What we’re reading (12/24)
“Investors Just Pulled A Record $42 Billion From Stocks In One Week In An Attempt To Cut Their Tax Bill After Grim 2022 Losses, BofA Says” (Insider). “Outflows from equities boomed to $41.9 billion, the largest ever amount for ‘tax-loss harvesting,’ said the investment firm said in its weekly Flow Show note, the last one to close out a bruising year for stocks.”
“Goldman Grumbling Grows For Banking Giant To Sack CEO David Solomon” (New York Post). “[T]he grumbling about Solomon is spreading to the managing director and partner class. High-priced Wall Street talent don’t call all the shots at any firm, of course. But Goldman’s MDs and partners have historically been a powerful force when the board decides the fate of current management, which makes Solomon’s hold on his job increasingly precarious as more and more of them defect from his camp.”
“Michael Bloomberg Eyes Dow Jones, WaPo Purchase As Media Ramps Up M&A: Report” (Yahoo! Finance). “Dow Jones is ultimately owned by News Corp's (NWSA) Rupert Murdoch, who is himself reportedly considering a recombination of Fox (FOXA) and the mass media and publishing company. According to an October report from Murdoch-owned The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the 91-year-old businessman is in early discussions to rejoin the two entities of his media empire, which formerly split in 2013. Disney acquired the bulk of Fox's entertainment assets in a $71 billion deal back in 2019. The WSJ report added that both companies have established special board committees to study a possible deal and evaluate potential financial terms.”
“Stock Selloff Hits Life Insurers’ Fastest-Growing Product” (Wall Street Journal). “The hottest thing in life insurance for more than a decade might be cooling off. A long-running stock-market rally and low interest rates combined to create the perfect conditions for indexed universal-life policies. Sales of these policies rose from 4% of life-insurance sales in 2008, as measured by new annualized premiums, to 28% in the third quarter, according to industry-funded research firm Limra. The millions of Americans who now own them saw those ideal conditions reversed in 2022, exposing the policies’ high fees and complexity.”
“Two Sigma Insurance Quantified Has Brought Sophisticated Data Analysis To Underwriting” (Forbes). “Two Sigma, a New York-based hedge fund that uses sophisticated technology, has taken its analytical skills into insurance underwriting with Two Sigma Insurance Quantified.”
