New York Times (February 16)
“Fearing Trump, Wall Street sounds a retreat on diversity efforts.” Seemingly everybody is rushing to ensure “they don’t wind up in the cross hairs of the Trump administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion.” Among those scurrying away from DEI are “white-collar investment banks, consultancies, mutual funds and stock exchanges. The latest was Goldman Sachs, which said on Tuesday that it would drop a quota that forced corporate boards of directors to include women and members of minority groups.”
Tags: Consultancies, Corporate boards, Cross hairs, DEI, Directors, Diversity, Equity, Fear, Goldman Sachs, Inclusion, Investment banks, Minority groups, Mutual funds, Quota, Retreat, Stock exchanges, Trump, Wall Street, White collar, Women
South China Morning Post (September 11)
“China’s top legislature has reviewed a plan to gradually raise the retirement age,” which is one of the lowest in the world at 60 for men and 50 (blue collar) or 55 (white collar) for women. The move comes “after China’s leadership has repeatedly called for the retirement age to be delayed in recent years, as the country faces growing pressure from a declining birth rate and an ageing population.”
Tags: $60, 50, 55, Birth rate, China, Declining, Leadership, Legislature, Lowest, Pressure, Retirement age, White collar
Reuters (August 23)
“Office owners’ valuations are in the basement. U.S.-listed landlords like $20 billion Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE.N), $10 billion Boston Properties as well as France’s 7 billion euro Gecina recently traded at half the forward earnings multiples they enjoyed before the virus emptied offices.” If, however, corporate leaders “are successful in driving the white-collar herds back to the office,” then those “office stocks may come back from the dead.”
Tags: Alexandria, Boston Properties, Come back, Dead, Forward earnings multiples, France, Gecina, Landlords, Office, U.S., Valuations, White collar
Washington Post (May 2)
“As generative artificial intelligence becomes eerily lifelike and gives rise to chatbots that can draft letters, write computer code or create songs, experts have warned about its ability to put people out of jobs. A Goldman Sachs report in late March said generative AI could significantly disrupt the global economy and subject 300 million jobs, particularly white-collar ones, to automation.”
Tags: AI, Automation, Chatbots, Computer code, Disrupt, Experts, Generative, Global economy, Goldman Sachs, Jobs, Lifelike, People, Songs, White collar
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
