Microsoft Edge is a good browser but for some reason Microsoft keeps trying to shove it down everyone’s throat and make it more difficult to use rivals like Chrome or Firefox. Microsoft has now started notifying IT admins that it will force Outlook and Teams to ignore the default web browser on Windows and open links in Microsoft Edge instead.
Reddit users have posted messages from the Microsoft 365 admin center that reveal how Microsoft is going to roll out this change. “Web links from Azure Active Directory (AAD) accounts and Microsoft (MSA) accounts in the Outlook for Windows app will open in Microsoft Edge in a single view showing the opened link side-by-side with the email it came from,” reads a message to IT admins from Microsoft.
While this won’t affect the default browser setting in Windows, it’s yet another part of Microsoft 365 and Windows that totally ignores your default browser choice for links. Microsoft already does this with the Widgets system in Windows 11 and even the search experience, where you’ll be forced into Edge if you click a link even if you have another browser set as default.
IT admins aren’t happy with many complaining in various threads on Reddit, spotted by Neowin. If Outlook wasn’t enough, Microsoft says “a similar experience will arrive in Teams” soon with web links from chats opening in Microsoft Edge side-by-side with Teams chats. Microsoft seems to be rolling this out gradually across Microsoft 365 users, and IT admins get 30 days notice before it rolls out to Outlook.
Microsoft 365 Enterprise IT admins will be able to alter the policy, but those on Microsoft 365 for business will have to manage this change on individual machines. That’s going to leave a lot of small businesses with the unnecessary headache of working out what has changed. Imagine being less tech savvy, clicking a link in Outlook, and thinking you’ve lost all your favorites because it didn’t open in your usual browser.
The notifications to IT admins come just weeks after Microsoft promised significant changes to the way Windows manages which apps open certain files or links by default. At the time Microsoft said it believed “we have a responsibility to ensure user choices are respected” and that it’s “important that we lead by example with our own first party Microsoft products.”
Forcing people into Microsoft Edge and ignoring default browsers is anything but respecting user choice, and it’s gross that Microsoft continues to abuse this. Microsoft tested a similar change to the default Windows 10 Mail app in 2018, in an attempt to force people into Edge for email links. That never came to pass, thanks to a backlash from Windows 10 testers.
A similar change in 2020 saw Microsoft try and force Chrome’s default search engine to Bing using the Office 365 installer, and IT admins weren’t happy then either. Windows 11 also launched with a messy and cumbersome process to set default apps, which was a step back from Windows 10 and drew concern from competing browser makers like Mozilla, Opera, and Vivaldi.
A Windows 11 update has improved that process, but it’s clear Microsoft is still interested in finding ways to circumvent default browser choices. Microsoft has already been using aggressive prompts to stop you from using Chrome and even added a giant Bing button to Edge in an effort to push people to use its search engine. Microsoft has also faced criticism over adding buy now, pay later financing options into Edge and its plan to build a crypto wallet into Edge.
(Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
JPMorgan Chase’s 2023 annual Business Leaders Outlook survey released Thursday found 65% of midsize firms and 61% of small businesses anticipate a 2023 recession, and a majority of leaders of smaller firms said they expect higher prices to stick around.
More than 90% of midsize company leaders said their businesses were experiencing challenges due to inflation, and 45% of small business owners cited rising prices as their top concern, a 20% increase from last year’s survey.
“Inflation has been a challenging headwind impacting businesses of all sizes, across all industries,” said Ginger Chambless, head of research for JPMorgan Chase Commercial Banking. “While we have seen some encouraging signs that inflation has started to moderate and should cool over 2023, businesses may still want to consider adjustments to strategies, pricing or product mixes to help weather the storm in the near term.”
Some 83% of midsize firms told JPMorgan they have passed at least some of their increased costs on to consumers, and 82% said they would continue to do so. Out of the small companies surveyed, 68% said they had raised prices on some or all of their products or services, and 94% said inflation has impacted their expenses.
The data indicated small businesses are more optimistic than their midsize counterparts in their outlook on the national and global economies.The percentage of midsize company leaders who expressed optimism for the global economy plummeted to 8% from 34% a year ago, and their optimism for the U.S. economy dropped to 22% from 50%.
“In today’s interconnected world, midsize businesses are increasingly vulnerable to global economic challenges, including ongoing supply chain issues, increased costs of raw materials, geopolitical events and other uncontrollable factors,” Chambless told FOX Business. “These challenges and their associated impacts are all contributors to a more pessimistic global economic outlook.”
Among small business owners, on the other hand, 49% expressed optimism for the national economy and 45% for the global economy, which were both in line with last year’s numbers.
The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday of a slowdown in global economic growth as the world economy continues to take a hit from “increasingly gloomy developments in 2022,” including high inflation, a slowdown in China caused by Covid lockdowns and ongoing fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The IMF slashed its global growth projections, now expecting global GDP to grow 3.2% this year and 2.9% in 2023, down from previous estimates in April of 3.6% GDP growth for both years.
