Wall Street Journal (January 11)
“Beijing’s erratic response to the falling yuan and stock prices has exposed policy disarray. But behind the scenes an important debate has been raging over how to revive economic growth that some analysts believe is below 5%.”
Tags: Beijing, China, Disarray, Economic growth, Erratic, Response, Stock prices, Yuan
Institutional Investor (January 10)
“Even among those who are years from retirement, concerns about being able to retire are more widespread than worries about job loss, health care, or inequality.” Yet, during the past decade, “officials in Washington have done little except wring their hands and make speeches” on retirement insecurity. There are now indications that, however, they may finally more to address “this most widespread form of economic insecurity.”
Tags: Health care, Inequality, Job loss, Officials, Retirement, Retirement insecurity, U.S., Worries
The Economist (January 9)
“Japan is the best example” of how currency devaluations no longer seem to provide economies with much of a boost. “The yen has been depreciating rapidly. A Big Mac was 20% cheaper in Japan than in America in 2013; now it is 37% cheaper. Yet export volumes have barely budged…. This is a surprise: the IMF calculates that Japanese exports are around 20% lower than it would have expected, given how the yen has weakened.”
Tags: Big Mac, Boost, Currency devaluation, Depreciating, Export volumes, IMF, Japan, U.S., Yen
Financial Times (January 8)
“Well, China circuit breaker, you had a good run…. A short life, to be sure. But you did achieve global fame. Let us not dwell on your passing. Let us celebrate your achievements. You came into this world on Monday; you were gone by Thursday. But in just four sessions you shut down the market twice. A 0.500 batting average, we could say.”
Tags: Achievements, China, Circuit breaker, Fame, Market, Short life
New York Times (January 6)
Turkey’s President “had already built a disturbing record as an authoritarian leader willing to trample on human rights, the rule of law and political and press freedoms,” but this week he hit a new low when citing Hitler’s Germany as precedent for expanding his powers. “Erdogan has fallen far from the days when he could be regarded as a respected leader of a Muslim-majority democracy and a trusted partner in the region.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Democracy, Disturbing, Germany, Hitler, Human rights, Muslim, Press freedom, Rule, Turkey
The Week (January 6)
“For the Chinese stock markets, it was not a happy New Year.” The initial drops in the Shanghai and Shenzhen Composites were “an unwelcome reminder of two precipitous crashes that befell China’s stock market midway through 2015.” Things have leveled off and it’s true that “the performance of any country’s stock market has only a tangential relationship to the performance of its real economy.”Nevertheless, “the situation for China’s real economy isn’t exactly good.”
Tags: 2016, China, Real economy, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Stock markets
Los Angeles Times (January 6)
“With gun epidemic raging, Obama finally bypasses Congress.” The president detailed his “modest steps” in a sometimes tearful speech. Ultimately, further Congressional measures will be necessary to solve what has become “one of the most vexing political issues of our time.” The over 30,000 gun related deaths each year show the “grotesque human cost…. At some point, the American people need to inform their leaders that this price is just too high to pay.”
Washington Post (January 5)
“Saudi Arabia is a frightened monarchy.” That is both the root of the problem and the key to the solution. “What led Saudi Arabia to take these risky actions, and what U.S. policies might reduce the danger that the Middle East mess will get even worse? You can’t answer these questions without examining the Saudis’ insecurity, which has led them to make bad choices.”
Tags: Danger, Frightened, Insecurity, Middle East, Monarchy, Risky, Saudi Arabia, Solution, U.S.
Bloomberg (January 4)
“For the first year since 1989, foreigners sold Japanese stocks and missed a rally.” The TOPIX index gained 8.9% in dollars and 21% in euros, but overseas investors missed out on some gains by offloading more than 250 billion yen in Japanese shares last year. “The Topix capped a 9.9 percent gain in local-currency terms last year, its fourth straight annual increase. Combined with the yen’s resilience, that meant that the Topix outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in dollars for the first time since 2008” and its “gain in euros was triple that of the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.”
Tags: 1989, Dollars, Euros, Foreigners, Gains, Increase, Japan, Offloading, Rally, S&P 500, Stocks, Stoxx Europe 600, Topix, Yen
Wall Street Journal (January 3)
Not just one, but “two U.S. companies have landed a rocket safely after space flight.” This major breakthrough “could make space commuting for commerce and exploration a reality.” This “is also a sign of America’s continuing economic vitality.” The competition between two private sector companies “should lead to more rapid innovation, and the development of private U.S. rocketry will make the country less dependent on Russian rockets for various government or commercial purposes.”
Tags: Breakthrough, Commerce, Competition, Economic vitality, Exploration, Innovation, Private-sector, Rocket, Russia, U.S.
