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☆ Netanyahu is focused on his own political 'survival,' not the war in Gaza, says ex-IDF intelligence chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Charles R. Davis | Talia Lakritz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former IDF intelligence chief harshly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Retired Maj. Gen. Amos Malka told an Israeli radio station that Netanyahu only looks out for himself. Netanyahu "is not focused on the management of the fighting, but on survival," Malka said. AdvertisementAdvertisementA 30-year veteran of the Israel Defense Forces — and former head of the country's military intelligence unit — accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of caring more about his own political "survival" than the actual war he's waging in Gaza. If he has time to worry about that, Malka charged, "I can see that he is not focused on managing the war, but on survival."

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Amos Malka, Netanyahu, Malka, —, Israel Defense Forces —, — Malka, he'd, propping, they're, Monica Levy Organizations: Service, Israel Defense Forces, Islamic, Hamas, West Bank Locations: Israeli, Gaza, Iran, Israel

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda attends a press conference after its policy meeting in Tokyo, Japan October 31, 2023, in this photo taken by Kyodo. In addition, interest rate changes were asymmetric — Fed rate hikes following stock market recoveries were usually muted compared with the initial cuts. This was an explicit, open-ended policy to hold the currency at a set level and flood the Swiss economy and markets with oceans of liquidity, but essentially still a central bank put. As Marc Chandler at Bannockburn Global Forex points out, it is financial stability that is ultimately - and rightly - at the heart of the so-called central bank put. "There is a perception or myth that has built up around the central bank put.

Persons: Kazuo Ueda, Alan Greenspan, Louis, William Poole, Greenspan, Steven Englander, Marc Chandler, Chandler, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Japan, Kyodo, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, Bank of Japan, Federal Reserve, Louis Fed, Swiss National Bank, Standard Chartered, National Bureau of Economic Research, Swiss, Reuters, Bannockburn Global, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, Rights ORLANDO , Florida, New York, Switzerland, Swiss, Bannockburn

☆ Yellow’s Rivals Are Getting a Boost From the Trucker’s Demise
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Freight carrier Yellow shut down operations after 99 years in business. Here’s how ballooning debt and a standoff with the Teamsters union led to Yellow’s downfall. Photo: George Walker IV/Associated PressThe collapse of one of the largest U.S. trucking companies is propping up competitors in a lean freight market. XPO , ABF Freight and Saia are among the carriers reporting strong growth in pricing power, shipment volumes and other key measures during the most recent quarter in trucking’s less-than-truckload sector, a high-stakes corner of the market in which carriers combine freight from multiple customers in a single trailer.

Persons: George Walker IV Organizations: Teamsters, Associated Locations: trucking’s

☆ Opinion | Matthew Perry and the Loneliness of Addiction
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Patti Davis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I had committed myself to quitting cocaine, which was my second addiction, the first being years of amphetamines. It would be a nice, clean story if I said I never did drugs again. But addiction is never nice and clean. I want to tell you something about addiction: no matter who it is or what substance that person is hooked on, loneliness is at its root. “Nobody wanted to be famous more than me,” Mr. Perry said at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in April.

Persons: —, Matthew Perry’s, “ Nobody, ” Mr, Perry Organizations: Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

☆ Scottish council buys 18th century bust for $6. Now it could sell for $3 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —An 18th century bust bought for £5 ($6) nearly 100 years ago by a Scottish town council could sell for more than £2.5 million ($3 million). The bust of landowner and lawmaker John Gordon was sculpted by noted French artist Edmé Bouchardon. Now, local politicians on Invergordon Town Council are weighing up whether to sell the item, described by Sotheby’s as “brilliant in execution,” according to a council report. Despite its illustrious creator, there are few details publicly available about where the bust has been since it was purchased by the council. I found the robes and there was this bust just propping the door open,” she said.

