My mid-week morning train WFH reads:
• Why Is It Busy on the Waterfront? Americans Are on a Shopping Spree. Monthly cargo volumes at the Port of New York and New Jersey have set records and strained port operations. Cargo volumes were up to 23 percent higher each month from August through December 2020, compared with the same months in 2019. (NYT)
• Archegos poses hard questions for Wall Street It is still unclear exactly where Archegos Capital fits into the annals of spectacular hedge fund blow-ups. But the early signs are that it will probably prove the biggest since Long-Term Capital Management’s collapse in 1998, raising concerns over level of exposure enabled by big banks (Financial Times) see also One of World’s Greatest Hidden Fortunes Is Wiped Out in Days “I’ve never seen anything like this — how quiet it was, how concentrated, and how fast it disappeared,” said Mike Novogratz, a career macro investor and former partner at Goldman Sachs who’s been trading since 1994. “This has to be one of the single greatest losses of personal wealth in history.” (Bloomberg)
• How to Talk to Your Clients about NFTs Under the hood, NFTs are smart contracts, generally on the Ethereum blockchain, which the author (an artist like Beeple, a celebrity like Elon Musk, or a company like the NBA) creates (and then sells). The contract links to some form of intellectual property (an image, a video, and/or various metadata) — but it isn’t the IP itself (ETF Trends)
• Coronavirus Was Supposed to Drive Bankruptcies Higher. The Opposite Happened. The number of people seeking bankruptcy fell sharply during the pandemic as government aid propped up income and staved off housing and student-loan obligations. Bankruptcy filings by consumers under chapter 7 were down 22% last year compared with 2019, while individual filings under chapter 13 fell 46%. (Wall Street Journal)
• The soft underbelly to a looming economic boom: Millions will miss out: The bleak reality is one of the major reasons the Federal Reserve isn’t worried about inflation. Despite the headline numbers, the economy is still in bad shape for millions of Americans. And for many workers, jobs may not come back even if the economy booms again. (Washington Post)
• How Johnson & Johnson’s Vaccine Became the Hot Shot February’s approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was a potential game changer because not only is it a single dose, it doesn’t need to be frozen like doses from Moderna and Pfizer. That makes it a boon for hard-to-reach areas, (New York Magazine)
• Why we can’t stop talking about billionaires Tech billionaires emerged from a year of hardship as more than leaders of iconic companies. They are central — almost too central — characters in American life. (Vox)
• Is Spotify really listening to artists “Loud & Clear?” The site’s launch comes as the controversy over streaming royalties continues to build. (The Fader)
• Sorry, Volkswagen Isn’t Rebranding Itself Voltswagen The name change, which immediately lit up social media and online news sites, was originally intended as an early April Fools’ Day stunt to get people talking about VW’s ambitious electric car strategy as the company rolls out its first all-electric sport-utility vehicle, the ID. 4, in U.S. dealerships. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Long, Sweaty History of Working Out: For as long as people have existed, people have got BUFF as SHIT For most of human history, exercise wasn’t really necessary, because life was tough. It seems reasonable to say that most running done by Early Man was either toward something to eat it or away from something to not be eaten by it. Until labor-saving devices like “the wheel” and “ladders” came along, performing the most basic of tasks was a ballache. (Mel)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Shirl Penny, founder and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. Dynasty has 50 RIA offices, 250 advisors + over $60B in assets on their platform. Penny was recently named to Investment News’ 40 under 40 list.
SPACs Are the Stock Market’s Hottest Trend. Here’s How They Work.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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