Washington Post (January 19)
“The S&P 500 hit an all-time closing high Friday.” Up over 1% from Thursday, the index closed at 4,839.81, “surpassing the previous closing record set in January of 2022.” Support stems from confidence in an economy that has averted a recession, apparently achieving an elusive soft-landing. Analysts also “point to an AI-driven frenzy on Wall Street that rivals the dot-com boom of the late ’90s, when investors sought to capitalize on the transformative gains brought by the early internet.”
Tags: AI, Analysts, Boom, Capitalize, Dot-com, Economy, Frenzy, Gains, High, Internet, Investors, Recession, Record Confidence, Rivals, S&P 500, Soft landing, Transformative, Wall Street
Institutional Investor (September 5)
“Hard landing? Soft landing? No recession after all? As economic news that’s far rosier than most analysts expected to see this summer keeps coming in, a growing number of pundits are now openly wondering if the ‘severe downturn’ long predicted to strike by late 2023 may turn out to be milder (and later in coming) than even the cheeriest of them had recently envisioned.”
Tags: 2023, Analysts, Envisioned, Hard landing, Later, Milder, Predicted, Pundits, Recession, Rosier, Severe downturn, Soft landing
Financial Times (September 1)
“The US labour market cooled in August, raising hopes that the Federal Reserve is successfully orchestrating a soft landing for the world’s largest economy. Investors hailed a possible Goldilocks scenario in which inflation comes under control without causing a recession, as Friday’s figures revealed an uptick in the unemployment rate, subdued jobs growth and wage rises back at pre-Covid rates.”
Tags: August, Cooled, Fed, Goldilocks scenario, Hopes, Inflation, Investors, Jobs growth, Recession, Soft landing, U.S., Unemployment, Wage rises
Investment Week (May 18)
“Credit fundamentals have worsened since the market sell-off began, although central banks could provide some companies with a soft landing and many firms have drawn on their credit lines in a bid to stay afloat.” Even though “the impact is highly correlated across geographies, industries and asset classes…the potential outcomes are too severe to only affect equities and credit-market fundamentals have undoubtedly been impacted.”
Tags: Asset classes, Central banks, Correlated, Credit, Equities, Fundamentals, Geographies, Industries, Market, Outcomes, Sell-off, Severe, Soft landing, Worsened
Bloomberg (March 8)
“China’s second interest-rate cut in three months has raised fears that the government is trying to devalue the yuan to give its exports an unfair boost — an understandable suspicion.” In this case, however, “lower interest rates and a moderately weaker yuan make sense not just for China but for the rest of the world as well.” These factors should help Chinese leaders achieve their “soft landing” growth target of 7%. “The rest of the world no less than China needs this soft landing to be smoothly accomplished.”
Tags: China, Devalue, Exports, Government, Growth, Interest rate, Soft landing, Yuan
Forbes (January 17, 2012)
Will China’s landing be soft or hard? Several factors “help offset weakness and support the ‘soft landing’ thesis.” Urbanization is one such factor, as it helps boost retail sales. In 2011, “China’s urban population surpassed its rural population” with 51.3% living in cities. “Combine more city dwellers with rising incomes and you get the beginnings of the coveted transition from a purely export-based economy into a dynamic domestic/international machine.”
Tags: China, Economy, Export-based, Retail, Soft landing, Urbanization