Persons: John Gordon, Edmé Bouchardon, Sotheby’s, Gordon, Invergordon, Bouchardon, Louis XV, Maxine Smith, “, ” Organizations: CNN, Invergordon, Concorde, Louvre Museum, Getty Center, Inverness Museum, Art Locations: Scottish, Edinburgh, Rome, Paris, Los Angeles, Scotland

☆ Amazon's market value set to jump $60 billion after strong third-quarter earnings smash Wall Street's expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Strong sales numbers for Amazon's cloud division also helped push the stock higher. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. AdvertisementAdvertisementAmazon's market cap looked set to surge Friday after the online retail giant's third-quarter earnings beat Wall Street's expectations. If those gains hold up until the closing bell, Amazon's value will swell by about $60 billion to $1.3 trillion, per Insider's calculations. "Thin margins in Amazon's retail business makes cloud so much more important than it does for the other tech companies, whose broader business models are a lot less capital intensive."

Persons: —, Wall, Hargreaves, Sophie Lund, Yates Organizations: Service, Amazon, LSEG, AWS, Microsoft

☆ Gen Zalpha doesn't really care for sex on TV — they're here for 'nomance' and on-screen friendships
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Teens and young adults are over romance and sex in TV shows and movies, per a new survey. 51.5% of those surveyed want to see more "nomance," or content based on friendships and platonic relationships. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. AdvertisementAdvertisementTeens and young adults are over romance and sex in TV shows and movies — what they really want to see on screen is a lot more "nomance." And younger people are also having less sex than their parents did at their age, per UCLA's California health interview survey.

Persons: —, Zalpha, there's, Stephanie Rivas, Lara, Hiral Kotecha, Vivek Murthy, " Rivas, Kotecha, Z Organizations: Service, UCLA, Alpha Locations: America, California

Investors were also excited by Tuesday's approval of an additional 1 trillion yuan ($136.76 billion) of sovereign bond issuance. Drawing investors back into China's $10.5 trillion stock market, particularly the foreign buyers that have fled in droves this year, would stem further slides in a market which fell to its lowest since 2019 earlier this week. "China's central government is endorsing the stock market," said Qi Wang, chief investment officer of UOB Kay Hian's wealth management division in Hong Kong. Huijin last bought ETFs during the 2015 stock market crash, and during the money market liquidity crunch in 2013. Still, China's stock markets have to overcome earlier heavy selling from foreigners, burnt by Xi's previous crackdowns on internet companies and other sectors, and its earlier stringent zero-COVID policy.

Persons: China's, Huang Yan, QiuYang, Huang, Pan Gongsheng, Qi Wang, UOB Kay, Huijin, Fabiana Fedeli, Fedeli, Goldman Sachs, Samuel Shen, Ankur Banerjee, Brigid Riley, Vidya Ranganathan Organizations: Central Huijin Investment, Shanghai QiuYang, People's Bank of China, Sino, CSI, Huijin, China Asset Management Co, Singapore's United Overseas Bank, G Investments, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, Shanghai, China, Hong Kong, Tokyo

☆ 'Sticky' inflation is still high but that is a good sign for the health of the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Cork Gaines | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . As interest rates skyrocketed over the last 18 months, inflation fell from a 40-year high during the summer of 2022. Laoshi/Getty ImagesMcCulley echoed this when asked if strong retail sales are sign that the economy is not coming in for a soft landing. In the short term, further declines in inflation could be difficult if people are spending money they saved during the pandemic. Strong consumer spending is a good sign, but the economy is not out of the woods yet.

Persons: it's, —, Daniel Greenhaus, Greenhaus, Paul McCulley, McCulley, Tim Quinlan, Quinlan, Laoshi, didn't, Tom Barkin, ZIlloq, Paul Bradbury, Patrick Harker, Harker Organizations: Service, payrolls, Georgetown's School of Business, Wells, Richmond, Getty Images, Fed Locations: Wells Fargo

☆ Americans now need to earn a record $115,000 to afford a typical home - up more than 50% since the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Most US households are $40,000 shy of the needed income, with first-time buyers impacted the hardest. Surging costs and skyrocketing mortgage rates mean that Americans need to make $114,627 a year to purchase a typical property, the highest income level on record. This comes as mortgage rates were swung upwards by a tighter Federal Reserve, which sharply increased interest rates to combat inflation. "In a homebuyer's ideal world, rising mortgage rates would push demand and home prices down enough to make up for high interest payments. Average American households do not earn enough to meet these rising costs, and are about $40,000 shy of the needed income level, when looking at last year's data.

