My back-to-work morning train WFH reads:
• How to Beat the Stock Market Without Even Lying: Stock funds have been pulling a switcheroo to make their returns look better: When they don’t measure up, they change how they measure. (Wall Street Journal)
• Remote Work Is Sticking: About a third of all service work and just under 10% of manufacturing work in the region was being done remotely—a huge jump from 8% and 3%, respectively, before the pandemic. (Liberty Street Economics) see also Pizza? Bagels? Nope. You Need Banh Mi to Get Employees Back to the Office. Workers schedule in-person days around the food offerings: burritos stuffed with soft tofu, grilled squash and zucchini; ‘I’ll definitely go in for that’ (Wall Street Journal)
• Falling Oil Prices Defy Predictions. But What About the Next Chapter? Oil is under $90 a barrel, and consumers are benefiting. Geopolitics, the economy and unforeseen events will determine whether the relief will last. (New York Times)
• Conservatives’ war on BlackRock: A conservative group known for targeting “woke capitalism” has launched a multimillion-dollar campaign attacking BlackRock and its CEO Larry Fink for “weaponizing” retirement funds with its push for more ESG investments, which promote environmental, social and governance responsibility. (Axios)
• How the US Toppled the World’s Most Powerful Gold Trader: JPMorgan’s former gold boss was convicted last week. (Bloomberg)
• How to Investigate Your Next New York Apartment Like a Reporter: A raccoon invasion. Human feces in the lobby. Flooding. Avoid these apartment nightmares by reading a ProPublica investigative reporter’s guide to backgrounding your next New York City rental. (ProPublica) see also ‘Screw This City’: There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Rent an Apartment in NYC: Bidding wars and record prices are leaving renters frustrated and without many options. (Bloomberg)
• The Sleuths Who Protect Crypto From Hackers Are Raking in Money: VC investment in crypto security firms has surged this year ‘We have spent sooooo much money on audits,’ Crypto CEO says. (Bloomberg)
• You Have No Idea How Good Mosquitoes Are at Smelling Us The insects have infinite backup plans for hunting us down. (The Atlantic)
• My Week With America’s Smartest* People: “There is no overstating what community can do for someone who, as many members described to me, feel like misfits in their everyday lives and want to belong somewhere,” Loftus said on the podcast, My Year in Mensa. “A society with murky goals whose selling point is superiority is not a healthy place to find it.” (New York Magazine)
• The ‘Real’ Home-Run Record Is 73, Not 61: If you’ve paid any attention to sports discourse over the past 20 years, you will also know that the names Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa no longer stand for home-run power — not anymore. Now they stand for steroids. Which means that to most people, they stand for cheating. That’s why for some, a narrative has begun to coalesce around Judge’s epic season: This is for the real record. Because Bonds’s, McGwire’s, and Sosa’s marks are seen as “tainted,” the notion has arisen that if Judge is able to pass Maris’s team and AL mark, he should be the true, bona fide Home Run King. (New York Magazine)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Bill Browder, founder of Hermitage Capital Management, and author of Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice and Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath.
Is the Federal Reserve approaching the end of its tightening in the current cycle?
Source: Bloomberg
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