LCD TV panel prices continue to fall, though the “pace” of the declines “is slowing as prices approach cash costs,” reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Monday. DSCC sees “no sign that prices will hit bottom and rebound,” it said. “The potential for a negative impact on global TV demand from the Russian war in Ukraine combined with high inventory levels suggests continued price pressure in Q2.” As the industry heads into “the slowest selling season of the year in Q2,” the LCD TV panel market “appears to be in a sort of a lull,” said DSCC President Bob O’Brien. Prices have “declined dramatically” from their peaks in mid-2021, but supply “continued to be robust throughout the first quarter and to start the second,” he said. “Prices cannot fall much further before they are below cash costs, but there are no obvious drivers of demand, and demand uncertainty has been heightened by the war in Ukraine.”

“Considerable uncertainty abounds this year,” said National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz Friday, citing geopolitical disruptions that will likely cause “resetting of the U.S. and world economies.” It’s “too soon to tell by how much or for how long,” Kleinhenz said, saying businesses and consumers will be affected. Though the public health situation has improved, COVID-19’s impact continues to spread with a “ripple that has extended into 2022,” he said. Inflation is at a 40-year high due to strong consumer demand combined with restricted supply, and the war in Ukraine created “very high uncertainty.” The U.S. has a limited trade link with Russia, but “the war continues to overshadow economic news and could have a potentially serious effect on prices for energy and commodities, adding to inflation concerns,” said the economist: “There are just as many uncertainties weighing on the outlook for growth as there were a year ago even if some of the forces at play have changed.” Still, the U.S. economy continues to show strong momentum with the consumer "in the driver’s seat,” Kleinhenz said. Job growth and wage increases should drive income gains this year, and strong household savings built up during the pandemic should support strong retail sales, he said. Employment is estimated to grow by an average 290,000 jobs per month, with the unemployment rate dropping to 3.6%, close to the 50-year low of 3.5% seen just before the pandemic. “Any constraints on job growth are expected to be on the supply side as the labor shortage continues, but rising wages could entice people who are not currently seeking work to do so,” he said. Gross domestic product is expected to grow 3.5% this year with personal consumption growing at about the same amount, down from last year’s high growth rates but “well above" pre-pandemic levels. NRF’s 2022 retail forecast remains at 6%-8% growth to $4.86 trillion-$4.95 trillion.

An estimated 700,000 Russian IT specialists “have fled for the EU and former Soviet republics” amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, tweeted Michael Petricone, CTA senior vice president-government affairs. The U.S. “should be handing them visas” to come here instead, he said Friday. “What a massive economic boost that would be.” His tweet referenced an Associated Press account that said 70,000 Russian computer specialists had "bolted the country."

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will reduce global demand for TVs by 4.6 million units in 2022, of which sales of 3.6 million sets will be lost from “the direct impact in Russia and Ukraine,” blogged Display Supply Chain Consultants President Bob O’Brien, citing the Chinese analytics company DiScien as the source. The remainder in lost sales “stems from an indirect impact on other markets including the Middle East and Africa,” he said Monday. DiScien’s analysis suggests the war in Ukraine “will have little impact on TV supply to other European regions,” said O’Brien. “Because Russia imposes a 14% tariff on TV imports from China and other countries, most TVs sold in Russia are assembled in local Russian factories.” Since some sanctions were imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russian exports to Europe are subject to tariffs, “making them uncompetitive,” said DSCC. “Whereas European TV imports from Russia are subject to a 14% tariff, TVs made in Poland, which is part of the European Union, are not subject to tariff throughout the EU.”

