The Guardian (August 21)
“A spate of recent statistics shows that the Chinese economy is faring poorly,” but the most worrying stat “is the one that we can’t see. The youth unemployment rate was suspended from the monthly economic data release, having reached a record 21.3% in June – suggesting not only that July was grimmer, but that improvement is not expected soon.”
Tags: 21.3%, China, Economic data, Economy, Grimmer, July, June, Record, Spate, Statistics, Suspended, Worrying, Youth unemployment rate
Wall Street Journal (August 18)
“A fraying electric grid is a nationwide problem,” with estimates suggesting over $700 billion “will need to be spent to replace aging transmission lines and maintain grid reliability” as 60% of “U.S. distribution lines have surpassed their 50-year life expectancy” and the “average age of large power transformers is 40 years, twice their planned life span.” Meanwhile, “grid upgrades to achieve the net-zero promised land” are estimated to “cost another $2.5 trillion by 2050.”
Tags: $2.5 trillion, 2050, Aging, Electric grid, Fraying, Grid reliability, Life expectancy, Nationwide problem, Net-zero, Power transformers, Transmission lines, U.S., Upgrades
CNN (August 18)
“The CNN Business Fear & Greed Index, which looks at seven indicators of market sentiment, is showing signs of fear on Friday for the first time since March. That’s a big change from just one month ago, when the index was in ‘extreme greed’ territory.” The culprit? “China’s economy is in trouble” and that “spells bad news for US stocks, and potentially for your portfolio.”
Tags: Big change, China, Culprit, Economy, Extreme greed, Fear & Greed Index, March, Market sentiment, Portfolio, Stocks, Trouble, U.S.
New York Times (August 17)
“The political fight over environmental, social and governance investing continues in corporate America,” though opponents appear to be “making little headway in the boardroom.” During the first six months of 2023, Morningstar “tracked 43 anti-E.S.G. shareholder proposals,” finding that “on average they received only 7 percent support, compared with more than 30 percent across all proposals.”
Tags: 2023, Anti-E.S.G., Boardroom, Environmental, Governance, Headway, Investing, Morningstar, Political fight, Shareholder proposals, Social, U.S.
Reuters (August 17)
“Headline inflation in the euro zone has halved in the past nine months and was 5.3% in July. But that’s not good enough for ECB hardliners. They want to see the core number, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, come down sharply before putting an end to the unprecedented climb in the bloc’s interest rates. That measure is falling more slowly and was running at 5.5% in July.” The ECB obsession over core inflation increases the “risk of policy mistake.”
Tags: 5.3%, Alcohol, Core, ECB hardliners, Energy, Euro zone, Food, Headline, Inflation, Interest rates, July, Obsession, Policy mistake, Risk, Tobacco
Institutional Investor (August 14)
“A public market downturn and an abundant supply of private equity stakes have culminated in an unmissable opportunity for secondaries investors.” Favorable “supply/demand imbalances and market dynamics” have arisen due to “the dramatic outperformance of private equity thanks to lagged marks and flat or marginally down valuations in 2022,” causing “asset owners to become overweight PE as public equity markets declined materially.” Pensions, endowments, foundations and other asset owners have become “forced sellers of private equity stakes to return to their strategic weights,” and “because of illiquidity, overhang, supply/demand imbalance, and forced selling, buyers require a material discount to transact.”
Tags: Asset owners, Discount, Downturn, Endowments, Forced selling, Foundations, Illiquidity, Imbalances, Market dynamics, Opportunity, Outperformance, Overhang, Overweight, Pensions, Private equity, Secondaries investors, Supply, Valuations
New York Times (August 13)
“Across the country, a profound shift is taking place that is nearly invisible to most Americans. The nation that burned coal, oil and gas for more than a century to become the richest economy on the planet, as well as historically the most polluting, is rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels.” The energy transition is further along in other places like Europe, but “the United States is catching up, and globally, change is happening at a pace that is surprising even the experts who track it closely.”
Tags: Coal, Economy, Energy transition, Europe, Fossil fuels, Gas, Invisible, Oil, Pace, Planet, Polluting, Profound shift, Richest, Surprising, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (August 12)
“The political world has finally awakened to China’s economic woes…. The evidence has been building for years that much of China’s economic growth was a debt-inflated bubble, and this week another Chinese property developer defaulted on some of its debt.”
Tags: Awakened, Bubble, China, Debt-inflated, Defaulted, Economic woes, Evidence, Growth, Political world, Property developer
Institutional Investor (August 11)
“China’s waning role as the world’s factory means it’s time for emerging market investors to find opportunities elsewhere…. China’s manufacturing sector is so big that even a slight shift in manufacturing activity away from the country would greatly benefit other emerging market economies.”
Tags: Benefit, China, Emerging market economies, Investors, Manufacturing sector, Opportunities, Waning, World’s factory
Reuters (August 10)
“The United States may be over the hump on inflation, but consumers aren’t acting like it. Spending is growing at the same pace as last year, and most Americans expect their finances to either stay the same or get worse…. Lingering restraint will stretch the power of price elasticity to its limits.”
Tags: Consumers, Finances, Growing, Hump, Inflation, Limits, Lingering, Pace, Price elasticity, Restraint, Spending, Stretch, U.S., Worse
