Fuel cell technology, like cold fusion, is one of those often promised but never delivered dream-technologies. Hydrogen fuel cells could, on paper, solve many of the problems with both petroleum fuels and electric battery technologies. Fuel cells combine petroleum-like easy fill ups with zero local emissions like battery electric vehicles. Now Hyundai and Audi have worked out a deal to combine efforts on hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technologies. Costas Pitas reports at Reuters: LONDON (Reuters) - Hyundai (005380.KS) agreed a deal with Audi (NSUG.DE) on Wednesday to collaborate on hydrogen … [Read more...]
Housing Starts Rise 5% in May
In a surprise to many economists, housing starts rose 5% in the month of May. Despite rising housing starts, the housing market is still sluggish when starts are viewed as a percent of U.S. households. By that measure, current start rates are barely above the lows of the 1991 housing collapse. Sharon Nunn reports in The Wall Street Journal: Housing starts rose 5% in May from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Compared with a year earlier, starts were up 20.3%. The strong improvement was spread fairly evenly … [Read more...]
America’s Lowest Unemployment Rate
It's been called the next Houston, or the next Atlanta, but people living there are having doubts about its rapid development. Nashville is the American metropolitan statistical area with the lowest unemployment rate, at 2.7%. Cameron McWhirter explains the city's appeal at The Wall Street Journal: As Southern cities draw more people from other regions, politicians, business leaders, economists and residents are increasingly focused on how to manage the growth to keep housing and other costs of living in line with wages. For decades, part of the South’s appeal has been low housing costs, … [Read more...]
Amazon Keeps Expanding
Amazon, the massive online retailer, just keeps on increasing its logistical infrastructure. Now the e-commerce giant is building a 1 million square foot facility in Burlington, NJ. Jan Hefler of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes: Amazon spokeswoman Rachael Lighty said the 1 million square-foot facility would create 600 full-time jobs for area residents, adding to the more than 16,000 the company employs across the state. Amazon’s selection of the Burlington site continues the company’s plans for distribution warehouses in South Jersey. There are centers in Florence in Burlington County and … [Read more...]
Higher Costs and Trade Risks Scare American Manufacturers Away from China
In a change of course, American businesses like Amazon and Microsoft are expanding in Taiwan, rather than mainland China. The move is a reaction to rising costs of labor and increased trade risk due to heightened tensions between China's communist government and the Trump administration. Kotaro Hosokawa and Kensaku Ihara report at Nikkei Asian Review: The interest in Taiwan owes partly to a cheaper pool of talent than in China, where labor costs are climbing steadily. In Taiwan, entry-level engineers with master's degrees employed in electronics or telecommunications earn an average of about … [Read more...]
The Chinese are Coming for Tesla
The world's largest maker of electric vehicle batteries is not housed in Palo Alto, California. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) is a Chinese company that, with the help of generous government subsidies has become the world's largest supplier of electric vehicle batteries. The company just went public, turning its founders into billionaires. CATL is valued at $12.3 billion, rather inexpensive compared to Tesla's valuation of $55.77 billion today. Bloomberg's Jie Ma tells the story of Zeng Yuqun, CATL's founder. The government’s generous subsidies for new-energy vehicles and … [Read more...]
Has the UK Found a Way to Fix the Irish Border Problem?
One of the hardest problems to solve during Brexit negotiations has been the status of the UK controlled portion of the island of Ireland. Jason Douglas reports in the Wall Street Journal that negotiators may have found an answer. He writes: Under the proposals unveiled on Thursday, the U.K. wouldn’t leave the customs union until permanent arrangements can be put in place, possibly involving new technologies, that avoid the emergence of a visible border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the U.K. while Ireland will remain in the EU. The … [Read more...]
Canadian GDP Disappoints. What Does it Mean?
Canada reported first quarter GDP numbers last week and the country's production didn't increase as fast as economists had predicted they would. Dragging on the numbers was lower housing investment, a result of tighter regulation of mortgages in the Great White North. Kim Mackrael reports for The Wall Street Journal: Canada’s economy expanded at a slower pace than expected in the first quarter, as housing investment dropped sharply following the introduction of tougher mortgage rules. Weaker consumer spending and lower exports of non-energy products also weighed on growth. Canada’s … [Read more...]
Coming Iran Sanctions Already Biting Shipping
Costas Paris and Joanne Chiu report in The Wall Street Journal that coming sanctions on Iran are already having an effect on how shipping companies are approaching the oil exporting country. They write: It will be months before new U.S. sanctions against Iran take hold, but global shipping operators are already pulling back from the big oil-exporting nation. The world’s two biggest shipping lines, Denmark’s Maersk Line and Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Co., said they were winding down general cargo shipments, while tanker owners said they plan to move their vessels to other … [Read more...]
Can Indian Entrepreneurs Beat Amazon and Walmart?
Mom and pop shops in India are giving retail giants Amazon and Walmart a run for their money. The family run stores have almost no wage or rent costs, so they can compete with the logistical prowess of the multinationals. Eric Bellman and Vibhuti Agarwal report on the battle for India's consumers in The Wall Street Journal: Tiny stores known as kiranas dot every Indian street, village and slum. Usually family-run, these micro-businesses range from street vendors selling vegetables to shops the size of a one-car garage. They pay low wages and have little or no rent, which helps keep costs … [Read more...]
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