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Once shunned money market funds proving to be unlikely haven in US

CASH is flowing into short-term US government debt funds at the fastest pace in more than six months, just when you might expect investors to be running for the exits.

Demand is surging even as lawmakers wrangle with a looming debt-ceiling deadline and investors become concerned about Treasury missing payments on the securities held in most of the funds. More than $75 billion has been deposited in government money-market funds in the four weeks ended Aug. 16, compared with outflows of about $18.5 billion from US exchanged-traded and mutual funds, Investment Company Institute data show.

Whether investors are seeking a refuge from geopolitical risks or having cold feet over the sustainability of the record rally in stocks, they’re benefiting from safeguards put in place in October to prevent a repeat of the run on money-market funds experienced during the financial crisis. The changes prompted a shift of more than $1 trillion to government funds from what are known as prime funds by more risk tolerant investors in the run-up to the reforms.

“Investors will probably be less concerned and less weary about the gyrations around the debt ceiling and what that might mean for US securities,” said Deborah Cunningham, chief investment officer for money markets at Pittsburgh-based Federated Investors, which oversees $242 billion in money funds.

In the latest episode, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a letter to Congressional leaders last month that it is “critical” the debt limit is raised by Sept. 29, while Treasury bill investors see the clock running out sometime around early- to mid-October. Regardless, funds like Federated and Invesco are already shunning securities maturing around the deadline.

As of July, taxable money-markets funds, which includes Treasury funds, held about $679 billion of short-term US government debt. Of that, $111 billion is maturing in October, or about 11% of all Treasury holdings in the funds and 2% of all government money-markets assets, according to a J.P. Morgan Securities note published Aug. 21.

“I’m not frightened by those numbers or scale as we have many options to invest during this general time frame that people discuss as the problematic time,” said Patricia A. Larkin, chief investment officer of cash investment strategies at Dreyfus Corp. “The Fed’s RRP (reverse repurchase agreement) is a very welcome tool from the capacity perspective, especially in a situation like this.”

First introduced in September 2013, the Federal Reserve’s fixed-rate overnight reverse agreement was yet a viable alternative for funding during earlier debt-ceiling debate episodes, given the small amount of counterparties and a daily cap of $1 billion a day per entity. Now, there’s a $30 billion limit for the Fed’s 136 counterparties, 102 of which are money-market funds.

“If you have about $2 trillion in government-only money funds and 10% leaves — that’s about $200 billion and that has to go somewhere,” said Joseph Abate, a strategist at Barclays Capital in New York. “Does it go to bank deposits? In the past it has gone into bank deposits, at least for the institutional investors. I don’t know where they put it all really.” — Bloomberg

Sta. Lucia allots up to P500M to develop Silay residential community

STA. LUCIA LAND, Inc. has teamed up with a Silay-based company to develop a 67-hectare master planned lake residential community in the city known for its ancestral homes, and rich culture.

The La Alegria project offers 1,101 residential lots with sizes ranging from 150 square meters (sq.m.) to 300 sq.m., and 83 commercial lots, ranging from 500 sq.m. to 1,000 sq.m. Lot prices start at around P4,000 to P5,000 per sq.m.

“[The development cost] is around P400 million to P500 million,” said Sta. Lucia President Exequiel D. Robles during the project’s launch on Thursday, adding the amount covers the construction of facilities, electrical and water lines, drainage and the man-made lake.

Work on the project has already started, including the initial road tracing, ahead of the formal launch on Sept. 8. Its target buyers are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and residents of Bacolod and Silay, although the company also considers those in Iloilo as a likely market.

The land on which the lakeside community will be built is owned by Claudio Lopez, Inc., a property company in Silay that has its own separate residential development projects in the city.

“In about a year and a half, we will be done with the whole project,” said Eduardo V. Tirona, president of Sta. Lucia marketing unit Orchard Property Marketing Corp.

