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☆ China's economy isn't rebounding as fast as anyone expected
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

While I personally won't be flying internationally anytime soon, we're diving into China's lethargic economy for today's newsletter. The much-anticipated economic rebound hasn't quite materialized for China in the way many had expected. The sluggish recovery has embedded itself in nearly every corner of the world's second-largest economy, even in some of the most obscure commodities markets. The CSI 300 index has slipped over recent weeks, and luxury brands reliant on China's large consumer base have tumbled. What's your outlook on China's economy for the rest of 2023?

Persons: I'm Phil Rosen, Jamie Dimon, Tesla, China Tuul, Bruno Morandi, Rockefeller International's Ruchir Sharma, Nicholas Lardy, Lardy, Filip De Mott, Tweet, Sheldon Cooper, Nordstrom, Goldman Sachs, there's, that's, Phil Rosen, Jason Ma, Nathan Rennolds Organizations: JPMorgan, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Getty, World Gold, Fed, Nvidia, Microsoft, Saudi Aramco Locations: Elon, China, Washington, Shanghai, Shenzhen, . Utah , Colorado, Scottsdale, Saudi, New York, Los Angeles, London

☆ North Korea spent the pandemic building a huge border wall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

As the pandemic began, North Korea moved to seal its northern borders, tightening control over informal trade routes and making escape harder for defectors. Nov. 16, 2019 Minimal security features visible along North Korea’s border with Russia. Food shortages in North Korea have worsened in recent months, due in part to the border closures, according to international experts. Still, he said, there were reports of foreign shows such as the South Korean hit “Squid Game” finding their way into North Korea. “It's all the more reason for the international community to step up efforts to support North Korean rights,” he said.

☆ Modi inaugurates controversial new parliament building in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

A cyclist rides past the construction site for the new Parliament building in January 2021. Controversial projectThe new triangular parliament building is part of a major overhaul of New Delhi’s colonial-era administrative center dubbed the Central Vista Redevelopment Project. The rush was widely thought to have resulted from hopes of opening the parliament building by the 75th anniversary of Indian independence in August 2022. Capacity is also limited — a concern magnified by growing calls to increase the number of MPs sitting in India’s parliament. A photo of the parliament's interior taken during a visit to the building by Modi earlier this year.

☆ Qantas eyes return to 100% of pre-COVID capacity by March 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 19 (Reuters) - Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AX), Australia's flagship carrier, said on Friday it expects its international capacity to reach about 100% of pre-COVID-19 levels by March 2024, as it plans to add more seats and aircraft to its global network. The carrier plans to add about 1 million seats to its international network over a 12-month period starting late-October, Qantas said. "The rebound in demand for international travel since borders reopened has been incredibly strong...," CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement, while flagging a mismatch between supply and demand for international flying. Qantas swung to a record profit in the first half of this financial year as raging travel demand jacked up fares and earnings. The airline will need about 300 more pilots and cabin crew by the end of the year to support extra flying, it said.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, May 19 (Reuters) - Chinese refiners dipped into crude oil inventories in April for the first time in 18 months, as high processing rates exceeded the volume of crude available from both imports and domestic output. The volume of crude available to refiners from imports and domestic output in April was 59.71 million tonnes, equivalent to 14.53 million bpd. For April, the total amount of crude available was 340,000 bpd below the volume processed by refiners, the first time since November 2021 that refiners have drawn on inventories. CRUDE IMPORTS RECOVEROn the crude import side the picture is more interesting, with April arrivals the lowest since January at 10.3 million bpd. For May, it seems likely that imports will recover, with Refinitiv Oil Research estimating arrivals of 11.83 million bpd, a jump of 1.53 million bpd from April's soft outcome.

Total electrical generation increased by 128 billion kilowatt-hours (4.9%) between January and April compared with the same period in 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Increases from thermal power plants (+83 billion kWh), wind farms (+64 billion kWh), solar farms (+16 billion kWh) and nuclear units (+6 billion kWh) more than offset reduced hydro-electric output (-42 billion kWh). Renewables wind and solar provided 14% of generation up from just 3% in 2014, while nuclear supplied 5% up from 2%. Ensuring sufficient electricity generation to meet rapidly rising demand from industry and households is the more urgent priority in the short term while reducing emissions is a more long-term goal. INDUSTRY FOCUSOn the consumption side, electricity demand growth in the first four months shows a clear emphasis on industry rather than households.

