What we’re reading (12/13)
“U.S. Treasury Breached By Foreign-Backed Hackers: Reuters” (Bloomberg). “Hackers suspected to be working for the Russian government have been monitoring emails at the U.S. Treasury Department and a U.S. agency responsible for deciding policy around the internet and telecommunications, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.”
“The Triumphs—And Troubles—Of Citi Research” (Institutional Investor). “In just four years, Citi had risen rapidly up the rankings of investment research houses, defying the regulatory burdens and shrinking client wallets that threatened the larger sell-side industry…Citi’s improvement in the [Institutional Investor] rankings reflected an intentional investment on the part of the bank’s equities leaders, who had a stated goal of making Citi into a top-three research provider. But even as Citi analysts racked up votes in II’s surveys, cracks had started to form in the bank’s research division.”
“Elliott Management Has Significant Stake in Public Storage” (Wall Street Journal). “Elliott Management Corp. has built a significant stake in Public Storage and privately nominated six directors to the self-storage giant’s board, according to people familiar with the matter. Representatives of Elliott and Public Storage, which has a market value of $38 billion, have had multiple discussions in recent weeks about changes that could be made at the company, the people said.”
“15% Of Millennials Now Expect To Retire Early, Study Finds—Here’s Why” (Grow). “A recent study by Northwestern Mutual shows that while 20% of Americans expect that the pandemic will force them to retire later than they’d previously expected, another 10% expect to retire early. That number is even higher among millennials, 15% of whom now expect to retire early.”
“Companies Have Raised More Capital In 2020 Than Ever Before” (The Economist). “In March the corporate world found itself staring into the abyss, recalls Susie Scher. From her perch overseeing global capital markets at Goldman Sachs, a bank, she witnessed firms scrambling for money to keep going as the wheels of commerce ground to a halt amid the pandemic. Many investors panicked. Surely, the thinking went, public markets would freeze in the frigid fog of covid-19 uncertainty—and then stay frozen. Instead, within weeks they began to thaw, then simmer, kindled by trillions of dollars in monetary and fiscal stimulus from governments desperate to avert an economic nuclear winter. In the past few months they have turned boiling hot.”
