The Purse

Welcome to our #165 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the US banking crisis and what this means for the economy, the markets and investors.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

SVB, US banking crisis: what does this mean for the economy and investors?

BlackRock CEO shares his views in a letter to investors and investors Ray Dalio and Raoul Pal also weigh in.

According to the CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink in his letter to investors, the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) could be the start of ‘slow rolling crisis’ in the US financial system, as reported by The Guardian.

He warned that ‘more seizures and shutdowns are coming’. And that inflation would remain ‘sticky’ and rates would continue to rise.

The recent failures of US banks Signature Bank and Silvergate has caused nervousness in the global market.

On Wednesday Credit Suisse shares plunged to record lows after its biggest investor declined to provide further funding.

According to the Financial Times, the Swiss National Bank and regulator Finma have had to step in to broker a deal for UBS to buy Credit Suisse, currently valued at £1bn, to stave off a Credit Suisse collapse which would otherwise be another ‘Lehman Brothers moment’.

Fink described the situation as the ‘price of easy money’ after the Federal Reserve printed money and dropped interest rates to 0% from early 2020, in order to keep the US economy afloat during the Covid lockdowns.

The Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes, which are the fastest since the 1980s, have exposed ‘cracks in the financial system’.

There is growing concern that instability is ‘brewing’ in the European banking sector which would pose an even bigger risk.

However, regulatory response has so far been swift, including the Fed’s new Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) introduced last week, to help the industry cope with serious crisis of confidence and liquidity, as depositors withdraw their money.

In other words, the Fed has started printing money again after less than a year of tightening (QT) to prevent a liquidity crisis and a potential collapse of the US financial system.

Fink pointed to ‘asset-liability mismatches’ or negative equity in the banking sector, as the cause. And Wall Street figures are warning that the crisis may spread to mid-sized and regional US banks.

According to investor and hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, who shared a post on Linkedin, the SVB failure is the ‘canary in the coalmine’ which will have knock-on effects on the venture world and beyond.

The markets are now predicting rate cuts and increased liquidity (QE), which is why we are beginning to see risk-on assets rise (such as tech stocks and crypto) in the midst of a banking crisis.

Macro and crypto investor Raoul Pal believes that a banking crisis is the single most important ‘marker’ of a deflationary process, despite the majority view that inflation will be ‘sticky’ for some time.

The banking crisis will lead to slower economic growth, rising unemployment which is likely to ease inflation over time.

He also argues that the stock market bottomed out in October of last year, whilst the crypto market has started its bull run.

News in Brief

Financial news

* Stocks are rising in the midst of the banking crisis. Central banks are again pumping billions in liquidity into the market. The combined balance sheet of the 3 leading central banks rising again.

* While cap-weighted S&P 500 managed to finished the week 1.4% higher, underlying trends weren’t nearly as robust. Equal-weight S&P 500 underperformed. When investors piled into the biggest stocks at expense of everything else, that doesn't speak to optimism.

* Banking crisis: Fed balance sheet jumped by $297bn, largest weekly increase since pandemic. Financial institutions took billions in short-term loans from the Fed as the industry copes with serious crisis of confidence and liquidity. Banks borrowed $11.9bn from new BTFP.

* Markets are already anticipating a big 100 basis points rate cut by the Federal Reserve. 2 year US yields are in free fall-now less than 4%. Only an interest rate cut can end the stress in the banking system.

* Banks rush to borrow record-breaking $150bn from Fed's discount window this week, topping even a record set during the 2008 financial crisis, after the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

* European Central Bank (ECB) raises key interest rates by 50 basis points amidst banking crisis. Depo rate is now at 3%, Main refi rate at 3.5%. Says ECB is ready to respond on price stability and financial stability.

* Credit Suisse takes $54bn loan from Swiss central bank after share price plunge. After largest shareholder was unable to provide backing, Europe’s 17th largest lender says it will use government help to become ‘simpler and more focused’.

* UBS offers to buy Credit Suisse for up to $1bn. Swiss authorities expected to change country’s law to bypass UBS shareholder vote.

* UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has unveiled the contents of his first Budget in the House of Commons, including 30 hours of free childcare for working parents in England expanded to cover one and two-year-olds.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin rallied as Silicon Valley Bank parent filed for bankruptcy, up 30%+ in the past week to past $27,000. Stocks slumped on Friday, but Bitcoin is doing remarkably well—all while the banking industry faces a crisis.

* Ethereum is up more than 20%+ in the past 7 days, trading at more than $1,790+. And the stock market isn’t moving in tandem—a shift from the correlation that investors and traders have grown accustomed to in recent years.

* Arbitrum, the biggest player in the Ethereum Layer 2 space, said it will airdrop its ARB governance token on March 23, distributing 12.75% of the token's total supply to community members who have used the network over the past year.

* Microsoft testing crypto wallet in its web browser Edge. Bleeping Computer said Microsoft has partnered with Consensys to offer a crypto swap feature.

* Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management bought more Block (SQ) shares on Friday. Ark’s flagship exchange traded fund, Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), purchased 50,858 shares in Block, according to an update from the fund manager’s trading desk on Friday.

Coffee Break? Read This

* A new start after 60: I retired and began to follow my dreams

* Two-thirds of UK women say childcare duties affected career progression

* Five key issues facing women – from misogyny to the ‘motherhood penalty’

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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 #161 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight a report by Fidelity International about women feeling less positive about their finances than men, compared to last year.

There are many reasons for this including the cost of living crisis, the gender pay gap and gender bias in the workplace.

Listen to The Purse Podcast on closing the gender wealth gap and how to manage your money, with economist and author Vicky Pryce and Chartered Financial Planner, Victoria Ross.

***

You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Report: women feel less positive about their finances.

What are the reasons women are more concerned about their financial situation?

According to a report published by Fidelity International, women are suffering a decline in financial confidence at more than double the rate of men, as reported by the Financial Times.

Published ahead of International Women’s Day (IWD), here are the key findings:

* Only 34% of UK women felt confident about their current financial situation (down by 15% in the past year vs 6% decline among men).

* 45% of men and women felt financially independent in 2022 (however, 51% of women felt financially independent vs 58% of men).

* One fifth of women said that they were ‘confident in their financial situation compared to a year ago’ between 2022-2023, and men expressed a slight increase in confidence in the same period. 

Given that investors believe that the interest hikes are slowing down and the central banks could ‘pivot’ towards the end of the year, this corresponds to men ‘feeling more confident’ who tend to invest more of their earnings.

However, as we know, women’s life trajectory is different…

…to men’s which exposes them to greater financial risk over the course of their life.

The cost of living crisis is putting women under more financial pressure, especially if they are unattached, divorced or single mothers.

Women have more career interruptions, work in part-time, temporary or insecure employment and live longer than their male partner. More marriages end in divorce and women are single for longer.

And women earn less than men. According to economist and author Vicky Pryce, if we combine part-time and full-time work, the gender pay gap is actually somewhere between 14%-16%.

Women are also subject to gender bias and gender discrimination in the workplace which negatively impacts their earnings.

Overtime, this compounds so that women earn approximately 30%+ less than men. This means women have less money to save and to invest. And it is not surprising that this leads to a gender wealth gap.

