—— 421a condo residents are mostly high-paying families; Meta reduces hiring by 30% of engineers; Kohl’s abandons sale plan; Klarna’s new financing round valuation plummets; JPMorgan Chase cuts US GDP forecast; US manufacturing index falls to a two-year low; “Stranger Things” cause Netflix to crash.
1. Biden may cancel tariffs on some Chinese goods
Biden could announce as soon as this week the rollback of some U.S. tariffs on Chinese consumer goods and a new probe into industrial subsidies that could lead to more tariffs in strategic areas such as technology.
The Biden administration is considering easing some tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese imports, and as inflation accelerates, U.S. officials are under pressure to find ways to reduce consumer spending on a daily basis.
Biden said he would speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping as soon as possible to finalize whether to remove the tariffs.
Removing tariffs could reduce import costs for U.S. businesses and potentially reduce commodity prices
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2. U.S. recession risk soars to 38%
Anna Wong, the chief U.S. economist at Bloomberg Economics, said that a recession could hit as soon as next year, and the stakes are higher than ever, even with household and business balance sheets. Consumers are also likely to hold back due to concerns about the future, which will also lead companies to reduce hiring and investment.”
The Fed raised interest rates by 75 basis points in June, the most since 1994, and said it would raise rates further in the coming months.
Rapidly rising borrowing costs, tight financial conditions, and decades of high inflation have fueled fears from the Federal Reserve, which is trying to cool the economy, thereby reducing inflation, but that will ultimately tip the U.S. economy into recession.
The benchmark interest rate will increase the cost of loans for businesses and individuals, which is not good for the economy
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3. Gasoline market begins to cool
The retail price of oil has now fallen for 21 consecutive days, the longest losing streak since April 2020. This is very good news for many people who rely on cars for work, leisure, and travel, as well as for President Joe Biden, who is trying to reduce fuel costs.
U.S. fuel inventories have risen by more than 4 million barrels in the past two weeks. In the past, this time of year, fuel inventories typically dwindle.
The first signs of cooling came after gasoline prices briefly breached a record $5 a gallon. Even after the recent slide, oil prices remain at $4.80 a gallon, a price that is historically rare.
The current stock price is generally low, and selling the company may not maximize the interests of shareholders
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4. Independence Day shooting leaves 6 dead
At least six people were killed and at least 30 injured when a gunman opened fire on a rooftop at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, police said. Hundreds of marchers, parents pushing strollers, and children on bicycles Fled in horror.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that he and First Lady Jill Biden were “appalled by the senseless gun violence that is bringing grief to the American community again this Independence Day.”
Biden signed into law the broadest gun violence bill Congress has passed in decades, a compromise that immediately signaled progress on a long-thorny issue and persistent deep-rooted partisan divisions.
The recently signed gun bill in the US has caused huge controversy
Source: Bloomberg – Person of Interest in July 4 Parade Shooting That Killed Six in Police Custody
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5. Google may be banned from filtering political emails
The Federal Election Commission proposal was introduced by Senate Republicans. The bill, if passed, would prevent tech companies from filtering political emails as spam.
According to researchers at North Carolina State University. They released a study in March that examined spam filtering on Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo Mail and found that while Yahoo and Outlook filter out more Democrats than Republicans, this means there is a moderate degree of conservatism on both service’s bias, but Gmail has a strong liberal bias.
Nearly 70 percent of Google’s right-wing emails are marked as spam, compared with about 10 percent of left-wing emails, the researchers said.
Gmail users won’t be able to filter politicalthe emails if proposal goes through
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6. Norway threatens to cut off UK gas supply
Norway has warned that gas exports to Britain could be shut this weekend if workers’ strikes escalate, with 60% of Scandinavia’s supply at risk from the threat.
Norway’s state-backed energy company Equinor has shut three oil and gas fields since the strike began on Monday night to compensate for rising inflation, a move that has helped push European gas prices to their highest in four months.
With gas demand sluggish in the summer, Britain is likely to support short-term supply without Norwegian supply, said Tom Marzec-Manser, an analyst at consultancy ICIS.
Globally, the IEA expects gas demand to fall by 0.5% this year, and to remain “sluggish” until 2025 due to higher prices.
While the UK has the ability to temporarily bridge the supply gap, this is not a long-term solution
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7. New York real estate business slowed in the quarter
For the New York real estate market, sales volumes and competitive bidding in the first quarter of 2022 are the same as in the second half of 2021.
By the end of March, however, a breath of slowdown crept in. The slowdown accelerated in the second quarter: fewer contracts signed, fewer bidding wars, more price cuts, and a gradual build-up of available inventory.
The confluence of these factors has undermined the confidence of many homebuyers, who believe mortgages are too expensive and that they need to liquidate more stock investments to raise enough money for a down payment.
The New York City real estate market cooled significantly in the second quarter, which is good for home buyers
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The content of this article comes from various financial news media such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Bloomberg.