Institutional Investor (March 25)
Due to the “historic buying opportunity,” a few “hedge funds legends” are “quietly contacting investors” These “superstar managers” are “making an exception” and reopening their funds to new investors citing “the massive drop in asset prices catalyzed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.”
Tags: Asset prices, Buying opportunity, Coronavirus, Hedge funds, Historic, Investors, Legends, Reopening
Financial Times (March 10)
“At some point the music stops playing for investors.” That happened yesterday. “The initial shock was the cornonavirus outbreak’s impact on the global economy. Then came the blow of an oil price war. Next is escalating financial contagion. Markets are likely to burn until the fuel of high debt levels and aggressive risk taking is extinguished.”
Tags: Cornonavirus, Debt, Economy, Financial contagion, Investors, Markets, Music, Oil price war, Risk-taking, Shock
Investment Week (March 3)
“If China fails to get ‘back to work’ and is unable to cushion the impact of the coronavirus by April the ‘global ramifications will be enormous.’” At a recent Investment Week Conference, Karen Ward, chief market strategist for EMEA at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, also urged investors to “keep an eye on figures tracking Chinese coal consumption and labour migration as key indicators of the growing impact on the country’s economy.”
Tags: China, Coal, Consumption, Coronavirus, EMEA, Global ramifications, Impact, Indicators, Investors, J.P. Morgan, Labour, Migration
Financial Times (February 14)
The Climate Leadership Council relaunched a carbon tax initiative “with support from ten energy companies (including BP), JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and MetLife. “If nothing else, this shows the pressure that Wall Street leaders feel on the issue from investors and their own employees.” It could also mark an important shift where “the concept might gain traction with Republicans.”
Tags: BP, Carbon tax, Climate Leadership Council, Concept, Employees, Energy companies, Goldman Sachs, Initiative, Investors, JPMorgan, MetLife, Republicans, Wall Street
Financial Times (February 7)
“Risk assets started this year on a tear. Before the coronavirus outbreak unsettled investors, global equity prices had risen by more than 10 per cent in three months while credit spreads were near record lows.” Attributing this to “to the Fed’s actions is alluring,” but probably incorrect and “it could leave investors wrongfooted again when the central bank pares back its interventions later in this year.”
Wall Street Journal (February 2)
“Investors are betting the volatility that has rattled markets over the past two weeks is here to stay. Many are bracing for dramatic swings in stocks as the U.S. presidential election season ramps up and investors assess the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global economic activity.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Election, Impact, Investors, Markets, Outbreak, Rattled, Stocks, U.S., Volatility
Reuters (January 29)
The UK is hurtling “into the Brexit unknown” as “a dis-United Kingdom exits the European Union” on Friday. Alas, more “Brexit fatigue” is likely in store. “Trade talks with every major power—including the EU—loom while there is little clarity on what the United Kingdom’s pitch to global investors will be.”
The Economist (January 25)
Toshiba has threatened “to block the takeover” of Toshiba Machine by Yoshiaki Murakami with a new share issue. This “should alarm anyone who cares about how Japanese firms are run.” Last year, Japanese corporations held cash in excess of ¥446 trillion, “even after they had bought back a record ¥6.5trn in shares the year before.” This “reluctance to part with cash shortchanges investors in Japan by ¥16trn a year.”
Tags: Alarm, Cash, Investors, Japan, Murakami, Share issue, Takeover, Threatened, Toshiba, Toshiba Machine
Wall Street Journal (December 8)
“The S&P 500 is having its best run in six years, but individual investors are fleeing stock funds at the fastest pace in decades…. Investors have pulled $135.5 billion from U.S. stock-focused mutual funds and exchange-traded funds so far this year, the biggest withdrawals on record.” And, surprisingly, this may be a good sign for the stock market. The outflows show “investors aren’t chasing the stock market’s strong performance…. This suggests major indexes like the S&P 500 still have plenty of room to run after a decadelong rally.”
Tags: ETFs, Fleeing, Investors, Mutual funds, Outflows, Stock funds, U.S., Withdrawals
Financial Times (December 2)
“Investors are becoming increasingly concerned about how climate risks will impact their portfolios.” TCI, one activist hedge fund, “has warned Airbus, Moody’s, Charter Communications and other companies to improve their pollution disclosure or it will vote against their directors and called for asset owners to fire fund managers that did not insist on climate transparency.”
Tags: Activist, Airbus, Asset owners, Charter, Climate risks, Directors, Disclosure, Fund managers, Hedge-fund, Impact, Investors, Moody's, Pollution, Portfolios, TCI, Vote
