The Economist (November 28)
“Investors are turning one eye away from the immediate struggle of coping with the pandemic and looking instead at the longer-term competitive picture. Who has won and who has lost? Like viruses, recessions usually come for the weakest first. Companies with sickly balance-sheets or frail margins quickly succumb. As promising startups become crushed closedowns, it is often the incumbents that have the resources to wait it out.”
Tags: Balance sheets, Companies, Crushed closedowns, Incumbents, Investors, Margins, Pandemic, Promising, Recessions, Resources, Startups, Succumb, Weakest
Los Angeles Times (November 27)
“A lack of data hides the pandemic’s true toll on American main Streets because many small businesses simply board up without going through Bankruptcy Court.” Vaccines promise hope, but more immediately these businesses face uncertainty and hardship. “As virus cases soar, small businesses at the heart of communities ponder their survival.”
Tags: Bankruptcy Court, Data, Hardship, Hope, Pandemic, Small businesses, Survival, Toll, Uncertainty, Vaccines, Virus
Reuters (November 27)
Europe is struggling “to find a common solution for the upcoming Christmas winter sports season.” Germany and France want the resorts closed while Austria doesn’t. A total closure “would be costly: Austria wants EU compensation for 2 billion euros of expected losses. But allowing people to squeeze into cable cars and enjoy apres-ski may pile pressure on national health systems as Europe fights a second wave of Covid-19. Without a coordinated and strict EU approach, a post-Christmas virus resurgence could be on the cards.”
Tags: Austria, Cable cars, Christmas, Compensation, COVID-19, EU, Europe, France, Germany, Second wave, Ski resorts, Solution, Strict, Winter sports
New York Times (November 26)
“Our president does have trouble hanging onto cash, whether it’s his or ours.” Donald Trump “vowed to eliminate the national debt if elected,” but he “is leaving office in a fiscal year that recorded the biggest one-year debt figure ever, $3.1 trillion. And during the entire glorious four years, the national red ink went from $14.4 trillion to $21.1 trillion.”
Financial Times (November 25)
“Tesla’s market value has surged to $500bn after a fresh wave of buying ahead of the electric-car maker’s debut on the blue-chip S&P 500 stock index next month.” Up over 600% this year, shares yesterday rose to $540. “Tesla’s market cap now exceeds “Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, General Motors and Ford combined.”
Tags: Blue-chip, Buying, Debut, Electric car, GM, Hyundai, Market-cap, S&P 500, Surged, Tesla, Toyota, Value, Volkswagen
San Francisco Chronicle (November 24)
“Deaths from COVID-19 have started to increase statewide, a harbinger of what could be a deadly holiday season if cases spike as expected from Thanksgiving get-togethers…. With the holiday still a few days away, California reported a record 20,282 cases on Monday.” The “astonishingly high” number dwarves the previous record of 13,412 cases set one week ago.
Tags: California, Cases, COVID-19, Deadly, Deaths, Get-togethers, Harbinger, Holiday season, Record, Spike, Thanksgiving
Car & Driver (November 24)
“General Motors has reversed its decision to back the Trump administration’s fight to force California, along with 12 other states, to comply with the less stringent fuel-efficiency standards Trump’s EPA put into place in 2018 for 2022 to 2025. The move signals that GM expects President-Elect Joe Biden to take a much different stance on emissions regulations…. Ford, GM’s crosstown rival, had backed California from the beginning.”
Tags: Biden, California, Comply, Emissions, EPA, Fight, Ford, Fuel efficiency, Less stringent, Regulations, Reversed, Standards, Trump
Financial Times (November 24)
“The coronavirus outbreak has exposed Japan’s tardiness on digitization, which posed hurdles as the country tried to adopt online medicine and other digital tools to curb the outbreak.” However, Taro Kono’s “assault on the seal reveals new premier Yoshide Suga’s determination to reform the hidebound state. Hanko seals are universal in Japanese culture…. But they clash with Mr Suga’s move to a digital agency with more government services online.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Determination, Digitization, Hanko, Hidebound, Hurdles, Japan, Kono, Online medicine, Outbreak, Reform, Seal, Suga, Tardiness
USA Today (November 22)
“The coronavirus pandemic is spreading out of control: More than 256,000 people have died in the USA, schools are closed and the nation set records of infections multiple times over the past week. That has prompted people to rethink their Thanksgiving plans, many choosing to eat a meal known for community and family alone.”
Tags: Alone, Community, Coronavirus, Died, Family, Pandemic, Rethink, Schools. Infections, Thanksgiving, U.S.
New York Times (November 20)
“Nine months after the I.O.C. and organizers in Tokyo agreed to postpone the 2020 Summer Games for one year, the level of uncertainty surrounding the event has barely waned, even as hopes for a successful Olympics have never been higher.”
Tags: 2020 Summer Games, I.O.C., Olympics, Postpone, Successful, Tokyo, Uncertainty
