Financial Times (May 9)
To increase market access and streamline operations, “many of the world’s largest financial exchanges are transforming the way they run global capital markets” by adopting cloud computing technologies. CME Group “will move its IT infrastructure and markets to the cloud” through a partnership with Google while “Nasdaq and Amazon Web Services announced a similar collaboration” to transfer Nasdaq’s “North America-based markets to a cloud computing environment.” As the transition progresses, AI and quantum computing look poised to play more integral roles.
Tags: AI, AWS, Capital markets, Cloud computing, CME Group, Collaboration, Financial exchanges, Global, Google, IT infrastructure, Market access, Markets, Nasdaq, Operations, Streamline, Transforming
Reuters (May 6)
As criticism mounts, both domestically and overseas, the Chinese Communist Party has come out forcefully to “fight any comment or action that distorted, doubted or repudiated its COVID policy.” It stresses that “relaxing COVID controls… would lead to large-scale infections.” The People’s Daily newspaper even used an editorial to dispute “accusations China’s COVID policy was disrupting global economy and trade.”
Tags: Accusations, CCP, Controls, COVID policy, Criticism, Disrupting, Distorted, Economy, Fight, Global, Infections, People's Daily, Repudiated, Trade
CNN Business (April 17)
“Nearly 400 million people across 45 cities in China are under full or partial lockdown as part of China’s strict zero-Covid policy.” Collectively, they contribute $7.2 trillion, nearly 40%, of China’s GDP. “Analysts are ringing warning bells, but say investors aren’t properly assessing how serious the global economic fallout might be from these prolonged isolation orders.”
Tags: $7.2 trillion, 400 million, 45 cities, Analysts, China, Economic fallout, GDP, Global, Investors, Isolation, Lockdown, Strict, Warning bells, Zero-Covid policy
WARC (April 14)
Marketing spend is set to grow across all 15 major types of media. “Social media sees the largest net budget increase, at +53%, while print and AM/FM radio see the smallest net budget increase, but still at +13%.” Taken as a whole, “WARC Data forecasts global advertising spend to grow by 12.5% this year.”
Tags: Advertising, AM/FM, Budget, Data, Forecasts, Global, Increase, Marketing, Media, Print, Radio, Social media, Spend, WARC
Financial Times (April 4)
The Tokyo Stock Exchange received its “biggest overhaul in 60 years,” and left many unimpressed. “The exchange is now divided into three sections—prime, standard and growth,” but “domestic and global investors said the streamlining effort was a squandered opportunity.” Prime section market cap was set at only ¥10 billion while investors had hoped for ¥100 billion. Several hundred companies that didn’t make even that low bar were still allowed exceptional entry. “To widespread disappointment, the reshuffle has not significantly raised the bar for membership, resulting in 1,839 companies qualifying for the prime section.”
Tags: Disappointment, Domestic, Global, Growth, Investors, Overhaul, Prime, Squandered Market cap, Standard, Streamlining, TSE, Unimpressed
Investment Week (March 28)
Global dealmaking has dropped “to its lowest level since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic…. Just over $1trn of deals were struck in the first quarter of 2022, nearly a quarter less than the same period last year.” Primary factors behind slowing M&A activity appear to be “tougher regulations on both sides of the Atlantic, soaring inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Tags: 2022, COVID-19, Dealmaking, Global, Inflation, M&A, Outbreak, Pandemic, Q1, Regulation, Russia, Slowing, Soaring, Tougher, Ukraine, War
FreightWaves (March 24)
After two years of COVID-induced havoc in global freight markets, volatility has started to abate,” but looking ahead, “the picture isn’t pretty. We think another sharp, painful downturn in the U.S. truckload market is imminent, and it could be as bad as 2019.” Rather than the usual March surge, “March volumes are softer than at any point in 2021” and appear linked “to a major consumer slowdown…. Spot rates are falling fast and volumes are dropping.”
Tags: Abate, Consumer slowdown, Covid, Downturn, Freight markets, Global, Havoc, Painful, Sharp, Spot rates, Surge, Truckload, U.S., Volatility, Volumes
Seeking Alpha (January 17)
America has become “an attractive sponge to absorb capital from everywhere. As a result, the US stock market capitalization currently represents 61% of the global stock market capitalization, despite the fact that US GDP is only 23% of global GDP.” US equities also “now represent about 200% of US GDP, which is an all-time high.”
Tags: Absorb, Attractive, Capital, Capitalization, Equities, GDP, Global, Sponge, Stock market, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (November 7)
“The global recovery—while still robust—is at a precarious point, with the risk of missteps.” A recent survey shows “Only about a fifth of businesses judge that the worst of the supply-chain disruptions has passed,” complicating strategy for executives. Meanwhile, central bankers “are trying to chart a path that will curb inflation but not choke off growth as they navigate the process of weaning economies” from extraordinary support.
Tags: Central bankers, Disruptions, Executives, Extraordinary, Global, Growth, Inflation, Missteps, Precarious, Recovery, Risk, Robust, Strategy, Supply chain, Weaning
The Economist (November 6)
“Global bond markets are wakening from a long slumber.” The Fed “will wind down its vast bond-buying programme” just as bond investors react to higher inflation. “Across a group of 35 economies, five-year bond yields have risen by an average of 0.65 percentage points in the past three months.”
Tags: Bond markets, Economies, Fed, Global, Higher inflation, Investors, Wind down, Yields
