My morning train WFH reads:
• Libor, Long the Most Important Number in Finance, Dies at 52 Bankers used it until the end. Regulators say good riddance after its infamous fall. (New York Times)
• People Want to Start Spending Again and Inflation Is Ruining It Americans are better off than they’ve been in awhile, with rising 401(k) balances, record savings and ample job openings. Not that it’s helping all of them feel more secure. Frustration appears to be higher among Americans who say Covid-19 changed their attitudes toward money. Despite record savings, many are feeling hemmed in as the uncertainty of the pandemic continues. (Wall Street Journal)
• How CLOs, Despite Seeming Risky, Got to Be So Popular In a triumph for structured finance, these packages of junk loans have up to now confounded any perils. (Chief Investment Officer)
• Why Apple’s iMessage Is Winning: Teens Dread the Green Text Bubble: The iPhone maker cultivated iMessage as a must-have texting tool for teens. Android users trigger a just-a-little-less-cool green bubble: ‘Ew, that’s gross.’ (Wall Street Journal)
• How Do the Leading Flying Taxi Companies Compare? From mini jet engines to souped-up helicopters, here’s a look at what seven noteworthy players are working on. (Businessweek)
• Artists say NFTs are helping thieves steal their work at a jaw-dropping rate NFT art sales are booming. Just without some artists’ permission. NFTs were hyped as a way to make sure artists get paid for their work. Now, many creators are struggling to stop a wave of piracy. (NBC News)
• The Architecture of Tomorrow Mimics Nature to Cool the Planet It’s not just about minimizing environmental harm, but finding ways to regenerate construction materials and restore natural habitats. (Bloomberg)
• ‘Cage-Free’ Is Basically Meaningless, and Other Lies Your Egg Carton Is Telling You All the language you see printed on a carton of eggs are supposedly there to help you make your egg-related purchases. (Lifehacker)
• Four charts that analyze how omicron’s wave compares to previous coronavirus peaks The United States continues to see a huge spike in coronavirus cases driven by the omicron variant, with numbers surging to double that of the previous January 2021 peak. (Washington Post) see also Covid loses 90% of ability to infect within 20 minutes in air Study: Findings highlight importance of short-range Covid transmission. (The Guardian)
• Colors: Where did they go? An investigation. Why do so many TV shows and movies look like they were filmed in a gray wasteland? (Vox)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square (with Jack Dorsey), and currently CEO of Invisibly, empowering people to manage the future of their personal data.
History of QE + ZIRP
Source: Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank
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