Embedded Files
Fed won’t wait until inflation is down to 2% before cutting rates
Fed Chair Powell referenced the idea that central bank policy works with “long and variable lags” to explain why the Fed wouldn’t wait for its target to be hit. He said the central bank is looking for “greater confidence” that inflation will return to the 2% level.
The Fed’s next policy meeting is at the end of July.
What Is Core Inflation?
Which is generally defined as a chosen measure of inflation (e.g., the Consumer Price Index or CPI, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index or PCEPI, or the Gross Domestic Product Deflator) that excludes the more volatile categories of food and energy prices.
Inflation: Seven reasons the cost of living is going up around the world
1. Rising energy and petrol prices
2. Goods shortages
3. Shipping costs
4. Rising wages
5. Climate impact
6. Trade barriers
7. The end of pandemic support
Here's a quick guide to some terms you may have heard recently:
Stagflation
The combination of high unemployment, slow economic growth, and elevated inflation.
Deglobalization
The trend to reduce links among countries through trade and investment. This includes introducing tariffs on foreign goods or relocating overseas business operations back to domestic markets.
Soft landing
A soft landing is an economic slowdown that avoids to recession. A soft landing is preferable to recession because it allows companies to continue to grow, which is positive for financial markets.
Canada Business
Costco announces changes to membership fees in Canada & U.S.
Costco announced that, effective Sept. 1, it will increase annual membership fees by $5 for U.S. and Canada gold star (individual), business and business add-on members, to $65 from $60.
Fees for executive memberships in the U.S. and Canada will increase from $120 to $130 and the maximum annual two per cent reward on associated with the executive membership will increase from $1,000 to $1,250.
USA Business
Europe Business
Standard Chartered to hire, promote 3,000 as it targets business clients, rising incomes in Asia
06/19/2021 Standard Chartered is seeking to double the size of its business serving affluent clients in Asia, aiming to hire or promote 3,000 relationship managers and wealth specialists over the next five years to cater to the region’s rising incomes.
Unlike some competitors who are only aiming for the region’s wealthiest, the London-based bank is seeking to service clients across their life cycles, from affluent to ultra-high net worth customers, as part of wealth push in Asia - customers with US$100,000 to US$125,000 to invest.
EU plans digital ID wallet for bloc's post-pandemic life
06/03/2021 The European Union has unveiled plans for a digital ID wallet that residents could use to access services across the 27-nation bloc.
The bloc's 450 million residents would be able to use the wallet to access public or private services both online and offline while maintaining control of their personal data. Officials envision the wallet allowing a customer renting a car at an airport. Other potential uses include opening bank accounts, signing apartment leases and enrolling in universities outside an individual's home country.
A 750 billion-euro ($915 billion) stimulus fund includes benchmarks for member countries to spend one-fifth of the money on digital projects such as digitizing public administration.
The commission plans to discuss the wallet with the EU's 27 member countries and aims to get them to agree on technical details by the fall so pilot projects can begin.
Deutsche Bank moving jobs out of London
05/27/2021 Germany's largest lender, Deutsche Bank, is moving 100 of its 400 London-based corporate bankers' jobs from the City of London to Berlin, Dublin, Frankfurt, and cities in Asia, in a post-Brexit shake-up that will shrink its United Kingdom footprint.
The future of the City of London, which is Europe's major financial and banking hub, has been uncertain ever since the UK left the EU.
HSBC is planning to hire more than 1,000 frontline roles in its wealth management business in Asia by the end of this year
HSBC focus on rising affluence in the region with the most billionaires on earth. London-based lender is set to invest US$3.5 billion in its wealth management operations in Asia over the next five years.
HSBC will exit its mass-market retail business in the United States and focus on serving wealthy clients and international companies . HSBC to sell most US branches to Citizens Bank and Cathay Bank.
Asia Business
Generation Z has become a fast-growing consuming power of China's car rental market
03/18/2022
Generation Z, which refers to people born in the mid-1990s and the early 2010s, has become a fast-growing consuming power of China's car rental market. The rising young generation prefers leasing a car rather than buying as an ideal way of transportation.
According to Wukong （悟空）Car Rental company, more than 51 percent of its car rental users are from people born after 1995. Generation Z has also become the industry's fastest-growing consumer group.
They tend to drive to spots that are more niche and less-travelled. Renting a car to travel has also become a popular trend.
With the development of technology, the CaaS, or car as a service, business model will replace most of the existing travel models to realize real shared transportation.
