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. SAUDIS PAY $3 BILLION...
Tag: may 24 2022
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SPOTLIGHT ON INFLATION
YELLEN REJECTS SUGGESTION TO RAISE 2-PERCENT INFLATION TARGET Advanced nations should not adjust upward their 2-percent inflation targets just because inflation is running at high rates, U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen told reporters on 19 May in Bonn, Germany, where she was attending a meeting of finance ministers of the G7 nations. “The challenge is...
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PURVEYORS OF LUXURY GOODS FORESEE U.S. BOOM, CHINA REVIVAL
Companies hawking haute couture, pricey perfumes, and three-figure bottles of cognac expect sales in China to return to COVID-era highs and to accelerate in the U.S., despite roaring inflation and an extended sell-off of luxury-company stocks. Antoine Arnault, CEO of the Berluti division of luxury conglomerate LVMH, and Gildo Zegna, head of Italy’s Ermenegildo Zegna...
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CAR SALES IN EUROPE DIVE 20 PERCENT IN APRIL
In April, car sales in Europe declined for a 10th consecutive month, with new registrations off 20 percent, year over year, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said, recording the largest drop this year. Stellantis, the conglomerate that subsumed Chrysler Fiat, saw sales plunge 31 percent. Italy lost more than a third of its sales, compared...
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CHINA’S HOME PRICES FALL FOR FIRST TIME IN SEVEN YEARS
Home prices across 70 cities in China edged down 0.11 percent in April, year over year, their first decline since November 2015, according to The Wall Street Journal’s analysis of data published by China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Prices rose in 30 cities and fell in 40. The decline was concentrated in China’s poorer, smaller...
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GLOBAL ECONOMY IMPACTED BY CHINA’S SLOWDOWN DUE TO ‘ZERO-COVID’ POLICY
China’s “Zero-COVID” policy continues to impact the global economy, which economists say is a double whammy due to the war in Ukraine. “Everyone has exposure,” Carlos Casanova, senior economist for Asia at Union Bancaire Privée in Hong Kong told The Wall Street Journal. “Whatever happens in China significantly impacts global growth.” The Journal, citing the International Monetary...
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APPLE, NEW YORK TIMES DELAY WORKERS’ RETURN TO THE OFFICE
The New York Times Co. had planned to bring workers back to the paper’s Times Square offices part-time next month, but has now delayed their return “until conditions improve,” the company said in a statement. Last week, city health officials placed the Big Apple on “high alert” for risk of new COVID virus infections. The...
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RICH GET RICHER: U.S. CEO PAY SETS RECORD
Chief executive officers at the largest U.S. companies averaged $14.7 million in compensation in 2021, the sixth consecutive year of record pay for corporate leaders. Pay packets grew by an average of 12 percent above 2020 levels. The median annual paycheck was $4.1 million; the balance of the compensation was in stock, much of which...
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HOUSING BOOM IS ALL BUT OVER, WSJ SAYS
Home sales in the U.S. are slowing after a frenzied two years that saw median sale prices rise from $329,000 in 2020’s first quarter to $391,200 in this year’s first three months, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Existing homes sold at an annual rate of 5.6 million in April, compared to 6.1...
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PACE OF APRIL EXISTING HOME SALES SLOWEST IN TWO YEARS
In April, sales of existing homes slipped 2.4 percent from March and 5.9 percent year on year to their slowest rate since June 2020, when the economy was battered by the onset of the COVID War, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. The figure represents contracts signed in February and March for sales that...