Residents of Rome have shared their feelings on soaring prices and economic struggles with a China Global Television Network (CGTN) reporter, with many echoing growing public frustration over inflation and U.S. tariffs.
Some European countries are already struggling with an inflation crisis, largely driven by the Middle East conflict pushing oil prices higher.
One local musician called Rocco spoke about soaring prices and the impact of U.S. tariffs, while calling for wage reforms.
"What is the most pressing matter right now? Prices are skyrocketing, the rent, the bills and all sorts of expenses. The U.S. tariffs have especially caused us a lot of troubles. [The government must] fix the wages, especially minimum wages. Wages are completely out of place, especially in the artistic fields. We can't eat if prices are this high," he said.
Francesca, a designer, said her living standards have declined due to inflation and heavy taxes, which have left small businesses and artisans struggling.
"My standard of living has indeed declined due to inflation and taxes. Honestly, even a small shop can't make any money, because taxes are over 65 percent. People almost have no purchasing power. The tourism sector has collapsed. Artisans are not protected at all. We are not shielded," she said.
Salesman Antonio expressed frustration over endless conflicts driving up costs and the country's failure to help ordinary people.
"These wars seem endless. New conflicts keep popping up every day. They naturally drive up the costs. In my view, the state has not fulfilled its due responsibilities towards its citizens, towards common people," said Antonio.
Mario Stampone, who owns a car repair shop, highlighted the soaring cost of spare parts and the squeeze on his profit margins.
"My biggest challenge right now is to keep the repair costs down while expenses explode. But our hands are tied because we must buy spare parts for repairs, and the spare part prices are soaring. Every single component is at least 30 percent to 40 percent more expensive. This reflects on our bills as well. We have to make invoices for exorbitant amounts. In the end, what we actually keep is around 15 percent to 20 percent," he said.
Businessman Luca urged the government to invest in alternative energy sources to break free from the current international order.
"In light of these challenges, I would urge the government to develop alternative energy sources. This will help us break free from the international order. It will also effectively reduce emissions. You too can live in a more livable and cleaner environment, a less chaotic and more stable world," he said.
Italians voice frustration over soaring prices
Italians voice frustration over soaring prices
Italians voice frustration over soaring prices
Chinese stock markets dropped on Monday, as AI and tech stocks continued to see-saw, according to China Global Television Network (CGTN) market analyst Timothy Pope.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.59 percent at 3,882.01 points, with the Shenzhen Component Index, which has more exposure to the tech sector, closing 2.13 percent lower at 13,794.29 points.
Trading volumes on the two indices rose with around 2.01 trillion yuan (about 296.28 billion U.S. dollars) traded on Monday, up from 1.88 trillion yuan (about 280 billion U.S. dollars) last Friday.
Traditional sectors such as precious metals, coal mining, and insurance led the gains, while bio-tech stocks were among the top decliners.
The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 3.21 percent to close at 3,431.89 points on Monday.
The STAR Composite Index, which tracks the performance of stocks on China's sci-tech innovation board, closed 3.10 percent lower on Monday at 1,896.16 points.
"The A-share markets seem locked in this cycle of rally and rout for those growth stocks, particularly in the AI and adjacent sectors. Today was very much on the rout side so, while the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.6 percent, we saw the Shenzhen Component down more than 2 percent, the ChiNext board was down 3.2 percent and the STAR 50 down 3.1 percent. Those last three are more exposed to the tech rally than the Shanghai Composite. The big losers as I said were AI hardware companies - Shenzhen Gongjin Electronics was down 10 percent, Zhongji Innolight fell more than 7 percent. But they weren't alone because the other big winning sector of the last few weeks - biotech - was in retreat today as well. Investors were rotating into gold and coal stocks as well, and agricultural stocks extended the food security trade rally that we saw at the end of last week. There were a number of stocks across those sectors, all of those were hitting the upper limits of trade today," said Pope.
Pope said the rest of the week will be dominated by earnings reports from some of China’s biggest companies.
"The rest of the week is going to be mostly about earnings. The end-of-August filing deadline is fast approaching. Friday will be a really big day on the earnings calendar. We've got BYD, PetroChina, Shenhua Energy and a lot of big banks as well. Earnings that we are going to see for ICBC, China Merchants Bank and others will give us an insight into how much pressure the big banks are under with their margins. BYD is also going to be an interesting one in light of the government's anti-involution campaign and its efforts to avert a bit of a race to the bottom in the EV sector. And before we get there, there are Nvidia results in the US on Wednesday which will doubtless impact every stock in the AI space," he said.
Chinese stock markets start week lower on AI volatility: analyst
