Washington Post (July 25)
“Companies are reshaping operations to cope with a changing climate” as climate risks also gain more prominence investment calculations. The month of June was the warmest since records began in 1850” so the “global steam bath” helps explain “why investors, regulators and credit-rating agencies are scrutinizing corporate plans for unrecognized climate risks.”
Tags: 1850, Climate risks, Corporate plans, Credit rating agencies, Investment calculations, Investors, June, Records, Regulators, Scrutinizing, Steam bath
Fortune (July 23)
The response of CrowdStrike has been “underwhelming,” symbolized by CEO George Kurtz’s failure to apologize immediately. With a bug that “hit less than 1% of Windows devices,” CrowdStrike “unleashed global chaos” last Friday. The fallout “grounded more than 6% of the world’s commercial flights. It also halted surgeries, broadcasts, money transfers, 911 call centers, train systems, stores, hotel reservations, mobile apps, and some government services. As of yesterday, many were still scrambling to recover.” CrowdStrike’s comeuppance may come as it enters “a risky period,” with its stock hammered “by almost a third” and angry customers reexamining their ties to the cybersecurity company.
Tags: Apologize, Apps, Broadcasts, Bug, CEO, Comeuppance, CrowdStrike, Customers, Cybersecurity, Failure, Flights, Global chaos, Hammered, Hotels, Kurtz, Money transfers, Recover, Response, Stock, Stores, Surgeries, Trains, Underwhelming, Windows
Financial Times (July 23)
“The squirts heard around the world” were fired as “anti-tourism protesters doused visitors to Barcelona with water pistols.” They resonated so broadly because the “backlash against tourism” isn’t confined to Spain. In other countries as well “the mass of pleasure seekers has grown so great that, from Venice and Amsterdam to Lisbon and the Greek island of Santorini, the patience of locals has snapped.”
Tags: Amsterdam, Anti-tourism, Backlash, Barcelona, Lisbon, Locals, Patience, Pleasure seekers, Protesters, Santorini, Snapped, Spain, Venice, Water pistols
Forbes (July 23)
“The planet recorded its hottest day ever Sunday… as an unrelenting string of heat waves continue to topple daily record high temperatures across the U.S.—and more records are expected to fall as heat alerts remain in effect along the West Coast and northern Rocky Mountains.”
Tags: Daily records, Heat alerts, Heat waves, High temperatures, Hottest, Planet, Rocky Mountains, Sunday, Topple, U.S., Unrelenting, West Coast
New York Times (July 22)
“The shock waves from President Biden ending his re-election bid, after weeks of pressure to step aside, are still reverberating around the world…. Biden’s withdrawal opened a flood of Democratic donations, with more than $50 million pouring in on Sunday, in what one strategist said might be ‘the greatest fund-raising moment in Democratic Party history.’”
Tags: 50 million, Biden, Donations, Fund raising, Pressure, Re-election, Reverberating, Shock waves, Strategist, Sunday, Withdrawal
The Atlantic (July 21)
“Crucial systems across the world collapsed on Friday, triggered by one mistake in a single company…. It may end up being the worst information-technology disaster in history. This was not, however, an unforeseeable freak accident, nor will it be the last of its kind” unless we prioritize “decentralized resilience” over “hyperconnected optimization.”
Tags: Collapsed, Crucial, Decentralized resilience, Freak accident, hyperconnected optimization, IT disaster, Mistake, Systems, Triggered, Unforeseeable, Worst
Investor’s Business Daily (July 19)
“Magnificent Seven stocks dumped more than $1.3 trillion in market value in a week…. Former do-no-wrong AI company Nvidia (NVDA) is the No. 1 culprit” behind the “epic implosion.” Shares in Nvidia “have plunged more than 11% from July 10. That effectively wiped out more than $417.3 billion in shareholders’ wealth — or roughly a third — of the Mag 7’s dollar-value loss in that time.”
Tags: $1.3 trillion, AI, Culprit, Epic implosion, Magnificent Seven, Market value, Nvidia, Plunged, Shareholders, Stocks, Wealth
Investment Week (July 19)
“UK retail sales volumes dropped by 1.2% in June,” marking a reversal of May’s stronger figures. Retailers are blaming “election uncertainty, along with poor weather and low footfall.” On the plus side, however, “falling UK wage growth boosts chances of August rate cut across most sectors.”
Tags: Election uncertainty, Footfall, June, May, Poor weather, Rate cut, Retail sales, Retailers, Reversal, UK, Volumes, Wage growth
CNN (July 19)
“Computers and tech systems around the world went down Friday.” The ensuing “chaos” was brought about by “a single cybersecurity company.” While “software updates are a critical function in society to keep computers protected from hackers,” it is absolutely “crucial” to get the process “right” and “safeguard” it from potential tampering. On Friday, our “trust in that process was punctured.”
Tags: Chaos, Computers, Critical, Cybersecurity, Hackers, Protected, Safeguard, Society, Software updates, Tampering, Tech systems
Wall Street Journal (July 17)
“A clearer outlook on interest rates is giving bankers hope that dealmaking is emerging from a two-year slowdown.” Though up about 8% from a year ago, Q2 global M&A volumes “are still below those of the deal boom coming out of the pandemic,” with M&A activity “unlikely to kick into full gear until interest rates come down.”
Tags: 8%, Bankers, Boom, Clearer, Dealmaking, Emerging, Interest rates, M&A, Outlook, Pandemic, Q2, Slowdown