Just like old times!
Yep, propping the ruble up with foreign currency reserves (while making the ruble not really convertible) isn’t the same as their economy doing ok.
I don’t think they are morons. They are professionals at doing that.
Назло мамке уши отморожу😂
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/12/asia/sri-lanka-russian-oil-intl-hnk/index.html
Pretty much, back to bartering with tea leaves for Russian crude and petroproducts. Calling it now, this next year is going to be fubar.
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Not like people didn’t warn them about that.
Now BRICS members are slurping up all the RU oil/gas.
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JPMorgan says Russia’s economy is doing much better than expected — and will only shrink 3.5% this year despite Western sanctions
The Russian economy’s downturn this year will be much milder than originally expected, with gross domestic product falling just 3.5% in 2022, according to new predictions from JPMorgan.
The bank’s economists said in a note sent to clients on Friday that Russian economic data for May came in stronger than expected, with the manufacturing sector and consumer spending both appearing to stabilize.
“Meanwhile, the labor market displays little sign of distress,” they said. Unemployment dipped to 3.9% in May from 4% in April.
The resilience in the Russian economy comes despite the tough sanctions imposed on the country over its invasion of Ukraine in late February, and the exodus of foreign companies.
Russia has, in part, been able to weather the storm somewhat better than expected because it’s still exporting large amounts of energy. That’s generated foreign currency with which the government has been able to prop up the ruble, helping to get a grip on inflation.
“Looking beyond political tensions the Russian economy is delivering upside surprises,” JPMorgan said. “For now, Russia is tracking a far milder recession than had been feared when the invasion began.”
JPMorgan raised its GDP forecast for 2022 to -3.5%, from -5% previously, well above the Wall Street consensus prediction of -9.6%.
Yes, China has increased their RU oil imports and India has as well. India has replaced Germany as number 2 importer of Russian oil. Russia is part of BRICS, those countries look after each other.
Sanctions have raised oil prices, rather than stop RU oil exports. The raise in oil prices has more than made up for the small decline in exports. Russia oil export revenues are up 50% compared to this time last year. There are more sanctions coming by years end by EU and UK, which will most likely drive oil prices up again.
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If there’s anything the last 18 months have taught me it’s that depending on foreign producers for energy is just plain bad policy if you have a choice in the matter.
But I guess our gas and oil is dirtier and worse for Mother Gaia than that of the OPEC. All Hail Greta.
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Not affecting auto production, but may affect ICE auto usage
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Aha! The real reason Hochul wants one third of the state to skedaddle. 
In addition to Volvo’s China plant closing, this affects Toyota — and if you believe they impact autos (not really), Intel and Foxconn.
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At this point they’re probably just throwing darts at a map of PRC and declaring edict for their own (party leaders) entertainment.
Can’t have the white guard getting out of practice now.
It’s from GSAM, I either don’t have the entire report or can’t share it. That’s from one of the analysts I follow who probably should not have shared it on social media but did.
The PCE data in the report is lifted from Commerce, the Cox Auto data in that slide is aggregated from their monthly report on their website. CVNA and Vroom reported/held calls in August — those numbers may be from their financials (I’m not aware of them reporting units on hand to anyone, though it’s scrape-able).
https://www.bea.gov/data/personal-consumption-expenditures-price-index
The report may also cover inflation and macro trends. All speed bumps I passed trying to get more data on QT.
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Auto inventories in my city just rose to a level not seen since December 2021.
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I am interested to get a new car and started to call around and check the market. I don’t know about lease deals but when it comes to purchase I had several luxury brand dealerships which were offering their cars (depending on the model) up to 5k below invoice. There are still several high demand cars which have high markups (e.g. G-Wagon, 911, Boxster/Cayman, Tundra etc) but many of the main stream luxury cars (Most Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Volvo) are going back with their selling price around invoice. The interest rates are certainly still pretty high but I am happy to see the trend and am hopeful that towards the end of the year we will see some great deals back.
What are the thoughts of the experts here? Do you all see the same or am I just lucky with my searches?
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In demand units from those manufacturers still not discounted and the major problem is the lack of incentives combined with rising rates. While you may get a discount, the leases we saw in 2017 & 2018 are long gone.
No need to post about the US rail strike that never was, but Liverpool dock workers strike is having some impacts
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