Economy

The North Korea crisis
North Korea's economy is growing for the first time since covid

Last year, North Korea's economy is said to have grown by 3.1 percent after trade with China picked up again after covid-19. This shows calculations made by South Korea's central bank, writes Reuters.

According to South Korea, it is the biggest growth in seven years for the neighboring country and the first GDP increase in three years. The heavy industry and chemical sectors are predicted to have grown the most during the year, writes Bloomberg.

The South Korean assessments are said to be the most certain about the closed necrocracy's economy. North Korea itself does not release any macro information to the outside world.

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Homework
End of homework - was hoping for layoffs

Part of the purpose of forcing employees back into the office after the pandemic was to get them to resign. This is what American managers say in a study from Bamboo HR, provider of HR systems, reports Fox Business.

Before companies began requiring employees to return, nearly a third said they would consider quitting if they had to return to the office. It was something that many managers hoped for to get a natural rotation in the workforce, the study shows.

But in the end, not many people resigned and in many places it was instead the talents who dropped out.

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Economy
Trade threat: Tuition fees of hundreds of thousands of kroner

The School of Economics in Stockholm is "systematically disadvantaged" by the Swedish state. If there is no improvement, the university may be forced to introduce tuition fees of hundreds of thousands of kroner for Swedish students. This is what the rector Lars Strannegård tells DI.

According to Strannegård, "it doesn't last long" that the state only accounts for 16.5 percent of the school's funding.

- If it is not resolved in the research bill that is introduced this autumn, we will have to drastically change direction, he says.

An alternative would then be to completely leave the Swedish system and introduce tuition fees.
 

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The report flood
Scania breaks Volvo: "Noses at record levels"

Truck giant Scania made an operating profit of SEK 8 billion in the second quarter, which is a new record.

The adjusted operating margin landed at 14.7 percent, which was clearly higher than expected and better than rival Volvo's 13.9 percent. According to DI, profitability has not been this strong since the days of Scania legend Leif Östling in the early 2010s.

- We are up and sniffing at absolute record levels. It shows that we are doing a lot right now, says CEO Christian Levin to DI.

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The Fed vs Inflation
Expected drop in inflation in the US did not occur in June

US core PCE inflation was expected to ease slightly in June but instead remained at 2.6 percent, the same level as in May. This is evident from new statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The analysts had expected a decline to 2.5 percent according to a compilation from Trading Economics.

Service inflation was at 3.9 percent, while commodity prices had fallen by 0.2 percent in a year.

According to the broad PCE measure, which also includes food and energy, the inflation rate fell from 2.6 percent in May to 2.5 percent in June. It was in line with analysts' expectations.