
Ozempic Country's AI Bet Shows It Learned Nokia's Lesson
Remember Nokia Oyj, Finland's economic miracle that turned to dust? The Danes do. Their own mini-boom of recent years has been largely fueled by one firm, Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk A/S, whose diabetes and weight-loss medications are under competitive assault from US rival Eli Lilly & Co. Novo's share price has halved in six months; it's given up its crown of Europe's most valuable firm to SAP SE.
This reflects deflating hype rather than a crisis. Novo sales are still forecast to grow at double-digit rates this year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, with Denmark's economy set to grow above the European average. But throw in the risk of a Trump tariff war over Greenland, and you can see why there's more fear than there used to be of a Nokia moment in a small export-reliant country of 6 million whose multinationals like AP Moller Maersk A/S and Vestas Wind Systems A/S punch well above their weight.

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BlackRock, Goldman Scale Up Tax Trades in $3 Trillion SMA Boom
(Bloomberg) -- This year's stock market turbulence has punished ordinary investors. But for the wealthy, it's opened up fresh opportunities to convert equity swings into tax breaks — fueling a growing Wall Street business that turns volatility into a financial advantage. Trump Said He Fired the National Portrait Gallery Director. She's Still There. NYC Mayoral Candidates All Agree on Building More Housing. But Where? Senator Calls for Closing Troubled ICE Detention Facility in New Mexico California Pitches Emergency Loans for LA, Local Transit Systems BlackRock Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are among firms scaling up a strategy known as tax-loss harvesting, typically offered through customized portfolios called separately managed accounts. When markets drop, managers sell stocks trading below their purchase price to realize losses. Those losses offset gains elsewhere in a portfolio, reducing clients' tax liabilities while maintaining overall portfolio exposure. The approach allows investors to shrink their current-year IRS bills while deferring capital gains into the future. In April's selloff, for example, a manager could dump Home Depot Inc. and rotate into Lowe's Cos Inc., maintaining sector exposure while staying inside tax rules. Once a boutique service reserved only for the ultra-rich, investment firms are repackaging market turbulence as a fiscal opportunity, with automated trading programs scanning portfolios daily as equity conditions shift. With fee pressure eroding revenue in traditional asset management, Wall Street is leaning more heavily on tax-optimization trades to differentiate offerings, retain clients and defend margins in a competitive marketplace. 'There is just inherently going to be more volatility in the system,' said Scott Smith, senior director at industry consultant Cerulli Associates. 'With trade policies, tariffs, taxes, everything is on the table. There is no assumption of what the future looks.' In one particularly active stretch during April's selloff, BlackRock's Aperio, a platform for personalized portfolios, executed more than $18 billion in trades. That generated $700 million in realized losses that can be used to offset taxable gains elsewhere in client portfolios, or so-called tax-loss harvesting. That equated to roughly $5 to $7 in losses realized for every $100 traded that month. 'We monitor daily. We look at losses and high-cash positions. We balance harvesting with managing tracking error,' said Ran Leshem, who oversees BlackRock's separately managed account business, now managing $220 billion. 'Our goal is to be the market leader in SMAs.' Still, even as this year's selling frenzy created opportunities, the equity rebound that followed highlights a trade-off: while the approach can lower future tax bills, it also locks in losses that may prove costly if markets quickly recover, making the ultimate payoff difficult to measure in real time. Regardless, the opportunities are only growing. Direct indexing, where investors hold individual stocks directly rather than through pooled funds, has become the backbone of this tax-optimization machine. With the SMA market expected to grow from $3 trillion to $5 trillion by 2027, firms are layering on increasingly complex techniques to compete, pitched as added-value services. Tax-loss harvesting is only one lever. Advisors also optimize dividend timing, gain deferrals, charitable gifting and jurisdictional overlays in an attempt to juice after-tax portfolio performance. 'Risk management and tax management go hand in hand,' said Monali Vora, global head of wealth investment solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. 'You can't do one without the other.' Aperio's long-short tax-aware strategies, launched in 2023, amplify gross exposure — boosting the number of positions that can generate harvestable losses, while keeping market exposure roughly the same. About 7% of April's realized losses came from these strategies. While still a small share of overall assets, it's part of the firm's expanding business. Managing tracking error, or how closely a portfolio tracks its benchmark, remains a challenge. The IRS wash-sale rule bars investors from buying back the same, or substantially identical, securities over a specified timeframe. Firms navigate these constraints by swapping into correlated securities. Selling Moderna Inc. and buying Pfizer Inc. is straightforward; replacing a giant like Apple Inc. requires more complex substitutes. 'Clients are seeking alpha, downside protection and more tax-loss harvesting potential for both ETF and stock positions,' Leshem said. 