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Foxconn Technology Group, largest assembler of iPhones, plans to reduce its dependence on Chinaby building plants in India. Foxconn head, Terry Gou, plant to visit India after next month. The continued trade tensions between U.S. and China are leading to many companies looking at diversifying their supply chains away from China.Manufacturing high end phones in India would help Apple get around the 20% tariff on imported phones because Apple is losing market share with its high prices. Foxconn already makes phones in India for Xiaomi. Foxconn is also looking at Vietnam.

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776 million euros -cost of COP30 Summit in Amazon region's Belem, capital of Para State in Brazil. 159 countries are represented in this unique effort to bring climate change issues to the Amazon river. The Portuguese colonized this region in 1616 because of its location connecting the Amazon river to the Atlantic Ocean. It is known for sale of spices, fruit, fish, rubber, oil, cacao and other local products shipped to Europe and other parts of Brazil.Ver-o-peso one of the biggest open air markets has been renovated, roads repaired and new roads built, new parks, water treatment plants set up.Yet most of the population of 1.4 million lives in shanty areas or slums in Belem which are affected when rain leads to floods overwhelming the tin roof houses. Much of the nearly billion euro investment is going to bring Belem to international standards. Housing 50,000 participants was ahuge task and the Brazilian government of president Lula brought in 2 large cruis ships to accomodate many of the participants. This report in FR24 says prices for accomodation reached $4000 a night which shows that in today's world climate change action which is a problem facing all people, has been embraced by groups that can afford such costly daily rentals creating skepticism from ordinary people affected by the cost of living concerns. ...

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Citi's shares went up 18% with the $25 billion capital injection October 13, 2008, but says Eavis in Heard on the Street, the dangers in its balance sheet are still there. Oct 14, 2008, the closing price was $18.62 per share but its tangible book value is estimated at just more than $10 a share. With losses expected to remain high for several quarters this premium may be an odd thing, and with the losses the tangible book value may be below $9 a share. So there are more strong winds ahead of Citi.

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With occupancy declining to below 76% on many of the downtown San Francisco buildings the value of this is decliining fast. The Embarcadero Center that once defined the downtown area is now on sale for $90 million, according to the WSJ report, down from $245 million that was paid for it in 2018. Owners of these office buildings in San Francisco are liable for payments on $12 billion in bonds, according to S&P Global. Half of the stores in the Union shopping district have closed and Amtrak ridership is down 61% over 2019.

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Almost all countries have lower commissions for real estate sales. In the US about 3-4 houses are sold over a lifetime. At 6% commission this amounts to a cost of 25% of the sale price of these homes. This adds to the cost of living for American people and reduces their savings for investment in quality of food, education, health and leisure activities. By comparison in the UK it is 1.3%, in Netherlands 2%, in China 2.5%. In most countries only 33% of sales are done by buyer agents in the US 89%, in the UK less than 5%.

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Venezuela has heavy oil in the Orinoco basin, and 7 blocks there are up for bidding which could generate 1 million barrels aday of synthetic oil. The terms are that Petroleos de Venezuela would get 60% share ad operational control but not put up any money. In addition the government will take a 33% royalty and a windfall tax. State owned oil companies in China, India and Russia, Perobras, BP, Chevron, Shell and Total have expressed interest. Political risk is taken into account but some countries are on friendly terms with Venezuela. Main concern is the recession and fall in price of oil.

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Efforts to boost the share of national income that goes to rural households and workers in China. The share of income taken by state owned enteprises and taxes paid by the enterprises would have to change for reducing the gap in incomes and reducing inequality in China.

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Rachel Reeves is Shadow Chancellor in Britain, that is a way of saying Finance Minister when Labor currently in the Opposition forms a new government. Speaking at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC she says how Labour will bring about a transformation of Britain's economy with ambitions that borrows from and matches what Biden is doing in the US, and Scholz in Germany. This is very different from anything Britain has seen in its history. The Labour government of Clement Attlee made some institutional changes such as setting up the Bank of England as Britain's central bank in 1946, creating the structures that would help workers and families and the British economy recover from the war, and declaring in parliament that Britain would leave India by June 1948. Blair's response to the Thatcher government did not rival the changes brought by Attlee by any comparison. What Britain following the US is facing today is an FDR or Attlee moment because of the scale of changes needed to create an American or British economy that matches the aspirations of the people, and creating a meaningful role in the world economy and supply chains. Investments have to be made in public goods such as renewable energy, health, education and transportation infrastructure that have no parallel in history including that of FDR or Attlee. Biden is investing on a scale that is designed to overcome two decades of neglect of infrastructure and public goods such as education, health care, and public services. The same is true for Britain. The same is true for Germany and for the European Union.   ...

