Read this Tuesday’s edition of the FolhaMercado newsletter (31) – 01/31/2023 – Market

ANDsta is the edition of newsletterr FolhaMercado this Tuesday (31). want to receive it from monday to Friday at 7 am In your email? Sign up below:

---

TikTok CEO will testify to US Congress

The battle between US politicians and TikTok is set to continue in the coming months.

In March, the CEO of the Chinese app, Shou Zi Chew, is due to be heard in a congressional committee, according to the Wall Street Journal, amid a siege by US authorities against the popular platform.

Understand: TikTok’s boss’s decision comes as the app faces the greatest regulatory pressure since 2020, when former President Donald Trump tried to ban it from the country, but ended up losing a series of court battles over the measure.

This timethe pressure comes from parliamentarians and even from prestigious US universities, who barred the app from their Wi-Fi networks.

• A law passed by Congress in December that prohibits federal employees from accessing TikTok on government cell phones takes effect on February 27. The same measure was adopted by about 28 states in the country.

The justification of the projects is the same: Fears that the app will be used to spy on US citizens and endanger national security.

In numbers: TikTok has more than 100 million users in the US and is accessed by two out of three teenagers in the country, who increasingly use the app as a substitute for Google.

To try to reverse the animosity authorities, ByteDance has been taking some steps.

• The main one was the agreement closed in the middle of last year with the American Oracle, which was responsible for storing data from users in the country on its servers.

• TikTok has said it has never shared US user data with the Chinese government and would not do so if asked.

---

Natura&Co shares soar

Natura&Co shares soared 15% this Monday before closing the day at a high of 5.5%with investors reacting to news from the Bloomberg agency that the luxury cosmetics brand Aesop, controlled by the Brazilian, attracted the interest of companies such as LVMH and L’Oréal.

The offer, which could involve the partial or total purchase of Aesop, would value the brand at least $2 billion, according to the agency. In addition to the two giants in the sector, the Japanese group Shiseido would also be studying a possible offer.

Remember: Natura informed the market in November that it was considering selling a minority stake in Aesop and that its board of directors was also studying a possible IPO (initial offering of shares) or spin-off of the Australian brand of premium skin and hair products.

• In the view of consultants and market analysts, the company became too big after acquisitions.

• Aesop was the first major brand to come under the umbrella of Natura, in 2013. In 2017, the company acquired the British The Body Shop, and in 2019, the American Avon.

Still on the Exchangehighlighting the fall of two actions:

• CVC’s shares plummeted 14.5% after the company announced that it withdrew from the purchase of startup Ōner Travel.

---

Prilex’s new scam

The Brazilian cybercriminal group Prilex, which is behind several bank scams, has launched a malware (malicious program) capable of blocking approximation payments.

• The objective is to force the consumer to insert the card in the machine, so that the fraud takes place. The threat was released by Kaspersky this Tuesday.

• According to the cybersecurity company, it is the first time in the world that a gang has managed to tie a knot in the purchase by approximation, considered safer.

How it works: when there is an attempt to pay by proximity, the infected machine displays the message “ERROR APPROXIMATION (sic) INSERT THE CARD (sic)”.

• After the card is inserted into the machine, the possibilities for fraud increase, as in the case of ghost shopping, the one that diverts money from the purchase without the store and the customer noticing.

Who is Prilex? the Brazilian group specializes in fraud –it is also behind scams at ATMs–, occupying a vacuum left by the main gangs in the world, which prioritize ransomware attacks (blocking information upon ransom), seen as even more lucrative.

• Prilex’s performance has been tracked at least since 2014 and has already reached North America and Europe.

---

The cost of deforestation

Zeroing deforestation in the Amazon and the Cerrado by 2030, as Brazil is proposing to do, could generate gains of up to $240 billion (R$ 1.2 trillion) for the world GDP.

The calculations are by Bráulio Borges, researcher at FGV Ibre and senior economist at LCA Consultores.

Understand: the survey involves estimating the impacts caused by climate change, such as damage to human health and the environment, and the costs to remedy them. The logic is called CSC (Social Cost of Carbon).

• Less global warming, for example, would mean less spending on energy for air conditioning to a lower rise in the level of the oceans.

In numbers: from 2019 to 2022, during the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, when carbon emissions grew, the estimated loss to world GDP was $201 billion (about BRL 1.02 trillion) compared to the trend in 2018.

Opinion