What is the gender wealth gap?

It is the difference in the amount of wealth owned by women and men. Wealth, in this case, refers to the total value of a person's assets, including savings, property, and investments, minus any debts. (Read more here).

According to the Office for National Statistics (UK) in 2020, the median wealth of men was £217,500, while the median wealth of women was just £100,800. This means that men in the UK had more than twice as much wealth as women on average.

Post the pandemic, the gender wealth gap is likely to be even wider.

What can women do?

And what can the government and employers do to help?

Listen to The Purse Podcast with Vicky Pryce and Victoria Ross talk about closing the gender wealth gap and how to manage your money (during times of uncertainty).

News in Brief

Financial news

* Complacency in US markets? YTD S&P 500 +5%, Nasdaq 100 +12%, Goldman Sachs Expensive Software +14%, GS Unprofitable Tech +21%, GS Retail Favourites +22%. Meanwhile, VIX are near 1 year lows.

* US Fed balance sheet drops by another $42.5bn to $8,339.7bn in the past week, lowest level since August 2022 as quantitative easing continues. Total assets now equal to 32% of US's GDP vs ECB's 60%, SNB's 113% and BoJ's 132%.

* The value of global bonds has plunged by another $550bn this week. This brings the total bond losses over the past 5 weeks to $2.4tn. All gains since the beginning of the year have been wiped out now.

* More nasty inflation data. Eurozone inflation slowed to 8.5% in Feb but exceeded 8.3% median BBG estimate. Core inflation — the key focus right now for policymakers — quickened to 5.6% from 5.3%, a fresh ATH, reinforcing expectations that ECB will have to push rates ever higher.

* Money market fully price 4% Peak ECB rate for first time following hotter than expected inflation data. 4% ECB terminal rate is expected to be reached by Feb2024. That compares to a 3.5% rate expected at the start of the year.

* Jeremy Hunt is ‘poised’ to extend the government’s £2,500 energy price guarantee for a further three months, rather than lift it to £3,000 as planned.

* Savings: Britons can switch to get up to 7% after interest rate rises.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Major digital assets plunged as the business day began in Hong Kong on Friday.

Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) both dropped more than 5% as customers fled crypto bank Silvergate, whose stock tumbled 58% during U.S. trading Thursday.

* Bitcoin price would retest $25K without Silvergate saga. Strong U.S. equities and a floundering dollar normally serve to boost BTC price action — but Silvergate is the elephant in the room.

* Silvergate halted its institutional fiat settlement arm, the Silvergate Exchange Network, on March 3 as concerns about bankruptcy multiplied.

* Ethereum devs confirm ETH staking withdrawals pushed to April. The network’s much-anticipated Shanghai upgrade, which will enable staked ETH withdrawals, was previously slated for a March release.

* Coinbase ‘iterating quickly’ on NFT marketplace despite lackluster rollout. Base, is an Ethereum layer-2 sandbox for decentralised applications.

* Neal Stephenson coined the word "metaverse" in his seminal 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash. 30 years later, Sotheby's is auctioning off rare items associated with the book, and Stephenson is working on a new layer-1 blockchain company for the metaverse, Lamina1.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* How do we close the gender wealth gap?

* How can women manage their money to protect and grow their long term financial wealth?

* How can women engage more in long-term investing?

* What can the government and employers do to close the gender wealth gap?

* Books, blogs or podcasts to inspire or educate women on how to invest.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* When it’s ok to trust your gut on a big decision

* Good leadership is about asking good questions

* ‘Lift the lid, and there’s a well of rage’: why women are mad as hell (and not afraid to show it).

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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 #159 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the global markets and why they are ‘rattled’ by the recent US inflation data. Investors are suddenly feeling anxious, as the Fed is likely to continue raising interest rates in 2023, and perhaps more than they had anticipated.

You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Global markets are rattled: US inflation is ‘sticky’

Investors are ‘spooked’ by US inflation which continues to go up, and the US dollar strengthens.

Markets around the world were rattled, wrapping up the worst week in 2023, as the key US inflation gauge defied expectations of a slowdown in January, as reported by CNBC and The Financial Times.

According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the personal consumption expenditures index increased 5.4% on-year in January versus an expected slowdown to 4.9%.

Moreover, core PCE inflation, the Federal Reserve’s preferred price gauge, increased to 4.7% on-year in January, from 4.6% in December.

It follows, that the US Federal Reserve may have to keep rates higher for longer in order to control inflation growth.

According to James Knightley, chief international economist at ING:

“…the data will ensure the ‘Fed mantra of ongoing hikes’ continues, with 25 basis point moves in March, May and June now ‘fully priced’ by markets”.

And Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab has said that she does not believe that inflation can come down without either a downturn in the economy or more specifically the labour market (which continues to go up).

She also believes that a lot of speculation has kicked in and:

“...the market tends to move in a contrarian fashion when sentiment gets a little too frothy...”

The US dollar strengthened as investors moved their money to a ‘safe haven’ again and money flowed out of risk-on assets including the crypto market (which shed $58bn this week).

Michael Burry, the legendary investor, has already shared a grim prediction for 2023:

* a) the US economy will go into a recession

* b) and inflation will peak ‘more than once’

* c) which will cause the Fed to pivot and cut interest rates

* d) forcing the government to stimulate the economy in order to help struggling households

* e) meaning: “we are going to see a rehearsal of what happened after March 2020”.

As the US holds the world’s reserve currency and financial markets are so interconnected, this inflationary impact will continue to ripple through the entire financial system.

News in Brief

Financial news

* S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 slipped 2.7% and 3.3% in the worst week since December on hotter-than-projected inflation report and hawkish Fed minutes. Markets are rattled as bets are on Fed peak rate now at almost 5.4%.

* Stocks in London closed in the red on Friday, as a key US inflation gauge defied expectations of a slowdown in January.

* Eurozone inflation for January tops earlier estimate. CPI rose 8.6% in Jan year-on-year, up from 8.5% increase previous estimated. Core CPI, which strips out volatile categories, was 5.3%, up from preliminary estimate of 5.2% and fresh ATH. Core gives ECB hawks new fuel for more hikes.

* Inflation will be harder to bring down than markets think. US 10 year inflation expectations (measured by inflation-linkend bonds) signal smooth decline towards 2%. So investors are betting on good times. The likelier prospect is turbulence.

* Capital Economics predict there will be more pressure on the pound, and on shares, as traders recognise that the economy is weakening.

* M&S appointment means it will have a female majority board. Private equity luminary Cheryl Potter as a non-executive director is joining the board, a move that will give its boardroom a female majority.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin dips after key inflation indicator rattles market. Bitcoin currently down 6% in 24 hours, trading for $23,170, CoinGecko data shows. Last week, it broke above $25,000 per coin for the first time in eight months. Ethereum has shed approx 7%+ trading hands for $1,601.

* Polygon CEO proclaims Ethereum as Layer 1 Future, dismisses Solana, Cardano, and Avalanche.

* Arthur Hayes warns massive global crash incoming – here’s his Bitcoin and crypto strategy.