Mr. Tirona is confident the project will be sold out in three to four years, due to its affordability. “But our land has more value because it’s on a prime location, and it’s unique in a way that it has more amenities and a lake,” he added.

Aside from the man-made lake called Lake Aurora, the project will also feature a lighthouse, swimming pool, gazebo and picnic area.

Michael J. Valderrama, general manager of Claudio Lopez, said his family’s company put in the land for the project while Sta. Lucia will be the developer.

“This is a huge development, and it will bring a lot of employment to the people in Negros, especially in Silay,” he said, adding a portion of the development will be allotted for Claudio Lopez’s own commercial projects.

David M. dela Cruz, Sta. Lucia executive vice-president and chief financial officer, said La Alegria is an example of the company’s thrust of developing the countryside and helping build cities outside Metro Manila.

“We’re pretty much scattered all over the country,” he said, citing the company’s projects in Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Iloilo, Pampanga, Baguio and Nueva Ecija, among others.

The company’s target market is the middle to lower-middle class, and OFWs. “If you’re at The Fort, you’re not our market,” Mr. Dela Cruz said.

Although joint ventures have been “very successful” for the company, Mr. Dela Cruz said “it would be better and would complement the entire business if we start acquiring our own land.”

Sta. Lucia currently has 900 hectares under a joint venture arrangement, while another 900 hectares have been acquired by the company on its own.

Mr. Dela Cruz said the company has recently put up a business unit to look into the commercial component of the residential projects that were sold.

“To build a commercial establishment like a mall [is] capital intensive. We’re thinking now what to do with these commercial properties,” he said.

The options are either to lease them out to bigger retailers, an outright sale or to operate the properties and replicate the company’s experience in the Sta. Lucia Mall in Cainta.

Mr. Dela Cruz said the company’s commercial segment accounts for about 28-32% of revenues. “That’s our mall in Cainta. Everything else is residential,” he said. — Victor V. Saulon

Amazon’s The Tick pokes fun at the world of comic book superheroes

LOS ANGELES – Marvel and DC Comics superheroes may be battling for box-office domination, but on the small screen, a little known blue superhero is offering up a satirical take on larger-than-life crusaders for justice.

The Tick, a new Amazon Studios series premiering on Friday, follows the adventures of eccentric superhero The Tick, a man in a blue spandex suit with feelers sticking out of his head who has no memory of his own origins.

He and his bumbling sidekick Arthur fight incompetently against strange villains like Ramses IV, Ms. Lint, The Terror and Overkill, while encountering respected superheroes.

“It’s set in the real world where superheroes exist. I’m also a superhero, but even the superheroes think I’m weird,” actor Peter Serafinowicz said in an interview of playing The Tick.

Superheroes have saturated Hollywood in recent years, including Disney-owned Marvel’s 2008 action Iron Man and Warner Bros. rebooting the DC Universe with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

On television, shows such as Gotham, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and Netflix’s The Defenders have offered a more in-depth take on superhero stories.

The Tick, created by cartoonist Ben Edlund in 1986, has had two previous iterations on television, in a 1994 animated series and in a 2001 live-action series. The story has “always been in dialogue with whatever has been big in superhero pop culture at the time,” said actor Griffin Newman, who plays Arthur. – Reuters

A game for both brains and brawn

VIDEO GAME REVIEW
Yakuza Kiwami
PlayStation 4

By Alexander O. Cuaycong and Anthony L. Cuaycong

EVEN FOR THOSE familiar with the Yakuza franchise, Yakuza Kiwami can come as a jolt to the senses. On paper, it’s a remake of the original release on the PlayStation 2 in 2005, but quite a few elements have been changed — and mostly for the better — so that it’s best treated as the latest title in the series, closer in tone to immediate past predecessor Yakuza 0. Never mind that the story line is largely the same. As before, it follows the exploits of Kazuma Kiryu, a Yakuza strongman of the Dojima family. And then things go awry, with Kiryu taking the fall for the murder of his boss. Ten years later, he is paroled for good behavior, and must a search for his missing fiancee while being hunted by people he once called his brothers.

