Apr 05, 2024

I recently read about Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto’s recent visits to China and Japan, which is seen as an early indication of Indonesia’s evolving foreign policy. Despite the dust settling at home after the recent elections, Prabowo is engaging actively abroad, meeting with leaders and defense counterparts in both countries. These visits indicate how Japan and China may play a role in Indonesia’s foreign policy and how early engagement could evolve amid wider regional dynamics. Both countries have been strengthening their ties with Indonesia, making them logical places for Prabowo’s initial visits.

In other news, there was a speech by Fed Chair Powell that caused some choppiness in the stock market. Additionally, there is a proposal for increased transparency around private equity investment in health care services companies, spearheaded by Sen. Ed Markey. This is part of a growing Democratic Party pushback against private equity’s involvement in health care. Furthermore, the French business planning and forecasting platform, Pigment, recently raised $145 million in Series D funding, and Aerospike, a NoSQL database company, raised $100 million in Series E funding.

Lastly, there’s an interesting development in the corporate world: Walt Disney Co. successfully crushed a proxy challenge from activist investor Nelson Peltz, securing support from its top institutional backers and around 75% of retail investors. These are just a few of the recent developments in the financial and corporate sectors that caught my attention.

Stay Well!