Category: Semafor

China’s electric vehicle price wars have spilled into the attention economy. As profits plunge, Chinese auto executives are reinventing themselves as influencers, Nikkei reported: Xiaomi’s Lei Jun livestreamed a 15-hour nonstop road trip from Beijing to Shanghai, while Nio’s founder streamed himself cooking inside an SUV and sleeping in its ...

Foreign governments are dumping US Treasury bonds to stabilize their currencies amid the energy shock and financial volatility triggered by the Iran war. Data showed seven of the top 10 foreign holders of US government debt trimmed their holdings of US Treasurys in March: Japan, to protect its currency, and ...

Chinese men are learning to spoil themselves. As more of them live alone and delay marriage, those who might have spent money on romantic relationships are instead splurging on skincare, fragrances, fitness equipment, and other self-care luxuries. The trend is tied to an overall increase in male consumption in the ...

Welcome to the wrapper economy, where “ownership” is replaced by “exposure.” The Trump administration is expected to start allowing digital versions of stocks that track prices but don’t carry the typical voting rights or dividends — and could be issued without the approval of the companies themselves. The new rules, ...

CEOs are using earnings calls as talk therapy. Hudson Labs has pulled together a list of the most stressed-out CEOs around the world, putting an AI twist on the practice of combing through earnings reports for signals on where the global economy is heading. The firm’s analysis filtered out explicit ...

Liz’s view Kalshi and Polymarket have either a massive insider-trading problem or the appearance of one. It doesn’t really matter which. But my bet is that they’ll fix it — because it’s in their financial interest. For starters, people don’t want to participate in a market they think is rigged. ...

The Scoop Democrats’ search for more winnable House seats is shining a brighter light on southern California, where internal tension is putting the party at risk of a November lockout. The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC picked its candidate on Tuesday, endorsing Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar in the 48th District. But Campa-Najjar’s ...

The Iran war’s inflationary pressures were unlikely to abate, analysts warned, even as US President Donald Trump said “serious negotiations” were underway with Tehran. Ratings agency Moody’s chief economist warned that the Federal Reserve would be forced to consider rate hikes. Traders are roughly 50-50 on rates either staying flat ...

Japan’s economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.1% in the first quarter, surpassing expectations, though analysts warned that the fallout of the Iran war could hamper future expansion. The strong results were driven by rising US-bound exports and sturdy domestic consumption, the latter thanks to a temporary cash handout ...

Banking giant Standard Chartered will cut 15% of its workforce by 2030 as its use of AI increases. The UK-headquartered company, which has large offices in China, India, Malaysia, and Poland, said it was boosting automation, but would move some affected staff into new roles. Several other banking and tech ...