Wall Street Journal (June 8-9)
“The recession, predicted by business executives, economists, and investors, refuses to show up. Steady hiring continues to fuel consumer spending and, in turn, an economic expansion unlike any the U.S. has seen. Employers added 2.75 million jobs over the last 12 months,” with an unemployment rate “at or below 4% for 30 months, something that last occurred during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and the Korean War in the early 1950s.”
Tags: Consumer spending, Economic expansion, Economists, Employers, Executives, Hiring, Investors, Predicted, Recession, U.S., Unemployment rate
South China Morning Post (June 7)
“China’s export growth accelerated in May amid heightening trade frictions, fuelled by surging demand from Southeast Asia and a lower base effect, while its trade surplus also widened from April.” The news may provide Beijing with “a promising path toward its annual growth target” as exports surged a full 7.6% year on year.
Tags: 7.6%, Accelerated, China, Exports, Growth target, Promising, Southeast Asia, Surging demand, Trade frictions, Trade surplus
The Economist (June 6)
Concerns that cheap Chinese semiconductors will flood the market may be premature.” The world probably shouldn’t “fear China’s chipmaking binge.”
Tags: Chipmaking binge
New York Times (June 6)
Office building losses are starting to “pile up, and more pain is expected.” The culprits? Weak demand for office space and interest rates and other costs that are higher than in many years. “The repercussions could extend far beyond the owners of these buildings and their lenders. A sustained drop in the value of commercial real estate could sap property tax revenue” that cities depend on and “hurt restaurants and other businesses that served the companies and workers who occupied those spaces.”
Tags: Cities, Costs, CRE, Culprits, Interest rates, Lenders, Losses, Office building, Office space, Owners, Pain, Pile up, Property tax, Repercussions, Restaurants, Weak demand
Financial Times (June 5)
“India’s benchmark Nifty 50 rose 2.3 per cent following a sharp sell-off on Tuesday after a shock election result.” Meanwhile “Japan’s Topix index led losses as it dropped 1.4 per cent, driven lower by a decline in the financial and energy sectors. The yen was the region’s worst-performing currency as it fell 0.6 per cent against the dollar to ¥155.75.”
Tags: Benchmark, Currency, Decline, Election, Energy, Financial, India, Japan, Nifty 50, Sell-off, Shock, Topix, Worst-performing, Yen
Washington Post (June 4)
“The European Central Bank on Thursday is almost certain to lower its benchmark interest rate for the first time in nearly five years. The move will come as the Federal Reserve remains on hold with plans to trim U.S. borrowing costs, amid inflation that is proving more stubborn than anticipated.” For the ECB, however, inflation appears to be “less of a problem than the weak growth outlook.”
Tags: Benchmark, Borrowing costs, ECB, Fed, Inflation, Interest rate, Lower, Outlook, Stubborn, U.S., Weak growth
Reuters (June 4)
“India may no longer be Narendra Modi’s” and any coalition government he can form will likely end “a decade of extraordinary stability.” While the elite have cheered Modi’s economic reforms, “India’s world-beating GDP growth is not trickling down to the masses fast enough: after a decade of Modi, most of the population are still poor enough to qualify for the government’s free food scheme.” In addition to income disparity, “many Indians feared his authoritarian streak and potential far-reaching changes to the secular constitution.”
Tags: Authoritarian streak, Coalition government, Economic reforms, Elite, Free food, GDP growth, Income disparity, India, Modi, Poor, Population, Secular constitution, Stability
Bloomberg (June 2)
“The main drivers behind the remarkably resilient American consumer are losing steam at the same time, suggesting a recent pullback in household demand may be more than just a one-off. Real disposable incomes have risen only modestly over the past year.” The U.S. personal savings rate is sharply lower than a year ago and “many Americans are increasingly relying on credit cards and other sources of financing to support their spending.”
Tags: Consumer, Credit cards, Disposable incomes, Financing, Household demand, Main drivers, Pullback, Resilient, Savings, U.S.
Institutional Investor (May 31)
“Insurance companies seeking better investment performance continue to outsource more of their general accounts to asset managers. Investment firms managed $3.6 trillion in assets for insurance companies globally in 2023, up from $3.2 trillion in 2022 and more than double the $1.4 trillion they managed for them in 2014.”
Tags: $3.6 trillion, Asset managers, Assets, General accounts, Insurance companies, Investment firms, Outsource, Performance
Time (May 30)
“There are moments in American history that we all know matter, even if we aren’t clear at the time about their weight.” These moments become “political inflection points” and one of them “just took place in lower Manhattan. Thursday’s decision by a dozen jurors to find former President Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony crimes is an era-defining event, but how it will shape the age remains entirely uncertain.”
Tags: Decision, Era-defining event, Felony crimes, Guilty, History, Inflection points, Jurors, Manhattan, Moments, Political, Trump, U.S., Uncertain
