My morning train WFH reads:
– Iran tells world to get ready for oil at $200 a barrel as it fires on merchant ships: Tehran is targeting commercial shipping and warning of triple-digit oil. The Strait of Hormuz risk premium is no longer theoretical. (Yahoo News/Reuters)
– Private Credit’s Gate-Crashers Are Forcing Funds Into a Reckoning: Redemption requests are surging across private credit, and the funds that promised liquidity in an illiquid asset class are finding out what that actually means. Bloomberg on the stress test nobody wanted. (Bloomberg)
– The Highly Exclusive Way That Everybody Shops Now: The Atlantic on the paradox of “drop” culture — artificial scarcity marketed as exclusivity, consumed by everyone, exclusive to no one. The economics of manufactured desire. (The Atlantic)
– Yield Curve Inversion History: Complete 2s10s Spread Data (1976–2026): Six of seven 2s10s inversions preceded recessions — with the 2022-2024 episode being the notable exception so far. (Eco3min)
– How Trump and His Advisers Miscalculated Iran’s Response to War: In the lead-up to the U.S.-Israeli attack, President Trump downplayed the risks to the energy markets as a short-term concern that should not overshadow the mission to decapitate the Iranian regime. Reconstructing the decision-making that assumed Tehran would fold quickly. (They didn’t). The gap between expectation and reality is widening daily. (New York Times) see also This War’s Economic Crisis Could Get Much Worse — For the U.S. and the Whole World: Derek Thompson on the cascading economic risks of the Iran conflict — oil shocks, supply chain disruptions, sovereign debt stress, and the compounding effect of doing all this while tariffs are already squeezing trade. (Plain English)
– Electric Air Taxis Are About to Take Flight in 26 States: TechCrunch on the eVTOL rollout that’s actually happening — regulatory approvals, infrastructure buildout, and whether this time the flying car people are for real. (TechCrunch)
– The Uncomfortable Truth About Hybrid Vehicles: The Verge on the data showing hybrids are often driven in gas-only mode, emitting far more than their EPA ratings suggest. The gap between the sticker and the road. (The Verge)
– MacBook Neo Review: Fresh-Squeezed Laptop: Six Colors’ review of Apple’s newest MacBook. The verdict on whether the redesign justifies the hype. (Six Colors)
– TACOs With a Side of War Porn: The Bulwark on the troubling spectacle of Trump and Hegseth treating military strikes on Iran like entertainment programming. The acronym alone is worth the click. (The Bulwark)
– The Bam Game: The 83-Point Night That Broke the NBA’s Order: Historic, absurd, and a little unsettling. What do we make of one of the strangest games in NBA history? Bam Adebayo dropped 83 points and The Ringer dissects what it means for the league’s hierarchy, the evolution of the center position, and the Kobe/Wilt conversation. (The Ringer)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Matt Cherwin, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Marek Capital. The alternative asset management firm launched in 2024. Previously, he spent 16-years at JPMorgan Chase & Co where he held titles of Chief Investment Officer, Group Treasurer, Co-Head of Global Spread Markets, Global Head of Securitized Products, and Global Head of Asset-Backed Trading.
Markets now assign roughly a 47% chance of Democrats regaining Senate control, up from about 35% in early February and 41% before the Iran strikes 10 days ago
Source: Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank
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