The group cited a slowdown in the world’s three largest economies—the United States, China and the euro area—as a reason for the revised estimates, warning that the risks to the outlook remain “overwhelmingly tilted to the downside.”
Several “shocks” have hit the global economy as it tries to recover from the pandemic, including higher-than-expected inflation worldwide––especially in the United States and Europe, a worse-than-anticipated slowdown in China caused by Covid lockdowns and “further negative spillovers” from the war in Ukraine.
The IMF also said that high inflation remains a “major problem” as prices have continued to rise in 2022, led by soaring food and fuel costs, arguing that “taming inflation should be the first priority for policymakers” worldwide.
The group now expects global inflation to hit 6.6% in advanced economies and 9.5% in developing economies this year, though prices are expected to return to near pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024.
The IMF also slashed its growth estimates for the U.S. economy, now forecasting GDP to rise 2.3% this year and 1% in 2023, down from previous estimates of 3.7% and 2.3%, respectively, amid the impact of tighter monetary policy and reduced household purchasing power.
“The outlook has darkened significantly since April,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said in a statement. “The world may soon be teetering on the edge of a global recession, only two years after the last one.”
“The slowdown in China has global consequences,” the IMF said. “Lockdowns added to global supply chain disruptions and the decline in domestic spending are reducing demand for goods and services from China’s trade partners.” The group now sees China’s economy growing 3.3% in 2022—its lowest pace in four decades and down over 1% from previous estimates.
The World Bank similarly slashed its forecasts for the global economy last month, predicting GDP growth in 2022 of just 2.9%, down from an earlier estimate of 4.1%.
I am a senior reporter at Forbes covering markets and business news. Previously, I worked on the wealth team at Forbes covering billionaires and their wealth.
The global economy, still reeling from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is facing an increasingly gloomy and uncertain outlook. Many of the downside risks flagged in our April World Economic Outlook have begun to materialize. Higher-than-expected inflation, especially in the United States and major European economies, is triggering a tightening of global financial conditions.
China’s slowdown has been worse than anticipated amid COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns, and there have been further negative spillovers from the war in Ukraine. As a result, global output contracted in the second quarter of this year. Under our baseline forecast, growth slows from last year’s 6.1 percent to 3.2 percent this year and 2.9 percent next year, downgrades of 0.4 and 0.7 percentage points from April.
This reflects stalling growth in the world’s three largest economies—the United States, China and the euro area—with important consequences for the global outlook. In the United States, reduced household purchasing power and tighter monetary policy will drive growth down to 2.3 percent this year and 1 percent next year.
In China, further lockdowns, and the deepening real estate crisis pushed growth down to 3.3 percent this year—the slowest in more than four decades, excluding the pandemic. And in the euro area, growth is revised down to 2.6 percent this year and 1.2 percent in 2023, reflecting spillovers from the war in Ukraine and tighter monetary policy.
Despite slowing activity, global inflation has been revised up, in part due to rising food and energy prices. Inflation this year is anticipated to reach 6.6 percent in advanced economies and 9.5 percent in emerging market and developing economies—upward revisions of 0.9 and 0.8 percentage points respectively—and is projected to remain elevated longer. Inflation has also broadened in many economies, reflecting the impact of cost pressures from disrupted supply chains and historically tight labor markets.
Former Obama Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought predicts the U.S. is headed towards a recession under President Biden.
Wells Fargo slashed its economic outlook this week, with a year-end recession now the bank’s base case scenario as the Federal Reserve moves to tame red-hot inflation.
In an updated forecast, Wells Fargo cuts its 2022 GDP growth target to 1.5%, down from 2.2%, and slashed its 2023 target to a decline of 0.5%. The bank had previously predicted that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced in a nation, would expand by 0.4% next year.
Overall, Wells Fargo expects a total peak-to-trough contraction of 1.3% across three quarters. By comparison, the economy shrunk 10% during the very brief, but sharp, pandemic-induced recession in 2020. During the 2008 financial crisis, the economy fell by 3.8%.
In making the new projection, Wells Fargo noted that “consumer activity has weakened” considerably as the economy confronts new COVID-19 outbreaks and restrictions, sky-high inflation and a strong U.S. dollar, in addition to the Russian war in Ukraine and aggressive Fed monetary policy.
Economic growth in the U.S. is already slowing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported earlier this month that gross domestic product unexpectedly shrank in the first quarter of the year, marking the worst performance since the spring of 2020, when the economy was still deep in the throes of the COVID-induced recession.
Wells Fargo is not alone in its gloomy economic outlook; there are growing fears on Wall Street that the Fed may inadvertently trigger a recession with its war on inflation, which climbed by 8.3% in April, near a 40-year high. Other firms forecasting a downturn in the next two years include Bank of America, Fannie Mae and Deutsche Bank.
