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☆ Porsche posts record Q1 sales rise boosted by China
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Porsche Head of Style Michael Mauer presents a new design study of a Porsche 357 during the 75 years Porsche sports car exhibition "Driven by Dreams" in Berlin, Germany, January 25, 2023. REUTERS/ Lisi Niesner/File PhotoApril 17 (Reuters) - Porsche AG (P911_p.DE) posted a record year-on-year sales increase of 18% in the first quarter, boosted by China sales, the company said on Monday. The German luxury carmaker delivered 21,365 cars in China, its largest single market, representing 21% growth over the previous year. Peer Mercedes (MBGn.DE) delivered 191,000 vehicles in China in the first three months of 2023, which is 3% higher over the previous year. Worldwide, Porsche delivered 80,767 cars during the period, with an increase posted in every region.

☆ Factbox: Tesla's Shanghai plant, targeted by worker protest, is key hub for EV maker
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Here are key facts about Tesla's operation in Shanghai:BACKGROUNDTesla’s Shanghai plant, which began operations in late 2019, is the automaker’s largest manufacturing hub. The plant employs some 20,000 workers and accounted for more than half of Tesla’s global output in 2022. Some Tesla workers were told their performance bonuses were being cut because of the accident and took to social media to protest. KEY EXECUTIVETesla promoted its China chief Tom Zhu to take oversight of its global production and sales earlier this year. Under Zhu, the Tesla Shanghai plant managed a quick rebound from lost production last year due to COVID lockdowns in China.

☆ Tesla Shanghai factory workers appeal to Elon Musk on bonus cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Tesla China-made Model 3 vehicles are seen during a delivery event at its factory in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020. "Please pay attention to the performance (bonus) of frontline workers at Tesla's Shanghai factory being arbitrarily deducted," said a person with the handle @AFeiywu on Twitter in a tweet directed at Elon Musk and Tesla's Asia unit. The workers said Tesla supervisors mentioned a "safety incident" when they were asked about reasons for the bonus cut. Several online posts claimed workers at the Shanghai plant were being unfairly punished for an incident this year at the factory where one worker died in February. According to a report published by the local Pudong government on April 12, there was a mechanical accident in the welding workshop at Tesla's Shanghai plant on Feb. 4 that killed one worker.

☆ Tesla Shanghai: Social media protests over 'unfair' bonus cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —Workers at Tesla’s electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Shanghai are reportedly using social media to protest against what they call unfair cuts in performance-related pay and to ask CEO Elon Musk to intervene. Social media posts published over the weekend by people who say they work at the factory — the company’s main export hub — expressed anger over recently announced cuts in their monthly bonus pay. They said they were given news of the “significant” and “malicious” cuts after a fatal accident occurred at the Tesla (TSLA) facility in February. Just six months later, in November, the Shanghai factory set a fresh monthly delivery record of more than 100,000 vehicles. In 2022, Tesla delivered 1.31 million vehicles globally, more than half of which were from Shanghai, according to the company’s financial results.

Inside these boxes: Approximately $20 million worth of detained solar panels by U.S. Customs & Border Protection over suspected ties to forced labor. Shipments coming directly from China represented about $80 million worth of goods, while Malaysia accounted for $461 million and Vietnam accounted for $370 million. "UFLPA allows us to presume [goods] were produced with forced labor, and therefore they'd be excluded from the United States," said Fox. "The cotton commodity coming out of the Xinjiang region has typically been tied to forced labor," Fox told CNBC. The companies then had 30 days to come back to CBP and prove that the items were produced without forced labor.

April 17 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever. The Asian calendar on Monday is light, with only Indonesian trade and Indian wholesale price inflation potentially moving markets. Indonesia's central bank begins a two-day meeting, and will announce its policy decision on Tuesday. chartInvestors will also have the first opportunity to react to two developments over the weekend - a policy steer from China's central bank chief, and Saturday's apparent attack on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Yi also said the central bank will seek to get real interest rates slightly below the potential growth rate.

