Newsweek (April 30)
“Familiar alarm bells sounded in Japan this month as year-end population figures and new projections combined to paint an uncertain future for Asia’s No. 2 economy.” The latest figures show a “12th consecutive annual decline” with the nation’s population standing “at 124.94 million for the year to October, a decrease of over half a million people from 2021.” Moreover, “the working population, aged 15 to 64, fell to 74.2 million, and those above 65 reached 36.23 million—both respective records.” Japan is approaching the “point of no return.”
Tags: 124.94 million, Alarm bells, Asia, Decline, Decrease, Japan, No. 2 economy, Point of no return, Population, Projections, Records, Uncertain future
BBC (November 15)
“Britain’s stock market has lost its position as Europe’s most-valued,” marking “the first time Paris has overtaken London since records began…. The combined value of British shares is now around $2.821 trillion (£2.3 trillion), while France’s are worth around $2.823 trillion.” Factors behind the shift include “a weak pound, fears of recession in the UK and surging sales at French luxury goods makers.”
Tags: $2.823 trillion, Britain, Europe, Fears, First, France, London, Most-valued, Overtaken, Paris, Recession, Records, Shares, Stock market, Surging sales, UK, Weak pound
BBC (November 3)
“The Bank of England has warned the UK is facing its longest recession since records began, as it raised interest rates by the most in 33 years,” indicating that “the UK would face a ‘very challenging’ two-year slump with unemployment nearly doubling by 2025.” The BoE’s forecast paints “a picture of a painful economic period, with the UK performing worse than the US and the Eurozone.”
Tags: 2025, BOE, Challenging, Doubling, Forecast, Interest rates, Longest, Painful, Recession, Records, Slump, U.S., UK, Unemployment, Warned, Worse
Wall Street Journal (November 1)
The European Union’s statistics agency released figures that surprised most economists. “Consumer prices were 10.7% higher in October than a year earlier.” This marks “the fastest rate of increase since records began in 1997, two years before the euro was launched,” while at the national level “Germany’s measure of inflation was the highest since December 1951.”
Tags: 10.7%, 1997, Consumer prices, Economists, EU, euro, Fastest, Germany, Highest, Increase, Inflation, October, Records, Statistics agency, Surprised
BBC (July 20)
“Heat records tumbled and firefighters faced new blazes as much of Western Europe baked in a gruelling heatwave.” The UK “saw temperatures of more than 40C (104F) for the first time.” Germany had “its hottest day of the year,” as did the Netherlands, while in France “37,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes” due to wildfires. In the past week, Portugal alone has recorded “more than 1,000 heatwave-related deaths.”
Tags: Blazes, Deaths, Firefighters, France, Germany, Gruelling, Heat, Heatwave, Netherlands, Portugal, Records, Temperatures, UK, Western Europe, Wildfires
Washington Post (June 25)
“In a blistering hot June around the Northern Hemisphere, in which heat records have fallen on every continent, Japan is the latest to swelter. On Saturday, temperatures there shot above 104 degrees (40 Celsius) for the first time on record during the month, another clear sign of the sweeping effects of human-caused climate change.”
Tags: 40 degrees, Blistering, Climate change, Effects, Hot, Human-caused, Japan, June, Records, Sign, Swelter, Temperatures
Wall Street Journal (October 7)
“Natural gas stocks are alarmingly low around the world, and prices in most places have never been higher after surging to new records…. Demand has jumped as economies have bounced back from pandemic shutdowns, and the squeeze has caught traders, shipowners and energy executives off guard.” Nations that “have wound down coal-fired plants and become more dependent on gas” are particularly vulnerable and, in some cases, restarting mothballed power plants despite higher GHG emissions.
Tags: Coal, Demand, Economies, Energy, GHG emissions, Natural gas, Pandemic, Prices, Records, Shipowners, Shutdowns, Squeeze, Stocks, Surging, Traders, Vulnerable
NBC News (September 3)
“The weather records for the New York City metropolitan area fell almost as quickly as the rain Wednesday night. The National Weather Service issued its first flash flood emergency ever for the city, and in Central Park, 3.2 inches of rain fell in an hour, setting a record. Newark, New Jersey, matched it, getting 3.2 inches of rain in an hour. Wednesday was the wettest day on record in Newark, with total rainfall of 8.4 inches…. Both cities experienced 1-in-500-year rainfall events. The result was one of the deadliest and most destructive flash flood events to hit the tri-state area, with at least 41 people dead by Thursday evening.”
Tags: 1-in-500-year, Central Park, Deadliest, Destructive, Emergency, Flash flood, New Jersey, Newark, NYC, Rain, Rainfall, Records, Weather
Wall Street Journal (June 4)
“Investors have piled into new carbon-credit-trading funds, helping make the upstart market one of the best-performing commodities-related investments of the past year.” In Europe, the trading price for carbon credits “has jumped 135% over the past 12 months and recently hit a series of records as economic activity rebounded from pandemic lockdowns. Only lumber, driven higher by the housing boom, has proved a better commodities investment.”
Tags: Best-performing, Carbon credits, Commodities, Europe, Funds, Housing boom, Investments, Investors, Lockdowns, Lumber, Market, Pandemic, Rebounded, Records, Trading, Upstart
Wall Street Journal (January 9)
“The S&P 500 inched higher Monday, extending this year’s run of records. Stocks have begun 2018 on an upbeat note, buoyed by investors’ optimism over the global economy and bets that central banks are unlikely to pressure markets by raising interest rates faster than expected.”
Tags: 2018, Central banks, Economy, Interest rates, Investors, Optimism, Records, S&P 500, Stocks, Upbeat