* Apparent disappearance of Phoenix Community Capital leaves some investors fearing they have lost large sums of money (UK).

* FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried charged with 12 counts in new indictment. Bankman-Fried was previously charged with eight counts including fraud and money laundering in FTX collapse case.

Coffee Break? Read This

* The hidden toll of microstress

* How I became a morning person

* Research: the transformative power of sabbaticals

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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 #157 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we highlight that investors are beginning to recognise the opportunity in women’s health and female investors are a driving force.

And don’t forget to listen to the podcast interview with Abby Davisson, who is a social innovation leader, a career development expert and a co-author of the book: ‘Money and Love: an intelligent roadmap to making life’s biggest decisions’.

Listen to the full interview here.

***

You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Women’s health is underinvested, but change is afoot

Investors are beginning to recognise the opportunity in women’s health.

Early stage investors are beginning to recognise the opportunity in the women’s health market, especially in fertility tracking digital innovations. According to Rock Health, funding rose to $1.4bn in 2022, from $124mn in 2017.

And pharmaceutical companies such as Organon (the spin-off from Merck), are increasing their focus on the women’s health market with products such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT), as reported by the Financial Times.

The women’s health market…

…has been estimated to be worth $3.5tn+. And women:

* spend approximately $500bn a year on medical expenses

* and control 80% of all healthcare buying and usage decisions.

So why is women’s health is underinvested?

Women only receive 4% of the healthcare R&D budget. And 80% of healthcare VCs have never invested in women’s health.

Men continue to dominate VC investing and have often labelled women’s health as ‘niche’. This is why most investors have (wrongly) assumed women’s health relates to women’s reproductive health.

The result?

Investors have ignored more common issues relating to autoimmune disease, cardiac conditions or endometriosis (which may cause symptoms of menopause).

It is no surprise then that the reproductive healthcare still makes up 95% of the femtech investment space.

In contrast, the menopause market only makes up 5%…

… of the same market (it is valued at $600bn). And this is in spite of the fact that:

* 13m women are currently in menopause (UK)

* 1bn+ women globally will be in menopause by 2025.

Many senior women leave the workplace in their 50s because of the menopause- whether they are aware of it or not. Meanwhile businesses haemorrhage talent and money (because of it).

And the highest rates of suicide and divorce is for women aged 51-54 years-the menopausal age.

The US campaign Women’s Health Matters estimates that a $300mn investment in women’s health research could yield a $13bn return in reduced healthcare costs and improved productivity.

But change is afoot…

…as more investors fund women’s health innovation. And more women start and run VC funds which invest in women’s health, including Female Founders Fund, SteelSky Ventures, Coyote Ventures and THENA Capital.

In the case of Coyote Ventures, the fund is not just looking at conditions that solely affect women, but those that disproportionately affect women or conditions in which the symptoms differ between the sexes, such as heart disease, as reported by Forbes.

These female emerging fund managers are attracting women as investors who are often first-time investors. Therefore these female VC fund managers are not only unlocking first-time capital, but crucially they are directing funds towards historically ignored and underinvested female markets.

What next? (Re) listen to The Purse Podcast:

* #71: Investing in women's reproductive and maternal health with Ruth Shaber MD

* #73: Building a startup in the menopause market and why we need to talk about the menopause with Sally Mueller

* #80: Setting up a UK MedTech Fund, gender smart investing, women's health and finding the right advisors and mentors with Tatum Getty

News in Brief

Financial news

* The FTSE 100 index closed above 8,000 points for the first time on Thursday, with one analyst suggesting the reason behind demand for U.K. stocks is that “boring is the new sexy.” (It has an abundance of exposure to energy, commodities, consumer staples and healthcare companies).

* US 10y yields jump to 3.84%, new 2023 high, following hotter-than-expected US PPI data.

* Eurozone will fare better this year than feared as mild winter, high levels of gas storage help to ease energy crisis, & labour market holds up. EuCo expects GDP to grow 0.9% in 2023, higher than +0.3% anticipated in Nov. Inflation expected to slow to 5.6%, prev forecast 6.1%.

* EU gas futures slumped <€50 for 1st time in 17mths, as region’s worst energy crisis in decades recedes. Prices plunged >80% from Aug peak when Russia’s gas cuts hit Europe with $1tn in costs due to relatively mild weather, efforts to reduce energy consumption & strong LNG inflows.

* UK inflation falls from 10.5% to 10.1% amid ongoing cost of living crisis. That indicates prices across the economy did not rise as quickly as expected in January after a 10.5% reading in December. Economists had predicted a rate of 10.3%.

* Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway increased stakes in Apple, Paramount Global and Louisiana-Pacific in relatively quiet Q4. Berkshire didn't open new positions in any companies in the final three months of the year.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin touched $25,000 for the first time since mid-2022. BTC gained 10% between Wednesday and Thursday. Bitcoin ended the week by retracing to the mid-$24,000 range.

* Ethereum rose back above the $1,700 level to start the weekend, with bulls returning to the fold.

* Unlike Merge, ethereum's Shanghai upgrade could bring ether price volatility (withdrawals will be open of more than 16.5 million ether (ETH) staked in the blockchain).

* Shiba Inu altcoins explode as crypto project hints at release date for ethereum scaling platform.

* Binance coin BNB slumped >8% after New York Regulator ordered Paxos Trust to stop creating more of its BUSD token. BUSD is a stablecoin backed by US Dollar, which was created in 2019 in partnership betw crypto platform Binance & blockchain comp Paxos. BNB is native Binance token.

* MicroStrategy rallied 22%, adding $53 to its stock price before ending the week trading at $294.

* Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest, the investment firm upped its exposure to COIN by acquiring an additional $6.7 million worth of Coinbase shares.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* Money and love: how relationships impact our money decisions

* How to communicate and negotiate effectively

* The 5C decision making framework and how this applies to 3 key life scenarios:

* choosing a mate (or choosing whether to marry)

* combining family and career

* and deciding whether to break up (or to divorce your partner)

* How gender norms play into these decisions

* And how to create that win-win situation for yourself and for your loved one.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* 6 causes of burnout and how to avoid them

* The power of talk: who gets heard and why

* Research: why managers ignore employees ideas

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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 #155 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on a report by Morgan Stanley which highlights the top 5 sustainability investing trends for 2023.

And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Alix Lebec, who is the founder and CEO of Lebec Consulting, a women-owned and led company working across philanthropy, impact investing, and ESG.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

5 sustainable investing trends for investors

A report by Morgan Stanley indicates major ESG trends in 2023.

Despite the volatile market conditions and global challenges, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues should continue to be a focus for investors.

According to a recent report by Morgan Stanley, here are the top sustainable investing trends investors should pay attention to in 2023:

Companies will need capital for sustainability change

* Businesses are looking at how they can become more ‘sustainable’. They are considering renewable energy and clean technology solutions to increasing access to affordable housing and sustainable transportation.

* This potential transformation is one of the biggest investment opportunities in generations, and will require an annual average spending of more than $9trn to reach 2050 targets.1

* Existing vehicles for sustainable financing, such as green and social bonds and renewable energy project finance, will likely continue to grow.

