What we’re reading (10/6)
“Is The Stock Market Open At 3 a.m.? This Startup Says It Should Be” (Wall Street Journal). “Under decades-old conventions, the bulk of stock trading takes place between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET on weekdays, and exchanges shut down for holidays, such as Good Friday and Washington’s Birthday. In contrast, 24 Exchange would operate like the foreign-exchange and cryptocurrency markets, which run continuously. The three-year-old startup already offers trading in FX and crypto. Its parent company, 24 Exchange Bermuda Ltd., is incorporated in Bermuda, but the proposed stock exchange would be run by a U.S. subsidiary.”
“The Fractionalization Of Everything” (Vox). “With emerging technologies such as blockchain, the increasing power and importance of retail traders, and a growing appetite for new assets, everything from shoes to artwork to classic cars is being broken up into pieces and offered to investors in bite-sized portions through a process called fractionalization…[o]ne interesting caveat to most fractional investments aimed at retail investors is that buyers don’t actually own the things they buy. They’re simply buying a stake in the asset, betting that it will rise in value and they’ll be able to sell their portion at a higher price than what they paid.”
“Bond Yields Are Disconnected From Economic Fundamentals. Investors Shouldn’t Expect That To Change.” (Institutional Investor). “Interest rates relative to inflation aren’t getting back to normal anytime soon. That’s because institutions, including sovereign reserve managers, commercial banks, and pension funds are buying bonds for regulatory reasons or to match their future liabilities, breaking the relationship between a bond’s price and the underlying fundamentals, according to the newly formed Strategic Investment Advisory Group of J.P. Morgan Asset Management.”
“Natural Gas Crisis Pushes U.S. Prices To Highest Since 2008” (Bloomberg). “Natural gas futures jumped to the highest settlement price in 12 years in New York as global gas supply shortages stoke concerns for U.S. shortages…As the northern hemisphere heads into winter-heating season, low U.S. auxiliary supplies have sparked concerns about potential shortages as demand for the furnace fuel ramps up. Gas futures rose 9.5% to close settle at $6.312 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest close since December 2008.”
“A Look At The Lavish Real Estate Revealed In The Pandora Papers” (Architectural Digest). “Unlike some other famed documents revealing the corruption encouraged by the world’s most prominent power players, this specific collection of 12 million confidential files centers on the financial secrets—luxury property machinations—of global political leaders. Everyone from Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair appear in the report. Indeed, the Pandora Papers extend far beyond these public officials and heads of state; the Papers span their entire inner circle.”
