Walmart will pay $11.50 a share in cash, or about $2.3 billion, to buy Vizio, a California company that makes television sets.
Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT – Feb 27 2024
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SPOTLIGHT: CHINA’S ECONOMIC STRUGGLE
China’s stock markets got a boost last week after banks made a larger-than-expected 0.25-percent cut to the five-year loan prime rate against which mortgage loan rates are benchmarked.
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SPOTLIGHT: BANKS GO BUST
A dramatic increase in late payments on commercial real estate (CRE) loans is sharply shrinking cash reserves that major U.S. banks have set aside to cover such losses.
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EUROPE’S WEAPONS MAKERS RIDE THE WAVE OF ARMS SPENDING
With wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, European arms spending rose to $388 billion in 2023, with Europe’s defense contractors booking almost $300 billion in new orders.
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INVESTORS WARM UP TO MILEI’S TOUGH LOVE IN ARGENTINA
Argentina’s bond market is strengthening, with some issues reaching their highest values since 2019 as chain-saw-wielding, self-described “anarcho-libertarian” president Javier Milei continues his dramatic reforms to the country’s economy.
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GERMANY’S CENTRAL BANK USES UP ITS RESERVES, WILL LOSE MONEY THIS YEAR
Germany’s Bundesbank will post a “significant” financial loss this year that could exceed the €700 million of its remaining reserves, the central bank has reported.
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EUROPE’S BIGGEST ALUMINUM PRODUCER CITES “CONSTRUCTION CRASH”
The construction industry in some of Europe’s largest countries is seeing a plunge in demand similar to that during the COVID War, Norsk Hydro, Europe’s largest aluminum producer, said in a recent statement.
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EUROZONE WAGES GROWING AT SLOWER RATE
In 2023’s final quarter, pay for Eurozone workers increased at an annual rate of 4.5 percent, easing from 4.7 percent in the quarter before, European Central Bank (ECB) data showed.
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JAPAN’S NIKKEI SOARS TO HEIGHT NOT SEEN SINCE 1989
On 22 February, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index reached its highest level since 1989 as bargain stock prices and tighter corporate regulations drew money exiting Chinese markets, Reuters reported.
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GERMANY’S FACTORY OUTPUT FALLS MORE THAN EXPECTED IN JANUARY
Activity in Germany’s export-dependent manufacturing sector fell again this month, sliding more than expected.