My Two-for-Tuesday morning train WFH reads:
• The Bear Market Has Nearly Been Erased, Fewer Than 20 Months After It Began: S&P 500 closer to erasing 2022’s loss after nine-month rally Gains in risky assets reflect growing optimism in soft landing (Bloomberg)
• Why Businesses Can’t Stop Asking for Tips: Employers far beyond restaurants rely on the practice to avoid paying higher wages; testing customer limits. (Wall Street Journal) but see also POS Tip Demands Are Driving Inflation Higher. I have a new thesis I have been noodling around with: All of those Square credit card processing machines you use to pay for coffee or sandwiches or small retail purchases are driving inflation higher. Demands for worker tips in non-tipping industries are having a meaningful impact on prices and CPI. (The Big Picture)
• The Pandemic’s Labor Market Myths: Amid the pandemic, people thought the labor market had permanently changed in important ways. It was a bad bet. (New York Times)
• The Apple Tax Play That Keeps Uncle Sam at Bay: Interest rates are up, and bond prices are down. That’s revived a long-dormant tax-deferral opportunity for buyers of individual bonds. (Wall Street Journal)
• What Should I Do? The secret to value creation: If you’re someone who works primarily with your brain, how do you create something of enduring value? How do you have a shot at being remembered after your death, and positively impacting the lives of others? To answer the question it helps to ask: what kind of information is valuable? (Sapient Capital)
• What is Reddit CEO Steve Huffman doing? I don’t know Huffman personally, or who he’s hanging out with, but I do have a sense of his investors. Besides Fidelity, they include Sequoia, Tencent, Coatue, Y Combinator, and Andreessen Horowitz. There’s pressure on venture capital right now, too, and VCs tend to pass the pressure along. (The Verge)
• MAGA-fied GOP Wants Little to Do With the Chamber of Commerce The business lobby finds the policy interests of corporate America are less important to an increasingly populist Republican Party. (Businessweek)
• The Humiliation of Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor isn’t Trump plus competence; he’s Trump minus jokes. (The Atlantic) but first, read The Rise of Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor’s sudden prominence is partly about him, partly about his critics, but mostly about his state. (The Atlantic)
• Greta Gerwig’s ‘bold, inventive’ Barbie breaks the mould: This ‘joyous’ comedy – starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling – is sure to be nominated for many awards, writes Nicholas Barber. (BBC)
• How “The Bear” Achieved “Dudes Rock” Nirvana Via Richie’s Transformation: Season 2’s “Forks” episode is emblematic of this particular brand of non-toxic masculinity. (Inside Hook) see also Tina and Richie’s Breakout Episodes in ‘The Bear’ Season 2 Destroyed Me: The characters trade their outbursts in for breakthroughs on the Hulu/FX show, proving it’s never too late for redemption. (Jezebel)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Jawad Mian, CFA and Chartered Market Technician, who runs the independent global macro research and trading advisory firm Stray Reflections. The firm’s focus is on major investment themes, and its clients include many of the world’s largest hedge funds and alternative asset managers.
Is a Wave of Corporate Bankruptcies May Bes Coming for the Economy
Source: Bloomberg
