Reuters (December 5)
“Assets that rise rapidly above their long-term trend are usually set for a fall…. This year, gold has risen more than 60% in dollar terms, its best performance in 46 years. Adjusted for inflation, gold has never been more expensive. Either we are witnessing another bubble or it’s a paradigm shift.” It may be the latter as speculative euphoria has focused on cryptocurrencies while “central bankers have significantly increased their gold holdings.”
Tags: $60, Assets, Bubble, Central bankers, Cryptocurrencies, Dollar, Expensive, Fall, Gold, Holdings, Inflation, Paradigm shift, Performance, Speculative, Trend
Financial Times (March 2)
“Surging property prices in recent years has been a common theme for many major cities around the world.” In Tokyo, the difference is “that a longer-lasting trend is driving prices this time. The number of wealthy households in Japan has reached a record 1.5mn as the total amount of financial assets has also risen every year since 2013.” In addition, “demand from wealthy Chinese buyers” is boosting demand.
Tags: 2013, Boosting, Chinese buyers, Cities, Demand, Financial assets, Japan, Property prices, Surging, Tokyo, Trend, Wealthy households
Time (October 12)
Of the Antarctica’s “162 ice shelves, 68 show significant shrinking between 1997 and 2021, while 29 grew, 62 didn’t change and three lost mass but not in a way scientists can say shows a significant trend” according to a new study. “All told, Antarctic ice shelves lost about 8.3 trillion tons (7.5 trillion metric tons) of ice in the 25-year period….That amounts to around 330 billion tons (300 billion metric tons) a year.”
Tags: 1997, 2021, Antarctica, Ice shelves, Mass, Scientists, Significant shrinking, Trend
Investment & Pensions Europe (September Edition)
“Continental Europe appears to have largely escaped the trend known in the US as the ‘Great Retirement Boom’, where an economically comfortable cohort of 50 to 64-year-olds has retreated from work in the post-COVID period.” In contrast, labour market participation in the EU is increasing among the over-55s and “the EU expects the proportion of economically active over-55s to continue increasing, reaching around 72% by 2040.”
Tags: 2040, Cohort, Comfortable, Economically active, EU, Europe, Great Retirement Boom, Labour market participation, Over-55s, Post-Covid, Trend, U.S., Work
Wall Street Journal (April 3)
“For decades, American cities have had a parking problem: too much of it. Countless residential parking spots go unused, and many downtown garages sit half empty. Ride-sharing and the rise of remote work during the pandemic have aggravated the trend.” In response, “cities are shrinking the number of spaces, freeing up the land for other uses, with far-reaching consequences.”
Tags: Aggravated, Cities, Consequences, Downtown, Empty, Garages, Pandemic, Parking spots, Problem, Remote work, Ride-sharing, Trend, U.S., Unused
Quartz (October 22)
“Among American adults, reliance on TikTok for news content has roughly tripled since 2020, rising from 3% to 10% in the past two years. More than a quarter of US adults under 30 now regularly use TikTok for news.” The overall trend is, however, morning the other way as fewer Americans rely “for news on social media, especially Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Snapchat” according to recent findings of the Pew Research Center.
Tags: Adults, Facebook, News, Reddit, Rely, Snapchat, Social media, TikTok, Trend, Twitter, U.S., Under 30
Bloomberg (March 27)
“Prices for some of the world’s most pivotal products – foods, fuels, plastics, metals – are spiking beyond what many buyers can afford. That’s forcing consumers to cut back and, if the trend grows, may tip economies already buffeted by pandemic and war back into recession.”
Tags: Buffeted, Buyers, Consumers, Economies, Foods, Fuels, Metals, Pandemic, Plastics, Prices, Products, Spiking, Trend, War
WARC (March Issue)
“The cost of search, social and retail media advertising grew by double digits in the final three months of 2021…. Search cost-per-click (CPC) saw the largest rise, increasing by 23% year on year to $0.71 in Q4 2021.” Moreover, the trend in rising “advertising spend and costs looks likely to continue in 2022.”
Tags: 2021, 2022, Advertising, Cost, CPC, Double digits, Media, Q4, Retail, Search, Social, Spend, Trend
Wall Street Journal (March 29)
“The downward trend in personal bankruptcies bucks predictions by analysts and economists that disruptions from Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions early in the pandemic would lead to a sharp increase in filings. Economists and bankruptcy lawyers say federal suspensions of evictions, home foreclosures and student-loan obligations have helped limit bankruptcies—though they worry bankruptcy rates could go up after aid ends.”
Tags: Analysts, COVID-19, Disruptions, Downward, Economists, Evictions, Foreclosures, Lockdowns, Pandemic, Personal bankruptcies, Predictions, Restrictions, Student loans, Trend
Bloomberg (February 12)
“GameStop is only the most public manifestation of a trend that radically departs from all precedents. Some of the potential consequences are worrying…. The most heavily shorted stocks have been doing well ever since the recovery from the initial shock of the pandemic got under way last March.” This has created “a historic ‘black swan’ disaster for short sellers.”
Tags: Black swan, Consequences, Disaster, GameStop, Historic, Pandemic, Precedents, Recovery, Shock, Shorted stocks, Trend, Worrying