The FCC expanded its list of "covered" equipment suppliers -- deemed to present security concerns -- adding three companies Friday, including Russian cybersecurity powerhouse Kaspersky Lab. The FCC has been scoping actions it could take in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (see 2203180051). The others added are China Telecom (Americas) and China Mobile International. The FCC previously revoked China Telecom’s domestic and international authorities (see 2110260060). In May 2019, in a first shot at Chinese providers, commissioners voted 5-0 to deny China Mobile’s long-standing Section 214 application (see 1905090039). The FCC released its original list of five covered companies, including Huawei and ZTE, a year ago (see 2103120058). Kaspersky is the first non-Chinese company to make the list. “Last year, for the first time, the FCC published a list of communications equipment and services that pose an unacceptable risk to national security, and we have been working closely with our national security partners to review and update this list,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Friday. This action “is the latest in the FCC’s ongoing efforts, as part of the greater whole-of-government approach, to strengthen America’s communications networks against national security threats, including examining the foreign ownership of telecommunications companies providing service in the United States and revoking the authorization to operate where necessary,” she said. None of the companies commented. The expansion of the list is “welcome news,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr: “I am pleased that our national security agencies agreed with my assessment that China Mobile and China Telecom appeared to meet the threshold necessary to add these entities to our list. Their addition, as well as Kaspersky Labs, will help secure our networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state-backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm America’s interests.” Kaspersky is a Moscow-based company that offers artificial intelligence-driven “protection against hackers and the latest viruses, ransomware and spyware,” according to its website. The company claims 400 million users worldwide. Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security warned against use of Kaspersky security products earlier this month, citing the danger of cyberattacks, according to Hackread. Adding the Russian company is likely only a start, emailed Tatyana Bolton, R Street Institute policy director-cybersecurity and emerging threats. “It sounds like exactly like the discussions the government had when the threat of China started to become the primary concern within the national security establishment,” she said: “If Russia doesn’t stop their unprovoked aggression, it seems highly likely that more Russian companies may join the list. Given that the number of Russian suppliers is fairly low, however, there is a limit to how effective this strategy is in constraining Russian behavior.”

With its cessation of all new sales in Russia and Belarus due to the hostilities in Ukraine, Adobe reduced the annual recurring revenue balance in its digital media business by $75 million, “which represents all ARR for existing business in these two countries,” said Chief Financial Officer Dan Durn on an earnings call Tuesday for fiscal Q1 ended March 4. “While we will extend subscriptions automatically in Ukraine during this period and continue to provide digital media services, we reduced ARR by an additional $12 million, which represents our entire Ukraine business,” he said. That will result in a total ARR reduction of $87 million and an expected revenue hit of $75 million for fiscal 2022 ending early December, he said. For the war in Ukraine, “we de-risked the profile around the situation,” said Durn. Adobe finished Q1 with 9% year-over-year revenue growth to $4.26 billion, a quarterly record. Despite the volatile “macroeconomic” situation, “we actually continue to see strength” in the business, and “we were pleased with the strong Q1,” said CEO Shantanu Narayen. “The last few weeks of the quarter, you saw some impact in Europe, specifically as it related to what happened in terms of the terrible situation in Ukraine,” he said.

The CTA executive board approved a resolution March 12 that the association “stands with the Ukrainian people and strongly condemns Russia’s tragic and illegal war,” said the trade group Wednesday. “Our thoughts are especially with the 88 people from Ukraine who attended CES 2022 including employees of the 15 Ukrainian technology companies who exhibited,” said the resolution. “This was a record number of companies from Ukraine and speaks to the innovation of the Ukrainian people.” CTA hails the “decisive actions” taken by consumer tech companies that have “voluntarily refused to sell products or make their services available in Russia," it said. "We also recognize technologies such as digital currencies and encrypted messaging platforms that allow Ukrainians to communicate, organize and raise resources as they defend their country.”

Ukraine accounts for 26% of the 2022 downloads of SpaceX's Starlink app, intelligence firm 42Matters said Thursday. The app is used to help Starlink position its receivers. Ukrainians downloaded the app 90,878 times Feb. 21 to March 15, it said. Russia invaded Ukraine Feb. 24. Before then, downloads had averaged closer to 1,000 to 2,000 daily, only to surge to a peak of more than 17,000 March 6, it said.