MarketWatch (February 4)
“Software ate the world. Now, Wall Street is worried AI will eat software. The selloff of business software continues on Wednesday as investors keep selling shares of companies that look like they could be on the menu.”
Bloomberg (December 12)
“AI is powering Trump’s economy, but American voters are getting worried.” The Wall Street consensus is “that AI has driven most of the gains on the S&P 500 this year” so that may make AI look like a hero. Among voters, however, there are “signs of an AI backlash, one that could amplify concerns about the cost of living and the job-market outlook in Trump’s economy.” Data center projects are increasingly being “blocked or delayed by local opposition” and roughly $98 billion in investment was “stymied in the second quarter, more than the total for all previous quarters since 2023.”
Tags: AI, Backlash, Blocked, Consensus, Cost of living, Data centers, Delayed, Economy, Gains, Investment, Job market, Opposition, Outlook, S&P 500, Trump, Voters, Wall Street, Worried
Bloomberg (November 22)
“The American consumer is limping into the holiday season. That was the upshot from a week of big-box retailer earnings that came with signs of caution among shoppers increasingly worried about a softening job market and persistent inflation.” Target and Home Depot are struggling, while “even Walmart Inc., the belle of the retailer ball with huge profits and a rosy forecast, sent an economic warning of sorts” since its growth “came largely from groceries and mid-tier customers looking for bargains — both signs of skittishness among consumers.”
Tags: Bargains, Big-box, Caution, Earnings, Economic warning, Forecast, Holiday season, Job market, Persistent inflation, Profits, Retailer, Shoppers, Skittishness, Struggling, U.S., Upshot, Walmart, Worried
New York Times (September 6)
“When the federal government last month reported a sharp decline in the nation’s hiring, President Trump dismissed the numbers, claiming without evidence that they were “rigged,” and then ousted the official responsible for producing them.” This month’s jobs report was even worse, confirming “the reality that Mr. Trump has been trying to avoid. The labor market is stalling—and the nation is facing real strains—under the weight of his economic agenda.” His administration will try to deflect, but “the numbers mostly reflect what Americans already know.” Consumer sentiment has weakened in anticipation of tariff-linked inflation while “surveys show that workers are worried about holding onto their jobs and pessimistic about their chances of finding a different one.”
Tags: Consumer sentiment, Federal government, Hiring, Inflation, Jobs report, Labor market, Rigged, Sharp decline, Stalling, Strains, Tariffs, Trump, Weakened, Workers, Worried
South China Morning Post (January 16)
Disappointing performance has marked Hong Kong’s stock market in 2024. “The Hang Seng Index hit a fresh 14-month low and has lost 2.3 per cent this week on top of a 4.7 per cent loss in the first two trading weeks of 2024.” Investors remain worried about “the strength of the mainland economy” so “it’s possible for the Hang Seng Index to test new lows under selling pressure.”
Tags: 2024, Disappointing, Economy, Hang Seng, Hong Kong, Investors, Mainland, New lows, Performance, Stock market, Trading, Worried
Wall Street Journal (October 9)
“Investors worried about the recent pullback in stocks are counting on the coming earnings season to give them something to get excited about. For much of 2023, U.S. stocks roared higher despite lackluster corporate profits. But an accelerating selloff in bonds has pushed longer-term yields near their highest levels in more than a decade, denting enthusiasm for stocks.”
Tags: 2023, Bonds, Earnings season, Investors, Lackluster, Profits, Pullback, Selloff, Stocks, U.S., Worried, Yields
Institutional Investor (March 29)
“Personal coaches to private-equity executives report that their clients are increasingly worried about their impact on their employees, business, and even the world.” While fundraising dominates their concerns amid recent market uncertainty, “executives are also thinking hard about other broad changes in their industry. Investment committees, limited partners, and employees increasingly expect firms — and their portfolio companies — to be more diverse, inclusive, and generally better places to work than in the past.”
Tags: Diverse, Employees, Executives, Fundraising, Impact, Industry, Investment, Market uncertainty, Personal coaches, Portfolio, Private equity, Worried
Motley Fool (July 2)
“During the first six months of 2022, the S&P 500 dropped 20.6%, marking its worst first-half performance since 1970” while “the Dow had its largest first-half drop since 1962” and “the Nasdaq… had its largest percentage drop in its history.” This has left “a lot of investors worried, and understandably so. But while things might seem bleak right now, the reality is that investors really shouldn’t panic.”
Tags: 1962, 1970, 2022, Bleak, Dow, Drop, First-half, Investors, Nasdaq, Performance, Reality, S&P 500, Worried, Worst
The Economist (May 28)
Signs suggest “America’s markets are entering a new, more worrying phase.” Falling share prices could initially be attributed to the Federal Reserve’s policy moves, but “in recent weeks share prices have kept falling, even as bond yields have dropped back,” a combination suggesting recession. “Indeed, the mix of Fed tightening, slowing gdp and rising production costs has the ominous feel of the later stages of a business cycle. The expansion is barely two years old. Yet investors are already worried that corporate profits are under threat.”
Tags: Bond yields, Business cycle, Expansion, Falling, Fed, GDP, Investors, Markets, Ominous, Production costs, Profits, Recession, Share prices, Signs, Tightening, U.S., Worried, Worrying
Wall Street Journal (July 19)
“As China’s factory-gate prices soared this year, investors worried the country would become a new source of inflation for the rest of the world. Instead, the world’s second-largest economy has helped alleviate some price pressures caused by the pandemic.” Many Chinese factories have been “absorbing higher costs for raw materials like copper and iron ore themselves.” It appears this will continue “at least for a while.”
Tags: Absorbing, Alleviate, Copper, Factories, https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-china-is-helping-to-damp-global-inflation-11626616802?cx_testId=200&cx_testVariant=cx_10&cx_artPos=5#cxrecs_s China, Inflation, Investors, Pandemic, Price pressures, Prices, Raw materials, Worried
