월스트리트저널 읽기 - Bond Yields, Netflix, China Evergrande's etc.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2023

 

◈ Soaring Bond Yields Threaten Fed Goal Of a Soft Landing (치솟는 채권 수익률로 연준의 연착륙 목표 위협)

 

A sudden surge in long-term interest rates to 16-year highs is threatening hopes for an economic soft landing, all the more because the exact triggers for the moves are unclear.

 

The Federal Reserve has been raising short-term rates for 1½ years. Those increases are designed to push up longer- term bond yields, combating inflation by slowing the economy. But the speed of the latest jump might be a case of “be careful what you wish for.”

 

It comes as inflation has eased and the Fed has signaled it is nearly done lifting rates.

 

Yields on the 10-year Treasury note rose 0.119 percentage point to 4.801% on Tuesday, the highest since the subprime mortgage crisis began in August 2007.

 

◈ Dow's 2023 Gains Are Wiped Out (다우지수의 2023년 이익은 사라졌다)

 

 

An intensifying bond selloff sparked new losses on Wall Street on Tuesday, wiping out what was left of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s gains for the year and pushing the yields on Treasurys to multiyear highs

 

The losses were broad, with risky technology firms, rate-sensitive banks and real-estate owners and companies that rely on discretionary spending leading the way lower. Utility shares were the only industry segment in the S& P 500 to rise. They added 1.2%, bouncing off big losses Monday.

 

The Dow shed about 431 points, or 1.3%, and the blue-chip stock index ended the session down 0.4% so far in 2023. The S& P 500 declined 1.4%, with nearly 13% of the stocks in the index hitting 52week lows. The technology-skewed Nasdaq Composite fell 1.9%.

 

◈ Netflix Plans to Raise Prices After Strike (넷플릭스, 파업 후 가격 인상 계획)

 

 

Netflix plans to raise the price of its ad-free service a few months after the continuing Hollywood actors strike ends, the latest in a series of recent price increases by the country’s largest streaming platforms.

 

The streaming service is discussing raising prices in several markets globally but will likely begin with the U.S. and Canada, according to people familiar with the matter. It couldn’t be learned how much Netflix will raise prices by or when exactly the new prices will take effect. Netflix declined to comment.

 

Over the past year or so, the cost of major ad-free streaming services has gone up about 25%, as entertainment companies look to bring their streaming platforms to profitability and lead price-conscious customers to switch to their cheaper and more-lucrative ad-supported plans.

 

◈ The Apartment Market Is Hitting a Construction Lull (아파트 시장이 침체기를 맞고 있다)

 

Many of the cranes crowding skylines from Phoenix to Denver and Dallas will soon come down. They are likely to stay down for a long time.

 

The number of new apartments starting development has fallen dramatically this year, a consequence of higher interest rates, declining rents and what in some places looks like overbuilding.

 

Apartment building starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 334,000 units in August, marking a 41% decline from the pace seen the same month a year before, according to the Census Bureau. An annual decline of this magnitude has happened only one other time since the subprime housing crisis, real-estate data firm Bright MLS said.

 

“We expect to see about two years of greatly reduced building,” said Greg Willett, first vice president at Institutional Property Advisors, a real-estate advisory company.

 

◈ China Evergrande's Shares Soar (중국 헝다의 주가 급등)

 

 

China Evergrande Group’s shares rose sharply as trading in the beleaguered property developer resumed after being halted last week.

 

Trading was suspended fol-lowing disclosure that the property developer’s chairman was being investigated by authorities.

 

In an exchange filing late Monday requesting the lifting of the trading halt, Evergrande said it had no further information to disclose to investors. That may have lifted sentiment in the stock, analysts said.

 

The disclosure and the trading resumption give investors a sense that there is “hopefully not much more bad news to come out,” said Sandra Chow, co-head of Asia-Pacific research at CreditSights.

 

Shares jumped 44% to 46 Hong Kong cents, or about 6 U.S. cents, in early trading Tuesday before closing 28% higher at 41 Hong Kong cents. The stock hit highs near HK$26 around mid-2020 but has been hammered in recent years, first by the Covid-19 pandemic and then by wider troubles in China’s property market. The company has more recently struggled to work through its large debt with lenders. It also recently disclosed that Chinese authorities believe its chairman, Hui Ka Yan, may have committed unspecified crimes and have subjected him to “mandatory measures” while they investigate.

 

오늘도 경제신문으로 세상을 봅니다.