Investment Week (August 15)
“In the wake of political pushback and shifting corporate priorities, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in financial services has found itself at a crossroads…. Public commitments have dampened, budgets are under scrutiny, and sceptics question whether the industry’s progress is unravelling.” Especially in the United States, a growing number of firms are “scaling back or abandoning DEI initiatives altogether.” However, UK industry leaders believe “the narrative of decline does not tell the full story. While some organisations are quieter in their public statements, there remains evidence that internal commitment remains firm.”
Tags: Abandoning, Budgets, Commitment, Corporate priorities, Crossroads, Dampened, DEI initiatives, Financial services, Political pushback, Public commitments, Scaling back, Sceptics, Scrutiny, U.S., UK, Unravelling
Barron’s (August 14)
“Investors have typically penalized emerging markets such as Turkey, Argentina, and China due to concerns about the independence of the central bank, government intervention in the private sector, and rampant overspending.” Now these concerns are focused on “the U.S., which has historically been the paragon of a developed market.” Investors are reevaluating “the premium that U.S. assets have long commanded” and this could lead to “weaker long-run returns for stocks or, more immediately, higher bond yields and a continuation in the weakness of the dollar that has emerged this year.”
Tags: Argentina, Bond yields, Central bank, China, Developed market, Emerging markets, Government intervention, Independence, Investors, Overspending, Paragon, Penalized, Premium, Private-sector, Rampant, Reevaluating, Returns, Stocks, Turkey, U.S. assets
