Investment Week (May 9)
“BP’s latest plan to buy back $2.5bn of stock this quarter has pushed forecasts for FTSE 100 firm buybacks to be on track for a record high in 2022. FTSE 100 firms are now planning £37bn of share buybacks this year, compared to the prior record of £34.9bn in 2018.”
Investment Week (March 28)
Global dealmaking has dropped “to its lowest level since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic…. Just over $1trn of deals were struck in the first quarter of 2022, nearly a quarter less than the same period last year.” Primary factors behind slowing M&A activity appear to be “tougher regulations on both sides of the Atlantic, soaring inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Tags: 2022, COVID-19, Dealmaking, Global, Inflation, M&A, Outbreak, Pandemic, Q1, Regulation, Russia, Slowing, Soaring, Tougher, Ukraine, War
WARC (March Issue)
“The cost of search, social and retail media advertising grew by double digits in the final three months of 2021…. Search cost-per-click (CPC) saw the largest rise, increasing by 23% year on year to $0.71 in Q4 2021.” Moreover, the trend in rising “advertising spend and costs looks likely to continue in 2022.”
Tags: 2021, 2022, Advertising, Cost, CPC, Double digits, Media, Q4, Retail, Search, Social, Spend, Trend
New York Times (January 25)
“So far, 2022 is off to a rocky start for the stock market. Yesterday, after an initial plunge in which stocks dropped as much as 4 percent — the biggest one-day drop in nearly a year — the market rallied and ended the day with a slight gain.” There was no particularly market-moving news, but “the foundations supporting the market during the pandemic are looking less stable.”
Tags: 2022, Foundations, Gain, News, Pandemic, Plunge, Rallied, Rocky start, Stock market, Support
Bloomberg (January 7)
“This isn’t the way Xi Jinping wanted to start 2022. In Xi’an, China is witnessing its worst Covid outbreak since the virus emerged, and the ancient city has been locked down for two weeks battling the delta variant…. Any nationwide outbreak could raise questions about Covid Zero and its number one supporter: Xi Jinping.
Tags: 2022, China, Covid Zero, Delta, Locked down, Outbreak, Variant, Virus, Xi’an
LNG Industry (January 6)
“The world’s two largest economies–the US and Mainland China–are poised to be the world’s top export and import markets for LNG in 2022.” In 2021, the US placed third, behind Australia and Qatar, but “was the largest source of LNG supply growth in 2021.” China overtook Japan in 2021, marking “the first time since the early 1970s that Japan has not been the world’s largest LNG importer.”
Tags: 1970s, 2021, 2022, Australia, China, Export, Import, Japan, LNG, Markets, Qatar, Supply growth, Top, US
Wall Street Journal (January 6)
“Investors are bracing themselves for volatility in 2022. Easing supply chain snarls, potential interest rate increases and slowing growth in corporate earnings are all being closely watched. Contributing to the murky picture: a mixed economic recovery, complicated by the fast-moving Omicron variant of Covid-19, which is making it harder for investors to consider whether to readjust portfolios toward value stocks.”
Tags: 2022, COVID-19, Earnings, Growth, Interest rates, Investors, Murky, Omicron, Portfolio, Recovery, Slowing, Snarls, Supply chain, Variant, Volatility
Seeking Alpha (January 4)
“While analysts on Wall Street are confident the bull market will continue uninterrupted into 2022, there are more than enough risks to derail that market outlook. Importantly, none of these independently suggest a significant correction is imminent. However, the risk is that they will undermine the bullish ‘psychology’ of the market.”
Tags: 2022, Analysts, Bull market, Confident, Correction, Derail, Imminent, Market outlook, Risks, Undermine, Uninterrupted, Wall Street
Washington Post (October 2)
“The commercial pipeline that each year brings $1 trillion worth of toys, clothing, electronics and furniture from Asia to the United States is clogged and no one knows how to unclog it.” The median cost of container shipping *from China to the West Coast of the United States hit a record $20,586, almost twice what it cost in July, which was twice what it cost in January.” Supply chain problems are now “expected to last through 2022.”
Tags: 2022, Asia, China, Clogged, Clothing, Commercial, Container, Cost, Electronics, Furniture, Pipeline, Record, Shipping, Supply chain, Toys, U.S., West Coast
Reuters (January 29)
“Equity analysts are still counting on a speedy reopening. They expect the 1,585 companies included in the Global MSCI Index to report 6% higher net profit this year than they did in 2019, and 21% higher earnings in 2022.” Constituents are “still valued on an average multiple of 21 times this year’s forecast earnings, far above a long-term average of 16 times. With the path out of lockdowns looking uncertain, such exuberance is likely to end in disappointment.”
Tags: 2019, 2022, Analysts, Disappointment, Equity, Exuberance, Forecast earnings, Global MSCI, Lockdowns, Multiples, Profit, Reopening, Uncertain