This sets the stage for Yakuza Kiwami’s story sections, and it is told and acted with a healthy amount of believability in the source material. While at times the narrative does feel a bit disjointed, it manages to sell Kiryu’s story well as a whole, especially when combined with unique gameplay mechanics. Through a crafty in-game levelling system, experience points are gained as much by fighting as by eating and exploring — even talking to people on the streets.

This encourages the player to keep moving forward. While grinding is possible, far greater advances are made by accomplishing the story, made all the more interesting by the frequent appearances of Majima, Yakuza Kiwami’s comedic miniboss. There is an organic sense of progression when Kiryu starts to improve his fighting skills, dulled by a decade’s worth of imprisonment, by slowly getting back to his old routine.

To be sure, Yakuza Kiwami takes some getting used to; the combat in the game is a little hard to grasp at first. Largely playing like a spectacle fighter, it has Kiryu dodging, blocking, and weaving in battle, using weapons, and, more importantly, his fists, during fights. In particular, he can choose from among four stances, and each stance has its own benefits and weaknesses, giving players a choice on the type of playstyle they feel most comfortable with. One stance lets Kiryu weave and dodge like a boxer, landing multiple blows with superior speed and footwork. Another lets him fight like a heavyweight, absorbing blows left and right and then countering with heavy backhands. 

The variety in choice makes each fight play out differently, and switching between stances is not only easy, but also encouraged, as certain finishing moves can be done only in certain stances. These finishing moves range from faceplants to suplexes, and can go from brutal to ridiculous in no time flat.

This is probably Yakuza Kiwami’s greatest asset as a whole. The game knows perfectly well how to sell itself to players. It has moments of seriousness, only to go off the beaten path for a comedic quip and a ridiculously cheesy line. It feels like a mix between a drama and a B-grade action film, complete with tropes and little jokes to make the story flow. It takes its story — but never itself — seriously, so it’s never afraid to engage in self-deprecation; laughs at Kiryu’s expense abound. And while it can get grim, the overall visual effects, the gameplay design, and even the quests and how they’re structured are all a joy to experience.

True, Yakuza Kiwami isn’t perfect. User-interface issues sometimes pop up during combat and make it difficult to maneuver Kiryu around. Bosses can turn into a literal grind, and even regular enemies get to be a chore when they start wielding firearms and weapons. On the whole, though, it’s an extremely enjoyable title well worth its price. Polished, smooth and fun, it provides a nice blend of levity and gravity with good gameplay and interesting set pieces. It’s a superb release that compels players to use both brains and brawn. Highly recommended.

THE GOOD
• A compelling story with a nice mix of drama and humor.

• Plenty of side missions and side activities.

• Enjoyable combat, with plenty of variety in style and weaponry.

THE BAD
• Hub area is somewhat limited and disappointing for gamers expecting a more open-world feel.

• Bosses get somewhat tedious without proper strategies and upgrades.

• Combat system takes getting used to, and some encounters can get frustrating.

RATING: 9/10

Death toll from floods

NEW DELHI — The death toll from floods sweeping South Asia has climbed above 1,000, officials said Thursday, as rescue teams try to reach millions stranded by the region’s worst monsoon disaster in recent years.

Thousands of soldiers and emergency personnel have been deployed across India, Bangladesh and Nepal, where authorities say a total of 1,009 bodies have been recovered since August 10 when intense rainfall started falling.

In neighboring Uttar Pradesh, floods have swamped nearly half the vast state of 220 million, India’s most populous.

Disaster management agency spokesman T P Gupta told AFP 82 people had died and more than two million affected by the disaster there.

