My mid-week morning train WFH reads:
• How Jeffrey Gundlach Gets Ready for Higher Rates Check out the Bond King’s model portfolio designed to hedge against inflation and—oh, yeah—deflation, too. (CIO)
• SPAC Investors Don’t Love Lucid It’s hard to do a regular IPO for a car company that has never sold a car, but you can do a SPAC. It will cost you. (Money Stuff) see also A Sober Look at SPACs For a large majority of SPACs, post-merger share prices fall, highly correlated with the extent of cash shortfall. This implies SPAC investors are bearing the cost of the dilution built into the SPAC structure, and subsidizing the companies they bring public. (SSRN)
• How to Prevent a K-Shaped Recovery Changes to the capital markets, higher taxes for the rich, tougher antitrust enforcement, enhanced education—all get proposed as cures. If the problem can’t be solved, the economy may suffer long-term. (Chief Investment Officer)
• The American dream is now in Denmark A conversation with Danish businessman Djaffar Shalchi about why he wants to make rich people like himself pay more in taxes (The Ink)
• Four Reasons Not to Worry About U.S. Inflation The economy is a long way from capacity, inflation is slow-moving, inflation expectations are well-anchored, and the Fed has tools to keep inflation in check. (Bloomberg) see also Stop Stressing About Inflation Inflation is periodic, driven by specific events; Deflation is consistent, the background state of the modern economy (Big Picture)
• Hipgnosis Is Buying Music Libraries — and Plans to Spend $1 Billion More A former music manager’s company has acquired more than 100 publishing catalogs, including a 50 percent stake in Neil Young’s, as well as hits performed by Rihanna and Shakira, and is eyeing a $1 billion-plus deal pipeline. (Hollywood Reporter)
• NBA Top Shot, the new crypto highlight phenomenon, explained It’s addictive and exciting for those involved, and to outsiders the dumbest thing in the world. Why are people paying for trading card-esque “packs” of random highlights, which you can watch for free on YouTube, with no material value? Is this the future of sports collectibles, or a massive grift? And will early adopters be millionaires in 10 years, or the new generation of Beanie Baby collectors? (SB Nation) see also The Psychology Behind the Boom in Collectibles The boom in collectibles doesn’t make sense if you’re thinking exclusively from the rational part of your brain. But most people don’t think exclusively from the rational part of their brain. (Wealth of Common Sense)
• Spy pixels in emails have become endemic. Hey’s review indicated that two-thirds of emails sent to its users’ personal accounts contained a “spy pixel”, even after excluding for spam. Its makers said that many of the largest brands used email pixels, with the exception of the “big tech” firms. Defenders of the trackers say they are a commonplace marketing tactic. (BBC)
• Fuel for world’s largest fusion reactor ITER is set for test run Nuclear fusion experiments with deuterium and tritium at the Joint European Torus are a crucial dress rehearsal for the mega-experiment. (Nature)
• ‘Where is Greg Abbott?’ Anger grows at Texas governor in deadly storm’s wake Critics have charged that the Abbott administration’s response to the storm has at times resembled the government failures after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. As of Sunday, more than 14 million Texans were under orders to boil their water before drinking it or did not have water. Across the state, neighbors lined up at municipal spigots for water, melted snow to flush their toilets, and lined up for food at poorly stocked grocery stores. collectors? (Washington Post)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Jean Hynes, incoming CEO of Wellington Management. The firm has over $1 trillion client assets under management. Hynes also runs the $51B Vanguard Healthcare Fund – the country’s largest health care fund.
Cutting down forests: what are the drivers of deforestation?
Source: Our World in Data
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