Bloomberg (October 30)
“The one-year truce struck on Thursday in South Korea is likely to only stabilize relations between the world’s two largest economies rather than resolve fundamental differences, with both sides buying time to further reduce dependence on each other in strategic areas. And it made clear just how much stronger China has become since Trump’s first term in office.”
Tags: Buying time, China, Dependence, First term, Fundamental differences, Resolve, South Korea, Stabilize, Strategic areas, Stronger, Truce, Trump
Investment Week (October 28)
“Both the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have recommended regulators pay more attention to ESG ratings and data.” This is happening in the UK where the “government has passed legislation requiring providers of ESG ratings to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.” The authorization will apply to firms “whose ratings are likely to influence a decision to make a specified investment.” ESG rating firms “that both ‘produce’ and ‘make available’ their ratings will be under scope of the legislation.”
Tags: Authorization, Data, ESG ratings, Financial Conduct Authority, Government, Influence, Investment decision, IOSCO, Legislation, OECD, Recommended, Regulators, UK
Washington Post (October 28)
“Africa has an even worse problem than the United States with aging politicians who won’t let go.” It may demographically be “the youngest continent,” but Africa “remains dominated by old men who long ago lost touch with popular sentiment. Already the world’s oldest head of state, Biya will be almost 100 if he finishes his eighth term. Togo’s president is 86. Malawi’s is 85. The Ivory Coast’s is 83. This gerontocracy creates a combustible situation that all but assures future conflict.”
Tags: 100, 83, 85, 86, Africa, Aging politicians, Biya, Combustible, Demographically, Dominated, Future conflict, Gerontocracy, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Old men, Popular sentiment, Togo, U.S., Youngest continent
New York Times (October 26)
Under Donald Trump, a “casino… now passes for the American economy.” Distinguished by froth, Trump’s “casino economy” is “built on speculation and risk. Across markets and policy, wagers on the future are being made with other people’s money at a cost that could prove catastrophic.” While it’s true that “economies run on risk, growth and ambition…. There’s risk, and then there’s reckless gambling.”
Tags: Ambition, Casino, Casino economy, Catastrophic, Cost, Froth, Future, Gambling, Growth, Money, Reckless, Risk, Speculation, Trump, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (October 25)
“Big Tech stocks are extremely expensive but have been for years. If OpenAI quickly comes up with a vital service everyone proves willing to pay big bucks to use, maybe even its price can be justified. After all, the only absolute proof of a bubble comes when it bursts.”
Tags: Big tech, Bubble, Bursts, Expensive, Justified, OpenAI, Pay, Price, Proof, Stocks, Vital service
The Guardian (October 25)
“The biggest owner of datacentres in the world, Amazon dwarfs competitors Microsoft and Google and is planning a huge increase in capacity as part of a push into artificial intelligence.” This has raised “concerns over how much water is being used to cool their vast arrays of circuitry,” as well as “criticism over transparency. Microsoft and Google regularly publish figures for their water consumption, but Amazon has never publicly disclosed how much water its server farms consume.” Based on partial disclosure, Amazon consumes at least as much water “as 958,000 US households, which would make for a city bigger than San Francisco.”
Tags: AI, Amazon, Capacity, Competitors, Criticism, Datacentres, Google, Microsoft, Partial disclosure, San Francisco, Server farms, Transparency, Water consumption
Fortune (October 24)
“Some economists have called the “K shaped economy.” Affluent households continue to spend freely on travel, entertainment, and premium goods, keeping service-sector inflation stubborn. Lower- and middle-income consumers, by contrast, are pushing back, trading down, stretching budgets, or delaying purchases altogether.”
Tags: Affluent, Consumers, Economists, Entertainment, Households, Inflation, K shaped economy, Middle-income, Premium goods, Service-sector, Spend, Travel
Reuters (October 22)
“Sanae Takaichi wants to spend a lot of money on Japan, but she also needs to sort out some hefty financial obligations to the United States.” She is coming under immediate “pressure to secure backing for $550 billion her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba pledged to invest in U.S. projects as part of his tariff deal with the White House.” Given the new Prime Minister’s “desire to use fiscal spending to boost growth, she’s likely to lean on” private, rather than public, funding “to avoid immediate budgetary constraints.”
Tags: $550 billion, Financial obligations, Fiscal spending, Funding, Growth, Invest, Ishiba, Japan, Money, Pressure, Prime minister, Private, Public, Takaichi, Tariff deal, U.S.
Bloomberg (October 22)
“Six months into Donald Trump’s trade war, the resilience of Chinese exports is proving just how essential many of its products remain even after US levies of 55%.” The weaknesses of Trump’s tariffs are becoming clear. They “appear somewhat limited in their ability to control what American firms import, as China’s sway over sectors such as rare earths and electronics makes its products hard to dislodge.” On top of that, loopholes play a factor. “American importers are able to pay a lower levy by declaring the customs value of goods based on their first sale in a third country, and then raising the price when the items reach a US port. Transhipping via Mexico or Vietnam means some firms are likely not paying the full tax.”
Tags: China, Customs value, Dislodge, Electronics, Essential, Exports, Importers, Loopholes, Mexico, Price, Products, Rare earths, Resilience, Tariffs, Trade war, Transhipping, Trump, U.S., Vietnam
Fortune (October 21)
“GDP estimates that show steady growth in the American economy may prove to be overly optimistic, Goldman Sachs warned, as a vacuum of data during the government shutdown may result in employment figures ultimately dragging down the optimistic outlook.”
Tags: Data, Economy, Employment figures, Estimates, GDP, Goldman Sachs, Government shutdown, Optimistic, Outlook, Steady growth, U.S., Vacuum, Warned
