Financial Times (October 10)
“Germany is facing its first two-year recession since the early 2000s as the government downgraded its 2024 growth forecast for the eurozone’s largest economy.” Hurdles have included “soaring inflation, high interest rates and energy costs driven higher by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” along with longer term “structural problems, such as Germany’s dire skills shortage, years of under-investment in infrastructure and excessive red tape.”
Tags: Economy, Energy costs, eurozone, Germany, Growth forecast, Hurdles, Inflation, Infrastructure, Interest rates, Recession, Russia, Skills shortage, Structural problems, Ukraine, Under-investment
CNN (October 9)
“The S&P 500 index has gained roughly 21% for the year, notching dozens of record highs along the way as artificial intelligence enthusiasm helps drive stocks higher.” Amid “rising confidence that the US economy will achieve a soft landing” and recent data points suggesting strong economic footing, investors will be “looking to the upcoming earnings season for clues about the US economy’s health.”
Tags: 21%, Artificial intelligence, Clues, Confidence, Earnings season, Economy, Enthusiasm, Health, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/09/investing/earnings-companies-stocks/index.html S&P 500, Investors, Record highs, Soft landing, US
Reuters (October 8)
“Employees have grown to appreciate the advantages of avoiding commutes while chief executives are increasingly frustrated by the drawbacks from having tasks completed remotely.” The tension continues, but “the CEOs who prefer just to have their staffs back in the same place have an increasingly powerful ally: weaker job markets.”
Tags: Advantages, Ally, CEOs, Chief executives, Commutes, Drawbacks, Employees, Frustrated, Remote, Staffs, Tension, Weaker job markets
Bloomberg (October 7)
“The ‘no landing’ scenario–a situation where the US economy keeps growing, inflation reignites and the Federal Reserve has little room to cut interest rates–had largely disappeared as a bond-market talking point in recent months.” After “setting up for slowing growth,” traders are undergoing another “wrenching recalibration” on the heels of a “blowout” jobs report “showing the fastest job growth in six months, a surprising drop in US unemployment and higher wages.” Treasury yields surged and investors are “furiously reversing course on bets for a larger-than-normal half-point interest-rate reduction.”
Tags: Blowout, Bond market, Economy, Fed, Growing, Inflation, Interest rates, Jobs, No landing, Recalibration, Scenario, Traders, Treasury yields, U.S., Unemployment, Wages
South China Morning Post (October 6)
Amid prospects of a stimulus led recovery, China’s travel industry is facing a “reality check” as it confronts what many claim is the “‘worst ever” season. China’s travel data may paint “an optimistic picture,” but consumers “are reluctant to spend amid broader economic anxieties.” Operators are “lamenting” the “Golden Week” season with some travel businesses actually “faring worse than during the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Tags: China, Confronts, Economic anxieties, Golden Week, Operators, Prospects, Reality check, Recovery, Spend, Stimulus, Travel industry, Worst ever
Forbes (October 4)
“The bulls charging through Shanghai are beginning to look over their shoulders. Gaining on them is economic reality.” The 30% surge in equities since hitting their September low may be “overdone. The problem is an underlying economy facing intensifying headwinds. And one failing to keep pace with the sudden surge in investor optimism toward China.”
Tags: 30% surge, Bulls, Economic reality, Economy, Equities, Headwinds, Investor optimism, Overdone, September low, Shanghai, Underlying
Inc. (October 4)
There was “a collective sigh of relief from U.S. business owners and economic officials” with Thursday’s agreement “to send 45,000 striking longshoremen back to work, and reopen nearly 40 East and Gulf Coast ports that had been closed since Tuesday.” The move “allows nearly half of the nation’s imports and exports to begin flowing again, and avoid the serious blow to retailers and industrial companies—and the wider economy—that could have occurred if the walkout had continued.”
Tags: Agreement, Business, East coast, Exports, Imports, Industry, Longshoremen, Officials, Owners, Ports, Relief, Reopen, Retailers, Striking, U.S.
Fortune (October 3)
“The boss of German carmaker Mercedes-Benz is bracing his company for a ‘Darwinian battle’ as Europe’s auto giants reel from falling demand and the onslaught of Chinese competitors.” CEO Ola Källenius and Mercedes-Benz are at “a pivotal moment of sink or swim.” As EV uptake slows in the Europe, “a similar demand glut in China and the emergence of cheap competitors from the region has left Europe’s carmakers fighting fires at home and overseas.”
Tags: Carmaker, CEO, China, Competitors, Darwinian battle, Europe, EVs, Falling demand, Germany, Glut, Källenius, Mercedes-Benz, Onslaught
New York Times (October 3)
“Markets are on edge about the risk of another oil shock. The price of crude has been relatively stable over the past year, apart from brief spikes.” Now, however, concern is focused on the potential “economic cost of a new war in the Middle East.” Estimates of the potential cost are wide-ranging and speculative, but “an escalation of fighting between Israel and Iran could cause oil prices to spike and send a chill through the global economy.”
Tags: Chill, Crude, Economic cost, Escalation, Fighting, Iran, Israel, Markets, Middle East, Oil prices, Oil shock, Risk, Speculative, Spikes, Stable, War
Washington Post (October 2)
“The United States just witnessed its most extreme October heat.” On Tuesday, temperatures hit 117 degrees (47 °C) in Palm Springs, tying the October record for North America. “More than 200 warm weather records were set on Tuesday alone in the western United States on the heels of around 2,500 records set in the final third of September between the Southwest and Upper Midwest.”
Tags: 47 °C, Extreme, Heat, North America, October, Palm Springs, Record, September, Southwest, Temperatures, U.S., Upper Midwest, Weather