☆ ‘Benefits outweigh the harm’: Worried about their livelihood, small business owners push back on potential TikTok ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

A potential TikTok ban has raised concerns among small business owners on TikTok, who have found success and built sizable audiences without having to pay for marketing. When Aparna Singh first heard about a potential TikTok ban, she "immediately went into panic mode." Concerned about a potential ban of TikTok, small business owners told CNBC Make It why they think the short-video app should stay. Despite the security concerns, small business owners have expressed frustration over the possibilities of a complete ban. Let your followers know where they can find you if the ban is approved," Powers advised other small business owners on TikTok.

☆ When COVID-19 lockdowns shuttered our restaurant, we launched merch, jarred our house-made sauces, and launched a wine club to make money. This year, our sales are up over 80%.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Erin Greenawald | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

This article is part of "Small Business Strong," a series highlighting the resilient work of small-business leaders to overcome barriers and reach success. There's additional revenue they create that's harder to pinpoint, like when someone comes in to pick up their hot sauces and ends up buying lunch, too. Finally, these additional revenue streams contribute to our own resiliency as small-business owners. Kenzie, one of our cofounders, previously worked for a small business that sold camp gear, and they had a whole process for launching and promoting a new product. Sure, sometimes we end up working after-hours to add these additional revenue streams, but we do it because it's fun for us.

☆ U.S. refiners build new oil processing as travel rises
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Erwin Seba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HOUSTON, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. oil refiners aim to run at up to 94% of a total 17.9 million barrels per day processing capacity this quarter, according to company forecasts and analysts, driven in part by expectations of seasonal travel demand. This quarter is traditionally one of the year's hottest for demand as companies build gasoline and jet fuel output for the summer vacation season. He estimates refiners overall will run at 94% utilization rate this quarter, matching the 2017-19 average for the period. High prices will keep U.S. refinery utilization rates at levels near last year's about 91.7% this year and next, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast in January. Refiners will add the capacity to process an additional 328,000 bpd in this quarter, increasing gasoline and diesel supplies this summer.

☆ Last known speaker fights to preserve South African indigenous language
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

UPINGTON, South Africa, May 11 (Reuters) - When she was a girl in South Africa's Northern Cape, Katrina Esau stopped speaking her mother tongue, N|uu, after being mocked by other people and told it was an "ugly language". Now at age 90, she is the last known speaker of N|uu, one of a group of indigenous languages in South Africa that have been all but stamped out by the impacts of colonialism and apartheid. "We became ashamed when we were young girls, and we stopped speaking the language," Esau told Reuters. Instead she spoke Afrikaans, the language promoted by South Africa's white minority rulers. [1/5] Ouma Katrina Esau, the last known fluent mother-tongue speaker of the indigenous N|uu language is seen during the ceremony where she was honoured with an honorary Doctor of Literature degree by the University of Cape Town, in Cape Town, South Africa, March 29, 2023.

☆ What Does the End of the Covid Health Emergency Mean for New York City?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Sharon Otterman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The official end of the nation’s Covid public health emergency on Thursday means that the country will begin to treat Covid-19 like any other transmissible disease, meaning the end of federal funds for free testing and treatment for all. In New York City, the rollback of the public health response has been underway for months. The city will keep distributing free home tests at libraries and other locations until its supply from the federal government runs out. The city’s public hospitals and clinics will continue indefinitely to provide low-cost or free care to the estimated 200,000 uninsured people in the city, as it does for other illnesses. “Covid-related health care is going to start looking a lot more like all the other health care we receive, which involves health insurance for people who have it, and turning to our safety-net health care system for people who don’t,” said Rima Oken, director of policy for the New York City Health Department’s disease control division, at a panel hosted last week by the Pandemic Response Institute.

☆ A UBS asset allocation chief told us what investors should own to profit from a market that's facing the triple threats of little upside, a recession, and a banking crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

He told Insider what investors should buy today, and what they should buy if prices come down. Almost a year ago investors became convinced that, as the Federal Reserve began dramatically raising interest rates to contain inflation, a recession would swiftly follow. A year later, the recession still hasn't started — but there's still a great deal of confidence that one is coming any day now. Draho said that performance reflects the fact that investors think things are going to turn out fairly well. "You're going to get a better return from investment grade corporate bonds," with many high-quality bonds still yielding 5% or more.

