China’s economy will end this year with a 5.4-percent growth rate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected, increasing its outlook for the country from the 5 percent it had foreseen in its October forecast.
Category: 14 November 2023
SPOTLIGHT: OFFICE BUILDING BUST: WORSE TO COME FOR OFFICE SECTOR
While the Office Building Bust is very old news for Trends Journal subscribers—we had forecast this three years ago—it is now just making it into the mainstream news.
LUXURY CONGLOMERATE RICHEMONT REPORTS DISAPPOINTING SALES
Richemont, the Swiss luxury conglomerate that owns the Cartier, Montblanc, Piaget, and Van Cleef & Arpels brands, among others, reported third-quarter sales that fell below analysts’ expectations.
TOP TREND 2023, MIDDLE EAST MELTDOWN: MIDEAST WAR CUTS INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
Bookings for international air travel fell 20 percent below 2019 levels in the three weeks following Hamas’s attack on Israel, according to travel data service ForwardKeys.
WEWORK FINALLY GOES BUST
WeWork, the global chain of co-working spaces that was once valued at $47 billion, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. this month after seeing its stock price plunge by more than 98 percent this year.
GERMAN SHIPPING COMPANY SEES PROFITS TORPEDOED
German container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd reported profits this year through September were almost 80 percent below those of last year over the same period, falling to €3.2 billion.
U.K. GROCERY INFLATION FALLS TO SINGLE DIGITS FOR FIRST TIME IN 18 MONTHS
Inflation in British grocery prices fell to 9.7 percent in the four weeks ending 29 October, the first time monthly food price gains have been limited to single digits since July 2022, research service Kantar reported.
BRITAIN’S ECONOMY STAGNATES IN THIRD QUARTER
The U.K.’s economy showed no growth in this year’s third quarter from the second, “entering what is expected to be a protracted period of stagnation on the cusp of a recession,” The New York Times reported.
EV SALES SLUMP IN U.S., EUROPE
Even though electric vehicle (EV) sales in the United States topped 300,000 for the first time in this year’s third quarter, sales of electric vehicles (EVs) have stalled in Europe and the U.S., prompting manufacturers to slow or halt production and dealers to slash prices to move the cars off their lots.
NATIONS BOOST FOSSIL FUEL PRODUCTION, VIOLATING CLIMATE PLEDGES
In the 2015 climate summit, world leaders promised to cut fossil fuel production and use to a level that would limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures.