Drug giant Merck will pay $10.8 billion in cash to buy Prometheus Biosciences, a San Diego company that develops drugs for diseases resulting from the body’s defective immune system.
Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT – Apr 18 2023
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SPOTLIGHT: FALLOUT FROM THE BIG BANKSTER BUST CONTINUES
Rising interest rates have left banks less stable, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) chief economist warned in an 11 April interview with CNBC.
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SPOTLIGHT: BYE BYE BUCKS – THE DEATH OF THE DOLLAR
Since Western allies levied sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine, the proportion of world trade paid for in China’s renminbi currency has more than doubled, according to the Financial Times.
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SPOTLIGHT: CHINA
China’s export economy expanded by 14.8 percent last month, overcoming a sluggish world economy by increasing sales of electric vehicles (EVs) and related items, and also by expanding its trade with Russia, the Financial Times reported.
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YEN’S VALUE SAGS AS CENTRAL BANK LEAVES POLICY UNCHANGED
On 9 April, the value of Japan’s yen slipped 1 percent against the dollar, falling as low as ¥133.4 after Kazuo Ueda, the Bank of Japan’s new governor, announced that the bank will maintain a -0.50-percent interest rate and continue to hold bond rates at rock bottom.
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BIG SPENDERS, ESPECIALLY IN CHINA, FLOCK BACK TO LUXURY BOUTIQUES
Luxury conglomerate LVMH Möet Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported a 17-percent spike in first-quarter sales, year over year, as well-heeled Chinese shoppers returned to its stores and consumers in Europe and Japan stocked up on the company’s clothing, handbags, and jewelry.
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VENTURE FUNDING PLUMMETS 53 PERCENT IN THIS YEAR’S FIRST QUARTER
Venture capital firms invested $76 billion in start-up companies in the first three months of this year, compared to $162 billion during the same period in 2022, the Financial Times reported.
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MAJOR ECONOMIES MUST REIN IN BORROWING, IMF SAYS
China, the U.S., U.K., Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and Turkey are likely to increase their national debts by five percentage points of GNP from now through 2028, Vitor Gaspar, policy director of the International Monetary Fund, said last week in comments quoted by the Financial Times.
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DEBT PRESSURES MOUNTING FOR POOR COUNTRIES
This year, low-income nations will face their biggest bills for loan repayments in the past quarter century, the private, nonprofit advocacy group DebtJustice has calculated.
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WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS JOBS GO WITH IT
This is week 35 of our reporting the long trend-line of layoffs that signal recession in a country near you.