Weekend Links and Videos

‘A Jacaranda Avenue’ Ethel Carrick, 1943, NGV

Global Macro

• Red Sea shipping attacks pressure China’s exporters as delays, costs mount – Reuters
• Why a mistake by the Fed will make it harder for Asia to cut rates – SCMP
• ‘When will you tax extreme wealth?’ the super-rich ask – DW
• The business world is not ‘deglobalizing’ – Nikkei Asia
• AI is the buzz, the big opportunity and the risk to watch among the Davos glitterati – AP
• Gas Traders Looking for a 2024 Rally Will Be Disappointed – OilPrice
• Is the World Overbuilding LNG Capacity? – OilPrice
• 5 major risks confronting the global economy in 2024 – Brookings Institute

Americas

• US applications for jobless benefits fall to lowest level since September 2022 – AP
• The federal debt tops $34 trillion and some in Congress want a commission to find ways to tackle it – AP
• America is headed for a debt crisis like Canada’s in the ’90s, warn veteran politicians – Financial Post
• Immigration surprises are making Bank of Canada’s inflation fight harder – Financial Post

Europe

• UK retail sales slump points to new risk of recession – Reuters
• Russian sanctions boomerang effect mean a year of stagnation for Europe in 2024 – BNE Intellinews
• To become a geopolitical player the European Union needs Treaty change – Bruegel
• Europe’s biggest economy shrank last year as Germany struggles with multiple crises – AP

Asia

• Russia and China maintain grip on Kazakhstan’s uranium supply amid US and EU high reliance on it – BNE Intellinews
• China’s over-35s hit age barriers in tough labor market – Nikkei Asia
• China’s working age population is shrinking – CNBC
• What China wants out of Myanmar’s civil war – Vox
• China is the world’s sole manufacturing superpower: A line sketch of the rise – VoxEU
• China’s Xi Jinping lays out road map for becoming ‘financial superpower’ – but warns risk can throw efforts off-track – SCMP
• China’s population shrinks again and could more than halve – here’s what that means – The Conversation
• Chinese yuan gaining greater currency in the Gulf – Asia Times

Australasia

• Australia cleans up at home, but exported emissions keep growing – Reuters
• Singapore-based Louis Dreyfus Company acquires 100 per cent of Namoi Cotton shares – ABC
• Supermarkets to face Queensland parliamentary inquiry into high cost of groceries and low farmgate prices – ABC
• Qantas tumbles down rankings of Australia’s best brands as Bunnings maintains top spot – Guardian
• Neither a pandemic nor interest rate rises: can anything dent the Australian housing market? – Guardian, Jericho
• Riots underline Papua New Guinea’s social and economic fragility – Nikkei Asia
• Government action needed to avoid higher interest rates: IMF – Ninefax

…and furthermore…

• Is seabed mining an economic necessity or a hazard? – BBC
• Spotify attacks Apple’s ‘outrageous’ 27% commission – BBC
• If you want to understand modern politics, you have to understand modern fandom – Vox
• Deadwood labour: The effects of eliminating employment protection among older workers – VoxEU
• The return of industrial policy in data – VoxEU
• What’s it worth to work from home? For some, it’s as much as one-third of their wage – The Conversation
• Mark Carney sees ‘massive disconnect’ in green finance rhetoric – Financial Post
• A Russian spring offensive would wrongfoot Ukraine – Asia Times

Videos