What we’re reading (12/20)
“Here’s A Market Forecast: 2021 Will Be Hard To Predict” (Wall Street Journal). “By their nature, once-in-100-year events are hard to predict. But the real lesson of 2020 is that even correctly predicting fundamentals just isn’t enough. What mattered this year wasn’t earnings, but the speed and scale of the response by central banks and governments, alongside a recognition that the U.S. stock market doesn’t reflect the economy.”
“Are We On The Verge Of Another Financial Crisis?” (Harvard Business Review). “John Macomber, a senior lecturer in the finance unit at Harvard Business School, believes we may be on the verge of a collapse in housing prices and an ensuing financial crisis — this time caused by our failure to acknowledge and confront climate change. In a phone interview and a written email exchange, he shared his reasoning and what the incoming Biden administration can do to prevent this scenario.”
“Trump Signs Bill That Could Lead To Delisting Of Chinese Stocks Including Nio, Li, Xpeng, Alibaba” (Benzinga). “U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a bill calling for the delisting of foreign companies that don't adhere to the same accounting transparency standards that securities regulators impose on public U.S. firms…The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act takes aim at Chinese companies and drew rare strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress before arriving on Trump's desk. The act says delisting could happen if a given company doesn't comply with audit inspections three years in a row.”
“Pain, Despair And Poverty Reach Fever Pitch For Unemployed Workers” (CNBC). “It has been nine months since the coronavirus pandemic began its assault on American livelihoods. Since then, financial desperation has steadily grown for jobless Americans across the country. Almost 8 million people have fallen into poverty since the summer. Savings for many, especially the lowest earners, are either dwindling or gone. Millions of households owe thousands in back rent and utilities — and face a renewed threat of eviction in the new year. A growing share of unemployed individuals say their households don’t have enough to eat.”
“Paul McCartney As A Management Study” (Marginal Revolution). “His vocal range once spanned over four octaves, he is sometimes considered the greatest bass player in the history of rock and roll, and he was the first popular musician to truly master the recording studio, again with zero initial technical or musical education of any sort. He is perhaps the quickest learner the music world ever has seen…[h]e was a very keen businessman in buying up the rights to music IP at just the right time, making him a billionaire.”
