WSJ Wealth Adviser Briefing: Supersized Fast Food, Beverage Startup Windfall, Murky SPAC Riches
| Wealth Adviser | There is an odd gap in how wealth managers have studied the issue of active versus passive over the years. Much research tallies the number of funds that beat their respective index benchmarks over some time frame. This approach has the unfortunate effect of assuming that all funds have the same amount of assets, which they obviously do not. An actively managed fund with $30 billion in assets that outperforms its benchmark is far more important than an outperforming active fund with only $30 million in assets. Measuring the amount of mutual fund assets that outperform their benchmark is the more compelling measure of investor impact than the simple headcount of outperforming or underperforming actively managed funds. Below, some of the best analysis and insight from WSJ writers and columnists, the Dow Jones Newswires team and occasionally beyond, on investing, the wealth-management business and more. |
| | For Fast Food, Supersized Sales Outrun Heavier Costs: A key question for the fast-food industry is how well it can handle the prospect of rising costs. So far, investors don’t have much reason to feel queasy. |
| | | | | Warnings that the consumer recovery in advanced economies might be faltering look premature, Oxford Economics' lead economist Adam Slater says. "While there are near-term downside risks due to the rise of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, the recovery path was always going to be bumpy and drawn out," Slater says. OE continues to expect two strong years of consumer spending growth in 2021 and 2022. Advanced economy households are sitting on a large pile of excess savings accumulated over the last year, he says. OE expects G-7 consumer spending to rise by 6.4% this year and 5.5% next year, "the fastest back-to-back rises since the early 1970s," Slater says. (maria.martinez@wsj.com) Chinese authorities sound supportive of the country's online-gaming industry, Jefferies says. While investor are worrying about the possibility of tighter regulations, Jefferies thinks authorities are more concerned with protecting young gamers than regulating the industry as a whole. At a recent industry conference, two government officials encouraged game developers to adopt new technologies, improve the quality of games and expand overseas, which show a supportive stance, Jefferies says. The officials also indicated that the government hopes to address the sector's supply-chain imbalance, as distributors such as platforms and hardware makers take a large share of game developers' revenues. It reckons this would be quite favorable for game studios such as Tencent and NetEase. (yifan.wang@wsj.com) |
| | | Beverage Startups See Money Pour In Following Pandemic Pullback: Ready-to-drink beverage startups are taking advantage of an uptick in venture funding in their sector following a downturn in deals during the worst of the pandemic last year. |
| | DHL Orders First Electric Cargo Planes to Slash Aviation Emissions: The deal is part of its parent company’s plan to spend more than $8 billion by 2030 to meet emission-cutting targets. |
| | As SPAC Creators Get Rich, How Incentives Are Shared Remains Murky: Some investment executives who back SPACs keep lucrative benefits known as ‘sponsor promotes’ for themselves rather than share with clients. |
| | How to Ask Someone if They’ve Been Vaccinated for Covid-19: Friends, co-workers and relatives are asking each other one tricky question: Are you vaccinated? |
| | | The Wealth Adviser Briefing covers topics of interest to wealth managers, financial planners and other advisers. The content is curated by the Dow Jones Newswires team using articles from the Newswires, Barron's, MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal. The briefing is delivered to subscribers by email each workday morning at 6:30 a.m. ET. You can sign up here (https://www.wsj.com/newsletters) for email delivery. Enjoying this newsletter? Get more from WSJ and support our work with a special subscription offer. |
| | | |
|
|