☆ Brands look to China's tropical duty free island paradise for consumer comeback
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Casey Hall | Thomson Reuters | Casey Has Reported On China'S Consumer Culture Her Base In Shanghai For More Than A Decade | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HAIKOU, China, April 14 (Reuters) - Representatives of over 3,000 brands including Burberry and Estee Lauder descended on China's Hainan this week to show off their latest wares, hoping to cash in on a post-COVID consumer rebound that has kicked off on the island known for its duty free shopping. It especially boomed during COVID, attracting Chinese shoppers unable to travel abroad due to closed borders. And China further plans to elevate its status: by 2025, it plans to make the whole island duty free, essentially expanding the 10% to 40% cheaper prices on goods from beauty, to alcohol and luxury products from 12 existing duty free malls to the entire province. That has made high-end global consumer firms keen to attend the expo as a way of demonstrating their commitment to China, industry executives said. ($1 = 6.8677 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

That's good news for struggling consumers, but doesn't tell the whole story of how much more Americans are spending due to rising prices. In that time, the cost of essentials like groceries, utilities and gas increased by 20% or more. The cost of groceries is up by almost 20%Since April 2021, the cost of food prepared at home has risen by almost 20%. Margarine prices increased by 54%, largely due to the war in Ukraine, which is the world's No. Relatedly, milk and bread production have also been affected by the conflict in Ukraine, with prices rising 19% and 21%, respectively.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Russia digitizes draft system to target dodgers; World Bank announces $200 million for Ukraine repairs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The European Commissioner for the economy, Paolo Gentiloni, has hailed the EU's swift transition away from its dependency on Russian gas and said next winter will be less challenging. "We were expecting a terrible winter, a winter of recession and problems with energy supplies, blackouts," he told CNBC's Joumanna Bercetche in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. "We didn't have recession and we were able to go out from dependency from Russian gas in eight months. He said the EU would be refiling storage from the end of April without Russian gas and said it was important to diversify pipelines, noting increased Chinese demand following its lockdown reopening may bring liquefied gas prices up. "More optimistically, the big, big challenge was last winter, next winter will also be challenging but we already know we were able to do something amazing," Gentiloni said.

☆ I Made You a Meal Plan: 3 Not Sad Vegetarian Desk Lunches
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Tanya Sichynsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Before the pandemic, I went into an office five days a week and, supposedly, ate five lunches, most of them schlepped from home. Sound the meal plan airhorn because we’re back with three lunch-friendly recipes that check all of those boxes — with plenty of ingredient overlap and substitution opportunities to boot. They can be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home or in the slight discomfort of overhead fluorescent lighting. First, you’ll need a grocery list. Orzo (you’ll need 1 cup)1 bag green or brown lentils2 cups walnuts1 small jar pickled pepperonciniYou’ll also need salt, pepper, olive oil and honey, which you probably have handy in the pantry.

☆ I quit my 6-figure consulting job to take a gap year. I felt guilty at first, but it's the best decision I could've made.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Lola Christina Alao | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Kym Wootton quit her six-figure job at a consulting firm to take a gap year. Before I quit to take a gap year, I'd been working since the day I turned 15 — I worked throughout high school. I'd felt that I was meant to be a novelist since I was a kid, but I never felt like that was a job path available to me. I was working a lot of hours, checking emails, and working on projects for my day job on the weekends. Afterward, I felt freer and more excited than I could have ever imagined — I knew I'd made the right decision.

☆ Explainer: Why European money market funds inflows are lagging behind the U.S. torrent?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Harry Robertson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] U.S. dollar and Euro bank notes are photographed in Frankfurt, Germany, in this illustration picture taken May 7, 2017. In Europe, investors put 17.7 billion euros ($19.35 billion) into euro-denominated money market funds in March, Refinitiv Lipper data shows, when the Credit Suisse crisis rocked markets. Other analysts said it was due to the fact that euro money market funds are underdeveloped relative to U.S. funds and are focused more on private sector, particularly bank, debt. WHAT IS A MONEY MARKET FUND? The European money market fund sector is far smaller than in the United States.

