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Headlines
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Friday:
NKY -1.41%,
HSI +0.56%, SHCOMP +1.6%, KOSPI +0.4%
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Dow +0.57%, SPX +0.67%, Nasdaq +0.6%
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Friday US again closed at record highs for the 6th straight session
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US: Fed’s Jackson Hole Reboot to Lift Inflation Faces Skepticism
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US: NYC Commercial-Property Sales Fall 54%, Crush Tax Receipts
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CN: Gov held meeting w/ several loval officials; emphasized to stabilize housing prices
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CN: Blackrock becomes 1st global asset mgr to win regulatory approval to set up mutual fund unit in CN
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CN: Largest 5 bank
↑ed provisions against bad debt to brace for future losses due to Covid-19
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CN: Issue revised tech export restrictns, Bytedance potential TikTok sale needs CN approval
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SINO-US:
Microsoft, Walmart Offer Joint TikTok Bid, Vying W/ Oracle (BBG)
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SINO-US: US adds another 11 firms to the China list related to China's military
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SINO-US: CN: Trump putting Republican Party above US; Trump: America wld take biz out of CN
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SINO-US: Google, Facebook Dump Hong Kong Cable A/f U.S. Security Alarm
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SINO-EUR: CN to possibly conclude EU-CN investment accord by end 2020
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EUR: Berlin Protest Against Virus Constraints Ends in Police Clashes
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HK: 2ndary home prices fall 1.21% as CCL falls to 178.71 points
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HK: Local cases cont low Fri/Sat/Sun: 10/16/10 (popn 7.5m). Daily discharges well exceeding new cases
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JP: J-REIT M&A!! Japan Retail Fund (8953) merger w/ MCUBS MidCity, announced post close Friday
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JP: Berkshire may boost hldgs in JP co’s up to 9.9%; Stakes in 5 JP trading co’s pass 5%
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JP: ETFs saw $6.5Bn net inflows in July,
è YTD inflows to $51.5Bn ($ 37Bn in all of 2019)
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JP: 600 provisional virus cases Sunday, 845 Saturday
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Davos World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Jan postponed
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Argentina Extends Lockdown Measures Until Sept. 20
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ON THE CLOSE TODAY: MSCI Rebalance
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HOLIDAYS TODAY: Malaysia, Philippines, UK
TODAY: Property is NOT a boring sector.
BIG NEWS IN JAPAN. While everyone else is focused on PM Abe’s resignation, I would turn your attention to the
Japan Retail Fund (8953) merger w/ MCUBS MidCity, announced after
the close on Friday. I’ve been at this long enough to have seen a few
waves of REIT consolidation in my time. Needless to say, you want to be
in the targets. M&A (or fear thereof)
can be a great motivator for mgt teams to deliver better shareholder value & governance. Readers of the daily will know I’ve been banging on a/b
Invesco 3298 for some time. I would have been running (a v imperfect) pair w/ NBF 8951. Invesco is
↓ 36% ytd, w/ a 5.5% div yld & no blocking stake, to NBF’s
↓ 19% ytd, w/ a 3.4% div yld & there is still plenty of scope for the BoJ to buy Invesco while
being almost capped out in NBF. Back to the merger, which will result in a renaming to
Japan Metropolitan Fund Investment Corp, while I’ve had feedback
on governance etc (& I doubt, like CCT hldrs that MCUBS holders will
want to become more retail focussed & it looks to me that MCUBS
investors will think it too great a discount (resulting
in a ¥45b goodwill writedown – an offset to retail asset sales at
discounts?) & these stocks will now trade in tandem until March ‘21)
I do wonder to what extent this is a reflection of the current retail
climate becoming more difficult. While investors have
historically preferred to do their own asset allocation (vs diversified
names), no doubt we’ll here the ‘bigger is better’ mantra as larger
names see more liquidity, more index weight/buying, more BoJ activity
etc. I predict interesting times ahead & more
so with the Berkshire headlines today. Either way, time to dust off
the list of smaller J-REITs
Finally:
The
world is becoming more urban. But the more residents they attract can
make city living difficult by creating stressful & tense conditions.
The
U.N. predicts the planet will add 2.5bn people by 2050, w/ a/b 90% of
this surge occurring in Africa & Asia. To underscore the worldwide
shift toward cities, by 2030, Earth will have 43 megacities – those w/
>10m residents – & most of these places will be
in the developing world, compared to 33 megacities today. But it’s now
clear that Covid-19 poses a profound challenge to a significant modern
megacities trend. NYC has suffered about 23% of all US deaths from the
virus; London’s share of UK deaths is also
23%. Density has been the enemy in most plagues. So, will the suburbs
become more attractive after this crisis?
(USA
Today,
MSN,
FT)
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