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Quartz Daily Brief—Europe Edition—Halliburton earnings, UK GDP, Samsung profits, racy divorcesWhat to watch for today
Updated July 21, 20224 min read
What to watch for today
Since late 2008, getting a well-paid job in fast-growing Asia has been the great white hope of laid off Western bankers. It should not be anymore.
North Korea today may have pronounced America its “sworn enemy” and vowed to target the US with rocket launches and nuclear tests.
What to watch for today
The quarterly “State of the Internet” report from consultancy Akamai Technologies (we’ve also reprised some of its other findings) confirms something about China that the US government has already flagged: The nation is a huge and growing source of cyber-attacks.
What to watch for today
GMO, a global hedge fund that is presumably shorting Chinese stocks, has released a searing analysis of the nation’s credit problems. You can read it in full here.
What to watch for today
British prime minister David Cameron has promised the nation a referendum on whether to stay in the European Union. The vote may not happen until 2017, and perhaps not even then: Cameron’s Conservative party is up for re-election in 2015 and Britain’s other two main parties, the Liberal Democrats and Labour, are fairly pro-Europe.
What to watch for today
India is trying hard to get the rural poor access to bank accounts and loans. It is a laudable aim. As Reuters reports, only 35% of Indians have bank accounts. The country’s farmers are incredibly unproductive as they do not have the cash to invest in upgrading processes or machinery. That inefficiency holds the economy back. Bank loans could be a partial solution.
For decades, the Philippines has been thought of as a sunny place for shady politicians, and an economic basket case.
KPMG has issued a survey of China’s luxury shoppers that provides a good snapshot of the psychology of the country’s elite. The accounting firm’s message is that China is a land of opportunity for high-end brands. But the raw data from the survey also paint a more interesting picture of China’s elite as an insecure and status-obsessed group, who plaster themselves in highly visible luxury labels to feel confident. They exhibit a love of foreign brands, of sending their offspring overseas and of keeping money outside the country. This makes them appear distrustful of their government and of the quality of locally produced goods. Their foreign travel greatly increased last year too, which probably has something to do with China’s recent leadership transition and the incredibly high flows of money outside the country.
What to watch for today
Good morning, Quartz readers!
Machinery giant Caterpillar has stunned investors with an announcement it will write off $580 million of the value of an acquisition in China, after alleging the firm it purchased did not have much of the inventory that was listed on its books.
New Zealand is in the grip of a really bizarre housing crisis.
Good morning, Quartz readers!
Renault is one company experiencing the very worst aspects of doing business in Europe.
What to watch for today
China’s GDP rose 7.9% year on year in the fourth quarter, and 7.8% for 2012 as a whole. Both figures beat expectations by 0.1%, reassuring China bulls that the nation is recovering from last year’s slowdown.
The Indonesian capital of Jakarta has been savaged by heavy floods that, according to reports, have left eleven people dead and sent thousands fleeing the city. So local media are, quite naturally, questioning where the vast sums of money committed to upgrading the capital’s ageing and creaky infrastructure really went to.
What to watch for today
Once again, the Chinese government is planning to kickstart its economy with infrastructure projects, a source of growth that it’s turned to off and on since 2008.