analysis

the boom and bust of the past three years has exposed a once-niche and tiny market that is evolving and adjusting in real time to the unprecedented roll out of electric vehicles around the globe. a faster flow of supply from a more diverse global mining base could mean the next boom..... Read here

The boom and bust of the last three years has exposed a once-niche and tiny market that is evolving and adjusting in real time to the unprecedented rollout of electric vehicles across the globe. While many analysts and miners still expect prices to rebound significantly over the next few years as demand gains pace, a faster flow of supply from a more diverse global mining base could mean the next boom and bust cycle will be shorter and less extreme — perhaps pointing toward a maturing market.

The president of the United States and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plan to form a committee on defense industry and allow shipyard workers to perform more maintenance work on US Navy ships as they look to shore up their military alliance, according to a senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity to share details ahead of an official announcement. The countries are seeking to intensify cooperation on security in the Indo-Pacific region as China takes an increasingly assertive stance in the South China Sea. https://tinyurl.com/22xudvuu

Martin Eberhard, the former chief executive of #TSLA, said it was a shame the automaker decided not to pursue its cheap car because they don’t think they can compete with the low-end Chinese cars, and that they probably might want to reconsider that. “We can have a dozen different cars companies around the world making a dozen different types of cars, meeting different positions in the market and all succeeding,” he said. https://tinyurl.com/2aj5qxcx

The demand for corporate loans in the euro area saw a "substantial drop" in the first quarter as the region continues to dread rising borrowing costs that probably won’t be cut until the middle of the year, the European Central Bank said. Credit standards — banks'internal guidelines for loans — were a little tighter for firms across the 20-nation bloc for the first time since late 2021. “Higher interest rates as well as lower fixed investment for firms and lower consumer confidence for households exert https://tinyurl.com/25z266bo

At this point, the former President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis James Bullard said he’s expecting three interest-rate cuts this year as inflation moves toward the Central Bank’s target while the economy remains resilient — their best guess is still three cuts this year, he said on the sidelines of HSBC’s Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong. Economic data already justifies a rate cut, he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday - after holding talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi - that Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction have reached a "unprecedented level" without any exaggeration, Russian news agencies reported. In recent years, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have noted that a deep friendship has developed between them.

The consumer confidence index has increased in Japan to 39.5 in March 2024, up from a marginal revised of 39.0 in the previous month. It was the highest reading since April 2019, as households improved toward most components, namely income growth (41.5% vs 40.8 in February), employment (45.0 vs 44.3 ) and willingness to buy durable goods (34.0 vs 33.5%), while those of overall livelihood (37.6) were unchanged.

Microsoft to invest $2.9bn in Japan data centers amid AI boom

Mom & Touch from South Korean Chicken joint to make its debut Japan in Shibuya