What we’re reading (11/16)
“Amazon Will Allow Auto Dealers To Sell Cars On Its Site, Starting With Hyundai” (CNBC). “Beginning in 2024, Amazon will let shoppers purchase a new car online, then pick it up or have it delivered by their local dealership. Consumers will be able to search for available vehicles in their area, make a selection, then check out on Amazon using their preferred payment and financing method. The company said the new feature will ‘create another way for dealers to build awareness of their selection and offer convenience to their customers.’”
“These Stocks Are Trailing The Market By The Widest Margin In 25 Years” (Wall Street Journal). “Smaller, speculative companies are in the midst of a furious autumn stock-market rally, but they still have an interest-rate problem. The S&P 600, an index of small companies with an average market value of $1.8 billion, has climbed 8% from its recent low on Oct. 27, slightly trailing the S&P 500. Yet for 2023, it is on pace to trail its large-cap counterpart by the widest margin in a calendar year since 1998. The S&P 600 is up 0.1%, while the S&P 500 has climbed 17%. The Federal Reserve’s interest-rate campaign has hurt small-caps more than their larger peers because small companies tend to issue more floating-rate debt.”
“One-Third Of U.S. Newspapers As Of 2005 Will Be Gone By 2024” (Axios). “The decline of local newspapers accelerated so rapidly in 2023 that analysts now believe the U.S. will have lost one-third of the newspapers it had as of 2005 by the end of next year — rather than in 2025, as originally predicted. Most communities that lose a local newspaper in America usually do not get a replacement, even online.”
“Forget Climate Change & NBFIs, The Biggest Systemic Risk Are The Unrealized Losses In The Banking System” (American Enterprise Institute). “I estimate that, as of June 30, 2023, there were 2372 banks that collectively held 54 percent of the total assets in the banking system with mark-to-market adjusted Tier 1 leverage ratios under 4 percent, the prompt corrective action threshold that classifies a bank as ‘significantly undercapitalized’.”
“America’s Top 1% Don’t Make As Much As You Might Think” (Tyler Cowen in Bloomberg). “Can a single self-published paper really refute decades of work by three famous economists? If the paper is the modestly titled ‘Income Inequality in the United States: Using Tax Data to Measure Long-Term Trends,’ then the answer — with qualifications — is yes…At the very least, the presumption in favor of Piketty, Saez and Zucman is now gone. For the time being, there are better arguments, based on better data, that suggest very different conclusions.”
