Investment Week (September 12)
“Over the summer, the FTSE 100, S&P 500, Nasdaq and Japan’s main equity indices enjoyed record highs. Usually, you would think that this was great news…. But, instead, investors are pouring out of funds, as the background noise ratchets up ever higher.” Investor confidence has tumbled “across all global markets, with the biggest hit coming in North America.”
Tags: Confidence, Equity indices, FTSE 100, Funds, Global markets, Investors, Japan, Nasdaq, Noise, North America, S&P 500, Tumbled
Reuters (May 13)
“With scars from a post-Ukraine energy security crisis fresh, oil prices around $80 a barrel, and central banks’ rate hikes reducing the value of long-term businesses like offshore wind, investors have already voted with their feet. Shell’s share price has risen by a third since 2023, while the benchmark FTSE 100 Index only gained 16% during the same period. Morningstar recorded net outflows globally from sustainable investing in the fourth quarter.”
Tags: 80, Barrel, Benchmark, Central banks, Crisis, Energy security, FTSE 100, Investors, Morningstar, Offshore wind, Oil prices, Outflows, Rate hikes, Share price, Shell, Ukraine, Value, Voted
Investment Week (May 9)
“BP’s latest plan to buy back $2.5bn of stock this quarter has pushed forecasts for FTSE 100 firm buybacks to be on track for a record high in 2022. FTSE 100 firms are now planning £37bn of share buybacks this year, compared to the prior record of £34.9bn in 2018.”
Financial Times (January 8)
With a $3 trillion valuation, Apple “is worth more than the entire FTSE 100 index—highlighting the malaise of what was long one of the world’s leading stock markets.” In a decade and a half, the LSE’s “share of global equity values has fallen from 8.5 per cent to 3.6 per cent.”
Tags: $3 trillion, Apple, Fallen, FTSE 100, Global equity values, Leading, LSE, Malaise, Stock markets, Valuation
Fortune (January 4)
“By the end of the first three working days of the year, the U.K.’s top bosses will each have earned on average as much as a typical worker will take home in all of 2018, according to a report. While the difference in compensation appears stark, it narrowed slightly compared with the previous year.” Studies show “earnings for CEOs in the U.K.’s benchmark FTSE 100 dropped by a fifth in 2016 to 4.5 million pounds ($5.4 million)” and that the CEO-to-worker pay ratio stood at around 120 to 1, much lower than the 347 to 1 of S&P 500 companies.
Financial Times (February 23)
In the UK, just 12.5% of FTSE 100 board positions are filled by women. Lord Davies is recommending the government take measures to double this figure by 2015. The measures will likely be non-binding, rather than the rigid quota systems adopted by Norway, France and Spain. The Financial Times urges companies to “take voluntary targets seriously,” calling on the chairmen of all-male boards to “explain in their annual report why they find this acceptable” and on investors to “press male, middle-aged boards.”
In the UK, just 12.5% of FTSE 100 board positions are filled by women. Lord Davies is recommending the government take measures to double this figure by 2015. The measures will likely be non-binding, rather than the rigid quota systems adopted by Norway, France and Spain. The Financial Times urges companies to “take voluntary targets seriously,” calling on the chairmen of all-male boards to “explain in their annual report why they find this acceptable” and on investors to “press male, middle-aged boards.”
