Financial Times (October 30)
Empty housing poses an increasing threat to both Japan and China. The former already grapples with surplus units while the latter “may already have enough housing to meet its future needs.” Nomura Research Institute has forecast that in Japan, “even as the number of empty units roughly doubles between 2023 and 2038, construction will add more than 8mn new ones.” Due to the rise of single person households, the total number of households will only peak next year. From that point, “the housing surplus will rise more acutely and the downward pressure on property prices strengthen.” The major demographic issue facing China, “may be how to avoid a Japan-style property crisis.”
Tags: China, Construction, Demographic, Downward pressure, Empty, Households, Housing, Japan, NRI, Peak, Property crisis, Surplus, Threat, Units
Investment Week (October 28)
“The International Monetary Foundation cut its growth forecasts for the Asia and Pacific region on Friday (October 28) as it said the region was burdened by a ‘sharp and uncharacteristic slowdown’ of China’s economy, global financial tightening and the war in Ukraine.” Accustomed to growth averaging 5.5% over two decades, Asia’s “forecasts were dropped to 4% for 2022 and 4.3% for 2023, a 0.9 and 0.8 point drop respectively from April’s figures.”
Market Watch (October 27)
“Amazon and Microsoft prove that cloud growth has hit a plateau and investors are ripping away more than $300 billion in valuation because of it, but the technology will still be at the core of computing for generations ahead.”
Tags: $300 billion, Amazon, Cloud growth, Computing, Core, Generations, Investors, Microsoft, Plateau, Technology, Valuation
New York Times (October 27)
“Because of soaring deforestation rates under President Jair Bolsonaro, the Amazon ecosystem is on the brink of catastrophe.” For Brazilians, “this will be a painful election between two deeply flawed candidates. But for the future of human life on this planet, there is only one right choice.” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “promises to stop the destruction.”
Tags: Amazon, Bolsonaro, Brazil, Candidates, Catastrophe, Deforestation, Destruction, Ecosystem, Election, Flawed, Future, Human life, Lula da Silva, Planet, President, Soaring
Bloomberg (October 26)
“The latest bear-market rally in US stocks has brought investors off the sidelines and provided a welcome reprieve from three quarters of gloom. But traders now need to ask themselves whether the risks continue to justify the potential returns.” Are they “truly nimble enough to chase this latest short-term rally to culmination without toppling off the inevitable cliff at the end of it.”
Tags: Bear-market rally, Gloom, Inevitable cliff, Investors, Nimble, Reprieve, Returns, Risks, Short term, Stocks, Traders, U.S.
Washington Post (October 24)
“Tax hikes and macroeconomic discipline won’t be enough. To persuade both investors and voters to believe in post-Brexit Britain, Sunak needs a convincing growth agenda. Since tax cuts are unaffordable, that agenda must consist of regulatory reform. Sunak must be as bold on microeconomic strategy as he is on macro.”
Tags: Britain, Convincing, Discipline, Growth agenda, Investors, Macroeconomic, Microeconomic strategy, Persuade, Post-Brexit, Regulatory reform, Sunak, Tax cuts, Tax hikes, Unaffordable, Voters
The Guardian (October 23)
“As the leader enters his third term, there are increasing signs that the country is turning inwards, replacing the outside world with cyber ‘reality.’” It looks like “the China of the 2020s may be considerably less open than the one we have known for some four decades from the 1980s to 2020.”
Tags: 2020s, China, Cyber ‘reality’, Inwards, Leader, Open, Outside world, Signs
The Economist (October 22)
“House prices are now falling in nine rich economies…. In condo-crazed Canada homes cost 9% less than they did in February. As inflation and recession stalk the world a deepening correction is likely.” Falling home prices are unlikely to lead to a global banking crisis, but “it will intensify the downturn, leave a cohort of people with wrecked finances and start a political storm.”
Tags: Banking, Canada, Condo, Correction, Crisis, Deepening, Downturn, Falling, Finances, House prices, Inflation, Intensify, Political storm, Recession, Rich economies, Wrecked
Quartz (October 22)
“Among American adults, reliance on TikTok for news content has roughly tripled since 2020, rising from 3% to 10% in the past two years. More than a quarter of US adults under 30 now regularly use TikTok for news.” The overall trend is, however, morning the other way as fewer Americans rely “for news on social media, especially Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Snapchat” according to recent findings of the Pew Research Center.
Tags: Adults, Facebook, News, Reddit, Rely, Snapchat, Social media, TikTok, Trend, Twitter, U.S., Under 30
South China Morning Post (October 20)
“China faces an urgent need to devise a counterplan in the face of sweeping new tech controls imposed by the United States, as the implications of its unprecedented moves are seen extending far beyond China’s semiconductor industry and into advanced sectors that Beijing deems critically important drivers of future economic growth.”
Tags: Advanced sectors, China, Counterplan, Future economic growth, Implications, Semiconductor industry, Sweeping, Tech controls, U.S., Unprecedented, Urgent