☆ Lamborghini CEO says orders for hybrid Revuelto show 'incredible' demand from wealthy car-buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Robert Frank | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

watch nowLamborghini's quick sellout of its new $600,000 hybrid supercar is proof that wealthy car buyers are still spending, according to the CEO. Lamborghini already has a waiting list and two years worth of orders for the Revuelto, its first ever plug-in hybrid that was launched last month, CEO Stephan Winkelmann told CNBC. Every Lamborghini model launched after the Revuelto will be a hybrid, with plug-in versions of the Urus SUV and Huracan sportscar expected in the coming years. With the Revuelto, Lamborghini utilized the best of both worlds, pairing three electric motors with a new 6.5-liter, naturally aspirated V12 engine for a combined 1,001 horsepower. Lamborghini Revuelto Ambient Courtesy: Lamborghini"The team worked hard on this car for years," Winkelmann said.

☆ Edtech venture capital firm Reach Capital raises $215 million for its largest fund ever and has its sights set on backing more generative AI startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Reach Capital has closed its fourth fund with $215 million to invest in education startups. The team is also looking to back more companies using generative AI in education, Reach Capital founding partner Esteban Sosnik told Insider. Near the end of 2022, edtech investing had just reached $8.89 billion in 2022, according to PitchBook. While generalist investors still have some interest in edtech deals, some of the hype has worn off. Reach has also backed several edtech startups that went on to become unicorns, or reach a valuation of over $1 billion, including Outschool, ClassDojo, and Handshake.

Solari wasn't the only American to veer wildly between frugality and all-out spending sprees during the pandemic. In particular, younger people — Gen Z and millennials — have seen the early parts of their careers and critical years of their financial lives defined by the shifting sands of the pandemic economy. The strange pandemic-savings paradoxThe pandemic recession did not actually mean people had no money. The Fed found that the top quartile of earners added nearly $1.5 trillion to their savings through spending reductions, even as the pandemic consumed millennials and Gen Z's savings. If the mantra of the pandemic recession was giving everyday Americans money, the reaction is now to yank that back.

☆ Young people haven't been taught the 'value of work,' says Ronald Reagan's education secretary
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Young people haven't been taught the "value of work," Bill Bennett told Fox Business. Reagan's education secretary said he was "very concerned" about young people's attitudes towards work. Research from two University of Maryland professors found that the average US work week had overall fallen by more than 30 minutes since before the pandemic. "We haven't talked to them about the value of work, we haven't taught them," he continued. "Are parents talking to their kids about work and why they work and how important it is?

☆ Why Paris is one of the few cities in the world banning rental e-scooters
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Transportation experts say the Paris ban doesn't necessarily mean much for the growth of micromobility. The diverging approaches to rental e-scooters by major cities around the world reflects the technology's chaotic rollout over the last few years and an inability for cities to keep up with sufficient regulations, experts say. Either way, experts say the regulatory environment in Paris and many other places just hasn't been able to keep up. Transportation experts say Paris' ban isn't necessarily reflective of how the public in that city — or any — feels about e-scooters. Despite the setback in Paris, transportation experts say electric vehicles of all sorts, from e-scooters, to e-bikes, to electric buses, are the future of transport in cities around the world.

☆ California Comes in Last in Personal Income Growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) late last week published its 2022 report on state personal income growth, and it deserves more media attention than it’s been getting, which is none. These columns have documented the economic disparities between states such as New York and California that imposed severe lockdowns for longer and those that reopened sooner such as Florida and Texas. But lockdown states would have been expected to record a stronger rebound last year compared to 2021 when many of their restrictions were still in effect. That’s not what happened.

