The Biggest IPO Ever | Planet Finance (4/6)

Aug 19, 2023 | Although the financial industry in China is still in its infancy, 7% of Chinese people are already investing, and millions more are being added every month. Western investors are also lining up to benefit from China's economic growth. For years, Wall Street gave China wide latitude to raise money on the international capital market, such as with Jack Ma's Alibaba IPO. In 2020, when Ma also wanted to take his new company Ant Group public he no longer did so on Wall Street but simultaneously in Shanghai and Hong Kong. That plan strained the relationship between China and Planet Finance. By whose rules will the game ultimately be played?

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Fortune Seekers | Planet Finance (3/6)

Aug 12, 2023 | Planet Finance is a mostly unknown, adventurous and also attractive world for the private investor. In Japan, you won't get interest on your savings for decades. Entering the currency market is then a low-threshold step. 'Ms. Watanabe' is a collective name for the one and a half million Japanese individuals in this market and a household name in the shiny towers of Planet Finance. But in the foreign exchange market, the value of one currency always rises or falls against another. Where one wins, by definition someone else loses. It's a Zero Sum Game. Who wins when you lose?

Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

Free Oil | Planet Finance (2/6)

Aug 5, 2023 | Planet Finance sets the world price for many commodities: for grain, for gold and also for oil. There is always demand for oil and the price is constantly changing. It is hard to imagine now, but at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, we could not get rid of oil. The world's oil supply was floating at sea. The tankers, and their crews, had no choice but to wait for a better price. And then came a day when a barrel of oil was free! How can a market be so derailed?

In this six-part documentary series, Marije Meerman takes you to Planet Finance. Who live and work there? What language do they speak? What is the use of this planet, and what makes this financial world so attractive to so many people?


Part 1 here.

Argentina Devalues Peso, Raises Rates after Shock Primary | The World

Aug 21, 2023 | Inflation has hit 113 percent in Argentina this year, leading to soaring consumer prices and plunging 40 percent of its population below the poverty line. The situation has worsened as the currency fell off the back of a shock primary election result. Madeline Lobooth reports.

The Brexit Effect: How Leaving the EU Hit the UK | FT Film | Reupload

Oct 18, 2022 | The UK's recent disastrous "mini" Budget can trace its origins back to Britain's decision to leave the European Union. The economic costs of Brexit were masked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine. But six years after the UK voted to leave, the effect has become clear. In this film, senior FT writers and British businesspeople examine how Brexit hit the UK economy, the political conspiracy of silence, and why there has not yet been a convincing case for a 'Brexit dividend'. | Produced, directed and edited by Daniel Garrahan

Nature of the Beast | Planet Finance (1/6)

Aug 1, 2023 | For most, Planet Finance is a complex, influential world that only becomes visible when crashes occur in the financial markets. Stock market prices quickly shot back up on Planet Finance during the COVID pandemic, while the inhabitants of planet Earth were still sweeping the shards together.

The contrast could hardly be greater. But how does such a market emerge? Through interviews including the founder of the market in oil futures, one of the first traders and a neuropsychologist who mentally guides stock traders and hedge fund managers in making risky decisions, it becomes clear how Planet Finance grew into what it is today.

UK’s LGBTQ+ Community ‘More Likely’ to Face Real Hardship in Retirement

THE GUARDIAN: Data shows 44% at risk of struggling to afford food and heating after leaving workplace

Close to half of individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ are heading for a retirement where they are at risk of struggling to afford such basics as food and heating, according to new UK data.

Looking across various measures including amounts saved and pension scheme membership, researchers concluded that members of the LGBTQ+ community were “far more likely than the general population” to struggle in retirement.

