Investor confidence at highest level since January 2021
Investor confidence in Europe jumped in August and reached its highest level since January last year, according to the latest State Street Investor Confidence Index.
The investor confidence index, or ICI, for Europe jumped 20.4 points to 106 in August. Investor confidence in North America also increased, although merely 2.1 points to 106.5. The global investor confidence index rose to 107.3 in August, up from 102.2 in July.
Luxempart acquires stake in hospital software firm Nexus
Luxempart, a Luxembourg-based investment and private equity company, on Wednesday said it has acquired a 8.4 percent stake in Nexus AG, a German-based publicly listed hospital software provider in Europe through a capital increase of 72.5 million euro.
Dividend payouts surge to record 545 billion in Q2
Dividends worldwide rose by 11.3 percent in nominal terms in the second quarter of 2022 to a historic quarterly record of 544.8 billion dollars, the latest Global Dividend Index report by Janus Henderson shows.
If the strong US dollar and other underlying factors are taken into account, underlying growth is even stronger at 19.1 percent. Some 94 percent of companies surveyed either paid out more in the second quarter or kept payouts stable.
‘Cheap money at ECB makes fighting inflation difficult’
The European Central Bank needs to review its special programmes that make available cheap money to banks in Europe in order to become more effective in fighting inflation, Banque de France governor François Villeroy de Galhau told central bankers at their meeting in Jackson Hole.
Jackson Hole shows the narrow path is narrowing
“Walking the narrow path” is an expression among central bankers about striking a fragile balance between reining in inflation and not plunging the economy into the ravine. Friday showed how difficult that task has become.
A bear market rally causes 'directionless volatility’
With stock market indicators showing rapid growth, what is happening? Is the bear market ending or is this just a regular bear market rally that will soon end? Some way we might be facing a recovery, others say that it’s just hopeless optimism.
The energy transition as a source of opportunity
Pauline Grange (Columbia Threadneedle) emphasises the opportunities that currently exist in the market to take advantage of European efforts to improve energy autonomy in Europe.
Gas prices hanging over economic prospects
As we while away the warm – even hot – summer months in the Grand Duchy, it’s on many people’s minds that winter is on its way. And that means we go back to burning gas. While official sources show that Luxembourg doesn’t import much Russian gas, we all pay the going market rate.
Forty years of the bull market
Forty years ago this week the bull market started in the United States. Not just any bull market, but the biggest bull market ever. Despite the crash of 1987, the dotcom graveyard, the attacks of 11 September 2001, the Great Financial Crisis and the Covid pandemic, this bull market continued to rise, fuelled by structurally falling interest rates, higher valuations and sharply rising profits.
The Dow Jones bottomed forty years ago on 12 August 1982 at 777 points, the same level as in January 1964.
ArcelorMittal sees risks in growth, inflation and China
Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal, the world’s second-largest, on Thursday posted higher-than-expected earnings thanks to rising prices but warned that it sees risks in inflation, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in China.
The company posted EBITDA earnings of 5.16 billion dollars in the second quarter, up from 5.05 billion in the period a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected earnings of 5.09 billion.