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
Minnesota Star Tribune (May 21)
“The world changed” in 2020 when “a police officer murdered George Floyd on a Minneapolis street corner.” Corporations put money and muscle into doing things better. In 2025, however, “a national backlash has slammed the brakes on investments aimed at improving deep-seated socioeconomic disparities…. President Donald Trump issued executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the public and private sectors.” U.S. corporations fell in line “by stepping back their public-facing efforts.”
Tags: Backlash, Banning, Corporations, Deep-seated, DEI, Executive orders, Floyd, Investments, Minneapolis, Money, Murdered, Police, Socioeconomic disparities, Trump, U.S.
The Guardian (April 3)
“The world is fast approaching temperature levels where insurers will no longer be able to offer cover for many climate risks.” Günther Thallinger, a member of the board of Allianz SE, warned “that without insurance, which is already being pulled in some places, many other financial services become unviable, from mortgages to investments.” The climate crisis could “destroy capitalism…with the vast cost of extreme weather impacts leaving the financial sector unable to operate.”
Tags: Allianz, Capitalism, Climate risks, Cost, Cover, Crisis, Destroy, Extreme weather, Financial services, Insurance, Insurers, Investments, Mortgages, Temperature, Thallinger, Unviable, World
Financial Times (December 3)
“America’s economy is soaring ahead of its rivals,” and its “outperformance is rooted in long-term productivity growth that is the envy of the developed world.” Many of these productivity gains are coming from tech investments. “China is the only other large economy making significant strides in tech R&D spending…. the amount of venture capital invested in AI in China is now the second highest globally after the US.”
Tags: AI, China, Developed world, Economy, Envy, Investments, Outperformance, Productivity growth, R&D spending, Rivals, Soaring, Tech, U.S., VC
Wall Street Journal (March 19)
“Foreign investors have increasingly shifted their investments to India from China in recent years, partly because of concerns over Beijing’s unpredictable policy moves and China’s sputtering economy.” The shift doesn’t necessarily shield them. “A recent clampdown on one of India’s biggest financial technology companies rattled investors and serves as a reminder that New Delhi can also make sudden moves with a hefty impact on companies and market value.”
Tags: Beijing, China, Clampdown, Concerns, Economy, Financial, Foreign, Impact, India, Investments, Investors, Shift, Shifted, Sputtering, Technology, Unpredictable
International Banker (December 18)
If Japan’s Financial Services Agency and the nation’s “asset-management industry work together to establish ‘customer-oriented business operations’, they may succeed in gaining the trust of retail investors, and the financial assets of Japanese households may finally show a visible shift from cash and deposits to securities.” Two decades of failed efforts starting with the Big Bang financial reform suggest “it will take much effort to gain the trust of retail investors, some of whom have experienced disappointing returns in the past. Unless the Japanese financial industry works harder than ever for customers’ interests, the goal of ‘savings to investments’ will turn out to be elusive once again.”
Tags: Asset-management industry, Big bang, Customer-oriented, Disappointing, Elusive, Failed, Financial assets, Financial Reform, FSA, Households, Investments, Japan, Retail investors, Securities, Trust
Fortune (April 11)
“Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is visiting Japan for the first time in more than a decade, and his thoughts are on his large—and growing—investments in the East Asian nation.” So far, it appears that “Buffett is looking to increase those stakes again.”
Tags: Billionaire, Buffett, Increase, Investments, Investor, Japan, Stakes
American Banker (March 27)
“Silicon Valley Bank was not the only institution that loaded up on bonds at precisely the wrong time. Based analyzing the regulatory filings of over 4,700 U.S. banks, “dozens of other banks — most of them quite small — are deeply underwater on their bond investments and could hit trouble if they were unexpectedly forced to liquidate the investments.” Still, “many experts say there is very little risk that those unrealized losses could ever turn into a problem, given the many options available to banks and regulators’ focus on avoiding that type of scenario.”
Tags: Banks, Bonds, Experts, Forced, Investments, Liquidate, Regulators, Regulatory filings, Risk, SVB, U.S., Underwater, Unrealized losses, Wrong time
Financial Times (November 11)
The bankruptcy of “Sam Bankman-Fried’s business empire includes billions of dollars of illiquid venture capital investments… including exposure to Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Boring Company.” The giant sprawl of his “venture capital portfolio will add to the complexity of the insolvency proceedings, which itself includes more than 130 companies controlled by Bankman-Fried. FTX’s collapse is among the most dramatic failures in the crypto industry not just this year, but since the creation of bitcoin more than a decade ago.”
Tags: Bankman-Fried, Bankruptcy, Bitcoin more, Business empire, Complexity, Crypto, Exposure, Failure, FTX, Illiquid, Insolvency, Investments, Musk, SpaceX, Sprawl, VC
Nikkei Asia (July 19)
“A Chinese startup this month became the first in the world to mass-produce large, bendable perovskite solar panels, based on technology initially developed by researchers in Japan.” The revolutionary “technology is seen as a candidate to win a Nobel Prize” and holds tremendous commercial potential, but “Japanese companies have little capacity to make new investments, allowing China to take the lead in large-scale perovskite panels.”
Tags: Bendable, China, Commercial potential, Investments, Japan, Mass-produce, Nobel prize, Perovskite, Solar panels, Startup, Technology