Persons: Redfin, —, that's, Chen Zhao, Zhao, Goldman Sachs Organizations: Service, Reserve

☆ Middle East analysts dispute accusations that Netanyahu 'propped Hamas up'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Rebecca Rommen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Middle East analysts have disputed suggestions that Netanyahu helped "prop up" Hamas. Netanyahu's policy toward Hamas was "a seasonal mowing of the grass rather than scorched earth." AdvertisementAdvertisementMiddle East analysts have disputed charges that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "propped up" Palestinian militant group Hamas. A Times of Israel opinion column by political correspondent Tal Schneider argued that Netanyahu "propped up" Hamas for years. "Most of the time, Israeli policy was to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset."

Persons: Netanyahu, —, Benjamin Netanyahu, Tal Schneider, Israel's, Israel, Dmitry Shumsky, Laura Blumenfeld, Jonathan Spyer, Spyer, Blumenfeld, Yohanan, Plesner, Netanyahu's, Hatem Ali Organizations: Service, Hamas, Palestinian Authority, Johns Hopkins University, Middle, The Times, West Bank, Israel Democracy Institute, Wall Street, Kfar, Likud Locations: Israel, Laura Blumenfeld , Middle East, Palestinian, Gaza, Tehran, Syria, Lebanon, Jerusalem, Kfar Azza

STOCKHOLM, Oct 9 (Reuters) - American economic historian Claudia Goldin won the 2023 Nobel economics prize for her work examining wage inequality between men and women, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday. "This year's Laureate in the Economic Sciences, Claudia Goldin, provided the first comprehensive account of women's earnings and labour market participation through the centuries," the prize-giving body said in a statement. Goldin, who in 1990 became the first woman to be tenured at the Harvard economics department, is only the third woman to win the Nobel economics prize. "Claudia Goldin's discoveries have vast societal implications," said Randi Hjalmarsson, member of the Economic Prize committee. As with the other Nobel prizes, the vast majority of the economics awards have gone to men.

Persons: Claudia Goldin, Alfred Nobel, Goldin, Hans Ellegren, Claudia Goldin's, Randi Hjalmarsson, Jakob Svensson, Friedrich August von Hayek, Milton Friedman, Paul Krugman, Ben Bernanke, Elinor Ostrom, Esther Duflo, Simon Johnson, Mark John, Niklas Pollard, Johan Ahlander, Terje Solsvik, Catherine Evans Organizations: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Sveriges, Economic Sciences, Harvard, Pew Research, Commission, Social, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, COVID, Norwegian, Iranian, United States, Europe, U.S

☆ Japan’s inertia leaves yen at the mercy of the Fed
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Francesco Guerrera | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A man looks at an electric monitor displaying the Japanese yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan October 4, 2023. The debate, though, ignores the bigger issue: Surging U.S. bond yields and Japan’s ultra-low interest rates, though, will keep the yen under pressure. Until it tightens monetary policy, Japan will have to live with an exchange rate driven by Washington. Until Tokyo regains control of its monetary levers, it will have to live with a foreign exchange rate driven by U.S. whims. The greenback then fell back to as low as 147.30, sparking speculation that Japanese monetary officials had intervened to prop up the currency.

Persons: Issei Kato, Kazuo Ueda, Ueda, Antony Currie, Oliver Taslic Organizations: U.S ., Nikkei, REUTERS, Reuters, Bank of Japan, Reuters Graphics, Federal Reserve, Bank of, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, Washington

As a result, books like “Call Me Max” have been challenged or outright removed from schools and libraries in Florida, as well as other states — and though some believe book bans lead to more book sales, authors say the effect of those bans is devastating for their careers. These bans “overwhelmingly” target books about race and racism, as well as books with LGBTQ characters, PEN America said in its September study on school book bans. The MoveOn Banned Book Mobile stops for an event with local authors and teachers on October 1, 2023 in Decatur, Georgia. “(A book ban) would make news, and people would say, ‘I’ll buy this book just to show them,’” Lukoff said of the once-common result of book bans. Lukoff said his first high-profile bans occurred in early 2021, in Austin and Salt Lake City, when book bans first started to accelerate.

