Reuters (February 28)
China’s housing market seems to be approaching a paradigm shift. “The broad idea is to create a two-tier system. Local governments will rent out or sell flats below market prices to most residents, including some 300 million Chinese migrant workers who live far away from their hometowns in the mainland. Upgraders and investors could settle for a smaller private residential market, where regulators meddle less.”
Tags: China, Flats, Housing market, Investors, Local governments, Market prices, Migrant workers, Paradigm shift, Regulators, Rent, Residential, Residents, Sell, Two-tier system
Time (February 28)
“South Korea set a fresh record for the world’s lowest fertility rate as the impact of the nation’s aging demographics looms large for its medical system, social welfare provision and economic growth.” The dearth of babies is considerably “speeding up the aging of South Korean society, generating concerns about the growing fiscal burden of public pensions and health care.”
Tags: Aging, Burden, Concerns, Demographics, Economic growth, Fertility rate, Medical system, Pensions, Record, Social welfare, South Korea
Fortune (February 26)
“Warren Buffett’s favorite Japanese trading houses climbed after he said in his letter to investors the companies follow shareholder-friendly policies that are ‘superior’” to those practiced in the U.S.” The famed “U.S. investor took up about a page of his 16-page annual letter to shareholders to discuss the Japanese firms” and his “renewed endorsement last year also supported overall confidence in the market.”
New York Times (February 24)
“Investors often see Berkshire as a bellwether of the American economy, given the breadth of its business.” Marking a sharp reversal from a $22 billion loss in 2022, the conglomerate recorded net earnings of $97.1 billion in 2023, “its highest-ever annual profit last year.” Moreover, “Berkshire also reported $37.4 billion in operating earnings, the financial metric that Mr. Buffett prefers because it excludes paper investment gains and losses, for the year, up 21 percent from 2022.”
Tags: 2022, 2023, Bellwether, Berkshire, Conglomerate, Economy, Investment gains, Investors, Loss, Net earnings, Operating earnings, Profit, Reversal, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (February 24)
“The West tried to cut off Russia’s economy in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. Two years later, Russia has engineered a wholesale rearrangement of its trade relationship with the world. Faced with punishing sanctions, it severed decadeslong connections with the West and deepened Moscow’s dependence on China and other sympathetic nations. The switch kept Russia’s military industry and civilian economy alive in the process.”
Institutional Investor (February 23)
“We found claims that impact funds must be concessionary — meaning investors give up some returns when they also pursue social goals — to be wrong. In fact, funds designed to solve some of society’s problems can produce returns comparable to non-impact funds and they can lower risks. Impact-aligned industries also can outperform others.”
Tags: Claims, Concessionary, Impact funds, Industries, Investors, Lower risks, Outperform, Returns, Social goals, Wrong
Financial Times (February 22)
“The benchmark Nikkei 225 index finally broke through its “iron coffin lid” to surpass its long-standing record 1989 closing price of 38,915 points, which was set when 15 of the world’s largest companies by market cap were Japanese. “The Nikkei has risen 16.6 per cent since the start of the year, making it the world’s best-performing major index, as a falling yen lures foreign investors” and strengthens the performance of exporters.”
Tags: 1989, 38, 915 points, Benchmark, Best-performing, Falling yen, Foreign investors, Index, Japan, Market-cap, Nikkei 225, Performance, Record, Surpass
Foreign Policy (February 20)
“Children born in the year of the dragon are considered lucky.” This is, however, unlikely to cause a bump” in China’s birthrate during 2024, which is “likely to see fewer births than any previous year of the dragon.” From 2011 (the last year of the dragon), the nation’s birthrate has dropped from 13.27 children to “just 6.39 children per 1,000 people” last year. The precipitous fall suggests “this year of the dragon may be a bit of a bust as people in China shy away from the soaring costs of child-rearing despite government propaganda pushing women to have more children and to stop working to raise them.”
Tags: Birthrate, Bump, Bust, Child-rearing, Children, China, Dragon, Fall suggests, Government, Lucky, Precipitous, Propaganda, Soaring costs, Women
Washington Post (February 20)
“As it stands today, even the most heralded investor activism has done next to nothing to move the needle…. Somehow activists missed that each share a green investor sells is purchased by somebody with lesser green credentials, less interest in climate change. This substitution could actually lead to more rather than fewer carbon emissions.”
Tags: Activists, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Green investor, Heralded, Investors, Sells, Share, Substitution
Bloomberg (February 19)
China’s Communist Party appears poised to “play a bigger role in steering its vast technology industry, the latest sign that Beijing intends to exert more influence over swathes of the world’s No. 2 economy.” In response, shares in the nation’s listed chipmakers “slid more than 2% as investors pondered the ramifications of greater state control, which has yielded mixed results so far.”
Tags: Beijing, China, Chipmakers, Communist party, Influence, Investors, Mixed results, No. 2 economy, Ramifications, Shares, State control, Steering. Technology industry
