The Purse

Welcome to our #63 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

The world is on track for its biggest rebound in half a century this year. However the recovery looks lopsided, in part because the rollout of vaccines and fiscal support differ across borders. 

The S&P 500 rose 74.9 % between March 23 last year and the same date in 2021. According to Deutsche Bank, this was the biggest rise over any 12-month period since 1936.

On Wednesday, the US President, Joe Biden unveiled a ‘once-in a lifetime’ $2tn infrastructure investment plan.

Nomura and Credit Suisse both plunged more than 15% (on Monday) after saying they may face ‘significant’ losses due to their exposure to wrong-way bets by Archegos Capital Management.

Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, reached an all-time high on Friday at $2,097 (the price rallied 24% this week).

Visa announced they would facilitate crypto-based settlements on the Ethereum network. And Paypal launched its crypto checkout service.

JP Morgan has said that bitcoin could reach $130,000 if volatility continues to decline, as it will attract more institutional investors.

Meanwhile, the average prices for NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have fallen almost 70% from a peak in February to about $1,400. Other data show many NFTs are still sitting on substantial gains for 2021.

In the Future Focus section, read about funds betting on a consumer boom to rival the ‘roaring twenties’. And the IMF calls for tax hikes on the wealthy to reduce the income gap.

And Deliveroo’s IPO in London did not exactly go to plan: the share price plunged 30% as investors got tough on gig-worker rights.

In the Have You Seen This? section, read about Harlem Capital, a diversity-focused fund; it closed its Fund II at $134m. It was oversubscribed from its target of $100m and above its initial cap of $125m.

And we are tracking US digital health startup, Everlywell, which provides home-testing, founded by CEO Julia Cheek.

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* The world is on track for its biggest rebound in half a century (this year)

* However, unlike in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the recovery looks lopsided, in part because the rollout of vaccines and fiscal support differ across borders. 

* The World Trade Organisation (WTO) expects trade to rebound 8% in 2021 and 4% in 2022.

* Wall Street stocks in strongest rebound rally since 1936

* The S&P 500 rose 74.9 % between March 23 last year and the same date in 2021. According to Deutsche Bank, this was the biggest rise over any 12-month period since 1936.

* US President unveils ‘once-in a lifetime’ $2tn infrastructure investment plan

* On Wednesday, Joe Biden unveiled a ‘once-in-a-generation’ investment in American infrastructure, that his $2tn plan would create the ‘strongest, most resilient, innovative economy in the world’.

* The expansive proposal, called the American Jobs Plan, would rebuild 20,000 miles of roads and highways and repair the 10 most economically significant bridges in the country among a sprawling list of other projects that Biden said would confront the climate crisis, curb wealth inequality and strengthen US competitiveness.

* Credit Suisse and Nomura slump as banks tally Archegos damage

* On Monday, Nomura Holdings Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG both plunged more than 15% after saying they may face ‘significant’ losses, due to their exposure to wrong-way bets by Archegos Capital Management.

* Lenders to Bill Hwang’s New York-based family office are racing to contain the fallout after Archegos failed to meet margin calls last week.

* More than $20bn of positions linked to the firm have been liquidated.

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Ether jumps to an all-time high

* Ether jumped Friday to a new all-time high as the second-biggest cryptocurrency extended its winning streak to five days. The price has rallied 24% this week.

* The native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, ether traded as high as $2,097.

* Visa becomes the first major payments network to settle transactions in USD Coin (USDC)

* On Monday, Visa announced they would facilitate crypto-based settlements on the Ethereum network.

* JP Morgan note: bitcoin’s drop in volatility could boost appeal to institutional investors

* The US banking giant said that bitcoin could fetch $130,000 if its volatility continues to decline.

* PayPal launches crypto checkout service

* PayPal Holdings Inc has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost use of digital assets in everyday commerce.

* Customers who hold bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoin in PayPal digital wallets will now be able to convert their holdings into fiat currencies at checkouts to make purchases.

* ‘This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet’.

* Asset management giant Fidelity files for bitcoin ETF

* The Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF is the latest entrant in a growing race to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded product in the United States.

* The ETF, if approved, will also employ Fidelity's in-house bitcoin price index, per the filing.

* Fidelity's effort represents the sixth of its kind within the U.S., joining WisdomTree Investments, VanEck Associates Corp., NYDIG Asset Management, First Advisors/SkyBridge and Valkyrie Digital Assets. 

* NFT price crash stirs debate on whether stimulus-led fad is over

* Average prices for NFTs (tradable digital certificates that use blockchain technology to prove ownership and provenance of online assets) have fallen almost 70% from a peak in February to about $1,400, according to Nonfungible.com, which tracks a variety of NFT marketplaces.

* While trading volumes and average prices are far lower than recent peaks, other data show many NFTs are still sitting on substantial gains for 2021.

* Paris Hilton is going ‘to drop an NFT’ and announces she is an investor in Bitcoin (& female founders)

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* Funds bet on consumer boom to rival ‘roaring twenties’

* Some of the world’s top money managers are betting on a post-pandemic spending boom that will boost real-world companies (including travel companies, restaurants and offline shopping).

* Investors began piling into cyclical stocks that benefit from an economic rebound late last year following good news on the vaccine front, while pulling back from high-valued technology stocks.

* IMF calls for tax hikes on wealthy to reduce income gap

* Calling for governments ‘to provide everyone with a fair shot’-the IMF said that the government ministers needed to ‘enable all individuals to reach their potential – and to strengthen vulnerable households’ resilience, preserving social stability’ and broader economic stability.

* ‘Against this backdrop, societies may experience rising polarisation, erosion of trust in government, or social unrest. These factors complicate sound economic policymaking and pose risks to macroeconomic stability and the functioning of society,’ the IMF said.

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* Deliveroo goes from ‘hero to zero’ after tanking 30% at its London IPO as investors get tough on gig-worker rights

* Analysts say its IPO took a turn for the worse when multiple fund managers said they wouldn't back the business due to concerns about working practices, spooking many that applied for its shares and possibly racing to dump them.

* Amazon-backed Deliveroo, which trades on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ROO, raised 1.5 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) via proceeds from investors.

* Credit Suisse lurches from risk management crisis to the next

* Scandals at Archegos, Greensill and Wirecard seem symptomatic.

* Credit Suisse could lose between $3bn and $4bn from the Archegos sell-off.

* JPMorgan’s Abouhossein suggested the Archegos and Greensill crises will provoke a wholesale review of the lender’s asset management and investment banking businesses.

* ‘ . . It is likely to lead to a reassessment of how it takes and manages risk. Whenever a bank does this, it inevitably leads to lower growth and lower revenues.’

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* Harlem Capital has closed fund II at $134m

* Harlem Capital, a diversity-focused venture capital firm, was oversubscribed from its target of $100m and above its initial cap of $125m.

* The firm aims to invest in 1,000 diverse founders over the next 20 years. Established as an angel syndicate, Harlem Capital closed its $40m inaugural fund in November 2019 and now manages $174m in assets under management.

* Fund I has invested in 23 companies: including e-commerce platforms, Pangaea, CashDrop, Malomo and Repeat, and wellness brands, Wellory, Expectful, Wagmo and Shine.

* Fund I's portfolio is comprised of 61% Black or Latino led companies and 43% female-only led companies. The fund is still actively investing with a target of five more initial investments.

* Fund II seeks to invest in 45 companies, maintaining Harlem Capital’s commitment to minority and women founders, but shifting focus to early seed stage investments in companies that are post-product.

* Fund II’s limited partners (“LPs”) include 14 world-class institutions, 4 global corporations, and 6 family offices. The firm is proud to have the support of 18 GPs of other investment funds, with 42% of Fund II’s individual LPs being women or people of colour.

Know this: minority and women founders continue to be under-invested and under-estimated. This often means that they have less access to capital, when they do raise capital, it takes them longer and they often raise far less, than their white, male counterparts (on average). We are beginning to see VC funds focused exclusively on minority and women founders to address this problem.

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment, research & crowdfunding campaigns.

Everlywell: (US)-founded by CEO Julia Cheek, is a digital health business which provides home-testing and other health diagnostic tests.

* It is valued at $2.9 billion after acquiring PWNHealth and Home Access Health Corp. in a cash and stock deal. (Strong sales growth combined with synergies from the acquisition helped its valuation more than double).

* The companies will be combined under a newly formed parent company, Everly Health, according to a statement Wednesday. 

* The business saw strong growth during the coronavirus pandemic, as consumers turned to Everlywell for home Covid-19 testing and other health diagnostic testing.

* Its investors include Shark Tank’s Lori Greiner, Blackrock, Lux Capital and Goodwater Capital.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Women less likely to get their ideas endorsed at work than men

* Resilience is about how you recharge, not how you endure

* Don’t have 1000hrs to learn something new? That’s fine, all you need is 20hrs

* Study shows fit women burn fat faster than men

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #62 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

The global market cap is almost unchanged this week at $108tn, which is equal to 123% of global GDP.

The European Central Bank (ECB) boost its bond-buying after it pledged to fight yield gains.

Meanwhile UK business activity returned to growth in March, UK unemployment fell to 5% and inflation also fell to 0.4% (city economists were expecting an uptick to 0.8%).

On Thursday bitcoin briefly fell below its average price over the past 50 days, which has been a key support level so far this year. Bitcoin fell $10,000 below a record of $61,742 set earlier in March. However, it is currently trading at approximately $56,000.

Tesla now accepts bitcoin as payment for cars. And Coinbase competitor Blockchain.com has raised $300m in a crypto funding frenzy.

In the Future Focus section, read about a report published by a coalition of NGOs which says that 60 of the world’s biggest banks have provided $3.8tn of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate deal in 2015.

WeWork has agreed to a SPAC deal that will take the company public.

And in the Have You Seen This section, we highlight a report by the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region which says that women-founded companies significantly outperform men-founded companies.

We are tracking BBG Ventures-founded by Susan Lyne and Nisha Dua, a New York-based seed-and early-stage venture firm that only backs founding teams which include at least one woman. They have just closed $50m (third fund).

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Jessica Robinson, the Founder & CEO of Moxie Future. We talk about ESG trends, how to get started as a sustainable investor, how to find a financial advisor (+ more). I hope you enjoy it!

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* Global market cap almost changed this week at $108tn, which is equal to 123% of global GDP.

* Markets may showing signs of settling into an emerging ‘new normal’, with less volatility and strong opportunities for stock picking.

* Wall Street: investors hunt for source of fire sale that sent stocks tumbling

* The distressed stock selling spree caused a sharp slide in several Chinese technology companies and US media groups on Friday.

* The mysterious share sales worth almost $19bn wiped around $33bn of market value off the companies involved including ViacomCBS.

