Of qontigo who gave us his expectations for chinas latest factory activity. Its likely to continue for a wild because it is still driven by manufacturing and dependent on global trade and, you know, geopolitical environment, and we are not having any of these right now. Even germanys Industrial Complex is sluggish a bit so its notjust china but everywhere. Global demand in mostly services is given by technical Communication Services and big tech so shows and manufacturing are a bit sluggish, yes. I shows and manufacturing are a bit sluggish, yes. Bit sluggish, yes. I want to talk about bit sluggish, yes. I want to talk about japan bit sluggish, yes. I want to talk about japan because l bit sluggish, yes. I want to talk about japan because it talk aboutjapan because it took markets by surprise in terms of what its central bank has done which makes its Bond Yield Control policy more flexible. What are your expectations about that . Inflation has been above the target for a few months so
Change. Clearly it is a popular policy by the public and heading up to the next election it would be a strange decision for the government to row back on anything with public support. Can the government have it both ways, say yes to granting licences for oil and gasp projects but at the same time it commitments to net zero . New licences for the north sea is not a change in Government Policy, we were expecting to see more. The oil and industrys estimates show production will continue to decline in the north sea no matter what the Government Policy is it simply because there is not as much gas and oil as 50 years ago when we started extracting. What is left in the north sea is mostly oil. This is mostly exported, so there is little benefit to our bills from more extraction and in a cost of living crisis bills are a strong priority for the public. It is a strange decision to approve more when it wont help with our bills because they cant move the dial on internationally set prices and it
Americans love of lattes and iced coffee helped starbucks through the worst of the post pandemic years. But with high inflation in the us, a cup of coffee is now 5 on average. The big question for investors going into this Earnings Season was would consumers still spend money on elaborate coffees . The answer was mixed. Sales in North America grew 7 , even after the chain raised prices. That figure was below wall streets forecast. Customer traffic only increased by 1 . Most of the gains came from existing customers spending more money. Sales in china, its second biggest market, rose sharply. Same store sales increased a whopping 46 from a year ago. Starbucks remains a favorite brand among chinese consumers. The company benefiting from a rebound after strict covid 19 restrictions were lifted. But the coffee chain said that Wage Increases and investment in its cafes dragged down its overall profits. Starbucks ceo laxman narasimhan, who took over from predecessor Howard Schultz in march,
Alarm bells are ringing about the outlook for china, but officials remain confident this is a short term blip. Only last month, the chinese premier, li qiang, said his country was still on track to reach its annual Growth Target of around 5 , a modest target after china grewjust 3 last year, one of the weakest showings in nearly half a century. Lets talk through whats at stake with jane foley, head of fx strategy at rabobank. Iam hoping i am hoping she is there. Good morning to you. I am hoping she is there. Good morning to you. Good morning. A fourth month morning to you. Good morning. A fourth month in morning to you. Good morning. A fourth month in a morning to you. Good morning. A fourth month in a row morning to you. Good morning. A fourth month in a row of fourth month in a row of contraction although it is slightly improved from last month, hasnt it . It slightly improved from last month, hasnt it . Month, hasnt it . It has slightly month, hasnt it . It has slightly been month,