New York Times (May 11)
The weak yen, coupled with soaring food and energy costs, “are posing yet another challenge for the world’s third-largest economy as Japan trails other major nations in emerging from the economic blow of the pandemic. The rise in prices has spooked Japanese consumers used to decades of stability, and the weak yen is starting to look as if it will depress demand at home more than stimulate it abroad.”
Tags: Challenge, Consumers, Costs, Economy, Energy, Food, Japan, Pandemic, Prices, Soaring, Spooked, Stability, Weak yen
The Guardian (March 30)
“The pandemic has changed, but the idea that it is over is false.” Last week, the UK had an estimated 4.26 million cases and hospital “admissions with Covid are only 2% below the first Omicron peak two months ago and still rising.” Nor is Covid endemic. Eventually, it probably will be, but endemic “does not necessarily mean mild,” as TB, Malaria and other endemic diseases illustrate. “Trying to ignore a disease that is still so unpredictable feels a bit like turning your back on a hungry tiger in the undergrowth.”
Tags: Admissions, Cases, Covid, Diseases, Endemic, False, Hospital, Hungry tiger, Malaria, Mild, Omicron, Pandemic, Peak, Rising, TB, UK, Unpredictable
Investment Week (March 28)
Global dealmaking has dropped “to its lowest level since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic…. Just over $1trn of deals were struck in the first quarter of 2022, nearly a quarter less than the same period last year.” Primary factors behind slowing M&A activity appear to be “tougher regulations on both sides of the Atlantic, soaring inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Tags: 2022, COVID-19, Dealmaking, Global, Inflation, M&A, Outbreak, Pandemic, Q1, Regulation, Russia, Slowing, Soaring, Tougher, Ukraine, War
Bloomberg (March 27)
“Prices for some of the world’s most pivotal products – foods, fuels, plastics, metals – are spiking beyond what many buyers can afford. That’s forcing consumers to cut back and, if the trend grows, may tip economies already buffeted by pandemic and war back into recession.”
Tags: Buffeted, Buyers, Consumers, Economies, Foods, Fuels, Metals, Pandemic, Plastics, Prices, Products, Spiking, Trend, War
New York Times (March 18)
Financial markets took the Fed’s higher rates in stride. “The stock market rose, bond yields wavered and commodity prices moderated. But whether the economy can withstand rising rates during a period of geopolitical turmoil and a lingering pandemic is a question without an immediate answer.”
Tags: Bond yields, Commodity prices, Economy, Fed, Financial markets, Geopolitical turmoil, Pandemic, Rising rates, Stock market, Withstand
Financial Times (March 7)
“Bond markets are flashing a warning signal about the growth prospects for the global economy, just as central bankers prepare to tackle soaring inflation with higher interest rates. The gap between long-term and short-term government borrowing rates in big developed economies has narrowed drastically since mid-October.” This flattening of the yield curve might prove “an ominous sign for the durability of the rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Tags: Pandemic
WARC (February 8)
“Despite the difficulty of putting on the games with a pandemic still raging and freezing conditions even by the standard of snow sports, success in the Winter Olympics is putting Chinese designed technology front and centre.” This provides an excellent stage to advance the country’s “Made in China 2025” strategic plan that is “designed to move the Chinese economy away from being a low-wage factory to the world and toward high tech, advanced design and manufacturing.”
Tags: “Made in China 2025”, Advance, Advanced design, Economy, Factory, Freezing, High-tech, Low wage, Manufacturing, Pandemic, Raging, Sports, Strategic plan, Success, Technology, Winter Olympics
Australian Financial Review (February 4)
“Mr Buffett shocked the world in 2020 when Berkshire Hathaway announced that it bought stakes in five of Japan’s biggest trading companies, which at the time were grappling with declining profits as the COVID-19 pandemic reduced demand for fuel and raw materials.” Now, his “surprise bet” is clearly “paying off as the companies expect a record-breaking rebound in profits.”
Tags: 2020, Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett, COVID-19, Demand, Fuel, Grappling, Japan, Pandemic, Profits, Raw materials, Shocked, Stakes, Trading companies
New York Times (February 2)
“Warehouse space is the latest thing being hoarded.” Retailers and logistics companies now confront a new challenge as they “try to stockpile goods to hedge against supply chain problems…. The shortage of commercial warehouse and industrial space is the latest fallout from pandemic-fueled growth in online shopping and shows few signs of abating.”
Tags: Challenge, Commercial, Fallout, Hoarded, Industrial, Logistics, Pandemic, Problems, Retailers, Shortage, Space, Stockpile, Supply chain, Warehouse
New York Times (January 25)
“So far, 2022 is off to a rocky start for the stock market. Yesterday, after an initial plunge in which stocks dropped as much as 4 percent — the biggest one-day drop in nearly a year — the market rallied and ended the day with a slight gain.” There was no particularly market-moving news, but “the foundations supporting the market during the pandemic are looking less stable.”
Tags: 2022, Foundations, Gain, News, Pandemic, Plunge, Rallied, Rocky start, Stock market, Support
