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Switzerland Considers Banning Volkswagen Diesel Car Sales Because there the scandal relating to the Volkswagen's pollution in diesel engines, Thomas Rohrbach, spokesman for the Swiss federal office of roadways decides he should ban all cars with diesel engine in the "Euro 5 emission category" including all VW cars. This could affect  180,000 unsold cars in the country

Investment firm, Bernstein, reaffirmed its Outperform rating on Apple, along with a price target of $135. The firm has noted the first weekend sales of the newest iPhone, which the company declared to surpass 13 million units. Its predecessor iPhone 6 managed to reach over 10 million sales volume in the opening weekend, which was a record back then.

The Russian recession has caused sales for luxury goods to drop. Many companies that sell luxury or tourism goods have seen the demand for their product significantly decrease since the recession. This is because these products have a negative income elasticity so as income decreases so does the demand for these products. The demand for tour groups and hotels has also decreased because of the recession. Since all of theses products have a negative elasticity once the income of the buyers in Russia decreases then so will the demand for them.

This article discusses the impact of the Russian recession on demand for luxury goods. The recession has decreased the income and spending power of many Russians which has resulted in a decrease in a demand for luxury goods (clothing, jewelry, etc.) and services (airfare, hotels, etc.). The demand for luxury goods is very elastic. This is because luxury goods are not necessities and consumers can survive without them. These goods often have a reasonable number of substitutes. They also require a relatively high proportion of income to be spend on them and are used over a long period of time. The Russian recession has impacted firms across the globe but especially in Europe where Russian consumers account for a large percentage of customers.

This article speaks about the increase in demand for organic food. I find this article really interesting as it speaks about how tastes and preferences, one of the determinants for demand pushes for this increase of availabilty in organic products. As evidenced by the article , consumers are now more conscious of what they eat and are adopting a healthier lifestyle. This information is really beneficial as not only can the organic food industry increase its sales , but all other industry related to health and fitness such as production of vitamins , fitness programmes , exercise machines can also react to this trend and increase their supply to meet the consumer's demand. It is also mentioned in the article that organic tea and coffee were highly in demand in 2014. Hence coffe cafes such as Starbucks and Coffeebean can also increase their sales if they react to the health conscious trend by introducing organic beverages in their stores. To conclude , it is important for producers to study the trends of consumers so that they can react accordingly in order to increase profits or avoid losses.

The article describes the situation for Azerbaijan, where its currency, manats, have depreciated against the American dollar greatly. The banks have imposed limits to consumption of foreign, in order to limit the imports.

One of the main things we talked about or that stood out to me was how the income of the indivisible affected demand of a good and it seems we all came to a consensus that luxury goods are most affected by changes in income. In the article a BMW car company speaks out it's total revenue has been decreasing as the economy is slowing down . Over the past 5 years China has been experiencing periods of economic downturn and car sales were declining drastically people were even canceling orders, however, increased government action led to a period of economic growth in the third year which increased sales by 4% or so. But things slowed down again this year and Song ( an owner of the company ) talked about how he had to cut prices even further from 4%- 20% just to increase consumer demand even though it only made a slight difference because people's income have decreased they can't spend as much money as they used to on luxury products such as BMW cars or multiple cars, they are now focused on saving money.

I agree that the demand for luxury cars has declined as a result of decreased economic growth in China. Shares of some luxury car companies have dropped by more than 30% in the last year while shares of an inexpensive compact car manufacturer have increased more than 20%. The demand for luxury cars is very elastic. These cars are a luxury, not a necessity. Luxury goods take up a relatively large proportion of income and are used over a long period of time. There are a relatively high number of substitutes for luxury goods. In China, customers are choosing to purchase inexpensive cars rather than luxury vehicles in order to save money.

Forbes business prediction for the prices of US steel, published September 17th, 2015. US steel market is elastic, as many alternatives are available (steel from China, and other imports), causing the author to predict that US firms will reduce prices in an attempt to increase sales (and thus revenue). Also deals with government involvement in steel market.

The head of a US pharmaceutical company has defended his company's decision to raise the price of a 62-year-old medication used by Aids patients by over 5,000%. Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the rights to Daraprim in August. CEO Martin Shkreli has said that the company will use the money it makes from sales to research new treatments. The question here is whether it is morally defendable to increase revenue by increasing prices to an amount poor people cannot afford. He says the extra money will go to research, but is it worth making the medicine too expensive for poor people?

This article discusses the problems with China's economy and what needs to be done to resolve these issues. In China economics and politics are very closely tied. This is due to the fact that China's authoritarian leaders are largely in charge of the economy and must deliver economic prosperity in order to stay in power. However, industrial production has fallen, fixed-asset investment and retail spending has slowed, and home sales have plummeted. This has caused concern among Chinese leaders. While there was once a consensus in the West that authoritarian politics were beneficial for the Chinese economy, this is becoming increasing questioned. For the past several years, the aim has been to "rebalance" the Chinese economy by avoiding over reliance in fixed investment and imports as well as greater reliance on domestic consumption to drive GDP growth.

The demand for Nokia Smartphones has declined drastically. This can due to changes in taste and preferences. The more desirable people find a good, the more they will demand it. In current situation , consumers are favouring Smartphones belonging primarily to Apple or Samsung. Their preferences could have been influences by advertising or even comparing the quality of the products.

In the final quarter of 2015, Britain's trade deficit worsened. The shortfall between exports and imports increased significantly between the first and third quarters of last year which added to concerns that Britain's worsening trade position will negatively impact GDP growth this year. Howard Archer, the chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said,"UK exports have clearly struggled in recent months, as they have been hampered by sterling's overall strength in 2015, particularly against the euro, and moderate global demand." While recent declines in the value of sterling may boost export sales, this could be mitigated due to the deteriorating global situation.