Washington Post (January 6)
“The data center rebellion is here, and it’s reshaping the political landscape.” During the second quarter of 2025 alone, “more projects were blocked or delayed than during the previous two years combined, according to Data Center Watch, a tracking project by the nonpartisan research firm 10a Labs. Some $98 billion in planned development was derailed in a single quarter.”
Tags: $98 billion, 2025, Blocked, Data center, Data Center Watch, Delayed, Derailed, Planned development, Political landscape, Q2, Rebellion, Reshaping, Tracking project
Wall Street Journal (August 1)
“There is an irony in Detroit right now: The automaker most reliant on U.S. manufacturing is among the hardest hit by tariffs.” Of any automaker, Ford manufactures the most vehicles in the U.S. “Some 80% of the cars Ford sells in the U.S. are built there,” but Ford is being “put it at a disadvantage with foreign rivals. Those deals now set a 15% tariff rate.” Ford which paid $800 million for tariffs in Q2 has been particularly hard hit as it “faces steeper tariffs on many parts as well as higher costs for imported aluminum, which is subject to 50% duties.”
Tags: $800 million, 15%, 50, Aluminum, Automaker, Detroit, Disadvantage, Ford, Foreign rivals, Irony, Manufacturing, Parts, Q2, Reliant, Tariffs, U.S., Vehicles
Investment Week (August 15)
“The UK economy grew by 0.6% in the second quarter, following an increase of 0.7% in the previous three months.” Year over year, “gross domestic product expanded by 0.9% from April to June…. The figures confirm that the economy has enjoyed a strong recovery from its mild technical recession last year.”
Tags: 0.6%, 0.7%, 0.9%, Economy, Expanded, GDP, Grew, Q1, Q2, Strong recovery, Technical recession, UK
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
Reuters (July 3)
“Japanese business sentiment improved in the second quarter as raw material costs peaked and removal of pandemic curbs lifted consumption… a sign the economy was on course for a steady recovery.” The quarterly survey or “tankan” by the central bank offers “policymakers hope that conditions for phasing out their massive monetary stimulus may be gradually falling into place.”
Tags: Business sentiment, Consumption, Costs, Economy, Japan, Monetary stimulus, Pandemic curbs, Peaked, Policymakers, Q2, Raw material, Steady recovery
Reuters (August 10)
“What a difference a year makes: Consumers have gotten off the couch…. There is evidence that the streaming market has hit a saturation point. Netflix lost 1.3 million American and Canadian customers in the second quarter, where it enjoys the highest average revenue per user.”
Tags: ARPU, Canada, Consumers, Couch, Customers, Difference, Netflix, Q2, Saturation, Streaming market, U.S.
Bloomberg (August 13)
“It seems like Japan’s big recovery is always a quarter away.” The economy may just barely manage growth in the second quarter, but the slow vaccination rollout and ongoing surges mean “the bounce in consumer spending that analysts had been forecasting will have to wait even longer.” Japan has earned “the dubious distinction of being the only G-7 economy to have its growth outlook for this year cut by the International Monetary Fund.”
Tags: Analysts, Bounce, Consumer spending, Economy, G-7, Growth, IMF, Japan, Outlook, Q2, Recovery, Surges, Vaccination
Wall Street Journal (July 29)
“The U.S. economy grew rapidly in the second quarter and exceeded its pre-pandemic size, but the outlook has suddenly turned cloudier due to the fast-spreading Delta coronavirus variant.”
Tags: Cloudier, Coronavirus, Delta, Economy, Fast-spreading, Grew, Outlook, Pre-pandemic, Q2, Size, U.S.
Investment Week (August 24)
“Global dividends plummeted by $108.1bn to $382bn in Q2 this year… marking an underlying decline of 19.3% – the biggest fall seen…. All regions except the US suffered a drop in pay-outs, with the UK and Europe seeing the biggest falls at 54% and 45% respectively on an underlying basis.” By comparison, Japan fared well with payouts falling just 3.1% and “four-fifths of companies actually increasing or maintaining their dividends.”
Washington Post (July 31)
“The second quarter GDP report confused many, but any way you slice it, the economy saw its worst quarter in at least 145 years.” A key sentence read “Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 32.9 percent in the second quarter of 2020.” That figure is annualized and seasonally adjusted. For the quarter alone, it was a drop of 9.5 percent, “still the worst since at least 1875.”
Tags: 1875, Annual rate, Annualized, Drop, Economy, GDP, Q2, Seasonally adjusted, U.S., Worst
