Financial Times (May 10)
“The UK economy has exited last year’s technical recession with faster than expected growth of 0.6 per cent for the first quarter.” This beat the BoE forecast and marked the fastest quarter-on-quarter growth since 2021. Growth was “driven by a 0.7 per cent increase in services output, suggesting stronger consumer activity as inflation fell. Manufacturing output grew 1.4 per cent, driven by car production which has grown for six consecutive quarters.”
Tags: 0.6%, 2021, BOE, Car production, Consumer activity, Economy, Expected, Fastest, Forecast, Growth, Inflation, Manufacturing, Q1, Services, Technical recession, UK
New York Times (March 14)
Some now fear an “urban doom loop.” Cities are encountering budget crunches brought on by “steep discounts” in office and commercial real estate “as the pandemic trends of hybrid and remote work have persisted.” Cities are “starting to bear the brunt.” Budgets once reliant “on taxes associated with valuable commercial property are now facing shortfalls and contemplating cutbacks as lower assessments of property values reduce tax bills.” Cutting services or raising taxes could make cities less attractive, inducing urban flight and further exacerbating city budgets.
Tags: Budgets, Cities, Commercial, Cutbacks, Discounts, Fear, Hybrid, Office, Pandemic, Property, Real estate, Remote, Services, Shortfalls, Tax, Urban doom loop
New York Times (February 2)
The “disconnect” between cautious Fed statements and “investor expectations” is rooted in the tension between current data and projections. “Many forecasters expect the labor market, as well as inflation in many kinds of services, to weaken this year as the full effect of the Fed’s rate moves plays out; the Fed, on the other hand, is waiting for clearer signs in the data.”
Tags: Data, Disconnect, Expectations, Fed, Forecasters, Inflation, Investor, Labor market, Projections, Rates, Services, Tension
American Banker (December 9)
“Fintechs turned cross-border payments into a hotbed of innovation over the last five years. Now the card networks and banks are responding with disruptions of their own. It’s not just the competitive threat from fintechs developing faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payment options. The changing economy is now adding urgency for legacy cross-border providers to modernize their services.”
Tags: Banks, Card networks, Cheaper, Competitive threat, Cross-border, Disruptions, Economy, Faster, Fintechs, Hotbed, Innovation, Legacy, Modernize, Payments, Services, Transparent
Wall Street Journal (June 27)
“Workers throughout the economy are demanding bigger raises to compensate for soaring prices. This could push inflation higher as companies pass along higher wage costs in the price of goods and services.” Though bond markets haven’t determined “how serious the Fed is about controlling inflation… workers aren’t waiting to find out as they seek higher pay.”
Tags: Bond market, Compensate, Demanding, Economy, Fed, Goods, Inflation, Pay, Raises, Services, Soaring prices, Wage costs, Workers
The Guardian (December 24)
“The Brexit deal itself is nothing but thin gruel. It will make it much harder for Britain to sell services to EU countries, where we were once advantaged. Britons will lose their right to freely travel, work and settle in other European countries. While there will be no tariffs or restrictions on the quantity of goods that can be sold, British exports will for the first time in decades face checks on their origins and compliance with EU regulations.”
Tags: Advantaged, Brexit deal, Compliance, EU, EU regulations, Exports, Restrictions. Goods, Services, Tariffs, Travel, Work
Financial Times (July 22)
“As their booming share prices testify, technology groups have been brimming over with new business during the pandemic. For banks, there has been a special tech awakening…. After years of foot-dragging, many have been abandoning their cautious approach to cloud-based services and signing up with gusto to outsource their storage of data and other activities that demand high-intensity computing power.”
Tags: Awakening, Banks, Booming, Cautious, Cloud-based, Data, Foot-dragging, Outsource, Pandemic, Services, Share prices, Storage, Technology
New York Times (May 30)
“E-commerce has been embraced for all manner of goods and services — books, travel, groceries, electronics — but auto sales have resisted the trend.” Consumers do frequently conduct research over the internet, but ultimately “have gone to dealers for most transactions. With the coronavirus and stay-at-home orders, that is changing.”
Tags: Auto sales, Books, Consumers, Dealers, E-commerce, Electronics, Goods, Groceries, Internet, Research, Services, Travel
Barron’s (December 27)
“Megatrends, like aging and climate change, are forcing governments to take care of themselves, understanding there are going to be massive challenges. As a result, we’re starting to see the peak of globalization, meaning limits to the movement of free capital, goods, money, services, and knowledge.”
Tags: Aging, Capital, Challenges, Climate change, Globalization, Goods, Governments, Knowledge, Limits, Megatrends, Money, Peak, Services
The Times (January 11)
Driven by the cheap pound, UK factory growth hit a seven-year high. “Factories are growing at the fastest pace in almost seven years after a solid three months to November that beat all forecasts and put Britain on track to start 2018 on a firm footing.” Still, the manufacturing sector “accounts for only a tenth of output in Britain, with four fifths generated by services.”