* The shift toward a low-carbon global economy will require collaboration and innovation across the economy to deploy new technologies and advance new business models (at a scale not seen before).

Investors address the ‘intersectionality of sustainability’ issues

* As investors become more sophisticated about understanding how interconnected sustainability issues are, they have an increasing ability to invest at the intersection of environmental and social issues.

* For example, investors are asking: “How do we drive capital towards the low carbon-transition in a more inclusive and equitable manner”.

* Biodiversity loss will also be top of mind for many investors this year. It is essential to the economy, as more than half of the world’s GDP is dependent on nature and its services,3.

Retail investors will demand more impact and performance data

* Retail investors are looking to tools and data to inform them about the impact of investments not just their financial performance.

* We know that Millennials, Gen Z and women (in particular) are interested in ESG and therefore greater transparency in investments.

* Better disclosure of impact metrics or improved environmental and/or social corporate practices is needed.

Institutional investors will navigate a rapidly changing market

* Institutional investors are seeking to evolve their sustainability investing strategies, target specific themes and prepare for large scale risks.

* They are also interested in positioning portfolios to a low-carbon economy, including battery storage and electric vehicle manufacturing.

* And they will be more focused on regulations which will become more complex this year.

Businesses will seek to integrate ESG as a top-down strategy

* Companies, asset managers and asset owners have been staffing up with more dedicated sustainability professionals. And incorporating environmental and social issues into their investment decisions is set to accelerate in 2023.

* Businesses want to think about ESG as an integrated strategy across all of functions, including finance, operations, human resources and front line staff.

* ESG needs to be aligned with business priorities. For example, this might include diversifying the board and identifying key ESG metrics.

What next? (Re) listen to The Purse Podcast:

* #81: 'The Female Factor': why women CEOs outperform and how to invest in gender equality via an ETF with Patricia Lizarraga

* #82: Gender data, gender equality in the workplace and investing with a gender lens with Diana van Maasdijk

* #83: Prioritising sustainability, social impact with financial success with Alix Lebec

News in Brief

Financial news

* Recession or not? Bond markets – measured by US yield curve – are sending a clear signal: US 2s/10s yield spread on pace for its deepest inversion since October 1981.

* The markets seem to be liking what Fed's Jay Powell is saying in an interview with David Rubenstein, or rather what he does not say. Powell had opportunity to lean against last week's euphoric rallye BUT Powell took a pass. Investors get it. Nasdaq jumps 1.7% while 10y yields drop 4bps.

* European Central Banks’s (ECB) deleveraging continues. ECB Balance Sheet has shrunk by another €18.6bn in the past week to €7,875.4bn as QE redemptions > QE reinvestments. Total assets now equate to 60.3% of Eurozone GDP vs Fed's 32.3%, SNB's 114.7%, BoJ's 132.4%.

* UK narrowly avoids recession after figures show growth flatlining. Economy contracted in December by 0.5% after expansion of 0.1% and 0.55% in previous two months.

* Trian's Nelson Peltz declares his proxy battle with Disney is over after Disney CEO Bob Iger announced plans for a dramatic restructuring of the world’s largest entertainment comp, incl 7,000 job cuts & $5.5bn in cost savings.

* California’s New Gold Rush: Big Tech moves to gain the edge in AI. Talk of artificial intelligence and machine learning exploded on earnings calls after ChatGPT went viral.

* Microsoft launches search engine ‘infused with AI.’ New Microsoft Bing Search switches easily to AI chat mode.

* Alphabet stock has declined 12.5% since AI presentation, losing $172bn in market value. AI-powered queries could cost Alphabet about five times as much as the current approach.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin was down 7.6% and trading at $21,812 and ether was down 9% trading at $1,533.

* The two cryptocurrencies fell over the past week amid the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Kraken crackdown.

* Staking revenues under threat as Coinbase shares tumble 22%. Shares in the crypto exchange were trading at $57 at the close, since Monday, according to Nasdaq data. 

* A Swiss company is offering a token tied to a BlackRock ETF that tracks hundreds of big American tech stocks. But you can't get the token in America.

* Reddit Has Given Away Over a Million Super Bowl NFTs on Polygon. Reddit’s NFL promo has pushed its Collectible Avatars total to nearly 10 million NFTs minted since last summer.

* Brazil's oldest bank says you can now pay your taxes with crypto. The program is possible through a partnership with Bitfy.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* Investing in emerging markets

* Why we need more women and diversity in corporate and financial institution boardrooms

* The paradigm shift needed in mainstream finance to make this happen.

* How women lead and invest differently

* Female founders raising funding in emerging markets

* And where financial services will be in 2030. 

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* Are the people who take vacations the ones that get promoted?

* Women looking out for Gen Z at work are being burnt out by being a ‘Team Mum’

* Mind the (gender) gap: how cities are putting women at the heart of their transport strategies

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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 #153 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight our interview with Diana van Maasdijk, the Co-Founder & CEO of Equileap, an ESG data provider specialised in gender data.

We talk about gender data, gender equality in the workplace and how to invest with a gender lens.

Listen to the full interview here.

***

And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Gender lens investing : why is transparency around gender data the key to gender equality at work?

Diana van Maasdijk joins us on The Purse Podcast to talk about gender data, gender equality at work and investing with a gender lens.

Diana van Maasdijk joined us on The Purse Podcast.

Diana is the Co-Founder & CEO of Equileap, an ESG data provider specialised in gender data.

Headquartered in Amsterdam, Equileap is the leading provider of data and insights on gender equality in the corporate sector. Equileap researches and ranks 4000 public companies around the world using a unique and comprehensive Gender Equality Scorecard™ with 19 criteria, including the gender balance of the workforce, senior management and board, as well as the gender pay gap, parental leave, and sexual harassment.

Prior to launching Equileap, Diana worked as Head of Philanthropy at ABN AMRO Private Bank and Director of Development at Mama Cash, the world's oldest international women's fund.

In this podcast interview we talk about gender data, gender equality at work and investing with a gender lens.

Here is a short extract from the interview:

Jana: Now you mentioned data with respect to gender equality. Why is data so important when it comes to gender equality at work?

Diana:

Well, data is power. We can't change what we can't measure.

That's what I always say to my team, and this is why it's really important to gather this data and to find out how are corporations doing on gender equality.

From their boardrooms to the supply chain, gather that data and so (we are) able to say, okay, this company is doing better ie ‘this company has improved’, this company's not doing that great’.

And you can only do that with data. And so I think that accessing that information is crucial.

Jana: what are some of the challenges that we see in companies at the moment around collecting data that gives us the insight specifically around gender? Is it difficult to collect?

Diana: yes it is because… well, things are starting to change now.

Equileap has been collecting data from 4,000 companies around the world since 2017. So as we collect the data, we inform the companies that we are collecting the data.

One of the biggest challenges is companies are not transparent.

So companies do not tell you, for example, the percentage of women in their workforce, they don't tell you what their gender pay gap is, or they won’t tell you what their parental leave policies are for men and women.

So we go and collect that data by researching everything a company publishes; their annual reports, their websites, their corporate social responsibility reports, their press releases.

Once we have collected that, if we don't find something, we say ‘no data’.

