What we’re reading (1/3)
“Apple’s Market Cap Falls Under $2 Trillion As Sell-Off Continues” (CNBC). “Apple shares fell more than 3% trading on Tuesday, giving the iPhone maker a market capitalization under $2 trillion for the first time since May. Apple fell $3.74% to a price of $130.20 per share, a 52-week low, giving the company a valuation of $1.99 trillion at market close on Tuesday. Apple first hit a $2 trillion valuation in August 2020, as the pandemic boosted its sales of computers and phones for remote work and school. It briefly hit a market value over $3 trillion during trading in January 2022.”
“Remote Work Is Poised To Devastate America’s Cities” (New York Magazine). “The nation’s office buildings aren’t as empty as they were before COVID vaccines became widely available in spring 2021. But they’re still far less populated than they were in 2019. A recent analysis of Census Bureau data from the financial site Lending Tree found that 29 percent of Americans were working from home in October 2022. In New York City, financial firms reported that only 56 percent of their employees were in the office on a typical day in September.”
“Office Owners Already Reeling From Remote Work Now Face Recession Risk In 2023” (Wall Street Journal). “Owners of office buildings stumbled through 2022, when their holdings underperformed most every other type of commercial real estate. Things look poised to get worse in 2023. Landlords have been longing for employees to head back to office buildings in greater numbers. But the national return rate has crept up slowly. For the past three months, it has plateaued at about half of what it was before the pandemic.”
“Caroline Ellison Wanted To Make A Difference. Now She’s Facing Prison.” (Washington Post). “‘I agreed with Mr. Bankman-Fried and others to provide materially misleading financial statements to Alameda’s lenders,’ she said. ‘I am truly sorry for what I did. I knew that it was wrong.’ The judge asked if she knew it was illegal, too. ‘Yes,’ she said.”
“More Than A Penny’s Worth: Left-Digit Bias And Firm Pricing” (Avner Strulov-Shlain, The Review of Economic Studies). “Firms arguably price at 99-ending prices because of left-digit bias—the tendency of consumers to perceive a $4.99 as much lower than a $5.00. Analysis of retail scanner data on 3500 products sold by 25 US chains provides robust support for this explanation. I structurally estimate the magnitude of left-digit bias and find that consumers respond to a 1-cent increase from a 99-ending price as if it were more than a 20-cent increase.”
