Singles Day strikes a cautious tone this year as China’s economy slows and a tech crackdown continues – Honolulu, Hawaii news, sports & weather

“On the one hand, the soaring input costs have significantly squeezed the profit margin for downstream manufacturers, which in turn limits the space to offer a large discount this year,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis, a French investment bank. “On the other, domestic consumption is not yet back to pre-pandemic level[s] and even online retail sales, which remained relatively resilient in 2020, have decelerated.”