Evelyn Reynolds

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    U.S. Adds Tariffs to Shield Struggling Solar Industry

    American solar manufacturers are pushing for further protections for their new factories against cheaply priced imports from China.Tariffs aimed at protecting America’s solar industry from foreign competition snapped back into place on Thursday, ending a two-year pause that President Biden approved as part of his effort to jump-start solar adoption in the U.S.The tariffs, which will apply to certain solar products made by Chinese companies in Southeast Asia, kicked in at a moment of growing global concern about a surge of cheap Chinese solar products that are undercutting U.S. and European manufacturers.The Biden administration has been trying to build up America’s solar industry by offering tax credits, and companies have announced more than 30 new U.S. manufacturing investments in the past year. But U.S. solar companies say they are still struggling to survive as competitors in China and Southeast Asia flood the global market with solar panels that are being sold at prices far below what American firms need to charge to stay in business.That has forced President Biden to make an uncomfortable choice: Continue welcoming inexpensive imports that are helping the United States transition away from fossil fuels, or block them to protect new U.S. solar factories that are benefiting from taxpayer money.The tariffs that take effect Thursday encapsulated that dilemma. The levies, which apply to certain solar products coming to the United States from Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, were approved two years ago, after U.S. officials ruled that some Chinese firms were trying to dodge preexisting American tariffs on China by routing solar panels through other countries. The exact tariff rate depends on the company but could be more than 250 percent.The Chinese firms had set up factories in Southeast Asia, but Commerce Department officials said that some were not doing substantial manufacturing there. Rather, they were using sites in those countries to make minor changes to Chinese-made solar products, and then shipping them to the United States tariff-free, the ruling decided.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Private payrolls growth slows to 152,000 in May, much less than expected, ADP says

    ADP reported that companies added 152,000 jobs in May, fewer than the downwardly revised 188,000 in April and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 175,000.
    Nearly all the hiring came from the services sector, with goods producers contributing just a net 3,000 to the total.
    Trade, transportation and utilities led with 55,000 new jobs, while education and health services added 46,000, and construction contributed 32,000.

    Private job creation slowed more than expected in May, according to a report Wednesday from ADP that signals further sluggishness in the labor market.
    The payroll processing firm said that companies added 152,000 jobs on the month, fewer than the downwardly revised 188,000 in April and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 175,000. This was the lowest monthly level since January.

    Along with the slowdown in job creation, annual pay growth gains held at a 5% rate, where they have been for three months running.
    “Job gains and pay growth are slowing going into the second half of the year,” ADP’s chief economist, Nela Richardson, said. “The labor market is solid, but we’re monitoring notable pockets of weakness tied to both producers and consumers.”

    A bartender prepares drinks in Le Central restaurant in San Francisco, California, US, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. 
    David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Nearly all the hiring came from the services sector, with goods producers contributing just a net 3,000 to the total.
    Trade, transportation and utilities led with 55,000 new jobs, while education and health services added 46,000, and construction contributed 32,000. The other services category added 21,000, but leisure and hospitality, a leading contributor over the past several years, saw a gain of just 12,000.
    A number of sectors saw job losses on the month.

    Manufacturing, which has been in contraction for most of the past year and a half, lost 20,000 jobs. Others seeing decreases included natural resources and mining (-9,000), information (-7,000), and professional and business services (-6,000). Small business also saw a decline, with companies employing between 20 and 49 workers down 36,000.
    The report comes two days ahead of the more closely watched nonfarm payrolls count from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ADP sometimes can provide a preview of what’s ahead in the BLS report, though the two counts can differ, sometimes dramatically. The ADP report showing private payroll growth of 188,000 in April overshot the BLS count of 167,000.
    Wall Street economists expect nonfarm payrolls to have expanded by 190,000 in May after growing by 175,000 the previous month. However, a number of indicators of late have shown signs of a slowdown in hiring, and a BLS report Tuesday showed that job openings fell to just over 8 million in April, the lowest level since February 2021.
    Correction: The ADP figure for May was the lowest monthly level since January. An earlier version misstated a month.

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    Dubai Mall, one of the world’s largest, is getting even bigger with a $400 million expansion

    The sprawling shopping complex is already home to 1,200 stores and 200 food and beverage outlets, a 10-million-liter aquarium, an Olympic-sized ice skating rink, an indoor Chinatown, a virtual reality park, an indoor SEGA theme park, and one of the world’s largest candy stores. 
    The mall’s developer, Emaar Properties this week announced the building’s expansion plan, which will add 240 new luxury stores and food and drink venues.

