Bloomberg (November 10)
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) proved no match for the zero lower bound. “The Bank of Japan’s recent quarterly report says, in effect, that the central bank has done all it can do to raise growth and inflation, and that fiscal policy needs to step in and help.” The BoJ already “owns more than half of the ETF shares in the whole country” and is estimated to soon “be the biggest shareholder in 55 of the 225 companies in the Nikkei index.” Other central banks will follow Japan’s retreat. “The era of bold monetary policy experimentation that began with the global financial crisis is now drawing to a close.”
Tags: BOJ, Central banks, ETF, Fiscal policy, Global financial crisis, Growth, Inflation, Monetary policy, Nikkei, Shareholder, Zero lower bound
Wall Street Journal (November 9)
“Donald J. Trump’s unlikely defeat of Hillary Clinton is a political earthquake of a kind that rarely disturbs American politics.” The President-Elect “will now need to pick smart advisers and show generosity in victory” as he “lacks political experience” and his “convictions on public policy are especially elusive.” He has “a chance to succeed if he follows through on his pledge to prioritize the economic growth that creates jobs and lifts incomes for all Americans.” He will need to “govern differently than he campaigned.” He will need to “discover a more optimistic and inclusive politics. Or so we can hope, if only for comity and the good of the country.”
Tags: Advisers, Clinton, Convictions, Earthquake, Experience, Generosity, Growth, Inclusive, Incomes, Jobs, Optimistic, Policy, Trump, U.S., Victory
Time (October 26)
“The approval of Heathrow’s extension risks being not a symbol of Britain’s openness to global investment, but a reminder that the country is frequently hamstrung by turgid, centralized bureaucracy, deficient planning laws that act as a brake on growth, and a thornily complicated legal system that can bind up investors in court for decades.” Though the British Government approved expansion of Heathrow Airport, this is just the beginning of the process, which still requires a vote of Parliament next year and subsequent approvals from various governmental bodies. The earliest construction start for the new runway is 2021, with most experts agreeing 2030 is realistic for completion. Some, however, “think it may never be built, that the roadblocks in its way are insurmountable.”
Tags: Approval, Bureaucracy, Extension, Growth, Hamstrung, Heathrow, Investment, Openness, Parliament, Planning laws, UK
Wall Street Journal (October 19)
“China’s economic data are so consistent they’re hard to believe.” China’s 6.7% third-quarter growth was “perfectly in line with official targets and precisely as claimed in quarters one and two, a feat of consistency never before achieved. This is a reminder that China’s statistics remain fundamentally political.”
Tags: China, Consistent, Economic data, Growth, Political, Statistics, Targets
Institutional Investor (September 19)
“A sense of dissonance” is overcoming global markets, according to the Bank for International Settlements. “Falling bond yields are normally associated with subdued growth…yet stock markets around the world have rallied even as corporate profitability has lagged.” Furthermore, the ten-year yield on many major sovereigns is “running well below the nominal rate of growth in gross domestic product, breaking a 65-year pattern in which the two have tracked each other closely.”
Tags: Bank for International Settlements, Bond yields, Dissonance, GDP, Global markets, Growth, Profitability, Sovereigns, Stock markets
Institutional Investor (September 12)
“Weak markets and worries about growth are putting pressure on fund managers across Asia. Chinese stocks barely began recovering from the summer 2015 meltdown before taking another hit earlier this year, while investors in Japan turned bearish on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies as growth slowed.”
Tags: Abe, Asia, Bearish, China, Fund managers, Growth, Investors, Japan, Markets, Meltdown, Pressure, Weak
Wall Street Journal (August 23)
“Robots are coming. Don’t worry, be happy. It’s the path to growth and higher living standards.” Despite the gloom of some prognosticators, very few jobs can be entirely replaced by robots. Many, however, can be enhanced by robots, freeing humans up for higher level activities. “Workers are augmented, not replaced. Salesmen with Google Maps, realtors with 3-D home views, carpenters with laser tape measures. Doctors doing robot assisted minimally invasive surgery.”
Tags: Carpenters, Doctors, Gloom, Growth, Living standards, Prognosticators, Robots, Salesmen, Workers
Bloomberg (July 25)
“With a young population, an expanding middle class and one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies, Vietnam is an alluring market for Aeon, Takashimaya Co. and Seven & i Holdings Co. The reason: China is slowing and growth is flat-lining at home.”
Tags: Aeon, China, Economies, Fastest-growing, Growth, Japan, Market, Middle class, Population, Seven & i, Southeast Asia, Takashimaya, Vietnam, Young
Financial Times (July 14)
“Before Nintendo shareholders get too excited, they should examine the reality.” As the Pokémon Go craze grows, “Nintendo’s shares have risen by 50 per cent in a week on hopes Pokémon Go can rescue the company from dependence on lacklustre consoles such as the Wii U, and propel it into a world of growth in casual games on smart devices.” The investors need to “calm down” as there are still challenges ahead for Nintendo.
Tags: Console, Craze, Dependence, Excited, Growth, Investors, Lackluster, Nintendo, Pokémon Go, Reality, Rescue, Shareholders, Shares, Wii U
Wall Street Journal (June 15)
The yield on 10-year German bunds turned negative, a new low. “This is good for governments that want to finance spending on the cheap, but it’s not so good for the private risk-taking that drives economic growth. Negative interest rates reflect a lack of confidence in options for private investment. They also discourage savings that can be invested in profitable ventures. A negative 10-year bond is less a sign of monetary wizardry than of economic policy failure.”
Tags: Bunds, Confidence, Finance, Germany, Governments, Growth, Investment, Negative interest, Options, Risk-taking, Savings, Spending, Yield
