Korea’s market upgrade would draw virtuous circle 8 Mar 2022 Seoul may relax currency rules and short-selling curbs to help win developed-market status from index provider MSCI. Even one of this week’s presidential candidates is pushing for the upgrade. Some will resent losing such protection, but the broader benefits are clear.
Wall Street hyperbole washes up in Sydney storms 4 Mar 2022 The New South Wales premier called this week’s torrent a “one-in-a-1,000-year event”. It evokes Goldman CFOs ascribing improbable standard deviations to choppy markets. Such quips, like the terms drought and natural disaster, mischaracterise risk and obscure needed action.
For China, living with Covid starts in Hong Kong 3 Mar 2022 Beijing may be softening its zero-tolerance stance. A large unvaccinated elderly population and tight hospital capacity remain big risks. But lessons from the global financial hub, now grappling with surging infections, provide a case study for China's eventual reopening.
Hong Kong is failing Chinese migrants 25 Feb 2022 Departures by the financial hub’s vocal but tiny population of Westerners have monopolised headlines. Less obvious but more important are professionals from the mainland. The city, long a haven for Chinese people fleeing chaos in the north, is fast losing its allure.
Besieged Hong Kong fires loud stimulus cannon 24 Feb 2022 As daily Covid-19 infections set new records, Beijing is pressing the city to quickly curb the outbreak. But Hong Kong lacks the systems and ways required to implement China’s strict control model. The city’s $22 bln relief package attempts to balance its conflicting realities.
Shackled woman’s plight helps China find S in ESG 18 Feb 2022 Uproar over a mother found chained in a shed, a suspected trafficking victim, has the financial blogosphere in a rage as some call for a boycott of the local government’s bonds. A capital movement targeting social injustice could move prices, but only if Beijing lets it.
Rich stocks have yet to feel cost-of-living crisis 16 Feb 2022 Rising inflation and higher energy bills are hitting consumers. UK punters in particular look vulnerable, given uneven savings and tax hikes. Mass belt-tightening could mean fewer holidays and less spending on luxuries like streaming, hurting companies from Ryanair to BT.
Rio’s culture rot puts investors on the spot, too 14 Feb 2022 The miner’s endemic racism, sexism and bullying is a wider wake-up call. Shareholders tend only to push firms for board diversity and equal pay. Yet a dysfunctional workplace runs deeper, affecting earnings and even M&A. It’s time social failings got some climate-style activism.
Review: Hollywood’s China tragedy, in three acts 11 Feb 2022 In Erich Schwartzel's "Red Carpet", Tinseltown spots a lucrative opportunity, then starts a decades-long courtship of what becomes the world's biggest box office. Now Disney and rivals face a hostile Beijing and rising nationalism. It's a classic in the cautionary tale genre.
Viewsroom: Spotify, Peloton and failed chip deals 10 Feb 2022 Neil Young’s podcast protests have shone a light on a potential flaw in Spotify’s business model, says Liam Proud. Peloton highlights the danger of giving company founders too much voting power, Rob Cyran argues. And semiconductor M&A gives global antitrust regulators agita.
Capital Calls: Antitrust game of chicken 31 Jan 2022 Concise views on global finance: President Joe Biden’s administration is hypersensitive to mergers that reduce competition. Sectors that have also experienced inflation may be top of the hit list – like poultry production.
Capital Calls: Blackstone, German chips, Guy Hands 27 Jan 2022 Concise views on global finance: The $140 bln group braces for falling asset values and rising interest rates; Berlin sends the wrong signal by ignoring a 4.4 bln euro offer for wafer maker Siltronic; Britain seeks to reverse the financier’s lucrative 1996 housing deal.
Capital Calls: TCI’s railroading tactics 26 Jan 2022 Concise views on global finance: The fund run by Chris Hohn has settled with Canadian National after a messy battle for the board.
Japanese inequality lives in a retirement home 26 Jan 2022 Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wants to shrink the widening wealth gap. One big factor is decaying elderly finances as inflation ticks up and fiscal coffers shrink. More transfers to retirees would be smart politics, yet young Japanese pay too high a price supporting the old.
China plays lonely game of Covid whack-a-hamster 19 Jan 2022 As Hong Kong culls 2,000 of the rodents, Beijing is blaming overseas mail for spreading Omicron. Dogged devotion to Covid-zero and the resulting disruptions are becoming increasingly farcical, and costly, as the rest of the world learns to live with the virus.
Demographic flatline will test China’s generosity 18 Jan 2022 The population may have peaked in 2021, far earlier than expected. Beijing might prefer to continue to tackle root causes including high living costs, but a desire to prop up the economy in a key political year makes less disruptive, clumsy fixes like cash subsidies practical.
Power windfall tax is bad idea whose time has come 17 Jan 2022 European leaders are under pressure to help households with soaring power bills. Taxing energy companies is potentially ineffective and replete with unwise incentives. The idea could nevertheless catch on, and oil giants like BP and Shell may need to take the strain.
Stressed Beijing will buck Fed’s tightening trend 17 Jan 2022 China's reported output grew 8.1% in 2021, well above target, but activity slowed sharply at the end of the year. Monetary easing has been restrained by debt concerns, but the central bank surprised markets with a rate cut on Monday. Low inflation and a strong yuan give room for more.
Big transitions are better embraced than resisted 4 Jan 2022 The extraordinary actions required to make epochal shifts, like eradicating hydrocarbons or vanquishing Covid-19, are being taken now. Central banks are removing punch-bowl money. Digital is crushing everything. And without social inclusion, it all falls apart. Welcome to 2022.
Kazakh oligarch shakeup may give foreigners a shot 12 Jan 2022 President Tokayev needs to consolidate power after unrest and raise cash to placate his citizens. Billionaires allied to his predecessor are obvious targets. Since he lacks a go-to gang to take over mining assets, he may favour gradual redistribution and more external investment.