The state borders Nepal, where 146 people have died and 80,000 homes destroyed in what the United Nations is calling the worst flooding in 15 years. — AFP

47 Meters Down is all wet

By Heather Turk
Front Row Features

Movie Review
47 Meters Down
Directed by Johannes Roberts

IF YOU THOUGHT the trailers for the new underwater thriller 47 Meters Down made the film look like a made-for-TV release, you weren’t entirely wrong. The movie was scheduled to go straight to DVD before its original distributor, Dimension Films, sold the rights to Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures. In an attempt to cash in on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week craze and no doubt Mandy Moore’s This is Us fame, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures decided to release the film in US theaters instead, a week before Shark Week began.

What’s interesting to note, however, is that 47 Meters Down doesn’t really feel much like a shark movie at all.

The story itself is quite simple. Two sisters on vacation in Mexico decide to go cage diving to see some great white sharks up close. Lisa (Mandy Moore, Saved!), on the rebound after a devastating breakup, is out to prove to her ex that she’s not as boring as he thought — although she still needs a little extra encouragement from her younger, more adventurous sister Kate (Claire Holt, The Originals) to get into the rusty, rickety cage. Once the two are lowered 16 feet into the water, though, Lisa realizes what an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience she’s agreed to and quickly forgets about the dangerous-looking cage she’s trapped in.

When the sisters try to take an underwater photograph to show Lisa’s ex just how adventurous she can be, they accidentally drop the waterproof camera — and see it immediately getting swallowed by a nearby great white. Anxious to get back on the boat, Lisa asks the skipper, Captain Taylor (played by Matthew Modine, Stranger Things), to raise the cage back out of the water as Kate disapprovingly looks on. While the cage is being lifted back up to safety, however, the boat winch breaks, causing the cage to plummet to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean floor, 47 meters below.

What follows is more a race against time than a fight for survival against some great whites as Lisa and Kate deal with having a limited oxygen supply while being trapped underwater. Sure, there are sharks swimming in the surrounding waters, but they never feel as threatening as the notion of Kate and Lisa running out of air before being rescued.

Since at 47 meters below Kate and Lisa are just out of communication range with the boat, the young women are forced to leave the protective cage a couple of times during the 89-minute film to try to radio for help closer to the ocean’s surface. Needless to say, these scenes are where the shark-infested waters really come into play. However, distorted dialogue due to the scuba masks Lisa and Kate are wearing and dark lightning make it hard for these scenes to have the impact they should since it’s difficult for viewers to follow what’s going on. One scene in particular is extremely ineffective because viewers can’t tell if the shark actually bit a character or if she got away.

Holt and Moore do the best they can with the hurried script by writer-director Johannes Roberts (The Other Side of the Door) and Ernest Riera (The Other Side of the Door), which rushes any character development at the start of the film to get to the underwater action. Moore’s character does get the opportunity to develop a bit, though, as the story goes on, when Lisa finally decides to stop hyperventilating about the situation she’s in and do something about it.

A semi-predictable third act twist provides most of the film’s heart-pounding action, although it’s too little, too late. While the end of the film does answer the question of whether or not Lisa and Kate survive, it also leaves viewers with several questions that go unanswered — like what actions are taken against Captain Taylor and his crew, if any.

In the end, 47 Meters Down still plays like the made-for-DVD release it was instead of a big-screen summer blockbuster. With so many other must-see movies at the theater this summer, audiences are advised to wait until the film’s inevitable home video release, as this claustrophobic tale of being trapped underwater might actually play better on a smaller screen.

MTRCB Rating: PG

Rising state-inspired murders and an increased budget

The second week of August 2017 would possibly be the bloodiest in the drugs war of the Duterte administration. More than 80 people were murdered mostly by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in various drugs-raid and victims were described as “nanlaban eh (they fought the police).”

Perhaps 99% of all countries and governments in the world have their own “drugs war,” like the Philippines. Punishment range from imprisonment to death penalty. Many of our neighbors in the ASEAN have death penalty for drug crimes like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

The “war on drugs” therefore is not a unique program or policy of the Philippine government, the Duterte administration especially.

