US Business Newsletter

July 01 - July 31, 2023

Greetings from Consulate General of India,

New York!

Welcome to the July 2023 edition of our newsletter, bringing you important policy and high-impact news.

We hope you find it useful.

US consumers are feeling the most optimistic since

September 2021

Inflation’s steady slowdown in recent months has kept Americans feeling optimistic about the future. Consumer sentiment tracked by the University of Michigan rose 13% in July, the second straight month of improvement and the biggest over-month gain since 2006. The index reached its highest level since September 2021. Meanwhile, the report showed that consumers’ expectations for inflation rates remained at their lowest levels since early 2021. Consumers see inflation rates of 3.4% in the year ahead, and while that’s well below last year’s 5.4% peak, it’s slightly higher than the previous reading. Despite the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive rate-hiking campaign in decades, which was put on hold last month, the labor market has held remarkably steady while inflation has slowed, raising the odds of a so-called soft landing — or a scenario in which the Fed succeeds at bringing down inflation without throwing the economy off a cliff. Some Fed officials are confident about that possibility becoming a reality.

Exxon Mobil is acquiring Denbury, a pipeline operator specializing in moving carbon dioxide, for nearly $5 billion. This move reflects Exxon's commitment to expanding its low-carbon business and accelerating decarbonization efforts. By acquiring Denbury, Exxon gains access to 1,300 miles of pipelines for transporting CO2 to underground reservoirs, a valuable asset in carbon capture initiatives. Denbury emerged from bankruptcy in 2020 and has benefited from government climate incentives. Exxon plans to use the acquired infrastructure to attract customers for its carbon capture services, targeting industries that are hard to decarbonize.

In Battle With Microsoft, Google Bets on Medical AI Program to Crack Healthcare Industry

 Google is testing an AI program called Med-PaLM 2, trained to expertly answer medical questions and engage in healthcare conversations. The company aims to use its medical chatbot technology, which has been fed questions and answers from medical licensing exams, to provide better healthcare-focused responses. The technology is being tested with customers like Mayo Clinic, and Google's rivals, including Microsoft, are also incorporating AI advances into patient interactions. However, the development of such AI medical tools requires more testing and careful consideration of patient data use and privacy concerns. Both Google and Microsoft claim not to use patient data to train their algorithms.

Meta, Microsoft Team Up to Offer New AI Software for Businesses

 Microsoft and Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) have partnered to release a new version of Meta's artificial-intelligence language model called Llama 2. This model will be made available as "open source" software, allowing the public to use, modify, and share it freely. The move comes after an earlier leak that sparked a surge in AI software development.

SUBARU of America Inc. reports July 2023 Sales increase of 21 percent

Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) reported 12 consecutive months of increased sales with 50,389 vehicles sold for July 2023, a 21 percent increase compared with July 2022 (41,536). SOA also reported year-to-date sales of 354,481, a 16 percent increase compared with the same period in 2022. In July, Forester was the top performer by volume with 14,504 vehicle sales and an increase of 87 percent over the same month in 2022. Outback sales posted a 44 percent increase in July, while BRZ increased by 36 percent compared to July 2022. Legacy and Impreza sales increased by 35 and 26 percent, respectively, compared to July 2022.