term, the state will have to facilitate the “creative destruction” that the low-carbon transition will inevitably unleash. This will involve supporting workers and communities that will suffer from the economic transformation.

General Secretary of Mongolian People’s Party Amarbayasgalan.D gave an interview to a local daily newspaper on the occasion of party’s 100 years Anniversary, which will take place next year.

During his interview Amarbayasgalan.D mentioned Khurelsukh.U, Zandanshatar.G, Nyamdorj.Ts, Batbold.S and Enkhtuvshin.U as five possible candidates who could run for the President from the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) in the 2021 Mongolian Presidential Election.

Amarbayasgalan.D also said, “Party members are talking about several more possible candidates. Members of our party have suggested to me, as a General Secretary of the MPP, the potential candidates could be nominated as a runner for the 2021 Presidential elections. Like any other political party MPP have many potential candidates who are capable of running for the Presidency. Many party members and politicians alike have expressed their requests to nominate the Party Chairman Khurelsukh.U as a runner. There are many requests that Mr Zandanshatar.G, a Speaker of the Mongolian State Great Khural should be nominated as well. Therefore, the Speaker of the Parliament is also a possible choice. Furthermore, former Chairmen of MPP and politicians who have served as Prime ministers are being mentioned. Batbold.S, MP who formerly served as Chairman of MPP and the Prime Minister has been nominated by members. Former Minister of Justice and Speaker of Parliament, Nyamdorj.Ts has also been mentioned. Former Chairman of MMP Enkhtuvshin.U has been mentioned as well. Besides, MPP has potential female candidates who could run for the Presidential elections.”

The high-profile trial of a former Mongolian Prime Minister has been attracting much attention. Earlier today (11 November), the High Court of Mongolia decided to reduce the sentences of former PM M.Enkhsaikhan by six months.

On May, he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison and banned from public office for four years.

M.Enkhsaikhan is accused of political sabotage and the abuse of power over an ‘unsigned’ agreement regarding the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine project.

The former politician returned from Stockholm in 2019, where he had been serving as Mongolian Ambassador to Sweden since 2017.

M.Enkhsaikhan served as the prime minister of Mongolia from 1996 to 1998; as such, he was the first in 80 years not belonging to the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party.