What we’re reading (10/9)
“Trump Raises Coronavirus Stimulus Offer To $1.8 Trillion, Then Says He Wants Bigger Bill Than Dems Or GOP” (CNBC). “The White House on Friday took a new coronavirus stimulus offer to Democrats, believed to cost $1.8 trillion, as the sides work to strike a deal before the 2020 election. The plan would mark an increase from the $1.6 trillion the Trump administration previously proposed. House Democrats passed a $2.2 trillion bill earlier this month, and the sides have struggled to find a consensus in between those figures.”
“Stocks Close Higher To Finish Best Week In Three Months” (Wall Street Journal). “The S&P 500 rose Friday, closing out its biggest weekly advance in three months as investors welcomed signs pointing to a decisive result in next month’s U.S. presidential election. A week that started with President Trump in the hospital being treated for the new coronavirus and former Vice President Joe Biden widening his lead in national polls finished as the best stretch for the index since the week of July 2.”
“What The Harvard Endowment’s Below-Average Grade Can Teach You About Index Funds And Your Investments” (MarketWatch). “Harvard’s University’s endowment’s return lagged the U.S. stock market — again. For the fiscal year ending June 30, Harvard’s endowment produced a 7.3% return, versus a 7.5% total return for the S&P 500. This marks the 12th year in a row in which the $42 billion portfolio fell behind the benchmark index. Also, as you can see from the accompanying chart, the endowment has lagged the S&P 500 over each of the 3-, 5-, 10- and 20-year horizons.”
“Swiss Quant Start-Up Vestun Opens Up Systematic US Equity Hedge Fund To External Money” (Hedgeweek). “Chayan Asli, Vestun’s founder and CEO, believes that relying on signals generated from statistical rules and back-testing history is not sustainable for delivering consistent long-term market outperformance. ‘Nowadays, everyone has access to the same financial datasets and machine learning models. If everyone uses the same smart systems with the same recipe for success, it will undermine the competitive advantage obtained by using computer-driven models to invest.’”
“Just 59 Americans Own More Wealth Than Half The Country, Data Shows” (New York Post). “The poorest 50 percent of Americans, or roughly 165 million people, collectively owned about $2.08 trillion in wealth in the second quarter of 2020, according to Federal Reserve data released last week. That’s less than the net worth of the nation’s 59 richest billionaires, who have a combined fortune of about $2.09 trillion, Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index shows — a number that’s grown this year despite the COVID-19 crisis kneecapping the global economy.”
