What we’re reading (3/23)
“Charles Schwab Says It Could Ride Out A Deposit Flight” (Wall Street Journal). “Charles Schwab Corp., one of a host of financial firms that have taken a drubbing since the collapse of several regional banks this month, is pushing back against fears that it could face some of the same problems as paper losses on its bondholdings mount. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Schwab’s chief executive said the brokerage giant could continue to operate even if it lost most of its deposits over the next year.”
“Moody’s Sees Risk That U.S. Banking ‘Turmoil’ Can’t Be Contained” (MarketWatch). “Despite quick action by regulators and policy makers, there’s a rising risk that banking-system stress will spill over into other sectors and the U.S. economy, ‘unleashing greater financial and economic damage than we anticipated,’ said Moody’s Investors Service, one of the Big Three credit-ratings firms.”
“Guy Who Founded Social Network Ruining The World Also Allegedly Founded Company Facilitating Fraud, Money-Laundering, Other Social Ills” (Dealbreaker). “You might think that Nate Anderson’s got enough on his plate. He and other short-sellers are fighting an existential battle against Washington. He’s still (probably) making plenty betting against aspiring electric-vehicle maker Nikola. Oh yea, and he’s busy shaking the markets of the second-largest country on earth to their core, wiping some $135 billion from the market value of one of India’s biggest conglomerates, Adani Group, which Anderson’s Hindenburg Group says is as filled with fraud as his own firm’s namesake was with highly-combustible hydrogen. But no: The one-time Ponzi-seeking hobbyist is always on the lookout for scams big and small; ‘there are just so many outrageous companies,’ he once said excitedly. And one of them just happens to have been founded by the same guy who launched Twitter—and both are about equally good for the world, sayeth Hindenburg.”
“Smaller PE Funds Struggled To Raise Money In 2022” (Institutional Investor). “The fundraising environment was even more difficult for the smallest group of funds, which are defined by McKinsey as those with less than $250 million in assets. According to the report, only 1,500 of these funds reached their fundraising targets in 2022, down 51 percent from the year before. That’s the lowest level since 2015.”
“Get Ready: More Blackouts Are Coming” (Insider). “[M]ass blackouts are starting to become a more regular feature of modern American life. Power outages have increased 64% from the early 2000s, and weather-related outages — many driven by the worsening climate crisis — have increased 78%. But it's not just nature making our grid shakier: A system that was once largely controlled by localized public entities has been handed over to layers of regional authorities and private companies whose goal is maximizing profits — not reliability.”
