Forbes (March 15)
“As the Bank of Japan mulls its biggest policy pivot in roughly 25 years, no major economy may benefit more than China,” helping to counter the headwinds zooming China’s way.” Hoping to supplant the dollar as the global currency, China is hesitant to devalue its own currency. Yet, “for China, falling prices will just further undermine business and household confidence. It’s here where a rising yen could counter the headwinds zooming China’s way. And make China the real winner as the BOJ calls it quits on QE next week.”
Tags: BOJ, Business, China, Confidence, Devalue, Dollar, Falling, Global currency, Headwinds, Household, Major economy, Policy pivot, Prices, Rising yen, Undermine
Investment Week (June 28)
“Confidence in the UK meeting its legally-binding decarbonisation targets from 2030 onwards has fallen ‘markedly’, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has today warned in a landmark report that delivers a damning verdict on the paucity of new climate action from the government over the past 12 months.” The report concludes “the government now faces a huge uphill challenge to attract the necessary green investment and get decarbonisation progress back on track this decade so as to ensure legally binding emissions targets are met.”
Tags: 2030, CCC, Climate action, Confidence, Decarbonisation, Emissions targets, Government, Green investment, Legally-binding, UK, Uphill
Reuters (March 11)
“Nearly three years with no U.S. bank failures just came to an unseemly end.” The FDIC took Silicon Valley Bank into receivership “after a slide in deposits and a hasty capital raising failed to restore confidence. By acting quickly, regulators have stopped one crisis, but may have laid the groundwork for more.”
Tags: Bank, Capital raising, Confidence, Deposits, Failures, FDIC, Hasty, Receivership, Regulators, Silicon Valley Bank, Slide, U.S., Unseemly
Forbes (October 18)
“Home builder confidence plunged for a tenth straight month in October as rising interest rates continued to weaken housing demand—prompting economists to warn an unexpected rise in new home sales last month may be short-lived and prices may be on the brink of collapse.”
Tags: Confidence, Economists, Home builder, Home sales, Housing demand, Interest rates, October, Plunged, Rising, Weaken
The Guardian (September 27)
“Turmoil in financial markets which saw the pound fall to a record low against the dollar dominates today’s front pages. The currency tumbled as investors lost confidence in the UK’s public finances after last Friday’s mini-budget.”
Tags: Confidence, Currency, Dollar, Dominates, Financial markets, Investors, Pound, Public finances, Record low, Tumbled, Turmoil, UK
Washington Post (May 27)
“The Games should continue because the world needs an example that life can be normal again. The Summer Olympics are virtually the only event that truly unites the globe in friendship….The burst of global confidence that can arise from a successful Olympics is incalculable.”
Tags: Confidence, Event, Friendship, Globe, Incalculable, Normal, Successful, Summer Olympics, Unites
BBC (September 16)
America’s standing in the world has tumbled to “its lowest point in nearly two decades.” The most recent Pew Research Center poll of 13 countries found that only 34% of respondents had positive views of the U.S. and only 16% had confidence in President Trump. Interestingly the Belgians had the lowest confidence in Mr. Trump (just 9%) while “the president’s highest rating among the countries polled was in Japan, where a quarter of those surveyed said they trusted Mr Trump.”
Tags: Belgians, Confidence, Lowest, Pew Research, Positive, Standing, Trump, Tumbled, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (November 4)
“Humble CEOs don’t inspire much confidence among financial analysts—but that might be good news for people who invest in the CEOs’ companies.” According to a recent study, “analysts tend to significantly underestimate the earnings potential of companies run by humble chief executive officers. That leads to artificially low earnings forecasts from the analysts, which the firms can then more easily meet or beat.” On average, this “humble discount” results “in at least a 7% increase in total shareholder returns annually.”
Tags: Analysts, Beat, CEOs, Confidence, Discount, Earnings forecasts, Earnings potential, Humble, Inspire, Shareholder returns, Underestimate
Reuters (October 18)
“The prospect of Aramco selling a piece of itself has had Wall Street on tenterhooks since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first flagged it three years ago.” But it looks like the IPO will again be delayed, possibly until next year, to “bolster investor confidence” by reassuring them of the company’s recovery from recent attacks. The sought-after $2 trillion valuation remains in question as “countries have been accelerating efforts to shift away from fossil fuels to curb global warming.”
Tags: Aramco, Confidence, Fossil fuels, Investors, IPO, MBS, Recovery, Valuation, Wall Street
Wall Street Journal (September 16)
“Economic activity in China cooled further in August.” Economists had expected a rebound from the troughs of July. Instead, “softness was visible last month in nearly every aspect of the Chinese economy, with industrial output and retail sales data pointing to sluggish demand and low confidence among businesses and consumers.”
Tags: August, China, Confidence, Consumers, Demand, Economy, Industrial output, Retail sales, Sluggish, Softness, Troughs