'But with that comes the tug of war between harvesting and maintaining tracking error.' At Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, the approach is different. 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That same month, Parametric also introduced an offering with a $25,000 minimum investment, part of a broader push to open direct-indexing features to smaller accounts and widen the client base for tax-managed SMAs. Quant hedge funds such as AQR Capital Management are also in tax-optimization arena, applying long-short structures aimed at maximizing harvestable losses while managing exposure drift. As competition heats up, Goldman Sachs Asset Management is pushing into new customization features to expand its tax-optimized platform, such as introducing capabilities to migrate equity ETFs into SMA portfolios. The firm has also ramped up its engineering staff to scale automation and global execution as tax-optimized services become increasingly industrialized. While tax-loss harvesting can reduce tax bills, research shows the biggest benefits tend to accrue to wealthier investors with large taxable portfolios and steady capital gains to offset. As such, for investors able to access these platforms, the appeal is simple. 'There is an awareness among investors that it's not what you make, it's what you keep,' said Parametric's Lee. 'Taxes represent a headwind for investors to the extent they have to realize gains in taxable accounts. You can take advantage of volatility when it comes.' --With assistance from Justina Lee and Lu Wang. New Grads Join Worst Entry-Level Job Market in Years The SEC Pinned Its Hack on a Few Hapless Day Traders. The Full Story Is Far More Troubling What America's Pizza Economy Is Telling Us About the Real One Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert Wants to Donate His Billions—and Walk Again American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


Business Journals
12 minutes ago
- Business Journals
Daily Digest: End of an era at Fisherman's Wharf, Scale AI eyes record funding from Meta
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Closer to home here in the city, S.F.'s first all-women's sports bar — Rikki's — is opening on Wednesday at 2223 Market St., an upper Market location that has seen a number of short-lived concepts over the past few years. And finally, the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank has announced the closure of all its farmers market-style pantries by June 30, as well as reductions to its home delivery service and staff. ABC7 also reports that 13 pantries closed for good Friday after the money ran out. Here's the rest of the local business news to start your week. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. 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Yahoo
17 minutes ago
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B2PRIME Announces B2MEET -- Private Forums for Top-Tier Market Insights
LIMASSOL, Cyprus, June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- B2PRIME is proud to host an exclusive event under the B2MEET concept, tailored for senior financial professionals to foster strategic dialogue, share market insights, and enable peer-to-peer exchange More than just a networking event concept, B2MEET represents an intellectual format for engaging with the industry's sharpest minds. Built around closed-door dialogue and forward-looking ideas, it is designed for financial leaders who value actionable insight and prioritize depth over visibility. Each gathering is carefully curated, providing access to people and perspectives not found in traditional channels. B2MEET is where smart money meets smart ideas – and where ideas become influence. Eugenia Mykuliak, Founder & Executive Director of B2PRIME Group, explains the vision behind the initiative: "At B2PRIME, we've always believed that the most valuable conversations happen off the record, in trusted circles, with people who see where the market is heading. B2MEET is our way of investing in those conversations. It's about shaping ideas and building the kind of intellectual capital that drives long-term value." The upcoming Cyprus edition of the B2MEET event will take place on 16th June 2025 at the prestigious Limassol Marina, providing an elegant and discreet setting for Cyprus' leading Heads of Dealing and senior trading executives. Keynote speaker Azad Zangana, renowned Independent Global Economist and former Senior European Economist at Schroders will deliver a timely briefing titled "Monetising Macro Volatility: Gold, Interest Rates & Hedging Strategies." His talk will cover near-term economic outlook, evolving risk factors, and longer-term investment trends — explicitly tailored for market practitioners. B2MEET will continue with the next exclusive sessions planned for London and Dubai, extending its global reach and cultivating a high-impact community of financial thought leaders. About B2MEET B2MEET is a private event series by B2PRIME Group, uniting elite market professionals for high-impact, off-the-record discussions. Unlike large-scale conferences, B2MEET fosters strategic depth, confidential dialogue, and long-term value — built around relationships that matter. Each edition is highly curated, limited in attendance, and tailored to senior roles where insight meets execution. About B2PRIME B2PRIME Group is a global financial services provider for institutional and professional clients. Regulated by leading authorities—including CySEC, SFSA, FSCA, and FSC Mauritius—the company offers deep liquidity across multiple asset classes. Committed to the highest compliance standards, B2PRIME delivers institutional-grade trading solutions with a focus on reliability, transparency, and operational excellence. Contact B2PRIME Groupsales@ Photo - - View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE B2PRIME Group