Weekly global economic update. Delloite, July 2020

CHINA’S economy grew strongly in the second quarter—after having fallen at the fastest pace on record in the first quarter, real GDP grew at the fastest pace on record in the second quarter. Despite increasing tensions between the United States and China, US companies continue to demonstrate interest in China. In the first six months of this year, Southeast Asia became the biggest trading partner with China, surpassing the EU.

The US housing market is showing considerable signs of strength even as some other parts of the economy remain suppressed.

The Eurozone is in the midst of a strong recovery fueled by consumer spending. The EU reports that retail sales rebounded strongly in May, growing at the fastest pace on record and hitting a level only slightly lower than a year earlier. Recall that it was in May that European governments began to lift economic restrictions following successful suppression of the virus. Specifically, retail sales in the Eurozone were up 17.8% in May versus the previous month, following a decline of 10.6% in March and 12.1% in April. The result was that, in May, sales were 5.1% below a year earlier. The biggest increase was in textiles, clothing, and footwear with sales up 147% from April to May but still down 50.5% from a year earlier. Sales gains were also strong for furniture and electric goods (up 37.9% for the month, but down 14.3% from a year earlier) and computer equipment (up 26.8% for the month but down 26.6% from a year earlier). Non-store retailing continued to gain market share, with sales rising 7.0% from the previous month and up 31.2% from a year earlier.

Raste interesovanje za hibridne i električne automobile u Srbiji.  Prema podacima koje je sajt Polovni automobili dobio od Ministarstva unutrašnjih poslova, u Srbiji su ukupno registrovana 102 putnička vozila na električni pogon, a tu je i 1.416 registrovanih hibridnih putničkih vozila. Da je među našim vozačima sve veće interesovanje za automobile na ove dve vrste pogona, a pogotovo za hibridne automobile, govori nam i podatak da je samo tokom ove godine taj broj uvećan za više od 50 odsto.

Od ukupnog broja registrovanih hibridnih automobila, čak 564 je prvi put registrovano u prvih šest meseci 2020, odnosno kupljeni su u tom periodu. Kad je reč o električnim automobilima, prvi put je registrovano 16 vozila na ovaj pogon.

Tesla Prepares for Hiring Boom as Elon Musk Targets Manufacturing Expansion. Elon Musk’s plan to build Tesla Inc.’s fourth vehicle assembly factory represents the next phase in his effort to reshape the auto maker to rapidly increase the number of electric cars it can sell each year as it races to compete with global rivals.