What we’re reading (12/8)
“Redfin CEO Says The Booming Covid Housing Market Can Get Even Hotter” (CNBC). “The hot housing market during the coronavirus pandemic could heat up further if more homes are put up for sale, the CEO of real estate brokerage Redfin told CNBC on Monday. ‘If we see people get more comfortable letting others into their home, we’re going to see more inventory on the market, and that’s what will drive sales volume,’ Glenn Kelman said on ‘Closing Bell.’ ‘Today, we are definitely inventory-constrained. There aren’t enough homes for people to buy.’”
“Is Goldman Sachs Going To Florida?” (New York Times). “Goldman Sachs is one of Wall Street’s best-known firms, its identity indelibly tied to New York. Yet it may move at least some parts of a major division to Florida, with costs and the pandemic in mind. DealBook has confirmed that the bank has explored moving some of its asset management unit, following a Bloomberg report that executives had scouted office locations and spoken with officials in Florida.”
“Bob Dylan Sells Entire Songwriting Catalog” (Wall Street Journal). “The 79-year-old legendary pioneer of modern rock music, and the only songwriter to win a Nobel Prize for Literature, has sold his entire publishing catalog—more than 600 copyrights spanning 60 years—to Universal Music Publishing Group, according to the company. While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, the catalog is likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars—rivaled in value and influence only by the Beatles.”
“The No. 1 Investment Mistake Retirement Savers Are Making: Vanguard Study” (MarketWatch). “As it does every year, Vanguard opens the books on its vast book of 5 million retail clients, showing how, on average, they invest. It may be the best single overview of the typical Main Street U.S. investor. Among the various details, one thing sticks out like a sore thumb: What’s known as ‘home country bias.’ […] The typical investor is keeping four-fifths of his or her stock market portfolio in U.S. stocks…[i]t’s irrational. It’s so irrational that financial economists have a name for it, ‘the home equity puzzle,’ and have been trying to explain it rationally for 30 years.”
“The Economics Of Christmas Trees” (The Hustle). “Quarter Pine is one of thousands of Christmas tree farms in America. Collectively, these farms sell 25m-30m real Christmas trees to independent lots, big-box retailers, and garden centers every year. At an average retail price of $75 a pop, these trees make up a $2B+-per-year business. But what are the economics behind that price tag? Who gets the lion’s share of the profit? And how have Christmas tree producers fared with the growing popularity of artificial trees?”
