Money Talks

American consumers continue to part with all that money they saved up during the height of the pandemic, giving the world's largest economy a welcome boost. Retail sales rose 1-point-7 percent in October. That's higher than analysts' projections, and marks the third consecutive month of growth. Spending rose due to early holiday shopping, and higher fuel prices. A global chip shortage also made brand new cars more expensive, bumping up the total. It's a good sign for U-S retail giants, which are already seeing record revenues. Walmart says sales jumped a better-than-expected 4 percent to more than 140 billion dollars in the three months to September. And hardware goods chain Home Depot reported a 10 percent surge in revenue in the same period to almost 37 billion dollars. That result also beat market forecasts.

Mark Cohen is the director of retail studies at the Columbia Business School. He joins us now from New York.

#USretailers #USeconomy #Consumers #Pandemic

- Germany suspends certification of Nord Stream 2 pipeline

- US retail sales up 1.7% in October on solid holiday shopping

- Afghan central bank sells $10M to support falling currency

#NordStream2 #USRetailSales #AfghanCentralBank

Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin has lost more than 7% in the last 24 hours, amid a sharp selloff in the sector. Rival ether is also down 8%. The slumps are part of a broader decline in the global crypto market, which has lost some $200B in value over the past day. It's tied to the $550B infrastructure bill signed into law by US President Joe Biden. The new spending programme mandates tougher tax reporting rules for cryptocurrency transactions.

#Bitcoin #CryptoCrackdown #Ethereum #InfrastructureBill

Spain's second-biggest lender wants to take full control of Turkish financial giant Garanti Bank.

The chairman of the Spanish bank says it's a vote of confidence in the Turkish economy. He expects it to continue growing, thanks to its solid fundamentals and the country's large population. Let's get more on this now with Taha Arvas in Istanbul. He's a professor of finance at Bogazici University.

#BBVA #GarantiBank #Spain #Turkey

- Japan GDP contracts more-than-expected 3% in Q3

- Shell to ditch dual share structure in major shake-up

- New Zealand's public sector gender pay gap shrinks

#JapanEconomy #Shell #GenderGap

The Japanese economy shrank more than expected in the third quarter, partly because of hurdles it faced during the Tokyo Olympic Games. The world's third largest economy saw its G-D-P shrink 3% year-on-year in the three months to September.

Consumer spending slumped as authorities put large parts of the country under a state of emergency, to keep COVID-19 infections at bay. As a result, Japan missed out on a bump in activity during the Olympics, with domestic and international spectators locked out of the two-week event.

The country also took a hit from supply chain bottlenecks that have choked other major economies. Japanese carmakers and electronics manufacturers were forced to cut production due to a shortage of semiconductor chips. Exports fell more than two percent during the quarter. Professor Seijiro Takeshita from the University of Shizuoka joined the show to give his take on Japan’s economic prospects.

#JapaneseEconomy #PrivateSpending #Exports #SupplyChain

The numbers are in and this year's Singles' Day in China has broken records yet again. Now in its 12th year, the event first thought up by e-commerce giant Alibaba has become the world's biggest shopping festival. But this year's atmosphere was more muted amid a government crackdown on the nation's tech giants.

#SinglesDay #China #JD #Alibaba

More and more Americans are moving away from large cities for life in smaller towns and suburbs as they take advantage of low interest rates and the opportunity to work remotely due to the pandemic. Many residents of New York City in particular have chosen to purchase homes in neighbouring suburbs in New Jersey, Connecticut, and upstate New York. Julia Sun has more on this trend and some of the businesses profiting from it.

#US #Suburbia #SuburbanJungle

Shares in electric vehicle start-up, Rivian - which is hoping to be the next Tesla - have surged almost 60-percent since it's market debut on Wednesday, which was America's biggest IPO since 2014. The van and truck manufacturer has attracted huge investor interest, including from e-commerce giant, Amazon and its valuation as ballooned to more than 120-billion dollars, making it more valuable than traditional carmakers Ford and GM.

#Rivian #IPO #Trading #ElectricCars

As the UN climate talks in Glasgow come to a close, the financial world is also concentrating on global heating and its effects. It’s led to a rise in so called ethical investing in recent years. But what actually is it and can it make money? Matt Gooderick has more from London.

#CleanCash #ClimateFinance #FossilFuel #Funding