What we’re reading (8/29)
“Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Slide On Inflation Worries, Ending 4th Winning Month Lower” (Yahoo! Finance). “US stocks retreated from record highs on Friday as Wall Street digested an update on consumer inflation that showed prices firming higher above the Fed's target in July.”
“There’s A Stunning Financial Problem With AI Data Centers” (Futurism). “[N]ew data centers have a very tiny runway in which to achieve profits that currently remain way out of reach. By Kupperman's projections, a brand new data center will quickly become a Theseus’ ship made up of some of the most expensive technology money can buy. If a new data center doesn't start raking in mountains of cash ASAP, the cost to maintain its aging parts will rapidly overtake the revenue it can bring in.”
“Why Aren’t Markets Freaking Out?” (Paul Krugman). “Do financial markets doubt that Trump will get his way [with the Fed]? Or do they reject mainstream economics and the clear examples of countries like Turkey and Argentina? Neither. My read of economic and financial history is that market pricing almost never takes into account the possibility of huge, disruptive events, even when the strong possibility of such events should be obvious. The usual pattern, instead, is one of market complacency until the last possible moment. That is, markets act as if everything is normal until it’s blindingly obvious that it isn’t.”
“Welcome To The New ‘Made In China’ Era — And It Looks A Lot Different” (Business Insider). “From Labubu to Luckin Coffee, Chinese retail chains are betting big that American consumers can revive the growth they're losing at home — and relying on cultural relevance and competitive pricing to make it happen. A Business Insider analysis of top Chinese brands shows how they're expanding their empires by opening brick-and-mortar stores beyond their borders.”
“Your Boss Doesn’t Have Time To Talk To You” (Wall Street Journal). “Need a minute with your boss? Good luck. Managers are overseeing more people as companies large and small gut layers of middle managers in the name of cutting bloat and creating nimbler yet larger teams. Bosses who survive the cuts now oversee roughly triple the people they did almost a decade ago, according to data from research and advisory firm Gartner. There was one manager for every five employees in 2017. That median ratio increased to one manager for every 15 employees by 2023, and it appears to be growing further today, Gartner says.”
