Karl Schmedders & Patrick Reinmoeller via The Conversation| Stock markets reached all-time highs in 2021, bringing huge value to the companies riding the wave, even when you allow for the dip in recent weeks. We are also in the midst of a boom year for flotations, with many boards taking advantage of investor enthusiasm for shares. Yet companies have been delisting from the stock market in even larger numbers, and,…
Peter Rodgers | While providing a credible US-led alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative is desirable, the US must commit adequate financial and leadership resources to the effort. This is a good first step, but Washington must be careful not to create a new paranoia by demonizing economic and geopolitical rivals such as China and Japan to the point where it distorts priorities and leads to increased military spending rather than public investments in education, infrastructure and basic research, all of which are critical to America’s future prosperity and security.
Bert Flossbach (Flossbach von Storch) | Delivery times for goods are rising worldwide due to a lack of intermediate products. The acute shortage of semiconductors, which are used in almost all devices, machines and cars, is causing particularly large problems for many companies. Ford therefore stopped production at its plant in Cologne until the end of October and Opel even stopped production in Eisenach until the end of the year….
Santander Corporate & Investment | Yesterday, Tuesday, marked the 34th anniversary of “Black Monday”. On Monday, 19th October, the Dow Jones slumped 508 points, or 23%, collapsing in the wake of a 44% rally at the peak of the year (August). All this happening after the economy went from a rapid recovery following the recession of the early ’80s to a “soft landing” from the end of 1985. The massive…
Sarah A. Son (The Conversation ) | Squid Game adds to other recent South Korean screen productions, most notably the 2020 Oscar-winning film Parasite, in providing a sharp critique of the socio-economic inequality that plagues the lives of many in South Korea. Household debt in South Korea has risen sharply in recent years to over 100% of its GDP – the highest in Asia. The top 20% of earners in the country have a net worth 166 times that of the bottom 20%, a disparity which has increased by half since 2017.
European Views | A foreign policy instrument explicitly designed to counter the BRI, the GG diametrically opposed to China’s investment approach by seeking to “create links and not dependencies”, in the words of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. The GG’s launch comes at a time when the EU is feeling the adverse effects of BRI-induced encroachment within its own borders and wider neighbourhood. Several EU countries, such as Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, have controversially signed up to the project.
J.J. Fernández Figares (Link Securities) | It is difficult to explain the reason for the recent rally in bonds, which has led to a significant fall in yields. Particularly when most of the macro figures published in the last few days have confirmed that “high inflation” is here to stay, at least for much longer than initially estimated by central banks. It is quite another matter if the latter, under…
Link Securities | China’s General Administration of Customs reported early this morning that the September trade surplus rose to $66.67 billion, up from a consensus expected reading for a $45 billion surplus, and up from a figure of $53.3 billion in August. Dollar exports rose by 28.1% y-o-y, against a consensus reading of 21.5%, and compared with a 25.6% increase in August. Meanwhile, imports rose 17.6 per cent year-on-year, compared…
Crédito y Caución expects global insolvencies to increase by 33% in 2022. According to the latest report released by the credit insurer, the still low level of corporate bankruptcies this year is due to the extension of fiscal measures in many countries and the continuation of moratoria on the application of bankruptcy legislation. Contrary to initial fears when the pandemic broke out, corporate insolvencies fell by 14% in 2020. France,…
Elizabeth Stoycheff (The Conversation) | When Facebook was down for most of the day on Oct. 4, 2021, did you miss it, were you relieved or some of both? Social scientists have compiled an expansive body of research that shows how people have come to develop a love-hate relationship with the social media giant with nearly 3 billion users. Facebook’s stunning success has come at the expense of the privacy of its virtual friends. Its “we sell ads” business model may sound benign, but the platform collects more data and information about users than they may consciously know about themselves.