Breakingviews - Warnings and worries haunt best-read views of 2024

HONG KONG, Dec 31 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The past year was a buoyant one for markets. Yet even as share prices rose, our readers sought out columns exploring the risks of imploding stocks, regulatory shocks and Washington’s new status quo. Our best-read views of 2024 feature familiar faces and old obsessions, too.

To see what was top of mind for our audience, start with the most popular views for clients of the London Stock Exchange Group. A column arguing that the euro zone could be nearing another crisis topped the chart. Next up was a warning from history about large-cap stock booms and busts, closely followed by a deep dive into the unwinding, opens new tab of Japan’s carry trade in August, and an explanation of why legendary money manager George Soros’ 1980s treatise on the threat from U.S. debt echoes loud and clear for investors today. The surge in the S&P 500 Index (.SPX), opens new tab, which rallied by more than 20% for the second year running, only added to the angst. A recent column on the dangers of the runaway U.S. market also drew eyeballs.

Over on Breakingviews.com, readers gorged on columns about companies, geopolitics, and the return of Donald Trump as U.S. president. Our most popular view examined the sturdiness of Taiwan’s silicon shield as the island and $800 billion chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (2330.TW), opens new tab prepare for the former reality TV show host’s return to the White House in January. The president-elect loomed over topics ranging from capping interest rates, opens new tab on credit cards to the Chinese yuan and Japanese outbound M&A, opens new tab. Climate change was a recurring theme, as Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), opens new tab reeled from the devastating impact of wildfires. A column examining the possibility that hedge funds could face, opens new tab tougher regulatory scrutiny was a late addition to the most-read views of the year.

Readers on Reuters.com were fascinated by Intel’s (INTC.O), opens new tab stuttering efforts to keep up with rival chipmakers. As in past years, the antics of Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab founder Elon Musk drew eyeballs, as did Vladimir Putin. A column exploring how Western support for Ukraine could help end the Russian president’s war attracted attention on multiple platforms. Other popular protagonists included the British royal family, which was caught out by a photoshopped photograph, and Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, who is battling U.S. charges that raised new questions for his financiers.

As ever, deal drama captivated Breakingviews readers, from Nippon Steel’s (5401.T), opens new tab troubled pursuit of United States Steel (X.N), opens new...
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