BBC (January 28)
“Debt-ridden Chinese property giant Evergrande has been ordered to liquidate by a court in Hong Kong.” Evergrande initially “sent shockwaves through global financial markets” when it defaulted in 2021. Since then, it has remained “the poster child of China’s real estate crisis with over $325bn (£256bn) of liabilities.” The most recent court decision does not necessarily mean “Evergrande will go bust and collapse,” but it is expected “to send ripples through China’s financial markets at a time when authorities are trying to curb a stock market sell-off.”
Tags: 2021, China, Collapse, Court, Crisis, Debt-ridden, Defaulted, Evergrande, Financial markets, Hong Kong, Liabilities, Liquidate, Real estate, Ripples, Shockwaves
Wall Street Journal (October 31)
“Monetary policy officials are hinting to financial markets that the Federal Reserve will stop raising interest rates—even as the Fed signals that it is too early to declare victory over inflation. Wary investors can only speculate, while market analysts are happy to guess the Fed’s next move.”
Tags: Analysts, Federal Reserve, Financial markets, Hinting, Inflation, Interest rates, Investors, Monetary policy, Officials, Signals, Speculate, Victory, Wary
Bloomberg (January 21)
“In a week marked by fresh recession angst from Wall Street to Davos, JPMorgan Chase & Co. finds the odds of an economic downturn priced into financial markets have actually fallen sharply from their 2022 highs.” In October, “a contraction was effectively seen as a done deal across markets.” Now, “according to the firm’s trading model, seven of nine asset classes from high-grade bonds to European stocks now show less than a 50% chance of a recession. That’s a big reversal.”
Tags: Angst, Asset classes, Bonds, Contraction, Davos, Economic downturn, Financial markets, JPMorgan Chase, Recession, Stocks, Trading model, Wall Street
Investments & Pensions Europe (January Issue)
“Biodiversity is fast catching up with climate change as a priority for investors and supervisors, and developments last year have set the stage for a productive 2023…. Barely a topic of conversation in financial markets two years ago,” biodiversity now “has an investment ecosystem all of its own, which is being built on the back of a decade of lessons learnt in the climate finance space. From global agreements, supervisory interventions and standardised reporting guidelines through to data, investment products and a collaborative engagement initiative, the pieces are quickly falling into place to ensure the private sector knows what it’s meant to do to manage nature-related risks in 2023 and beyond.”
Tags: 2023, Biodiversity, Climate change, Collaborative engagement, Financial markets, Investment ecosystem, Investors, Nature-related risks, Priority, Private-sector, Reporting guidelines
Financial Times (October 20)
“In just six weeks, Truss cratered the Conservative party’s poll ratings and unleashed turmoil on financial markets. She was forced into a U-turn on her “mini” Budget involving £45bn of unfunded tax cuts, sacked her chancellor and ousted her home secretary.” After vowing to fight on, she then delivered “one of the shortest and bleakest resignation statements in modern British history: she was quitting after only 44 days in office.”
Tags: Bleakest, Budget, Conservative Party, Cratered, Financial markets, Ratings, Resignation, Shortest, Tax cuts, Truss, Turmoil, U-turn
The Guardian (September 27)
“Turmoil in financial markets which saw the pound fall to a record low against the dollar dominates today’s front pages. The currency tumbled as investors lost confidence in the UK’s public finances after last Friday’s mini-budget.”
Tags: Confidence, Currency, Dollar, Dominates, Financial markets, Investors, Pound, Public finances, Record low, Tumbled, Turmoil, UK
Forbes (July 11)
“Bitcoin bulls beware: Wall Street expects the cryptocurrency’s crash to get a whole lot worse. The token is more likely to tumble to $10,000, cutting its value roughly in half, than it is to rally back to $30,000,” according to survey of 950 investors. This “lopsided prediction underscores how bearish investors have become. The crypto industry has been rocked by troubled lenders, collapsed currencies, and an end to the easy money policies of the pandemic that fueled a speculative frenzy in financial markets.”
Tags: Bearish, Bitcoin, Bulls, Crash, Cryptocurrency, Currencies, Easy money, Financial markets, Investors, Lenders, Pandemic, Prediction, Rally, Speculative frenzy, Survey, Troubled, Wall Street
New York Times (March 18)
Financial markets took the Fed’s higher rates in stride. “The stock market rose, bond yields wavered and commodity prices moderated. But whether the economy can withstand rising rates during a period of geopolitical turmoil and a lingering pandemic is a question without an immediate answer.”
Tags: Bond yields, Commodity prices, Economy, Fed, Financial markets, Geopolitical turmoil, Pandemic, Rising rates, Stock market, Withstand
Australian Financial Review (October 25)
“Inflation will be the key issue for financial markets in coming years, with investors set to reap massive profits or suffer swingeing losses, depending on whether they make the right call on the stickiness of price pressures.” Astute investors are now figuring out strategies, like shortening bond maturities within their portfolio, to help “insulate their investment portfolios from the threat of rising inflation.”
Tags: Bond maturities, Financial markets, Inflation, Investors, Losses, Portfolio, Price pressures, Profits, Shortening, Stickiness, Strategies, Threat
Financial Times (February 13)
“Investors poured a record $58bn into stock funds this week while slashing their cash holdings, in the latest sign of the fervor sweeping global financial markets…. Historically low interest rates and expectations for a big rebound this year in global economic growth have whet investors’ appetite for riskier assets,” but this is creating unease among some that “asset prices have become overextended.”
Tags: Assets, Cash holdings, Economic growth, Expectations, Fervor, Financial markets, Interest rates, Investors, Rebound, Riskier, Stock funds