Digital RMB application continues to expand in China
2022/07/20
China has expanded its pilot areas for digital RMB or e-CNY from 10+1 to 23 in 15 provinces so far this year. Digital RMB has facilitated the country's development of digital economy.
As of May 31, these pilot areas had made a total of around 264 million digital yuan transactions with a value of about 83 billion yuan ($12.31 billion). Business entities that open e-CNY service have reached 4.57 million in the country.
e-CNY has been available for people both online and offline such as purchasing electricity, shopping and services including medical care, education, traveling, taxpaying and loan borrowing.
World's largest duty-free store to open in Hainan China
2022/10/26
Haikou International Duty Free City Shopping Complex — the world's largest stand-alone duty-free store — is open
Located on the west coast of Haikou next to Xinhai port, a key transportation hub, it covers an area of 280,000 square meters. The shopping complex features more than 800 notable brands, including five exclusives, five global firsts and more than 50 stores with the world's latest concept designs. The sprawling complex also brings local cultural forces to the fore. Art, culture, nature and fantasy can all be seen in its design.
China's US debt holdings dipped below $1 trillion for the first time in 12 years
2022/07/19
U.S Treasury Department data released, China's US debt holdings dipped below $1 trillion for the first time since 2010.
The decline means China is no longer the biggest holder of US debt.
Japan, which trimmed its holdings to $1.212 trillion from $1.218 trillion, is now the top holder.
Total foreign holdings of US debt fell to $7.42 trillion in May from $7.45 trillion in April.
A car parking bay in Hong Kong cost more than a flat in London’s upscale area
Hong Kong has long maintained its reputation as one of the world’s most expensive cities to own a home. Now, add car parking bays to the list.
Hong Kong’s sky-high home prices, which are approaching a historic high, are pushing investors to look for other real estate investment alternatives, especially after the government removed the double stamp duty on non-residential property last November.
With housing prices reaching unaffordable levels, investors are targeting car parking bays because of the low entry barrier and limited supply. In May, a spot sold for a world record HK$11.9 million (US$1.53 million) at the exclusive Mount Nicholson development on The Peak. A 735 sq ft flat in Sloane Court East, in London’s upscale area of Knightsbridge, costs slightly less.
German air taxi firm Volocopter is building a joint venture with Geely for the launch of flying electric taxis into China
Zhejiang Holding Group became an investor of Volocopter with US$94 million in 2019. Geely is planning to make urban air mobility part of people's life in China.
Geely Technology said it will first introduce the two-seater model for production and operation. It can fly at 100 kilometers per hour at up to 2,000 meters for 27 minutes, with a load of 160 kg.
Mini EVs become a very big hit at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show as China’s young drivers look for an affordable car
A very small electric car built by General Motor’s mainland Chinese venture has become a very big hit at the Show.
The Hongguang Mini EV Cabrio, a two-seater convertible, generated a buzz of excitement and is seen as a potential game changer in the world’s largest automotive market.
Low-priced battery-powered cars with fancy designs have struck a chord with young people in China.
Chinese netizens spend 28.5 hours online per week
2021, China had 1.03 billion netizens, with an internet penetration rate of 73 percent, while the proportion of mobile internet users reached 99.7 percent. People spent an average of 28.5 hours on the internet every week.
57.6 percent of the rural population had access to the internet, while 43.2 percent of people age 60 and older used the internet.
Covering daily activities such as travel, dining and accommodations. The number of people using the internet to order food deliveries, hail rides and book travel services has risen in recent years.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies explained for beginners
What are NFTs?
Small Business
China currently has 5.27 million toy-related companies
02/14/2022
China currently has 5.27 million toy-related companies, among them, 83 percent were established within five years, and over 55 percent are individually-owned businesses.
China's Guangdong province has the largest number of toy-related enterprises, exceeding 590,000, followed by Zhejiang and Shaanxi.
China's second hand markets become popular
10/13/2022
China's second hand market has been thriving in recent years with the sales of used goods exceeding 1 trillion yuan in 2020.
A report released by consulting company Frost & Sullivan and the Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy at Tsinghua University expected sales to reach nearly 3 trillion yuan in 2025.
China's younger consumers haven't inherited their parents' disdain for second hand goods. They are not only "buyers" but also "sellers" of second hand goods at online platforms or shops.
China’s mobile internet users aged between 25 to 35 are the main group behind the surge in online second hand transactions, particularly those in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.
Besides durable consumables, some second hand niche products are also gaining increasing popularity in China.
How to choose your down garment - goose or duck?
Entrepreneur
Report abuse