Washington Post (January 26)
President Trump now occupies “an extremely weak position.” Ending the shut down “only confirms what lawmakers have long suspected…. Trump repeatedly backs down from his public positions…. That’s a problem for the president going forward. The players expect that, with enough pressure, the president will again back down.”
CNN (May 9)
“While Beijing has slowly become mindful of the monster it has unwittingly unleashed, it still believes that it can walk both these very thin lines—a North Korea that is weak but stable, and disruptive yet not explosive—in part because it must: China’s internal instability cannot withstand much in the way of external shocks, of which the leadership is well aware.”
Tags: Beijing, China, Disruptive, External shocks, Instability, Monster, North Korea, Stable, Weak
The Economist (November 2)
“On some measures, Japan’s labour market is as tight as it has been since the 1970s. America’s jobless rate, at 4.2%, is the lowest for over 16 years. Inflation has nevertheless been surprisingly weak. In other words, the trade-off between unemployment and inflation, known as the Phillips curve, has become less steep.”
Tags: Inflation, Japan, Jobless rate, Labor, Phillips curve, Surprising, Tight, Trade-off, U.S., Unemployment, Weak
The Guardian (October 23)
“Weak, depressed and despondent” describes the government benches as Prime Minister Theresa May made her “now-ritual update” to the Commons “on the continued lack of progress in the Brexit negotiations.” The update has “become as painful for the Conservative party as it has for the prime minister.” That said, it should be noted that some “deranged Brexiters” found a chance to roar “their approval at Britain becoming worse off than Mongolia and Mauritania.”
Tags: Brexit, Commons, Conservatives, Depressed, Deranged, Despondent, Government, Mauritania, May, Mongolia, Progress, Update, Weak
Forbes (October 13)
“China’s export numbers for September are out and they show a fall of 10% in year on year numbers. This has caused global stock markets to stumble…. because the China export numbers are a reflection of demand in the global economy and if that’s weak then the global economy is weak.”
Tags: China, Demand, Exports, Global economy, September, Stock markets, Weak
Institutional Investor (September 12)
“Weak markets and worries about growth are putting pressure on fund managers across Asia. Chinese stocks barely began recovering from the summer 2015 meltdown before taking another hit earlier this year, while investors in Japan turned bearish on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies as growth slowed.”
Tags: Abe, Asia, Bearish, China, Fund managers, Growth, Investors, Japan, Markets, Meltdown, Pressure, Weak
Reuters (August 18)
“Short-sellers who made their names and fortunes wiping billions off Chinese and Southeast Asian companies are setting their sights on Japan after a series of accounting scandals amplified concerns about weak corporate governance there. Until recently, corporate managers in Japan have enjoyed relatively limited scrutiny of their governance standards and accounting rigor.”
Tags: China, Corporate governance, Fortunes, Japan Accounting scandals, Scrutiny, Short sellers, Southeast Asia, Standards, Weak
The Economist (July 19)
The weak recovery continues in the U.S. with many economists estimating potential growth of 1.75%-2.0%. “Evidence is mounting that America’s potential growth rate has plummeted…. Solving the short-term problem means boosting demand, so the Federal Reserve should keep interest rates low. But to pep up long-term growth, America also needs to address the supply side. In particular, it needs more workers and faster increases in productivity.”
Tags: Federal Reserve, Growth, Interest rates, Productivity, Recovery, U.S., Weak, Workers
