Professional Pensions (April 19)
“The response by pension schemes and other investors to the invasion was immediate and, in the days following Russia’s attack, a number of pension schemes announced they would reduce or sell all their holdings as soon as possible.” Exposure to Russia varied by scheme, but was low overall, at around “0.1% for many schemes, holdings that many managers have written down to zero.” All in all, the “market reaction to the crisis was surprisingly muted,” with fairly stable funding levels throughout the crisis.
Tags: Attack, Crisis, Exposure, Funding, Holdings, Immediate, Invasion, Investors, Market, Muted, Pension schemes, Reaction, Reduce, Russia, Sell, Stable, Zero
Bloomberg (April 18)
“The slower the Fed, the harder the landing.” Quick action while inflation expectations are “still well anchored” will minimize the “cost in terms of foregone output and higher unemployment.” Those costs will mushroom if the Fed “waits and allows inflation expectations to get out of hand.” A recession remains unlikely in 2022, but if there isn’t one “in the next couple years, it will only be worse.”
Tags: Anchored, Costs, Expectations, Fed, Inflation, Landing, Output, Quick action, Recession, Slower, Unemployment, Worse
CNN Business (April 17)
“Nearly 400 million people across 45 cities in China are under full or partial lockdown as part of China’s strict zero-Covid policy.” Collectively, they contribute $7.2 trillion, nearly 40%, of China’s GDP. “Analysts are ringing warning bells, but say investors aren’t properly assessing how serious the global economic fallout might be from these prolonged isolation orders.”
Tags: $7.2 trillion, 400 million, 45 cities, Analysts, China, Economic fallout, GDP, Global, Investors, Isolation, Lockdown, Strict, Warning bells, Zero-Covid policy
Washington Post (April 15)
“The world has been understandably transfixed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s horrific invasion of Ukraine,” but we must still stay alert to threats elsewhere. “President Xi Jinping has been quietly taking advantage of the West’s distraction by expanding China’s sphere of influence in the South Pacific. If Washington doesn’t wake up to this threat, China’s efforts to dominate the region will gain dangerous and perhaps irreversible momentum.”
Tags: China, Dangerous, Distraction, Dominate, Horrific, Influence, Invasion, Irreversible, Putin, Russia, South Pacific, Threats, Transfixed, U.S., Ukraine, World, Xi
WARC (April 14)
Marketing spend is set to grow across all 15 major types of media. “Social media sees the largest net budget increase, at +53%, while print and AM/FM radio see the smallest net budget increase, but still at +13%.” Taken as a whole, “WARC Data forecasts global advertising spend to grow by 12.5% this year.”
Tags: Advertising, AM/FM, Budget, Data, Forecasts, Global, Increase, Marketing, Media, Print, Radio, Social media, Spend, WARC
Wall Street Journal (April 14)
“Events in Hong Kong and Shanghai have demonstrated that a ‘zero Covid’ strategy can look very effective for a long time—until suddenly it isn’t, either because a more infectious variant changes the game or because success itself breeds overconfidence.” Unless the Chinese government moves “quickly to vaccinate and boost its elderly, and start spending much more heavily on hospital capacity, then the human and economic consequences could be disastrous.”
Tags: Boost, China, Consequences, Disastrous, Elderly, Events, Government, Hong Kong, Hospital capacity, Infectious, Overconfidence, Shanghai, Vaccinate, Variant, Zero COVID
Investment Week (April 13)
“2021 was a stand-out year for environmental finance, as COP26, a new US administration, and rapid growth in industry collaboration drove climate action and commitments across businesses and the asset management industry.” Morningstar found that “the number of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with a climate-focused mandate grew to 860 at the end of last year… and assets in the space doubled to $408bn.”
Tags: 2021, Asset management, Assets, Businesses, Climate action, Collaboration, Commitments, COP26, Environmental finance, ETFs, Mandate, Morningstar, Mutual funds, Rapid growth, Stand-out, U.S.
Financial Times (April 13)
“A charitable take on things would be that Toshiba — a 146-year-old industrial masterpiece that fancies itself as the “Mona Lisa” but more often comes across as “The Scream” — has reached this important landmark via the scenic route.” Since this “included accounting fraud, a brush with bankruptcy, multiple chief executive resignations and a four-year war with investors,” it could also be said that Toshiba “finds it institutionally hard to read signs or admit it is lost.”
Tags: Accounting fraud, Bankruptcy, Charitable, Industrial, Investors, Landmark, Mona Lisa, Resignations, Toshiba
Bloomberg (April 12)
“The feel-good days for global markets at the end of March are firmly over.” Suddenly, everyone is afraid of economic slowing. “With monetary support rapidly receding and recession risks rising, investors are hunkering down. Companies resilient to an economic slowdown such as health care are back in favor. Ditto cash and dividend-paying stocks. Meanwhile, demand for hedging is creeping up in the options market.”
Tags: Afraid, Companies, Dividends, Feel good, Global markets, Health care, Hedging, Hunkering down, Investors, March, Monetary support, Recession, Risks, Slowdown
New York Times (April 11)
“Even though globalization has its problems, the current fad for re-shoring production is likely to run into some limits…. If cutting the Russian economy off from the rest of the world and forcing it to produce everything it needs at home is a punishment to Russia, why would it be a good thing for the United States to try to become self-sufficient?”
Tags: Economy, Fad, Globalization, Limits, Problems, Production, Punishment, Re-shoring, Russia, Self-sufficient, U.S.
