Last year, Indonesia garnered huge enthusiasm as investors poured money in to capture its consumer- and commodity-led boom.
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This surprise move by China is a bullish factor for most raw commodity markets, as China is a major raw commodity consumer.
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However, this news will likely be pushed to the back burner quickly because China remains an major raw commodity consumer and an economic juggernaut.
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The economy of China, a key commodity consumer, is also slowing but nevertheless remains robust compared to the rest of the world, with the government last week reporting 7.6% growth in the second quarter.
Brutal competition, tightened consumer spending and rising commodity costs have all contributed to the company's woes.
More money for a management team incapable of withstanding industry consolidation, changing consumer tastes or rising commodity costs.
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At Cisco, the company attempted to move into commodity type consumer products.
According to government data and analyses by Goldman Sachs, the consumer price index and commodity prices are sure to rise significantly over the next six months.
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Given the many economic headwinds facing the U.S. economy (high unemployment, low consumer spending, increasing commodity prices and the fear of tightening credit given the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe to name a few) prospects for increased corporate earnings stemming from increased sales seem difficult.
Once you strip out commodity purchases, consumer consumption appears as if it has flatlined in the last two months, something evident from the tumble in the Consumer Price Index.
Worse, with consumer prices sticky in concert with commodity prices that are most sensitive to dollar-price movements, the beneficiaries of the money illusion tend to be the hard, unproductive assets of yesterday (think housing, art, rare stamps, and oil) that are least vulnerable to currency weakness, and which in fact do best when the unit of account is devalued.
We know that medicine is not a commodity that lends itself to consumer shopping in the way a television set might.
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Because the import number was inflated by commodity purchases, imports of consumer goods must have been stagnant, and there are some indications that domestic demand is indeed flat.
They mostly remain convinced that the problem is only temporary, that the economic reports are coming in worse than their forecasts only because they under-estimated the effect the surge in energy and commodity prices would have on consumer spending, and the effect the Japanese earthquake would have on auto and technology production.
In Australia the slowdown in housing did make a big dent in construction and consumer spending but this was masked by the commodity boom and exports to China.
Starbucks is always going to face challenges: commodity pricing, growth in competition, consumer spending, etc.
However, it can also be argued that any improving U.S. and world economic growth prospects would be bullish for commodity markets due to increasing commercial and consumer demand.
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However, with concerns still running high regarding the impact of oil- and commodity-induced inflation on both the consumer and corporate America, the bulls were unable to move the needle very far on Friday.
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Australia's economy expanded in the fourth quarter, capping 21 years of uninterrupted annual growth as commodity exports rebounded and rate cuts began to spur consumer spending.
The Brazil fund is more weighted towards the Brazilian retail sector and benefits from increased Brazilian consumer spending on the back of a stronger currency and pricier Brazilian commodity exports.
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While grocery chains are facing rising costs for various food products, given the surge in commodity prices, prices are being passed on to the consumer, according to the AP.
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Right now that list includes most of the Middle East (with Saudi Arabia topping the list), gasoline prices and how the consumer will react, the tightening campaign in places like China, commodity inflation, Ireland, housing in the U.S., banking almost anywhere in the world, the state of the economic rebound, etc.
Dismal consumer confidence is cited as a source of concern, along with further commodity price instability - most notably the cost of energy.
Commodity prices respond much more swiftly to changes in demand than do consumer prices.
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In choosing between health care and consumer staples, one has to consider the impact of the sharp and sustained rise in commodity prices.
Similar proposals have already been made by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA).
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Overcapacity in the economy and commodity-price inflation seem to be the guiding forces behind Friday's consumer price report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as CPI gained 0.5% almost exclusively due to higher energy prices.
Though Unilever made public statements in March about impending price increases on its products due to rising commodity costs, the NDRC statement released Friday did not suggest Unilever colluded with other consumer-goods makers on prices.
With unemployment remaining stubbornly high, a massive inventory of homes stuck in the foreclosure pipeline of many big banks, and gas prices pushed up by record oil and commodity prices, economists are beginning to revise their economic forecasts and are questioning how much longer the consumer can continue to bear the current environment. (Read Analysts Slash Jobs Forecast Amid Weak Data).
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