My end-of-week morning train WFH reads:
• Charts of the year: Trump’s attempt to reshape world trade: The US president’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs spooked markets but the global trading system has proved to be resilient. (Financial Times)
• Warren Buffett: A Question of Character: Warren Buffett, who will retire this week at age 95, has compiled perhaps the most astounding investment and management record in financial history. Anyone who invested $10,000 when he started out in 1956 and remained in the fund — c0nverted in in 1969 to Berkshire Hathaway — today would have an investment worth $2.9 billion. No misprint. (Intrinsic Value by Roger Lowenstein)
• ChatGPT is overrated. Here’s what to use instead. When I want help from AI, ChatGPT is no longer my default first stop (Washington Post)
• All That Cheap Chinese Stuff Is Now Europe’s Problem: Trump’s tariffs have redirected the flow of low-value packages away from the U.S. into backyard warehouses on the Continent; the ‘new Silk Road’ (Wall Street Journal)
• 52 things I learned in 2025: The news (to me) this year. (Medium) See also 52 Good Things from 2025: The 19th year of my annual gratitude practice, now spanning 990 good things. (Medium) But see also 52 Things I Learned in 2025 Here are some of the most interesting things I learned this year. (Kent Hendricks) Really? OK 52 things I learned in 2025 presented under the comment that ‘no explanation or context of what it is about the article I learned, just a title and link of something important to me personally or professionally in [year]’. (David Hopkins) Last Damned One 52 Good Things from 2025: The news (to me) this year. (Fritinancy)
• America’s Biggest Oil Field Is Turning Into a Pressure Cooker: Drillers’ injection of wastewater is creating mayhem across the Permian Basin, raising concern about the future of fossil-fuel production there. (Wall Street Journal)
• Fixing the Pentagon’s Gilded Fortress: America spends $2.7 billion a day on defense. That money buys inertia and incompetence. (New York Times)
• Russia’s losses in Ukraine rise faster than ever as US pushes for peace deal: Over the past 10 months, Russian losses in the war with Ukraine have been growing faster than any time since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, BBC analysis suggests. 40% more obituaries of soldiers were published in Russian sources compared with the previous year. (BBC)
• The Vanity Fair photographer who disrupted Trumpworld’s polished image: Every line, spot, blemish and blood vessel was captured by Christopher Anderson’s lens. What was he thinking? (Washington Post)
• 8 of the biggest late night moments of 2025: It’s no exaggeration to say that 2025 changed the landscape of late night television. (Mashable)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Stephanie Drescher, Apollo’s Chief Client and Product Development Officer. She oversees everything from the global wealth business to portfolio management, product development, and client marketing. She is a member of the firm’s leadership team. Since 2020, Barron’s has named her annually to its list of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance.
The dollar has fallen since the start of Trump’s second term
Source: Financial Times
Sign up for our reads-only mailing list here.