* Oil prices rebound (Friday) on fears Suez Canal blockage may last weeks

* The trapped container ship is blocking traffic in the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest shipping channels for oil and refined fuels, grain and other trade between Asia and Europe.

* Prices, however, were still headed for a third consecutive weekly loss.

* The European Central Bank (ECB) boosts bond-buying after pledge to fight yield gains

* Net purchases settled last week climbed by €21.1bn ($25.2bn), the most since the start of December. 

* Investors have been worried by a sudden surge in inflation, which meant bond prices have plunged and yields have gone up.

* UK business activity returned to growth in March

* This is the fastest growth since August.

* UK unemployment falls to 5% (in the 3 months to January)

* The latest snapshot showed a 68,000 increase in the number of workers on company payrolls in February, by compared with January.

* UK inflation unexpectedly slows to 0.4% (February)

* City economists had expected a slight uptick to 0.8%.

* Normally, clothes prices rise into February following the end of the January sales, but there was increased discounting this year, especially for women’s clothes and shoes, as the UK embarked on its third Covid-19 lockdown.

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Bitcoin drops as potential retail trader mania may be fading (Thursday)

* Speculation is growing that the latest stimulus checks in the U.S. will be spent in the real economy vs in the markets.

* Thursday bitcoin briefly fell below its average price over the past 50 days, which has been a key support level so far this year:

* Bitcoin fell approximately $10,000 below a record of $61,742 set earlier in March.

* We could now be in a ‘downward trend’ meaning the upside is also limited.

* However, nothing has really changed from the institutional investor perspective: bitcoin is still considered a hedge.

* See today’s bitcoin’s price ie approximately $56,000

* Tesla now accepts bitcoin as payment for cars, Elon Musk says

* Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as bitcoin, not converted to fiat.

* Tesla and other companies are showing that crypto is here to stay.

* Coinbase competitor Blockchain.com raises $300m in crypto funding frenzy

* The Series C funding round comes as the 10-year-old crypto company reported hitting 31m verified users across 200 countries.

* The company has been able to raise $1.5bn since its founding as institutional interest continues to swell with bitcoin holding above $50,000.

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* The IMF’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, has warned that the prospects for a recovery from the COVID-induced economic slowdown are uncertain and uneven.

* Big banks’ trillion-dollar finance for fossil fuels ‘shocking’, says report

* The world’s biggest 60 banks have provided $3.8tn of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate deal in 2015, according to a report by a coalition of NGOs.

* US and Canadian banks make up 13 of the 60 banks analysed, but account for almost 50% of global fossil fuel financing over the last five years.

* The report was produced by six NGOs and is endorsed by over 300 organisations from 50 countries. It used Bloomberg data to analyse both direct loans by banks to fossil fuel companies and funding from other investors that the banks arrange via bond and debt sales.

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* WeWork agrees to SPAC deal that would take the company public

* WeWork has agreed to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company in a deal to take the shared-office provider public nearly two years after its high-profile failure to launch a traditional IPO.

* The planned merger with the BowX Acquisition Corp. SPAC values WeWork at $9bn including debt.

* As part of the deal, WeWork plans to raise $1.3bn, including $800m in what is called a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, from Insight Partners, funds managed by Starwood Capital Group, Fidelity Management and others.

* On Friday, WeWork posted a net loss of $3.83bn on $3.4bn of revenue for 2020, compared with a $3.78bn loss on a similar revenue level in 2019.

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* CEE report: women-founded companies significantly outperform men-founded companies

* A new report commissioned and created by European Women in VC, Experior VC, and Unconventional Ventures found that in terms of capital productivity, women outperform men by as much as 96% in the CEE region.

* In 2020 alone, women-founded startups in the CEE region saw just 1% of investment, 5% went to mixed-gender founding teams, while the remaining 94% landed in the hands of all-male founding teams.

* Read the report here

Know this: According to the report, 85% of investment roles at any level in active VC funds in the region are occupied by men. When looking at ‘Partner’ level, the figure rises to 93%, and even higher at ‘General Partner’ level. Women-managed funds in the CEE region comprise just 3%.

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment, research & crowdfunding campaigns.

* BBG Ventures (US): -founded by Susan Lyne and Nisha Dua, is an eight-year-old, New York-based seed- and early-stage venture firm that only backs founding teams which include at least one woman.

* The firm just closed $50 million in capital for its third fund, a major leap over its first two funds, both sized at $10 million.

* They have invested in (including) e-commerce platform Zola; the feminine hygiene brand Lola; and Spring Health, a mental health benefits platform for employers that recently closed on $76 million in Series B funding led by Tiger Global Management.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Covid, Couples & Kids: No, You Aren’t Going Insane

* Why men’s aggression is so often expressed through sex

* Pinterest and the subtle poison of sexism and racism in Silicon Valley

* Human beings are made to be touched-so what happens when we aren’t?

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #61 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

Global stocks have lost $500bn in market cap this week; global stocks are now worth $108tn (equal to 123% of global GDP).

The US Federal Reserve has signalled interest rates will remain unchanged through 2023. The Fed expects that an increase in inflation this year will be short-lived. And they also upgraded forecasts for economic growth: GDP is due to expand 6.5% (versus the 4.2% projection).

The US 10 year Treasury yield rose above 1.7% this week. This is despite reassurance from the Federal Reserve that it had no plans to increase interest rates anytime soon. Bond investors fear the central bank will let inflation increase more than normal, eroding the value in bonds.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England (BoE) has said that they will keep the official interest rate at a record low (0.1%) and has also upgraded the outlook for the UK economy.

UK borrowing continues to surge: public sector net debt has risen to £2.1trn, or 97.5% of GDP, in the first 11 months of the tax year – levels not seen since the early 1960s.

Bitcoin fell after (last) weekend’s rally, post the new all-time high where the price of bitcoin reached $61,742 (last Saturday).

Morgan Stanley has become the first big US bank to offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin funds. Digital currency group, Grayscale has launched five new cryptocurrency investment trusts. And JP Morgan is eyeing bitcoin and crypto clearinghouse options.

In the Future Focus section, read about why UK value stocks may be the trade of the decade. And ESG funds have attracted 84% of global equity inflows since 2019.

Why has Volkswagen recently become Germany’s most valuable company?

And in the Have You Seen This section, we highlight a report about UK female investors losing out on approximately £15,000 by 2030 because of the gender pay gap.

We’re tracking a UK startup called Stepladder: an award winning fintech company committed to solving a huge societal and generational problem - buying your first home. They are crowdfunding on the Seedrs platform (but please do your own research).

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Katica Roy, the Founder & CEO of Pipeline:

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* Global stocks have lost $500bn in market cap this week

* Global stocks are now worth $108tn (equal to 123% of global GDP)

* We are moving further and further into ‘bubble territory’.

* The US Federal Reserve signals zero rate changes through 2023

* The Fed expects that an increase in inflation this year will be short-lived.

* They also upgraded forecasts for economic growth: GDP expanding 6.5% this year, up from a prior projection of 4.2%.

* US 10 year Treasury yield rises above 1.7% for 14month high

* This is despite reassurance from the Federal Reserve that it had no plans to increase interest rates anytime soon.

* Bond investors fear this means the central bank will let inflation increase more than normal, eroding the value in bonds.

* Bank of England (BoE) keeps official interest rate at record low 0.1% and upgrades outlook for the UK economy

* Once spare economic capacity is eliminated and 2% target inflation is achieved, the BoE will revisit their position on interest rates.

* UK borrowing surges

* The government borrowed £19.1bn last month, the highest February borrowing since monthly records began in 1993.

* Public sector net debt has risen to £2.1trn, or 97.5% of GDP, in the first 11 months of the tax year – levels not seen since the early 1960s.

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Bitcoin fell after (last) weekend rally, post new all-time high

* Last Monday, the largest cryptocurrency slumped by as much as 9.2% before trading at $56,131 as of 1:04 p.m. in New York, after topping out at $61,742 on (last) Saturday.

* Morgan Stanley becomes the first big US bank to offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin funds

* Morgan Stanley is launching three funds that enable ownership of bitcoin.

* Two of the funds on offer are from Galaxy Digital, while the third is a joint effort from asset manager FS Investments and bitcoin company NYDIG.

* Clients with ‘an aggressive risk tolerance’, who have at least $2m in assets held by the firm, will have access to these funds.

* Grayscale launches five new cryptocurrency investment trusts

* The new trusts are: Grayscale Basic Attention Token Trust; Grayscale Chainlink Trust; Grayscale Decentraland Trust; Grayscale Filecoin Trust; and Grayscale Livepeer Trust. (The total number of investment products are 14).

* Grayscale's investment products are available to institutional and individual accredited investors through their respective periodic and ongoing private placements. 

* JP Morgan is eyeing bitcoin and crypto clearinghouse options

* JPMorgan is exploring bitcoin and cryptocurrency clearinghouse options, looking for a middleman to sit between OTC desks and traders to guarantee the enforcement of a trade and create liquidity in the market.

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* Why UK value stocks may be the trade of the decade (opinion)

* Brexit drove UK stocks to valuation levels that were the cheapest compared with other developed world markets.

* Then Covid fears drove value stocks globally to near-record lows relative to growth stocks.

* Forecast: for global developed equities is that they would deliver an annualised total return of 4% over the next 10 years. That means investment growth of just over 25% in 6 years.

* In contrast, a 12% return for UK value stocks would double an investor’s money in just 6 years.

* ESG funds attract 84% of global equity inflows since 2019

* According to Calastone’s global investor report, net sales of ESG funds on the transaction network rose sevenfold over the period to reach $15.1bn (£10.9bn) out of a total of $18.1bn.

* The last four months of 2020 saw greater ESG inflows than the rest of 2020 and all of 2019 combined.

* The report found that active equity funds globally lost $5.4bn in cumulative outflows over the two years, as passive and index funds drew in $24.5bn.

* UK investors added $17.3bn to passive products, as active funds lost $0.4bn. However, the total assets under management of UK passive equity funds remain only around a third of that of their active counterparts. 

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* VW becomes Germany’s most valuable company (on electric enthusiasm)

* CEO Herbert Diess this week made back-to-back announcements on how he plans to turn VW into the leading electric-car company (to rival Tesla in electric vehicles).

* VW’s common shares have soared more than 80% this year while the more liquid preference shares are up more than 50%.

* The outsize gain in the common stock is partly driven by U.S. retail investor buying and high short interest.

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* Female investors on average £15,000 worse off than men by 2030 due to the gender pay gap

* According to research carried out by Freetrade: if both men and women started investing in 2020, men would make a £1,147 greater return on their investments:

* British men, who take home an average of £31,445 per year, are expected to make £3,299 this year if they start investing. British women, on the other hand, will only make £2,152 because their average annual salary is much lower at £20,515.

