NBC News (April 15)
“Oil prices have started to slip — but not necessarily for reasons that suggest a return to market normalcy.” According to the IEA, “demand destruction” is resulting from “the acute energy commodity shortages stemming from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.” Oil is now at the “point where it is now so expensive that overseas businesses and households have begun curbing investment and consumption.”
Tags: Acute, Businesses, Closure, Demand destruction, Energy commodity, Expensive, Households, IEA, Investment, Market normalcy, Oil prices, Overseas, Shortages, Slip, Strait of Hormuz
South China Morning Post (January 5)
“More than 30,000 car dealers in mainland China are facing another bleak year in 2025, with many turning from profit-generators into corporate failures in two years under a debilitating price war and an e-commerce onslaught.” Amid the switch to EVs, price wars “resulted in 177.6 billion yuan (US$24.3 billion) of losses between January and November” with the “financial squeeze” blamed for the closure of approximately 4,000 dealerships.
Tags: 2025, Bleak, Cars, China, Closure, Corporate failures, Dealerships, Debilitating, E-commerce, EV, Financial squeeze, Losses, Price war, Profit-generators
Orange County Register (December 2)
“Disney will lay off more than 11,500 Disneyland and Disney California Adventure employees as the company continues to struggle with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the eight-month closure of its Anaheim theme parks.” Even with the approaching vaccine, “the 11,572 Disneyland layoffs add to a grim and growing tally that last stood at 10,000 terminations.”
Tags: Anaheim, Closure, Coronavirus, Disney, Disneyland, Employees, Layoffs, Pandemic, Struggle, Theme parks
The Times of India (March 26)
“On day one of lockdown, supply of fruits and vegetables took a hit, despite the government having marked it out as an ‘essential service.’ Wholesale suppliers…say there are multiple logistics issues.” The largest “is the closure of state entry points and tolls across India. Some 1.2 crore trucks are said to be stranded across India” with some drivers “getting no food or water as dhabas remain closed for miles along highways, even as essentials rot inside the trucks.”
Tags: Closure, Essential service, Food, Fruits, Government, Highways, Lockdown, Logistics, Stranded, Supply, Tolls, Trucks, Vegetables, Water, Wholesale
