Economy

US government debt
Economist on Bessent: Like paying off a loan with a credit card

The US Treasury Department chose to step in and buy bonds to lower US long-term interest rates. It's like paying off mortgages with a credit card, says JP Morgan's global head of research James Sullivan to CNBC.

- It may work for a while, but the problems will show over time.

The way that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has chosen to push down interest rates is to buy bonds with long maturities and pay through short-term loans - something that does not reduce the national debt, Sullivan notes.

Germany's growth
German industry more positive than in four years

Things are looking brighter in German manufacturing, according to the purchasing managers' index for August.

The index measures the mood of buyers in the manufacturing industry, and in the measurement, anything above 50 is seen as the industry believing in growth. In August, the figure landed at 54.1, which was the highest level in four years, reports TT.

The same trend is also visible in France.

Cashless society
The crisis is causing Europeans to hoard cash

Although cash is used for fewer payments, Europeans have started to hold more banknotes, reports The Guardian.

The phenomenon is linked to increased crisis awareness in the wake of forest fires, war fears and cyber attacks on payment systems, says Philip Lane, the European Central Bank's chief economist, according to the newspaper.

A number of countries, including Sweden, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, are urging their citizens to have cash at home in the event of a crisis. 

The future of e-commerce
Difficult-to-navigate customs on goods from Temu and Shein

The fees when shopping from Chinese sites such as Temu and Shein are complicated, says Selina Gottschalk, who has been shopping at Temu for just over a year, to SvD.

The EU has introduced a customs duty on low-priced goods of 3 euros per package in the same product category. The problem is that it is difficult to know what belongs to the same category, Selina Gottschalk tells the newspaper.

– That makes it complicated.

The new fees came into effect on July 1. The industry organization Swedish Commerce has compiled consumption data and tells SvD that consumption has decreased by half compared to July last year.