Hot Reads: Consequences of the ESG Backlash

Guess Who Loses After Florida and Texas Bar ESG Banks? (Bloomberg)
Banning Wall Street’s biggest municipal bond underwriters has foisted a hidden tax on their residents totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

Welcome to the New Normal for China’s Big Tech (The Economist)
What Tencent’s rebound says about the prospects for a once-unstoppable sector.

Morningstar’s Most Exclusive Bond Fund Club (Institutional Investor)
Big asset managers dominate a short list of U.S. bond funds that have both five-star and gold ratings from Morningstar.

‘Soft Landing With Transitory Inflation’ Is the Current Story (Disciplined Systematic Global Macro Views)
While the Fed’s current rhetoric spurred a market rally, the reality is likely more complicated.

Markets Believe in Miracles (Jackson Hole Economics)
Beneath short-term market gyrations, it is important to note the emergence of disconnects between investor sentiment and the fundamentals.

Fighting the Last Bull & Bear Market (A Wealth of Common Sense)
There is a tendency to invest money into the speculative stuff only after it rockets higher during a bull market.

Devaluation Run in EM Just Getting Started (Bloomberg)
Indebted frontier nations need devaluations for IMF funding, with Argentina, Bangladesh and Nigeria likely to devalue next.

Analysts See ‘Generational Shift’ in Copper Prices (CNBC)
Copper is a leading barometer of global economic health due to its wide-ranging usage.