Newsweek (April 30)
“Familiar alarm bells sounded in Japan this month as year-end population figures and new projections combined to paint an uncertain future for Asia’s No. 2 economy.” The latest figures show a “12th consecutive annual decline” with the nation’s population standing “at 124.94 million for the year to October, a decrease of over half a million people from 2021.” Moreover, “the working population, aged 15 to 64, fell to 74.2 million, and those above 65 reached 36.23 million—both respective records.” Japan is approaching the “point of no return.”
Tags: 124.94 million, Alarm bells, Asia, Decline, Decrease, Japan, No. 2 economy, Point of no return, Population, Projections, Records, Uncertain future
Financial Times (April 28)
“Deprived of investment opportunities abroad, Russians have piled their savings into the likes of Lukoil, Gazprom and Sberbank, which combined account for about 40 per cent of the stock market’s total value.” Marking a rebound, “Russia’s stock market has climbed to its highest level in more than a year as domestic retail investors with nowhere else to go snap up the dividend-paying stocks that sold off heavily following the invasion of Ukraine”.
Tags: Abroad, Deprived, Dividend, Domestic, Gazprom, Invasion, Investment, Lukoil, Opportunities, Rebound, Retail investors, Russia, Savings, Sberbank, Stock market, Stocks, Ukraine
Forbes (April 27)
“The market capitalization of LVMH, the company chaired by the world’s richest person Bernard Arnault” reached $498 billion Thursday morning, surpassing “that of Tesla, the firm led by the world’s second-richest person Elon Musk.” The move came “as Arnault’s lead on Musk as the richest man extends to over $70 billion.”
Tags: $498 billion, $70 billion, Arnault, Chair, LVMH, Market-cap, Musk, Richest, Tesla
Financial Times (April 28)
“Deprived of investment opportunities abroad, Russians have piled their savings into the likes of Lukoil, Gazprom and Sberbank, which combined account for about 40 per cent of the stock market’s total value.” Marking a rebound, “Russia’s stock market has climbed to its highest level in more than a year as domestic retail investors with nowhere else to go snap up the dividend-paying stocks that sold off heavily following the invasion of Ukraine”.
Tags: 2022, Banking crisis, Bracing, Economy, Fears, Growth, Interest rates, Q1, Q4, Recession, Slowdown, U.S., Wall Street, Wobbled
Reuters (April 25)
The U.S. “standoff over the debt ceiling is a white swan, or an entirely predictable, very frequent event that has the potential to be as catastrophic as its darker sibling.” Arriving at the “deadline without a congressional fix would lead to a calamitous default,” which could “exacerbate the very risks that sparked last month’s bank failures.”
Tags: Bank failures, Calamitous, Catastrophic, Congressional fix, Deadline, Debt ceiling, Default, Exacerbate, Predictable, Risks, Standoff, U.S., White swan
Fortune (April 24)
“National governments are spending a record amount of money on defense and arms, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a more complicated geopoltical environment push countries to buy more military equipment.” All told, defense spending grew by 3.7% in 2002. Roughly “half of that increase was due to a 640% surge in military spending by Ukraine, as the country quickly expanded its armed forces to defend against the invasion.”
Tags: Arms, Complicated, Defense, Environment, Geopoltical, Governments, Military equipment, Record, Russia, Spending, Ukraine
BBC (April 24)
In the bank’s final quarterly results, Credit Swiss disclosed that nearly $69 billion was withdrawn by depositors during the first three months of 2023. Coming on the heels of a gaping loss in 2022 and forecast loss for 2023, the deposit withdrawal was part of the impetus behind “its forced sale to rival Swiss bank UBS.” The sale has “has angered taxpayers and shareholders of both banks, who were deprived of a vote on the takeover. Some have also argued it has damaged Switzerland’s global reputation as a financial centre.”
Tags: 2023, Banks, Credit Swiss, Damaged, Deposit, Depositors, Forecast, Loss, Quarterly results, Reputation, Shareholders, Switzerland, Takeover, Taxpayers, UBS, Withdrawn
Barron’s (April 21)
“Oil prices have given back almost all of the gains they made after OPEC and its allies surprised the market by agreeing to cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day starting in May. It’s a sign that the oil market is more focused on demand now, and doesn’t see enough evidence that countries are using more oil.”
Tags: Allies, Demand, Gains, Market, Oil prices, OPEC, Production, Surprised
Investment Week (April 21)
“Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and other US regional banks, as well as the turmoil around Credit Suisse, the banking sector has sat on wobbly ground in investors’ minds.” Depositors have “moved into treasuries and money market funds to avoid the risk that their bank could be next to fall.” As a result, the S&P Banks Select Industry index dropped 22.5% during March.
Tags: Banking sector, Collapse, Credit Suisse, Depositors, Investors, Money market funds, Regional banks, Risk, SVB, Treasuries, Turmoil, U.S., Wobbly
Wall Street Journal (April 20)
“When it comes to China, the U.S. and EU are largely now on the same page. “Europeans use milder language than Americans, saying they wish to ‘de-risk’ their economic relationship with China, not ‘decouple.’ But in substance, European de-risking and American decoupling look much the same. Indeed, Europe is erecting economic defenses against China that in some cases go further than the U.S.”
Tags: China, De-risk, Decouple, Economic defenses, Economic relationship, EU, Language, Milder, Same page, U.S.
