Tesco slowed to just 1% turnover growth in the first quarter amid fierce competition between the supermarkets

Google just made it significantly cheaper to enjoy its budget AI subscription tier.

Apple is now offering big discounts on the latest iPhone series in China to withstand growing competition from Huawei. According to the offici

Chinese investors snap up stocks on hopes for an end to price wars and overcapacity  ABC News

China solar stocks surge as Beijing moves to calm price wars  Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A Chinese flag flutters on top of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 18, 2023. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File photo HONG KONG (Reuters) -A prominent Chinese Communist Party publication called for a crackdown on forms of competition that fuel price wars and squeeze profits in various industries, criticising big firms and local governments for unfair practices. In the most strongly-worded Communist Party warning yet on the risks of industrial overcapacity, the Qiushi article on Tuesday said the phenomenon brings "enormous waste of social resources," and unsustainable debt that could endanger long-term growth. The article, written under a pseudonym, focused on "involutionary competition" in which it said firms and local governments invest vast amounts of capital to chase market share in an environment of limited demand, while failing to achieve revenue growth. It singled out industries such as photovoltaics, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and e-commerce platforms. To cut costs, some companies compromise on product quality, Qiushi said, disincentivising innovation and investment in research and development and harming consumer interests as "bad money drives out good money." Other firms are using resources to expand capacity, while delaying payments to suppliers and contractors, squeezing the entire industrial chain. E-commerce platforms compete on prices by using their advantageous position to transfer pressure on the merchants using them to get through to customers, Qiushi said. The magazine also offered some rare criticism of local officials, accusing them of both "absence and overreach." Officials should step in more as regulations have not kept up with the development of new industries and business models, it said. Bankruptcy mechanisms are also "imperfect," preventing curbs to excessive supply. On the other hand, some local governments, focused on short-term growth, attract investment by "artificially creating policy havens" with preferential taxes, fees, subsidies and land use, as well as protectionist measures. Many economists have warned Beijing for years that high levels of state-guided investment and subdued domestic demand - caused in part by a feeble social safety net and deep rural-urban inequalities - leave China overly dependent on exports for growth, and pose debt and deflation risks similar to what Japan experienced in the 1990s. Qiushi did not mention deflation, but warned that China might suffer from "development model path dependence" and needed supply-side reforms that reduce excess industrial capacity and a strategy to expand domestic demand. "Rectifying ’involutionary’ competition is a complex systematic engineering project that cannot be accomplished overnight or with a single decisive move," the magazine wrote. With valuations skyrocketing in 2024, many investors are uneasy putting more money into stocks. Unsure where to invest next? Get access to our proven portfolios and discover high-potential opportunities. In 2024 alone, ProPicks AI identified 2 stocks that surged over 150%, 4 additional stocks that leaped over 30%, and 3 more that climbed over 25%. That's an impressive track record. With portfolios tailored for Dow stocks, S&P stocks, Tech stocks, and Mid Cap stocks, you can explore various wealth-building strategies.