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IDC reports that Samsung sold 72.4 million smartphones in the second quarter of 2014. The pace of growth is slowing as Samsung faces intense competition from Lenovo, HTC, ZTE in the low end of the smartphone market. High marketing costs are pressuring margins. Samsung second quarter net profit increased by 50% over the prior year quarter. Samsung expects weaker sales of the Galaxy S4 and has ramped up marketing promotion. Demand for expensive smartphones is declining. This has resulted in a 12% decline in Samsung's share price since late April when Samsung started selling the Galaxy S4. Apple faces a 22% decline in profits in the second quarter of 2013.

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Murali Krishnan of DW.com has this interview with Adar Poonavalla of Serum Institute of India the largest vaccine maker in the world that makes about 60% of all vaccines used in the world. It is beginning manufacturing of the Oxford vaccine so that the manufacturing process is ready to turn out a billion vaccine doses over a short period of 1 to 2 years. Serum's Oxford vaccine would be priced at $13 per dose for coronavirus. Serum is conducting its own trials for the vaccine. About 40 million doses would be ready by October. 

India's pioneering work in vaccine production on a large scale is one of the reasons the world can tackle the future with some confidence for the economy and the health of billions of people all over the world.

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A behind the scenes account of what happened at JP Morgan Chase after CEO Jamie Dimon discovered the trading losses of the London Whale through the pages of the Wall Street Journal, on April 6, 2012.

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Daniel Zhang takes over as CEO from Jonathan Lu in May 2014. Jack Ma, executive chairman, says a post 70's generation is now taking over at the company. Alibaba revenues increased to $2.77 billion, with per share earnings before stock grants increasing by 7% to 48 cents per share, and earnings after stock grants declining 49% to $463 million or 18 cents a share. 2015 1st quarter results showed mobile transactions making up 51%, up from 27% a year earlier. Active users on mobile platforms were 289 million in March 2015, increasing from 163 million the prior year. The mobile monetization rate is decreasing to 1.73%- this is the metric of how much in transaction value becomes company revenue. Share price went up 10% to $88.15 from $80 in pre-market trading on May 7, 2015. Its IPO offering price was $68, and the high reached was $120.

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Players in World Cups past, Kurt Hamrin for Sweden in 1958, Guillermo Sepulveda for Mexico in 1962, and Tarcisio Burgnich in 1970, share their memories and pictures of playing against Brazil and Pele in The Guardian. He is remembered by Kurt Hamrin as a rare talent who was humble and kind. He was Hamrin says "incredibly humble." After the first Brazilian World Cup title win in 1958 against Sweden Hamrin recalls- Pele took the Swedish flag draped around him and circled the stadium to show respect for his opponents. Who does that nowadays. Something is lost. No, a lot is lost and needs to be recovered of the way we played and lived. Asen, Marshall and Romano conducted the interviews for The Guardian.

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Missing workers in direct contact service industries with the Great Resignation in the US and Europe. The US is missing 4.3 million workers. This also includes many women who have not returned to work as the pandemic drags on. The share of the population in the US 16 years or older either working or looking for work is at 63.3%. Workers are quitting at the highest rates in manufacturing, retail and trade, transportation and utilities, and in professional or business services. Quitting is high for women, workers without college degree and in low paying service industries such as hotels, restaurants, and child care. It appears now that these trends will stay and not be reversed easily.

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The United Nations World Food Programme estimates are that acutely food insecure people doubled from 135 million before the pandemic to 270 million. Mr. Husain of the WFP says the world has not seen such a shock to food supplies and food demand on a global scale in the past century.The head of the food division at Unilever, Hanneke Faber, says about a billion people may be going hungry today after the loss of purchasing power and jobs during the pandemic. Many children depend on school lunch programs for their main meal and not going to school could mean about 370 million children may be losing this meal says UNICEF former executive director Ann Veneman.

