Wall Street Journal (March 19)
“Foreign investors have increasingly shifted their investments to India from China in recent years, partly because of concerns over Beijing’s unpredictable policy moves and China’s sputtering economy.” The shift doesn’t necessarily shield them. “A recent clampdown on one of India’s biggest financial technology companies rattled investors and serves as a reminder that New Delhi can also make sudden moves with a hefty impact on companies and market value.”
Tags: Beijing, China, Clampdown, Concerns, Economy, Financial, Foreign, Impact, India, Investments, Investors, Shift, Shifted, Sputtering, Technology, Unpredictable
Fortune (July 19)
“Over just a few months, ChatGPT went from correctly answering a simple math problem 98% of the time to just 2%.” This doesn’t necessarily show later versions are inferior as they might perform better on other tasks. The study which uncovered this does prove the existence of “wild fluctuations—called drift—in the technology’s ability to perform certain tasks.” Drift may arise from the rather “unpredictable effects of changes in one part of the model on others.”
Tags: 2%, 98%, Changes, ChatGPT, Drift, Fluctuations, Inferior, Model, Problem, Simple math, Study, Tasks, Technology, Unpredictable
The Guardian (March 30)
“The pandemic has changed, but the idea that it is over is false.” Last week, the UK had an estimated 4.26 million cases and hospital “admissions with Covid are only 2% below the first Omicron peak two months ago and still rising.” Nor is Covid endemic. Eventually, it probably will be, but endemic “does not necessarily mean mild,” as TB, Malaria and other endemic diseases illustrate. “Trying to ignore a disease that is still so unpredictable feels a bit like turning your back on a hungry tiger in the undergrowth.”
Tags: Admissions, Cases, Covid, Diseases, Endemic, False, Hospital, Hungry tiger, Malaria, Mild, Omicron, Pandemic, Peak, Rising, TB, UK, Unpredictable
Investment Week (November 18)
The Fed’s “180-degree policy U-turn…from tightening to loosening interest rates” has “increased uncertainty about monetary policy.” Another factor exacerbating matters is “the unpredictable and escalating trade war between the US and China.” Combined, they have “resulted in a higher frequency of volatility spikes and some violent sector rotation.”
Tags: China, Fed, Interest rates, Loosening, Monetary policy, Tightening, Trade war, U-turn, U.S., Uncertainty, Unpredictable, Volatility
Washington Post (October 21)
“Brexit has consistently proved to be unpredictable. After more than three years, there does appear to be one certainty, however: Whatever happens, Brexit won’t just be ‘done,’ as Johnson is suggesting.” The potential departure of Northern Ireland or Scotland from the UK and other “concerns that have been on Britons’ minds in recent years” will “remain a risk.”
Tags: Brexit, Certainty, Concerns, Johnson, Northern Ireland, Scotland, UK, Unpredictable
Harvard Business Review (January 29)
“In the eyes of businesses, the UK has come to resemble an emerging market” with concerns about “political volatility, consistent market uncertainty, an unpredictable and fluctuating currency, and supply chain issues”…. Regardless of where the current Brexit talks lead, these issues plaguing the UK are likely to remain for years.”
Tags: Concerns, Currency, Emerging market, Market uncertainty, Political volatility, Supply chain, UK, Unpredictable
LA Times (May 15)
“There is a lesson for Trump in the North’s sudden change of tune…. Kim remains an unpredictable figure, and it is way too soon for Trump to boast about his succeeding where his predecessors have failed. And don’t rush to make room in the Oval Office for that Nobel Peace Prize.”
Tags: Boast, Kim, Lesson, Nobel Peace Prize, North Korea, Predecessors, Trump, Unpredictable
South China Moring Post (November 10)
“Custom hats. Gauzy videos. Jumping children, declaring their love. The first half of US President Donald Trump’s whirlwind tour of Asia has been an exercise in the art of flattery…. as leaders across Asia and beyond struggle to understand the unpredictable American and search for ways to win his favour and avoid his wrath.”
CNN (December 23)
“President-elect Donald Trump long ago earned a reputation for being unpredictable in his statements, but he outdid himself on Thursday. In the span of just a few hours, Trump shook international relations by undercutting the Obama administration over a UN resolution on Israeli settlements, indicated he would ramp up nuclear competition with Russia and then jolted a major defense contractor — and its shareholders — by suggesting he would ask Boeing to replace a fighter jet being made by Lockheed Martin.”
Tags: Boeing, Defense, Israel, Lockheed Martin, Nuclear, Obama, Russia, Shareholders, Trump, UN resolution, Unpredictable
Wall Street Journal (July 5)
The downfall of former Politburo member Ling Jihua may mark the end of “paramount leader Xi Jinping’s purge of political rivals under cover of an anticorruption campaign.” It’s not likely to end the intrigue. “While the ‘tiger hunt’ for top-level cadres may be over, that doesn’t mean Mr. Xi has consolidated power. China’s political struggle continues in other guises. This will make government policies unpredictable and risks conflict spilling out into public view in ways not seen since 1989.”
Tags: Anticorruption, Conflict, Downfall, Ling Jihua, Politburo, Power, Purge, Risks, Rivals, Unpredictable, Xi Jinping
