AI offers leisure, if not happiness 12 May 2023 Technology has outpaced economic growth for 50 years, while workers have long traded higher productivity for more leisure. These trends will continue as artificial intelligence automates more jobs. The salient question is how to distribute the gains – and the free time.
Pharma’s obesity gold rush will have limits 11 May 2023 Drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are vying for a large slab of the weight loss medications market, which analysts reckon could be worth $100 bln by 2031. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss how investor optimism in a booming market is unwarranted.
Airbnb swerves tech rout with constant change 2 May 2023 The $77 bln travel company weathered the pandemic and is now navigating a tech valuation bloodbath. Its co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk told The Exchange podcast that lessons learned during Covid-19 about disruption and never sitting still are key to its future.
Ending the retailers’ crisis has a high price tag 2 May 2023 Luring inflation-wary shoppers back to the high street won’t be cheap, executives at last week’s World Retail Congress said. Heavyweights like Zara owner Inditex, which has room to plough money into stores, stand to win big. H&M and others cutting to survive face a slow decline.
Oil AGMs presage awkward investor decoupling 28 Apr 2023 BP sailed through its annual shareholder meeting without much blowback on how it had backtracked on climate goals. That will embolden competitors to dismiss pro-green investors’ concerns, and give more to the opposite camp. It is becoming harder to please both sides.
Apple’s store push marks its big Indian wedding 18 Apr 2023 Dhol drums – a high-decibel feature of marriage celebrations – played in Mumbai as Tim Cook opened the company’s first store. A retail presence is mostly a symbolic gesture given India’s lower-middle income status. Yet selling more iPhones isn’t the only thing Cook has to gain.
European pay anger is more costly than inflation 3 Apr 2023 Workers are striking and demanding salary hikes to make up for higher living costs. Governments and central banks are warning about the risks of a consumer price spiral, but after three years of real wage stagnation, further restraint will inflict political and economic pain.
Capital Calls: Illumina’s odd bedfellows 3 Apr 2023 Concise views on global finance: The FTC’s order that Illumina unwind its Grail acquisition puts head commissioner Lina Khan on the same side as Carl Icahn. Khan opposes the deal because Illumina can raise prices, while the activist thinks the deal doesn't make sense.
UK growth demands better-directed fiscal fireworks 13 Mar 2023 Finance minister Jeremy Hunt’s March 15 budget may feature 30 bln pounds of headroom to ease headaches like workers’ pay. But Britain’s real malaise is a lack of long-term business investment. To keep pace with foreign largesse, Hunt needs to deploy significant tax breaks.
Female entrepreneurs’ glass ceiling is intact 8 Mar 2023 Two decades after boardroom quotas were first introduced, women have advanced at listed firms. Yet despite making up 40% of US business founders, female entrepreneurs capture just 2% of venture capital cash. Governments and asset managers can help raise that proportion.
Pocketbook confusion puts economy on wrong path 1 Mar 2023 Americans are feeling worse about the job market but better about their finances. Those sentiments should be flipped. The U.S. job market still features low unemployment and larger-than-usual raises. Households’ steady spending, meanwhile, threatens to keep inflation high.
European gas savings success hides darker reality 27 Jan 2023 Spurred by soaring prices, the continent used 12% less of the fossil fuel in 2022. Despite a push to conserve energy, much of the drop was due to companies switching to other pollutants or shutting plants. Gas-hungry sectors like chemicals and steel face a protracted struggle.
Capital Calls: Data falsehoods 26 Jan 2023 Concise views on global finance: Better-than-expected U.S. GDP and durable goods data suggest the country might be spared from a recession. But exclude Boeing sales and corporate stockpiling, and the economic outlook is less rosy.
Euro-banks have done their time in valuation jail 26 Jan 2023 Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and peers are valued by investors as if they are headed for a bruising slump. Yet the region’s lenders have been treading more cautiously than they did before the 2008 crisis, and have pared back risky trades. Their rehabilitation deserves more credit.
California floods underscore rising climate costs 24 Jan 2023 Catastrophic storms have devastated the Golden State’s economy and left more than $1 bln in damages. In this Exchange podcast, climatologist Adam Smith explains how global warming has made weather events more expensive, and what governments can do to protect against them.
Britain can afford to pay nurses and teachers more 20 Jan 2023 UK public workers want a big raise from the government. An inflation-matching pay rise would cost 18 bln pounds; growing state employees’ salaries in line with the private sector around half that. Downing Street could fund it with a 1p rise in VAT and closing tax reliefs.
UK has wrong approach to EU-style strike limits 16 Jan 2023 British PM Rishi Sunak wants to force minimum service levels during public sector strikes, as exist in the rest of Europe. But the plan is too broad and coercive, looking like a knee-jerk reaction to the current unrest. It needs to be better thought-out, in a pacified atmosphere.
Smarter taxes could ease UK productivity crisis 9 Jan 2023 Britain is the sick man of Europe again, due mostly to workers’ weak output. It needs an extra 115 bln pounds of annual investment just to match G7 peers. The government’s best bet is to prod businesses to spend more with tax incentives, funded by levies on wealth and property.
Conscious consumerism will be left on the shelf 29 Dec 2022 Shoppers have been forking out for organic and plant-based food for health, environmental or other reasons. Squeezed incomes will test their ethical commitment. Throw in higher input costs, and 2023 looks an unappetising year for fake burger purveyor Beyond Meat and its rivals.
Qatar has got what it wanted from the World Cup 15 Dec 2022 The Gulf state has taken more flak than it would have done had it not staged the soccer tournament, which ends on Sunday. Yet in this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss how Qatar’s largely successful event also aids a strategy to make itself globally visible.