The insurer and pension provider Scottish Widows’s latest retirement report found that 44% of people who identify as LGBTQ+ are not on track for even a minimum retirement lifestyle, as defined by one of the main pension bodies, which means they are “at risk of not covering [their] needs” when they are older. That contrasts with the national average of 35% of people who risk falling below the threshold. » | Rupert Jones | Saturday, August 19, 2023

Die Schweizer sind dreimal so reich wie die Deutschen

Die Schweizer sind im Schnitt reicher als die Deutschen. | Bild: AFP
STUDIE ZU GLOBALEN VERMÖGEN
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Die Schweizer sind die reichsten Menschen der Welt. Das liegt nicht zuletzt an ihrem umfassenden Rentensystem.

Die Schweizer sind die reichsten Menschen der Welt. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt die Credit Suisse (CS) in ihrer jährlichen Studie zur Entwicklung der Haushaltsvermögen in aller Welt. Die Bank hat den seit 14 Jahren erscheinenden „Global Wealth Report“ am Dienstag erstmals gemeinsam mit der UBS vorlegt, unter deren Dach sie vor wenigen Monaten aus der Not heraus schlüpfen musste. Dem Bericht zufolge verfügte jeder erwachsene Schweizer im Jahr 2022 über ein durchschnittliches Vermögen von gut 685.000 Dollar. Darin ist neben dem Finanzvermögen auch der Immobilienbesitz enthalten. Zwar sind die Vermögen gegenüber dem Vorjahr vor allem wegen der deutlich gefallenen Aktienkurse um rund 13.000 Dollar gesunken. Trotzdem behaupteten die Eidgenossen ihre Spitzenposition in der Reichenrangliste, die sie schon seit einigen Jahren innehaben. » | Von Johannes Ritter, Zürich | Dienstag, 15. August 2023

Let’s Stop Kidding Ourselves We’re a Rich Nation and Get Real… the UK’s Gone Bust

THE OBSERVER – OPINION: Britain depends on the kindness of strangers to get by in the world. It doesn’t have to be like this

ritain has its back against the wall to an extent unparalleled in its peacetime history. In all the other financial struggles we have faced – the currency crises of 1931, 1949, 1976 and 1992 – we could fight our way out by belt-tightening and devaluing the pound within a structure of secure trading relationships, anchored first by empire and later the EU.

Our international assets exceeded our liabilities by a huge degree. Our national debt was well structured, built on long-term bonds whose servicing requirements were always manageable. We retained great industrial strengths. We were fundamentally creditworthy. Even when the financial crisis broke in 2007/8, the low national debt meant the country could put its balance sheet behind its banks and bail them out.

None of that is true today. The UK has been living beyond its means in every way. Internationally, we are no longer a creditor nation. We depend on the “kindness of strangers”, in the famous words of former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, to support our currency, as our liabilities to foreigners exceed our assets by 30% of GDP and growing. Our fading industrial base produces permanent current account deficits, which since 2000 cumulatively exceed £1.5tn: rather than belt tighten, we have chosen to run up debt and sell our assets to foreigners in vast quantities to maintain our living standards. Nor do we have empire or the EU anchoring our trade. We are alone. » | Will Hutton | Sunday, August 13, 2023

An Oil-Rich Ally Tests Its Relationship With the U.S.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The United Arab Emirates, which has translated its wealth into outsize global influence, is diverging from U.S. foreign policy — particularly when it comes to isolating Russia and limiting ties with China.

The marina district in Dubai. The Emirates has thrived on an influx of Russian money, oil and gold, fueling a feeding frenzy in real estate. | Andrea DiCenzo for The New York Times
The ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, is a key American ally who counts on the United States to defend his country.

But he has traveled twice to Russia over the past year to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin, and in June, his country was celebrated as the guest of honor at the Russian leader’s flagship investment forum. Later this month, the Emirati and Chinese air forces plan to train together for the first time, a notable shift for an oil-rich Gulf nation that has long relied on American fighter jets, weapons and protection.

These deepening relationships show how a Middle Eastern leader viewed by the U.S. government as an important partner is increasingly striking out on his own path. American officials have had limited success in persuading Sheikh Mohammed to align with U.S. foreign policy — particularly when it comes to limiting Chinese military ties and isolating Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.

