New York Times (January 13)
“Critics of D.E.I., or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, have tried to scapegoat it for everything” of late. “The economy and political landscape have changed since 2020, when companies hired D.E.I. officers in droves amid a racial reckoning after the murder of George Floyd. Recently, D.E.I. programs have become less visible.” It may be rebranding, but “over the past two years, hiring for D.E.I. roles has plunged and the number of investor calls mentioning D.E.I. has dropped.”
Tags: 2020, Critics, D.E.I. officers, Diversity, Economy, Equity, Floyd, Hiring, Inclusion, Investor calls, Plunged, Racial, Rebranding, Scapegoat, Visible
New York Times (May 14)
Nearly three years after George Floyd’s murder prompted many companies to embrace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D.E.I.), “some companies are amending their approach to D.E.I., even renaming their departments to include ‘belonging.’ It’s the age of D.E.I.-B.”
Tags: Approach, Belonging, Companies, D.E.I.-B., Diversity, Equity, George Floyd, Inclusion, Murder, U.S.
Reuters (April 1)
“Global equity markets surged on Thursday, with U.S. and European benchmark indexes hitting record highs, as the strongest manufacturing data around the world in decades and a drop in bond yields drove investor optimism.” Support is strong with “multiple tailwinds— stimulus, expectations of record earnings, vaccines—driving stocks higher.”
Tags: Benchmark, Bond yields, Earnings, Equity, Europe, Global, Indexes, Investor, Manufacturing, Markets, Optimism, Stimulus, Surged, Tailwinds, U.S.
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
Institutional Investor (January 4)
Researchers have uncovered “striking evidence of pre-disclosure spikes in options trading.” They “investigated informed trading activity in equity options prior to firms’ cybersecurity breach disclosures. We found pervasive directional options activity, consistent with strategies that yield abnormal returns to investors with private information.” There is a clear “cost of disclosure, and delayed reporting of breaches creates informed trading opportunities.”
Tags: Breach, Cybersecurity, Equity, Evidence, Options, Options trading, Pre-disclosure, Researchers, Spikes
Financial Times (April 16)
“Sadly, it is quite possible that when we meet again we will be no better placed to face the unequal world in which we live. Yet it need not go that way. A concern with equity in crisis management would lessen suffering in many countries now, and offer new ideas to inspire us to build a less unequal world in the future. Since we are less than half way into the crisis, dare we hope this can still happen?”
Bloomberg (June 17)
“It’s no longer a question of whether China’s stock-market rally is a bubble, but when the bubble will burst That’s the refrain from a growing number of analysts as valuations climb to levels that by some measures already exceed the peak of China’s last equity mania in 2007.”
Tags: Analysts, Bubble, China, Equity, Rally, Stock market, Valuations
Investment Week (January 22, 2014)
“Investors are better off looking away from the US for their developed market equity exposure,” according to Cazenove Capital multi-manager Marcus Brookes who argues that U.S. stocks have gotten pricey and, contrary to popular belief, many U.S. companies have increased their leverage. “In the face of the cheap markets of Europe and Japan, I would much rather put my clients’ capital there because if it does go wrong it is a cheaper market.”
Tags: Capital, Cazenove Capital, Companies, Developed countries, Equity, Europe, Exposure, Investors, Japan, Leverage, Marcus Brookes, Markets, Pricey, Stocks, U.S.
Los Angeles Times (November 7)
With much talk of the growing wealth divide, it’s worth noting that “from 1776 to the present, the bottom 60% of the American population…has never had more than 11% of the country’s wealth. We may embrace the American dream of broad prosperity and wealth equity, but we have never been close to achieving it.”
Tags: Equity, Prosperity, U.S., Wealth
Bloomberg (February 4)
Japan is no longer the belle of the global investment ball, but not everyone’s counting her out. At a price-to-book value of 1.1, the Topix is trading at roughly half of 2006 levels. The Topix looks even cheaper compared to the S&P 500’s price-to-book ratio of 2.3. Balance sheets are generally strong and many are poised to prosper on growing demand from China. Goldman Sachs expects “corporate profits in Japan this year will approach 2007 highs.” Deutsche Bank is forecasting returns exceeding 20% for Japanese stocks in the first half of 2011 alone.
Japan is no longer the belle of the global investment ball, but not everyone’s counting her out. At a price-to-book value of 1.1, the Topix is trading at roughly half of 2006 levels. The Topix looks even cheaper compared to the S&P 500’s price-to-book ratio of 2.3. Balance sheets are generally strong and many are poised to prosper on growing demand from China. Goldman Sachs expects “corporate profits in Japan this year will approach 2007 highs.” Deutsche Bank is forecasting returns exceeding 20% for Japanese stocks in the first half of 2011 alone.
Tags: Deutsche Bank, Equity, Goldman Sachs, Investment, Japan
