Bloomberg (May 19)
“Japanese stocks extended gains, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average reaching its highest in nearly 33 years, as optimism the US will avoid default added to bullish sentiment that has fueled one of the world’s best equity rallies of 2023.”
Tags: Equity rallies
Institutional Investor (May 18)
“In an effort to raise much-needed cash, more private companies are spinning off non-core businesses. And private equity firms are eagerly buying. Forty-nine percent of corporate M&A professionals at private companies say they are likely to spin off a non-core division in 2023,” forty percent expect “to sell one to two businesses this year, while 7.5 percent say they are likely to pursue three to four divestitures.”
Tags: ” Divestitures, 2023, Cash, Effort, M&A, Non-core businesses, Private equity, Spin off
Investment Week (May 18)
“Interest in ESG investing has waned among UK investors, with less than half now prioritising ESG investments over maximising returns.” A recent survey by Charles Schwab UK “found that since 2021, the number of investors who consider ESG when making new investments has fallen from 44% to 38%” while those placing sustainable investing over returns fell from 55% to 47%.
Tags: 2021, ESG investing, ESG investments, Interest, Investors, Returns, Schwab, Sustainable Returns, UK investors, Waned
Investments and Pensions Europe (May 18)
“We’re now about half way through peak voting season in Europe and North America, which tends to take place between April and June.” Companies are fielding both a high volume and range of proposals. “At Amazon alone, there are 18 shareholder proposals going to vote in 2023, ranging from requests for human rights audits on its technology, through to disclosure around animal welfare issues.”
Tags: Amazon, Animal welfare, Disclosure, Europe, Human rights audits, North America, Peak, Range, Shareholder proposals, Technology, Volume, Voting season
BBC (May 17)
“There’s now a 66% chance we will pass the 1.5C global warming threshold between now and 2027. The chances are rising due to emissions from human activities and a likely El Niño weather pattern.” This would not necessarily mean that “the Paris limit had been broken,” especially if the temperature falls back under the threshold in subsequent years. “Scientists say there is still time to restrict global warming by cutting emissions sharply.”
Tags: 1.5C, 2027, Broken, El Niño, Emissions, Global warming, Human activities, Paris limit, Scientists, Temperature, Threshold, Weather pattern
Financial Times (May 16)
“Japan’s Topix rose to its highest level in almost 33 years on Tuesday, boosted by a rally led by foreign investors. Buyers have been drawn to Tokyo stocks by potential improvements to corporate governance, a return to wage inflation and the perceived stability of the market compared with geopolitics-riven Chinese stocks.”
Tags: 33 years, Buyers, Corporate governance, Foreign investors, Japan, Market, Rally, Stability, Stocks, Tokyo, Topix, Wage inflation
New York Times (May 14)
Nearly three years after George Floyd’s murder prompted many companies to embrace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D.E.I.), “some companies are amending their approach to D.E.I., even renaming their departments to include ‘belonging.’ It’s the age of D.E.I.-B.”
Tags: Approach, Belonging, Companies, D.E.I.-B., Diversity, Equity, George Floyd, Inclusion, Murder, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (May 12)
“Job satisfaction hit a 36-year high in 2022, reflecting two effects of the tight pandemic labor market: The quality of jobs improved as wages and work flexibility increased, and workers moved into positions that were a better fit.” The Conference Board found that worker satisfaction increased from 56.8% in 2020 to 62.3% in 2022.”
Tags: 2022, Conference Board, Flexibility, Job satisfaction, Labor market, Pandemic, Quality, Wages, Work
Bloomberg (May 12)
“The euro short-term rate, or ESTR, is currently 10.5 basis points below the central bank’s deposit rate, which is at its highest in 15 years. That’s close to the biggest gap on record…. It’s a sign the ECB’s aggressive rate hikes aren’t rippling out to banks and the economy, making it much harder for the central bank to meet its 2% inflation target.”
Tags: Aggressive, Banks, Deposit rate, ECB, Economy, ESTR, euro, Gap, Inflation target, Rate hikes, Record, Rippling out
Washington Post (May 11)
The EPA is proposing “the tightest limits ever on power plants’ planet-warming pollution” in order “to meet President Biden’s pledge to halve U.S. emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.” The proposal “would encourage gas- and coal-fired plants nationwide to meet tighter emission-reductions standards by either closing or adopting technology to run cleaner, accelerating one of the fastest transitions underway in energy.”
Tags: Biden, Cleaner, Coal-fired plants, Emission reductions, Emissions, Energy, EPA, Gas, Pledge, Pollution, Technology, Transitions, U.S.
