South China Morning Post (August 29)
According to Nomura Holdings, “the ongoing rally in Chinese stocks will do little to boost growth in the mainland’s economy, as equity investments account for a small portion of total household assets.” Only 1.3% of total household assets are in equities. In contrast, Chinese households have about 60% “of their wealth in the struggling property market.”
Tags: China, Economy, Equity, Growth, Household assets, Investments, Nomura, Property market, Rally, Stocks, Struggling, Wealth
Reuters (May 15)
“Equity investors took comfort from the lower duty rates, pushing the S&P 500 Index up 5% this week, to higher than where it started the year. Business leaders are clearly less impressed. Sustained gloom from industry titans like Walmart will keep pressure on the president to reconsider his own pricing power.” Though Walmart “is trying to hold the line on food even as the cost of bananas, coffee, avocados and flowers increases,” the retailer disclosed this week that “tariffs would force it to raise prices.”
Tags: Business leaders, Cost, Duty rates, Equity, Food, Gloom, Industry titans, Investors, Pressure, Pricing power, Raise prices, Reconsider, S&P 500, Tariffs, Walmart
New York Times (February 16)
“Fearing Trump, Wall Street sounds a retreat on diversity efforts.” Seemingly everybody is rushing to ensure “they don’t wind up in the cross hairs of the Trump administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion.” Among those scurrying away from DEI are “white-collar investment banks, consultancies, mutual funds and stock exchanges. The latest was Goldman Sachs, which said on Tuesday that it would drop a quota that forced corporate boards of directors to include women and members of minority groups.”
Tags: Consultancies, Corporate boards, Cross hairs, DEI, Directors, Diversity, Equity, Fear, Goldman Sachs, Inclusion, Investment banks, Minority groups, Mutual funds, Quota, Retreat, Stock exchanges, Trump, Wall Street, White collar, Women
Wall Street Journal (December 28)
“Corporate America pulled back on diversity programs in 2024 under pressure from activists.” The new year will bring greater challenges as the incoming Trump administration gears up “to end diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies.” Many corporates “still support diversity efforts, even if they avoid the term, bend to the demands of activists or try to sidestep skirmishes with Trump’s administration. CEOs also risk backlash among customers and employees.”
Tags: 2024, Activists, Backlash, CEOs, Corporate America, Customers, DEI, Demands, Diversity programs, Employees, Equity, Inclusion, Pressure, Sidestep, Trump administration
Fortune (September 18)
“Any prominent investor comparing China with Japan prior to its lost decades of stagnation ought to be alarming.” It’s even more alarming when it’s Ray Dalio, the founder of massive hedge fund, Bridgewater. Long known as China bull, he now “fears the property crisis in China has left local governments unable to service their debt by extracting equity through land sales” and that China’s economy now “faces problems as severe as Japan in 1990.”
Tags: Alarming, Bridgewater, China, Dalio, Debt, Economy, Equity, Founder, Hedge-fund, Investor, Japan, Local governments, Property crisis, Severe, Stagnation
Wall Street Journal (August 17)
“Volkswagen, GM and other big brands are losing their grip on a once-lucrative market as Chinese consumers embrace homegrown electric vehicles.” The issue is broad ranging. “Manufacturers from China’s Asian neighbors aren’t faring better… Toyota’s Chinese JV income fell 73% in the quarter through June compared with the same period of 2023, while Honda’s equity income was all but wiped out.” China is turning into “a money pit for foreign automakers.”
Tags: Big brands, China, Consumers, Equity, EVs, GM, Homegrown, Honda, Income, JV, Manufacturers, Market, Money pit, Once-lucrative, Toyota, Volkswagen
Financial Times (August 7)
The equity sell-off in the U.S. “could have triggered the unwinding of the carry trade, not the other way around. And the timing suggests this is what happened. The equity sell-off did not start in earnest until Friday of last week — two days after the BoJ raised rates, or after currency traders had time to digest the news.”
Tags: BOJ, Carry trade, Currency traders, Equity, Rates, Sell-off, Triggered, U.S., Unwinding
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.
