Category: Financial Times Summaries

27 July 2019

 

Question: According o MSN: Money, what are the top ten (1) tips for increasing home value from a “flipper”?

 

Us growth slowdown points to rate cut – Pg. 3

• US economic growth cooled to a rate of 2.1% in the second quarter, increasing the chances of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by one notch at its policy meeting next week
• …compared with an expansion in GDP of 3.1% in the first quarter

 

World Bank pandemic bonds spark Ebola anger – Pg. 11

• Bonds issued by the World bank with the aim of helping developing countries del with pandemics are facing fresh scrutiny as investors continue to enjoy high returns while the Ebola outbreak worsens in central Africa
• ….funding connected to the World Bank’s pandemic bonds, issued in 2017, has been less forthcoming. One relatively small slice – the so-called “cash” element – has delivered $31.4m to help with the crisis
• But the larger “insurance” element of the Ebola bonds is yet to pay out a penny, instead continuing to deliver a coupon of 11.1% over the Libor rate to investors
• The pandemic bonds, which raised $320m, deliver interest payments to investors, funded by donor nations Japan and Germany, until a pandemic is declared
• At that point, the bonds are not repaid and the money s used to help the crisis. The t was inspired by the 2013-14 Ebola outbreak in west Africa which killed 11,000 people, most in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra leone
• The total possible insurance payout for Ebola is $150m and comes in three tranches: when 250, 750 and 2,500 people have died across at least two countries, $45m, $45m and $60m, respectively, will be dispersed

 

Answer: (1)Pick the right house, i.e. one that only needs minor repairs; (2) Paint everything; (3) Install new carpet; (4) Clean like you mean it; (5) Spruce up curb appeal; (6) Change light fixtures; (7) Update the kitchen; (8) Furniture in the house; (9) Wait a year to flip; (10O go the partial-FSBO route

25 July 2019

 

Question: Where is American’s highest minimum wage?

 

Beijing warns it can send army into Hong Kong – Pg. 3

• Chin’s defense ministry has said the people’s Liberation Army can legally intervene to help Hong Kong “maintain social order” if requested to do so by the territory’s government, as the Asian financial centre enters its third month of protests
• The demonstrations in Hong Kong began as a protest against an extradition bill that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. They have since expanded to target the territory’s leader, chief executive Carrie Lam, as well as Beijing
• …for many years after the military crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1989 that culminated in the crushing of demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, China has avoided high-lighting any domestic role for the PLA in areas such as the suppression of dissent or crowd control

 

Eurozone industry hits six-year low – Pg. 4

• The woes of the eurozone’s manufacturers are worsening, with a gauge of the export-dependent sector hitting its lowest level in more than six-and-a-half years this month
• While the reading is only the latest piece of evidence that manufacturing in the region remains under pressure from Brexit and trade frictions, there are few signs this is feeding through into the dominant services sector

 

WeWork aims for IPO in buoyant market – Pg. 15

• WeWork is aiming to publicly list its shares as early as September while stock markets remain buoyant, as the lossmaking provider of shared office space races to sew up a multibillion-dollar debt facility in the next few weeks….
• The $47bn group, which filed paperwork for an IPO confidentially with US securities regulators latest last year, could make those plans public as early as next month, …
• That fundraising could add more than $5bn to WeWork’s cash pile, one of the sources added, which would go to buttressing the company’s balance sheet and reduce the amount of capital it would need to raise in its listing
• WeWork has relied on cash injections to fund that growth and cover its rising losses. The group has racked up a deficit of more than $3.5bn since 2016, which has drained its cash reserves.  Its cash and cash commitments dropped by $700m in the first quarter to $5.9bn

 

Funds prepare for future with pitch to millennials – Pg. 19

• Asset managers are crafting strategies to back companies that can capture millennials’ preferences – at a time of unrelenting pressure on their own top lines
• Investment products that target millennials naturally include technology stocks but also focus on builders that specialize in starter homes, and apparel companies
• Millennials’ preference for low-cost products could also limit the contribution of themed funds to revenues

 

Answer: According to MSN, the San Francisco suburb of Emeryville @ $16.30/hour

24 July 2019

 

Question: According to MSN: Money, what is the #1 top ranked college that pays off the least?

IMF warns over no-deal Brexit as Johnson wins race for UK leader – Pg. 1

• A no-deal Brexit is one of the greatest threats to the world economy, the IMF warned yesterday, as the man most likely to take the UK out of the EU without a deal won the race to become Britain’s new prime minister today
• The IMF’s latest assessment of the outlook for global growth was more pessimistic than previously on prospects for this year and next, forecasting that global growth would slow to 3.2% in 2019 – the weakest rate of expansion for a decade – before picking up to 3.5% in 2020. It listed a no-deal Brexit, alongside US trade policy, as one of the main events that could throw the global economy off course

 

Germany turns to short-time work as mood darkens – Pg. 3

• The country is in its tenth straight year of economic growth, with unemployment close to a record post-reunification low. But the US-China trade war, fears of a no-deal Brexit and the cooling of the Chinese auto market are taking a big toll on the export-oriented Germany economy
• The country’s weakness is overshadowing the whole of the Eurozone, and could prompt the ECB to take fresh measures to support the currency area’s economy
• The advantage of short-time work is clear: under German law, the government will cover most of the shortfall in worker’s wages if his employer has been forced to cut hours due to an economic downturn. The policy was first introduced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent mass lay-offs
• …economic think-tank last week said there was a 36.6% risk of a recession in Germany in the next three months – up from 30.9% in June and twice as high as in July last year

 

EM growth sputters to decade low in IMF forecasts – Pg. 19

• Emerging market economic growth will fall ot its weakest level since the height of the global financial crisis this year, …in a big cut to its forecast
• Full-year EM-wide growth is projected to come in at 4.1%, a decade low and the second-weakest figure since the dotcom bust of 2002, rather than the 4.4% the IMF penciled in as recently as April
• The gloomy forecast comes amid rising concerns about the future of globalized supply chains and weakening productivity in the developing world, which are calling into question the logic for investing in emerging economies

 

Answer: Bennington College