What we’re reading (11/30)
“Nervous Traders Track Gauges As Markets Wrestle With Omicron” (Bloomberg). “To Fiona Cincotta, senior financial markets analyst at City Index, a close above 4,650 -- near where the S&P is holding -- would be an encouraging sign. But any sight of 4,585 -- the lows from Friday -- being broken on the downside means deeper declines could be in the offing still.”
“Markets Aren’t That Spooked By Omicron” (DealBook). “Covid-related stock market drops are getting milder and shorter. Back in February 2020, the S&P 500 fell 3.4 percent in one day and then continued to slide for a month and a half. In October 2020, a resurgence of cases led to a one-day market drop of 3.5 percent, but markets rebounded within two weeks. Friday’s decline was 2.3 percent, with a rebound beginning the next trading day.”
“What Happens When You’re The Investment” (The Atlantic). “Say Taylor [Swift] had issued her own token—let’s call it $SWIFT—and say she had sold $SWIFT to her biggest fans. Say I was one such fan. Over time, as Taylor’s popularity grew, the value of $SWIFT would have appreciated. As an early believer, I would have shared in the financial upside of her growing fame. The $SWIFT I’d bought for $100 in 2007 might be worth $100,000 today.”
“Inside Zillow As Waves Of Layoffs Leave Employees Reeling” (Insider). “Three current employees and seven who recently left the company said they were still struggling to understand what went wrong with Zillow Offers and what the failure meant for the rest of the company. While some staff are enjoying retention pay bumps, morale on various teams has plummeted as employees hear mixed messages about further reorganization and worry about working themselves out of their jobs.”
“Your Political Views Are Not Your Own” (Marginal Revolution). Citing a new paper in Psychological Science: “In a unique sample of 394 adoptive and biological families with offspring more than 30 years old, biometric modeling revealed significant evidence for genetic and nongenetic transmission from both parents for the majority of seven political-attitude phenotypes. We found the largest genetic effects for religiousness and social liberalism, whereas the largest influence of parental environment was seen for political orientation and egalitarianism. Together, these findings indicate that genes, environment, and the gene–environment correlation all contribute significantly to sociopolitical attitudes held in adulthood, and the etiology and development of those attitudes may be more important than ever in today’s rapidly changing sociopolitical landscape.”
