The starry night sky seems remarkably distant from the topic of air conditioning, but it’s revolutionizing the field in quite an unexpected way. In this episode of “The Spark,” watch how scientists from across the globe are harnessing natural phenomena to drastically redesign this century-old technology. Here is a direct video link.
The Chinese stock market entered a bear market this week (-20% since January) and the yuan is down 5.5% versus the greenback since February. A burgeoning trade war with the US is adding pressure, but the story here is not just about China. It’s about slowing global cash flows and strain building in leveraged emerging economies who borrowed heavily over the past few years, particularly in US dollars. Typically these pressures are not ‘contained’ but spread from credit to equity markets, emerging and developed. This Bloomberg radio discussion is on point.
Bloomberg Markets AM with Pimm Fox and Lisa Abramowicz speak with Brendan Brown, Chief Economist and Head of Economic Research at MUFG Securities, on what EM is signalling, central banks and currency manipulation.
Running time 06:15
Good news for consumers: a tsunami of used cars coming off lease are continuing to put downward pressure on auto prices, which are on track to decline 20% this year alone. Record vehicle inventories, along with heavily indebted consumers, and the rise of ride hailing and sharing services, all suggest lower prices are unlikely to clear quickly. Anyone looking to buy used in the next couple of years should find themselves in a ‘buyers’ market.
The same developments however, are bad news for investors in auto rental, resale and lease companies though. Lower resale values equate to lower profits and lower stock and bond prices for companies in this sector. The hit to car rental stocks year to date offers some insight. See: Hertz and Avis plummet on pessimistic used-car predictions.
