Wall Street Journal (September 17)
“Industrial production in the eurozone returned to growth in July, a reflection of resilience as U.S. tariffs threaten to crimp demand.” Monthly “output edged up 0.3%… after a 0.6% slump in June.” The July “increase was driven by a strong 1.5% upswing in production in Germany.” While the tariff threat remains, “the eurozone’s industry has so far proved relatively resilient, having grown in two of the four months since President Trump’s announcement of levies on global trading partners in early April.”
Tags: 0.3%, Demand, eurozone, Germany, Growth, Industrial production, July, Levies, Resilience, Threat, Trading partners, Trump, U.S. tariffs, Upswing
CNN Business (August 14)
In the U.S., “businesses have been eating Trump’s tariffs. That’s starting to change.” Wholesale inflation “picked up steam last month, with prices rising by the fastest monthly pace since June 2022.” The Producer Price Index (PPI) “jumped 0.9% from June, lifting the annual rate to 3.3%.” With costs “sharply on the rise for producers and manufacturers in July,” it looks like “higher prices could soon filter down to American consumers.”
Tags: $3, Businesses, Consumers, Costs, Higher, July, Manufacturers, PPI, Prices, Producers, Tariffs, Trump, U.S., Wholesale inflation
CNN (August 3)
“A record-breaking heat wave unfolding at what should be the coldest time in Earth’s coldest place has scientists concerned about what it could mean for the future health of the Antarctic continent, and the consequences it could inflict for millions of people across the globe.” Since mid-July temperatures have been up to 50°Fahrenheit hotter than usual “over parts of Antarctica and unseasonable warmth could continue through the first half of August.”
Tags: Antarctica, Coldest, Consequences, Earth, Future, Heat wave, Inflict, July, Record breaking, Scientists, Temperatures, Unfolding, Unseasonable
Market Watch (July 26)
“The selloff in U.S. semiconductor and megacap stocks has sucked up most of investors’ attention over the past couple of weeks. But they aren’t the only momentum trades that have stopped working. Across financial markets, bets that had reliably minted profits all year have come undone in July.”
Tags: Bets, Financial markets, Investors, July, Megacap, Momentum trades, Profits, Selloff, Semiconductor, Stocks, U.S., Undone
New York Times (December 14)
“The markets have been climbing since July — and have been positively buoyant since late October — on the assumption that truly good times are in the offing. That may turn out to be a correct assumption,” but the Fed “went out of its way to say that it is positioning itself for maximum flexibility. Prudent investors may want to do the same.”
Tags: Assumption, Buoyant, Climbing, Fed, Flexibility, July, Markets, October, Prudent
Institutional Investor (November 27)
“Retail beef prices hit a record in July, as base demand across all grades, from prime to select, remained ‘incredibly good’…. Cattle supplies are tight and are likely to stay that way for the next few years as drought and high input prices will limit herd expansion.”
Tags: Beef prices, Cattle supplies, Demand, Drought, Grades, Herd expansion, High, Input prices, July, Prime, Record, Retail, Select, Tight
The Guardian (August 21)
“A spate of recent statistics shows that the Chinese economy is faring poorly,” but the most worrying stat “is the one that we can’t see. The youth unemployment rate was suspended from the monthly economic data release, having reached a record 21.3% in June – suggesting not only that July was grimmer, but that improvement is not expected soon.”
Tags: 21.3%, China, Economic data, Economy, Grimmer, July, June, Record, Spate, Statistics, Suspended, Worrying, Youth unemployment rate
Reuters (August 17)
“Headline inflation in the euro zone has halved in the past nine months and was 5.3% in July. But that’s not good enough for ECB hardliners. They want to see the core number, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, come down sharply before putting an end to the unprecedented climb in the bloc’s interest rates. That measure is falling more slowly and was running at 5.5% in July.” The ECB obsession over core inflation increases the “risk of policy mistake.”
Tags: 5.3%, Alcohol, Core, ECB hardliners, Energy, Euro zone, Food, Headline, Inflation, Interest rates, July, Obsession, Policy mistake, Risk, Tobacco
Wall Street Journal (August 8)
“July’s gains left hedge funds closing out so-called short positions and cutting risk at the fastest pace in years.” As they race to cover their shorts, they are “providing yet another tailwind for stocks, which have rallied this summer on optimism that a strong economy can withstand higher interest rates.” The rally caught many “short sellers off guard,” and as they “buy the shares back at a high price to limit further losses,” additional demand can drive “prices go even higher.”
Tags: Cutting risk, Gains, Hedge funds, Interest rates, July, Losses, Optimism, Rally, Shares, Short positions, Stocks, Tailwind
Washington Post (August 3)
“The world just got its first real taste of what life is like at 1.5 degrees Celsius.” July was far and away the hottest month ever recorded. Previously, “the world had briefly passed over 1.5 degrees for a few times” but always during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter, which muted “impacts on the largest population centers. This was the first month where temperatures were that far above preindustrial levels and most of the world’s population was under hot, summer conditions.”
Tags: 1.5 degrees, Hot, Hottest, Impacts, July, Northern Hemisphere, Population centers, Preindustrial levels, Records, Summer conditions, Temperatures, Winter
