Reuters (January 29)
“Equity analysts are still counting on a speedy reopening. They expect the 1,585 companies included in the Global MSCI Index to report 6% higher net profit this year than they did in 2019, and 21% higher earnings in 2022.” Constituents are “still valued on an average multiple of 21 times this year’s forecast earnings, far above a long-term average of 16 times. With the path out of lockdowns looking uncertain, such exuberance is likely to end in disappointment.”
Tags: 2019, 2022, Analysts, Disappointment, Equity, Exuberance, Forecast earnings, Global MSCI, Lockdowns, Multiples, Profit, Reopening, Uncertain
Wall Street Journal (January 29)
“You know political spin is at work when the economy grows by 4% in the fourth quarter but the headlines are that growth fell for the entire pandemic year. Everyone already knows the economy fell off the cliff in the first half of 2020. The news is that the economic recovery is continuing despite the winter Covid surge.”
The Denver Post (January 27)
“With a mass vaccination campaign underway, the U.S. is facing a moral dilemma as officials from California to New Jersey decide who gets the shots first. Everyone from older people and those with chronic medical conditions to communities of color and front-line workers are clamoring for the scarce vaccine—and each group has a compelling argument for why they should get priority.”
Tags: California, Campaign, Clamoring, Mass vaccination, Moral dilemma, New Jersey, Officials, Scarce, Shots, U.S.
New York Times (January 27)
“For months now, wealthy countries have been clearing the world’s shelves of coronavirus vaccines, leaving poorer nations with little hope of exiting the pandemic in 2021. But a fresh skirmish this week has pitted the rich against the rich — Britain versus the European Union — in the scramble for vials, opening a new and unabashedly nationalist competition that could poison relations and set back collective efforts to end the pandemic.”
Tags: Collective efforts, Competition, Coronavirus, EU, Nationalist, Nations, Pandemic, Poison, Poor, Relations, Rich, Skirmish, UK, Vaccines, Wealthy
Scientific American (January 25)
“In the 1990s, the world was losing around 800 billion metric tons of ice each year. Today, that number has risen to around 1.2 trillion tons. Altogether, the planet lost a whopping 28 trillion tons of ice between 1994 and 2017.”
Bloomberg (January 24)
“The world economy is facing a tougher start to 2021 than expected as coronavirus infections surge and it takes time to roll out vaccinations…. Double-dip recessions are now expected in Japan, the euro area and U.K. as restrictions to curb the virus’s spread are enforced.” Advanced economies are “beginning on a weak note and emerging economies diverging.”
Tags: 2021, Coronavirus, Double-dip recessions, Economy, Emerging, EU, Infections, Japan, Surge, U.K., Vaccinations
The Economist (January 23)
“Today about a trillion chips are made a year, or 128 for every person on the planet.” With uses burgeoning in applications from EVs to AI, “demand will soar further,” especially as IoT connects machines and other things. In contrast, the industry is experiencing profound consolidation. As chip generations become more challenging and costly, “the number of manufacturers at the industry’s cutting-edge has fallen from over 25 in 2000 to three.” The “grueling 60-year struggle for supremacy is nearing its end.”
Tags: AI, Applications, Burgeoning, Challenging, Chips, Consolidation, Costly, Cutting edge, Demand, EVs, Generations, Grueling, IoT, Manufacturers, Struggle, Supremacy
CNN (January 23)
“Rotting fish, lost business and piles of red tape. The reality of Brexit hits Britain” as the consequences of “leaving the European Union’s customs and regulatory territory” start “to bite.” The negative impact of “Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic is pushing the UK economy into a sharp contraction in the first quarter… meaning a double-dip recession is now on the cards.”
Tags: Double-dip recession
Los Angeles Times (January 21)
“On the first day of the Biden administration, we had already seen something almost entirely missing from Washington over the last four years: A-list stars. Also, music.” Whereas “Trump treated the arts as an adversary. Biden’s first day told a different story.”
Tags: A-list stars, Adversary, Arts, Biden, Music, Trump, Washington
Chicago Tribune (January 20)
In January 2020, “the U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19.” President Trump “insisted, his administration had the virus ‘totally under control.’” Instead, “after a year of presidential denials of reality and responsibility, the pandemic’s U.S. death toll has eclipsed 400,000. And the loss of lives is accelerating.”
Tags: Administration, Confirmed, COVID-19, Death toll, Denials, Pandemic, Reality, Responsibility, Trump, U.S., Virus
