Watson’s Weekly 17-02-2024

This is an amalgamation of the “best bits” of the daily weekday newsletter/blog woven together to form a concise and coherent view on the things that matter in the commercial and economic news of the week. 

THE COLOURED HIGHLIGHT REFERS TO THE EDITION WHERE THE STORY APPEARED IN WATSON’S DAILY. Clicking on the day will take you to the appropriate edition of Watson’s Daily.

IN BIG PICTURE NEWS...

This was the week that the UK officially fell into recession, Uber announced its first share buyback and Musk moved another company out of Delaware…

IN COMMODITIES NEWS…

IN CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS…

IN BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT & CONSUMER TRENDS NEWS...

IN BUSINESS TRENDS NEWS…

IN EMPLOYMENT TRENDS…

UK wage growth slowed down less than expected although the labour market seems to be cooling down. However, a recent survey said that about a fifth of firms are still finding it hard to fill vacancies!

Employers are racing to beat the deadline for visa applications for skilled staff! In December, the home secretary said that the main salary floor for skilled worker visas would rise significantly from £26,200 to £38,000 from April.

Meanwhile, some PwC grad promotions have been delayed by six months because there just isn’t enough work for them to do to promote them. OK it’s a small number versus the overall number that will be promoted on time, but it still shows how difficult the situation is at the moment.

IN CONSUMER TRENDS…

IN AUTOMOTIVE NEWS...

IN GENERAL…

IN CAR “POWER” NEWS…

IN EV NEWS…

IN RIDE-HAILING…

  • Uber announced its first ever share buyback, buoyed by its recent announcement that it had achieved its first full year of operating profit. It looks like this bad boy is growing up!
  • Rival Lyft saw its share price hit a 52-week high following the company’s strong Q4 results. There was a bit of drama as it became apparent that the press release contained an extra zero on profit margins – so initial astonishment came back to reality quite quickly!

IN DRIVERLESS NEWS…

IN FINANCIALS NEWS...

IN INVESTMENT NEWS…

IN OTHER FINANCIALS NEWS…

IN REAL ESTATE NEWS...

IN COMMERCIAL PROPERTY NEWS…

IN RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY NEWS…

IN TECH NEWS...

IN SEMICONDUCTOR NEWS…

ELSEWHERE…

  • TikTok is continuing to fight against Universal Music, which is digging its heels in over music rights and payment. If another deadline is missed at the end of this month, there will be a big copyright claim to come. There will be a lot of people watching this to see who manages to win the tussle!

IN OTHER NEWS...

BANTER

My favourite video this week was the one with the fancy cheese on toast! I bet you’ve never had cheese on toast like this before!

 

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