What makes the Duterte drugs war unique is the absence of due process for poor victims.

True, there is due process for very rich drug suspects like those implicated in the P6.4-billion drugs smuggled from China and passed through the Bureau of Customs. Not one of the personalities implicated including the President’s son, Davao City Vice-Mayor Paulo Duterte, were shot or murdered. They enjoyed due process of investigations, filing of affidavits, dismissal of allegations, if proof is weak.

It is the poor or several middle class or rich but not-politically connected people who get murdered on mere suspicions of being drug users or pushers. Of the roughly 9,000 estimated casualties in the Duterte drugs war, majority are labeled by the PNP as death under investigation (DUIs). However, for those who were killed outright by the PNP because they supposedly resisted arrest, no police investigation is expected.

These are state-inspired murders. The President himself is urging the police to have more deaths for drug suspects, warning the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and other human rights advocates that he will order the police to shoot them.

The continuing murders from mid-2016 — when the Duterte administration was inaugurated — to the present has coincided with the big increase in the government budget, P667 billion in 2017 and P417 billion in 2018. I checked the PNP’s budget and I wondered why its allotment for this year fell by P17B despite the increase in personnel from 184,000 to 194,000 during the same period. What explains this discrepancy?

In interviews by various media (local and foreign) and human rights groups of self-confessed but anonymous murderers, the murderers claimed that they get cash from the PNP for each murdered victim, usually previous or current drug users or pushers but people who are generally poor. Remember also the testimonies at the Senate of several ex-Davao policemen (Lascañas, et al.) who claimed they got paid by then Davao City Mayor Duterte for the murders they made.

If this claim is true — and I hope it is not — where would the government get extra resources given the decline in the PNP budget?

I checked the other items of the proposed 2018 budget and there were five big items that stand out. They get P566B of the P667B total increase in 2017 budget, and P260B of the P417B increase in 2018 budget (see table).

Rising state-inspired murders and an increased budget

If the claims of the anonymous hired murderers, of Lascañas et al. are true, then the extra resources may be sourced from “Miscellaneous personnel benefits fund” and from “Gratuity fund.” But since this is only surface data, this is hard to prove.

On another note, the Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia will hold its annual meeting and conference this coming Sept. 11-12 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While the focus is on economic freedom and trade, political freedom will also be tackled among network members because there are instances of decreasing political freedom and rising dictatorial trends in the region. These include the continued rule of military junta in Thailand and the rise of murders in the Duterte government.

Economic freedom cannot prosper well in an environment of threatened political freedom and decline in the rule of law. Rise in public health care spending to save the lives of sick and weak people becomes a farce when the same government is engaged in state-inspired murders by the thousands.

Bienvenido Oplas, Jr. is the head of Minimal Government Thinkers, a member of EFN Asia.

minimalgovernment@gmail.com.

Competition body approves Alipay-Globe Fintech deal

THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) approved the Alibaba group’s acquisition of a 45% stake in Globe Telecom, Inc.’s Fintech arm.

PCC Chairperson Arsenio M. Balisacan told BusinessWorld yesterday that its Mergers and Acquisitions office approved the transaction on Wednesday.

“We did approve the acquisition by Alipay Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd of Globe Fintech Innovations,” said Mr. Balisacan in a mobile phone message when asked about the decision.

However, the decision has yet to be posted on PCC’s website, and be distributed to involved parties.

Alipay Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd. (Alipay) and Ayala Corp. notified the anti-trust body on May 26 of the proposed acquisition of new common shares of Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc., or Mynt — a wholly owned unit of Globe Capital Venture Holdings, Inc. (Globe Venture).

Upon the conclusion of the deal, Alipay and Globe Venture will each hold a 45% stake, while Ayala Corp. will hold 10%.

While the deal’s value has not been disclosed, acquisitions exceeding the P1-billion threshold trigger the PCC’s reporting requirements.

