Investment Week (July 19)
“UK retail sales volumes dropped by 1.2% in June,” marking a reversal of May’s stronger figures. Retailers are blaming “election uncertainty, along with poor weather and low footfall.” On the plus side, however, “falling UK wage growth boosts chances of August rate cut across most sectors.”
Tags: Election uncertainty, Footfall, June, May, Poor weather, Rate cut, Retail sales, Retailers, Reversal, UK, Volumes, Wage growth
CNN (July 7)
“Macron’s gamble has kept the far right out of power, but plunged France into chaos.” His “explosive gamble” brought a surprise result. A left-wing alliance came “in first with 182 seats” while the far-right trailed “in third place – a shocking reversal of last Sunday’s first-round results.” Despite the visible relief at pulling “back from the brink,” France appears certain to “enter a prolonged period of instability as three opposing blocs with competing ideas and agendas try to form coalition or find themselves stuck in a state of paralysis.”
Tags: Brink, Chaos, Coalition, Far right, France, Gamble, Instability, Left-wing alliance, Macron, Power, Relief, Reversal, Surprise
Wall Street Journal (April 17)
Marking “a sharp reversal” from years of “bolstering their office footprints,” Big Tech is now “downsizing workspace in another blow to office real estate.” Especially hard hit, “San Francisco’s office-vacancy rate hit a record 36.7% in the first quarter,” roughly ten times worse than early 2019 when it stood at 3.6%.
Tags: 2019, 3.6%, 36.7%, Big tech, Downsizing, Footprints, Office, Real estate, Record, Reversal, San Francisco, Vacancy, Workspace
New York Times (February 24)
“Investors often see Berkshire as a bellwether of the American economy, given the breadth of its business.” Marking a sharp reversal from a $22 billion loss in 2022, the conglomerate recorded net earnings of $97.1 billion in 2023, “its highest-ever annual profit last year.” Moreover, “Berkshire also reported $37.4 billion in operating earnings, the financial metric that Mr. Buffett prefers because it excludes paper investment gains and losses, for the year, up 21 percent from 2022.”
Tags: 2022, 2023, Bellwether, Berkshire, Conglomerate, Economy, Investment gains, Investors, Loss, Net earnings, Operating earnings, Profit, Reversal, U.S.
Financial Times (July 4)
“If the BoJ sticks to its guns while the US Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates, the yield divergence could spell a further collapse in the yen beyond the 24-year low. But if the BoJ moves to tweak its monetary policy, or if a global recession prompts a U-turn in US interest rates and a flight to safe havens, it could trigger an abrupt reversal.”
Tags: 24-year low, BOJ, Collapse, Divergence, Global recession, Interest rates, Japan, Monetary policy, Reversal, Safe havens, U.S.. Fed, Yen, Yield
New York Times (March 7)
“The pandemic has disrupted international trade, driving up the cost of shipping goods and adding a fresh challenge to the global economic recovery.” Although “the volume of global trade dipped by only 1 percent in 2020,” that fact obscures “a plunge of more than 12 percent in April and May, followed by an equally dramatic reversal. The system could not adjust, leaving containers in the wrong places, and pushing shipping prices to extraordinary heights.” Some experts believe the upheaval will last the remainder of the year.
Tags: Containers, Cost of shipping, Disrupted, Economic recovery, Global trade, International trade, Pandemic, Plunge, Reversal
San Francisco Chronicle (July 27)
Half a year into the pandemic, a “role reversal of sorts” took places for the giants of the east and west coasts. “California passed New York with the most coronavirus cases in the United States. That grim convergence occurred as the nation reached its own dark milestone: 4 million reported cases. California, as of Sunday, has about 452,000 cases, to New York’s 412,000.” With about 425,000 cases, Florida has also passed the Big Apple.
Tags: California, Coasts, Coronavirus, Grim, Milestone, New York, Pandemic, Reversal, U.S.
Reuters (January 16)
“Nobody expected May’s Brexit deal to secure a majority. Nevertheless, the scale of the defeat—the worst for a British government in modern history—was startling…. It’s very unlikely the deal can be rescued.” In fact, investors seem to be signaling that “reversing the Brexit decision” is now more likely than “a chaotic exit…. The pound jumped 1.4 percent against the U.S. dollar immediately after the result was announced on Tuesday.”
Bloomberg (April 3)
“Japan Inc. is on track to overtake China in overseas dealmaking for the first time in six years.” According to Bloomberg data, “Japanese companies have announced $26.9 billion of overseas acquisitions this year, compared with $16.5 billion by Chinese buyers.” The reversal is fueled by “a hunt for growth at Japanese firms…at a time when China’s most prolific acquirers have been hobbled by regulatory probes and new outbound investment rules.”
Tags: Acquirers, Acquisitions, China, Dealmaking, Growth, Japan Inc., Outbound investment, Overseas, Regulatory probes, Reversal
Institutional Investor (March 20)
“For years, asset management firms have benefited as the banking industry was dragged down by quantitative easing and increasing regulation. The one-two punch spurred a more than $100 billion divergence in revenues since 2011, with asset managers up $65 billion and wholesale banks down $45 billion at the end of 2016…. But now, with asset managers facing ‘intense’ pressure on fees and with economic policy shifting in favor of banks,” there are growing predictions for “a ‘reversal of fortunes’ for the two sectors.”
Tags: Asset management, Banking, Economic policy, Fees, QE, Regulation, Revenues, Reversal