* By 2030, with men able to invest much more than women due to their higher annual returns, the difference becomes substantial.

* The research estimates male investors will have made £44,123 by the turn of the next decade. For women, however, this figure is just £28,786.

* Overall, this means there is a £15,337 discrepancy. 

Know this: the gender pay gap is a pervasive problem but also multi-faceted. Whilst women, on average, get paid less than men, they often feel ‘put off’ by the financial services industry. The implications on women and their purse is significant. Women must engage much more around their money and crucially, we must invest money for growth. Make a commitment this week to research a new way to invest (even if this is a small amount).

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment, research & crowdfunding campaigns.

* Stepladder: (UK)-StepLadder is an award winning fintech company committed to solving a huge societal and generational problem - buying your first home.

* They are tackling the housing crisis head-on with our innovative and powerful ‘StepLadder Circles’ to help first-time buyers raise their property deposits and supporting them through a process which is usually lonely, stressful and opaque.

* Stepladder is crowdfunding on Seedrs. Here are the key business highlights:

* 90% of Members get their deposit faster than saving alone

* Huge market - 350,000+ UK first-time buyers annually

* 40%+ quarterly growth | ~£900,000 in member funds | 75+ Circles

* Multi-award winning | 5-star reviews | Backed by BBVA Anthemis

Disclaimer: this is not investment advice. Please do your own research.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Women are harmed every day by invisible men

* Why women volunteer for tasks that don’t lead to promotions

* Three simple habits to improve your critical thinking

* Two new mums return to work (their experience could not be more different)

* ‘We are seeing a crisis in values’-an exclusive extract from Mark Carney’s book

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #60 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

Global bonds have lost $1.5bn in value over the last four weeks, this is in large part due to a concern in inflation rising (as bond yields have increased).

US President, Joe Biden signed the $1.9tn stimulus bill on Thursday: the new law will allow the distribution of direct payments valued at $1,400 each to 160m US citizens.

Meanwhile the European Central Bank (ECB) draft forecasts inflation to be fleeting and has confirmed they will step up the pace of bond-buying (for the next 3 months).

The Bank of England (BoE) Governor, Andrew Bailey has said that risks to the UK economy remain tilted to the downside, however he does not expect to tighten monetary policy (for now). The speech follows a sharp rise in U.K. interest rates in financial markets over the past month.

Meanwhile, UK exports of goods to the EU plunged by 40.7% in January during the first month since Brexit and the toughest Covid lockdown since the first wave of the pandemic.

Bitcoin hit a new all-time high at $60,000+ on Saturday. Bitcoin is up about 1,000% in the past year as a growing number of institutions ‘dabble in Bitcoin’.

Norwegian oil billionaire has bet on Bitcoin: Rokke (which controls oil and oil service companies) is setting up a new business, Seetee to tap into the potential of Bitcoin and will start with $58m in capital.

In the Future Focus section, read about one of the biggest changes to the Ethereum network since its inception in 2015 which can spur gains in the cryptocurrency, Ether.

Roblox, the online gaming company, has directly listed on the New York Stock Exchange and was valued at $38bn at the close of the first day of trading.

In the Have You Seen This? section, Goldman Sachs is embarking on a decade-long quest to inject $10bn into projects that it says will impact one million Black Women.

And we are tracking Backbone Angels: a group of women who have helped lead and build Shopify, have launched a new angel group and it is focused on investing in women and non-binary founders with a specific focus on Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC)-led companies.

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* Global bonds have lost $1.5tn in value over the past 4 weeks

* This is in large part due to a concern in inflation rising.

* US President Joe Biden signs $1.9tn Covid-19 pandemic relief bill

* The new law provides for distribution of $1,400 in direct payments to 160 million US citizens, among other provisions, to help defray costs during the pandemic and stimulate the economy.

* European Central Bank (ECB) drafts forecasts assume any inflation increase will be fleeting

* The ECB’s forecasts this week are likely to justify the current stimulus program with a cautious view that envisages no sustained jump in inflation.

* ECB to step up the pace of bond buying (over the next 3 months) to keep bond yields in check

* However ECB policy makers have no intention of expanding their €1.85tn-($2.2tn) emergency stimulus program.

* The ECB’s decision came after weeks of rising yields sparked concern among some policy makers that the euro zone isn’t ready to cope with higher borrowing costs.

* Bank of England (BoE) Governor says risks to UK economy remain tilted to the downside

* Andrew Bailey reiterated the bank’s guidance that it doesn’t intend to tighten monetary policy (ie increase interest rates), until there’s clear evidence the economy is absorbing excess capacity.

* The speech follows a sharp rise in U.K. interest rates in financial markets over the past month.

* Investors are starting to anticipate when the central bank might shift from supporting the recovery to controlling its strength.

* UK: exports to EU plunge by £5.6bn in the first month since Brexit

* UK exports of goods to the EU plunged by 40.7% in January during the first month since Brexit and the toughest Covid lockdown since the first wave of the pandemic.

* UK GDP shrank by 2.9% in January

* The dip on GDP came about as a result of declines in retail sales and education (as the UK aimed to halt the spread of Covid-19).

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Bitcoin hits a new all-time high $60,000+ (Saturday, 12.22pm GMT)

* Bitcoin is up about 1,000% in the past year amid signs of increasing institutional interest as well as speculative demand. 

* ‘Stimulus checks, Elon Musk’s relentless support, short-sellers throwing in the towel, and weekend liquidity were just what was needed to send Bitcoin above the $60,000 level,’ said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. 

* Norwegian oil billionaire joins the bets on bitcoin

* Oil billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke has come out strongly in favour of Bitcoin.

* Rokke’s Aker ASA (which controls oil and oil service companies and has more recently branched out into green tech and renewable energy companies) is setting up a new business, Seetee AS, to tap into the potential of Bitcoin.

* For now, Rokke’s investment will be small, and Seetee will start with just 500 million kroner ($58 million) in capital.

* JP Morgan to launch cryptocurrency exposure basket with 11 ‘bitcoin stocks’ including MicroStrategy and Square

* According to a filing with the SEC, the new product is a debt instrument which contains an ‘unequally weighted’ basket of reference stocks that either own cryptocurrency or operate business linked to it.

* The debt instrument contains companies including:

* MicroStrategy, Square, Riot Blockchain and Nvidia Corporation.

* MicroStrategy buys more bitcoin (262) valued at $15m

* As of 12 March, 2021, MicroStrategy hold 91,326 bitcoin acquired for $2.211bn (at an average price $24,214 per bitcoin).

* Chinese app Meitu buys $40m worth of bitcoin and ether

* Meitu, a Chinese company that makes a photo editing app, bought $22.1m worth of ether and $17.9m worth of bitcoin on 5 March.

* The Chinese appmaker appears to be the first major company to buy ether, a cryptocurrency that works on the Ethereum blockchain.

* The company said cryptocurrencies provide ‘diversification to holding cash’ and said it could launch blockchain-based apps.

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* Ethereum blockchain developers approved one of the biggest changes to the network since its inception in 2015 (which can spur gains in Ether)

* Known as EIP 1559, the change solves a current problem: Ethereum users can only estimate how much Ether will be needed for transactions to be processed, a guessing game that has spawned sites such as ETH Gas Station to help people know how much to pay.

* The reduced supply of Ether will likely lead to rising prices as demand for the coins increases.

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* Roblox closes at $38bn valuation on first day of trading (New York stock exchange)

* The online gaming company with a large preteen following, made strong gains as it began trading.

* The company’s share price ended trading at $69.50 after opening at $64.50, giving it a market capitalisation of $38.3bn. 

* Its share price was more than 50% higher than what private investors paid for Roblox stock during a $520m financing in January.

* Based in Silicon Valley, Roblox hosts more than 18m user-developed virtual worlds where people go to play games and interact with friends. The company makes money from sales of a virtual currency, Robux, which can be used for purchases within the games.

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* Goldman puts $10bn behind fight to equalise ‘Black Womenomics’

* Goldman Sachs is embarking on a decade-long quest to inject $10 billion into projects that it says will impact one million Black women.

* The announcement comes alongside new "Black Womenomics" research released by the bank. Some key findings include:

* Goldman estimates trimming the earnings gap for Black women would boost economic growth by as much as 2.1% each year.

* Black women's hourly earnings gap is 15% compared with white women — and 35% compared with white men, Goldman found.

* Only 0.5% of single Black women own their own business — a rate 24 times lower than for single white men, per Goldman's research.

* Meanwhile, single Black women are six times less likely to own stocks than single white men and nearly 50% less likely to own a home.

Know this: closing the gender equity gap is crucial but perhaps even more urgent is the need to close the intersectional gender equity gap. As you can see by the data above, there is a lot of work to do to level the playing field for Black Women. Major corporations have increasingly been investing more in anti-racist causes since the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor.

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment and research.

* Backbone Angels (Canada): group of women who have helped lead and build Shopify have launched a new angel group and it is focused on investing in women and non-binary founders with a specific focus on Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC)-led companies.

* The group consists of 10 angel investors who have held various management-level roles at Shopify.

* The group includes Shopify chief talent office Brittany Forsyth; Erin Zipes, vice president of assistant general counsel; Anna Lambert director of product acceleration; Konval Matin, director of merchant storytelling; Atlee Clark, the director of operations for Shop.

* The group has made more than 50 individual angel investments over the years.

* ‘We need a collective effort to change where money goes, which founders are backed, and by whom,” Backbone Angels wrote on Twitter. “This is why we started Backbone. We are coming together to invest in women and non-binary founders with a focus on investments in Black, Indigenous, and Women of Colour-led companies.’

Coffee Break? Read This

* Why is women’s health still under-researched?

* How the pandemic darkens the picture on women’s pay

* A third of women in workplace hide their menopause symptoms at work-report

* If women are better leaders, then why are they not in charge?

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #59 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

Global stocks have lost $1.1tn in market cap this past week. Yields on 10 year US Treasuries have risen to 1.57%. The pace of the rise has raised concerns that ‘long duration’ stocks like tech stocks can not absorb it.

US Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell has failed to calm investors that the central bank would keep surging bond yields and inflation expectations in check. Powell said that ‘the economic reopening could create some upward pressure on prices...’.

Meanwhile, UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak delivered the Budget on Wednesday. He said: there has been acute damage to the economy, with more than 700,000 people losing their jobs, the economy shrinking by 10% – the largest fall in 300 years, and borrowing is highest it has been outside of wartime.

According to a report by Citi, bitcoin could become the currency of choice for international trade.

Goldman Sachs is restarting its cryptocurrency desk: it is part of Goldman’s activities within the fast-growing digital assets sector, which also includes projects involving blockchain technology and central bank digital currencies.

And hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, says he’s taking a crypto ‘deep dive’.

In the Future Focus section, read about the fact that UK economic growth next year will be the fastest since 1948. And what are NFTs, non-fungible tokens?

Tesla, Ark EFT and solar stocks have plunged into a bear market.

In the Have You Seen This? section, we cover UK women winning a £2.7bn top-up to underpaid state pensions.

And according to the Bank of America, S&P 500 companies that are more diverse and inclusive see better results and have lower risk.

We are tracking US tech start-up Smartgurlz, co-founded by CEO Sharmi Albrechtsen. It is the world's first line of self-balancing coding robots for girls. As seen on Shark Tank, the award-winning products have been recommended by the Girl Scouts of America and BlackGirlsCode. They are currently crowdfunding, but please do your own research.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Barbara Huson (formerly Barbara Stanny). She is the leading authority on women, wealth and power. As a bestselling author, financial therapist, teacher & wealth coach, Barbara has helped millions take charge of their finances and their lives.

This is a very special podcast interview-I hope you enjoy it.

***

I’d like to wish all of you Happy International Women’s Day tomorrow.

Why not reach out to your female family member, friend, colleague and have a conversation about money or how you choose to invest? Why not think about reaching out to a financial advisor to help you plan for how you’re going to achieve your financial goals?

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* Global stocks have lost $1.1tn in market cap this past week (ie de-frothing).

* Yields on 10 year US Treasuries have risen to 1.57%.

* The pace of the rise has raised concerns that ‘long duration’ stocks like tech stocks can not absorb it.

* ‘Those higher-growth, long-duration assets are the ones most sensitive to changes in interest rates.’

* US Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell fails to ease rates fears

* U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday, after Powell failed to reassure investors that the central bank would keep surging bond yields and inflation expectations in check.

* Powell said ‘the economic reopening could ‘create some upward pressure on prices...’

* UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak delivered the Budget (Wednesday)

* He said: there has been acute damage to the economy, with more than 700,000 people losing their jobs, the economy shrinking by 10% – the largest fall in 300 years, and borrowing is highest it has been outside of wartime.

* Sunak confirmed the extension of the furlough scheme until the end of September.

* The chancellor confirms the £5bn restart grant for businesses to help companies get going after lockdown.

* The stamp duty holiday will be extended.

* The government will not raise national insurance, income tax or VAT, but will freeze personal tax thresholds – as anticipated.

* In April 2023, the rate of corporation tax will increase to 25%.

* The UK continued its heavy-duty money printing:

* Rishi Sunak said that the budget deficit will be £355bn this year, or 17% of GDP – the highest level in peacetime.

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Bitcoin could become the currency of choice for international trade, says Citi

* Citi’s researchers believe bitcoin could evolve into an international trade currency, helping to simplify global trade.

* But a number of issues – including concerns over scalability and potential regulatory backlashes – stand in the way.

* The report concludes by stating that bitcoin is as “the tipping point of its existence”, noting that its evolution will have wide-ranging repercussions.

* Goldman Sachs restarts cryptocurrency desk amid bitcoin boom

* Goldman Sachs will begin dealing bitcoin futures and non-deliverable forwards for clients from this coming week.

* The desk is part of Goldman’s activities within the fast-growing digital assets sector, which also includes projects involving blockchain technology and central bank digital currencies.

* Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, says he’s taking a crypto ‘deep dive’

* The New York-based CEO described cryptocurrency as a "real test of being open to new and controversial ideas" in a series of tweets last Monday.

* Loeb likened bridging crypto and mainstream finance to "finding a portal" between two different worlds.

* He also stressed the importance of "maintaining healthy skepticism while deepening one's understanding".

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* UK economic growth next year will be the fastest since 1948, says OBR

* The economy is forecast to rebound 7.3% next year, according to the government’s independent economic forecaster.

* But the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned that debts from the pandemic will cost the equivalent of £14,000 for every household as government borrowing hits a postwar high.

* ‘The scale of these impacts are unprecedented and have not been felt by the UK economy for 300 years, meaning that the economic outlook remains uncertain.’

* Mark Cuban: ‘Ethereum will ‘disrupt the f…out of’ big software companies

* Mark Cuban, who knows a thing or two about disruption, says Ethereum smart contracts will disrupt software companies, banking, and healthcare.

* Cuban has become a very bullish public advocate for NFT collecting.

* What are NFTs, explained

* NFTs are having a moment.

* A non-fungible token: ‘non-fungible’ means that it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else.

* At a very high level, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain. Ether is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also supports these NFTs, which store extra information that makes them work differently from, say, an ETH coin.

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* Tesla, Ark ETF and solar stocks have plunged into bear markets

* Down another 11% this week, shares of Tesla have lost almost one third of their market value since peaking in January.

* Star manager Cathie Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF, which counts Tesla as its top holding, shed 10% over past five days, wiping out all its 2021 gains that at one point swelled to 26%.

* As oil rebounded, clean energy lost favour. An ETF tracking solar stocks suffered its worst week in a year, falling 14%.

* ‘It’s totally reasonable that as the economy reopens, interest rates will rise further and that growth stock multiples will contract further. They are kind of toxic -- they became bond proxies.’

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* UK women win £2.7bn top-up to underpaid state pensions

* Approximately 200,000 women could be in line for payouts averaging £13,500 after a UK government review found systemic underpayment of their state pension for up to two decades.

* The underpayment error centres on state pension uplifts, or cash increases, for certain married women, widows and over-80s dating back to 1992.

Know this: on average, a woman’s pension is one fifth of a man’s. These older women have potentially been shortchanged for over a decade+. The enhanced pension would have boosted their payments up to 60%. This highlights how important it is to keep on top of your finances, work with a financial advisor and verify money that you are owed, especially as laws and regulation changes or is updated.

* US: S&P 500 companies with more gender diversity on boards see 15% higher ROE

* S&P 500 companies that are more diverse and inclusive see better results and have lower risk, a new report by Bank of America, Global Research says.

* ‘We see empirical evidence that companies with superior scores on workforce and board diversity experience higher ROE and lower earnings risk than lower-ranked peers,’ the authors wrote in a report published Wednesday.

* For instance, companies with at least 30% of women in management positions have ‘seen a bigger median improvement in annual ROEs over this period,’ the authors stated.

* And S&P 500 companies where at least 25% of their executives were female saw consistently higher subsequent 1-year median return on equity since 2010, the authors stated.

Know this: board diversity is essentially an ‘effective signal of improving ROE in almost all sectors’. This is because cognitive diversity which is as a result of gender, ethnic and racial diversity, drives creativity and innovation. In short, businesses which lack diversity and especially at the seniors level of management are most risky for investors.

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment and research.

* Smartgurlz (US)-co-founded by CEO Sharmi Albrechtsen, is the world's first line of self-balancing coding robots for girls. As seen on Shark Tank, the award-winning products have been recommended by the Girl Scouts of America and BlackGirlsCode.

* The tech start-up is currently crowdfunding:

* They have already $2.7M raised. Join investors Morgan Stanley and NYU.

* More than $2M in revenue with a 4+ rating on Amazon.

* Educated nearly 1,000 kids via e-learning during the pandemic.

* Expanding into $40B Ed-tech market- Signed a deal with former LEGO education distributor, Pitsco Education.

* Powerful PR - Featured on CNN, Fox and Friends, Fox Business News, Forbes and Financial Times.

* Strong Team - Includes former VP of Hasbro, EVP of LeapFrog and host of MythBusters.

* Female founder of colour. Support minority-owned small business.

Disclaimer: this is not investment advice. Please do your own research.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Gender equality: why pay equity isn’t enough

* ‘Mother are livid. We’ve had enough!’ The pregnant women being forced out of the workplace

* Government launches call for evidence to improve health and wellbeing of women in England

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #58 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

Global stocks have lost $3.5tn in market cap this week, almost equal to the GDP of Germany, as US tech stocks came under pressure from rising Treasury yields.

Improving economic prospects and rising inflation expectations sparked a sell-off in government bonds from New York to London and Sydney.

The sell-off jolted equities, pushing the broad S&P 500 down 2.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 3.5% lower, its worst day (Thursday) since late October.

The Bank of England (BoE), chief economist Andy Haldane, said he sees a risk of UK inflation accelerating more than expected, warning fellow central bankers against being too relaxed about taming the rise in consumer prices.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market plummeted this week. Bitcoin has dropped from its all-time high over $58,000 last weekend to $45,000+ today (the biggest weekly loss since a 33.5% decline in March 2020). Spiking bond yields has rattled the market.

Institutional investors continue piling in to bitcoin: JP Morgan says investors could make bitcoin 1% of portfolios; MicroStrategy has invested another $1bn+ in bitcoin, Square purchased $170m of bitcoin and said bitcoin represents 5% of its total assets (end of 2020).

CEO and founder of ARK Invest, Cathie Wood said that bitcoin represents a new asset class and may serve as a reserve currency in the future.

In the Future Focus section, read about gender lens equity funds; assets have grown to $2.67bn in 2020. Meanwhile, investors warn top UK firms over ethnic and gender diversity.

Coinbase, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has filed to go public on the Nasdaq via a direct listing. Their net revenue more than doubled to $1.14bn (from a loss of $322m last year) and the company is valued at circa $100bn.

In the Have You Seen This section, we cover the Hampton-Alexander review and the fact that women only account for 6% of FTSE 100 CEOs and are paid far less than men.

And we are tracking a tech start-up called imagilabs which is co-founded by Dora Palfi and Beatrice Ionascu. This is an all-female founded startup that makes coding more accessible to young girls. They have raised €250k in pre-seed funding.

Don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Diana Biggs, who is the CEO of Valour. We talk about bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi (decentralised finance), women investing in crypto (and more).

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* Global stocks have lost $3.5tn in market cap this week, almost equal to the GDP of Germany (tech came under pressure from rising bond yields)

* Stock market P/E valuations have expanded significantly during the pandemic.

* US tech-led sell off (and then ease) : investors trying to price risk of faster inflation and rising long-term interest rates (and the impact on equity market valuations)

* Improving economic prospects and rising inflation expectations has sparked a sell-off in government bonds from New York to London and Sydney.

* ‘Growth stocks, which are now largely concentrated in the tech sector, tend to be more sensitive to interest rate movement than, for example, value stocks.’

* US bond yields jump to >1.5% for the first time since February 2020 (fears of inflation)

* Thursday: a sell-off in government bonds reverberated through the markets, handing tech stocks their worst day since October.

* The sell-off jolted equities, pushing the broad S&P 500 down 2.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 3.5% lower, its worst day since late October.

