My end-of-week morning train WFH reads:
• Starting Your Own Business Is All the Rage Again: The threats and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence are driving people to bet on themselves (Wall Street Journal)
• ADP Jobs Report Shows White-Collar Losses in February: The professional and managerial class is getting hit hardest in the latest hiring data. The college-educated job market continues to deteriorate even as GDP holds up. (Quartz) see also Unprecedented ‘Jobless Boom’ Tests Limits of US Economic Expansion: GDP grew 2.7% in 2025 while employment barely budged — a combination that hasn’t happened in the postwar era outside a recession. College-educated workers are bearing the brunt as AI reshapes white-collar work. We’re sitting on a one-legged stool. (Bloomberg)
• The Case of the Disappearing Secretary: A strange, well-reported story about a senior government official who seems to have vanished from public life. The mystery deepens the more you look. (Rowland Manthorpe)
• I Got a Coveted Invitation to See New York’s Most Secretive Condo Project: Sales at 80 Clarkson have reached over $1 billion, with minimal marketing and little press (Wall Street Journal)
• Trump’s “Warflation” Has Just Begun: The Bulwark on how the Iran conflict is about to send prices higher across the board — energy, shipping, insurance, defense spending. The inflationary impulse from war is just getting started. (The Bulwark)
• How Is Kalshi Not Gambling? On Kalshi, people have placed bets on everything from football games to foreign affairs. The prediction market’s CEO, Tarek Mansour, says this doesn’t count as gambling—and is actually good for society. (Wired)
• Judge orders US Customs to process refunds on illegal Trump tariffs: More than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed by companies in the court seeking to recoup their money after Supreme Court invalidated tariffs last month (Reuters)
• Powell Won, but the Fed Might Still Lose: Powell’s extraordinary video calling out the DOJ worked — for now. But with his term ending in May and sustained presidential pressure on rates, even his allies aren’t sure the institution survives the longer war. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Dangerous Mismatch Between American Missiles and Iranian Drones: The United States has only so many expensive munitions to send after Iran’s cheap and plentiful arms. (The Atlantic)
• ‘This Whole Thing Is Not Normal’: Inside the ‘Baywatch’ Reboot Casting Call With 2,000 Wannabe Lifeguards: You simply cannot wear a red Speedo in the rain. Variety goes inside the surreal mass casting call for TV’s most improbable comeback. (Variety)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Bill Gurley of Benchmark about his big bets investing early in now-common names like Uber, Zillow, Grubhub, OpenTable and others, plus his new book, “Runnin’ Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love“.
At 66.40%, the greatest number of index constituents are outperforming the S&P 500 index itself over the last 50 years
Source: @BlakeMillardCFA
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