Elon Musk Says US In 'Pretty Good Health' But China, Europe Experiencing Recession 'Of Sorts'

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said China is experiencing a slowdown similar to a recession driven by the slump in the property market that lasted for over a year.

What Happened: The world's richest person, while replying to a question about recent order intake trends during his company's third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, said, "China is experiencing a recession of sorts," mainly in the real estate market.

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Musk added that Europe is also facing a recession driven by energy shortages due to Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. However, he thinks that the U.S — and North America widely — is in "pretty good health," while the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates "more than they should," and they'll "eventually realize that" and bring them down again.

Musk's comments came after China dealt with a massive COVID-19 wave that brought its economy to a grinding halt in the second quarter as major cities were put under lockdown, including Shanghai and Beijing. Shanghai's months-long lockdown forced many factories, including Tesla, to suspend operations for many weeks.

China is yet to reveal the key economic data for the third quarter, which has been delayed in an unusual move due to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. According to Bloomberg, economists expect the economy to have recorded 3.3% growth in the last quarter. Meanwhile, the property investment through the first nine months of the year is estimated to have declined by 7.5% compared to last year.

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Photo by Daniel Oberhaus on Flickr.