Wall Street Journal (November 25)
“China’s zero-Covid reckoning” is approaching as “record infections and new lockdowns lead to rising public frustration and slower economic growth.” China’s economy is expected to slow further, “with growth estimates falling for the fourth quarter and the year below 3%. That’s assuming Chinese officials aren’t gilding the books. China’s official GDP target for this year had been 5.5%.”
Tags: China, Economy, GDP, Infections, Lockdowns, Public frustration, Q4, Reckoning, Record, Slower economic growth, Zero COVID
BBC (September 12)
China “is the world’s last major economy attempting to entirely stamp out Covid outbreaks, claiming this is necessary to prevent wider surges of the virus which could overwhelm hospitals.” At present, “tens of millions of people in at least 30 regions have been ordered to stay at home under partial or full lockdowns,” with some of the impacted residents “complaining of shortages of food and essential items.”
Tags: China, Complaining, Covid outbreaks, Food, Home, Hospitals, Last, Lockdowns, Major economy, Overwhelm, Prevent, Residents, Shortages, Stamp out, Surges, Virus
CNN (April 25)
“Oil prices fell sharply Monday as lockdowns in China stoked concerns that the country’s zero-Covid strategy will sap energy demand in the world’s second-largest economy.” The concerns over China “could create one positive for consumers: They may ease pressure on prices at the pump.” On Monday, “US oil dropped as much as 6.7% to a two-week low of $95.28 a barrel.”
Tags: China, Concerns, Consumers, Demand, Ease, Energy, Lockdowns, Oil prices, Positive, Prices, Pump, Zero COVID
Bloomberg (December 20)
“Just as investors were wrapping up this year’s trading, the threat of new lockdowns sent shock waves through markets across the world.”
Tags: Investors, Lockdowns, Shock waves, Threat, Trading, Wrapping up
USA Today (November 3)
“The coronavirus lockdowns had an ‘extreme’ effect on carbon emissions, causing a whopping 17% drop globally during peak confinement measures by early April 2020 – levels that hadn’t been seen since 2006.” We are now reverting to mean. “Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that’s most responsible for global warming, have returned to near pre-pandemic levels…. This year saw a 4.9 percent increase in emissions over 2020, similar to the rebound that followed the 2008 global financial crisis.”
Tags: CO2, Coronavirus, Emissions, GHG, Global warming, Lockdowns, Pre-pandemic levels, Rebound, Reverting
Wall Street Journal (June 4)
“Investors have piled into new carbon-credit-trading funds, helping make the upstart market one of the best-performing commodities-related investments of the past year.” In Europe, the trading price for carbon credits “has jumped 135% over the past 12 months and recently hit a series of records as economic activity rebounded from pandemic lockdowns. Only lumber, driven higher by the housing boom, has proved a better commodities investment.”
Tags: Best-performing, Carbon credits, Commodities, Europe, Funds, Housing boom, Investments, Investors, Lockdowns, Lumber, Market, Pandemic, Rebounded, Records, Trading, Upstart
Mercury News (May 3)
“Of the many problems confronting Bay Area companies as they move out of pandemic lockdowns and into the workplaces of the future, one issue is proving especially thorny: Do they make their workers get COVID shots?” Legally, they can require vaccinations “as a condition of employment. But just because they can mandate injections doesn’t mean they should.”
Tags: Bay Area, Companies, COVID shots, Employment, Lockdowns, Pandemic, U.S., Vaccinations, Workers, Workplaces
Wall Street Journal (April 19)
In India, New Delhi became the first region “to reimpose sweeping measures like the ones employed last spring.” Though “India has sought to avoid the strict lockdowns that punished its economy last spring… the step was necessary to avoid an even bigger disaster: a complete breakdown of its hospitals.” Experts anticipate “a cascade of other Indian states” following New Delhi into lockdown.
Tags: Breakdown, Disaster, Economy, Experts, Hospitals, India, Lockdowns, New Delhi, Punished, Strict
Wall Street Journal (March 29)
“The downward trend in personal bankruptcies bucks predictions by analysts and economists that disruptions from Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions early in the pandemic would lead to a sharp increase in filings. Economists and bankruptcy lawyers say federal suspensions of evictions, home foreclosures and student-loan obligations have helped limit bankruptcies—though they worry bankruptcy rates could go up after aid ends.”
Tags: Analysts, COVID-19, Disruptions, Downward, Economists, Evictions, Foreclosures, Lockdowns, Pandemic, Personal bankruptcies, Predictions, Restrictions, Student loans, Trend
The Guardian (March 21)
“Covid-19 is a global problem that must be dealt with globally, for until we are all safe, no one is safe. Indulging in vaccine nationalism will only postpone the day when we can return to a life unfettered by lockdowns, social distancing and all the other restrictions of our current Covid winter.”
Tags: COVID-19, Global problem, Life unfettered, Lockdowns, Postpone, Safe, Social distancing, Vaccine nationalism
