The Economist (August 20)
The Bank of Japan expects “prices will rise by 2.3% in the current fiscal year. That would be the first time prices outstrip the bank’s 2% target since it was introduced in 2013, excluding the impact of sales-tax hikes. The covid-19 pandemic and commodity shocks from the war in Ukraine seem to have done what years of loose monetary policy could not.”
Tags: 2.3%, 2013, BOJ, Commodity, COVID-19, Pandemic, Prices, Rise, Sales-tax hikes, Shocks, Target, Ukraine, War
Bloomberg (August 19)
“The US mortgage industry is seeing its first lenders go out of business after a sudden spike in lending rates, and the wave of failures that’s coming could be the worst since the housing bubble burst about 15 years ago.” Though a “systemic meltdown” is not expected, market watchers still anticipate “a string of bankruptcies broad enough to trigger a spike in layoffs in an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of workers, and potentially an increase in some lending rates.”
Tags: Bankruptcies, Failures, Housing bubble, Industry, Layoffs, Lenders, Market, Mortgage, Rates, Spike, Systemic meltdown, U.S.
New York Times (August 18)
“For decades, buying property was considered a safe investment in China. Now, instead of building a foundation of wealth for the country’s middle class, real estate has become a source of discontent and anger.”
Tags: Anger, Buying, China, Discontent, Foundation, Investment, Middle class, Property, Real estate, Safe, Wealth
Real Money (August 17)
“Japan marches to the beat of a different drummer. And its pace, slow and steady, is looking solid as much of the rest of the world contends with the din of roaring inflation and clanging recession.” In contrast, Japan’s “inflation is running at a mild and manageable 2.4% as of July” and Japan looks poised for “steady multiyear growth…. Japanese equities therefore continue to justify themselves as safe havens.”
Tags: Different drummer, Equities, Inflation, Japan, Manageable, Multiyear growth, Pace, Recession, Safe havens, Slow, Solid, Steady
Washington Post (August 17)
“By next year, India will become the most populous nation. This, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s splendidly insouciant visit to Taiwan, will diminish today’s fatalism about China — the fallacious assumption that its trajectory is inevitably upward, so it must be accommodated.” Chinese labor is now “increasingly expensive and decreasingly abundant,” as its population peaks and declines by roughly half.
Tags: Abundant, China, Diminish, Expensive, Fallacious, Fatalism, India, Labor, Peaks, Pelosi, Population, Populous, Taiwan, Trajectory
Institutional Investor (August 16)
“With everybody worried about a cash crunch, the private equity secondaries market is expected to hit a new record. Investors are expected to sell stakes in private equity funds worth $153 billion in 2023, according to the latest PE secondaries report from Lazard’s private capital advisory team.”
Tags: $153 billion, 2023, Cash crunch, Funds, Investors, Lazard, Private equity, Record, Secondaries market, Sell, Stakes
New York Times (August 13)
“For many, work is a collection of tasks, not a collection of hours in a certain place…. Taking time for yourself during the work day doesn’t make you lazy, and working a bit on vacation doesn’t make you a workaholic. Dispensing with strict time boundaries should also mean ditching the guilt you might feel for either.”
CNN (August 12)
“Hong Kong has recorded its sharpest annual drop in population,” falling from “7.41 million people to 7.29 million, a 1.6% decrease.” Experts attribute the exodus to “strict Covid control measures and a political crackdown that have taken the shine off a financial hub long advertised as ‘Asia’s world city.’”
Tags: 1.6% decrease, Annual, Asia, Control measures, Covid, Drop, Exodus, Experts, Financial hub, Hong Kong, Political crackdown, Population, Strict
Traders Magazine (August 10)
The U.S. Congress is “swamped with crypto legislation” with over 150 legislative items under consideration. To be coherent, these would require a great deal of alignment. Moody’s Investors Service has stated that “a clear regulatory and supervisory framework with the potential to prevent fraudulent activity and provide clear guidance to allow companies to innovate would be credit positive.” But, Moody’s also believes it “will be important to achieve international consistency in regulatory and supervisory approaches, such as in the legal validity of smart contracts.”
Tags: Smart contracts
Sydney Morning Herald (August 10)
“There are 68 trusts in China with about $4.3 trillion of assets – property loans, shares, bonds and commodities – under management, with property accounting for at least $500 billion of the total.” The National Audit Office has been instructed “to inspect the books of the country’s biggest trust firms.” This shows “the increasing concern of the Chinese authorities that the implosion of their property development sector could ignite a wider financial crisis.”
Tags: $4.3 trillion, 68 trusts, Assets, Authorities, Bonds, China, Commodities, Concern, Implosion, Loans, National Audit Office, Property, Shares