We then send that back to the company and say, ‘would you care to validate this? This is what we have been able to collect’. Where we don't find data, they don't get any points for that.

If there’s no data, the total average score that we give a company on gender equality goes down.

And so this is a process that we have in order to encourage companies to start publishing. And we see that every year more and more companies publish. Every year the scores are going up, not as quickly as I would've hoped, but we do see improvements.

And the biggest challenge, I think, continues to be the lack of transparency of many of these companies.

But it's starting to change. And I would say that is thanks to the investors because there's more and more investors interested in investing with a gender lens.

Jana: why do you think companies have an issue around being transparent with this data?

Diana: I think because their numbers are so bad. So you really have to force them or tell them that it's good for them.

It's clear to us that the companies who are doing better on gender quality are more transparent, and then there's many which are just not publishing anything, and we very much think that that's because their numbers are very poor…

Listen here for the full interview

News in Brief

Financial news

* FTSE 100 hits record high: blue-chip stock index rises above previous record of 7,903 set in May 2018, amid hopes that global inflation is easing and central banks may be reaching the end of a sustained period of interest rate rises.

* Bond-equity correlation turns the most positive since the late 90s as disinflationary tailwinds look to be finally bringing an end to the worst bear market in at least 4 decades for bonds while also providing a significant boost to equities.

* US Federal Reserve slows rate increases but signals more to come. Raises benchmark rate by 25 bps to 4.5%-4.75% target range. BUT repeats ‘ongoing increases' will be appropriate. FOMC statement is a bit more hawkish than anticipated as "ongoing increases" (plural) is kept.

* Wall St posts weekly gain despite blowout US jobs data and disappointing Big Tech earnings from Amazon, Apple & Alphabet. Nasdaq 100 scored a weekly advance of 3.3% while S&P 500 gained 1.6% in the past 5 days.

* The European Central Bank (ECB) hikes by 50bps, will raise by same size in March. Raises main refinancing rate to 3.00% as expected, Depo Rate to 2.5%.

* Bank of England (BoE) pushes the base interest rate up by 50bps to 4%. Huw Pill said the full impact of its rate increases had not yet been felt in the UK economy.

* Cathie Wood says ARKK is ‘the new Nasdaq.’ Looking at the recent crash, she is right, may she also be right about the rebound.

* To put things into perspective: ARK Innovation ETF has gained 34.4% YTD w/Coinbase up 111% and only one of the 29 stocks in the red in 2023.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin kicked off the weekend above $23,400. It’s traded above $23,000 most of the week, up by 1.5%.

* Ether (ETH) is trading at $1,680, up 0.8% over the last 24 hours. And ether surged 5% over the past week, according to data from CoinGecko.

* Altcoins Optimism (OP), Fantom (FTM), ImmutableX (IMX) and Dydx (DYDX) were among the biggest gainers this week surging 33%, 34%, 40% and 31% respectively. Aptos (APT), which was one of the biggest gainers last week, dropped 6% over the last seven days. Toncoin (TON) also fell 8%.

* Bitcoin NFT Mints Are Rising—But So Are Transaction Fees. Bitcoin users are putting assets on-chain, similar to NFTs on Ethereum, but there’s a cost to the increased activity.

* Crypto-related companies stayed in the red as the market closed on Friday with Coinbase (CI) down 8.38% and Block Inc (SQ) having dropped 4.19%.

* Bitcoin Is the Ultimate Insurance Policy: Cathie Wood. With only your seed phrase, she says “you’ll be able to cross a border and reclaim your wealth.”

* MicroStrategy Stock Doubles Since January as Michael Saylor Stays Bullish on Bitcoin.

* UK Minister Andrew Griffith wants to pass finance regulation bill by Easter. The bill has recently been amended to include provisions for crypto assets and stablecoins. 

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* Gender equality at work

* The challenges we see in companies around gender data 

* Equileap's Gender Equality Scorecard

* Why gender lens investing is still considered a niche market

* The role investors play

* Euronext's partnership with Equileap

* Where will gender equality in the workplace be in 2030?

* How can more women invest?

Coffee Break? Read This

* It’s okay not to be okay

* The more senior your job title, the more you need to keep a journal

* Women suffer guilt, abuse and disapproval. No wonder Jacinda Ardern is knackered

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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 #151 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the recent launch of Sophia Amoruso’s $5m+ venture capital (VC) firm called Trust Fund (US).

She is the founder of Nasty Gal and Girlboss in the US.

Crucially, Sophia is also raising in public which means that anyone can apply but has to be an accredited investor (legal partner). Recently, Trust Fund has increased the size of the community fund beyond $1m.

***

And don’t forget to can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Trust Fund: Sophia Amoruso launches a new VC firm

The fund is targeting a $5m+ raise.

Sophia Amoruso, the founder of Nasty Gal and Girlboss has launched her own $5m+ venture fund called Trust Fund, as reported by TechCrunch.

Crucially, Sophia is also raising in public which means that anyone can apply but has to be an accredited investor (legal partner). And she is taking cheques between $2000-$20,000.

Why?

She’s looking for diversity on her cap table:

“because there’s a lot more women who can write $2,000 checks than there are who can write $200,000 checks”

Initially, this was limited to $1m, but over $5.3m applications have been received in over a week+. Because of this overwhelming demand, the Trust Fund has expanded the size of the community raise. And because they are not optimising per cheque size, everyone is encouraged to apply.

Prominent investors have already invested..

…including Marc Andreessen, Andrew Chen and Chris Dixon, entrepreneur Ev Williams and icon Paris Hilton, as well as support from investors Ryan Hoover and Cleo Capital’s Sarah Kunst.

Sophia has been been an angel investor for four years and has invested $1m of her own money into 23 startups including:

* Blueland: which builds sustainable cleaning products (instead of using plastics)

* Passport (logistics): provider of international shipping services intended to help brands reach their potential.

* Liquid Death: is a canned-water company, sourced from the Austrian alps.

* Pipe: is a modern capital company allowing founders to raise money based on future growth & revenue.

* Public: is an investing platform that helps people be better investors.

* Kindbody: is the only employee fertility benefit solution that provides care directly (for employers).

Only 8% of partners at venture firms (US) are women…

… and founders are looking for female investors to join their cap table. Given Sophia’s operator experience, high profile (plus influencer status) and industry connections, the odds of being included in deals is that much higher.

But more female founders need startup funding and female investors are likely to invest in them at twice the rate of men.

Currently female founders receive less than 3% of VC funding.

Trust Fund is looking to invest in…

…digital consumer companies, with social proof and will lean towards startups which are generating revenue and take a ‘bootstrapping’ approach.

However, the fund does not have a diversity mandate:

“I plan to invest in men and women, and everything in between. And if anything, like why not invest in the privilege and ride the coattails of a dude?”

The aim is to amplify startups their investments by promoting them to:

* Sophia’s 120k newsletter subscribers

* 600k+ Instagram followers

* 230k LinkedIn followers

* 105k Twitter followers.

Meanwhile, the Trust Fund's portfolio companies reach over 1m people across Sophia's channels who trust her taste.