Ant Financial Group, an Alibaba unit, operates data and technology platforms to provide digital financial services to consumers and small merchants. It includes the third-party payment service platform Alipay.

Globe said earlier that the infusion of fresh capital will allow Mynt to scale up its mobile wallet services and expand its digital financial services, “to accelerate financial inclusion and upgrade payment services in the Philippines.”

Mynt is a one-stop shop for Fintech services for consumers, merchants, and organizations through GCash and Fuse Lending. It currently has over three million registered customers with P1 billion worth of weekly transactions.

The PCC initiated its 30-day Phase I review a day after notification.

The deal moved to the PCC’s 60-day Phase II review on July 27, before being approved.

Since its inception, the PCC has received 117 mergers and acquisition notifications, of which 106 were reviewed, while 35 moved to Phase I review.

On Aug. 8, the PCC concluded its two-year transitory period, meaning it can now impose sanctions against violators of the Philippine Competition Act. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

Stocks eke out gains as investors seek catalysts

By Krista A.M. Montealegre,
National Correspondent

STOCKS eked out gains in lackluster trading on Thursday, as investors search for new catalysts to sustain the benchmark index’s rally beyond the 8,000 mark.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) swung between gains and losses before settling at 8,004.93 at the close of the session, up 6.18 points or 0.07% from its previous close.

The all-shares index inched up 3.36 points or 0.07% to end at 4,739.80.

“The market is still looking for fresh leads, but it is good that we are hovering at the 8,000 area for the index,” PNB Securities, Inc. President Manuel Antonio G. Lisbona said in a text message.

The PSEi has been trading around the 8,000 level for some time now, but has failed to make a run past its all-time high of 8,127.48.

“You have most fund managers on vacation. The institutional side is on hold and activity is coming from the retail side. The market itself is thin so it won’t be able to sustain a rally,” Rens V. Cruz II, analyst at Regina Capital Development Corp., said in a phone interview.

Value turnover eased to P4.64 billion after 1.28 billion shares changed hands, from P5.7 billion in the prior session.

Possible delays in the approval of the proposed comprehensive tax reform program in Congress, a relatively disappointing second-quarter earnings season and a gross domestic product data that failed to live up to the government’s pronouncements are causing the negative sentiment in the market, Mr. Cruz said.

Add to that the overnight weakness in Wall Street after US President Donald J. Trump, in a speech late Tuesday in Arizona, warned of a government shutdown to secure funding for a wall between the US and Mexico ahead of a September deadline to raise the debt ceiling.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 87.80 points or 0.40% to 21,812.09; the S&P 500 lost 8.44 points or 0.34% to 2,444.07; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 19.07 points or 0.30% to 6,278.41.

Back home, the mining and oil counter rose 62.5 points or 0.48% to end at 13,016.08; services climbed 7.86 points or 0.45% to 1,719.22; and holding firms jumped 32.57 points or 0.41% to 7,846.20.

Meanwhile, the other three counters finished in the red. Property lost 9.14 points or 0.24% to 3,764.71; financials shed 3.37 points or 0.16% to 1,997.15; and industrials slid 2.53 points or 0.02% to 11,137.07.

Advancers beat decliners, 98 to 83, while 62 issues closed flat.

Foreign investors returned to the market, registering net purchases of P49.97 million to mark the 11th time in the last 12 sessions that it finished in net buying territory.

“We are expecting the same price action in the coming trading sessions particularly next week, as there will only be three trading days,” PNB Securities’ Mr. Lisbona said.

PATA’s travel forum scheduled in September

THE Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Philippines Chapter will hold the fourth edition of its annual Pinoy Chikka Travel Forum on Sept. 19, 1 p.m., at the Plenary Hall of the Philippine International Convention Center. Based on its yearly average attendance of approximately 3,000, Pinoy Chikka is the biggest travel forum hosted locally and will once again feature a lineup of experts from various sectors of the Tourism Industry.