* Shares in fast-growing tech companies have suffered some of the heaviest fallout, since their elevated valuations have been underpinned by low rates.

* Bank of England (BoE): sees risk of central bank complacency in inflation

* Chief Economist Andy Haldane said he sees a risk of U.K. inflation accelerating more than expected, warning fellow central bankers against being too relaxed about taming the rise in consumer prices.

* UK Chancellor, Rishi Sunak extends UK’s emergency Covid business schemes

* Further financial help for UK businesses is pledged with extensions to furlough and emergency loan schemes.

* The chancellor also set March 3 as the date for the next Budget: this is likely to be one of the toughest in years given the pressure to stabilise the public finances with additional spending cuts or tax increases.

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Bitcoin’s price fall this week: part of a broader risk asset stumble

* Bitcoin surged to a record of over $58,000 last weekend, but has stumbled since. Today it is trading at just over $45,000.

* Spiking Treasury (bond) yields have rattled the market’s more speculative fringes. 

* The cryptocurrency had lost around 19%+ for the week on Friday morning ie the biggest weekly loss since a 33.5% decline shook bitcoin in March 2020.

* JP Morgan says investors could make bitcoin 1% of portfolios

* ‘In a multi-asset portfolio, investors can likely add up to 1% of their allocation to cryptocurrencies in order to achieve any efficiency gain in the overall risk-adjusted returns of the portfolio’.

* Bitcoin has surged fivefold in the past year as prominent investors such as Paul Tudor Jones, Stan Druckenmiller and Elon Musk have piled in.

* MicroStrategy invests another $1bn+ in bitcoin

* MicroStrategy announced the purchase of another $1.026 billion in bitcoin Wednesday, turning mountains of zero-interest debt into one of the single largest (dollar-denominated) bitcoin investments ever executed by a publicly traded company.

* Square purchased $170m of bitcoin

* The company said it purchased approximately 3,318 bitcoins, expanding on its October 2020 purchase of 4,709 bitcoin.

* Square said it represents about 5% of the company’s total assets as of the end of 2020.

* ‘The investment is part of Square’s ongoing commitment to bitcoin, and the company plans to assess its aggregate investment in bitcoin relative to its other investments on an ongoing basis...’

* Cathie Wood: bonds are done, crypto could be the solution

* CEO and founder of ARK Invest, Cathie Wood said that bitcoin represents a new asset class and may serve as a reserve currency in the future.

* Institutions diversifying their cash assets to bitcoin has been the biggest surprise for Ark Invest.

* She said: ‘Look what’s happening to bonds right now. If we are ending a 40-year secular decline in interest rates, that asset class has done its thing. What’s next? We think crypto could be the solution.’

* In its annual research report published last month, ARK Invest said that, if institutional investors allocate around 6.5% of their funds in cryptocurrency, the price of bitcoin could go as high as $500,000.

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* Gender lens equity funds grow assets to $2.67bn in 2020 as tech exposure helps performance

* Assets under management (AUM) in gender lens equity funds grew:

* 40% in 2020 to $2.67bn boosted by $106m in new funds launched during the year, as well as the performance of the technology sector, according to new research.

* The company found that Microsoft was the top holding, found in 11 gender lens equity funds, followed by Visa, a holding in six of the funds and Estée Lauder, held by five of the funds.

* Investors warn top UK firms over ethnic and gender diversity

* The Investment Association (IA) will issue ‘amber-top’ warnings – the second-highest level of alert – to the biggest 350 listed firms if they do not disclose the ethnic diversity of their boards or have a credible action plan to address the issue.

* Crypto industry backs MIT Media Labs Currency Initiative

* The MIT Media Lab yesterday announced a $4 million, four-year-long research and development program to protect the Bitcoin network.

* The program’s backers include crypto’s biggest advocates: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

* HM Treasury’s UK fintech review calls for new crypto-assets regime

* The review said the UK should be ‘as broad in ambition as MiCA’ the EU’s recently-proposed crypto rules

* It also called for the creation of a £1bn fintech growth fund to help support local startups

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* Coinbase Global Inc. files to go public on the Nasdaq via direct listing

* The largest cryptocurrency exchange’s net revenue more than doubled to $1.14bn (from a loss of $322m last year).

* Some 96% of Coinbase’s revenue last year came from fees on transactions on its exchange.

* Verified users of the exchange rose 34% to 43m last year, while monthly transacting users jumped 180% to 2.8m.

* A majority of its net revenue was derived from trades in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

* Coinbase is valued at close to $100 billion: that could make it one of the biggest companies to go public since Facebook Inc.

* Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong said that the company’s goal is to solve problems in the current financial system and ‘create more economic freedom.’

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* Hampton-Alexander review: final report shows female directors up by 50%

* The number of female directors in FTSE 100 companies has increased by 50% in the last five years, according to the final report of the Hampton-Alexander review.

* The government-backed review, launched in 2016, achieved its target of 33% of board positions on FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies to be held by women by December 2020.

* The number of women on these boards rose from 682 to 1,026 over the five years of reporting, the report’s authors said.

Know this: the data shows that we need at least 33% women ‘at the decision-making table’ to drive cognitive diversity and performance/returns.

* Women only account for 6% of FTSE 100 CEOs and are paid far less

* In the UK FTSE 100 as it stands there are 6 female CEOs compared to 94 men in 2021, the same number as between 2017 and 2019.

* Startlingly if you analyse the United States-based S&P 500 it’s a similar trend – 6% of CEOs are female, amounting to 29 out of 471.

* CEO pay:

* The average male CEO earns around £5.3m vs £4.42m for women, meaning male CEOs earn 17% more than their female counterparts.

* Comparing the highest-earning male and female CEOs is starker, with the highest-earning man taking home £58.73m vs top woman at £5.89m, a 90% difference.

Know this: gender equity is a big problem for organisations. Changing company culture is difficult. And unless the board and CEO are champions of gender equity and invest in closing gender equity gap, the problem continues. Senior executives should be targeted on building gender-diverse organisations.

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment and research.

* imagilabs (Sweden)-co-founded by Dora Palfi and Beatrice Ionascu is an all-female founded startup that makes coding more accessible to young girls.

* Founded in 2018, and an alumnus of both Apple’s Entrepreneur Camp and Google for Startups, imagiLabs is bridging the gender divide in coding with its wearable device, the imagiCharm. 

* imagiCharm sales increased by 300% between Q3 and Q4 of 2020.

* It raised $300k (€250k) in pre-seed funding, allowing it to further equip the next generation of working women with critical coding skills.

* A number of high profile proponents of gender equality in technology participated in the round.

* Angel investors participating in the round include Eros Resmini, Founder & Managing Partner at The Mini Fund and the former CMO of messaging platform Discord.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Women-led startups received just 2.3% of VC funding in 2020

* Suze Orman on women, money and surviving the pandemic

* Female fund manager opposes gender quotas for startup boards

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #57 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female-lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

The US Federal Reserve balance sheet rose $115bn to a new all-time high of $7.557tn. The balance sheet is now 35% of GDP.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has agreed that ample monetary stimulus is needed.

Meanwhile, UK government borrowing hit £8.8bn in January (the highest January figure since records began in 1993). The UK's overall debt has now reached 97.6% of GDP - a level not seen since the early 1960s.

(The ongoing money printing by central banks around the world means that currency is being devalued. In other words, we can buy less with the money we have).

Bitcoin has hit an all-time high at $57,000+. In less than 2 months, Bitcoin has risen 95.4%. On Friday, Bitcoin’s market value hit $1tn for the first time.

Ether also hit an all-time high over $2,000; the market cap reached $233.3bn. The cryptocurrency is up 172.5% year-to-date.

Bitwise has launched a DeFi crypto index fund.

Morgan Stanley may bet on Bitcoin. Meanwhile, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is ‘dabbling’ in Bitcoin.

In the Future Focus section, read about growing ‘green bubble’ warnings as money pours into renewable stocks.

And according to a report by Capco, asset managers can improve their understanding of companies’ ESG practices by using new technologies such as artificial intelligence, tokenisation, and ledger technology.

Barclays beats forecasts and resumes dividend payments. And PayPal stock surpasses Mastercard.

In the Have You Seen This? section, read about the world’s largest sovereign fund, Norway Wealth, which wants its portfolio companies to boost the number of women on their boards and to consider setting targets if fewer than 30% of their directors are female.

And all-male boards have disappeared from FTSE 350 companies, for the second time.

We are tracking Avid Ventures; a female-led venture capital fund in the US founded by Addie Lerner and Tali Vogelstein, which is aimed at fintech, software, and consumer internet startups.

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* The US Federal Reserve balance sheet rose $115.2bn to fresh all-time high of $7.557tn

* The balance sheet is now equal to 35% US GDP.

* The ongoing money printing means that the US dollar is being devalued (as it drives up inflation and devalues the currency).

* US jobless claims rose last week

* Unemployment claims in the US rose to 861,000 last week and ending a downward trend that pointed to an improving jobs market.

* The European Central Bank (ECB) agreed that ample monetary stimulus is needed

* Eurozone Debt to GDP ratio has hit an all-time high of >100%.

* The UK government borrowing hit £8.8bn in January (the highest January figure since records began in 1993)

* January is usually a key revenue-raising month as it is when taxpayers submit their self-assessment returns.

* Government borrowing for this financial year has now reached £270.6bn, which is £222bn more than a year ago.

* The UK's overall debt has now reached 97.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) - a level not seen since the early 1960s.

* UK retail sales plunge in stores and online by more than 8%

* This is more than the 3% the City expected.

* Clothing sales were down 35% from December, while household goods registered a drop of almost 20%.

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Bitcoin hits an all-time high at $57,000+ and ignites a crypto rally

* Less than 2 months into 2021, and Bitcoin has risen 95.4%

* BTC ended 2020 at bit shy of $29,000 following a better-than 300% gain over the previous 12 months.

* Major DeFi advancers include: Polkadot (DOT), Cardano (ADA (+23.06%)), Uniswap (UNI), Aave (AAVE), NEM (XEM (+9.28%)) and Huobi Token (HT) . Still others such as Chainlink (LINK (+2.29%)) hit all-time highs of their own.

* Bitcoin hits $1tn in market value for the first time (Friday)

* Ether hits an all-time high over $2,000 as bull run continues

* According to the CoinDesk 20, ether (ETH) hit a new record of $2,033.08, with the market capitalisation of the crypto reaching $233.3 billion.

* The cryptocurrency is up 172.5% year-to-date.

* At least three growing areas of demand are fueling the increase in ether’s price:

* decentralised finance (DeFi)

* Ethereum 2.0 staking

* and a newly formed institutionally focused ether market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). 