***

What next? (Re) listen The Purse Podcast:

* #66: How more women can start to invest in female-led startups with Gillian Fleming

* #80: Setting up a UK MedTech Fund, gender smart investing, women's health and finding the right advisors and mentors with Tatum Getty

News in Brief

Financial news

* Hedge Fund that got China right sees risk in US markets as stock and junk bond investors ignore recession risk.

* Semi-conductor stocks are seen benefiting from the rise of generative AI, such as ChatGPT. Since bottoming in October, semi-conductors have been best-performing sector. SOX is up 29% off bottom vs S&P 500 up only 11% over same period. Barclays has upgraded AMD, QCOM, STX, & raised PT on NVDA.

* The FTSE 100 was muted on Friday after a week of company updates and economic data saw London’s leading index range bound.

* US economy expanded at 2.9% annual pace from October-December, ending 2022 w/momentum despite pressure of high interest rates & widespread fears of a looming recession. Decelerated from Q3 3.2% annual growth rate.

* Euro jumps $1.09+ after said the European Central Bank (ECB) is set to raise interest rates by 50bps at upcoming meetings. This would narrow interest rate differential w/US. For Fed, markets are expecting only small rate hike of 25bps in Feb w/terminal rate at 4.9%, 40bps above current rate.

* Europe is facing a rapid contraction of mortgage lending as a jump in interest rates cause financing costs to surge, all but wiping out demand. Loans for house purchases fell below €5bn in December, a 70% decline year-over-year.

* The former chief economist of the Bank of England (BOE) has warned there is “more pain to come” for households and the wider economy as mortgage rate increases hit people’s bank accounts and weigh on spending.

* Poorest in UK have £40 a month less to spare than a year ago, study finds. Richest have gained similar amount over same period, reflecting differing impacts of inflation.

* Microsoft is making $10bn bet in OpenAI, pioneering AI research lab behind #ChatGPT. ChatGPT has captured imagination of broad swath of users for its ability to imitate way real people talk & write. Microsoft market has cap gained $7bn.

* Buzzfeed shares surge as much as 84%, extending yesterday’s 120% rally, on the digital-media company’s plans to use OpenAI, an announcement which Bank of America says should be positive for investor sentiment.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* After a rally above $23,800, bitcoin bounced back from a temporary drop below $22,600 earlier in the week, to level out just over $23,000+ for a small 1.6% weekly gain. Crypto stocks generally rose over the past week.

* Ethereum dropped nearly 5.2% over the week, and it is trading now at $1,592+. Ethereum developers announced on Tuesday that they had made important progress towards the network’s next scheduled upgrade, the much-anticipated Shanghai upgrade.

* Axie Infinity (AXS), the native token for the eponymous blockchain-based video game, blew up 25% this week and gained of 22% on Monday alone after a token unlocked released 2% of the game’s total supply onto the market. It’s currently worth $11.44.

* Other notable rallies by leading cryptocurrencies this week included Avalanche (AVAX), which blew up 16% to $20.29, OKB, which rose 13% to $38.25, and Polygon (MATIC), up 8.5% to $1.11.

* On Tuesday, European Union lawmakers passed requirements for banks to disclose if they are dealing with cryptocurrencies.

* Coinbase shares were up nearly 22%, while MicroStrategy rose just over 15% and Jack Dorsey’s Block gained 17%.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Don’t let an indifferent boss hold you back

* The workplace is failing women. Business leaders can stop it

* Women suffer guilt, abuse and disapproval. No wonder Jacinda Ardern is knackered.

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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 #149 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we spotlight our interview with Patricia Lizarraga who is the Managing Partner of Hypatia Capital, an asset manager focused on investing in women in leadership.

We talk about the launch of Hypatia’s Women CEO ETF in the US (NYSE: WCEO).

Listen to the full interview on The Purse Podcast here.

And don’t forget to can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Investing in ‘The Female Factor’

Hypatia Capital recently launched Women CEO ETF (NYSE: WCEO). Why do women CEOs outperform?

We interviewed Patricia Lizarraga, Managing Partner at Hypatia Capital (US) a corporate finance advisory and asset manager about the launch of the Hypatia Women CEO ETF (NYSE: WCEO).

Patricia Lizarraga has over 25 years of investment banking experience at firms including Allen & Company, Citigroup, Credit Agricole, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Santander Investment.

We talk about ‘The Female Factor’-why invest, why women CEOs outperform, the launch of WCEO ETF (US), aligning your values to investing, diversifying your investments to include gender equality and more.

Here is a short extract from the interview (we have edited down the response for ease of reading only):

Question: …What was the ‘aha moment’ when you realised that there was a competitive advantage around investing in women and specifically women in leadership…?

Patricia Lizarraga’s answer:

I believe every ‘aha moment’ is usually made up of hundreds, if not thousands of moments before that made you come to the realisation.

I think as women, we always know that we're just as good as men. And by the way, I don't think women are inherently better than men.

Our investment thesis is squarely in that women outperform because it's harder for women to get to the CEO spot.

And then as I wanted to start to have more female clients and started researching the possibility of doing that… Catalyst was already counting the amount of women on boards and saying that there was performance there.

And I thought to myself: ‘I think there might be a correlation’.

But I kept on going; I kept on building my business and about six years ago, we decided to hold an event that was not just about mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and it was not just about private equity, but was more pan asset class.

Because again, when I started Hypatia Capital there were also early stage investing clubs, angel clubs that started investing in women entrepreneurs.

The year before that State Street launched SHE and Pax Ellevate was repurposed to be about gender focus. UBS was just launching its gender focus ETF at the time.

So I said, wait a second: why don't we hold an event that talks about what's happening in investing in women in leadership in different asset classes?

And is there something that we can discover that will tell us that women actually outperform? How can we measure that? Is there an asset class in which we could measure that? And we set up the event, and we actually did it two years in a row.

It was when Bloomberg had just launched their Gender Equality Index. And so people were starting to think about this in a different way.

And when we thought about what asset classes can you actually isolate (what we call) 'The Female Factor' (all else being equal), we thought we could isolate it in two asset classes ie public equities and hedge funds.

Because there is attribution to one person, as opposed to the business we've previously been in where it has to do with more than just one person. (For example, is it the CEO, the investing team? Or did it have more to do with the year of the investment, the business cycle or the exit?)

So we saw that as much more difficult to isolate ‘The Female Factor’.

Whereas in these two asset classes, we thought, okay, we can isolate The Female Factor if we try. And that's where the idea for the WCEO ETF came from.

Question: …For the benefit of listeners who may not be familiar with what a Portfolio Manager does, for example in a hedge fund, can you talk briefly about what they do and why therefore you are able to isolate The Female Factor there?

Patricia Lizarraga’s answer..

So in hedge fund or in a (public equity) fund where there is a named Portfolio Manager, there is attribution for the financial results of that fund.

The investment returns of that fund are attributable to one person (or a small team). Therefore, all things being equal, one can isolate The Female Factor.

In hedge funds, all things being equal, we were primarily talking about strategy, right? Categorising the hedge funds into the strategies that are routinely considered different by investors.

And the way we isolated The Female Factor, in terms of size, is by making our indices equally weighted-so that's another step.