Matthew Zatto, manager, Destination Marketing for Southeast Asia, of Trip Advisor, will discuss “Tourism In The Age of Technology.” Artist, food writer, chef and TV host Claude Tayag will expound on “Culinary Tourism,” while Gabby Roxas, marketing director of Google Philippines, will share with the audience “How Google Powers Up Tourism.”

PATA, the biggest travel organization in the world, was founded in Hawaii in 1951 and counts over 40,000 members from governments, destinations, transport, hotels, tour operators, travel agencies, educational institutions, financial and consultancy services, and media. Its mission is to enhance, encourage and support the growth, value and quality of travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific. The Philippine Chapter helps translate these global objectives into action in the local travel and hospitality industry.

Tickets – which include a Certificate of Attendance and a raffle stub – may be purchased from the PATA Secretariat at 459-5200 local 524. Students’ tickets are also available at a discount and may be purchased through 527-8251 local 173.

Looks like hiring more women bosses really does pay dividends

YOU DIDN’T SEE this in the Google e-mail.

Supporters of gender diversity in the workplace — in particular boosting the number of women managers — often stress the business benefits that can result. Analysis using Bloomberg terminal functions backs up their view — in the most recent year’s earnings at least.

The 25% of Asia-Pacific companies that had the largest share of women in managerial posts returned an average 4.6 percent on assets in the latest fiscal year, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. That compares with 3.7% for the 25% which had the least women managers.

The numbers — crunched by Bloomberg’s Functions for the Markets crew — reflect a growing trend among investors who think promoting women is not only ethical, but good for profits as well. MSCI, Inc. is responding, with its Japan Empowering Women Index beating gains in the Topix this year, and Bloomberg’s own Financial Services Gender-Equity Index providing double the returns of the S&P 500’s bank gauge so far in 2017. — Bloomberg

Heavy price

You don’t often get to see a franchise — make that a notoriously stingy franchise — pull the trigger on a deal compelling it to bid goodbye to an immediate past Most Valuable Player candidate, a two-way starter, a potential first overall pick, and a talented seven-foot prospect for an All-Star who doesn’t even crack the Top 15 in the National Basketball Association. Yet, that’s exactly what the Celtics did in spreading the welcome mat for Kyrie Irving; in the words of Danny Ainge, head of hoops operations, the move “fits a timeline.”

For longtime Celtics habitues, that timeline, of course, began four years ago, when the front office embarked on a massive rebuild that has, to date, seen players numbering in the high double digits pass through the revolving doors of the green and white. Just this offseason, Ainge and company saw fit to part ways with all but four of the warm bodies on the 2016-2017 roster that made the Eastern Conference finals. After having preached patience in the long game, the significant advances they just made spurred them to go all in, hence their decision to let go of such notables as Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, Gerald Green, and Jonas Jerebko before they likewise surrendered Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the Nets’ 2018 first-round pick.

Certainly, Ainge’s uncharacteristic boldness carries inherent risk. The biggest question mark is, to be sure, Irving’s capacity to walk the talk and lead the storied franchise to new heights. Can he truly emerge from the shadow of LeBron James and prove that his self-assurance bordering on cockiness is justified? The Celtics are betting he can and will, fast and for the foreseeable future, alongside holdovers Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, and Jaylen Brown, as well as erstwhile free agent Gordon Hayward and promising rookie Jayson Tatum.

In the NBA, the quick and dirty way to judge trades is to see who winds up with the best talent, which Irving unquestionably is. From Ainge’s vantage point, he’s “a fantastic offensive player, one of the best offensive players in the league” for whom “you have to pay a heavy price.” Indeed. It’s just too bad that, in presumably getting better, the Celtics had to negotiate with the Cavaliers, the very rivals they’re angling to overcome. Nonetheless, the die is cast, and the hope is that, on the 10th anniversary of their last championship, they get to claim one anew as a result.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Basic Energy Corp.

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