Week in Review Asian equities were mixed for the week as Korea and Japan outperformed while Thailand and Malaysia underperformed. This week saw Q1 earnings reports from Meituan, which beat estimates, PDD, which missed, Kuaishou, whose report was mixed, and Li Auto, which beat estimates on revenue and net income on vehicle deliveries up 16% year-over-year (YoY). Asian equities cheered the US’ Court of International Trade’s decision Wednesday that President Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 was not legal. Mainland media noted strong preliminary sales for the 6:18 (June 18th) sales festival, with multiple online…

President Trump has pardoned at least five well-connected people who either plead guilty or were convicted of tax fraud and other crimes. His clear message: If you have political influence, cheating on your income tax is perfectly acceptable. That message is likely to further erode public confidence in the income tax system and increase public perceptions that the wealthy don’t pay their fair share of taxes. And the pardons are likely to further lower morale at the IRS and the Justice Department, where investigators and attorneys worked for years to prosecute these cases of tax fraud. Trump’s pardons came just…