☆ As Covid Emergency Ends, U.S. Response Shifts to ‘Peacetime’ Mode
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Sheryl Gay Stolberg | Noah Weiland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Thursday, three years and 100 days after the Trump administration declared the coronavirus a public health emergency, the Biden administration will allow the emergency declaration to expire, ushering in a new era when the government will treat Covid-19 like any other respiratory ailment. If the coronavirus pandemic was a war, the United States is about to officially enter peacetime. State health officials, tasked with tracking the coronavirus, are burned out, their departments understaffed. President Biden’s coronavirus response team will soon disband. But the officials say they are operating on a tight budget; Congress has refused to give the administration any new money for the pandemic response.

☆ Amazon plans more warehouses and higher headcount in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Helen Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BARCELONA, May 9 (Reuters) - Amazon (AMZN.O) plans to open new warehouses and hire more people in Europe, an executive said on Tuesday, even as squeezed consumer spending forces the tech giant to cut costs globally and lay off some employees. Amazon has invested 142 billion euros ($156 billion)in Europe since 2010, and its growth in the region was boosted in recent years from COVID-19 lockdowns driving shopping online. The expansion is part of Amazon's push to increase efficiency by cutting delivery distances and making fulfilment centres more automated. "The ability to have a collaborative deployment of AI is really a key strategic element for us," Perego said. ($1 = 0.9084 euros)Reporting by Helen Reid in Barcelona; Editing by Andrea RicciOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China's car sales rise 2.1% in April as price war effect fades
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, May 9 (Reuters) - China's passenger vehicle sales rose by 2.1% in April from a month earlier, industry data showed, underscoring a slower pace of growth as the stimulus effect of price cuts and incentives faded. Car sales in April totalled 1.65 million units, 54.5% higher from a year earlier when COVID-19 lockdowns disrupted productions and sales, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Tuesday. In the first four months of 2023, vehicle sales were down 1.4% year-on-year to 5.98 million units, it added. Reuters GraphicsChina's crowded auto market is getting even more congested with nearly 300 models displayed at the Shanghai auto show in April, 172 of which were NEVs, according to Ways Consulting. A tepid property market recovery and an unexpected contraction in factory activity is also pointing to a shaky economic outlook, casting clouds over the strength of the post-COVID rebound and potentially dampening consumer spending.

☆ How El Chapo’s sons built a fentanyl empire poisoning America
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +23 min

Headed by Iván, El Chapo’s oldest son, the siblings have emerged as key figures in the Sinaloa Cartel, U.S. and Mexican anti-narcotics officials said. But he was killed in 2008 in Culiacán in a hail of bullets amid infighting between warring factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. The agency in April placed Iván on the list of its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, joining Jesús Alfredo and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a Sinaloa Cartel legend and El Chapo’s alleged former business partner. They also kidnapped eight soldiers and surrounded military housing where wives and children of Mexican soldiers lived, Mexican officials said. Despite that blow to the Sinaloa Cartel, fentanyl keeps flowing north.

☆ I left Miami for a remote village in Pakistan. I have no running hot water and limited electricity — but my quality of life here is infinitely better.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Samantha Shea | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

She moved to Hunza Valley in Northern Pakistan in 2021, where she's lived ever since. I live in Hunza Valley, 8,500 feet above sea level on the border with Western China, where I work as a digital nomad. A drone shot of Hunza Valley in early May. A Hunza Valley local drying apricots. Though my solo journey to Pakistan started as a trip, Hunza Valley is now my home.

☆ I shifted my work schedule to fit mostly into a 4-day week. Now I devote Fridays to my side hustle.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Priyanka Jain works in communications at Arup, a British design firm with flexible work options. Before moving around her work schedule, her side hustle felt like an "afterthought." Knowing Arup was flexible with work in that way, I decided to pitch the idea of a different work schedule to my boss. I felt like I had all this creativity, all these ideas for my business, but I couldn't juggle it with my work schedule at the time. Because I've seen flexible work done well, I would think twice if there was a company that had a very rigid structure.