    A view of the street near the Dubai Mall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on November 29, 2023.
    Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Dubai Mall, one of the largest malls in the world, is set to get even bigger with a planned expansion that will cost an estimated 1.5 billion dirhams ($408 million).
    The sprawling, glitzy shopping complex in the United Arab Emirates’ commercial capital is already home to 1,200 stores and 200 food and beverage vendors, a 10-million-liter (2.2-million-gallons) aquarium, an Olympic-sized ice skating rink, an indoor Chinatown, a virtual reality park, an indoor SEGA theme park, and one of the world’s largest candy stores. 

    Spanning 12 million square feet of floor space, the mall is also connected to the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.
    The mall’s developer, Emaar Properties this week announced the building’s expansion plan, which will add 240 new luxury stores and food and drink venues.
    “The new Dubai Mall expansion is a great addition to one of the most visited sites in the world,” Mohamed Alabbar, Emaar founder, said in a statement. He declared that the plan reflects Dubai’s ambition to further its position “as a top global destination.”
    Dubai’s fortunes have soared since the Covid-19 pandemic, as the city carried out an early vaccination campaign and then opened its doors to tourism and business, while much of the rest of the world stayed shut.
    The UAE introduced remote worker visas and 10-year “golden” visas and relaxed foreign ownership laws for businesses, hosting major international events like Expo 2020 and COP 28. Its population jumped — as well as its tourism and property revenues — after Russia’s 2022 full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, which triggered an inflow of Russians to its balmy, sanctions-free shores.

    The record-breaking Dubai Mall is also home to the world’s largest shopping mall aquarium, where visitors can cage snorkel and dive with sharks.
    GIUSEPPE CACACE | AFP | Getty Images

    By September of 2023, Dubai had registered a stunning 63% jump in residency visas issued in the first half of that year compared to the same period a year prior, according to Gulf News.
    That year, Dubai Mall received a record 105 million visitors, according to Emaar — a 19% increase from 2022.

    The Dubai Mall waterfall on November 15, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 
    Andrea Dicenzo | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Emaar Properties is a Dubai-based multinational real estate developer whose two largest shareholders are Dubai ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the Investment Corporation of Dubai, a UAE sovereign wealth fund. The company had a net asset value of $37.6 billion at the end of 2022, according to its website.
    In February, the Emaar founder announced plans for a new mall in Dubai’s Creek Harbor area that would allow visitors to drive through it in electric cars, the Khaleej Times reported. More

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    Europe Has Fallen Behind the U.S. and China. Can It Catch Up?

    A “competitiveness crisis” is raising alarms for officials and business leaders in the European Union, where investment, income and productivity are lagging.Europe’s share of the global economy is shrinking, and fears are deepening that the continent can no longer keep up with the United States and China.“We are too small,” said Enrico Letta, a former Italian prime minister who recently delivered a report on the future of the single market to the European Union.“We are not very ambitious,” Nicolai Tangen, head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, told The Financial Times. “Americans just work harder.”“European businesses need to regain self-confidence,” Europe’s association of chambers of commerce declared.The list of reasons for what has been called the “competitiveness crisis” goes on: The European Union has too many regulations, and its leadership in Brussels has too little power. Financial markets are too fragmented; public and private investments are too low; companies are too small to compete on a global scale.“Our organization, decision-making and financing are designed for ‘the world of yesterday’ — pre-Covid, pre-Ukraine, pre-conflagration in the Middle East, pre-return of great power rivalry,” said Mario Draghi, a former president of the European Central Bank who is heading a study of Europe’s competitiveness.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Job openings fell again in April, hitting lowest level since February 2021 in a sign of labor market weakening

    Job openings in April slipped to 8.06 million, down by nearly 300,000 from March and the lowest since February 2021.
    While job openings slid, hires moved slightly higher as did separations and quits.

    Job openings fell more than forecast in April, signaling a potential weakening in the labor market that could provide the Federal Reserve with more impetus to start lowering interest rates.
    The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released Tuesday showed that the level of employment vacancies slipped to 8.06 million for the month, down by nearly 300,000 from March and close to 19% lower than a year ago.

    Moreover, the total marked the lowest since February 2021. The ratio of job openings to available workers edged down from 1.2 to 1, after being around 2 to 1 when openings peaked above 12 million in March 2022. The ratio has returned to about where it was before the Covid pandemic.
    Fed officials watch the JOLTS report closely for signs of labor market slack as they look for direction on monetary policy. Policymakers have held benchmark interest rates at 23-year highs as they wait for more convincing evidence that inflation is progressing back to the central bank’s 2% goal. Market pricing is pointing toward an initial rate cut coming in September.
    While job openings slid, hires moved slightly higher as did separations and quits, a sign of worker confidence in the ability to move to other positions.
    By industry, information technology saw the biggest percentage drop in openings, down 1.3% for the month. Two industries that had been big job gainers, health care and leisure and hospitality, saw notable drops in openings, down 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.
    The report, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, kicks off a big week of labor-related data.
    On Wednesday, ADP will release its May estimate for private payrolls, with the Dow Jones estimate at 175,000 for May, down from 192,000 in April. Weekly jobless claims data will be reported Thursday. Then on Friday, the BLS will release its pivotal May nonfarm payrolls report, which is expected to show growth of 190,000, after 175,000 the month before.

