Week InReview
Friday | Jan 1, 2021
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If your New Year's resolution is to 'do better,' here's a start |
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For so many, 2020 was a year of regrouping, rebooting, and rediscovering the appeal of 24/7 sweatpants. Now, as 2021 looms, the closet needs rethinking. But instead of going the Kondo route, it’s time to focus on meaningful gestures, not just minimalist ones.
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Photo: Kena Betancur/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images |
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The Dow industrials marked their 13th record close of the year Wednesday, rising 0.2%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.1% and the Nasdaq 0.2%. The three indexes have combined for 100 record closes in 2020, the most since 2017, and are set to end near highs, even as the pandemic continues to weigh on the economy. (The Wall Street Journal | Dec 31)
The Securities and Exchange Commission under former Chair Jay Clayton frequently engaged in “deregulatory” rulemaking that hurt investors and should be reversed, the agency’s in-house investor advocate said. The SEC's “often disappointing” regulatory agenda reduced investor protections and didn’t bring substantive corporate environmental, social, and governance disclosures, Investor Advocate Rick Fleming said in his office’s annual report released Tuesday, less than a week after Clayton’s Dec. 23 departure. (Bloomberg Tax | Dec 29)
The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and Bank of Japan have collectively expanded their balance sheets by around $8 trillion in 2020. It took them almost eight years to achieve the same growth following the seizure of global financial markets in September 2008. That burst of bond-buying has revived a debate about quantitative easing, and how it might impose a fiscal cost on the countries pursuing it. But the circumstances in which to worry look fairly limited. (The Wall Street Journal | Dec 29)
Economic shocks like the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 only arrive once every few generations, and they bring about permanent and far-reaching change. Measured by output, the world economy is well on the way to recovery from a slump the likes of which barely any of its 7.7 billion people have seen in their lifetimes. Vaccines should accelerate the rebound in 2021. But other legacies of Covid-19 will shape global growth for years to come. (Bloomberg Economics | Dec 29)
The remarkable rally in risk assets this year comes down to one thing. Ask global central bankers what it is. When it came to financial markets in 2020, the most frequently asked question was why. Why, in the midst of a global pandemic that has killed some 1.7 million people worldwide and plunged the economy into the worst crisis since the Great Depression, did equity markets stage a historic rebound to reach new highs and become completely disconnected from reality? And it wasn’t just stocks, as anything smacking of carrying any semblance of risk, from junk bonds to Bitcoin, had epic rallies. (Bloomberg Markets - opinion | Dec 28)
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Illustration: Tracey J. Lee/Getty Images |
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Ransomware is headed down a dire path
Though some researchers say that the scale and severity of ransomware attacks crossed a bright line in 2020, others describe this year as simply the next step in a gradual and, unfortunately, predictable devolution. After years spent honing their techniques, attackers are growing bolder.
Tech trends in 2021: How AI and tech will reshape businesses
Businesses around the globe are taking the giant leap to become tech-savvy with quantum computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, etc. AI and cloud computing are alluring us all towards an environment of efficiency, security, optimization, and confidence. What better time than now to unveil what to look out for in the world of AI and technology in 2021.
DOJ national security boss is moving on — but cyber threats aren't
An adversary not only can snoop on what a government agency is doing that's not classified but also not public. It also can pair what it learns with what it's gleaning from other sources, including related to secret information or from human spies. These bookends illustrate how the threats the U.S. is facing have shifted since John Demers last stint at the department, during the George W. Bush administration.
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MORE CYBER SECURITY NEWS HERE: |
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Illustration: Sonny Ross/Financial Times |
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Resolutions for 2021 after a year working from home
2020 was all about the new normal. In 2021, thanks to vaccines, we’ll have to retire the new normal and get used to a new new normal. Which, confusingly, will bear some similarities to the old normal. Now we need to determine which parts of the new normal we will incorporate into the new new normal so it has the best of both normals. Keep up!
The onesie snowsuit makes a comeback — off the slopes
With indoor gatherings curbed or discouraged, residents of cold-weather regions are tackling winter with creativity, nostalgia and a lot of neon. Snowsuits aren’t just for kids or Alpine skiers this season. Americans are preparing for their first Covid winter, and one of the hottest items is the onesie snowsuit for adults.
A pandemic of misinformation
America has been paralyzed by death and fear for nearly a year, and the politicization of the pandemic has made things worse by adding misinformation and vitriol to the mix. With vaccines finally being administered, we should be entering a joyous phase. Instead we endure still more inflammatory rhetoric and media distortion.
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