I strongly disagree with fitchs decision, and i believe it is entirely unwarranted. Its flawed assessment is based on outdated data, and fails to reflect improvements across a range of indicators, including those related to governance that weve seen over the past 2. 5 years. Other democrats used the downgrade as an opportunity to point the finger at republicans for their role in the recent debt limit fight. While republicans blame joe biden and democrats for trillions of dollars in new spending. Many economists dismiss the downgrade, including Jp Morgan Chase ceo jamie diamond, who called it ridiculous and said that the decision ultimately didnt really matter. And he may not be wrong. Us treasuries, that is government ious, remain the bedrock of the Global Financial system, despite this latest knock to the reputation. Expectations are high that it will raise rates again. If so, it could take the cost of borrowing up to a 15 year high. Consumer inflation has come down more than expected
Lets look at what this materials move means for the rest of the world. The consensus is that will be damaging not fatal for the United States. The reason china dominate the market is not because it is the only place where gallium and germanium exists, but because it is by far the cheapest place you can get them from. You dontjust dig them up from the ground, they are derived from a more complicated Reduction Process and china has that capability. So governments and businesses will have to rely on cheaper substitutes and alternative sources. It means prices will go up, it means some products might be less effective and some production right be delayed. So this sort of poses a bit of an existential thread for western industry, its the gradual erosion of capability. But in a broader sense this threatened the overall narrative of globalisation, the idea that International Markets will be able to deliver what you need, when you need it at the price that you need. Derisking is what western g
Of qontigo who gave us his expectations for chinas latest factory activity. Its likely to continue for a wild because it is still driven by manufacturing and dependent on global trade and, you know, geopolitical environment, and we are not having any of these right now. Even germanys Industrial Complex is sluggish a bit so its notjust china but everywhere. Global demand in mostly services is given by technical Communication Services and big tech so shows and manufacturing are a bit sluggish, yes. I shows and manufacturing are a bit sluggish, yes. Bit sluggish, yes. I want to talk about bit sluggish, yes. I want to talk about japan bit sluggish, yes. I want to talk about japan because l bit sluggish, yes. I want to talk about japan because it talk aboutjapan because it took markets by surprise in terms of what its central bank has done which makes its Bond Yield Control policy more flexible. What are your expectations about that . Inflation has been above the target for a few months so
Americans love of lattes and iced coffee helped starbucks through the worst of the post pandemic years. But with high inflation in the us, a cup of coffee is now 5 on average. The big question for investors going into this Earnings Season was would consumers still spend money on elaborate coffees . The answer was mixed. Sales in North America grew 7 , even after the chain raised prices. That figure was below wall streets forecast. Customer traffic only increased by 1 . Most of the gains came from existing customers spending more money. Sales in china, its second biggest market, rose sharply. Same store sales increased a whopping 46 from a year ago. Starbucks remains a favorite brand among chinese consumers. The company benefiting from a rebound after strict covid 19 restrictions were lifted. But the coffee chain said that Wage Increases and investment in its cafes dragged down its overall profits. Starbucks ceo laxman narasimhan, who took over from predecessor Howard Schultz in march,
who s asking what s going on? the government offers this explanation. it s the legacy of covid and it s, of course, what putin is doing. but are ukraine and covid the full story? i think the uk is probably poorer than most people think. the system isn t producing like it should. that is the result - of choices we ve made. this is definitely not what normal looks like. this is what failure looks like. the government rejects talk of failure or decline, and it s true, britain is one of the richest countries in the world, but if that s the case, why do so many people feel so poor? cornwall is home to more than half a million people. it s where i grew up and where my parents still live. these days, cornwall relies on fishing, farming and, most of all, tourism. it s one of the most popular destinations in the country. it s also one of the poorest in the uk. cornish workers are among the uk s lowest paid. with rising food, housing, and energy prices, life has got harder in the last