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    Feeling Consumers’ Pain, Retailers Bring Back Discounts

    The pandemic shopping boom led many stores and brands to widen profit margins by charging more. Now value is the watchword as shoppers grow choosier.U.S. consumers, fatigued by a three-year bout of inflation, want lower prices. And large retailers that have increased prices, partly to contend with their own rising costs, appear to be responding to customer concerns — to an extent.Walgreens said last week that it was lowering prices on over 1,000 items. Target recently announced modest price cuts on 5,000 food products and household goods. Craft and furniture stores like Michael’s and Ikea have also said they will drop prices on popular items.A broader range of companies have indicated on quarterly earnings calls that they plan to slow price increases and seek other ways to expand profitability.Signaling empathy with customers facing higher living costs is an increasingly important marketing strategy, retail analysts say. But regardless of motivation, a shift is in motion that may help ease inflation in the coming months.“Retailers have recognized they have to make some movement on pricing because the customer now is getting to the point where they’re shopping around more, they’re cutting down on the amount that they buy,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail, a research and consulting firm.In some ways, the industry seems to be entering a new phase.After a slog for retailers during much of the 2010s, when they often resorted to heavy discounts to gain or maintain market share, the pandemic upended consumer habits. Suddenly, bank accounts were buoyed by emergency federal aid, and millions of consumers unable or unwilling to spend on in-person services shifted to buying goods.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Car Deals Vanished During the Pandemic. They’re Coming Back.

    Automakers and dealers are starting to offer discounts, low-interest loans and other incentives to lure buyers as the supply of cars grows.For much of the last four years, automakers and their dealers had so few cars to sell — and demand was so strong — that they could command high prices. Those days are over, and hefty discounts are starting a comeback.During the coronavirus pandemic, auto production was slowed first by factory closings and then by a global shortage of computer chips and other parts that lasted for years.With few vehicles in showrooms, automakers and dealers were able to scrap most sales incentives, leaving consumers to pay full price. Some dealers added thousands of dollars to the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, and people started buying and flipping in-demand cars for a profit.But with chip supplies back to healthy levels, auto production has rebounded and dealer inventories are growing. At the same time, higher interest rates have dampened demand for vehicles. As a result, many automakers are scrambling to keep sales rolling.Wes Lutz, owner of Extreme Dodge in Jackson, Mich., said he had several Dodge Challengers and Chargers that were eligible for $11,000 discounts from Stellantis, the manufacturer of Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram models. The automaker is also offering discounts of up to $3,600 on certain versions of the Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle.“It seems like we may be headed back toward incentives and overproduction,” Mr. Lutz said. “It’s not there yet, but it’s getting close.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Turkey’s inflation passes 75% in what economists believe is peak

    Consumer prices rose 75.45% in May on an annual basis and 3.37% on a monthly basis, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, a government agency.
    The sectors seeing the steepest annual consumer price rises were education at 104.8%, housing at 93.2%, and hotels, cafes and restaurants at 92.9%.
    Economists had previously forecast that inflation in the country of 85 million would peak around 75% before beginning to ease.

    City scene Yeni Camii great mosque by Golden Horn of Bosphorus River, Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia Istanbul, Republic of Turkey 
    Tim Graham | Getty Images

    Inflation in Turkey topped 75% in May in what economists expect to be the peak before prices start to ease.
    Consumer prices rose 75.45% in May on an annual basis and 3.37% on a monthly basis, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, a government agency.

    The sectors seeing the steepest annual price rises were education at 104.8%, housing at 93.2%, and hotels, cafes and restaurants at 92.9%.
    Economists had previously forecast that inflation in the country of 85 million would peak around 75%. Turkey has been on a year-long journey of steadily hiking interest rates in an effort to cool prices, resulting in significant financial difficulties for the average Turkish consumer.
    Turkey’s central bank has kept its interest rate at 50% since March, citing the continuing need to counter climbing inflation in the country. The bank said at the time that “tight monetary stance will be maintained until a significant and sustained decline in the underlying trend of monthly inflation is observed.” More