We said, okay, how can we measure The Female Factor? Well, let's make an index. Let's make indices that manage this over time, constantly measuring The Female Factor.

And therefore, since the vast majority, usually over 90 to 95% of the rest of the pool of potential assets in that asset class are led by men, then that isolates The Female Factor.

So what we did is we created indices.

***

Listen to the full interview on The Purse Podcast with Patricia Lizarraga about the launch of WCEO ETF.

News in Brief

Financial news

* To put things into perspective: the start to the year has been one of the best on record for stock markets. Stoxx had best start since the index began in 1987, DB has calculated.

* The FTSE 100 edged 0.2%+ higher as inflation ticked down to 10.5%, helped by a fall in energy prices, leaving investors hopeful of a slowdown in interest rate rises by the Bank of England (BoE).

* Energy prices collapsed: European Gas Future now 84% below all-time-high (ATH). German 1 year ahead Power Price 85% below ATH.

* China Vice-Premier Liu He at World Economic Forum (WEF): Confident China growth to most likely return to normal. Says housing sector is still a pillar of China's economy. Says real estate accounts for 60% of urban household assets.

* Janet Yellen says US begins extraordinary measures to avoid debt default. With Federal government about to run up against debt limit, which Congress set at roughly $31.4tn in 2021, the Treasury Department has said it expects to start deploying so-called extraordinary measures.

* While the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB) have raised key interest rates sharply, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is leaving its rates unchanged. This should also reduce the other central banks' appetite for further rate hikes.

* ECB’s Christine Lagarde at World Economic Forum (WEF) ‘Stay the course’ is my mantra on monetary policy.

* Google job cuts are not most important piece of news. Google calls in help from Larry Page and Sergey Brin for AI fight. Rival chatbot has shaken Google out of its routine, with founders who left 3yrs ago re-engaging: 20+ AI projects in works.

* Inflation and macroeconomic volatility have displaced climate risks and inequality in the problem ranking (PwC CEO survey).

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin (BTC) $22,866 is in for a new ‘big rally’ as market strength copies conditions from after the 2018 bear market. (Briefly hits $23,000+).

* According to the latest analysis, BTC/USD will continue to head higher “after some consolidation” thanks to key signals from its relative strength index (RSI).

* Ethereum (ETH), is also experiencing a significant rise as. It has increased by roughly 14%+ to $1,660+, reaching a four-month high.

* Cryptocurrencies like Binance's BNB, Polygon's MATIC and XRP also rose by 3.7%, 9.2% and 6.8%, respectively.

* Shares of Coinbase rose by 13.3%, even as it was downgraded by Moody's, and MicroStrategy by 13.1%.

* Genesis aims to move 'quickly and efficiently' to exit bankruptcy, interim CEO says.

* Genesis bankruptcy unearths the Decentraland connection. Genesis released a list of the 50 largest non-insiders with unsecured claims against it. Among the 50 entities listed were companies connected to Decentraland co-founders Esteban Ordano and Ari Meilich, as well as CFO Santiago Esponda.

* Nearly $700m of Bankman-Fried's assets seized by Feds. The cash and assets seized by prosecutors were primarily made up of Robinhood shares, court documents show.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* ‘The Female Factor’: why invest?

* The launch of the Hypatia Capital’s Women CEO ETF (WCEO)

* How it came about and why invest in the ETF?

* How women and men can align their values with investing?

* Patricia shares her advice for women who are starting out on their investment journey

* And we talk about how to close the gender investing gap.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* How to intervene when you witness a microaggression

* How to stop worrying about what other people think of you

* No need for six-month wait to try for baby after pregnancy loss, study finds

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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 #147 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the annual report published by the Personal Finance (P-Fin) Index (US), which found that 53% of American adults do not know how long people live in retirement, even though women tend to have a better idea than men.

‘Longevity literacy’ tends to have a high impact on people’s retirement planning and therefore how much money they have to retire on.

And don’t forget to sign up for our event Thursday, 19th January at 6pm UK time.

***

You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Jana

‘Longevity literacy’: women have a more accurate understanding of longevity than men

New calculation in the annual Personal Finance (P-Fin) Index shows ‘longevity literacy’ is key to being prepared financially for retirement.

To ensure quality planning for retirement, people need to understand how long they are likely to live in retirement.

But according to the Personal Finance (P-Fin) Index, an annual survey of more than 3,500 adults in the US, 53% of Americans underestimate how long people live in retirement ie they have low levels of ‘longevity literacy’.

Women (43%) seemed to have a more accurate view of how long they would live, compared to men (32%). This is in contrast to financial literacy levels, where men tend to rank higher.

Why is ‘longevity literacy’ important?

Based on the survey, people who incorporate a time horizon in their retirement planning are more likely to save for retirement and, unsurprisingly, will have more money in retirement as a result.

According to Annamaria Lusardi, University Professor at GW and GFLEC's Academic Director:

“This research shows that if we want to create better retirement outcomes, we need to start by making sure people understand how long they are going to live in retirement..”

Here are the key results from the survey: (people still in the workforce & retirees)

* 81% saved for retirement while they were working, compared to 57% of those with poor longevity literacy.

* 54% have tried calculating the overall amount they need to save, compared to 30% of those with poor literacy.

* 40% find it very easy to make ends meet – almost twice as many as those with poor literacy (23%).

* 40% are very confident about having enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement, compared to 25% of those with poor literacy.

* Only 17% said they have a lifestyle that falls short of their pre-retirement expectations. For those with poor literacy, more than twice as many (37%) agreed.

One possible explanation for women having higher ‘longevity literacy’…

…is that they have traditionally been more influential in making healthcare decisions in the household compared to men. Also, women are aware that they tend to live longer than men (by an average of 7 years).

Given that women are still paid less than men, tend to take more career breaks, work part-time, save and invest less money therefore accumulate less wealth over their lifetime, it is crucial that women apply their ‘longevity literacy’ to their retirement planning.

Join us Thursday, 19th January at 6pm UK time to talk about closing the gender wealth gap and how to manage your money.

News in Brief

Financial news

* The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both posting their best weekly performances since November. Nasdaq has added 4.8%, S&P 500 rose 2.7% this week.

* On Wednesday, FTSE 100 finished at highest close since 2018. It would appear that while consumers are becoming choosier about where they spend their money, they are still spending it.

* US is punching well above its weight: the US stock market value has reached 60% of global total, 15ppts >long-term average. US real footprint much smaller: ~50% of corp earnings, 25% of world GDP, 1/5th of listed comps, 4% of global population.

* To put things into perspective: the Rest of the World (RoW) is trading at a massive discount to US equities.

* Global economy risks second recession within three years, warns World Bank. It has cut its 2023 growth forecast from 2.9% to 1.7% after the risks it identified six months ago all materialised.

* US will hit its debt limit Thursday, start taking steps to avoid default, Yellen warns Congress.

* Gold rallied $1,900+ an ounce for the first time since May after US inflation data matched forecasts, giving the Federal Reserve room to slow the pace of its rate hikes.

* Bank of England warns high inflation could last longer than expected. Chief economist says risks remain despite fall in wholesale energy prices and UK on brink of recession.

