Foreign Policy (March 11)
Some question China’s 5.2% GDP growth figure for the final quarter of 2023, but even assuming “the figures are accurate, the wider trends of the Chinese economy suggest a worrying state of affairs.” China’s real GDP figure exceeded its nominal figure. This “indicates that Beijing’s gross value of output in real terms was amplified thanks to negative inflation…. If not for deflation, China’s real GDP growth in 2023 would have been even lower and would have certainly missed the national target of 5 percent.”
Tags: 2023, Accurate, China, Deflation, Economy, GDP, Gross value, Growth, Negative inflation, Nominal, Output, Real GDP, Trends, Worrying
Reuters (February 5)
“Prolonged factory deflation is threatening the survival of smaller Chinese exporters who are locked in relentless price wars for shrinking business as higher interest rates abroad and rising trade protectionism squeeze demand.” Fifteen months of falling producer prices have crushed “profit margins to the point where industrial output and jobs are now at risk,” further “compounding China’s economic woes, which include a property crisis and debt crunch.”
Tags: China, Demand, Economic woes, Exporters, Factory deflation, Interest rates, Jobs, Output, Price wars, Producer prices, Profit margins, Prolonged, Property crisis, Relentless, Risk, Survival, Threatening, Trade protectionism
Wall Street Journal (September 11)
“For every American employed making steel or aluminum in 2018, 36 were employed by firms that used steel or aluminum as inputs. By raising the prices of these metals, Mr. Trump’s tariffs destroyed far more manufacturing jobs than they created. Overall manufacturing employment fell in each of the four quarters of 2019…. Under Mr. Trump’s protectionist policy, total manufacturing output was 2% lower by the start of the pandemic than it was when he raised tariffs.”
Tags: 2018, Aluminum, Destroyed, Employment, Fell, Inputs, Jobs, Manufacturing, Metals, Output, Pandemic, Prices, Protectionist policy, Steel, Tariffs, Trump
Seeking Alpha (April 5)
“Investors were taken by surprise on April 2nd when news broke that OPEC+…announced unexpected cuts in output. This move came even in spite of a previously rosy forecast for the supply and demand balance that OPEC made public…. Investors would be wise to see this as a bullish development for any company that benefits from higher oil prices. But in particular, the exploration and production companies could be very appealing to consider at this time.”
Tags: Appealing, Bullish, Demand, Exploration, Forecast, Investors, Oil prices, OPEC, Output, Production, Supply, Surprise, Unexpected
Bloomberg (March 16)
“Powerful AI systems like GPT-4 aren’t going to replace large swaths of professional workers, as many have instinctively feared. But they will put them under greater pressure to be more productive and faster at what they do. They will raise the bar on what is considered acceptable output and usher in an era of ultra-efficiency unlike anything we’ve seen before…. Watch out for how they might take you a tiny step closer to burnout.”
Tags: Acceptable, AI, Faster, Fear, GPT-4, Output, Powerful, Pressure, Productive, Professional workers, Replace, Ultra-efficiency
Bloomberg (April 18)
“The slower the Fed, the harder the landing.” Quick action while inflation expectations are “still well anchored” will minimize the “cost in terms of foregone output and higher unemployment.” Those costs will mushroom if the Fed “waits and allows inflation expectations to get out of hand.” A recession remains unlikely in 2022, but if there isn’t one “in the next couple years, it will only be worse.”
Tags: Anchored, Costs, Expectations, Fed, Inflation, Landing, Output, Quick action, Recession, Slower, Unemployment, Worse
Wall Street Journal (August 13)
“The U.K. recorded a steeper second-quarter contraction than its peers, suffering the worst economic hit from the coronavirus in Europe as well as reporting the highest death toll there.” Great Britain’s GDP “shrank 20.4% in the second quarter, equivalent to an annualized rate of 59.8%,…. In the same period, U.S. and German output declined by around 10%, while Italy lost 12%, France 14% and Spain 19%.”
Tags: Contraction, Coronavirus, Death toll, Economic hit, Europe, France, GDP, Germany, Italy, Output, Peers, Suffering, U.K., U.S.
Reuters (September 16)
“The last thing the slowing world economy needs is a big and unexpected disruption in oil output.” The drone attacks “took out roughly half of Saudi Arabia’s crude output appear to fit that bill. But even fragile global growth can probably withstand this first cut.” However, if “sustained disruptions to Middle Eastern oil supply–or anything that heightens the risk of them–will buoy crude. That will deliver the deepest cut to growth.”
Tags: Crude, Crude output, Disruption, Drone attacks, Economy, Fragile, Growth, Middle East, Oil, Output, Risk, Saudi Arabia, Supply, Unexpected
The Economist (June 29)
The “metropolis of money, known as the City, generates £120bn ($152bn) of output a year—as much as Germany’s car industry.” Increasingly, Brexit appears to threaten an outcome that “would make the eu poorer and damage London’s position.” In addition, the end result could “change the workings of the global financial system.”
Tags: Brexit, Car industry, Damage, EU, Financial system, Germany, London, Metropolis, Money, Outcome, Output, Poorer, The City
Time (September 13)
“The United States may have reclaimed the title of the world’s biggest oil producer sooner than expected.” Based on preliminary estimates from the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. probably surpassed Russia this summer “after jumping over Saudi Arabia earlier this year. If those estimates are right, it would mark the first time since 1973 that the U.S. has led the world in output.”
Tags: 1973, Energy, Oil producer, Output, Preliminary estimates, Russia, Saudi Arabia, U.S.