My back-to-work morning train WFH reads:
• The sneaky economics of Ticketmaster: Ticketmaster’s maligned fees and customer service issues are again under the microscope. Will American music fans ever see anything better? (The Hustle)
• What Is the Bond Market Saying About the Economy? The bond market is known for being much smarter than the stock market but we don’t have to go back very far to find a time when it was wrong. The bond market certainly DID NOT see the pandemic-induced inflation coming. (A Wealth of Common Sense) see also After a Terrible Year for Bonds, the Outlook Is Better: October capped their worst 12-month period ever, and the economy is under pressure. Yet the fundamental math of bond returns bodes well for 2023, our columnist says. (New York Times)
• Has private equity avoided the asset-price crash? No, but everyone is enjoying the charade. (Economist)
• Survival Lessons From Past Tech Downturns: The current tech downturn could be much worse than it appears now, say those who lived through the 2001 and 2008 crashes—but those who make it have the chance to fuel the next bubble. (Wall Street Journal)
• Gen Z came to ‘slay.’ Their bosses don’t know what that means. Gen Z’s use of emojis, slang and punctuation is confusing older colleagues as workplace communications are increasingly online. (Washington Post)
• Apple Plans New Encryption System to Ward Off Hackers and Protect iCloud Data: ‘Advanced Data Protection’ will offer end-to-end encryption on iCloud backups, Notes, Photos and other services—a step that may draw ire from law enforcement. (Wall Street Journal)
• We Might Have Long Covid All Wrong: Some post-Covid symptoms may be produced by the brain. Does that make them any less real? (New Republic) see also The Tragedy of Avoidable Covid Deaths: Comprehensive new data show just how many Americans died after vaccines became widely available — mostly in less-vaccinated states. (Bloomberg)
• The Gamification of Everything Is No Fun: Adrian Hon’s book “You’ve Been Played” warns against the abuses of game logic in work and politics. (Critical Mass)
• The paradox of light goes beyond wave-particle duality: Light is the most mysterious of all things we know exist. Light is not matter; it is both wave and particle — and it’s the fastest thing in the Universe. We are only beginning to understand light’s secrets. Light carries with it the secrets of reality in ways we cannot completely understand. (Big Think)
• Meet Tyson Bagent, record-setting NFL Draft hopeful and son of an arm-wrestling legend: His dad is one of the greatest arm wrestlers of all time. And, as of last Saturday, he is the NCAA’s all-time leader across all divisions in career touchdown passes, with 159. So, why do so few football fans know the name Tyson Bagent? (The Athletic)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Kathleen McCarthy, Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate. Blackstone is the world’s largest owner of commercial real estate globally with a $565 billion portfolio and $319 billion in investor capital.
Since 1950, we’ve found the trough in earnings growth lagged the bottom in the S&P 500 by about 6 months — earnings failed to lead the market 75% of the time
Source: TKer
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