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Trump's Attorney General William Barr was Attorney General of George Bush in 1992-1994 and brings extensive experience, which may have helped him stand his ground on December 1, 2020 rejecting claims of presidential election fraud at a meeting on Dec. 1 with Mr. Trump. In his book 'One Damn Thing After Another," Barr describes what happened on December 1, when he had lunch with Mike Balsamo of the Associated Press. Mike asked him what Barr was finding about election fraud claims. Barr's answer was that to date he had not found fraud on a scale that would have affected the outcome of the election. Within a short time this information was all over the country.

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This story in WSJ says China may have a lead in electric car battery sales in 2024 and beyond. China is investing heavily in battery plants and EV plants in Europe and the US. This would help China meet the restrictions on import of electric vehicles from China by the Biden administration. CATL increased its market share in Europe from 10% to 24%. Sales of EV vehicles in China went up by 37% in the first 9 months of 2023, and China is the top exporter of electric vehicles. CATL's electric battery sales in Europe doubled compared to 60% for LG. And in excluding China sales CATL has caught up with LG both having 28% of the market.

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France and Germany agreed to begin talks on a common nuclear umbrella in Jan 1997 as reported here in The Washington Post on Jan 25, 1997. 

The post cites Le Monde- "Our two countries see themselves exposed to the same risks. We are ready to open a dialogue on the role of nuclear deterrence in the context of European defense policy." Says the document signed by Germany's Helmut Kohl and Frances Jacques Chirac on Dec. 9, 1996. France had clashed with the US under De Gaule and De Gaulle had pursued an independent nuclear deterrent. Chirac took up this stance in 1996 with nuclear tests in French Polynesia and offered to share its nuclear deterrent with Germany.

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GM takes a $600 million charge in the 1st quarter with the decision by CEO Mary Barra to close the plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. GM's market share in Russia had declined from over 9% to 7.4%, and the sharp decline in the Russian auto market made Russia an unattractive proposition as GM focusses on improving profitability in Europe.

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Ford's downsizing of its Visteon auto parts operations and sale of Visteon plants as part of its restructuring effort under Mulally and Fields. The downsizing of Visteon and the way it was handled helped Ford avoid the bankruptcy experienced by GM, say experts.

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The UK Supreme Court rules that minority government prime minister Boris Johnson's suspension of parliament was unlawful. Judges led by Lady Hale said, "the effect on the fundamentals of democracy was extreme."  Lady Hale emphasized that the ruling in the case was "not about when and on what terms" the UK left the EU- it was about the decision to suspend parliament. She said it was unlawful because "it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification."  The decision of the court was unanimous for the 11 justices. The court also criticized the length of the suspension, saying there was no reason "let alone a good reason" for this. This makes the suspension of parliament null and void, and of no effect. Speaker Bercrow called immediately for parliament to meet today to meet without prime minister's questions to attend to important matters. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for the prime minister to resign at the Labour party conference in Brighton. The call to resign comes from the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and from Tory MP's including John Major, a former prime minister. Boris Johnson says he will respect the ruling but that Britain will still leave the EU by October 31st even though parliament has legislated for an extension beyond October 31st.  ...

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This WSJ report looks at the work of Alexei Miller as head of Gazprom which supplies Russian natural gas through the Nordstream pipeline to Europe. Mr. Miller is shown to have put too much reliance on the European market which is now shrinking with the European decision to cut dependence on Russian gas. compared to alternative markets in China Russia has invested too little in pipelines to other regions in Asia. He has also not invested in LNG which could be shipped to China and other countries leaving Russia too dependent on pipelines that run mostly to Europe such as Nordstream 1 and 2.  Russia was sending 160 billion cubic metres of natural gas to Europe and only 11 billion cubic metres to China in 2021. A major shift requires much new infrastructure. Miller also did not grasp how shale oil and gas would boom in the US. Mr. Miller started as a 39 year old economics PhD in 2001 when Putin made him head of Gazprom. Both had worked together in St Petersburg local government, and Miller was Deputy Energy Minister for 1 year, briefly head of a pipeline system to the Gulf of Finland. ...

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Analysts are forecasting an average oil price of $106 for 2011, according to FactSet Research Systems. Brent crude is $110 a barrel in the third week of August 2011. This implies Brent crude has to be at an average of $95 for the remainder of 2011- suggesting a decline of 14% from todays levels. Share prices of European oil companies Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Eni and Total are priced for long term crude oil prices at $75 per barrel, according to Citi.