Persons: CNN —, Ron DeSantis, Max, ”, ‘, ” DeSantis, Max ”, Kyle Lukoff, Newbery, “ I’ve, —, ” Lukoff, “, ” Kyle Lukoff's, Marvin Joseph, Phil Bildner, ” “, Bildner, PEN America, Tasslyn Magnusson, Read, Derek White, Magnusson, ” Laurie Halse Anderson’s, George M, Deborah Caldwell, Stone, Angie Thomas, “ Maus, “ Maus ”, ” Magnusson, Lukoff, BookScan, Juno, Mike Curato’s “, John Green’s “, Samira Ahmed, Laura Gluckman, Armando L, Sanchez, Maus, ’ ” Lukoff, … that’s, they’re, she’s, haven’t, “ It’s, isn’t, Ahmed, ” Bildner, Caldwell, J.K, Rowling, Harper Lee, Art Spiegelman, ‘ Maus, ’ ”, Torrey Maldonado, ” Maldonado, who’ve, Eileen T, ’ ” Magnusson, ’, ” Ahmed, it’s, “ I’m, I’m, Maldonado, They’re Organizations: CNN, Florida Gov, Washington Post, PEN America, Liberty, Utah Parents United, Mobile, American, Association’s, Intellectual, ”, Association of American Publishers, Women, Chicago Tribune, Getty, America Locations: Florida, bookshelves, Rye, PEN, Utah, Decatur , Georgia, Tennessee, Alaska, Chicago, Sandmeyer's, Austin, Salt Lake City

☆ Putin's pick to lead the Wagner Group is likely considered a 'traitor' by his own men, UK says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-30 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The new head of Wagner is likely seen as a "traitor" by his men, per a UK intelligence assessment. AdvertisementAdvertisementRussian President Vladimir Putin has picked someone to lead the powerful Wagner paramilitary group who is likely viewed as a "traitor" by his own men, according to a British military intelligence assessment published Saturday. A Kremlin spokesperson later described Troshev, a veteran of Wagner operations in Syria, as an employee of Russia's defense ministry. As a result, "Many Wagner veterans likely consider him a traitor," stated the Sept. 30 assessment. And that future, it continued — in contrast with the Prigozhin days — will likely entail "greater oversight from the Kremlin."

Persons: Wagner, Andrei Troshev, Vladimir Putin, —, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, iva, ann Organizations: Service, Kremlin, Ministry of Defense, Ukraine –, Defence Locations: Ukraine, Syria, osh

☆ Yen intervention a hard sell even as 150 to the dollar 'red line' beckons
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-29 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

But, Japanese authorities could find propping up their currency both difficult to achieve and hard to justify. To make even a ripple in the $5 trillion currency market, the BOJ would need to draw down massive amounts of dollar reserves. Wakabayashi, like many other analysts and investors, considers the 150 yen per dollar level a red line for currency intervention, not least because of its significance as a symbol of climbing costs of living from imported food and fuel. INTERVENTION IMMINENTThe yen careened to a 32-year trough at 151.94 last October before being reined in by several bouts of heavy intervention, the first by Japanese authorities in a generation. Measures of expected market volatility remain subdued.

Persons: Kim Kyung, Bank of Japan's hesitancy, Kazuo Ueda, You've, they're, Bart Wakabayashi, Fumio Kishida, Shunichi Suzuki, Masayuki Kichikawa, Ray Attrill, Janet Yellen, Aninda Mitra, Mitra, Kevin Buckland, Alun John, Vidya Ranganathan, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: National Printing Bureau, Bank of Japan, REUTERS, Rights, Bank of Japan's, U.S . Federal Reserve, U.S, Treasury, Fed, State Street Bank, Trust, Finance, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, Ministry of Finance, National Australia Bank, BNY Mellon Investment Management, Thomson Locations: Tokyo, Japan, U.S, Washington, Asia, London

☆ Rupert Murdoch steps down as Fox and News Corp. chairman, sending shockwaves through media and politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Rupert Murdoch, the powerful right-wing media mogul who built and oversaw one of the world’s most influential news empires, announced Thursday that he will step down as chairman of his companies, Fox Corporation and News Corporation. Lachlan Murdoch steps inLachlan Murdoch will take over as chairman of Fox and News Corporation. Evan Agostini/Invision/APStepping into his shoes, Murdoch’s eldest son, Lachlan, who already serves as chief executive of Fox Corporation, will become sole chairman of both companies. In 1986, Murdoch got into the television business after he purchased several US television stations and created Fox Broadcasting. In recent years, under Murdoch, Fox News has advanced baseless conspiracy theories, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election.

