Bloomberg (December 20)
“It is hard to overemphasize the importance of” the BOJ’s latest “policy change. Starved of yield domestically and with the yen on a vicious weakening trend, Japanese investors have turned to bond markets elsewhere where yields are higher…. This change in policy is likely to make the yen much less of a one-way bet.”
Tags: BOJ, Bond markets, Importance, Investors, Japan, Policy change, Weakening trend, Yen, Yield
BBC (December 19)
The majority (57%) of votes cast in a poll conducted by Elon Musk were in favor of “Musk standing down as Twitter CEO.” The move “has either spectacularly backfired – if Musk was looking for an ego-boost – or it has been a huge success in getting him off the rather large hook he has found himself caught on since his purchase of Twitter.”
Wall Street Journal (December 17)
“History is on speed-dial these days, and the latest seismic shift is Japan’s announcement Friday of a new defense strategy and the spending to implement it.” Credit for this historic change goes to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “for taking the political risk to educate his country about the growing threats from China and North Korea and how to deter them.”
Tags: China, Defense strategy, Educate, Historic change, History, Japan, Kishida, North Korea, Political risk, Seismic shift, Spending, Threats
Reuters (December 16)
“The euro zone will soon have to pay for a decade of European Central Bank largesse. Rising interest rates are turning the ECB’s portfolio of bonds acquired since 2014 into a money-losing machine. The question of how those losses are shared could become a major source of tension between member states.”
Tags: 2014, Bonds, ECB, Euro zone, Interest rates, Largesse, Losses, Money-losing, Portfolio, Rising
Institutional Investor (December 16)
“The IPO market as a whole is about to close out its worst year since 2009. Just 71 new issues have been priced so far this year, a figure that’s down 82 percent from the previous year’s 397.”
Tags: 2009, 397, 71, 82%, Down, IPO market, New issues, Worst year
Financial Times (December 15)
“Evidence of a wave of Covid-19 deaths is beginning to emerge in Beijing despite official tallies showing no fatalities since an uncontrolled outbreak began sweeping through China’s capital this week. Staff at one crematorium in Beijing said they cremated the bodies of at least 30 Covid victims on Wednesday.”
Tags: Beijing, China, COVID-19, Crematorium, Deaths, Evidence, Fatalities, Official tallies, Outbreak, Uncontrolled, Victims, Wave
New York Times (December 13)
With Zero-Covid restrictions lifted, Beijing again “looks like a city in the throes of a lockdown — this time, self-imposed by residents. Sidewalks and pedestrian shopping streets are barren, and once busy traffic thoroughfares are deserted. Residents are hunkering down indoors and hoarding medicine as a wave of Covid sweeps across the Chinese capital.”
Tags: Barren, Beijing, Deserted, Hoarding, Hunkering down, Lockdown, Medicine, Residents, Restrictions, Self-imposed, Shopping streets, Zero COVID
Bloomberg (December 13)
“A sharp increase in China’s Covid infections following an abrupt end to strict pandemic control measures suggests investors may need to pare back on reopening trades, according to Morgan Stanley.”
Tags: Abrupt, China, Covid, End, Infections, Investors, Morgan Stanley, Pandemic control, Pare, Reopening trades, Sharp increase, Strict
Wall Street Journal (December 12)
“Stocks and bonds have headed in opposite directions to start December, a sign that investors’ worries about slowing growth have started to eclipse their fears of persistent inflation.”
Tags: Bonds, December, Fears, Investors, Opposite directions, Persistent inflation, Slowing growth, Stocks, Worries
Fortune (December 12)
“It’s always better in geopolitics to move in packs—and the U.S. just picked up some welcome company in its aggressive assault on China’s tech industry…. With Japan and the Netherlands now on board, all three of the world’s primary producers of chipmaking machinery have now taken aim at China.”
Tags: Aggressive, Assault, China, Chipmaking machinery, Geopolitics, Japan, Netherlands, Packs, Primary producers, Tech industry, U.S.
