월스트리트저널 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 구독 추천(2023.9.12)

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

 

◈ Rosier Economic View Fails to Boost Biden(장밋빛 경제관은 바이든을 지지하지 못한다)

Voters have a slightly rosier view of the economy now that inflation is easing. Few are giving President Biden credit for the improvement.

That is the takeaway from the latest Wall Street Journal poll and other surveys that show Americans’ outlook has brightened in recent months. Democrats and independent voters are driving the shift in more positive perceptions of the economy as the Biden campaign highlights ebbing risks that the U.S. will tip into a recession.

Yet most voters still don’t like how the president has managed the economy, surveys show. It is a dilemma for Biden given that weaker inflation and a strong labor market typically help incumbents when they seek a second term.

Two-thirds of voters who usually side with Democrats say the economy is in excellent or good condition, up 9 percentage points from December, the latest Journal poll found. Among independents, the share who view the economy favorably also rose 9 points to 36%. Eight percent of Republicans say the same, unchanged from December.

 

◈ Walmart Goes All In on Africa After Setbacks(월마트는 좌절 끝에 아프리카에 올인한다)

JOHANNESBURG— Walmart ’s investment in Africa tanked. It is responding by doubling down.

More than a decade ago, Walmart spent $2.4 billion to buy a controlling stake in South African retailer Mass-mart, which also had operations in a dozen other sub-Saharan countries. At the time, executives in Bentonville, Ark., hailed the acquisition as Walmart’s entry into the world’s youngest continent and one of its fastest-growing consumer markets, which was booming amid record commodity prices.

But Walmart hasn’t been able to cash in. First the 2014 commodities crash, then the pandemic and now the fallout from the war in Ukraine—including high inflation and plunging local currencies— have stopped African consumers from spending big. Mass-mart closed its stores in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda last year and shuttered an underperforming electronics chain in March 2020.

 

◈ Stock Indexes Jump, Propelled by Tesla(주가지수 급등, 테슬라의 힘으로)

Shares in Tesla pulled stock markets higher Monday thanks in large part to hype around a supercomputer dubbed “Dojo.”

All three indexes opened in the green and stayed there through the closing bell, clawing back some of last week’s losses. The S& P 500 climbed 0.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%, or roughly 87 points.

Tesla was the major winner, leading the S& P 500 with a 10% gain after Morgan Stanley upgraded its stock. The bank said a supercomputer the automaker is developing to parse the vast amounts of visual data needed for autonomous driving could add $500 billion to the company’s enterprise value.

 

◈ Energy Shares Are Back in The Market's Driver's Seat(에너지 주가가 시장의 운전석으로 돌아왔다)

Shares of oil-and-gas companies are hot again.

The energy sector is the best performer among the S& P 500’s 11 segments this quarter, up 11%, while the benchmark index has added 0.8%. Shares of Halliburton have added 25%, Marathon Petroleum has gained 32% and ConocoPhillips has advanced 16% over the same period.

The gains mark a contrast from earlier in the spring when the sector was the biggest laggard, down about 13% in 2023 through mid-March, dragged down by concerns about a slowing global economy and energy demand hurting oil prices.

Now, extended production cuts by two of the world’s largest crude exporters and hopes that the U.S. economy could skirt a recession have powered oil prices to $90 a barrel, their highest level of the year, boosting energy stocks.

 

오늘도 경제신문으로 세상을 봅니다.