The Economist (December 9)
“Under President Jacob Zuma, the state is failing. Contracts are awarded through bribes and connections; ruling-party members murder each other over lucrative government jobs; crooks operate with impunity.” South Africa’s “people deserve better” than the Zuma corruption or his wife who now seeks to replace him as President. “The rainbow nation still has the potential to be a beacon of prosperity and good governance in Africa, but memories of its hopeful birth are a melancholy counterpoint to its dark present. The best chance for recovering that optimism is a victory for Mr Ramaphosa.”
Tags: Africa, Bribes, Connections; Ruling party, Corruption, Crooks, Failing, Governance, Impunity, Ramaphosa, South Africa, Zuma
Investment Week (December 9)
“The industry has been gripped by fears of an impending market correction for some time now and debating what could cause a pullback, but talk may have been premature as global equity markets continue to hit fresh record highs into the latter stages of 2017.” UK wealth managers have been “more downbeat than their global peers” due to domestic issues like “negotiating Brexit and the potential for a Labour win if another snap General Election is called.”
Tags: Brexit, Downbeat, Equity markets, Fears, Industry, Market correction, Premature, Pullback, Record highs, Snap election, UK, Wealth managers
Washington Post (December 7)
Moving the embassy to Jerusalem could have been used “as a leverage for peace.” Instead, Donald Trump “used it to smash crockery in the region,” which “pretty well summarizes the Trump Doctrine.” Any so called successes “have been things Trump has undone (the Paris climate accord, the Trans-Pacific Partnership) or is in the process of undoing (the Iran nuclear deal, NAFTA). Relations have soured with Britain, continental Europe and countries from Mexico to Australia.” Meanwhile, Russia is gaining power and “the terrorist threat is decentralizing rather than dissipating.”
Tags: Australia, Crockery, Embassy, Europe, Iran nuclear deal, Jerusalem, Leverage, Mexico, Nafta, Paris climate accord, Peace, Russia, Smash, Terrorist threat, TPP, Trump, UK
LA Times (December 6)
“What should make Southern California fearful is that climate change could mean a future of more frequent and more intense wildfires. Today’s fires will end, and what we do afterward—assessing how to better prepare, and how and whether to rebuild—will influence the damage from the fires next time.”
Tags: Climate change, Damage, Fearful, Prepare, Rebuild, Southern California, Wildfires
Bloomberg (December 6)
“Every bull market is unique, but the one in China right now looks downright strange. The Shanghai Composite Index has climbed 24 percent from its January 2016 low, and yet a majority of stocks in the benchmark gauge have fallen during the period.” China has become a global outlier. “For all 45 of the other national equity gauges that have climbed at least 20 percent since last January, a majority of index members have recorded gains.”
Tags: Benchmark, Bull market, China, Gains, Gauge, Outlier, Shanghai Composite, Stocks
Industry Week (December 4)
“Investments in electric cars may soon begin to do to the transportation sector what wind and solar have done to the power sector: turn the pollution curve upside down. The price of battery packs has been plummeting by about 8 percent a year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and electric cars are now projected to become cheaper, more reliable, and more convenient than their gasoline-powered equivalents around the world by the mid-2020s.”
Wall Street Journal (December 4)
As “Trump and Wilbur Ross tee up tariff brawls for the New Year,” the odds of a “coming aluminum war” increase. “Dumping investigations usually start when a company petitions the government,” but for the first time in 25 years “the Commerce Department last week announced a “dumping” investigation into Chinese aluminum imports.” The government initiated case is just “one more sign that the Trump Administration is heading toward a major escalation in trade conflict that would hurt Americans.”
Tags: Aluminum war, China, Commerce Department, Dumping, Imports, Ross, Tariff, Trade conflict, Trump
New York Times (December 4)
“No sooner had Britons found some sorely needed trans-Atlantic cheer in the engagement of their prince charming to an American actress than President Trump dashed it all with his baffling retweet of vile anti-Muslim propaganda from a British neo-fascist group.” Britain reacted to this “slap in the face…with rare all-but-unanimous fury, with members of Parliament denouncing the president as stupid, racist and even fascist.”
Tags: Actress, Anti-Muslim propaganda, Atlantic, Baffling, Engagement, Fascist, Fury, Parliament, Prince, Racist, Retweet, Stupid, Trump, UK, Vile
The Guardian (December 2)
Though Prime Minister “Theresa May is reviled for her weakness,” no other “British prime minister has found the strength to condemn an American president as she condemned Donald Trump since the Anglo-American alliance began in the Second World War.” Nothing the previous Prime Minister’s “said matches the forcefulness of May’s out, loud and proud denunciation of Trump for sharing the ‘hateful narratives’ of British fascists.”
Tags: Anglo-American alliance, Condemn, Denunciation, Fascists, May, Strength, Trump, U.S., Weakness, WWII
Institutional Investor (December 1)
“Next year’s first review of Europe’s Solvency II regulations has given fund managers and consultants a platform to voice their concerns.” Though “most asset managers agree that the rules have enhances insurers’ understanding of investment portfolio risk” many also feel that the “policymakers mispriced asset risks” leading to unintended consequences. In particular, restrictions that “effectively ruled out some assets which could have provided higher, albeit riskier, returns” have proven particularly odious for annuities.
Tags: Asset managers, Asset risk, Europe, Fund managers, Insurers, Investment, Mispriced, Policymakers, Portfolio risk, Regulations, Restrictions Annuities, Rules, Solvency II
