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Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister after tax plan caused market turmoil – BMW investing $1.7 billion in EVs and batteries in US – Chinese stocks tumble to multi-year lows – Bezos warns of looming US recession
Liz Truss has resigned as Prime Minister of the UK. Her resignation comes after a risky plan for cutting taxes and boosting spending caused turmoil in financial markets, the Wall Street Journal/Yahoo reported. The failure of the economic plan caused Truss to backtrack and take a series of U-turns, which disintegrated her political authority. This led to a rebellion by Tory MPs, forcing her to quit, the BBC reported.
Truss acknowledged that her party elected her on a mandate to cut taxes and boost economic growth.
“I recognize that I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party,” Truss said in a brief speech.
The BMW Group announced it will make a massive investment of $1.7 billion in the production of electric vehicles and batteries in the US, the company said on its blog. BMW will be investing in a new high-voltage battery assembly facility to prepare for the production of electric vehicles at its existing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, encompassing over 1 million square feet and creating at least 300 new jobs, Fox reported.
Chinese stocks plummeted to multi-year lows in both New York and Hong Kong amid rising concerns about the dismal economic outlook, CNN reported. The benchmark Hang Seng (HSI) Index in Hong Kong tumbled as much as 3% in Thursday’s morning trade. A heavy decline in Chinese technology companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, led to a sharp selloff in Chinese stocks listed on Wall Street overnight.
The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index slid 7.1% on Wednesday to close at its lowest level since July 2013.
Other Asian markets also fell on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropping 0.9% as the Japanese yen plummeted to a fresh 32-year low against the dollar. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8%
Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is sounding off amid a chorus of growing warnings from business leaders who believe the US economy is spiraling toward a recession, the New York Post reported.
Bezos shared a video of an interview with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, who warned on Tuesday he perceived a “good chance” of an impending recession.
“Yep, the probabilities in this economy tell you to batten down the hatches,” Bezos remarked in a tweet.
Bezos still serves as executive chairman of Amazon, though he is no longer the CEO. The company’s shares have fallen more than 33% since January.
