Bloomberg (March 20)
Paul Clements-Hunt coined the acronym. ESG. He now thinks “the ESG fund industry is headed for a ‘shakeout’ over the next five years.” In successfully attracting trillions of dollars to these investments, “the finance sector has ‘sprinkled ESG fairy dust’ on products that do little to account for environmental, social and governance risks.” These and other shenanigans will increasingly come into “jeopardy.”
Tags: Clements-Hunt, ESG, Fairy dust, Finance sector, Fund industry, Investments, Jeopardy, Risks, Shakeout, Shenanigans
Wall Street Journal (March 15)
This week, the Fed meets “to address the worst inflation in 40 years amid new risks to economic growth.” The mess is “largely of the Fed’s own making. The central bank’s inflation target is 2% for personal-consumption expenditure inflation, and the rate in February was probably three times higher.” The Fed’s “historic exertions were needed” when Covid struck, but it continued them for “too long, even as the money supply exploded and clear signs of inflation began to appear.”
Tags: Central bank, Covid, Economic growth, Fed, Inflation, Inflation target, Mess, Money supply, Personal consumption, Risks
Seeking Alpha (January 4)
“While analysts on Wall Street are confident the bull market will continue uninterrupted into 2022, there are more than enough risks to derail that market outlook. Importantly, none of these independently suggest a significant correction is imminent. However, the risk is that they will undermine the bullish ‘psychology’ of the market.”
Tags: 2022, Analysts, Bull market, Confident, Correction, Derail, Imminent, Market outlook, Risks, Undermine, Uninterrupted, Wall Street
Bloomberg (October 25)
“China’s economy risks slowing faster than global investors realize as President Xi Jinping’s push to cut its reliance on real estate and regulate sectors from education to technology combine with a power shortage and the pandemic.”
Tags: China, Economy, Education, Investors, Power shortage, Real estate, Regulate, Reliance, Risks, Sectors, Slowing, Technology, Xi
New York Times (October 1)
“As species disappear and the complex relationships between living things and systems become frayed and broken, the growing damage to the world’s biodiversity presents dire risks to human societies.” We are living through “one of the most explosive extinction episodes in history” with plant and animal extinction occurring “an estimated 1,000 times faster than natural rates.” Our course is unsustainable. “It is much less costly to protect and conserve nature than it is to restore it or suffer the consequences of its destruction.”
Tags: Animal, Biodiversity, Complex, Consequences, Conserve, Damage, Destruction, Disappear, Extinction, Plant, Protect, Relationships, Restore, Risks, Species
New York Times (September 9)
“The crypto revolution is bringing financial services to the unbanked, but not without risks.” The crypto “market is expanding quickly — in all sorts of directions,” giving rise to new “Shadow Banks.” Crypto customers “can earn much higher interest rates than at traditional banks, and they can borrow money, using crypto as collateral, often with no credit checks,” but the potential dangers include hacks, fraud, and the lack of FDIC protection for deposits.
Tags: Borrow, Collateral, Credit checks, Crypto, Financial services, Fraud, Hacks, Interest rates, Revolution, Risks, Shadow banks, Unbanked
WARC (June 2)
“Sponsors that made a relatively sound bet on one of the major global sporting events could not have foreseen the pandemic. Now, with the games an increasingly controversial topic, sponsors are navigating negative public opinion.” As they “worry about the risks of sponsoring an event opposed by a majority of the country” and focus on avoiding negative exposure, some Olympic sponsors have given up on recouping their investments.
Tags: Controversial, Doubts, Exposure, Foreseen, Negative, Olympics, Pandemic, Public opinion, Risks, Sponsors, Sporting events, Worry
New York Times (May 12)
“Pressing ahead with the Olympics risks drinking poison to quench our thirst for sport. The possibility of a superspreader catastrophe is not worth it for an optional sporting spectacle. It’s time to cancel the Tokyo Olympics.”
Tags: Cancel, Catastrophe, Olympics, Optional, Poison, Risks, Spectacle, Sport, Superspreader
Reuters (October 19)
“China’s economic recovery accelerated in the third quarter as consumers shook off their coronavirus caution, although the weaker-than-expected headline growth suggested persistent risks for one of the few drivers of global demand.”
Tags: Caution, China, Consumers, Coronavirus, Drivers, Expected, Global demand, Growth, Persistent, Recovery, Risks, Weaker
Reuters (May 14)
Banks mainly seem to be provisioning for consumer debt, but “bad-debt risks could easily spread beyond consumer finance. Commercial real estate could face a brutal reckoning if white-collar workers in major cities decide not to return to the office when lockdowns lift.” When stimulus measures wind down, it will leave “over-indebted small and medium-sized enterprises vulnerable. Mass unemployment would lead to increased mortgage defaults.”
Tags: Bad debt, Banks, Commercial real estate, Consumer finance, Lockdowns, Mortgage, Office, Over-indebted, Provisioning, Risks, SMEs, Stimulus, Unemployment, Vulnerable, White collar, Workers