* Apple & Amazon have lost almost $2tn in combined value (roughly Switzerland’s entire market cap) since hitting record highs, BBG has calculated. The iPhone maker has lost $916bn from its peak in January 2022, while e-commerce giant is down $991bn since topping out in July 2021.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Bitcoin jumps $20,000+ for first time since November amid optimism around inflation. It has gained gained 25% year to date.

* Ethereum rose an encouraging 21% over the course of the week, crossing the $1,400 mark Thursday and is sitting at $1,525 on Sunday morning.

* Solana was trading up more than 30% over the last 24 hours.

* Collapsed crypto exchange FTX located $5bn in assets this week, tied up in cash and liquid crypto.

* NFT blue-chip Azuki's new virtual city Hilumia touches physical and digital worlds.

Coffee Break? Read This

* Is it time to shakeup your WFT routine?

* 3 negotiation myths which still harm women’s careers.

* Swelling ranks of stay-at-home dads could be pandemic’s silver lining

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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 #145 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

Happy New Year! And it’s good to be back.

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on the economic projections for the UK in 2023 and why the UK has been forecast to lag significantly behind other developed nations. But economists expect to see growth in 2024.

And don’t forget to listen to the interview with Tatum Getty on The Purse Podcast. Tatum is the Co-founder of THENA Capital, a new UK MedTech fund focused on investing in early stage digital and device companies in the health sector.

***

We have planned a few online events for you this year.

Our first online event in the series is about closing the gender wealth gap and managing your money during times of uncertainty.

Join me, Vicky Pryce and Victoria Ross in this important panel discussion. We hope to see you there! Please share this with anyone who might find this useful.

Sign up here

***

You can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

See you on Wednesday for a (new) bi-weekly update.

Until then,

Jana

The UK recession will be almost as deep as Russia, but are economic prospects in 2023 better than we think?

According to Goldman Sachs, the UK economy is forecast to contract by 1.2% (real GDP) in 2023, which is only 0.1% less than Russia, as reported by CNBC.

Although the EU and UK are likely to already be in a recession, it is possible that the UK economic prospects for 2023 are better than we think. Why?

* Natural gas prices are half of what has been included in global forecasts.

* China has ended its zero-Covid policy which is likely to improve the global economic prospects later this year.

Regardless, the UK has been forecast to lag significantly..

… behind other developed nations facing the same macroeconomic issues of surging inflation, rising interest rates, the war in Ukraine and global supply bottlenecks.

This is because the UK faces unique challenges which relate to:

* A long-term sickness crisis

* The ageing population leaving the workforce

* Heavily depleted trade as a result of Brexit

* More drawn out increase in household energy prices (and possibly more ‘sticky’ inflation)

* And a lack of investment to fuel growth in the economy.

All of which continues to drive the cost of living crisis for consumers who have no choice but to cut back on spending.

The U.K. independent Office for Budget Responsibility projects that the country faces its sharpest fall in living standards on record. Real household disposable income, a measure of living standards, will fall by 4.3% in 2022-23.

KPMG expects the Bank of England (BoE) to raise interest rates to 4% in the first half of 2023, and forecasts the labour market to start deteriorating. Unemployment is expected to hit 5.6% mid-2024.

Although market consensus is…

.. that the UK will contract by 0.5% in 2023 and will expand by 1.1% in 2024, Goldman is more pessimistic and projects UK growth to only be 0.9% in 2024 compared to Russia’s 1.8% expansion in 2024.

On the other hand, Goldman projects the US economy to expand by 1% in 2023 and 1.6% in 2024.

Globally, nearly all current forecasts suggest growth in the world economy, with cautious optimism expected as the year progresses, and into 2024.

What next? (Re) listen to The Purse Podcast:

* #67: The markets today, how to think about a difficult or bear market and what actions are European investors taking with Rebecca Chesworth

* #68: Rising inflation and the cost of living crisis in the UK with Shaun Richards

* #75: How volatile is the UK bond market and the problem with UK growth with Vicky Pryce

News in Brief

Financial news

* Wall Street rallies after US jobs report: December’s better-than-expected job creation, with 223,000 new hires last month, suggests the US labor market remains solid. And the drop in wage growth may ease concerns over inflation.

* Fed officials last month affirmed their resolve to bring down inflation, cautioning that ‘unwarranted’ loosening of financial conditions would hurt their efforts to achieve price stability (as per December meeting notes). Going into meeting, markets were pricing in rate cuts in H2 2023.

* Energy prices keep falling. European gas price drops <€70/MWh while German 1y ahead power price drops <€200/MWh as energy crisis abates.

* Eurozone inflation’s sharp drop to single-digit masks underlying pressures. Prices rose by 9.2% in December; economists expected 9.5% but core inflation hits record-high 5.2% as the European Central Bank (ECB) hikes to continue.

* Big Tech has also lost all Corona gains. The combined market capitalisation of Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Amazon (AMAMA) has fallen from $10.2tn to $5.9tn now.

* Average UK house price falls for fourth month in a row, says Halifax. Figure of £281,272 comes as property values drop by 1.5% in December, after 2.4% decline in November. The annual rate of house price growth more than halved, to 2% in December, from 4.6% in November.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

* Macroeconomic data points toward intensifying pain for crypto investors in 2023. Chances of a crypto bull market in 2023 decrease as the Fed maintains a hawkish stance and threats of a recession in the U.S. economy continue to appear.

* Crypto prices rose, with Solana experiencing the most significant gains. Bitcoin is trading at $16,940+. Ether has experienced a more significant jump, tacking on 3%+ trading at $1,260+. Solana led the way, jumping 14% to $13.49 from $11.82. 

* Last month NFT trading volumes on Solana showed signs of strength. The week of Dec. 25 saw the most activity for Solana NFTs since September. Amid the rout in NFTs, Solana never lost its second spot to Ethereum throughout 2022, according to The Block's Data. 

* Bluechip NFT project Moonbirds signs with Hollywood talent agents UTA. The Ethereum-based Moonbirds project launched in April 2022 and consists of 10,000 8-bit owl-themed avatar NFTs. To date, it has generated roughly $619.5 million worth of secondary sales according to data from CryptoSlam. The goal of the UTA deal is to get the Moonbirds brand known on a ‘global’ mainstream scale, as opposed to just being recognised as a big hitter in the Web3 space.

* McKinsey report: Metaverse to potentially create $5tn of value by 2030. For the Metaverse to reach its full potential, the report highlighted the need for four technology enablers — devices (AR/VR, sensors, haptics, and peripherals), interoperability and open standards, facilitating platforms and development tools.

The Purse Podcast

We cover the following in our conversation:

* How Tatum set up THENA Capital with her two co-founders

* Why they're applying a gender smart strategy to how they invest

* Raising investment: finding the right investors

* Working with mentors and advisors

* Lessons learned

* How women can start to invest in the startup ecosystem via a fund.

Please enjoy! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify+

Coffee Break? Read This

* How to spot an incompetent leader

* What companies still get wrong about layoffs

* Why you should work less and spend more time on your hobbies

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 2023 & All Rights Reserved.

The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.

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