In a world dominated by tepid economic growth, mediocre returns and a mountain of negative-yielding debt, foreign investors say they see American assets as a haven: They bought nearly $64 billion of U.S. stocks and bonds in June, the largest sum since August 2018, according to the latest available Treasury Department data.
Below, some of the best analysis and insight from WSJ writers and columnists, the Dow Jones Newswires team and occasionally beyond, on investing, the wealth-management business and more.
PLANNING & INVESTING
Veeva’s Cloud Can Keep Gaining Altitude: Strong growth and rare profits make this Veeva, which provides a suite of cloud-based software services for pharmaceutical companies and others in the life-sciences industry, worth the sky-high valuation.
MARKET TALK
From Dow Jones Newswires
U.S. companies are set to cross the pond in September to raise funds in euros given the current arbitrage, JPMorgan credit strategists say. Longer-dated euro-denominated bonds are currently trading 51 basis points below their comparable dollar bonds on a swap spread basis, which makes the euro attractive as a funding currency for global issuers, they say. “We think that we are likely to see a large volume of reverse Yankee issuance [bonds issued by U.S. companies in euros] next month.” U.S companies are likely to issue longer-dated euro-denominated bonds to keep their yields positive, given that many shorter-dated eurozone corporate bond yields are currently negative. This will benefit both the company and investors, with the former locking in cheaper funding for longer and the latter getting difficult-to-find positive-yielding bonds.(lorena.ruibal@wsj.com; @lorena_rbal)
While the second quarter’s 3.2{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} growth in earnings per share topped 1.6{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} year-over-year growth in the first quarter, it was still the second-worst showing since mid-2016, and much of that growth came from share buybacks. Following buybacks, a company’s earnings will be divided by a lower number of outstanding shares, which increases EPS without actually increasing profitability. Overall, profits for companies in the S&P 500 index rose just 1.3{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} in the second quarter, the second-worst showing since mid-2016, according to Refinitiv. Profits fell 0.8{01de1f41f0433b1b992b12aafb3b1fe281a5c9ee7cd5232385403e933e277ce6} in the first quarter. (harriet.torry@wsj.com and paul.kiernan@wsj.com)
BUSINESS & PRACTICE
Boaz Weinstein Hedge Fund Spars With BlackRock and Neuberger: New York hedge fund Saba Capital Management LP is currently embroiled in separate fights with two large Wall Street asset managers and a well-known law firm over the obscure mechanics of closed-end fund boards.
IMPACT INVESTING
Volkswagen Appoints Professor Ye Qi to Sustainability Advisory Council:
Volkswagen Group said that it has appointed Ye Qi, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, as a new member of its sustainability advisory council.
TALKING POINTS
Younger Workers Report Biggest Gains in Happiness With Pay: American workers under 35 report being happier with their paychecks than people over 55 for the first time since at least 2011, according to a new report from the Conference Board, a business-research organization that polls U.S. employees about workplace satisfaction.
TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE
For Business Travelers, Apps to Find Enviable Workspaces: These 9 apps and websites help road warriors find covetable places to get the job done—from meeting rooms and co-working spots to hotel cabanas—all over the world.
ADVISER CALENDAR
Join us on Sept. 26 for a two-part evening event at Columbia University to discuss how financial advisers can thrive amid disruption. The event will feature proprietary research from WSJ Elevate on millennial investors and a panel discussion with Craig Hawley of Nationwide Advisory Solutions and Nalika Nannayakara of EY. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-wealth-management-program-and-the-wall-street-journal-tickets-64264859926
– Project Finance & Capital Markets Latin America/ Sept. 4/ Miami, FL
– Private Wealth Management Group Meeting/ Sept. 10/ NYC
– XYPN Live/ Sept. 8-11/ St. Louis, MO
– FSI Forum/ Sept. 9-10/ Washington, D.C.
– Southwest Institutional Forum/ Sept. 12/ Santa Fe, NM
– NAPFA Fall National Conference/ Oct. 1-4/ Chicago, IL
– Alliance of Comprehensive Planners / Nov. 12-Nov. 15/ San Diego, CA
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SOURCE: MoneyBeat – Read entire story here.
