May 23 2024
Renaissance Man
FLASH Chipmaker Nvidia revenue up 262% last quarter fueled by AI boom
1 Chinese economic slowdown unprecedented in modern era
2 ELECTION 2024 Rental inflation highest in swing states
3 Home prices fall unexpectantly in April
4 China deforming global economy
5 Middle Eastern cash floods Silicon Valley
5/23/1785 Benjamin Franklin reveals his design for bifocal glasses
BONUS Sunak calls snap election
see ad astra on x @greg_loving
1 Chinese economic slowdown unprecedented in modern era
China’s economic miracle is ending, leaving President Xi Jinping with a challenge none of his predecessors faced: how to govern after the boom. For four decades, China’s 1.4 billion population experienced unparalleled gains in income and wealth. But recently the blows have just kept coming. Real estate collapse, trade war with the US, a crackdown on entrepreneurs, and extended Covid lockdowns have stalled the prosperity engine. Chinese incomes are still rising, but under Xi gains have been the slowest since the late 1980s. The property crisis is hammering household wealth. And the cautious opening-up of China’s society has gone into reverse too. For many people across the country, it feels like a different world.
Bloomberg
2 ELECTION 2024 Rental inflation highest in swing states
Inflation and the economy have long worried American voters, polling shows. But as housing costs continue to be the biggest driver of core inflation, renters are feeling increasingly disillusioned with politicians. In some swing states, which are critical to President Joe Biden’s reelection bid, rental costs have more than doubled in the past four years. In fact, 6 out of the top 10 markets and 34 of the top 100 markets with the largest increases are in swing states, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data obtained exclusively from Rent.com. The states considered for the analysis are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.
USA Today
3 Home prices fall unexpectantly in April
Home sales fell in April for the second straight month, as high mortgage rates and near-record home prices continue to stall the market during the prime selling season. Sales of previously owned homes decreased 1.9% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.14 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The decline last month came as a surprise to housing analysts. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimated sales of previously owned homes rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% in April from March.
WSJ
4 China deforming global economy
An open world economy cannot coexist under normal trade patterns with a deformed Chinese economy that accounts for 13 percent of global consumption but produces 31 percent of global manufactured goods. This imbalance is not the result of natural trade flows. Nor is it simply “a reflection of the vitality and creativity of China’s economy” as the People’s Daily told us last week. It is the mechanical consequence of a hyper-investment strategy directed by the Communist Party. China’s trade surplus has ballooned to 5 percent of GDP. Capital Economics estimates that it is twice as large a share of world output as it was before the Lehman crisis in 2008, when it was already causing trouble. This excess capacity can be absorbed only by hollowing out the industrial cores of America, India, and Europe. The first two are defending themselves. India has just imposed a de facto ban on the use of Chinese-made solar panels in projects that receive public subsidies. Europe is the last big sitting duck.
telegraph.co.uk, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
5 Middle Eastern cash floods Silicon Valley
Virtually overnight, Middle Eastern money has become the most powerful geopolitical force in the tech industry. Tech founders and investors are quietly pilgrimaging to the sovereign wealth funds of the Persian Gulf states, pursuing deals with authoritarian regimes. The AI arms race is driving a seismic shift in the region’s prominence, changing how one of the world’s most advanced technologies gets built and the players who stand to benefit. Washington is steering some of this shift, using the industry to push the region away from China’s orbit and focusing particularly on the UAE, a key U.S. security partner. The White House hosted executives from firms including Microsoft, Google and OpenAI last June for a meet-and-greet with Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan, UAE’s national security adviser. The Middle East is using the Silicon Valley partnerships achieve its own urgent goals: To become an AI powerhouse and lessen its dependence on oil, for which global demand is projected to peak this decade.
Matt Murray
5/23/1785 Benjamin Franklin reveals his design for bifocal glasses
BONUS Sunak calls snap election
Rishi Sunak has taken a huge gamble by announcing a July 4 election, propelling his Conservatives into a six-week election campaign with the party trailing Labour by more than 20 points in opinion polls. Standing in a rain-lashed Downing Street, Sunak set his sights on an unlikely fifth consecutive Tory election victory, declaring: “Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future.” The UK prime minister said he had spoken to King Charles on Wednesday and the monarch had agreed to dissolve parliament on May 30. But the campaign is already in full swing. Party officials say Sunak made his move after concluding with chancellor Jeremy Hunt that there was no point holding out until the autumn in the hope of better economic news coming to the rescue.
FT
Sources
[4] Telegraph
[5] News Items
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