Fed policymakers already raised the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points earlier this month for the first time in two decades and have signaled that more, similarly sized rate hikes are on the table at coming meetings as they rush to catch up with inflation. Chairman Jerome Powell recently pledged that officials will “keep pushing” until inflation falls closer to the Fed’s 2% target.
Still, he has acknowledged there could be some “pain associated” with reducing inflation and curbing demand but pushed back against the notion of an impending recession, identifying the labor market and strong consumer spending as bright spots in the economy. Still, he has warned that a soft landing is not assured.
“It’s going to be a challenging task, and it’s been made more challenging in the last couple of months because of global events,” Powell said Wednesday during a Wall Street Journal live event, referring to the Ukraine war and COVID lockdowns in China.
But he added that “there are a number of plausible paths to having a soft or soft-ish landing. Our job isn’t to handicap the odds, it’s to try to achieve that.”
Wells Fargo & Co. clients are coping well with inflation and rising interest rates, which hasn’t yet stressed business at the bank, according to Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo.
“So far, so good,” he said Thursday in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Clients come into this both on the consumer side and the corporate side in a much better position than they would have in other rising-rate environments.”
Wells Fargo reported first-quarter results earlier in the day, missing Wall Street estimates on revenue and expenses. Non-interest expenses were $13.9 billion, higher than what analysts had forecast. Revenue declined, bringing net income down to $3.7 billion, the San Francisco-based lender said in a statement
Lisa Shalett, the CIO of wealth management at Morgan Stanley, said in a note last week that stock investors have been too optimistic.
She argued that recent strength in stocks may be a bear-market rally driven by “wishful thinking” and excess liquidity.
Shalett laid out three risks, including Fed policy tightening, higher rates, and macroeconomic headwinds.
Investors should be wary of stock-market stability off recent lows, says the CIO for Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division.
“Recent strength in the equities market may be nothing more than a bear-market rally, fueled by wishful thinking and excess liquidity,” Lisa Shalett wrote in a recent report.
Despite a rocky week, global stock indexes are still up markedly from recent lows, with the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 having gained more than 3% over the past month. But both benchmarks are still down big on the year as investors have grappled with sky-high inflation, rocketing commodity prices, and a series of rapid US rate increases.
Shallett said the gains seen so far in April were down to investors hoping the Federal Reserve would engineer a “soft landing” by raising rates quickly enough to cool inflation but without sending the economy into a recession.
The Fed raised interest rates in March for the first time since 2018, taking a big step to tame inflation at its highest for 40 years in the US, and planned a series of at least six more hikes this year. Markets are pricing in expectations for a 50-basis point hike from the Fed’s next meeting in May and possibly more at subsequent meetings.
The Fed is also expected to shrink its balance sheet by $95 billion a month, according to its most recent meeting minutes. Futures markets show investors believe US rates could be as high as 2.75% by the end of this year, compared with 0.5% right now.
Shalett said she disagrees with the view that investors seem to hold that the Fed hiking interest rates wouldn’t affect stock valuations, and were ignoring macroeconomic risks from the Russia-Ukraine war and slowing growth.
“Morgan Stanley’s Global Investment Committee disagrees with these sanguine views and believes some of the more cautious signals coming from the bond market may better reflect the likely path ahead,” she said.
For starters, she said the Fed is expected to raise rates more times than market expected three months ago and would cut billions more a month than expected from its asset holdings.
“Such aggressive tightening will make the Fed’s policy execution highly complex, and historical examples suggest that even when the central bank does manage to land the economy softly, markets often feel a much harder impact,” she said.
In her opinion, investors are underestimating the potential hit to the stock market from a series of rapid rate rises and the effect those have on the underlying economy.
“This may be wishful thinking. We believe the Fed is apt to tighten policy more than many investors expect, impacting real rates and valuations as a result,” she said.
Lastly, Shalett said input costs, including wages, are still rising for companies, US growth will slow and there is a real risk of recession in Europe stemming from Russia’s war in Ukraine, especially if the single currency bloc halts imports of Russian energy.
With all that in mind, the double-digit gains of 2020 and 2021 will be harder to pull off, she said. “As financial conditions tighten, a strong but slowing economy is unlikely to be enough to power substantial passive index gains from here,” she said.
Yields will rise for two reasons: (1) more potential renters than landlords and (2) house prices will fall. So, over the coming period we will see higher rents and lower house prices leading to higher rental yields and ultimately a huge investment opportunity.
The Chinese stock market has, since the credit crisis started, lost 50% of its value, much more than the developed world’s markets but the difference is that we consider that China’s stock market is still a primary bull market. Accordingly, we cautiously sit on the sidelines waiting for the best opportunity to buy it.
Illustration: The Verge