* Bitwise launches a DeFi crypto index fund

* The fund bets on 10 Ethereum-based protocols angling to shape the future of finance:

* AAVE and UNI – each carry an initial weighting of around 25%.

* Lending protocol token MKR and derivatives protocol token SNX come in around 10%.

* Morgan Stanley may bet on Bitcoin in $150m investment arm & bitcoin ETF

* Counterpoint Global, a unit of Morgan Stanley Investment Management that’s racked up wins in mutual-fund rankings, is exploring whether the cryptocurrency would be a suitable option for its investors.

* For Wall Street firms, an inability to offer Bitcoin to those clients raises the risk of losing them to other managers. That may spark fresh discussions in the industry about opening up to the asset.

* Morgan Stanley has been named as an initially authorised participant in NYDIG’s SEC filing for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

* BlackRock has started ‘dabbling’ in bitcoin

* Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock (the world’s largest asset manager) has said the company is ‘dabbling’ in bitcoin.

* MicroStrategy has completed a $1.05 billion debt offering to fuel more bitcoin purchases

* According to data collected by The Block Research, MicroStrategy's current bitcoin holdings stand at just over 71,000 BTC -- an amount worth about $3.8 billion.

* Here is Elon Musk tweeting about the definition of money: ‘money is just data’

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* World debt reached record $281tn at end of 2020

* Governments, companies and households raised $24 trillion last year to offset the pandemic’s economic toll.

* The global debt total is now an all-time high of $281tn by the end of 2020, or more than 355% of global GDP, according to the Institute of International Finance. 

* ‘Green bubble’ warnings grow as money pours into renewable stocks

* According to data from Morningstar:

* Global funds linked to ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles took in nearly $350bn last year vs $165bn in 2019.

* Investors are pumping cash into anything that looks ‘green’ which is driving up company valuations.

* Blockchain technology can bring clarity to ESG practices

* According to a report from consultancy Capco, asset managers can improve their understanding companies’ ESG practices by using new technologies such as artificial intelligence, tokenisation, and ledger technology.

* Capco says that new technologies could improve ESG ratings:

* growing use of ‘impact tokens’ on blockchain as a way of offering proof that a positive impact has been delivered and attributing it to a particular investment. 

* Impact tokens may help with impact investment, if projects such as preserving rainforests in Brazil are tokenised, and are able to be traded as carbon offsets.

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* Barclays beats forecasts and resumes dividend payments

* Barclays has resumed dividend payments as its 2020 profit dropped by 30% to £3.1bn.

* This was better than expected as strong performance by its investment banking division offset provisions against bad loans made because of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

* PayPal stock surpasses Mastercard

* PayPal shares rocketed 23% this year to $306, with a market value of $336bn.

* Mastercard’s market value is at circa $330bn.

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* Norway Wealth says put more women on boards

* Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, wants the companies it invests in globally to boost the number of women on their boards and to consider setting targets if fewer than 30% of their directors are female.

Know this: institutional investors are starting to apply more pressure on their portfolio companies and become more vocal about their stance towards diversity and ESG (environmental, social and governances practices). Diversity is no longer considered ‘a nice to have’.

* Win for diversity: all-male boards disappear from FTSE 350 companies

* There are now no all-male boards across the entire FTSE 350, according to the latest data compiled for the 30% Club.

* This is the second time that this milestone has been achieved. The government-backed Hampton-Alexander Review reported that the last all-male board had diversified in May last year, only for all-male boards to return a month later.

Know this: the data shows that companies that have women in senior management outperform those that do not. This is reflected the companies’ share performance and profitability.

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment and research.

* Avid Ventures (US): founded by Addie Lerner annd Tali Vogelstein, a female-led venture capital fund for fintech, software, and consumer internet startups.

* They have just raised $68m for the VC fund.

* Lerner founded Avid after spending a decade as an investor at larger firms, including General Catalyst, General Atlantic, and Goldman Sachs.

* Vogelstein is a former investor at Bessemer Venture Partners who previously sourced early-stage investments in Avid’s core geographies and sectors.

* Lerner previously helped invest more than $450 million across 18 investments in software, fintech, and consumer internet companies spanning North America, Europe, and Israel.

Coffee Break? Read This

* The four ways women use cryptocurrency

* Menopause hasn’t been taken seriously enough in workplaces

* What will Covid-19 mean for women and how can we fight against it?

* No economy can succeed without tapping women’s incredible potential

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #56 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female-lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

The US deficit is projected at $2.3tn in 2021 (not counting the additional $1.9tn stimulus). On Thursday, the Congress Budget Office said the inflated level comes from the added spending that Congress has instituted to combat the effects of the pandemic and the economic disruption this has caused.

The US Federal Reserve confirmed interest rates will stay low for a while, and the true unemployment rate is likely to be closer to 10%.

The European Central Bank (ECB) balance sheet has hit an all-time high as the money printing continues: total assets rose by another €21.1bn this past week.

UK GDP fell by 9.9% in 2020 due to the pandemic: this is the biggest fall in annual GDP since the Great Frost of 1709, when the economy shrank by 13%. The economy avoided a double-dip recession, with growth of 1% in Q4 of 2020.

Investors poured $58bn into global stocks last week: historically low interest rates and expectations for a big rebound this year in global economic growth is driving investor decisions.

Tesla purchased $1.5bn in Bitcoin (disclosed last Monday). This is biggest endorsement of the cryptocurrency by a mainstream company. Tesla also said it would begin accepting the digital token as a form of payment for its electric cars.

More institutions pile into crypto: Mastercard will let merchants accept payments in crypto this year and New-York based banking giant BY Mellon is developing a prototype that it claims will be the financial industry’s ‘first multi-asset digital custody and administration platform’ for both traditional and digital assets.

Not surprisingly, bitcoin hit an all-time high ie above $49,000 on Friday (market cap crossed $900bn) and ether leads the DeFi way: it set a new all-time high above $1,850 (Friday).

On Thursday, Bumble (the online dating app) listed on the Nasdaq (it raised $2.2bn), exceeding expectations which valued the company at over $7bn. At 31, CEO & Founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd is the youngest female founder to take a U.S. company public on the extremely small list of women founders who led IPOs.

The Women and Equalities committee have produced a report on gendered economic differences and focused specifically on these two schemes: furlough & the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). They argued investment plans that are skewed towards male-dominated sectors have the potential to create unequal outcomes for men and women, exacerbating existing inequalities.

Women who may have been forced to bring forward retirement plans due to the pressures of Covid-19 must make sure their pension pots are robust enough so they do not run out of money (during retirement).

And we are tracking Astia, a global organisation which invests, advises and partners to level the investment playing field (for women). Astia has launched a $100m early-stage fund which will invest globally in high-growth companies that have at least one woman in an executive equity-holding position. The Astia fund has been led by an investment from Mastercard.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast: we have published our interview with Julia Angeles who is the Portfolio Manager of the Health Innovation Strategy at Baillie Gifford. We talk about biotech and healthcare, why we are on the cusp on a revolution in healthcare, investing in Moderna Inc, what it is like being part of an all-female fund team and more.

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* US deficit projected at $2.3tn in 2021 (not counting additional $1.9tn stimulus)

* The Congress Budget Office said the inflated level comes from the added spending that Congress has instituted to combat the effects of the pandemic and the economic disruption this has caused.

* Federal debt will increase to $35.3tn in 2031; the largest debt-to-GDP ratio in U.S. history.

* US Federal Reserve confirmed interest rates will stay low for a while, and true unemployment rate is likely to be closer to 10%

* The Fed is keeping its benchmark short-term borrowing rate near zero and is buying at least $120 billion of bonds each month.

* More than 10m workers are still without jobs; 4.4m higher than before the pandemic a year ago.

* ‘Despite the surprising speed of recovery early on, we are still very far from a strong labor market whose benefits are broadly shared', Jerome Powell said.

* European Central Bank (ECB) balance sheet hits an all-time high

* The money printing continues: total assets rose by another €21.1bn to €7,054.5bn this past week.

* ECB balance sheet is now equal 70.7% to Eurozone GDP vs Fed’s 34.5% vs BoE’s 36.4% or BoJ’s (which is the highest) at 131.6%.

* UK economy: GDP fell by 9.9% in 2020 (due to Covid shock)

* This is the biggest fall in annual GDP since the Great Frost of 1709, when the economy shrank by 13%.

* The economy avoided a double-dip recession, with growth of 1% in Q4 of 2020.

* Investors poured $58bn into global stocks last week

* Technology-focused funds dominated: with net inflows reaching an all-time high of $5.4bn in the week to Wednesday.

* The US had the majority of overall stock inflows, at $36.3bn.

* Investors also piled $13.1bn into global bond funds ($10.6bn was from their cash piles).

* Historically low interest rates and expectations for a big rebound this year in global economic growth is driving investor decisions.

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Tesla purchased $1.5bn in Bitcoin (disclosed Monday)

* This is biggest endorsement of the cryptocurrency by a mainstream company.

* Tesla also said it would begin accepting the digital token as a form of payment for its electric cars.

* The digital asset jumped as much as 16% after Tesla (on disclosure) with prices exceeding $44,000 for the first time.

* Tesla made an approximate $270m gain on the first day (price of bitcoin went up).

* Mastercard will let merchants accept payments in crypto this year

* Mastercard customers’ digital currency payments will be settled in crypto at participating merchants- a first for the financial giant.

* It is currently unclear which cryptocurrencies will be supported (and where).

* BY Mellon reveals plans for bitcoin and crypto

* The $2tn New-York based banking giant, is developing a prototype that it claims will be the financial industry’s ‘first multi-asset digital custody and administration platform’ for both traditional and digital assets.

* Bitcoin hit an all-time high: above $49,000 (market cap crossed $900bn).

* On Friday, Bitcoin set a new record above $49,000 after trading between $47,000 and $48,000 for much of Thursday.

* Institutional investors’ interest in bitcoin is growing ‘at a staggering pace’, which continues to drive up the price of bitcoin.

* Ether leads the DeFi way: sets new all-time high above $1,850 (Friday)

* Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, was up Friday trading around $1,850 and climbing 3% in 24 hours.

* Ether’s fresh highs come the same week the CME launched its ether futures market (despite traders expecting the opposite).

* Since CME’s futures launch, ether has rallied over 12%.

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* Global green recovery plans fail to match 2008 stimulus

* According to a report published by Vivid Economics:

* only about 12% of the spending on economic rescue packages around the world is going towards low-carbon projects, such as renewable energy and clean technology.

* Think tank: the U.K. economy will remain below its pre-Covid levels until the end of 2023

* The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) cut its forecast for growth this year to 3.4% from 5.9% in October. 

* It sees unemployment climb to 7.5% and inflation low at 1.3%, by end 2021.

