Financial Times (December 10)
“Global public debt is set to exceed $100tn by the end of this year” according to IMF estimates, “with total government borrowing set to approach 100 per cent of global GDP by the end of the decade.” This development led the outgoing chief economist of the Bank for International Settlements to warn that “rising government debt levels will cause turbulence in the global economy and financial markets unless political leaders start tackling them soon.”
Tags: $100tn, BIS, Borrowing, Chief economist, Debt levels, Economy, Financial markets, GDP, Global, Government, IMF, Political leaders, Public debt, Turbulence
Financial Times (December 3)
“America’s economy is soaring ahead of its rivals,” and its “outperformance is rooted in long-term productivity growth that is the envy of the developed world.” Many of these productivity gains are coming from tech investments. “China is the only other large economy making significant strides in tech R&D spending…. the amount of venture capital invested in AI in China is now the second highest globally after the US.”
Tags: AI, China, Developed world, Economy, Envy, Investments, Outperformance, Productivity growth, R&D spending, Rivals, Soaring, Tech, U.S., VC
Barron’s (December 2)
“Japan was conspicuously not mentioned” in tariffs Trump has specified for countries including China. This leaves some “wondering if China has become the new Japan and Japan is the new China.” Will China’s “economy stagnate over a sustained period, like Japan’s did for decades, and become a market to avoid?” In contrast, “Japan has shown signs of life lately. It’s viewed favorably by the new administration…. Does that mean the land of the rising sun is once again on the rise?”
Tags: Avoid, China, Conspicuously, Economy, Favorably, Japan, Market, New administration, Rising sun, Stagnate, Tariffs, Trump
WARC (November 19)
“More shoppers, GMV growth and the growing role of AI was the Singles Day story from Alibaba and JD.com, but the wider economy continues to feel the impact of China’s property slowdown.”
Tags: AI, Alibaba, China, Economy, GMV, Growth, Impact, JD.com, Property, Shoppers, Singles Day, Slowdown
Fortune (November 11)
“Russia’s inflation has gone from bad to worse as it continues to wage war against Ukraine, causing even everyday goods to feel out of reach for the average person.” For example, “the price of a slab of butter has increased by 25.7% since December, prompting a slew of thefts across Russia and highlighting the state of the wartime economy.” To prevent shoplifting, supermarkets and retailers are now “attaching anti-theft tags to cans of meat… butter and other grocery staples.”
Tags: Anti-theft tags, Butter, Economy, Grocery, Inflation, Meat, Price, Retailers, Russia, Shoplifting, Supermarkets, Thefts, Ukraine, War
CNN (October 30)
“The US economy seems to have pulled off a remarkable and historic achievement.” James Bullard, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is among the “economists and officials who told CNN the economy has finally pulled off” a soft landing. “That scenario, in which inflation is tamed without a recession” would mark “an exceptionally rare achievement.”
Tags: Bullard, Economists, Economy, Fed, Historic, Inflation, Officials, Rare, Recession, Remarkable, Soft landing, St. Louis, Tamed, U.S.
Washington Post (October 10)
“By just about every measure, the U.S. economy is in good shape. Growth is strong. Unemployment is low. Inflation is back down. More important, many Americans are getting sizable pay raises, and middle-class wealth has surged to record levels.” And yet the lingering effects of inflation seem to have blinded many to the fact that “we are living through one of the best economic years of many people’s lifetimes.”
Tags: Best, Economy, Growth, Inflation, Lingering, Middle class, Pay raises, Record levels, Strong, Surged, U.S., Unemployment, Wealth
Financial Times (October 10)
“Germany is facing its first two-year recession since the early 2000s as the government downgraded its 2024 growth forecast for the eurozone’s largest economy.” Hurdles have included “soaring inflation, high interest rates and energy costs driven higher by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” along with longer term “structural problems, such as Germany’s dire skills shortage, years of under-investment in infrastructure and excessive red tape.”
Tags: Economy, Energy costs, eurozone, Germany, Growth forecast, Hurdles, Inflation, Infrastructure, Interest rates, Recession, Russia, Skills shortage, Structural problems, Ukraine, Under-investment
CNN (October 9)
“The S&P 500 index has gained roughly 21% for the year, notching dozens of record highs along the way as artificial intelligence enthusiasm helps drive stocks higher.” Amid “rising confidence that the US economy will achieve a soft landing” and recent data points suggesting strong economic footing, investors will be “looking to the upcoming earnings season for clues about the US economy’s health.”
Tags: 21%, Artificial intelligence, Clues, Confidence, Earnings season, Economy, Enthusiasm, Health, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/09/investing/earnings-companies-stocks/index.html S&P 500, Investors, Record highs, Soft landing, US
Bloomberg (October 7)
“The ‘no landing’ scenario–a situation where the US economy keeps growing, inflation reignites and the Federal Reserve has little room to cut interest rates–had largely disappeared as a bond-market talking point in recent months.” After “setting up for slowing growth,” traders are undergoing another “wrenching recalibration” on the heels of a “blowout” jobs report “showing the fastest job growth in six months, a surprising drop in US unemployment and higher wages.” Treasury yields surged and investors are “furiously reversing course on bets for a larger-than-normal half-point interest-rate reduction.”
Tags: Blowout, Bond market, Economy, Fed, Growing, Inflation, Interest rates, Jobs, No landing, Recalibration, Scenario, Traders, Treasury yields, U.S., Unemployment, Wages