“U.S. Mental Health Under Growing Strain in Covid’s Second Summer… It’s been nearly a year since the U.S. Census Bureau started asking Americans about the mental-health effects of the pandemic — and the latest survey shows just how much worse things have gotten since then…
“Even before the pandemic, researchers were focusing on mental health as a serious economic problem as well as a medical one.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-12/u-s-mental-health-under-growing-strain-in-covid-s-second-summer
“‘Price growth [US] is winning the race’: Inflation is devouring wage gains…
“Rising prices on everything from groceries to gasoline have eaten away the wage gains workers have seen since the start of the year, leaving most Americans earning less than they were before the pandemic began…”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/11/workers-wages-prices-increase-inflation-503781
“China Partly Shuts World’s Third-Busiest Port [Ningbo-Zhoushan], Risking Trade… China partly shut the world’s third-busiest container port after a worker became infected with Covid…
“The fear is that this new disruption will further strain shipping and supplies of goods, dampening growth and driving up prices. An extended shuttering at Ningbo could be especially painful for the world economy…”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-12/world-third-busiest-port-partly-shut-due-to-covid-outbreak
“In ‘COVID-Zero’ China, paranoia thrives as tourism withers.
“As the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads to more than half of China’s provinces, the whole country hunkers down while economic forecasts go south.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/12/in-covid-zero-china-paranoia-thrives-as-tourism-withers
“What is the human cost of a lockdown? That question has swirled around Australian politics since the pandemic began – and perhaps there is no clear answer. But it seems like western Sydney has reached its breaking point.
“I’ve lived in western Sydney my whole life – through many challenging times – and I’ve never felt the palpable sense of fear and paranoia that grips the region now.”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/11/ive-lived-in-western-sydney-my-whole-life-and-right-now-its-at-breaking-point
“Unpaid rent: the £6.4bn dispute that will shape the UK high street.
“While coronavirus cases have spiked and fallen back over the past 18 months, the pile of rent that has gone unpaid thanks to government-mandated closures has continued to grow, currently standing at £6.4bn, according to Remit Consulting. Tenants are deep in debt and calling on their landlords and their lenders to share some of the pain.”
https://www.ft.com/content/ef6c975b-91f4-4328-8466-70b686f7309d
“Why Italy Is Still Struggling to Rescue Monte Paschi.
“Italy’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA is the world’s oldest bank… The lender has been considered too-big-to-fail by successive Italian governments. That’s because the economic and social costs of a liquidation are viewed as unacceptably high, with more than 4.5 million clients, 21,000 employees and 150 billion euros of total assets.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-12/why-italy-is-still-struggling-to-rescue-monte-paschi-quicktake
“Negative Yields Are Showing Up in Europe’s Junk Bond Market… The mind-bending phenomenon of negative yields has made its way back to junk bonds…
“…a quarter of all global bonds now yield below zero, while only a third of the global fixed income market offers yields in excess of 1%, according to Bank of America Corp. analysts.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-11/negative-yields-are-showing-up-in-europe-s-junk-bond-market
“Illegal border crossings into EU rebound sharply in 2021 after 2020 drop due to COVID-19.
“The European Union’s border agency, Frontex, revealed on Thursday that more than 82,000 illegal border crossings were recorded during the first seven months of the year, a 59% increase from a year ago. In 2020, illegal border crossings dropped by 13% year-on-year to reach 124,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
https://www.euronews.com/2021/08/12/illegal-border-crossings-into-eu-rebound-sharply-in-2021-after-2020-drop-due-to-covid-19
“Nigeria facing worst recession in 40 years, says Fayemi.
“The Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, on Thursday said the COVID-19 pandemic caused setbacks to the several milestones the nation set for itself, including towards Universal Health Coverage by 2030. He regretted that COVID-19 disrupted health systems and economies.”
https://punchng.com/covid-19-nigeria-facing-worst-recession-in-40-years-says-fayemi
“Growing Alarm in Kenya as Number of Suicides Rise.
“… the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) …linked the rise in cases to mental ill-health caused by a breakdown in socio-economic safeguards, saying it was the “last resort and path of escape for individuals with unaddressed mental health needs”.”
https://www.africa.com/growing-alarm-in-kenya-as-number-of-suicides-rise/
“Lebanon: Politicians blast central bank for ending fuel subsidies.
“Lebanon’s central bank on Wednesday announced it is ending fuel subsidies – a move that was highly anticipated and is likely to send prices soaring, heaping even more pain on economically ravaged households.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/12/lebanon-politicians-blast-central-bank-for-ending-fuel-subsidies
“With fuel scarce, Yemen’s forests are next casualty of war.
“…with demand for firewood soaring due to fuel shortages, there are now concerns that the country’s humanitarian crisis, with millions facing starvation, has compounded the risk of deforestation – threatening… the environment of Yemen…”
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/wider-image-with-fuel-scarce-yemens-forests-are-next-casualty-war-2021-08-11/
“As pandemic drags on, Latin American women lose even more ground.
“The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to worsen existing gender gaps, exacerbate precarious labour conditions and erase progress made by Latin American women workers.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/11/as-pandemic-drags-on-latin-american-women-lose-even-more-ground
“Semiconductor shortage reaches a new and unwelcome landmark.
“It can now take more than 20 weeks… for an OEM such as Nvidia or AMD, to get their hardware, once they had been ordered – the longest stretch since records began… This basically means the chip shortage is escalating… the prices of various CPUs and GPUs may go even higher… especially with the holiday season approaching.”
https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/semiconductor-shortage-reaches-a-new-and-unwelcome-landmark
“Fed Reverse-Repo Facility Usage Jumps to Record $1.087 Trillion.
“The amount of cash investors are parking at a major Federal Reserve facility surged above $1 trillion once again amid an overabundance of U.S. dollars. eventy-four participants on Thursday placed an unprecedented total of $1.087 trillion at the Federal Reserve’s overnight reverse-repurchase facility…”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-12/fed-reverse-repo-facility-usage-jumps-to-record-1-087-trillion
“Liquidity Is Evaporating Even Before the Fed Taper Hits Markets.
“A measure of U.S. financial liquidity whose declines foreshadowed two of the decade’s worst equity routs is flashing alarms even before the Federal Reserve embarks on its planned winding down of asset purchases.”
https://www.bloombergquint.com/markets/liquidity-is-evaporating-even-before-the-fed-taper-hits-markets
You can read the previous ‘Economic’ thread here. I’ll be back tomorrow with a ‘Climate’ thread.
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