Wall Street Journal (January 9)
“The S&P 500 inched higher Monday, extending this year’s run of records. Stocks have begun 2018 on an upbeat note, buoyed by investors’ optimism over the global economy and bets that central banks are unlikely to pressure markets by raising interest rates faster than expected.”
Tags: 2018, Central banks, Economy, Interest rates, Investors, Optimism, Records, S&P 500, Stocks, Upbeat
Barrons (December 30)
“Largely absent during the economy’s eight-year recovery from the financial crisis, inflation is on track to pick up in 2018—and it might just catch investors off-guard.” Even a return to modest inflation, e.g. 2.5%, would be a jolt that “could reshuffle the market.”
Institutional Investor (November 13)
“AI will transform asset management,” but “the biggest challenge we face may not be developing powerful predictive AI-based investment models.” Rather, it will be “simply convincing investors not to trust their own judgment. More broadly, the winners and losers will be decided not by the current market position of a firm or even the size of its checkbook, but by its ability to overcome its anthropocentric prejudice and trust AI like it would trust a human being.”
Tags: AI, Anthropocentric, Asset management, Challenge, Investment models, Investors, Judgment, Powerful, Predictive, Trust
Institutional Investor (October 5)
In a recent survey “of 101 investors managing more than $1 trillion combined, 87 percent said they would support the activist campaign of a well-regarded investor if they believed change was necessary at the company in question…. Many of the investors view themselves as change makers, with roughly half saying their firms can meaningfully influence a company’s corporate governance.”
The Economist (September 17)
“Investors outside China have about $1trn invested in firms that use” variable interest entities (VIEs). These include Alibaba and Tencent. Yet, it remains “unclear if VIEs are even legal in China,” exposing investors to two risks. “First, the VIEs could be ruled illegal, potentially forcing the firms to wind up or sell vital licences and intellectual property in China. The second danger is that VIE owners seek to grab the profits or assets held within. If they refuse to co-operate, die, or fall out of political favour, it is far from clear that firms can enforce VIE contracts in Chinese courts.”
Tags: Alibaba, Assets, China, Contracts, Courts, Illegal, Investors, IP, Profits, Risks, Tencent, VIEs
Wall Street Journal (August 21)
“Investors are running out of reasons to keep buying U.S. stocks, exposing a growing number of warning signs. The historic calm that enveloped U.S. stocks for much of this year has been upended twice in the past two weeks…. It is too soon to call the end of the eight-year bull market, investors, traders and analysts say, but many agree the indiscriminate optimism that characterized the postelection rally is evaporating.”
Tags: Analysts, Bull market, Indiscriminate, Investors, Optimism, Rally, Stocks, Traders, U.S., Warning signs
The Korea Times (August 13)
“In South Korea, frustration is increasing more over Trump’s loose lips than the North’s provocations. The reason is not that South Koreans have any brotherly love left for their northern neighbors. But from their experience living with the time bomb to the north, they think the real risk comes from Trump’s mouth. Their fear is backed by the market—foreign investors are in a sign of nervousness taking their money out of the country, albeit not at an alarming level so far.”
Tags: Fear, Frustration, Investors, Loose lips, Market, Nervousness, North Korea, Risk, South Korea, Trump
Institutional Investor (July 20)
“After eight straight months of positive returns, hedge funds may have finally redeemed themselves in the eyes of investors…. Total industry assets under management rose by $34.1 billion to $3.1 trillion, with positive returns boosting asset growth. The renewed interest in hedge funds comes in the midst of industry’s greatest period of performance since the financial crisis.”
Tags: AUM, Financial Crisis, Growth, Hedge funds, Investors, Performance, Positive returns, Returns
Financial Times (June 20)
“Six months into its financial crisis, Toshiba is shaping up as the Sistine Chapel of corporate catastrophes: you have to lie on your back to appreciate its scale, and once you get your eye in, the beauty is mesmerising.” Toshiba’s sweeping catastrophe “encapsulates much that investors — both foreign and domestic — have long despaired.” And “for a Japanese government apparently committed to reversing decades of shoddy corporate governance… Toshiba provides the perfect example of why it is pushing for change.”
Tags: Catastrophe, Corporate governance, Despair, Financial Crisis, Government, Investors, Japan, Scale, Shoddy, Sistine Chapel, Toshiba
Institutional Investor (June 4)
Due to Brexit, “sovereign investors now consider the U.K. less attractive than they did a year ago and are instead favoring investments in Germany and India as part of a broader move to so-called safe haven markets.” The change in sentiment was identified through a survey of “sovereign wealth funds, state-owned pensions, and central banks polled by Invesco.”
Tags: Brexit, Central banks, Germany, India, Invesco, Investors, Pensions, Safe havens, Sentiment, Sovereign, U.K.