China’s economic output increased 1.3 percent in this year’s first quarter from the final three months in 2025 and expanded at an annual rate of 5.3 percent, year on year.
Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT – Apr 21 2026
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BANKS ARE AT RISK FROM THEIR LOANS TO HEDGE FUNDS, S&P SAYS
Investment banks have curtailed their direct trading activities and instead are lending massive amounts of money to hedge funds, creating “an inherent fragility” in financial markets, S&P Global Ratings said in a 15 April report.
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TRUMP’S ERRATIC POLICIES MAKE BOND INVESTORS LOOK ELSEWHERE
The U.S.’s standing as the lowest-cost borrower of dollars and the safest place to store value in turbulent times might not last much longer.
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SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
Sazerac, an international purveyor of spirits based in France, has offered $32 a share to buy Jack Daniel’s, Kentucky’s iconic sippin’ whiskey, for a total of around $15 billion.
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SPOTLIGHT: THE LIMPING LUXURY INDUSTRY
As our regular readers know, the luxury industry has been in flux for more than two years.
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GOING OUT OF BUSINESS TRENDS
This year’s business shakeout is gathering pace with intentional contraction, debt restructuring, and widespread going-out-of-business sales, particularly in brick-and-mortar retail and casual dining.
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WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS, JOBS GO WITH IT
Large-scale layoffs are occurring throughout the Bigs, with many companies cutting their workforce by thousands in hopes of getting stock bumps and praise from investors, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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SPOTLIGHT: THE IRAN WAR’S ECONOMIC COST
By the hard facts and indisputable data, the illegal and unjustifiable war that the United States and Israel have launched against Iran has inflicted severe economic damage across the globe.