SF Gate (November 6)
“America’s tech industry continues to lead in a grim metric.” Challenger, Gray & Christmas released a report that “tracked layoff announcements from companies” and “in 2025, the tech industry had the highest recorded number of layoffs for the month of October: 33,281 compared with 5,639 in September.” But the report found layoffs are hardly restricted to the tech industry. “Total year-to-date job cuts in the U.S. are at their highest level since the pandemic struck in 2020” while “layoffs for the month of October” were the highest recorded since 2003.
Tags: 2003, 2020, 2025, Grim metric, Highest, Job cuts, Layoffs, October, Pandemic, Tech industry, U.S.
Market Watch (July 14)
In contrast with previous guidance, Goldman Sachs now expects U.S. home prices to grow only 0.5% in 2025 and 1.2% the following year, “a huge drop from the growth the market saw during the pandemic.” Goldman cited “three big reasons for its pessimism regarding home prices: slowing prices, rising housing supply and persistently high mortgage rates.”
Tags: 0.5%, 2025, Drop, Goldman Sachs, Growth, Guidance, Home prices, Housing supply, Market, Pandemic, Pessimism, Slowing, U.S.
The Times (May 13)
“The United States is expected to lose $12.5 billion in international travel spending by the end of the year.” According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) “reports of tourists being stopped at the border, visa detentions, a tariff war waged by the Trump administration and a higher exchange rate” are all factors in what they estimate will reduce 2025 spending by foreign tourists in the U.S. to $169 billion, “down 7 per cent from $181 billion last year and 22 per cent from the peak before the pandemic.”
Tags: $12.5 billion, $169 billion, 2025, Border, Exchange rate, International travel, Pandemic, Reduce, Spending, Tariff war, Tourists, Trump, U.S., Visa detentions, WTTC
Financial Times (February 27)
Although “some demographic experts had been hopeful of a pent-up baby boom in Japan following the pandemic,” 2024 confirmed the worst. “The number of babies born in Japan last year fell to the lowest level since records began 125 years ago as the country’s demographic crisis deepens and government efforts to reverse the decline continue to fail.” For nine years straight, “the decline in births has continued unabated…. Combined with a record 1.6mn deaths last year, the figures mean Japan’s population shrank by almost 900,000 people, net of immigration.”
Tags: 2024, Babies, Baby boom, Births, Deaths, Decline, Demographic crisis, Experts, Fail, Government, Immigration, Japan, Pandemic, Pent-up, Population, Record
Mint (December 12)
“Commercial real estate investment volume in Japan jumped 21% year-on-year to ¥2.6 trillion in the first half, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.,” placing Tokyo ahead of New York and London as “the most active global city.” Largely recovering from the pandemic, Tokyo office vacancies in November fell to a four-year low of 4.16%.
Tags: ¥2.6 trillion, 21%, Commercial real estate, First-half, Investment volume, Japan, Jones Lang LaSalle, London, New York, November, Office vacancies, Pandemic, Tokyo
The Economist (November 23)
Across Asia a surprising and unwelcome phenomenon is arising: middle-class stagnation. Over the past three years, for example, 6 million Indonesians fell “into the ‘aspiring middle class,’” and are now “a stone’s throw away from poverty.” The nation’s middle-class population share dropped “to 17% from 22% before the pandemic.” This “middle-class malaise” is not restricted to Indonesia and may “shake up everything from profits to politics” throughout Asia.
Tags: 17%, 6 million, Asia, Aspiring, Indonesians, Malaise, Middle class, Pandemic, Politics, Population, Poverty, Profits, Stagnation, Surprising, Unwelcome
The Independent (November 21)
“The latest public sector borrowing figures are enough to have anyone inside 11 Downing Street heading for the drinks cabinet. The total came to £17.4bn in October; that’s £1.6bn more than this time last year, £5bn higher than City forecasts, and…. worryingly close to the £18.2bn recorded in October 2020, during the height of the pandemic.” All of this suggests “more tax rises could be on the way.”
Tags: £17.4bn, 2020, Borrowing, Downing Street, October, Pandemic, Public sector, Tax rises
Financial Times (September 27)
China’s biggest stimulus package since the pandemic has “supercharged markets, putting Chinese stocks on track for their best week since 2008.” The massive package boasts “billions of dollars from the central bank to support the stock market, policy rate cuts, measures to boost bank liquidity and efforts to stabilise China’s prolonged property crisis, including a 50-basis point interest rate cut for mortgage holders.” Nevertheless, it may not be enough “to reignite consumer confidence in the world’s second-largest economy.”
Tags: 2008, Central bank, China, Markets, Mortgage, Pandemic, Property crisis, Rate cuts, Stimulus, Stock market, Stocks, Supercharged
New York Times (September 21)
“The lethal detonation of hand-held pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah militants this week in Lebanon… raised questions about a gaping vulnerability in the global supply chain.” The attacks are likely to “accelerate supply chain changes,” including reshoring and nearshoring, that the pandemic catalyzed to insure “against the perils of international shipping.” Each supply chain movement and “every additional company brought into the manufacturing process represents an opportunity for those pursuing violent agendas to insinuate themselves into the works and weaponize the product.”
Tags: Attacks, Detonation, Gaping vulnerability, Hezbollah, International shipping, Lebanon, Lethal, Manufacturing process, Militants, Nearshoring, Pagers, Pandemic, Perils, Reshoring, Supply chain
Wall Street Journal (July 17)
“A clearer outlook on interest rates is giving bankers hope that dealmaking is emerging from a two-year slowdown.” Though up about 8% from a year ago, Q2 global M&A volumes “are still below those of the deal boom coming out of the pandemic,” with M&A activity “unlikely to kick into full gear until interest rates come down.”
Tags: 8%, Bankers, Boom, Clearer, Dealmaking, Emerging, Interest rates, M&A, Outlook, Pandemic, Q2, Slowdown
