China’s service sector, which has lagged manufacturing’s economic recovery, posted its best results this year in April, according to the private Caixin China services purchasing managers index. The index rose to 56.3 in April, up 2 points from March, to post its best reading since December, Caixin Media Co. reported. Levels above 50 signal growth;...
Tag: may 11 2021
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COMMERZBANK WORKERS AGREE TO JOB CUTS
Commerzbank, Germany’s third-largest bank, and its employees have agreed on a plan to cut 10,000 jobs. The plan includes early retirement and reduced hours for older workers, retraining for workers whose jobs are eliminated, and severance packages for those who are fired, the Verdi labor union announced on 8 May. The affected workers will not...
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BANK OF ENGLAND BOOSTS OUTLOOK, CUTS BACK ON BOND-BUYING
Britain’s central bank has raised its growth forecast for the U.K.’s economy this year by almost 50 percent, from 5 percent predicted in February to 7.25 percent now. If realized, it would be the U.K.’s greatest one-year economic expansion in the 72 years the bank has kept records. The brighter outlook has moved the bank...
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SUPPLY CHAIN DROUGHT
Supply chains and shipping will be undependable for the rest of this year, Soren Skou, CEO of AP Moeller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping line, said last week in comments announcing the company’s highest quarterly profit in its 117-year history. The cost of shipping – and profits for Maersk and its competitors – will remain high...
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COMMODITIES SUPERCYCLE UNDERWAY?
The spike in demand in recent weeks for raw materials from iron ore to sugar may signal the start of a commodities “supercycle,” in which prices for items rise steadily while supplies remain scarce, traders and analysts say. Steady demand from Chinese factories, government stimulus spending, a $2.3-billion U.S. infrastructure project, a greening world economy,...
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FOX CORP. BEATS EXPECTATIONS, WILL BUY OUTKICK MEDIA
Fox Corp., the media colossus owned by Rupert Murdoch, saw profits rise sevenfold to $567 million in this year’s first quarter, despite a 6.5-percent drop in revenue to $3.2 billion year on year. Ad sales across newspapers, television, radio and online platforms plunged 24 percent to $1.2 billion. Also, fewer viewers tuned in to the...
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PRIVATE EQUITY GIANT GOBBLES YAHOO
Private equity firm Apollo Global Management has bought Yahoo and Verizon Communications’ other online media properties for $5 billion. Verizon shed the assets to concentrate on its central business of telecommunications and continue the expansion of its 5G network, which served 230 million people in 2,700 cities in December, the company said. Apollo plans to...
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NEARLY HALF OF NEW STORES IN 2021 WILL BE DOLLAR STORES
About 45 percent of the 3,597 new store openings retail chains announced so far this year will be additions to the Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar chains, according to an analysis by Coresight Research. Economic damage from the COVID War has hit low and middle-level wage workers hard, thus accelerating the long-term of...
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INFLATED CHICKEN
The American public – 72 percent of which are overweight and 40 percent obese – has ratcheted up their taste for corporate food, and their hunger for it has driven up the prices of chicken wings, nuggets, and sandwiches… as chicken supplies go down. Restaurant closures during the economic shutdown left freezers full of unsold...