Wall Street Journal (January 29)
A “deflation doom loop” is “trapping China’s economy.” Despite the nation’s “extraordinary leaps in cutting-edge technology, from artificial intelligence to robotics,” China’s “relentless pursuit of growth through manufacturing has also created a lopsided economy, with much of it stuck in a deflationary spiral. China’s GDP deflator, a broad price gauge, has been negative since 2023, a sign of inadequate demand at home.”
Tags: 2023, AI, China, Deflationary spiral, Doom loop, Economy, GDP deflator, Growth, Lopsided, Manufacturing, Negative, Robotics, Technology
Reuters (January 28)
“Japan’s car market is ripe for consolidation. Years of falling sales both at home and abroad had already been putting financial pressure on several of the country’s seven major automakers.” The Nissan/Honda merger fell through, “but a Suzuki Motor takeover of Mazda Motor would be a smart move.”
Tags: Abroad, Automakers, Car market, Consolidation, Falling sales, Financial pressure, Honda, Japan, Mazda, Merger Suzuki, Nissan, Smart
Wall Street Journal (January 28)
“President Trump this week said he thinks a weaker dollar is “great,” but he should be careful what he wishes for. Many politicians over the years have contemplated a weaker greenback as an economic miracle cure. They often discover that a weak dollar is a liability.”
Tags: Careful, Cure, Economic miracle, Greenback, Liability, Politicians, Trump, Weak dollar
Barron’s (January 27)
“Japan is the market’s ‘Big Story.’” Proposals for a “looser fiscal policy” have resulted in “big moves in the yen and Japanese government bonds that have investors increasingly on edge around the world.” Now all eyes are on the 40-year JGB auction, which really “matters for U.S. and European investors. If prices fall, sending yields higher it, it could make Japanese bonds attractive enough for local investors to move money invested abroad back to Japan.”
Tags: 40 year, Abroad, Europe, Investors, Japan, JGBs, Looser fiscal policy, Market, Money, Prices, U.S., Yen, Yields
Time (January 26)
“The past year brought a number of blows for the climate fight, but there were also clean-energy wins. In the first half of 2025, for the first time, solar and wind power outpaced coal as the leading source of electricity worldwide—a promising step toward reducing emissions.”
Tags: 2025, Clean energy, Climate fight, Coal, Electricity, Emissions, First time, Leading source, Promising, Solar, Wind power, Wins
MarketWatch (January 26)
“The U.S. dollar took another hit on Monday, weakening to its lowest levels in four months, as talk of a coordinated intervention to prop up the competing Japanese yen intensified. A stronger Japanese currency could end up translating into trouble for U.S. stocks, as it did on Aug. 5, 2024, when a sharp unwinding of the yen carry trade was blamed for a selloff in global equities.”
Tags: Blamed, Carry trade, Coordinated intervention, Currency, Dollar, Japan, Prop up, Selloff, Stocks, U.S., Unwinding, Weakening, Yen
Travel and Tour World (January 25)
“Canada joins France, Germany, China, South Korea, India, and others in fueling the widespread US tourism freefall last year with a significant decline in tourist arrivals, as higher travel costs, inflation, currency pressures, visa bottlenecks, reduced flight capacity, and more cautious consumer spending converged across major source markets, sharply weakening inbound demand to the United States.”
Tags: Inbound demand
Washington Post (January 25)
“The open split that emerged last week between the United States and some of its closest allies highlights the seismic changes that are in store for the global economy amid the transition from full-blown U.S.-led globalization to an unruly new order.”
Tags: Allies, Global economy, Globalization, New order, Open split, Seismic changes, Transition, U.S., Unruly
New York Times (January 24)
“The world will remember Trump’s Greenland outburst.” The President’s “immoral threats against a loyal NATO ally have escalated a crisis in U.S.-European relations, weakened one of history’s most successful alliances and hurt American interests in tangible ways…. Leaders in Beijing and Moscow are no doubt thrilled. America is less safe than it was a week ago.”
Tags: Alliances, Ally, Beijing, Crisis, Escalated, Europe, Greenland, Immoral, Less safe, Moscow, Nato, Outburst, Threats, Thrilled, Trump, World
MSN (January 23)
“UPS reported sharply lower earnings in the third quarter and said it expects lower revenue and thinner profit margins ahead.” The global shipper cited “a slowing global economy…for its gloomy forecast,” and its concern over “global macroeconomic uncertainty” has broader implications. “UPS is something of an economic bellwether, as its trucks move an estimated 6% of US gross domestic product and 3% of global GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity.”
Tags: Bellwether, Earnings, Economy, Global macroeconomic uncertainty, Gloomy forecast, Lower, Profit margins, Q3, Revenue, U.S., UPS
