Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT

With interest rates edging up in Europe as U.S. yields rise and the American economy readies to rebound, the European Central Bank (ECB) will accelerate its €1.85-trillion bond-buying program “at a significantly higher pace than during the first months of the year,” ECB president Christine Lagarde said at an 11 March news conference. The accelerated...

The surge in U.S. economic growth this year, spurred by massive government stimulus spending, will fuel a strong global rebound, according to an analysis by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The world’s economy will reach pre-pandemic output levels by the middle of this year, the OECD now predicts, six months earlier than...

In the spring of 2020, 5.7 million fewer Europeans were working than at the end of 2019, according to a new report from the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. In the 12 months preceding spring 2020, employment across the continent slipped 2.4 percent and the average workweek shrank by one...

DISNEY TO CLOSE AT LEAST 60 STORES IN NORTH AMERICA. The entertainment giant will shift more attention to online sales and close storefronts to save rent as more shoppers buy from its Internet sites. “While consumer behavior has shifted toward online shopping, the global pandemic has changed what consumers expect from a retailer,” Stephanie Young,...

As we have forecast, the 20th century was the American century – the 21st century will be the Chinese century.  The business of China is business; the business of America is war. While America spent countless trillions waging and losing endless wars and enriching its military-industrial complex, China has spent its trillions advancing the nation’s...

The Lebanese pound traded at a record-low 10,000 to the U.S. dollar on the country’s black market on 2 March, about 85 percent below its official exchange rate. The pound has lost 20 percent of its value this year. Food prices rose at an annual rate of 400 percent in December and 45 percent of...

In January, French exports to the U.K. were 13 percent fewer than the previous six months’ average. German exports to Britain were down 30 percent year over year, Italy’s 38 percent.  For the month, Italy imported 70 percent fewer items from Britain. “I have a hard time deciding what is the impact of Brexit and...

Britain has become the first major nation to announce it will raise taxes after its economy recovers. Corporate taxes will rise from 19 percent to 25 percent in April 2023, and tax-free allowances on personal income taxes will be suspended, treasury chief Rishi Sunak announced. The two measures are expected to bring £65 billion –...

As the COVID War wanes, money is flooding into Asian stock markets, with young individuals pouring money into markets in their first forays into investing. Trading volumes on exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, the region’s largest, are climbing toward boom levels last seen in 2014 and 2015; volumes on Hong Kong and Seoul trading floors...

AIRBnB REPORTS 2020 LOSSES. The room-booking company reported losing $3.89 billion in 2020’s fourth quarter, more than ten times the $352 million it lost in the same period in 2019. Revenue for the quarter was $859 million, down 22 percent compared to the previous year but enough beat analysts’ expectations of $747.6 million. The value of...