May 8 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever. The regional economic data calendar on Monday is light, with the final reading of Japanese purchasing managers index and Taiwanese trade for April the main releases. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, for one, is very optimistic: "It's possible that this time is really different. Technology giant JD.com (9618.HK) and China's largest chip foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (0981.HK) both release first-quarter earnings on Thursday. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ I love working on a cruise ship. I get free housing and food at the buffet, but it's definitely a strange way to live.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Fortesa Latifi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

I've seen that firsthand, since my mom started working on cruise ships when I was 4 years old. Around the same time, I was visiting Singapore when my mom's cruise ship docked there. There are plenty of perks of working on a cruise shipI don't pay for housing. But working on a cruise ship isn't all positiveIt can be difficult, because working on a cruise ship means you're never not at work. I do love working on a cruise shipI also love sharing it to my 500,000 TikTok followers.

☆ Tesla's April sales of China-made EVs down 14.7% from March -CPCA
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, May 5 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) delivered 75,842 China-made electric vehicles (EVs) in April, down 14.7% from March, data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed on Friday. The figure was a huge jump from a year earlier, when the city of Shanghai - where Tesla has a factory - was in COVID-19 lockdown and the company delivered only 1,512 China-made Model 3 and Model Y cars in the world's largest auto market. Local rival BYD Co (002594.SZ), with its Dynasty and Ocean series of EVs and hybrids, sold 209,467 vehicles in April, CPCA data showed, up 1.6% from March. Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh Editing by Jamie Freed and David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The COVID-19 global health emergency is over, even as 1 person dies from the disease every 3 minutes, World Health Organization says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said. Still, the disease continues to kill 1 person globally every 3 minutes, WHO added. Countries are now expected to shift from "emergency mode" to managing COVID-19 like other diseases. Ghebreyesus added that COVID-19 killed one person every three minutes last week — "and that's just the deaths we know about. According to the World Health Organization, 6.9 million people have died from COVID-19 since the virus began to spread in early 2020.

☆ UK Conservatives suffering 'terrible' night with local election losses
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Andrew Macaskill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Peter CziborraLONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives were facing a bleak set of local election results with voters punishing his party over political scandals, sluggish economic growth and high inflation, early results showed on Friday. The Conservative Party suffered a net loss of 144 seats on local councils that were up for re-election, the early results showed. Johnny Mercer, a member of parliament for the area, said it had been a "terrible" night for the Conservatives. The Labour leader Keir Starmer visited Plymouth and Stoke-on-Trent during local election campaigning as the party threw resources into winning back control of the councils. The last time most of these local election seats were contested was in 2019 when the Conservatives lost more 1,300 seats, shortly before the then prime minister Theresa May was forced to resign, which had been expected to help limit the losses in these elections.

☆ China's skidding factory sector taps brakes on economic recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ellen Zhang | Ryan Woo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s factory activity unexpectedly contracted in April as orders fell and poor domestic demand dragged on the sprawling manufacturing sector, a private survey showed on Thursday, imperilling the broader economic outlook for the second quarter. China Daily via REUTERSThe Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.5 in April from 50.0 in March. The latest PMIs may lower expectations for the economy in the second quarter, said Zhou Hao, economist at Guotai Junan International. “But to what extent the economic recovery momentum will weaken, the market is not sure,” Zhou said. “The manufacturing sector will be under pressure in the second quarter, and won’t get any relief at least until June.”

☆ China's holiday tourism rebound to pre-Covid levels boosts outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tourists from the Chinese mainland wait at the departure hall of Hong Kong West Kowloon Station on the last day of May Day holiday on May 3, 2023. China's tourism rebounded to pre-Covid-19 levels in the May Day holiday as the number of domestic trips rose by more than two-thirds from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, a welcome boost for the world's second-biggest economy. During these trips, Chinese tourists spent 148 billion yuan ($21 billion), a 128.9% increase from a year earlier, and on a par with 2019 levels. The figures from this year's May Day holiday — the first travel season since the pandemic without restrictions — are being monitored as a gauge of China's economic health. Official data on Sunday showed activity in China's non-manufacturing sector grew in April, albeit at a slower pace than in March.

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