Financial Times (November 21)
“We’ve been sceptical of the asset management craze for ESG…. So it’s only fair that we highlight some intriguing work that shows that just maybe some of all this is actually having a clear, measurable and positive impact.” Female representation on U.S. corporate boards remains low, but “grew by over 50 per cent in 2016-19, going from a pretty pathetic 13.1 per cent of directors to a still-bad-but-much better 19.7 per cent.” Some attribute “this to the role played by the passive investment industry’s ‘Big Three’ — BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street — which started to very publicly make a lot of noise about this issue a few years back.”
Tags: “Big Three”, 2016-19, Asset management, BlackRock, Corporate boards, Craze, Directors, ESG, Female representation, Measurable, Passive investment, Positive impact, Sceptical, State Street, U.S., Vanguard
Bloomberg (February 21)
“The American love affair with stocks is deepening as everyone from frenetic day-traders to staid institutions dive further into the market…. While aspects of the craze—the growing obsession with penny stocks and options, primarily—are the basis for daily warnings about a bubble, bulled-up positioning is proving a sturdy backbone for the rally.”
Tags: Backbone, Bubble, Craze, Day-traders, Institutions, Market, Options, Penny stocks, Staid, Stocks, U.S., Warnings
Institutional Investor (January 31)
“Bitcoin’s wild price swings have investors wondering how to short the digital currency, as there would be a lot of money to be made in the latest craze in investing.” Alas, this isn’t so easy. Though Bitcoin futures trade openly, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is charging “an initial margin of 47 percent of the futures’ value owing to the volatile nature of Bitcoin.”
Tags: Bitcoin, CME, Craze, Digital currency, Futures, Investing, Investors, Margin, Price Swings, Short, Volatile, Wild
Financial Times (July 14)
“Before Nintendo shareholders get too excited, they should examine the reality.” As the Pokémon Go craze grows, “Nintendo’s shares have risen by 50 per cent in a week on hopes Pokémon Go can rescue the company from dependence on lacklustre consoles such as the Wii U, and propel it into a world of growth in casual games on smart devices.” The investors need to “calm down” as there are still challenges ahead for Nintendo.
Tags: Console, Craze, Dependence, Excited, Growth, Investors, Lackluster, Nintendo, Pokémon Go, Reality, Rescue, Shareholders, Shares, Wii U
