The following are some of the news items mentioned in the last few days:

  • In Gaza, there are now protests against Hamas
    • Hamas has killed 1200 people from Israel and have taken 250 people as hostages
    • In retaliation, Israel has so far killed 50,000 people
  • Atlantic magazine has released Signal conversations where top Trump officials have disclosed information of the intended strikes against Yemen
  • Brussels which is home to EU expects Trump to place 20 percent tariffs on Liberation day
  • Sweden to spend 3.5 percent of its GDP on defense capabilities by 2030
  • European countries are increasing defense spending after receiving a twin threat of Russia and Trump policies
  • Cash shortage in Gaza has given rise to black market traders creating a lucrative business by selling cash
  • Levies on Chinese ships can act as double whammy to US farmers who might be forced to export commodities (wheat, corn and Soyabeans )at a cheaper rate while gulping down the tariffs cost that will be passed on to them by Chinese in terms of raw material costs
  • EU has started to sideline green action related activities and prioritizing defense and military related activities
  • Amazon bought Bond Franchise for 8.2B USD in 2022 and has now appointed two Hollywood executives to produce the next Bond movie. No bond movie has been made since 2021
  • Cloud group Core Weave that amassed a ton of Nvidia chips in 2017 to mine crypto currencies has pivoted to AI in the last years. In the process, it has availed a debt facility from Blackstone led group. It is in the news because of a technical breach in its agreed covenant terms
  • US discount retailer Dollar Tree has agreed to sell its troubled Family Dollar business for 1B USD
  • A flurry of new exchange traded funds is widening retail access to the fastgrowing markets for private credit and equity, sparking concerns that these assets are a poor fit for small-scale investors and could prove tough to sell during a crisis. A private credit ETF launched last month by State Street will hold up to 35 per cent of its portfolio in private debt deals originated by Apollo Global Management. Fixed income specialist BondBloxx, meanwhile, has applied for regulatory approval for an ETF that could hold up to 80 per cent of its portfolio in private credit.
  • European asset owners are pulling money from US who are backing off from sustainable investments.
    • Amundi was the main beneficiary of a recent decision by the UK’s The People’s Pension, a multi-employer scheme, to pull £28bn from US-based State Street following a review of its responsible investment policy. Amundi has been handed £20bn of that money to manage with a focus on “sustainability, active stewardship and long-term value creation”, said Mark Condron, chair of trustees for The People’s Pension. This lost mandate is far bigger than any pulled by conservative US state authorities from asset managers over their prior support for climate action. It’s roughly four times the size of the $8.5bn portfolio that was withdrawn from BlackRock a year ago by the Texas State Board of Education, which accused the asset manager of restricting fossil fuel investments