The Times (October 19)
Taiwan is “the coming crisis no one is ready for…. President Xi’s best chance of securing the island may be while Trump is in office. The global impact would be worse than Covid.” On top of pre-existing factors, “the mishandling of other geopolitical events by Trump is sharply increasing the risk of a crisis over Taiwan erupting while he is in office.”
Tags: Erupting
MarketWatch (October 19)
“More home builders are cutting prices on new houses even as their construction costs increase, as buyers flee the housing market.” Excluding the pandemic, “buyer traffic to newly built homes” slumped to the lowest levels since 2012. “The average price cut was 6% for the seventh month in a row, and 65% of builders were also using incentives to boost sales.”
Tags: 2012, Boost, Buyers, Construction costs, Home builders, Housing market, Incentives, Newly built homes, Pandemic, Prices, Sales
The Economist (October 17 Edition)
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much risked by one man for so little. Donald Trump is threatening to cripple Ukraine in its fight for survival—and to expose Europe to Russian aggression—seemingly for the pitiful prize of minimising his losses in next month’s midterm elections. The hard question is what Ukraine and its allies should do.”
Tags: Cripple, Elections, Europe, Fight, Human conflict, Losses, Pitiful prize, Risked, Russian aggression, Survival, Threatening, Trump, Ukraine
Wall Street Journal (October 16)
“It’s too soon to call what happened this week to artificial intelligence stocks a correction. Call it instead a reminder: Hype about new technologies is an inevitable human temptation, and sometimes it pays off, but eventually investors demand returns on capital.”
Tags: Artificial intelligence, Correction, Human temptation, Hype, Inevitable, Investors, Pays off, Reminder, Returns on capital, Stocks, Technologies
OilPrice.com (October 16)
Oil prices are heading for a “weekly gain as Hormuz attacks rattle markets…. Iranian strikes on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz had driven oil flows sharply down. In the week to October 13, the daily average dropped to 11.62 million barrels, from a baseline of 17.15 million barrels daily.”
Tags: 11.62 MMbbl, Attacks, Baseline, Flows, Hormuz, Iran, Markets, Oil prices, Rattle, Strait of Hormuz, Strikes, Tankers, Weekly gain
New York Times (October 15)
“Stock futures are down on Thursday as investors grapple with persistent inflation — and growing anxiety about the heavily indebted companies involved in the artificial intelligence buildout.”
Tags: Artificial intelligence. Buildout, Companies, Down, Grapple, Growing anxiety, Indebted, Investors, Persistent inflation, Stock futures
Institutional Investor (October 14)
“After ignoring emerging markets for well over a decade, strong returns and concentration risk in U.S. markets are prompting large institutional investors to reassess the asset class. But allocators are still focused on specific countries and sectors, not emerging markets broadly.”
Tags: Allocators, Asset class, Concentration risk, Countries, Emerging markets, Focused, Ignoring, Institutional investors, Reassess, Sectors, Strong returns, U.S. markets
BBC (October 13)
We’ve learned three things about the UK’s economy from the semiannual IMF forecast. “1. The UK is weathering the Iran war better than expected…. 2. The UK is doing better than other major economies…. 3. But things could get worse.” Also of note, by 2031, the UK “is projected to have the lowest annual borrowing of the G7 group of countries, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.”
Tags: 2031, Borrowing, Canada, Economy, France, G7, Germany, Iran war, Italy, Japan, Lowest, Major economies, MF forecast, UK, Worse
Newsweek (October 12)
U.S. baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) account for approximately “52 percent of total U.S. household net worth.” They “own roughly 41 percent of all U.S. real estate assets,” which translates to “nearly $19 trillion worth of property.” As they age, boomers are “poised to reshape large parts of the U.S. economy in the coming years as their enormous wealth and changing needs redirect spending toward health care, housing, financial services and premium experiences.”
Tags: $19 trillion, $52, 1946, 1964, 41%, Assets, Baby boomers, Economy, Financial services, Health care, Household net worth, Housing, Real estate, Reshape, Spending, U.S., Wealth
Fortune (October 11)
“China’s debt interest costs are soaring above U.S. levels and growing faster than any other budget category as Beijing struggles to prop up growth.” Current estimates suggest “debt-servicing payments will account for 19.2% of the central government’s general public budget this year, up from 12% in 2014.”
Tags: Beijing, Budget, China, Costs, Debt interest, Debt-servicing payments, Government, Growing, Soaring, Struggles, U.S.
