Reuters (February 27)
“International companies with exposure to Russia are girding for further Western sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.” Among the most exposed companies in Asia are Japan Tobacco, Marubeni, Mitsubishi Corporation, SBI Holdings, and Toyota.
Tags: Asia, Companies, Exposure, Girding, International, Invasion, Japan Tobacco, Marubeni, Mitsubishi Corporation, Moscow, Russia, SBI Holdings, Ukraine, Western sanctions
Freight Waves (February 26)
“Russia is not America’s largest trade partner by a long shot — representing less than 1% of the total imports — but many of our largest trading partners, like Germany and China, have strong economic ties to the country.” The conflict in Ukraine “will lead to more supply chain woes,” though there are obviously “many consequences much worse than continued supply chain disruptions and inflation.”
Tags: China, Conflict, Disruptions, Economic ties, Germany, Imports, Russia, Supply chain, Trading partners, U.S., Ukraine
The Guardian (February 24)
“The west stood back and watched in Syria – it must not do the same in Ukraine…. It’s time for the US and its allies to show their steel in the face of Putin’s aggression. We have learned that nothing else will work.”
Tags: Aggression, Allies, Putin, Steel, Stood back, Syria, U.S., Ukraine, Watched, West
San Francisco Chronicle (February 23)
“For American tech companies seeking talent, Ukraine’s highly educated population, with heavy emphasis on sought-after STEM specialties, is appealing, as is the fact that salaries there are about one-third to one-quarter of those for comparable jobs in the Bay Area.” Now these tech companies (including Google, Snap, Oracle, Grammarly, Ring, and JustAnswer) are urgently “revising contingency plans to protect their workers and businesses.”
Tags: Bay Area, Contingency plans, Educated, Google, JustAnswer, Oracle, Protect, Salaries, Snap, STEM, Talent, Tech companies, Ukraine
Wall Street Journal (February 22)
“Small businesses are bearing the brunt of supply-chain pressures and rising prices, with many tapping their cash reserves or taking on debt just to compete with larger rivals.” Most of them lack “the heft and sophistication to thrive in an environment of booming demand and short supply.” This further exacerbates “the existing power imbalance between small and big firms.”
Tags: Big firms, Booming demand, Brunt, Cash reserves, Compete, Debt, Power imbalance, Rising prices, Rivals, Short supply, Small businesses, Supply-chain pressures
Star Tribune (February 21)
Hit by higher costs for barley, a can shortage and soaring shipping costs, “even the world’s largest beer manufacturers are passing on their higher costs to consumers.” Up to now, “consumers have taken it in stride. Just as higher grocery bills are offset by dining out less, a bigger tab at liquor stores is being absorbed by a lack of travel and entertainment expenses.” Even so, there are worries we may be reaching a turning point where consumption will fall.
Tags: Barley, Beer, Can, Consumers, Dining out, Entertainment, Groceries, Higher costs, Manufacturers, Shipping, Shortage, Soaring, Travel, Turning-point
USA Today (February 21)
“They have come to an end, the strangest, most controversial, most unwelcoming Olympic Games of our lifetime…. This wasn’t a joyous festival of sport; this was a forbidding fortress of separation.” Furthermore, “the issues emanating from Beijing’s Olympics were far more serious, making the Tokyo Olympics look almost normal by comparison.”
Tags: Beijing, Controversial, End, Festival, Forbidding, Fortress, Joyous, Olympic Games, Separation, Serious, Sport, Strangest, Unwelcoming
The Economist (February 19)
“With the candour that has wrong-footed Mr Putin, many Western security officials accused him of lying, redoubling their warnings of a looming Russian invasion. Even if the troops pull back, this crisis is not yet over. And, whatever happens, war or no war, Mr Putin has damaged his country by engineering it.”
Tags: Crisis, Looming, Lying, Putin, Russian invasion, Security officials, Troops, Ukraine, War, Warnings, Wrong-footed
Washington Post (February 18)
“The U.S. economy has an inflation problem the likes of which haven’t been seen in 40 years, and the main policymakers in charge of keeping it in check — at the Federal Reserve — have been far too slow to even admit there is a problem, let alone to start addressing it. It is time for the Fed to get aggressive.”
Tags: Aggressive, Economy, Fed, Inflation, Policymakers, Problem, Slow, U.S.
South China Morning Post (February 17)
“Omicron has brought Hong Kong to its knees.” Things have gone “so horribly wrong” as the zero-Covid policy buckled. The health care system now teeters “on the brink of collapse.” Patients now “lie in beds outside hospitals and thousands more wait days for admission to isolation facilities.”
Tags: Admission, Collapse, Health-care system, Hong Kong, Horribly wrong, Hospitals, Isolation, Omicron, Patients, Zero COVID
