Last week, state-controlled Gazprom, Russia’s largest natural gas company, cut off deliveries to Bulgaria and Poland because the two countries failed to pay for the gas in rubles, Russia’s national currency. Russia had previously warned that “unfriendly” nations would be required to pay for their gas supplies in rubles, which Ursula von der Leyen, president...
Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT
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TOP TREND 2022: SELF-SUFFICIENT ECONOMIES: MORE COUNTRIES LINING UP
Together, Russia and Ukraine ship a disproportionate share of the world’s barley, corn, wheat, vegetable oils. Russia also is a key supplier of nickel, pig iron, and fossil fuels. Those exports have now slowed to a trickle and, in some cases, ceased entirely. Ukraine has cut exports of cattle, oats, sunflower oil, and wheat to...
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TOP 2022 TREND, DRAGFLATION: GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH SLOWS
During this year’s first quarter, the U.S. economy shrank 1.4 percent and the European Union’s economy grew 0.2 percent compared to 0.3 percent in 2021’s final three months. (See related story in this issue.) Spain’s GDP expanded 0.3 percent, a fraction of the 2.2 percent it saw in last year’s fourth quarter. In France, the...
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TOP 2022 TREND, DRAGFLATION: EURO ZONE LEADS THE WAY
Ukraine’s economy will collapse by 38 percent this year if fighting ends soon and 45 percent if the war drags on, according to a study by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies. The war currently centers on Ukraine’s eastern region, which hosts more than a third of the country’s agricultural productivity, 40 percent of...
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SPOTLIGHT: THE BIGS GET BIGGER
Each week, we report instances where the money junky hedge funds, private equity groups and the already big companies swallow another piece of the global economy. Here are some more of what the BIGS have been gobbling up and how the Bigs keep getting bigger and the rich keep getting richer. KKR BIDS $15 BILLION...
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SPOTLIGHT ON INFLATION
Overview: As we have detailed for nearly two years, inflation across the globe was on the rise despite the central banks denying the reality so they could continue to pump in cheap money to artificially pump up equites and economies. And as we have also greatly detailed in previous Trends Journals, as a result of...
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NESTLE SALES RISE WITH “RESPONSIBLE” PRICE INCREASES
After raising prices 5.2 percent in this year’s first quarter, international food conglomerate Nestlé reported a 7.6-percent gain in sales for the period, beating analysts’ forecasts. The company hiked prices most in the Americas, raising them 8.5 percent in North America and 7.7 percent south of the U.S. border. “We stepped up pricing in a...
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HONDA WILL SPENT $40 BILLION TO MAKE 30 EV MODELS
Japan’s Honda Motor Co. plans a ¥5-trillion investment, about $40 billion, over the next 10 years to create 30 models of all-electric vehicles (EVs), making up 40 percent of the company’s line-up, Japan’s second largest car maker announced this month. Honda intends to make two million EVs a year by 2030, CEO Toshihiro Mibe said,...
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LACK OF LITHIUM MAKES EV BOOM UNSUSTAINABLE, SUPPLIER SAYS
Western battery companies, car makers, and governments have failed to develop adequate sources of lithium, leaving auto companies unable to meet the surge in demand for electric vehicles (EVs), Stuart Crow, chair of Australian mining company Lake Resources, said in a Financial Times interview. Lithium is the central element in the batteries that power EVs....
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GERMAN BANK SHARE PRICES FALL ON MAJOR STOCK SALES
Share values for Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, Germany’s two biggest lenders, dropped more than 10 percent after investors sold €1.75 billion worth of stock in the two. The sales took place on 11 April. Capital Group, Deutsche Bank’s second largest stockholder, dumped €1.27 billion worth of shares. An unknown investor unloaded €475 million in Commerzbank’s...