The Guardian (August 4)
“The Swiss stock market has plunged, the cabinet has held crisis talks and the country’s president, Karin Keller-Sutter, has been accused of mishandling a vital phone call with the White House after Donald Trump hit the country with a shock 39% export tariff.” Roughly one-sixth of Switzerland’s exports go to the U.S. and prior to the phone call “negotiators believed they had secured a 10% tariff on exports.” Instead, Switzerland now confronts “one of the steepest US duties – only Laos, Myanmar and Syria had higher figures, at 40-41%.”
Tags: 10%, 39%, Cabinet, Crisis talks, Exports, Keller-Sutter, Laos, Myanmar, Negotiators, Phone call, Plunged, Shock, Stock market, Swiss, Tariff, Trump
Wall Street Journal (April 21)
“If the White House wanted a test of how firing Jerome Powell would go over in the markets, it succeeded on Monday. U.S. stocks and the dollar plunged while yields on long-term Treasurys climbed after President Trump renewed his attacks on the Federal Reserve Chairman.” The President “thinks he can bully everyone into submission, but he can’t bully Adam Smith, who deals in reality. Markets know tariffs are taxes, and taxes are anti-growth.” It is clear that the “Trump tariffs are the biggest economic policy mistake in decades.” What remains unclear is the President’s ability to see reality. “Markets are spooked because they don’t know if Mr. Trump listens to anyone but his own impulses.”
Tags: Adam Smith, Anti-growth, Attacks, Bully, Dollar, Fed, Firing, Markets, Mistake, Plunged, Powell, Reality, Spooked, Stocks, Submission, Tariffs, Taxes, Treasurys, Trump, U.S., White House, Yields
MarketWatch (February 18)
In the U.S., “home-builder confidence plunged to the lowest level in five months as concerns over tariffs and how they could raise the cost of housing weighed on the industry.” According to the National Association of Home Builders, its “monthly confidence index fell five points to 42 in February…. a significant change in sentiment among home builders” who are increasingly being spooked by Trump’s tariffs and rising material costs. “For buyers, the sentiment shift only adds to the likelihood that home prices could go up in an already expensive housing market.”
Tags: Buyers, Confidence, Confidence index, Home builders, Housing market, Material costs, Plunged, Sentiment, Spooked, Tariffs, Trump, U.S.
Investor’s Business Daily (July 19)
“Magnificent Seven stocks dumped more than $1.3 trillion in market value in a week…. Former do-no-wrong AI company Nvidia (NVDA) is the No. 1 culprit” behind the “epic implosion.” Shares in Nvidia “have plunged more than 11% from July 10. That effectively wiped out more than $417.3 billion in shareholders’ wealth — or roughly a third — of the Mag 7’s dollar-value loss in that time.”
Tags: $1.3 trillion, AI, Culprit, Epic implosion, Magnificent Seven, Market value, Nvidia, Plunged, Shareholders, Stocks, Wealth
The Economist (May 11)
“The prioritisation of national security above unfettered investment is reshaping the movement of capital across borders. Global capital flows—especially foreign direct investment (fdi)—have plunged, and are now directed along geopolitical lines.” This benefits non-aligned countries, who “play both sides.” Ultimately, however, “as geopolitical blocs pull further apart, it is likely to make the world poorer than it otherwise would be.”
Tags: Borders, FDI, Geopolitical, Geopolitical blocs, Global capital flows, Investment, National security, Non-aligned countries, Plunged, Poorer, Prioritisation, Reshaping, Unfettered
New York Times (January 13)
“Critics of D.E.I., or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, have tried to scapegoat it for everything” of late. “The economy and political landscape have changed since 2020, when companies hired D.E.I. officers in droves amid a racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd. Recently, D.E.I. programs have become less visible.” It may be rebranding, but “over the past two years, hiring for D.E.I. roles has plunged and the number of investor calls mentioning D.E.I. has dropped.”
Tags: 2020, Critics, D.E.I. officers, Diversity, Economy, Equity, Floyd, Hiring, Inclusion, Investor calls, Plunged, Racial, Rebranding, Scapegoat, Visible
CNN (November 15)
Since peaking above 10% in January, “UK inflation plunged to its lowest level in two years in October, allowing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to declare victory on his pledge to halve the rate of price increases this year.” However, “Sunak’s second pledge to voters — to get the economy growing — is looking increasingly out of reach.” During the three month’s ended in September, GDP managed “zero growth… compared with the previous quarter, when it grew by a measly 0.2%.”
Tags: 10%, Economy, Inflation, January, Lowest level, October, Peaking, Pledge, Plunged, Price increases, Sunak, UK
Bloomberg (August 8)
“China’s trade plunged in July as slowing global demand clouded the outlook for exports, while domestic pressures weighed on imports in a hit to the economic recovery.” Exports (dollar denominated) fell 14.5% while imports decreased 12.4%. Both figures “were worse than what economists polled by Bloomberg had expected.”
Tags: Bloomberg, China, Domestic pressures, Economic recovery, Economists, Exports, Global demand, Imports, Outlook, Plunged, Trade
Wall Street Journal (December 26)
“As temperatures plunged this weekend, Americans in much of the country were told to turn down their thermostats and avoid using large appliances to prevent rolling blackouts. The cascading grid stress… was all too predictable to anyone paying attention. The interconnected U.S. grid is supposed to be a source of resilience, but the government’s force-fed green energy transition is creating systemic vulnerabilities.”
Tags: Americans, Cascading, Green energy, Grid stress, Plunged, Predictable, Resilience, Rolling blackouts, Temperatures, Transition, U.S.
Forbes (October 18)
“Home builder confidence plunged for a tenth straight month in October as rising interest rates continued to weaken housing demand—prompting economists to warn an unexpected rise in new home sales last month may be short-lived and prices may be on the brink of collapse.”
Tags: Confidence, Economists, Home builder, Home sales, Housing demand, Interest rates, October, Plunged, Rising, Weaken
