💡1. Wall Street banks are stepping up efforts to automate “grunt work” foisted on younger investment bankers, portraying the changes as an attempt to reduce workloads and stop young talent from leaving the industry. Companies including Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Moelis have initiatives under way to automate basic functions such as generating pitch books and valuation modelling, according to bank executives. The efforts suggest that attempts by Wall Street banks to mollify junior bankers by raising their pay have been insufficient to stem the high rate of attrition in their ranks.

💡2. The UN has warned that developing economies risk being left behind, as their richer peers focus on the “post-Covid” world while they are still struggling to get the vaccines they need. Today’s report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development estimates that developing countries will be $12tn poorer by 2025 than they would have been if the pandemic had not occurred, based on their growth trajectories in 2017-19. A separate report from the OECD said GDP in the world’s richest countries slowed to 0.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2021, down from 0.9 per cent in the first quarter.

💡3. China’s home prices grew at the slowest pace in the past eight months in August, as buying confidence took a hit from the government’s cooling measures. Troubles at China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted developer, which is struggling to complete its housing projects, also weighed on sentiment. The average price of new homes across 70 major cities rose 0.2 per cent month on month in August, slowing from a 0.3 per cent increase in July, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday. In February, prices increased by 0.4 per cent, the highest this year.

💡4. US equities wavered, rallying back from earlier losses to break a five-day losing streak. The S&P 500 finished the day 0.2 per cent higher. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite failed to regain positive territory, closing 0.1 per cent lower. Last week was the worst for the S&P since June, although it remains close to the all-time high reached earlier this month, as investors fretted about the US Federal Reserve cutting its $120bn a month of bond purchases designed to boost lending and spending during the pandemic.

                                        ————————————————

One of the must-ask interview questions for banking and finance is: “Have you read any news recently?”, with the follow-up questions: “How would you link this news to the market and what investment suggestions would you give to your clients based on this news?” 

.

Showing your market sense and ability to provide feasible investment ideas would help to differentiate you from other candidates. Therefore, apart from the weekly news update / investment insights, we have also generated this Weekly Market Summary for you to have a quick understanding of the market development and tips to answer some hot discussion topics. Take a look of the summary and WhatsApp us in the group if you have questions.