US ECONOMY & POLITICS

U.S. new home sales increase in July – Reuters, 8/24/2021

• Sales of new U.S. single-family homes increased in July, but housing market momentum is slowing amid surging prices that are being driven by an acute shortage of properties on the market.
• New home sales rose 1.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 708,000 units last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.
• June’s sales pace was revised up to 701,000 units from the previously reported 676,000 units.

Democrats Hit Impasse on Infrastructure Bill, Broader Spending Package – Wall Street Journal, 8/24/2021

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and a group of centrist House Democrats worked to break a deadlock Monday night over the party’s legislative strategy, as leaders tried to unify the party’s rival wings.
• The fight centers on Democratic leaders’ plans to yoke together two pieces of legislation: a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill that the Senate passed earlier this month with bipartisan support and a $3.5 trillion package of healthcare, education and climate policies that lacks GOP backing and could take months to complete.
• Plans to hold that vote Monday night were abandoned, though, and Mrs. Pelosi said the chamber would vote on the measure on Tuesday as she left the Capitol after midnight.
• Lawmakers said there were also ongoing discussions over a possible commitment from Democratic leaders to bring up the infrastructure bill for a vote by a specific date, potentially Oct. 1, even if the broader budget package wasn’t done by then.
• That could potentially win over centrists, but anger liberals who worry the party’s more centrist wing might oppose the broader budget package without repercussions if the infrastructure bill has already passed.

G-7 Allies to Press U.S. to Extend Afghanistan Presence – Wall Street Journal, 8/24/2021

• U.S. allies are expected to pressure President Biden on Tuesday to prolong U.S. operations in Afghanistan past Aug. 31 to evacuate more Westerners and Afghans, despite warnings from the Taliban that they won’t accept the presence of international forces beyond the end of the month.
• The U.K. has convened an emergency meeting of the Group of Seven advanced economies over the Afghanistan crisis, which will consider whether to prolong evacuation operations past the Aug. 31 deadline the Biden administration has set to end the U.S. presence in the country.
• U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also hopes to hammer out a united approach to the country and the Taliban regime in the longer term, according to British officials. The U.K. currently holds the rotating presidency of the G-7.
• The Taliban say they won’t allow international troops to remain past the deadline and can’t guarantee that any troops who stay won’t be subject to attack.
• In Kabul, thousands of Afghans are still struggling to get into the airport, while thousands more are inside waiting for flights. There are also thousands of U.S. and allied troops, as well as equipment, to also take out from Kabul airport by the deadline, meaning that the civilian evacuation has to effectively end before Aug. 31.

EUROPE & WORLD

Delta Variant Outbreaks in Sparsely Vaccinated Asian Countries Disrupt Production – Wall Street Journal, 8/24/2021

• A gap has formed between the demand for goods in the well vaccinated U.S. and the capacity of sparsely vaccinated manufacturing countries to meet it, building inflationary pressure.
• The outbreaks in Vietnam and elsewhere add to a long list of challenges—including outbreaks at ports, freight-container shortages and rising raw-material prices—that companies face in delivering goods at low cost and on time ahead of the holiday season.
• Companies are trying to find alternative suppliers in China and elsewhere, and are paying for expensive airfreight to try to quickly shift product to Western markets to compensate for production delays.
• Supply-chain experts say the added costs from lockdowns in Vietnam and other Asian countries will further increase the sales price of consumer goods like shoes, which rose 4.6% in July compared with a year ago in the U.S.
• To try to maintain production, Vietnam’s government has ordered factories to adopt strict measures, including a “three-in-one-place” policy that requires employees in some highly affected regions to eat, sleep and work in the workplace to avoid catching and spreading the virus.

China’s Pinduoduo posts first quarterly profit – Reuters. 8/24/2021

• Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo reported its first ever quarterly profit on Tuesday as shoppers stayed online despite the easing of pandemic lockdowns but the company warned it could be a one-off.
• In the three months to June 30, it reported net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of 2.41 billion yuan ($372 million) compared with a net loss of 899.3 million yuan a year ago.
• Total revenues in the quarter were RMB 23,046.2 million ($13,569.4 million), an increase of 89% from RMB 12,193.3
• million in the same quarter of 2020.
• Average monthly active users in the quarter were 738.5 million, an increase of 30% from 568.8 million in the same
• quarter of 2020.
• Active buyers in the twelve-month period ended June 30, 2021 was 849.9 million, an increase of 24% from 683.2 million
• in the twelve-month period ended June 30, 2020.
• The company said it was launching an initiative worth 10 billion yuan to address needs in the agricultural sector and rural areas and profits from the second quarter and future quarters would be allocated to the initiative, “until the total 10 billion yuan commitment is fulfilled”.
• Pinduoduo, which has the biggest e-commerce user base in China, said its profitability going forward was likely to be affected both by intensifying competition and investment in an agricultural sector initiative it launched on Tuesday.

Strong bookings keep Ryanair on course to hit targets, says CEO – Reuters. 8/24/2021

• Ryanair is on track to hit upgraded guidance on passenger numbers, carrying more than 10 million people this month as a post-pandemic recovery continues with strong bookings to year-end, Group Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said.
• After flying 5 million passengers in June, representing a third of 2019 levels, numbers soared to 9.3 million in July and are expected to reach about 10.5 million in August, he added.
• “Bookings for the remainder of this year, through September, October, November are looking very strong, but pricing is weak … We are selling a lot of cheap seats to recover the market very quickly,” O’Leary said.

Samsung to Invest $205 Billion in Chip, Biotech Expansion – Wall Street Journal, 8/24/2021

• Samsung plans to increase investments by one third to more than $205 billion over the next three years, as the South Korean conglomerate pursues leadership in chip manufacturing and a bigger role in Covid-19 vaccine production.
• The company said Tuesday it would invest 240 trillion won in capital expenditure and research and development over the three years, up from 180 trillion won in the previous three.
• One key decision awaiting Mr. Lee’s approval is the location of a planned Samsung Electronics semiconductor plant in the U.S. The $17 billion chip factory will be a key part of the Korean company’s bid to compete in the foundry business—making chips under contract for the companies that design them.

Factmonster – TODAY in HISTORY

• Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. (79)
• The British set fire to the White House and the Capitol when they invaded Washington, DC during the War of 1812. (1814)
• Mexico gained its independence from Spain with the Treaty of Cordoba. (1821)
• France became the world’s fifth nuclear power as it exploded a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific. (1968)\
• Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the general secretary of the Communist Party after a failed coup attempt against him. (1991)