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Chinese energy sector worker Mandy Li likes to treat herself to a luxury brand handbag once in a while. But since her state-owned employer cut her wage by 10% and the properties her family owns lost half their value, she only buys second-hand ones. "I’m cutting down on large expenditures," said 28-year-old Li, while browsing for items in Beijing’s Super Zhuanzhuan second-hand luxury items store that opened in May. "The economy is definitely in a downturn," she said, adding: "My family’s wealth has shrunk by a lot" due to the property crisis China has been grappling with since 2021. As deflationary pressures mount in the world’s second-largest economy, consumer behaviour is changing in ways that could lead to further downward pressure on prices, raising concerns that deflation could become entrenched, posing more headaches for China’s policymakers. Data showed on Monday that consumer prices fell 0.1% in May from a year earlier, with price wars raging in a number of sectors, from autos to e-commerce to coffee amid concerns about oversupply and sluggish household demand. "We still think persistent overcapacity will keep China in deflation both this year and next," Capital Economics said in a research note. New businesses are seeking success by targeting penny-pinchers, from restaurants selling 3 yuan ($0.40) breakfast menus to supermarkets offering flash sales four times a day. But this trend is worrying economists who see price wars as ultimately unsustainable as losing firms may have to close and people may lose their jobs, fuelling further deflation. Consumer price sensitivities’ have accelerated growth in the Chinese second-hand luxury market since the pandemic, with annual growth rates surpassing 20% in 2023, according to an industry report by Zhiyan Consulting from last year. But that growth has also led to a spike in the volumes of such items available for sale - which is noticeable in the level of discounts on offer. Some new stores, including Super Zhuanzhuan, are offering items at discounts of up to 90% of their original price, compared with industry standards of 30-40% in recent years. Discounts of 70% or more are also now common on large second-hand platforms, such as Xianyu, Feiyu, Ponhu and Plum. "In the current economic environment we are seeing more existing luxury consumers shifting to the second-hand market," said Lisa Zhang, an expert with Daxue Consulting, a market research and strategy firm focusing on China. But sellers "have more discounts and it’s due to more competition." At Super Zhuanzhuan, a green, carryall Christie handbag model by Coach (NYSE:TPR), which its first owner bought for 3,260 yuan ($454) can be re-purchased for 219 yuan ($30). A 2,200 yuan Givenchy G Cube necklace can be found for 187 yuan. "Year-to-year, it’s like 20% growth in the number of sellers, but the buyers’ numbers are pretty much stable," said the founder of another second-hand luxury business in China, asking for anonymity to speak candidly about the state of the industry. "The middle class - their salary has really decreased. The economy is the number one reason we’re seeing these trends." He said big cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have enough buyers to accommodate new market entrants, but elsewhere in China there isn’t any room for more. "I would expect the majority of the stores which have recently opened up will actually close," he said. University professor Riley Chang was browsing through Super Zhuanzhuan not because she wanted to buy anything new - she hasn’t spent money on big brands since the pandemic - but because she wanted to see what the market was if she sold any of her own possessions. She wasn’t happy with what she saw. "I’ve been to several major second-hand luxury stores in Beijing and Shanghai and they all try to push your price as low as possible," said Chang. With valuations skyrocketing in 2024, many investors are uneasy putting more money into stocks. Sure, there are always opportunities in the stock market – but finding them feels more difficult now than a year ago. Unsure where to invest next? One of the best ways to discover new high-potential opportunities is to look at the top performing portfolios this year. ProPicks AI offers 6 model portfolios from Investing.com which identify the best stocks for investors to buy right now. For example, ProPicks AI found 9 overlooked stocks that jumped over 25% this year alone. The new stocks that made the monthly cut could yield enormous returns in the coming years. Is TPR one of them?

BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese auto dealers on Tuesday called on automakers to stop offloading too many cars on dealerships, as intense price wars are pressuring their cash flow, driving down their profitability and forcing some to shut. The proposal came on the heels of an official call over the weekend for the auto industry to halt bruising price wars. Conditions facing car dealers have become "even more severe" amid a new round of hefty discounting since the second quarter, the China Auto Dealers Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. Automakers should set reasonable annual production and sales targets and should not transfer inventory to dealers and force them to stockpile cars, the chamber proposed on Tuesday. The cycle of payments to dealers should be shortened and dealers "shall not be coerced to withdraw from the network and close their stores in the name of optimising network channels," it said. A large dealer of Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD (SZ:002594)’s cars in the eastern province of Shandong went out of business with at least 20 of its stores found to be deserted or shut, local media reported last week.

It was too good to be true. China’s economic growth powered by its exports sector delivered annual rates of real growth between 10% and 14% for years together in the 1980s and 1990s. Something the world watched with awe and admiration, as the Middle Kingdom surged to become the world’s second largest economy in GDP terms. The recent travails of the Chinese economy since the 2008 Financial Crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic have put the brakes on its economic growth, and perhaps some of it could have been avoided.