Wall Street Journal (January 27)
“Beijing’s decision to stop propping up stock prices is a positive sign that leaders are getting serious about reforming its markets. The expected appointment of Chongqing Mayor Huang Qifan, one of China’s most prominent free-marketeers, to oversee regulators would restore confidence once the market finds its real floor.”
Tags: Beijing, Chongqing, Confidence, Huang Qifan, Markets, Reform, Regulators, Stock prices
Institutional Investor (December 1)
A crackdown in China on the securities industry “is shaking confidence.” The crackdown includes “the disappearance of a top brokerage executive” who many presume has been removed for questioning. These and other events are “fueling worries that President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on alleged abuses in the securities industry is turning into a campaign against political rivals.”
Tags: Abuses, Brokerage executive, China, Confidence, Crackdown, Disappearance, Political rivals, Securities industry, Xi Jinping
The Economist (October 31)
“Bitcoin’s shady image causes people to overlook the extraordinary potential of the ‘blockchain,’ the technology that underpins it.” Blockchain technology “lets people who have no particular confidence in each other collaborate without having to go through a neutral central authority” and Bitcoin’s innovation carries a significance stretching far beyond cryptocurrency. This “machine for creating trust” could eliminate the need (and cost) for institutions like banks and clearing houses that handle many existing transactions.
Tags: Authority, Banks, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Clearing houses, Confidence, Cryptocurrency, Innovation, Potential, Significance, Technology, Transactions
Financial Times (August 20)
“Capital is cascading out of emerging markets as investors, companies and financial institutions lose confidence in developing countries… If the cycle cannot be arrested, the risk is that a growth slump in developing countries—which account for 52 per cent of global gross domestic product in purchasing power parity terms—could pull the wider world into recession.”
Tags: Capital, Confidence, Developing countries, Emerging markets, Financial institutions, GDP, Growth slump, Investors, Recession, Risk
New York Times (January 5)
“Suddenly, or so it seems, the U.S. economy is looking better. Things have been looking up for a while, but at this point the signs of improvement — job gains, rapidly growing G.D.P., rising public confidence — are unmistakable.”
Tags: Confidence, Economy, G.D.P., Growth, Improvement, Job gains, U.S.
USA Today (December 26)
“America has much to be cocky about.” It has frequently been the world leader “and its entrepreneur-driven economy is again the envy of the world.” Nevertheless, the U.S. is plagued by “fear and anxiety. If you didn’t know better, you’d think this was a nation of wimps.” Whether it’s ebola or terrorism, today’s outsized fears “need to be tempered. The world’s greatest and most powerful nation deserves people who exhibit backbone and have the confidence to live by their principles.”
Tags: Anxiety, Backbone, Confidence, Ebola, Economy, Entrepreneur, Fear, Leader, Terrorism, U.S., Wimps
New York Times (December 20)
“The vision of two separate states, with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace” is proving elusive despite “years of arduous negotiations to solve the Middle East conflict.” As confidence wanes in the realizability of a two-state solution, it may be the time to consider alternatives.
Tags: Alternatives, Confidence, Conflict, Elusive, Israel, Middle East, Negotiations, Palestine, Peace, Two-state solution
Euromoney (September Issue)
“The recovery of the global real estate market from the devastating toll inflicted by the financial crisis is continuing to gather pace, with investment almost back to 2008 levels and growing confidence fueling increased risk appetite.”
Institutional Investor (August 12)
“Disappointing sentiment data and continued conflict in eastern Ukraine” are leading to investor apprehension. “Slowing production levels and low inflation appear to leave the door open for European Central Bank intervention but political support for action from European Union leaders is still far from consensus. With a strong correlation between primary global equity indexes that has been noted by multiple strategists in recent sessions, deteriorating investor confidence in Europe is likely to cast a shadow over U.S. equity markets in the near term.”
Tags: Confidence, Conflict, Consensus, Disappointing, ECB, Equities, EU, Inflation, Intervention, Investors, Production, Sentiment, U.S., Ukraine
Bloomberg (July 29)
We need to treat climate change like fire. “You insure your house against fire not because you are certain it will burn down but to guard against the risk that it might. Yes, climate change involves various costs known with reasonable confidence—but it also creates big risks. It’s only rational to insure against them.
Tags: Climate change, Confidence, Costs, Fire, Insurance, Rational, Risk