Instead, the Emirates has thrived on inflows of Russian money, oil and gold, fueling a feeding frenzy in real estate in the glittering metropolis of Dubai. The growing ties with both American rivals and expanding economies like India are all in preparation for a world that may someday be no longer dominated by the United States.

“What we’re seeing in the international order is not necessarily a multipolar world, but we’re seeing a more fluid world where things are changing,” Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to Sheikh Mohammed, told The New York Times recently. In a lecture in Arabic last year, he was much blunter, declaring that Western hegemony was “in its final days.” » | Vivian Nereim, Reporting from Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates | Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Best Rate on Premium Bonds since 1999

THE TELEGRAPH: Odds of winning prizes shortened as £66m added to monthly pot

The rate on Premium Bonds will rise to 4.65pc in September, its highest rate for 24 years.

The increase, which comes alongside a shortening of the odds of winning on each £1 bond from 22,000 to one to 21,000 to one, adds £66m to the National Savings and Investments’ monthly prize pot.

It makes the so-called “prize rate” on the popular savings lottery, which currently stands at 4pc, the best since 1999.

The number of millionaires created each month will remain at two but an extra 13 people a month will win £100,000. » | Madeleine Ross | Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Brexit Is the Villain in Accidental Death of the Economy

THE GUARDIAN: Like characters in Dario Fo’s farce, we complain about, but tolerate, the most damaging political scandal of our time

‘The actors change but the roles remain the same’: Sunak has continued Johnson’s legacy on Brexit. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images
At the beginning of the first Thatcher government (1979-83), the economist John Kenneth Galbraith wrote that Britain was the perfect place to conduct the dubious monetarist experiment recommended by his fellow economist Milton Friedman. This was because although Galbraith (rightly) thought the policy was crazy, British “phlegm” would see us through, and the tolerant nation would not “take to the streets”.

This memory came to mind recently when I was at the revival of that great 1970s classic Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Dario Fo and Franca Rame’s farce has been updated by Tom Basden, and is a five-star triumph. The memory was evoked by the central character, the “maniac”, declaring: “Scandal is to society what confession is to the sinner. It’s a catharsis [that] fixes nothing: the hostile environments, the sewage in the seas, the peerages for political donors. And what’s the result? Do we arrest anyone? Can we change anything? Of course not … In glorious democracies such as ours, we get to moan about it instead.”

The most glaring example of this public tolerance and moaning is of course – wait for it – Brexit. The damage mounts, but there has been nothing in the shape of a public inquiry or a royal commission into what is indubitably the biggest and most damaging political and economic scandal of our time. » | William Keegan | Sunday, August 6, 2023

Bank of England Says Interest Rates Will Remain High for At Least Two Years

THE GUARDIAN: Policymakers vote for quarter-point rise to 5.25%, the 14th increase in a row, as Bank rules out prospect of recession

The Bank of England has warned businesses and households that the cost of borrowing will remain high for at least the next two years as it raised interest rates for the 14th consecutive time to 5.25%.

Ruling out the likelihood of a recession over the next two years, policymakers blamed strong wages growth in recent months for the need to increase interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to the highest level for 15 years.

Officials on the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) said the economy had proven more resilient during a period of high interest rates than they expected when they last made an assessment of the UK economy in May. (+ video) » | Phillip Inman | Thursday, August 3, 2023

US Stripped of Top Rating by Fitch

Aug 2, 2023 | Bloomberg's Wendy Benjaminson and Ryan Teague Beckwith discuss Fitch downgrading the United States' rating from AAA to AA+ and how the past issues of the debt ceiling debate played a part in this downgrade along with the current talks of a potential government shutdown later this year. Wendy and Ryan speak with Annmarie Hordern and Joe Mathieu on Bloomberg's "Balance Of Power."