Fortune (October 30)
Tags: 45%, BYD, Cheaper, Chery, China, EU duties, Europe, EV market, Geely, SAIC, Sales, Tariffs, Tripled
MarketWatch (October 19)
“More home builders are cutting prices on new houses even as their construction costs increase, as buyers flee the housing market.” Excluding the pandemic, “buyer traffic to newly built homes” slumped to the lowest levels since 2012. “The average price cut was 6% for the seventh month in a row, and 65% of builders were also using incentives to boost sales.”
Tags: 2012, Boost, Buyers, Construction costs, Home builders, Housing market, Incentives, Newly built homes, Pandemic, Prices, Sales
Wall Street Journal (May 16)
By one measure, President Trump’s Beijing summit “was a success. It didn’t achieve much, but it also didn’t appear to give away anything notable.” The caveat is that “we can’t be sure based on the few details leaking out from the parties,” some of which sound incredible. “Mr. Trump boasted about ‘fantastic’ Chinese purchases to come of U.S. soybeans and aircraft. But China didn’t confirm the sales, and by our count this is the second time China has bought the same American soybeans. Or is it the third?” In addition, Mr. Trump “also didn’t appear to bend to Mr. Xi’s threats on Taiwan, at least not so far.” If, however, Trump gives into China and “stops arming Taiwan, Mr. Xi will have won the veto over U.S. sales that the Chinese leader has long sought. It will send a message of weakness to our allies in the region.” Details like this, should they out, would make it a misnomer to call this “The Good-News-Is-No-News Summit.”
Tags: Aircraft, Allies, Arming, Beijing summit, Caveat. Leaking. Incredible. Fantastic, China, Misnomer, Purchases, Sales, Soybeans, Success, Taiwan, Threats, Trump, U.S., Veto, Weakness, Xi
Wall Street Journal (January 22)
“Employees say AI isn’t saving them much time in their daily work so far, and many report feeling overwhelmed by how to incorporate it into their jobs. Companies, meanwhile, are spending vast amounts on artificial intelligence, betting that the technology’s power to speed everything from sales to back-office functions will usher in a new era of efficiency and profit growth.”
Tags: AI, Artificial intelligence, Back-office functions, Daily work, Efficiency, Employees, Jobs, Overwhelmed, Power, Profit growth, Sales, Speed, Technology
Nikkei Asia (January 2)
“Since Western markets hesitated to join the rapid EV shift, sales of Chinese EVs are likely to keep surging, especially in Asia. However, the crowded sector has given way to excessive competition, and this year may clearly separate winners from losers.”
Tags: Asia, Chinese EVs, Crowded, EV shift, Excessive competition, Hesitated, Losers, Rapid, Sales, Sector, Surging, Western markets, Winners
MarketWatch (February 26)
“The brightest spot in the housing market is fading fast.” Sales of new homes in the U.S. “fell to the lowest level in 3 months, as buyers have grown frustrated with high mortgage rates and high home prices.” The 10.5% drop in new-home sales has caused inventory to spike. “Builders are now sitting on high levels of inventory. The number of finished homes on the market in January was at the highest level since August 2009, in the aftermath of the Great Recession.”
Tags: August 2009, Builders, Buyers, Fading, Finished homes, Frustrated, Great Recession, Housing market, Inventory, Mortgage rates, New homes, Prices, Sales, U.S.
CNN (November 20)
Major retailer Target is noticing customer behavior that “is causing it to cast doubt on its future sales.” Store traffic “grew by about 2% year-over-year,” but customer “spending per purchase shrunk by 2%.” According to CEO Brian Cornell, customers are “’becoming increasingly resourceful in their shopping behaviors, waiting to buy until (the) last moment of need, focusing on deals and then stocking up when they find them.’”
Tags: CEO, Cornell, Customer behavior, Deals, Resourceful, Retailer, Sales, Shopping, Spending, Stocking up, Store traffic, Target, Waiting
South China Morning Post (June 28)
“Facing major obstacles in developed countries, many Chinese car manufacturers have already pivoted to emerging markets such as Latin America. In 2023, Chinese cars accounted for 19.5 per cent of all car sales in Mexico, compared with only 6.4 per cent in 2019.”
Tags: 19.5%, 2019, 2023, 6.4%, Car manufacturers, Chinese, Developed countries, Emerging markets, Latin America, Mexico, Obstacles, Pivot, Sales
South China Morning Post (May 17)
“A larger fall of property investment and a slowdown of consumption continued to haunt China’s economic activities in April, despite Beijing having stepped up actions to boost consumer goods sales, upgrade equipment and solve the widely watched property slowdown.”
Tags: April, Beijing, Boost, China, Consumer goods, Consumption, Economic activities, Equipment, Fall, Haunt, Investment, Property, Sales, Slowdown
Wall Street Journal (January 3)
“Chinese automaker BYD for the first time topped Tesla as the world’s largest seller of electric vehicles on a quarterly basis, a sign of China’s emerging strength in the global market for battery-powered cars…. The Chinese rival’s ascent in the global pecking order has put new pressure on Tesla at a time when the U.S. electric-car maker is already leaning on steep price cuts to juice its sales.”
Tags: Ascent, Automaker, Battery-powered, BYD, China, Emerging, EVs, Global market, Pressure, Price cuts, Sales, Strength, Tesla, U.S.
