Financial Times (May 16)
“Japan’s Topix rose to its highest level in almost 33 years on Tuesday, boosted by a rally led by foreign investors. Buyers have been drawn to Tokyo stocks by potential improvements to corporate governance, a return to wage inflation and the perceived stability of the market compared with geopolitics-riven Chinese stocks.”
Tags: 33 years, Buyers, Corporate governance, Foreign investors, Japan, Market, Rally, Stability, Stocks, Tokyo, Topix, Wage inflation
Wall Street Journal (September 19)
“A few years ago, auto executives weren’t sure there would be enough buyers for plug-in electric models. Now, they worry they can’t build them fast enough, while they intensify a multibillion-dollar rush to accelerate timelines and bring factories online.” In July, EVs and PHEVs accounted for “five of the six fastest-selling vehicles in the U.S,” where EVs have tripled in vehicle share over the past two years as “sales of other types of vehicles have declined.” Waiting lists now exceed a year for new electric models at GM and Ford.
Tags: Accelerate, Auto executives, Buyers, EVs, Factories, Fast enough, Fastest-selling, GM, PHEVs, Rush, Share, Timelines, U.S., Vehicles, Waiting lists
Mansion Global (July 11)
“The market has cooled since June, when the Federal Reserve raised interest rates 0.75% to help curb inflation.” Housing inventory is rising, “finally giving buyers some options and negotiability with sellers.” As a result, “nearly 15% of home contracts in the U.S. were canceled in June,” which had approximately 60,000 cancellations. That’s up 12.7% over May and 11.2% year on year.
Tags: Buyers, Contracts, Cooled, Fed, Housing inventory, Inflation, Interest rates, June, Market, Negotiability, Options, Sellers, U.S.
Bloomberg (June 30)
“The Federal Reserve is cooling off the red-hot housing market as it fights to curb inflation by driving up interest rates.” The ensuing “housing slowdown is helping to solve the US real estate market’s most intractable problem: tight inventory.” New sellers are entering the market at a faster pace while there are “fewer buyers competing.” As a result, “the number of active US listings jumped 18.7% in June from a year earlier, the largest annual increase in data going back to 2017.”
Tags: Buyers, Cooling off, Fed, Housing market, Inflation, Interest rates, Intractable, Inventory, Listings, Real estate, Red-hot, Sellers, Slowdown, U.S.
Reuters (June 24)
“A scramble for lithium” is creating “new risks for electric-car makers. Breathtaking prices are prompting the industry to find new ways to secure the crucial battery ingredient,” often through “direct contracts with miners and refiners” with “options to buy 100% or more of a project’s planned production capacity.” Although “vertical integration is tempting when times are tough,” it can leave buyers overstretched and “dealmaking under duress makes miscalculations more likely.”
Tags: Battery, Breathtaking, Buyers, Capacity, Dealmaking, Duress, EVs, Lithium, Miners, Overstretched, Prices, Production, Refiners, Risks, Scramble, Vertical integration
Houston Chronicle (June 17)
“U.S. mortgage rates had their biggest one-week jump in 35 years…. The 30-year rate climbed from 5.23% last week to 5.78% this week, the highest its been since November of 2008 during the housing crisis.” This is likely to accelerate the trend as higher borrowing rates have already been cooling the housing market. “Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed for the third consecutive month in April as mortgage rates surged, driving up borrowing costs for would-be buyers as home prices soared.”
Tags: 2008, 30-year rate, 5.78%, Borrowing, Buyers, Home prices, Housing crisis, Jump, Mortgage rates, Sales, Soared, U.S.
Bloomberg (March 27)
“Prices for some of the world’s most pivotal products – foods, fuels, plastics, metals – are spiking beyond what many buyers can afford. That’s forcing consumers to cut back and, if the trend grows, may tip economies already buffeted by pandemic and war back into recession.”
Tags: Buffeted, Buyers, Consumers, Economies, Foods, Fuels, Metals, Pandemic, Plastics, Prices, Products, Spiking, Trend, War
Seattle Times (October 27)
“The world’s biggest buyers of commercial jets believe Boeing, which is set to report more heavy financial losses Wednesday, has fallen significantly below parity with rival Airbus — with limited options for recovery as it bleeds cash during the pandemic-driven aviation crisis.”
Tags: Airbus, Aviation, Bleeds, Boeing, Buyers, Cash, Commercial jets, Limited, Losses, Options, Pandemic, Parity, Recovery, Rival
Oil Price.com (October 18)
“An estimated 20 million barrels are destined to flow from Iran to China over the next few weeks, up from the usual 1 to 3 million barrels each month.” The Trump administration is unlikely to halt Iranian oil. Furtive shipments from Iran to India” also “demonstrate the limits of U.S. power.” Even after the November 4 deadline, “discounts, off-the-books shipments, bartering and other clandestine maneuvers should keep some Iranian oil flowing.” The deals are simply too “hard to pass up for would-be buyers.”
Tags: Buyers, China, Clandestine, Deadline, Discounts, Furtive, India, Iran, Oil, Shipments, Trump, U.S.
Institutional Investor (August 3)
“The major shift to passive fund management has increased the need for M&A” so that asset managers can “gain scale and survive increasing pressure” on client fees. The same shift, however, is also deterring potential buyers. “Mergers and acquisitions in the asset and wealth management industry declined in the second quarter,” with the number of deals falling by nearly a third from the first quarter.
Tags: Asset managers, Buyers, Fees, M&A, Passive fund management, Scale, Shift