Persons: Rupert Murdoch, ” Murdoch, Murdoch, Donald Trump’s, Lachlan Murdoch, Evan Agostini, Lachlan, ”, Rupert, “, ” Rupert Murdoch, Trump, oilman Marvin Davis, Donald Trump, Bill Hemmer, Hemmer, Dana Perino Organizations: New, New York CNN, Fox Corporation, News Corporation, “, ”, Fox and News Corporation, Wall Street Journal, New York, Republican Party, Fox News, CNN, Australian, UK’s, The Times, Sunday Times of, Century Fox, Fox Broadcasting, Sky, Comcast, Fox, Disney, Fox Sports, Fox News Fox News, Voting Systems, Dominion Locations: New York, cahoots, Sunday Times of London, Britain, America

☆ The US housing market is headed for the largest sales slowdown since 2011, Fannie Mae says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

US home sales are headed for the largest slowdown since 2011, according to Fannie Mae. That's due to headwinds like higher mortgage rates, amid a weakening US economy. That figure will only improve slightly in 2024, with total home sales expected to hit 4.9 million, Fannie Mae economists said. Optimists who say the US is on track to avoid a recession have pointed to still-robust consumer spending, but current trends look unsustainable when considering incomes, Fannie Mae said. Experts say housing affordability and sales are unlikely to improve until mortgage rates dial back more significantly, likely to around the 5% range.

Persons: Fannie Mae, That's, Freddie Mac Organizations: Service, Fed Locations: Wall, Silicon, Real

☆ Hot girl summer is about to come to a crashing halt, and winter is coming for women
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Emily Canal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

This year's hot girl summer was led by the women who propped up the US economy. The aid has been funding childcare for the past two years, which helps keep many moms working. The study polled 3,661 women and 1,144 men between November 19, 2020, and December 17, 2020. Simultaneously, if childcare centers closed, working women would bear the brunt — in a 2020 report, the National Women's Law Center found that 95% of childcare workers were women . AdvertisementAdvertisementParents, experts, and lawmakers have previously told Insider how vital childcare is to working parents.

Persons: Taylor Swift, Barbie, Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer, doesn't, Annie E, Lisa Hamilton, who've, Sen, Patty Murray Organizations: Service, Bloomberg, of Labor Statistics, American, Century Foundation, Labor Department, Family Foundation, National Women's Law Center, Casey Foundation Locations: Wall, Silicon, America, it's

☆ Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk isn't just Europe's second-most valuable company. It is also singlehandedly boosting Denmark's economy.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk is Europe's second-largest company by market capitalization. It's also boosting Denmark's economy all on its own. AdvertisementAdvertisementNot only that, Novo Nordisk has also been propping up Denmark's economy all on its own. Jonas Petersen, an analyst at Denmark's statistics department, further told the AFP that the trend is "changing the picture of the economy." Denmark's statistics department and Danske Bank's Olsen did not immediately respond to requests from Insider for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: It's, would've, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Elon Musk, Amy Schumer, they've, Las Olsen, Jonas Petersen, Bank's Olsen Organizations: Novo Nordisk, pharma, Service, Novo Nordisk's, Novo, Danske Bank, AFP, Nordisk Locations: Wall, Silicon, Europe

☆ Disney starts drafting broadcast TV’s grand finale
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

It was pretty much the only way to watch “Gunsmoke” or “Howdy Doody” until cable networks arrived in force in the 1980s, bundled together for a monthly subscription fee. For Disney, ABC represented a watershed moment. Look deeper and the big broadcasters attracted only one in five viewers, while one in three watched cable networks. The TV group, excluding cable networks such as Fox News, generated an EBITDA margin of nearly 12% for the year ending June 30. Assume any deal includes cable networks such as Disney Channel and National Geographic.

