Jul 02, 2024

I recently learned about the significant concern over the China Crisis and its impact on the Philippines, particularly regarding the Second Thomas Shoal Strategy. There is also a report from the World Bank highlighting the need for Indonesia to boost its growth rate to graduate from the ranks of middle-income countries. Additionally, there is a new report from Mary Meeker focusing on the relationship between artificial intelligence and U.S. higher education.

In the world of finance, BlackRock has agreed to purchase Preqin, a London-based alternative asset data provider, for £2.55 billion, marking its expansion into the field of data. Additionally, there have been a number of private equity deals, venture capital deals, public offerings, liquidity events, fundraising activities, and personnel updates in the financial sector.

There has also been a recent incident involving Liqueous and Canna Global Acquisition Corp, which led to confusion and potential risk for investors, as it was unclear which shares were legitimate. This led to trading of Canna’s stock being halted by Nasdaq. In other news, there has been a rise in 24-hour retail trading, which has led to concerns about illiquidity and wide spreads in the market during overnight hours.

Finally, I learned that a company is planning to ask its shareholders to authorize more shares, with each preferred stock converting into 20 shares of common stock upon approval. There were concerns about potential insider trading as the stock briefly dipped to $9.90, but it seems that the biggest issue may be the company knowing material facts about the deal before the market did. Additionally, the UK is gearing up for a general election on July 4th, and there is much anticipation around the potential outcome.

Stay Well!