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Washington Post (September 12)

2023/ 09/ 13 by jd in Global News

“After decades of relying on the U.S. security umbrella, many European policymakers are aware that an investment in Ukraine’s security is a down payment on their own. Their efforts are accelerating, but not fast enough to negate the potentially catastrophic fallout of a U.S. withdrawal.”

 

Investment & Pensions Europe (September Edition)

2023/ 09/ 04 by jd in Global News

“Continental Europe appears to have largely escaped the trend known in the US as the ‘Great Retirement Boom’, where an economically comfortable cohort of 50 to 64-year-olds has retreated from work in the post-COVID period.” In contrast, labour market participation in the EU is increasing among the over-55s and “the EU expects the proportion of economically active over-55s to continue increasing, reaching around 72% by 2040.”

 

New York Times (August 13)

2023/ 08/ 15 by jd in Global News

“Across the country, a profound shift is taking place that is nearly invisible to most Americans. The nation that burned coal, oil and gas for more than a century to become the richest economy on the planet, as well as historically the most polluting, is rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels.” The energy transition is further along in other places like Europe, but “the United States is catching up, and globally, change is happening at a pace that is surprising even the experts who track it closely.”

 

Bloomberg (June 17)

2023/ 06/ 18 by jd in Global News

“European central bankers’ price stability mission is on a collision course with the goal of combating climate change, unless they change their ways.” Ultimately, the ECB may have to institute a special category of green lending to solve what appears to be an irresolvable dilemma. “The transition to a lower-carbon economy may fuel inflation — but raising interest rates in response to that could hinder investment in cleaner energy. So monetary policy and efforts to save the planet risk working against each other, casting a shadow over the prevailing consumer-price-targeting philosophy of the past three decades.”

 

Investments and Pensions Europe (May 18)

2023/ 05/ 18 by jd in Global News

“We’re now about half way through peak voting season in Europe and North America, which tends to take place between April and June.” Companies are fielding both a high volume and range of proposals. “At Amazon alone, there are 18 shareholder proposals going to vote in 2023, ranging from requests for human rights audits on its technology, through to disclosure around animal welfare issues.”

 

Washington Post (March 9)

2023/ 03/ 10 by jd in Global News

European leaders may “attest to a continent fully awakened to the reality of the war. But the truth is that Europe has not taken its defense seriously before now, and it cannot be strategically ‘autonomous’ until it does.” Home to 450 million people with a $17 trillion GDP, defense spending in excess of $200 billion annually, the EU needs to get its act together. “A strong, autonomous Europe benefits the United States as much as it does Europe itself: Partners working in tandem present a more formidable front against any military threat.”

 

Reuters (February 20)

2023/ 02/ 21 by jd in Global News

“Europe, which was late to appreciate the danger posed by Putin, won’t quickly forget the lesson even if he goes.” National defense budgets are being hiked and “Europe will be paying more for its protection for years to come,” not to mention bearing costs related to supporting and rebuilding Ukraine. Still, “these costs pale by comparison with a scenario where Putin had triumphed in Ukraine. In that case Europe would now be worrying how to protect the Baltic States and Poland from his aggression. Yet even a Russia weakened by a year of war and sanctions remains a problem for Europe.”

 

Financial Times (February 19)

2023/ 02/ 20 by jd in Global News

The Bank of Japan’s “ultra-loose policy is now on a somewhat pre-determined path — towards (if not quite through) the exit door.” The impact of investment flows retreating to Japan may be “most significant for the US Treasury market, where Japan is the largest single foreign holder.” But Japanese investors also hold sizeable market shares “in Australia, New Zealand and parts of western Europe. A shift in policy under Ueda will matter not just for Japan, but for pockets of global debt markets, too.”

 

The Economist (February 2)

2023/ 02/ 04 by jd in Global News

The decisive election of Petr Pavel as the new president of the Czech Republic shows that “all is not lost for the centrist liberal consensus” and also indicates that populism in Europe is, at last, “losing its mojo.” Pavel’s win “marks another blow for the narrative of European politics shifting inexorably to extremes.”

 

Pensions & Investments (February 2)

2023/ 02/ 03 by jd in Global News

“Money managers in Europe still expect the U.K. economy to contract, despite the Bank of England’s latest 50-basis-point rate hike and a more subdued inflation forecast.”

 

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