Forbes (March 4)
“The bitcoin price has topped $60,000 per bitcoin, making it a $1 trillion asset again,” reigniting concerns of possible fallout on the economy should its price tumble. Still, the wind appears to be with bitcoin. “Bank of America analysts have warned the U.S. debt load is about to ramp up to add $1 trillion every 100 days—fueling a bitcoin price surge.”
Tags: $1 trillion, $60k, 100 days, Analysts, Asset, Bitcoin, BoA, Concerns, Debt load, Economy, Fallout, Reigniting, Tumble, U.S.
New York Times (February 24)
“Investors often see Berkshire as a bellwether of the American economy, given the breadth of its business.” Marking a sharp reversal from a $22 billion loss in 2022, the conglomerate recorded net earnings of $97.1 billion in 2023, “its highest-ever annual profit last year.” Moreover, “Berkshire also reported $37.4 billion in operating earnings, the financial metric that Mr. Buffett prefers because it excludes paper investment gains and losses, for the year, up 21 percent from 2022.”
Tags: 2022, 2023, Bellwether, Berkshire, Conglomerate, Economy, Investment gains, Investors, Loss, Net earnings, Operating earnings, Profit, Reversal, U.S.
Business Insider (February 16)
“The US economy managed to shake off Wall Street’s gloomy forecasts and dodge a long-predicted slump last year — but the same can’t be said for two other members of the G7.” Both the UK and Japan entered technical recessions based on data released Thursday showing each nation’s GDP fell during both of the two last quarters in 2023.
Tags: 2023, Economy, Fell, Forecasts, G7, GDP, Japan, Predicted, Slump, Technical recessions, U.S., UK, Wall Street
Reuters (February 15)
“Japan’s journey back to normality has just taken an unwelcome turn. The world’s third-largest economy in U.S. dollar terms ceded the title to Germany on Thursday” as Japan simultaneously slipped into a recession. “More unnerving is a slew of weak data making it harder for the Bank of Japan to justify hiking rates and officially ending its era of ultra-easy monetary policy.”
Tags: BOJ, Economy, Germany, Japan, Monetary policy, Normality, Rates, Recession, Third-largest, U.S., Unnerving, Uultra-easy, Weak data
Wall Street Journal (February 12)
“Stand in the middle of the business district of any big U.S. city and the nearby buildings are emptier and a lot less valuable than they were four years ago. Listed office real-estate investment trusts have already faced the music: The S&P 500 Office REITs Sub-Industry Index has roughly halved in value since before the pandemic. The reality check for banks is just beginning.”
Tags: Banks, Buildings, Business district, Emptier, Halved, Listed, Office REITs, Pandemic, Reality check, S&P 500, U.S., Valuable
New York Times (February 5)
“A sense of foreboding,” carried over from the pandemic, remains shared by many Americans. Though this “sense of insecurity has seeped into the crevices of everyday experience,” it increasingly seems to “conflict with data points that reflect an unambiguous strengthening of the American economy. Incomes have risen, unemployment remains low and consumer confidence is improving.”
Tags: Conflict, Data points, Economy, Everyday, Foreboding, Incomes, Insecurity, Pandemic, Strengthening, U.S., Unemployment
The Economist (February 3)
Between 2012 and 2022, half of the Americans who adopted EVs and PHEVs were “living in the 10% of counties with the highest proportion of Democratic voters.” Polarization may best the biggest obstacle limiting “the American market for electric vehicles.” Polarization “is cursing not only America’s politics but, increasingly, its culture and marketplace.”
Tags: 2012, 2022, and PHEVs, Culture, Cursing, Democratic, EVs, Limiting, Market, Obstacle, Polarization, Politics, U.S., Vehicles, Voters
Financial Times (February 1)
“Mounting losses from banks in the US, Asia and Europe have rekindled concerns about weakness in the US commercial property market, a sector that has been under pressure from lower occupancy levels and higher interest rates.” This week New York Community Bancorp, Aozora Bank and Deutsche Bank each warned of related risks or recognized losses, which “mark the latest fallout from the… dual problems of fewer people working in offices since the pandemic and more expensive borrowing costs.”
Tags: Aozora Bank, Asia, Banks, Commercial property, Concerns, Deutsche Bank, Europe, Fallout, Interest rates, Losses, Occupancy, Offices, Pandemic, Pressure, Risks, U.S., Weakness
Bloomberg (January 26)
In the “race for world’s biggest economy,” the U.S. has extended its “lead over china.” U.S. GDP “rose 6.3% in nominal terms…last year, outpacing China’s 4.6% gain.” Some of that is due to inflation, but the result “underscores a broader point: The US economy is emerging from the pandemic period in a better place than China’s.”
Tags: Better, China, Economy, Emerging, GDP, Inflation, Lead, Outpacing, Pandemic, Race, U.S., World
Washington Post (January 25)
“The nation’s economy was supposed to have sunk into recession by now, dragged down by the highest interest rates in two decades and a resulting slump in borrowing and spending. Instead, the U.S. economy has kept chugging along. Even more encouraging, inflation, which touched a four-decade high in 2022, has edged steadily lower without the painful layoffs that most economists had thought would be necessary to slow the acceleration of prices.”
Tags: Acceleration, Borrowing, Economists, Economy, Encouraging, Inflation, Interest rates, Layoffs, Painful, Recession, Slump, Spending, U.S.
