Is Google sinking?

If Google were a ship, it would be the Titanic in the hours before it struck an iceberg — riding high, supposedly unsinkable, and about to encounter a force of nature that could make its name synonymous with catastrophe. The trends moving against Google are so numerous and interrelated that the Justice Department’s attempt to dismantle the company could be the least of its problems. The company’s core business is under siege. People are increasingly getting answers from artificial intelligence. Younger generations are using other platforms to gather information. And the quality of the results delivered by its search engine is deteriorating as the web is flooded with AI-generated content. Taken together, these forces could lead to a long-term decline in Google search traffic and the outsize profits generated from it. In 2025, eMarketer projects, Google’s share of the US search-advertising market will fall below 50pc for the first time since the company began tracking it.

(Adapted from “Googling Is For Old People. That’s A Problem For Google,” by Christopher Mims, published on November 29, 2024, by the Wall Street Journal)

US job market bounces back

US job growth surged in November after being severely hindered by hurricanes and strikes, but a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.2pc pointed to an easing labour market that should allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again this month. The labour market’s resilience is driving the economy through strong consumer spending, with the closely watched employment report from the Labor Department showing solid wage growth last month. The economy created 56,000 more jobs in September and October than previously estimated. The report should soothe bears and bulls alike,” said Scott Anderson, chief US economist at BMO Capital Markets. “The solid nonfarm payroll gain and strong earnings growth should keep the economic expansion on a sturdy foundation, even as a gradually rising unemployment rate moderates demand and inflationary pressures over time.”

(Adapted from “US Job Market Bounces Back From Impact Of Strikes, Hurricanes,” by Lucia Mutikani, published on December 6, 2024, by Reuters)

Living in malls

The classic American mall is undergoing a dramatic transformation as real estate developers swap out dying department stores for apartments, ushering in an era where living at the mall could soon become a new norm. Some US developers are knocking down department stores like Macy’s and using the spaces and their parking lots to put up apartment buildings next to the mall or connected to it via walkways and green spaces. In other cases, they’ve built apartments inside of shuttered storefronts and other shopping centre properties or gutted them altogether to make way for a mix of housing, retail, restaurants, outdoor spaces and experiences. This new version of the American mall comes as shopping centres across the country fight for survival and look to transformation to avoid extinction. It’s clear that consumers still enjoy shopping in person after the Covid pandemic, but the traditional anchor department store has been in decline since 2001 and is no longer the draw it once was.

(Adapted from “More Americans Are Living In Malls, As Developers Get Creative To Help Ease The Housing Crisis,” by Gabrielle Fonrouge, published on December 5, 2024, by CNBC)

Bitcoin’s Trump wave

Bitcoin traded above $100,000 for the first time last week, powered by a wave of investors betting that President-elect Donald Trump will turn the US government policy into an engine of growth for crypto. The world’s largest digital currency has staged an extraordinary rally since Election Day, surging more than 40pc in just four weeks and setting one record after another. It surged as high as $103,853 after Trump picked Paul Atkins, a crypto-friendly former regulator, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. During the campaign, Trump dropped his earlier scepticism of Bitcoin and promised to “end Joe Biden’s war on crypto.” In return, crypto has embraced the incoming US administration.

(Adapted from “Bitcoin Hits $100,000 Lifted By Hopes Of a Crypto-Friendly Washington,” by Alexander Osipovich, published on December 5, 2024, by the Wall Street Journal)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, December 9th, 2024