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. It should be noted...
Tag: aug 23 2022
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SPOTLIGHT: INFLATION
EUROZONE INFLATION RISES TO 8.9 PERCENT IN JULY Inflation across the 19 countries sharing the euro currency sped up to 8.9 percent in July from 8.6 percent the month before, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency. In July 2021, the rate was 2.2 percent. Energy prices rose 4.02 percentage points. Food, alcohol, and...
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TOP 2022 TREND, SELF-SUFFICIENT ECONOMIES: CHINA PROMOTES VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
Vocational education is key to China’s employment and entrepreneurship and to speeding economic and social development, president Xi Jinping wrote in a letter last week to the World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference. The conference, the first of its kind, was held in the Chinese city of Tianjin, where manufacturing accounts for about half...
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WITH INFLATION NEARING 80 PERCENT, TURKEY CUTS INTEREST RATES—AGAIN
Responding to July’s inflation rate of 79.6 percent, Turkey’s central bank cut its key interest rate from 14 to 13 percent last week. Analysts had expected the bank to leave the rate untouched at 14 percent. “Leading indicators in the third quarter point to some loss of momentum in economic activity,” the bank said in...
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TOP 2022 TREND, DRAGFLATION: POLAND’S ECONOMY GOING DOWN
Poland’s economy is racing toward Dragflation: Sinking economy and rising inflation. Its economy shrank 2.3 percent in this year’s second quarter, which also signals fears of a regional recession later this year. And on the inflation side, it hit a 25-year high at 15.6 percent… while consumer confidence has sunk to its lowest level since...
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NORWAY’S CENTRAL BANK RAISES KEY RATE
Norges Bank, Norway’s central bank, added a half point to its key interest rate for the second time this year, lifting the rate to 1.75 percent as inflation rose to 6.8 percent in July. It plans another increase next month. Analysts expect it to be another half-point bump, the Financial Times reported. The bank’s inflation...
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NATURAL GAS PRICES IN EUROPE SET ANOTHER RECORD
On 15 August, natural gas futures in Europe grew by another 3.2 percent to €233.56, or about $237, per million Btus, a new record price. It continued rising on 22 August, climbing to €257.40. The continent is in the midst of its third heatwave this summer, with temperatures exceeding 100°F in France and reaching 106°F...
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BUSINESS TRAVEL SLOWING
Business travel may not return to pre-COVID levels until some time in 2026, two years later than previously forecast, according to a study by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). A slowing global economy and geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the Ukraine war and the U.S.-Chinese tensions over Taiwan are making companies cautious, CNBC reported. Also, inflation...
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POLL: FEARING RECESSION, HOW LOW WILL FED GO?
The U.S. Federal Reserve will raise its benchmark federal funds interest rate by a half-point in September as its concerns grow that the economy is heading toward recession, according to a Reuters poll of 94 economists this month. A half-point bump would place the fed funds rate between 2.75 and 3 percent. Only 18 of...
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FED STRIKES CAUTIOUS TONE ON INTEREST RATES
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee agreed on the need to keep raising interest rates to combat inflation but also hinted at a more cautious approach to future hikes, minutes of the group’s last meeting showed. The Fed has raised rates three times in its last three meetings, by a quarter-point in March, a...