Persons: Walt Disney, Bob Iger, ”, Howdy Doody, Fox, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Eisner, Iger, what’s, “ Abbott, Singer, Morgan Stanley, Disney’s, they’re, reckons Morgan Stanley, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam, Aditya Sriwatsav, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Magic Kingdom, ABC, Disney, ESPN, Charter Communications, American Broadcasting Company, NBC, CBS, Capital Cities, RJR Nabisco, Paramount Global, Comcast, Warner Bros Discovery, Fox, Paramount, National Football League, NFL, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Bloomberg, Apple, Nielsen, BET, Wall Street Journal, Charter, U.S . Federal Communications Commission, Local, Disney Channel, Geographic, Apollo Global Management, TPG, Walt Disney, Thomson Locations: U.S, United States

☆ China’s growth is buried under great wall of debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Yawen Chen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Most of these 3,000-plus entities were created by local governments during the 2008 crisis to skirt a central government ban on direct state borrowing. These vehicles had already accumulated 80 trillion yuan of liabilities at the end of 2022, according to analysts at Guosheng Securities. At a more optimistic 30% discount, the proceeds would jump to 55 trillion yuan, which would cover all outstanding interest-bearing debt. S&P analysts calculate that about 20 trillion yuan of LGFVs’ loans may be at risk of restructuring. If Xi won't boost property wholeheartedly and is not able to count on consumers, his efforts to revive China’s growth have to focus on smashing the great wall of local debt.

Persons: Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping, Wen, Xi, Peter Thal Larsen, Sharon Lam, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: Reuters, HK, Guosheng Securities, Citi, Finance, Reuters Graphics, Financial Times, Investment, Oxford Economics, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Shanghai, New York, China's Southwestern Guizhou, United States

☆ The US consumer has been holding up the economy this summer by splurging on movies and concerts — but this may not last, a new survey indicates
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The strong consumer spending propping up the US economy may not last, a Bloomberg survey found. Over half of the respondents said they think US personal consumption will shrink in early 2024. High interest rates and a drawdown of pandemic-era savings could hit consumer spending. Since consumer spending accounts for about 70% of the US economy, any changes in the measure are a big deal. AdvertisementAdvertisementMeanwhile, JP Morgan predicted in an August 17 note that the stock market is set to fall as US consumer spending softens.

Persons: Jim Chanos, Anna Wong, James Knightley, David Rosenberg, JP Morgan Organizations: Bloomberg, Service, Wall, Bloomberg Economics, ING, Federal Reserve Bank of San Locations: Wall, Silicon, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

The strong labor market is propping up U.S. households. “Real disposable income looks set to reaccelerate in 2024 on the back of continued solid job growth and rising real wages,” Jan Hatzius, Goldman’s chief economist, wrote in a client note. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that wage gains had cooled in August, but real wages, adjusted for inflation, are trending higher. In March, the bank raised its recession odds to 35 percent in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse and worries that contagion could hurt other lenders. Poll numbers released on Monday by The Wall Street Journal showed that President Biden’s popularity is still sagging, partly because of his track record on the economy.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, ” Jan Hatzius, Goldman Organizations: Labor Department, Bloomberg, Wall Street Locations: United States, U.S, Bidenomics

☆ Don’t Underestimate Jimmy Buffett’s Influence on Style
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Guy Trebay | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Odds are the world of capital-F fashion never gave a moment’s thought to Jimmy Buffett, the bard of Margaritaville, who died on Friday at 76. Mr. Buffett, a singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and best-selling author, took a form of laid-back dressing instantly recognizable to anyone who ever hung around a boatyard and made it mainstream both at home and abroad. Not for Mr. Buffett the hippie-adjacent suedes and leathers of his musical contemporaries, nor even the standard-issue double-denim get-ups preferred by pop folk idols of his age, people like James Taylor or Jackson Browne. A lifelong waterman, Mr. Buffett spent his early days propping up bars in Key West. Nobody wears uniforms on Key West, unless you think of a uniform as Bermuda shorts in Easter egg colors; low-slung, faded khakis; flip-flops; and short-sleeved shirts with raucous patterns and squared-off tails.

Persons: Jimmy Buffett, Margaritaville, Buffett, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, waterman Locations: Key, Bermuda

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