* Niesr said fiscal stimulus was ‘money well spent’ and a premature end risks delaying the rebound.

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* US: Bumble’s initial public offering (IPO): raises $2.2bn

* On Thursday, Bumble listed its shares on the Nasdaq, which exceeded expectations and valued the company at over $7bn.

* Q3 2020, it boasted nearly 42 million active users.

* Between Jan. 29 and Sept. 30, Bumble reported revenue of about $376.6m and a net loss of $84.1m, slim gains in comparison to competitors like Match.

* Reported net income of $132.1m and revenue of roughly $640m in just Q3.

* At 31, CEO & Founder, Whitney Wolfe Herd is the youngest female founder to take a U.S. company public on the extremely small list of women founders who led IPOs.

* Twitter racks up its second $1bn quarter (shares at a 52 week high)

* Twitter reported net income of $222m, or 29cents a share, against expectations of 29cents a share, according to analysts polled by FactSet. (Adjusted earnings were 38cents a share.)

* Twitter’s revenue surged 28% to a record $1.29bn, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18bn.

* Monetisable daily active users, a key indicator of Twitter’s reach and its appeal to advertisers, improved 27%, year-over-year, to 192m (but it fell short of the 193.5m expected by analysts polled by FactSet).

* Additional note: Twitter has also studied how it might pay employees or vendors using bitcoin, according to the Chief Financial Officer.

Your Money

Insights, trends and what this means for you and your purse

* UK: Gender inequality warning: furlough & SEISS issues arise

* The Women and Equalities committee produced a report on gendered economic differences and focused specifically on these two schemes: furlough & the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).

* They argued investment plans that are skewed towards male-dominated sectors have the potential to create unequal outcomes for men and women, exacerbating existing inequalities.

*  Read more here

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* Warning on women’s pensions, post-Covid

* Women who may have been forced to bring forward retirement plans due to the pressures of Covid-19 must make sure their pension pots are robust enough so they do not run out of money (during retirement).

* According to Deborah Chapman, personal wealth adviser at Schroders Personal Wealth:

* ‘Having a plan is key when looking to see if your pension pots will last the course. It’s essential to start to plan as soon as possible’.

* She urged people to speak with a financial adviser, review all their different sources of capital and income, and take steps to fund any deficit.

Know this: Based on the research by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII): the average 65-year-old woman's pension pot is £38,000 ie five times lower than the average 65-year-old male's pension pot. The CII research estimated that while the pay gap will persist until 2050 unless there is intervention, the pensions gap will remain wide until 2100.

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment and research.

* Astia (Astia Fund, Astia Angels & Astia Edge) (US/global): (CEO and Managing Director, Sharon Vosmek)-is a global organisation which invests, advises and partners to level the investment playing field (for women).

* Astia has launched a $100m early-stage fund which will invest globally in high-growth companies that have at least one woman in an executive equity-holding position.

* The Astia fund has been led by an investment from Mastercard.

* The new fund is open to UK institutional investors, family offices, corporates, foundations, endowments, pension funds and high-net worth individuals.

Coffee Break? Read This

* 5 ways to bring women back to the post-pandemic workplace

* Research: men get more actionable feedback than women

* Salesforce shifts away from in-person work

* ‘Witch’ tweets reflect society’s fear of older women

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #55 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female-lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women who are taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

The so-called ‘Buffett-Indicator’ has hit an all-time-high: global stocks are now equal to 122% of global GDP.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index recorded its best weekly gain since mid-November (up 3.5%).

* ‘Increased retail participation in equity markets is a typical side effect of bull markets and of bull markets overshooting into bubbles…’

Inflation returned to the Euro area in January.

And the Bank of England (BoE) tells banks to get ready for negative interest rates (the BoE currently holds its key rate at a record low 0.1%). However this does not mean the policy is imminent. And they forecast UK GDP will return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2022.

Meanwhile Bitcoin hit a record number 22.3m active wallets in January.

And ether (ETH), the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, hits a record high (again) above $1,700.

Crypto tokens associated with decentralised finance (DeFi) have all leapt to fresh lifetime highs.

Visa has announced it plans to help banks roll out bitcoin and cryptocurrency buying and trading services with a Visa crypto software program (to launch later in 2021)

Invesco has released a report about trends in blockchain, entitled ‘Hyper Real: An Overview of Global Blockchain Industry Trends’.

UK company Moonpig joined the stock market on Tuesday and its shares jumped 17% valuing the company at £1.4bn.

Meanwhile, low earners are more likely to be racking up debt during the pandemic.

Helena Morrissey has pulled her money from the ‘Girl Fund’ she helped to launch due to a lack of investor interest. The L&G Future World Gender in Leadership UK index fund, launched in 2018 by Morrissey when she was head of personal investing at Legal & General Investment Management, received £50m of seed capital from the UK institutional investor.

According to a study by etoro, women make up only 15% of bitcoin traders and only 12% of ether traders.

And we’re tracking UK start-up Gen M, the ‘Google for menopause’ founded by Heather Jackson and Sam Simister. It also aims to broaden the conversation about menopause in the workplace, to help employers create a culture where women can be open.

If you have time, check out the Coffee Break section and read about the economist who is placing value on black women’s overlooked work.

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* The ‘Buffett Indicator’ has hit an ATH:

* Global stocks are now equal to 122.4% of global GDP.

* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index, recorded its best weekly gain since mid-November, up 3.5%

* Currently trades at 17x forward earnings, well above its 10-year average of approximately 14x.

* Lars Kreckel, global equity strategist at Legal & General Investment Management said: ‘Increased retail participation in equity markets is a typical side effect of bull markets and of bull markets overshooting into bubbles…’

* Inflation returned to the Euro area in January

* Consumer prices rose 0.9% year-on-year.

* Energy costs surged & tax breaks to stimulate German consumption ended.

* Core CPI (consumer price index) that excludes volatile items such as food and energy, surged to 1.4%, highest in >5yrs.

* Bank of England (BoE) tells banks to get ready for negative interest rates

* However this does not mean the policy is imminent.

* The BoE currently holds its key rate at a record low 0.1%.

* (Countries like Japan, Switzerland and the ECB already have negative interest rates).

* BoE: rapid GDP rebound likely as vaccines take effect

* The BoE forecasts a 4.2% slump in Q1.

* They forecast GDP will return to pre-pandemic levels by March 2022.

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Bitcoin hit record number 22.3m active wallets in January

* Data shows that there were more active Bitcoin wallets in January than during any other month in its history.

* This is higher than the 21.6m figure in January 2017, when bitcoin set the then-record price high of over $19,500 (vs its new record ATH $41,940).

* Visa reveals bitcoin and crypto banking roadmap amid race to reach network of 70m

* Visa has announced it plans to help banks roll out bitcoin and cryptocurrency buying and trading services with a Visa crypto software program (to launch later in 2021):

* First Boulevard, a Kansas-based, Black-focused digital bank, will pilot the APIs, designed to help Visa bank clients integrate bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

* Visa’s head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield said: ‘We see crypto assets as more like digital gold’.

* Ether (ETH), the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, hits a record high above $1,700

* Ether climbed 11% to a price of more than $1,700 on Friday, according to data from CoinDesk.

* Investors are awaiting the launch of ether futures contracts from the CME (due to start on Monday).

* Crypto investors said another factor potentially boosting ether was the start of a major upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain, called Ethereum 2.0.

* DeFi season? LINK, AAVE, ZRX and COMP hit record price highs (outperforming bitcoin)

* Crypto tokens associated with decentralised finance (DeFi) such as COMP, AAVE, KNC and ZRX have all leapt to fresh lifetime highs.

* Most of these coins have jumped in price and value recently as investors recognise the revenue potential of decentralised exchanges (DEXs) and other DeFi solutions.

* Elon Musk says he is a supporter of bitcoin and thinks it will get ‘broad acceptance’ in finance

* On Clubhouse, the audio chat app, Elon Musk said:

* ‘I do at this point think bitcoin is a good thing, and I am a supporter of bitcoin’ & ‘I think bitcoin is really on the verge of getting broad acceptance by conventional finance people’.

* Bitcoin jumped above $38,000 after he changed his biography on Twitter to #bitcoin.

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* Blockchain offers ‘burgeoning’ investor opportunities (Invesco report)

* The report, Hyper Real: An Overview of Global Blockchain Industry Trends, looks in detail at industry developments and key trends that are shaping blockchain's long-term trajectory (including):

* commercial blockchain networks have now been established across multiple sectors.

* While the popular focus is on cryptocurrencies, other assets are growing fast. These include digital fiat currencies and digital securities that are modernising capital markets.

* Stablecoins have generated more than $1.2trn in transactional volume since 2017. This year should see both the appearance of Facebook's Diem stablecoin and broader central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilots in Shenzhen and three other cities in China.

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* Gamestop plunged 60% and erased $27bn in value (Tuesday)

* Last week, GameStop shares surged 1,500%+ in January as a horde of retail investors bid up shares and cheered each other on in Reddit forums like WallStreetBets. It is estimated that GameStop short-sellers had lost more than $19 billion+ this year.

* UK: Moonpig shares jump as the group joins the stock market

* Moonpig shares jumped 17% as the group joined the stock market on Tuesday, valuing the company at £1.4bn.

* The company placed 140m shares at an initial price of 350p. New investors will have a 14% stake in the greetings card company and retailer.

* The group’s floatation comes after a strong Christmas:

* Moonpig reported £156m in sales in the six months to the end of October (benefiting from high street closures and people staying home).

Your Money

Insights, trends and what this means for you and your purse

* Low earners more likely to be racking up debt during the pandemic

* 50% of low-paid workers (earning less than £15k) have endured a loss in their income during the public health crisis vs 29% of high earners (earning £50K+)

* (Also, studies have found women have been over-represented in sectors most badly disrupted by lockdown measures such as hospitality, retail, leisure, tourism and the arts).

* While another study found almost 700,000 people in Britain have been pushed into poverty as a result of the pandemic ie 15m of Britons now live below the poverty line (almost a quarter of the entire population).

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* Helena Morrissey pulls money from ‘Girl Fund’ she helped to launch due to lack of investor interest

* The L&G Future World Gender in Leadership UK index fund, launched in 2018 by Morrissey (when she was head of personal investing at Legal & General Investment Management) and received £50m of seed capital from the UK institutional investor.

* Morrissey's decision to pull her investment comes as LGIM plans to merge away the gender diversity fund due to lack of investor interest.

Know this: it backed about 350 of the UK's largest companies with better gender diversity scores and aimed to provide income and growth, as well as make an impact. Just because LGIM merged this fund, does not mean investing with a gender-lens focus does not stack up. For example, Japan's giant Government Pension Investment Fund invests in an index that allocates to companies based on 19 gender equality criteria.

