Reuters (August 10)
“What a difference a year makes: Consumers have gotten off the couch…. There is evidence that the streaming market has hit a saturation point. Netflix lost 1.3 million American and Canadian customers in the second quarter, where it enjoys the highest average revenue per user.”
Tags: ARPU, Canada, Consumers, Couch, Customers, Difference, Netflix, Q2, Saturation, Streaming market, U.S.
Investing.com (August 9)
“Inflation expectations among consumers in the U.S. have plunged, falling at the fastest rate ever in the history of the New York Federal Reserve’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations.” The July survey revealed “consumers expect inflation to rise 6.2% over the next year and 3.2% over the next three years,” down considerably from 6.8% and 3.6% in June’s survey.
Bloomberg (August 7)
“Sky-high US inflation may finally be approaching a peak as global economic growth sputters and oil and other commodity prices plunge. Now the focus is shifting to how fast and far it will retreat.” The tight job market “is probably the biggest reason why inflation may prove more entrenched than the optimists expect.”
Tags: Commodity prices, Entrenched, Global, Growth, Inflation, Job market, Oil, Optimists, Peak, Plunge, Sky-high, Sputters, U.S.
South China Morning Post (August 6)
Hong Kong’s “tough Covid-19 measures have lasted too long. They have sucked much of the joy out of everyday life and left the city isolated.” Politics have also lessened Hong Kong’s appeal. “The protests, the national security law, mass arrests and relentless rhetoric have all had an impact.” So many of the best and most “cherished memories of the city…. belong to an era that has ended.”
Tags: Appeal, COVID-19, Era, Hong Kong, Isolated, Joy, Mass arrests, National-security law, Politics, Protests, Rhetoric
Wall Street Journal (August 5)
“China’s firing of missiles near Japan has left little doubt that Tokyo would be pulled into any potential war over Taiwan—and would be part of the U.S.-led alliance likely to defend the island.”
Institutional Investor (August 4)
“Rampant inflation means the total return that private and community foundations need to break even and pay their beneficiaries is about as high as it’s ever been.” As they face “some of the most challenging mandates they’ve ever encountered,” foundations “will have to make tough decisions about risk and spending to survive.”
Tags: Beneficiaries, Break even, Challenging, Foundations, Inflation, Mandates, Rampant, Risk, Spending, Total return
U.S. News (August 3)
“A surge in consumer demand and pandemic-related logjams holding up containers in key ports had boosted freight rates and profits in the shipping industry in recent quarters, yet the cost of living crisis has reversed that trend.” Shipping giant Maersk, which controls 17% of the container shipping market “expects global container demand to fall this year as sales of durable goods come to a ‘standstill.’” Inflation, “dented consumer demand” and the weaker economy “could lead to a normalization of the global shipping market towards the end of the year.”
Tags: Containers, Crisis, Demand, Durable goods, Freight rates. Profits, Inflation, Logjams, Maersk, Normalization, Pandemic, Ports, Shipping industry, Surge
Washington Post (August 3)
“If it seems like a barrage of extreme rain events has been wreaking havoc across the country over the past week, you’re not imagining things. The latest resulted from an overnight deluge in central and southeastern Illinois.” This was “the third 1-in-1,000-year rain event in the Lower 48 states in about a week,” with two of the events striking in just two days.
Tags: Barrage, Deluge, Extreme, Illinois, Overnight, Rain events, Week, Wreaking havoc
Wall Street Journal (August 2)
“Bearish investors aren’t buying into hopes that July’s rapid advance for stocks heralds the start of a new bull market. If anything, they say the worst might be yet to come as inflation remains high, the Federal Reserve plans more interest-rate increases and stocks trade at valuations that still don’t look cheap.”
Tags: Bearish, Bull market, Fed, Hopes, Increases, Inflation, Interest rate, Investors, July Stocks, Valuations
WARC (August 1)
“Whether it’s $18 for a two-ounce ginseng drink or $75,000 for a luxury mattress, the story is the same: Chinese consumers are becoming more frugal and the days of carefree spending have gone.” For over a decade, upmarket western brands have relied on China’s “expanding middle class” to drive growth, “but now, with a slowing economy, growing unemployment and a disruptive zero-COVID policy, those same middle classes are as likely to be saving as spending.”
Tags: Carefree, China, Consumers, Frugal, Growth, Luxury, Middle class, Saving, Slowing Economy, Spending, Unemployment, Upmarket, Western brands, Zero COVID
