Summer, for most of us, is a time to recharge our batteries, to relax, to enjoy some calm before the demands of life pick up again. Unfortunately, investors have made that a good deal harder recently as they collectively removed over a trillion dollars in value from financial markets over the course of a few days.
Why the sudden volatility? Consumers haven’t suddenly changed spending behaviors, nor have business customers. And suppliers look healthier than in some time, beating earnings estimates and sitting on plenty of cash. Credit availability has drastically improved. Inflation is hardly threatening.
The answer seems to lie in the health of developed economies. While many appeared to be on the mend for the past year (albeit slowly), it’s become clear the recovery is far more fragile than was thought, especially in the US. We’re not in a recession, but we’re also not in a recovery that is self-sustaining. Read More »
As economies went into freefall roughly two years ago, executives across different functional areas converged on a short set of priorities. In fact, you might say just one priority – survival. That meant shedding costs and doing anything possible to drive cash flow, quickly. But as markets pulled back from the brink, functional heads returned to a (more normal) pursuit of their individual agendas, from social media adoption to staff development.