* Women make up only 15% of bitcoin traders & only 12% ether traders

* According to data from eToro, this confirms the gender imbalance in cryptocurrency investing.

* In December, eToro reported that women were signing up to their platform at faster rates than men.

* The platform reported a 366% rise in the number of women sign-ups compared to the 248% increase in male users.

Know this: the crypto and blockchain industry continues to be dominated by men. And generally-speaking, women tend to invest less than their male peers for many reasons. However, online investing platforms are making it easier and much more accessible for women to invest. As more women join the industry and invest in blockchain/crypto, the community will grow stronger which in turn will attract more women.

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment and research.

* Gen M: (UK)-founded by Heather Jackson and Sam Simister, is the ‘Google for menopause’. And it aims to broaden the conversation about menopause in the workplace, providing guidance to help employers create a culture where women can be open.

* By 2025, 1bn women worldwide will be in menopause.

* A report they conducted found that 88 per cent of women think workplaces should be better set up to support women with the menopause.

* Women over 50 are now the fastest-growing segment of the workforce, but about 14m working days are lost in the UK each year to the menopause.

* Gen M’s report found that those at a high point of their career when entering the perimenopause were significantly unprepared (90%), while 83% knew almost nothing about it and 55% said it made them feel invisible.

* The site has already had nods of approval from high-profile women. Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that Gen M was the best menopause site.

Coffee Break? Read This

* The economist placing value on black women’s overlooked work

* These doctors are using AI to screen for breast cancer

* Coronavirus: ‘I quit my job to homeschool my son’

* Blockchain will bring trust back into capital markets

* Why your brain loves it when you exercise

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com

Welcome to our #54 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female-lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women who are taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder

The ‘Reddit Army’ has destroyed $3.7tn in global market cap this week (this is equal to the GDP of Germany). The hedge fund short squeeze has a knock-on effect: many had to sell their long positions to fund their losses.

GameStop shares surged 1,500%+ in January as a horde of retail investors bid up shares and cheered each other on in Reddit forums like WallStreetBets. It is estimated that GameStop short-sellers have lost more than $19 billion+ this year.

Read more about the ‘Reddit Army’ and what short-selling is.

The US Federal Reserve has said that they will hold interest rates close to zero and they continue to print money in order to support the US economy.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded the forecast for UK recovery to 4.5% (from 5.9%), whilst global recovery will be stronger.

And UK unemployment rises to 5%.

Meanwhile, Ether, (ETH), the digital token of the Ethereum blockchain, hit a new all-time high of $1,476 (early Monday morning).

Data reveals that hedge funds are increasing their bitcoin short positions.

And Elon Musk and Ray Dalio have signalled strong support for bitcoin.

Institutional support for cryptocurrencies continues: Visa, the payments giant, may add cryptocurrencies to its payments network.

In the Your Money section, read about what Covid has really done to your money.

And in the UK, personal savings has hit £1.5tn for the first time.

And according to survey in the UK, 40% of women are crypto investors.

We are tracking Powered Brands (in the US), a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, priced earlier this month on the Nasdaq, under the ticker “POWRU,” with the goal of creating a new kind of global conglomerate made up of sustainable and digitally focused beauty brands.

It is founded by serial entrepreneur Katherine Power and Dana Settle, founding partner at venture capital firm Greycroft.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Vicky Pryce.

Vicky Pryce is Chief Economic Adviser and a board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). And she is also the author of Women vs Capitalism.

We talk about Brexit & Covid-19 and the impact on women. We cover topics including the gender pay gap, flexible working, the role women entrepreneurs play in driving growth and prosperity, why government intervention is needed and women can do.

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter. Until next week,

Jana

The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators

* ‘The Reddit' Army’ has destroyed $3.7tn in global market cap this week (equal to the GDP of Germany)

* The hedge fund short squeeze has a knock-on effect: many had to sell their long positions to fund their losses

* GameStop shares surged 1,500%+ in January as a horde of retail investors bid up shares and cheered each other on in Reddit forums like WallStreetBets.

* GameStop short-sellers have lost more than $19 billion+ in the year.

* (Read more: the Reddit army which is crushing Wall Street)

* (Read more: What is short-selling, why it’s risky and how the ‘squeeze’ happens)

* (On Wednesday) the US Federal Reserve held interest rates close to zero and its asset purchases steady

* The Fed described a weakening of the US economy, due to the recent wave of coronavirus infections.

* According to Mr Powell, the Fed Chairman: ‘We have not won this yet’.

* IMF downgrades forecast for UK recovery (while global recovery will be stronger)

* The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that:

* UK’s national income (or GDP) would expand by 4.5% this year (versus 5.9% growth forecast made last October).

* UK unemployment rises to a 4 year high

* UK’s unemployment rate rose to 5% (in the three months to November).

* This is up from 4.9%.

Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights

* Ether hits an all-time-high (again)

* Ether, the digital token of the Ethereum blockchain, hit a new all-time high of $1,476 (early Monday morning).

* Cathie Wood: Bitcoin ETF approval unlikely until market cap reaches $2trn

* Ark Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood said:

* ‘The flood of demand has to be satisfied so it’s going to have to get well over a trillion dollars – $2 trillion, I think, before the [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] will feel comfortable about’.

* Bitcoin’s market cap is approximately $627bn.

* Data reveals that hedge funds are increasing their bitcoin short positions

* According to data from crypto news and analysis company The Block, hedge funds are short bitcoin to the tune of more than $1 billion, even as retail traders pile into bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

* Hedge funds increasingly bet against the bitcoin price, to some extent covering their long positions.

* Meanwhile this could spur retail investors to bitcoin and other crypto.

* (On Monday) Marathon Patent Group announced their purchase of 4,812.66 BTC valued at a total $150m

* On Friday, Elon Musk signalled his support for bitcoin

Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future

* Visa may add cryptocurrencies to its payments network, says CEO

* Visa CEO Al Kelly said the payments giant is in a position to make cryptocurrencies more ‘safe, useful and applicable’.

* Kelly said: ‘Our strategy here is to work with wallets and exchanges to enable users to purchase these currencies using their Visa credentials or to cash out onto our Visa credential to make a fiat purchase at any of the 70 million merchants where Visa is accepted globally…’.

* Sustainable investing may be the breakout star of 2021

* Most big investors now believe sustainable investing is good risk management, leveraging the practice to help manage risk in uncertain times.…It turns out that companies that manage sustainable risks better, manage other risks better as well. 

* Read Larry Fink’s letter to CEOs with a clear emphasis on sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion.

* Ray Dalio calls Bitcoin ‘one hell of an invention’

* Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio is considering cryptocurrencies as investments for new funds offering clients protection against the debasement of fiat money.

Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements

* GameStop rallies 1,500%+ in January amid huge losses for Melvin Capital & Citron

* After weeks of unrelenting gains for GameStop shares, Reddit traders seem to have beaten Wall Street.

* Melvin Capital and Citron were identified as their primary antagonists early in the rally, hoping to profit by forcing shorts to cover their bets.

* GameStop shares have surged by more than 1,500%+ in January as a horde of retail investors bid up shares and cheered each other on in Reddit forums like WallStreetBets.

* While other Reddit-fuelled rallies died off in a matter of days, GameStop's climb has gained momentum.

* GameStop short-sellers have lost more than $19 billion in the year to date.

* Rolls-Royce is facing £2bn cash reserve hit as flight numbers fall

* Rolls-Royce, whose engines power many Boeing and Airbus aircraft, said it expected flying hours for this year to be 55% of those seen in 2019, which was down from its previous estimate of 70%.

* The company has already announced plans to sell assets worth billions of pounds. It is also cutting more than £1bn in costs by axing 9,000 jobs and closing factories.

* The company has about £9bn it can draw upon and therefore was ‘confident that despite the more challenging near-term market conditions we are well-positioned for the future.’

* On Monday, the news sent shares in the company down as much as 9% in early London trading.

Your Money

Insights, trends and what this means for you and your purse

* UK personal savings hit £1.5tn for the first time

* Money saved through reduced spending on holidays, commuting and dining out has allowed UK savers to add £98bn – 7% – to their bank accounts and cash ISAs since March 2020.

* What Covid has really done to your money

* This week the Office for National Statistics released details of its own deep dive into our personal and financial wellbeing to 20 December: 

* It confirmed that women, renters and, somewhat more unexpectedly, 30-59-year-olds, were hit especially hard.

* Its figures showed that if these groups were already in debt, they were more likely to take out further borrowing, that they would borrow more, that they were more likely to be struggling with their bills.  

Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns

* 40% of crypto investors are women (survey)

* The Gemini Exchange has published a trends report.

* The exchange had surveyed about 2,000 random residents in the U.K in the fourth quarter of 2020.

* 13.5% of respondents were past or present crypto investors.

* (Of that number) an impressive 41.5% are women.

* However, men hold more cryptocurrency than women in categories exceeding £10,000 ($13,694)— 65.8% of investors (in that range) were found to be male.

* Women make up 53.4% of investors holding between £1,000 and £5,000 ($1,369 and $6,847).

Know this: online investment platforms make it easier to invest. Based on data, more women invested in the stock market back in March 2020, when it slumped due to Covid-19. And this trend is also reflected in the cryptocurrency market. It is worth noting that women are investing smaller amounts of money. However, it is better to start small (learn as you go), then not to invest at all.

What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment, crowdfunding campaigns and research.

* Powered Brands (US):- founded by serial entrepreneur Katherine Power and Dana Settle, founding partner at venture capital firm Greycroft.

* A special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, called Powered Brands priced earlier this month on the Nasdaq, under the ticker “POWRU,” with the goal of creating a new kind of global conglomerate made up of sustainable and digitally focused beauty brands.

* Following a successful public debut, Powered Brands says it’s aiming to acquire between $800 million and $1.5 billion worth of assets. 

* The U.S. prestige beauty industry generated $18.8 billion in sales during 2019, according to market researcher The NPD Group.

* “Historically, there haven’t been a lot of beauty companies that have gone public or have chosen to take that path. And it’s typically because they get bought up by a strategic before that happens.”

* SPACs are companies with no commercial operations that are established solely to raise capital from investors for the purpose of acquiring one or more operating businesses. Investors in SPACs can range from well-known private equity funds to the general public. 

Coffee Break? Read This

* Female-founded companies will save our economy. Here’s why

* Estonia gets new cabinet with women in almost half of the top jobs

* 9 ways to say no to busywork and unrealistic deadlines

* Meet the GameStop investor who upended the stock market with cat memes, reaction GIFs, and fundamental analysis

* The GameStop mania driven by Reddit traders isn’t simple market trolling.

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2021 & All Rights Reserved.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jointhepurse.substack.com