Tag: Economic News

Biden’s $3.1 Billion Train Ticket to Nowhere
Health

Biden’s $3.1 Billion Train Ticket to Nowhere

It didn’t get a lot of attention, but last month the White House awarded $3.1 billion to the California High-Speed Rail project. This was supposed to be a bullet train connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles in less than three hours. Instead, its costs keep rising even as the state scales back the plan. Since 2008, when California voters authorized a $10 billion bond issue for the train, they’ve been sold a bill of goods.The original total estimated construction cost to taxpayers was $33 billion. That’s risen to at least $100 billion. The authority decided to offer service between San Francisco and Los Angeles in Phase I, then eventually extend the train service north to Sacramento and south to San Diego. Phase I was to have been completed by 2020. Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company...
U.K. Shop-Price Inflation Held Steady in December, Report Says
World

U.K. Shop-Price Inflation Held Steady in December, Report Says

Annual U.K. shop-price inflation was unchanged in December, with growth at the lowest rate since June 2022, a report by NielsenIQ and the British Retail Consortium showed Tuesday.Prices at U.K. stores were up 4.3% on year in December, matching November’s rate and below the three-month average rate of 4.6%.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Optimism Abounds on Wall Street This New Year
World

Optimism Abounds on Wall Street This New Year

Wall Street is feeling sunny about the stock market as the calendar flips to 2024.Last year’s widespread skepticism proved to be misplaced. Stocks rose through much of 2023, powered by the rise of artificial intelligence and an economy that stayed stronger than nearly all of Wall Street had anticipated. The recession that investors had largely agreed was imminent never came.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Chinese State-Owned Firms Establish $1.4 Billion Fund
World

Chinese State-Owned Firms Establish $1.4 Billion Fund

Two Chinese state-owned companies will establish a 10 billion yuan ($1.41 billion) fund to invest in companies with real estate project assets.Under the agreement, New China Life Insurance will be the limited partner providing CNY9.9 billion in capital and China International Capital Corp.will act as general partner that will manage the fund, New China Life said late Monday.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Tariffs and the Common Man
Business

Tariffs and the Common Man

With Donald Trump leading the 2024 polls while calling for a 10% universal tariff, the new GOP protectionists are trying to sell this idea as a boon for the working class. The evidence exposes this folly: Trade wars invite painful retaliation, prop up politically favored industries at the expense of others, and raise prices on consumers like an invisible tax. They hurt the average worker.The economic literature on this point is voluminous. To pick one place to start, here was the conclusion of a study of Mr. Trump’s last trade wars, written in 2019 by two Federal Reserve economists: “We find that U.S. manufacturing industries more exposed to tariff increases experience relative reductions in employment as a positive effect from import protection is offset by larger negative effects from r...
Australia’s Manufacturing Sector Likely on Track for a Soft Landing, PMI Data Shows
World

Australia’s Manufacturing Sector Likely on Track for a Soft Landing, PMI Data Shows

SYDNEY—A slowdown in Australia’s manufacturing sector continued through December, with activity contracting over the month as the broader economy lost momentum due to the impact of higher interest rates.Still, the rate of slowdown is consistent with a soft landing for manufacturers in 2024, according to Judo Bank.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Optimism Abounds on Wall Street This New Year
Money

Optimism Abounds on Wall Street This New Year

Wall Street is feeling sunny about the stock market as the calendar flips to 2024.Last year’s widespread skepticism proved to be misplaced. Stocks rose through much of 2023, powered by the rise of artificial intelligence and an economy that stayed stronger than nearly all of Wall Street had anticipated. The recession that investors had largely agreed was imminent never came.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Shale Is Keeping the World Awash With Oil as Conflicts Abound
World

Shale Is Keeping the World Awash With Oil as Conflicts Abound

Updated Jan. 1, 2024 12:05 am ETA surprise surge in American oil and gas production and exports is helping to keep the world stocked, blunting the impact of widening conflict in the Middle East that has crimped key shipping lanes. When Iranian-backed Houthi militants began launching missiles and drones at ships crossing the Red Sea near Yemen in October, many feared disruption to the vital shipping lane would drive up energy prices. But oil and gas prices this past month have sunk about 5% and 23%, respectively. Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Shale Is Keeping the World Awash With Oil as Conflicts Abound
Money

Shale Is Keeping the World Awash With Oil as Conflicts Abound

Updated Jan. 1, 2024 12:05 am ETA surprise surge in American oil and gas production and exports is helping to keep the world stocked, blunting the impact of widening conflict in the Middle East that has crimped key shipping lanes. When Iranian-backed Houthi militants began launching missiles and drones at ships crossing the Red Sea near Yemen in October, many feared disruption to the vital shipping lane would drive up energy prices. But oil and gas prices this past month have sunk about 5% and 23%, respectively. Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
China’s Xi Is Resurrecting Mao’s ‘Continuous Revolution’ With a Twist
World

China’s Xi Is Resurrecting Mao’s ‘Continuous Revolution’ With a Twist

Updated Jan. 1, 2024 12:08 am ETListen to article(2 minutes)Chinese rulers have long used campaigns against corruption to sideline rivals and consolidate power. Xi Jinping is increasingly tying his authority to a new variation: a purge that never ends.With echoes of Mao Zedong’s “continuous revolution,” Xi has sent fear rippling through the ranks of the Communist Party for more than a decade with the largest campaign against corruption in modern Chinese history. It is now threatening to petrify the party as it tries to steer the world’s second-largest economy through its greatest period of uncertainty in a generation.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8