The Business Times

Leo Lewis

LEO.LEWIS@FT.COM; FT

Japanese adults are turning to a self-measuring pen to proivde a powerful motivational jolt in their lives.

The all-seeing pen that feeds our need for motivation

We are obsessed with self-quantification in everything from running to handwriting, but Kokuyo’s gadget goes beyond that

While smart-toilet adoption in China has, for the past decade, been led by middle-aged, middle-class women, the next phase is expected to draw in younger buyers.
PERSPECTIVE

Smart-toilet market will be a measure of China’s economic resilience

This product of intimate cultural and technological complexity is a proxy for middle-class consumer spending

A robotic arm picks up sorting containers at an Amazon fulfillment centre in the United States.
THE BOTTOM LINE

The politics of deglobalisation favours the robots

As labour supply problems persist, automation sales are hotting up

Shopping malls in Beijing reopened on Dec 1 amid an easing of Covid restrictions.

China’s reopening to reverberate around global markets

Speedy growth could renew commodities and intensify inflationary pressure

Is the current version of Fomo just greed in disguise?
THE BOTTOM LINE

Is Fomo the new greed when it comes to investing?

Fear of missing out on the rewards of tech and crypto led to irrational exuberance

Decoupling milestone: The new Chips and Science Act recently passed in Congress dangles more than US$50bn in federal grants to companies building advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the US, while requiring them not to upgrade any China-based factories for a decade.
THE BOTTOM LINE

The US and China are decoupling, but not as fast as you think

Current hostilities make the narrative credible but the long-term picture is more complicated

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