☆ Question: How are some bars boosting profits? Answer: Trivia nights
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Noah Sheidlower | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

In February, she begged friends to come to Talea's first trivia night, fearing only a few players would show up. NYC Trivia League, which hosts trivia at over 100 venues across New York City, recently surpassed its weekly event count from early 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Brooklyn Brewery has been hosting trivia nights with the NYC Trivia League since 2019. Bumpy road to recoveryWith so many new venues hosting trivia nights, Kostyo cautioned bars may "cannibalize each other" as more businesses try to plant their flag in the trivia space. On a trivia night, we are easily doubling our sales from the previous night.

☆ 5 Festive Dishes for an Easy Eid Lunch
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Zainab Shah | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Maryam Jillani remembers the fervor around Eid al-Fitr celebrations ushered in by the end of Ramadan (also known as Ramzan), the month of fasting and spiritual contemplation for Muslims. Endless meals included biryanis and kofta, lamb in its various iterations, milky-syrupy desserts, all laid out on embroidered tablecloths, among the good china and silverware, in drawing rooms across the Muslim world. One year, when milk for kheer was slowly reducing over the stovetop, it boiled over just as the blender I was using to make nimbu pani erupted. My husband, in pajamas readying for bed, asked, “Who is this for?”“I’m having fun, OK!” I yelled back. Meeting and sharing a meal was enough of a reason to celebrate, no matter the scale.

☆ Putin is still worried about COVID-19 and makes his staff quarantine for weeks, says an elite Russian security officer who defected
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Vladimir Putin has still been isolating himself and making staff quarantine, an ex-FSO officer says. The former FSO officer said Putin only allowed staff members to work in the same room as him after a two-week quarantine period, per the Dossier Center. "There is a pool of employees who have been cleared, who underwent this two-week quarantine," Karakulov said. He added that when he left, Putin's staff were already becoming confused by the president's insistence on keeping to old pandemic restrictions. "I have no idea why; he's probably just worried about his health," Karakulov also said.

☆ I took a 6-month 'sabbatical' after months of cheap living while traveling. The best thing about the digital-nomad lifestyle is having options.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

She worked for two years in a remote job, while living in Greece, Portugal, Germany, and Argentina. I quit my job with no planI quit my job in July 2019 with nothing lined up. I got a remote job as the head of marketing for a recruitment-tech startup. I had savings from working in my marketing job. I quit my remote job in August 2021 and left Madeira.

☆ I lied on my résumé to get a better-paying job — and I think others should do the same
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Fortesa Latifi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Insider recently spoke to an accounting employee who lied on their résumé to get their current job. They lied about work experience and software proficiency after staying home with their daughter. "I'm glad I lied on my résumé," they said. I also lied about my software proficiencyThe job I was applying for also stated a requirement for knowledge of a specific software system that I had simply never used before. Plus, I love where I work now, and I don't think I would have been able to get the job if I hadn't lied on my résumé.

☆ Highland Park students walked out to demand gun control. Minutes later, the high school went on lockdown.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Highland Park students planned a walkout for gun control that was interrupted by concerns a student brought a gun. According to an update from Highland Park Police, the scene was declared safe later that morning. The scene has been secured and law enforcement has confirmed that there is no credible reason to continue the lockdown at Highland Park High School," the update read. Highland Park Police and Highland Park High School did not respond to Insider's request for further comment. Seven people were killed and dozens injured during the Highland Park mass shooting last year.

☆ Analysis: Grievances mount in Europe with future wealth in doubt
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Mark John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

That year-old conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and an inflation-fuelled cost of living crisis have now brought things to a head. While many low-income U.S. workers discovered that post-lockdown labour shortages gave them leverage to negotiate solid wage increases, European workers initially prioritised job security over higher pay. Meanwhile the bump in corporate profits and shareholder gains started to aggravate a sense of inequality. The other option - allowing debt to rise further - looks tricky: European Union limits on deficits that were suspended after the pandemic will re-apply from 2024. The Macron and Scholz governments are seeking ways to allay the grievances, with Macron in particular suffering damage to his already weak personal popularity.

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