Investment

Investment managers need a new skill in the age of work-from-home: Content creation – MarketWatch

Published

5 years ago

March 23, 2020

Investment managers are wondering how they’re going to conduct the social part of their business as restaurants close, hotels, casinos and conference centers go on lockdown, and airlines stop running.

In the era of the coronavirus pandemic, reliable standbys such as a long lunch, cocktails, a golf or theater outing, or a get-together in Vegas are as much a part of a bygone era as talking with a sales person on the phone.

What is an asset manager or adviser to do now that such tactics are increasingly being consigned to the dustbin? Especially when clients want to know what the S&P 500’s
SPX,
-3.73%
30%-plus plunge from an all-time high in three weeks means for them.

Asset managers who lack the capability to quickly respond may find already highly stressed business models coming under even greater strain as redemptions compound the drop in assets under management caused by the selloff.

One way to try to minimize client defections is to take that old-school travel and entertainment budget and put it to work creating digital content.

Skype, Zoom, bylines

Get portfolio managers and analysts to talk via phone, Microsoft’s
MSFT,
-0.96%
Skype or Zoom
ZM,
+23.23%
with CNBC and Bloomberg, which are doing many more such audio and video interviews as commentators avoid broadcast studios.

Pitch bylined articles to key media such as MarketWatch and other leading financial outlets.

Write blog posts focused on interpreting events from the viewpoint of how they impact clients. Talk about your resilience, how you positioned portfolios ahead of the crisis to limit exposure to the riskiest or most volatile assets; how you reacted after initial drops to protect against further drawdowns; and how you will take advantage when sentiment changes.

Online videos, podcasts

Record videos for websites, social media accounts and to send directly to clients. They don’t have to be award winners — they have to be timely and informative. As this video shows, it’s possible to create professional video quickly and cheaply using your phone, a lapel microphone and a light.

Podcasts are another option and can be recorded remotely via phone conversations for a content expert to produce, edit and distribute quickly.

Ditch bureaucracy

The key is speed without noise. Asset managers’ marketing departments have to become more like a newsroom in terms of their sense of urgency. Savvy media people can craft and distribute digital video, audio and print content, and compliance and legal should help achieve those goals. If they prove to be overly obstructive and too much of a brake, it’s time for a frank discussion.

High-quality digital video, audio and print content should remind allocators that, rather than fretting over this strategy or that in highly correlated markets, they bear all the losses if they allocate overwhelmingly to passive and that, especially in a crisis, it can be wise to stay committed to active, forward-looking, long-term investors with a consistent strategy and strong analysis, resilient portfolio construction and robust risk management at the core.

But the need to communicate quickly, frequently and effectively extends far beyond customers. Timely communications are critical in times of crisis, as this video shows. With workforces spread out geographically because of the pandemic, a digital-first content strategy keeps all stakeholders up to speed — employees, authorities and regulators, shareholders, suppliers, media, contractors and the communities asset managers operate in.

Smart companies understand that, especially in times of extreme stress, silence isn’t always golden. In the Information Age, asset managers who fail to embrace a proactive digital-first content strategy risk being consigned to the same dustbin as the golf trips, cocktail happy hours and long lunches they’ve cherished and relied upon for so long.

Dex McLuskey, a former Bloomberg journalist and senior director of communications at Janus Henderson Investors, is managing partner at Denver-based Context Content LLC, which provides asset managers and others in the global financial markets with digital content marketing, and media and public relations strategies.

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Investment

Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

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Investment

S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published

3 weeks ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

Published

4 weeks ago

October 11, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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