The Purse
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Global stocks have lost $3.5tn in market cap this week, rising bond yields rattles market, crypto market pulls back, women only account for 6% FTSE 100 CEOs and listen to our podcast with Diana Biggs
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Global stocks have lost $3.5tn in market cap this week, rising bond yields rattles market, crypto market pulls back, women only account for 6% FTSE 100 CEOs and listen to our podcast with Diana Biggs

Welcome to our #58 weekly newsletter.

Every week we curate key content and apply a female lens so you can stay informed and inspired about money and investing.

Stay in the know.

Keep on top of global economic, financial and investing news and trends. And read about what this means for you and your money in 2021 during Covid-19 and beyond.

If you’re short on time, listen to the audio for a brief overview.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova


From The Purse

Editorial from the Founder


Global stocks have lost $3.5tn in market cap this week, almost equal to the GDP of Germany, as US tech stocks came under pressure from rising Treasury yields.

Improving economic prospects and rising inflation expectations sparked a sell-off in government bonds from New York to London and Sydney.

The sell-off jolted equities, pushing the broad S&P 500 down 2.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 3.5% lower, its worst day (Thursday) since late October.

The Bank of England (BoE), chief economist Andy Haldane, said he sees a risk of UK inflation accelerating more than expected, warning fellow central bankers against being too relaxed about taming the rise in consumer prices.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market plummeted this week. Bitcoin has dropped from its all-time high over $58,000 last weekend to $45,000+ today (the biggest weekly loss since a 33.5% decline in March 2020). Spiking bond yields has rattled the market.

Institutional investors continue piling in to bitcoin: JP Morgan says investors could make bitcoin 1% of portfolios; MicroStrategy has invested another $1bn+ in bitcoin, Square purchased $170m of bitcoin and said bitcoin represents 5% of its total assets (end of 2020).

CEO and founder of ARK Invest, Cathie Wood said that bitcoin represents a new asset class and may serve as a reserve currency in the future.

In the Future Focus section, read about gender lens equity funds; assets have grown to $2.67bn in 2020. Meanwhile, investors warn top UK firms over ethnic and gender diversity.

Coinbase, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has filed to go public on the Nasdaq via a direct listing. Their net revenue more than doubled to $1.14bn (from a loss of $322m last year) and the company is valued at circa $100bn.

In the Have You Seen This section, we cover the Hampton-Alexander review and the fact that women only account for 6% of FTSE 100 CEOs and are paid far less than men.

And we are tracking a tech start-up called imagilabs which is co-founded by Dora Palfi and Beatrice Ionascu. This is an all-female founded startup that makes coding more accessible to young girls. They have raised €250k in pre-seed funding.

Don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Diana Biggs, who is the CEO of Valour. We talk about bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi (decentralised finance), women investing in crypto (and more).

Stay safe, look after yourselves and your loved ones.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana


The Big Picture

Global markets and economy news, trends and indicators



Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies

Global news, trends and insights


  • Bitcoin’s price fall this week: part of a broader risk asset stumble

    • Bitcoin surged to a record of over $58,000 last weekend, but has stumbled since. Today it is trading at just over $45,000.

    • Spiking Treasury (bond) yields have rattled the market’s more speculative fringes. 

      • The cryptocurrency had lost around 19%+ for the week on Friday morning ie the biggest weekly loss since a 33.5% decline shook bitcoin in March 2020.


Future Focus

Keeping an eye on key predictions, innovations and what’s going to impact the future



Companies: winners & losers

Companies to watch and share price movements



Have You Seen This?

Female-focused news, reports, research, campaigns


  • Hampton-Alexander review: final report shows female directors up by 50%

    • The number of female directors in FTSE 100 companies has increased by 50% in the last five years, according to the final report of the Hampton-Alexander review.

      • The government-backed review, launched in 2016, achieved its target of 33% of board positions on FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies to be held by women by December 2020.

      • The number of women on these boards rose from 682 to 1,026 over the five years of reporting, the report’s authors said.

Know this: the data shows that we need at least 33% women ‘at the decision-making table’ to drive cognitive diversity and performance/returns.

  • Women only account for 6% of FTSE 100 CEOs and are paid far less

    • In the UK FTSE 100 as it stands there are 6 female CEOs compared to 94 men in 2021, the same number as between 2017 and 2019.

    • Startlingly if you analyse the United States-based S&P 500 it’s a similar trend – 6% of CEOs are female, amounting to 29 out of 471.

    • CEO pay:

      • The average male CEO earns around £5.3m vs £4.42m for women, meaning male CEOs earn 17% more than their female counterparts.

      • Comparing the highest-earning male and female CEOs is starker, with the highest-earning man taking home £58.73m vs top woman at £5.89m, a 90% difference.

Know this: gender equity is a big problem for organisations. Changing company culture is difficult. And unless the board and CEO are champions of gender equity and invest in closing gender equity gap, the problem continues. Senior executives should be targeted on building gender-diverse organisations.


What We’re Tracking

Female and diversity-focused products or services, start-ups and businesses led by women/diverse founders, investment and research.


  • imagilabs (Sweden)-co-founded by Dora Palfi and Beatrice Ionascu is an all-female founded startup that makes coding more accessible to young girls.


Coffee Break? Read This



We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.

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