Among the most important news that happened this week are the protests going on in Chile. Emerging market investors trading in the Chilean peso lose as the worst protests in decades are occurring leading to 1000’s of arrests & 15 deaths. European firms are exposed, especially miners with operations in the copper-rich country. JPMorgan is turning bearish on Chile’s domestic stocks, lowering the country to underweight from neutral. President Piñera acknowledges government failures & is announcing economic reforms intended to restore order.
SoftBank bails out WeWork in a $5B deal & accelerate a $1.5B equity investment originally due to the company next year, that will give the Japanese tech company almost total ownership of the office space startup. Also gives disgraced founder Adam Neumann a massive severance $1.7B payout. SoftBank, which is already WeWork’s largest investor, will also offer to buy up to $3B worth of stock from existing investors & shareholders.
For the 1st time, there are more rich Chinese than Americans in the top 10%. Credit Suisse report shows that wealth in China is ticking up, & the country now accounts for 100M of the richest 10% of people globally. There are 99M Americans in the same category. The threshold to make it into the top 10%, globally, is roughly $109,400 in net assets. To be in the top 1%, you’d need just above $936,400.
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