Fortune (January 11)
“2026 begins with sharper risks for China: Geopolitical uncertainty, a struggling real estate sector, strained public finances, and elevated youth unemployment. Yet what draws companies to China—scale, innovation, and global influence— remain as compelling as ever.” The economics have changed and competition has increased. Success now requires greater discipline, but “for global businesses prepared to operate with this level of discipline, China can still be a lucrative market in the Year of the Horse.”
Tags: 2026, China, Competition, Discipline, Geopolitical uncertainty, Global influence, Innovation, Lucrative, Public finances, Real estate, Risks, Scale, Struggling, Year of the Horse, Youth unemployment
Washington Post (December 6)
“Trump and Vance promised their trade and immigration policies would usher in a new golden age, leading to a renaissance of new factories that would employ native-born workers…. Yet manufacturing contracted for the ninth straight month in November… as factories face slumping orders and higher prices for inputs because of tariffs.” Republican leaders are urging consumers to “relax.” This is neither “a winning economic message” or at all “soothing… when you’re struggling to pay for groceries, let alone Christmas presents.”
Tags: Consumers, Economic message, Factories, Golden age, Groceries, Immigration, Manufacturing, Native-born, Prices, Relax, Slumping orders, Struggling, Tariffs, Trade, Trump, Vance, Workers
New York Times (December 1)
“Investors had been growing more optimistic that the Fed will cut interest rates at next week’s meeting” while holiday sales “also bolstered the rally.” Still, “the consumer is still a major concern…. Analysts at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America have flagged that a recent rise in spending may be masking a concerning economic undercurrent: Many lower-income consumers are struggling with stubbornly high inflation and an uncertain labor market.”
Tags: Analysts, BoA, Consumer, Fed, GS, Holiday sales, Inflation, Interest rates, Investors, Labor market, Lower-income, Optimistic, Rally, Spending, Struggling, Undercurrent
Bloomberg (November 22)
“The American consumer is limping into the holiday season. That was the upshot from a week of big-box retailer earnings that came with signs of caution among shoppers increasingly worried about a softening job market and persistent inflation.” Target and Home Depot are struggling, while “even Walmart Inc., the belle of the retailer ball with huge profits and a rosy forecast, sent an economic warning of sorts” since its growth “came largely from groceries and mid-tier customers looking for bargains — both signs of skittishness among consumers.”
Tags: Bargains, Big-box, Caution, Earnings, Economic warning, Forecast, Holiday season, Job market, Persistent inflation, Profits, Retailer, Shoppers, Skittishness, Struggling, U.S., Upshot, Walmart, Worried
Newsweek (November 17)
U.S. families “are struggling to keep up with rising utility costs” amid “persistent high prices for many groceries and other items.” Rising utility debt “has developed into a significant economic and political issue, which may affect the White House administration’s credibility on affordability, especially as voters have cited cost-of-living as their top concern in recent elections.” Monthly energy bills have risen 12% between April and June of 2025, with “nearly one in 20 U.S. households now facing utility debt severe enough for collection agencies to become involved.”
Tags: Affordability, Cost of living, Credibility, Debt, Elections, Energy bills, Families, Groceries, High prices, Household, Struggling, U.S., Utility costs, Voters, White House
South China Morning Post (August 29)
According to Nomura Holdings, “the ongoing rally in Chinese stocks will do little to boost growth in the mainland’s economy, as equity investments account for a small portion of total household assets.” Only 1.3% of total household assets are in equities. In contrast, Chinese households have about 60% “of their wealth in the struggling property market.”
Tags: China, Economy, Equity, Growth, Household assets, Investments, Nomura, Property market, Rally, Stocks, Struggling, Wealth
Institutional Investor (March 27)
Private equity funds just have too much money: They are struggling to find potentially profitable investments, can’t sell companies they already own, and are being pressured by exasperated limited partners.” The buyout industry holds “$1.2 trillion in unspent capital… and 24 percent of that total has been held for four years or longer.” Buyout funds are simultaneously “having trouble selling the companies they already own,” with fully “$3.6 trillion of unrealized value in some 29,000 unsold companies in the funds’ portfolios.” The massive overhang “is leading investors to slam shut their pocketbooks to new funds.”
Tags: Buyout industry, Exasperated, Investors, Money, Overhang, Partners, Portfolios, Pressured, Private equity, Profitable investments, Struggling, Unrealized value, Unsold companies, Unspent capital
Investment Week (November 11)
UK retail investors are left struggling “to fully embrace the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and… questioning their practical meaning.” A survey of 30 private investors found “many expressed doubts about the need for sustainability labels in the first place, as they claimed they would consider responsible investments regardless of whether funds had adopted an SDR label.” The consensus was that “having one of the four labels adds ‘very little value’ if any to the products in question, as they would prefer a focus on the ‘tangible facts and figures.’”
Tags: Doubts, Funds, Need, Responsible investments, Retail investors, SDR label, Struggling, Sustainability Disclosure Requirements, Tangible facts, UK
The Guardian (June 14)
“Decades of declining births mean there are no longer enough students to fill classrooms…. Taiwan is struggling to achieve the ‘replacement rate’ needed to maintain a stable population. That rate is 2.1 babies per woman, but Taiwan hasn’t hit that number since the mid-80s. In 2023, the rate was 0.865.”
Tags: Classrooms, Declining births, Population, Replacement rate, Stable, Struggling, Students, Taiwan
New York Times (April 4)
The importance of “a robust defense” is one clear takeaway from Disney’s success against activist investor Nelson Peltz. “Executives, led by the Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger, mapped out a series of bold initiatives last autumn, in part to blunt Peltz’s calls for change…. That included cost-cutting efforts, an investment in the video game giant Epic Games and a shake-up in the struggling movie division.”
Tags: Activist investor, Bold initiatives, Cost cutting, Disney, Epic Games, Iger, Investment, Movie division, Peltz, Robust defense, Shake-up, Struggling, Takeaway, Video game
