Reuters (November 16)
“China’s factory output and retail sales grew at their weakest pace in over a year in October, piling pressure on policymakers to revamp the $19 trillion export-driven economy as mounting supply and demand strains threaten to further curtail growth.” Officials may be running out of options to keep “the world’s second-largest economy humming…. even an economy of China’s size can only squeeze so much growth from building more industrial parks, power substations and dams.”
Tags: China, Dams, Demand, Economy, Export-driven, Factory output, Industrial parks, October, Officials, Policymakers, Retail sales, Substations, Supply, Weakest
Bloomberg (November 15)
Next week a number of companies will release earnings results, and major retailers look primed to steal the show from “AI behemoth Nvidia” as traders seek to better grasp “the health of consumers and the economy.” Results from “Walmart Inc., Target Corp., Home Depot Inc. and other companies that sell the goods Americans buy are likely to overshadow Nvidia because they offer insights into spending patterns at a time when there’s scant data for Wall Street to go on.”
Tags: AI, Companies, Consumers, Economy, Health, Home Depot, Major retailers, Nvidia, Overshadow, Results, Spending patterns, Target, Traders, Walmart
Financial Times (November 15)
“The longest ever US government shutdown has created an unprecedented blind spot over the health of the world’s biggest economy as critical data reports are set to be delayed or ditched.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis and other agencies “were largely unable to collect and publish data during the 43-day shutdown, creating a gap in statistical series that will obscure the economic picture for investors and policymakers.”
Tags: Agencies, Blind spot, BLS, Collect, Data, Delayed, Economy, Gap, Government, Investors, Longest, Obscure, Publish, Reports, Shutdown, Statistical series, U.S.
Market Watch (November 13)
“Artificial intelligence has snowballed from a technological innovation to the growth driver of the entire economy and a national-security interest. Could it be on track to become too big to fail, leaving the U.S. government to hold the bag?” At the moment, there is no doubt that “Big Tech is betting everything on AI,” but there is less recognition that this gamble “could leave the U.S. government on the hook.”
Tags: AI, Big tech, Economy, Government, Growth driver, National security, Snowballed, Technological innovation, Too big to fail, U.S.
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
The Atlantic (October 14)
“Last week, amid widespread geopolitical turmoil and a weakening U.S. dollar, the price of gold hit a historic high of $4,000 an ounce. This year has so far been gold’s best since 1979.” This is not a portend of a strong economy. Over the most recent half century, gold has proven to be a fairly effective “recession indicator” as “spikes in the price of gold have typically been correlated with widespread inflation and geopolitical dysfunction.”
Tags: 1979, Dysfunction, Economy, Geopolitical turmoil, Gold, High, Inflation, Price, Recession indicator, Spikes, Weakening U.S. dollar, Widespread
The Ecoomist (October 13)
Politicians, economists, investors and others have long argued whether China’s economy is “a bubble waiting to burst” or “a sustainable success.” The argument is shifting, however, as “a new debate is now emerging, which is potentially far nastier. Much of the world falls into one camp: admiring China’s accomplishments, but also reeling from a deluge of Chinese exports. In the other camp is China, utterly convinced of the rightness of its economic model.”
Tags: Accomplishments, Admiring, Argument, Bubble, Burst, China, Convinced, Debate, Deluge, Economists, Economy, Emerging, Exports, Investors, Nastier, Politicians, Reeling, Rightness, Success, Sustainable
Time (September 27)
“The latest move in a sweeping tariff agenda that has roiled global markets and touched various sectors of the economy, as well as Americans’ wallets,” begins with the imposition of tariffs on branded pharmaceuticals (100%), kitchen and bathroom cabinets (50%), upholstered furniture (30%), and semi trucks (25%). Though “Americans could see an uptick in some prices,” this could be limited by exemptions, as well as the existing or expanding U.S. presence of major producers.
Tags: Branded pharmaceuticals, Cabinets, Economy, Exemptions, Furniture, Global markets, Prices, Roiled, Sectors, Semi trucks, Sweeping, Tariffs, Uptick
The Economist (September 20th to 26th)
China’s workforce “has undergone an extraordinary transformation,” diversifying from its base in farming and factories. The world’s largest workforce now includes some 200 million “precarious” gig workers, who provide “a warning for the world.” With technology remaking labor markets, 40% of the labor force in urban areas is now dependent “on some kind of flexible work,” yet many of these gig workers “struggle to buy property and gain access to public services and benefits.” This transformation “will shape China’s economy and society for years to come.”
Tags: 200 million, Benefits, China, Economy, Factories, Farming, Flexible work, Gig workers, Labor markets, Precarious, Property, Public services, Technology, Transformation, Urban, Warning, Workforce
Washington Post (September 20)
“Although investors cheered the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut and the stock market has kept powering along, the economy is facing growing headwinds on one crucial front — consumer spending,” which is “faltering.” Even upper income consumers “are being more strategic about when to make big purchases, buying in bulk and shopping at cheaper retailers,” but the “shift is most pronounced among lower-income consumers, who are disproportionately vulnerable to rising prices and other economic pressures eroding their purchasing power.”
Tags: Bulk, Consumer spending, Economic pressures, Economy, Faltering, Fed, Headwinds, Investors, Lower-income, Rate cut, Retailers, Rising prices, Stock market, Upper income, Vulnerable
