What we’re reading (2/7)
“Holding Our Breadth” (AQR Capital Management). “Of all the correlations in the world, the one between stocks and bonds is undoubtedly of greatest interest to investors. This important number was generally negative for the first two decades of the 2000s, but that wasn’t the case in the preceding decades, and might not be the case going forward. Why does this matter? If stocks and bonds (and stock- and bond-related asset classes) become more correlated to each other, then investors’ overall portfolios become riskier.”
“Fed Chair Powell Says Inflation Is Starting To Ease, But Interest Rates Still Likely To Rise” (CNBC). “Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday that inflation is beginning to ease, though he expects it to be a long process and cautioned that interest rates could rise more than markets anticipate if the economic data doesn’t cooperate.”
“Stocks Close Higher After Powell Remarks” (Wall Street Journal). “Stocks started Tuesday morning lower, but gained ground shortly after Mr. Powell began speaking in a broadcast conversation with Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein. A flurry of selling then sent indexes back into the red, but stocks regained positive territory later in the afternoon.”
“Disney Has Bigger Problems Than Ron DeSantis” (CNN Business). “Disney has found itself in the middle of a culture war battle that could end up transferring Disney World’s governance to a board appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. And that may be the least of Disney’s problems. The company faces a media industry in turmoil, plunging cable subscriptions, a still-recovering box office, massive streaming losses, activist shareholders, possible reorganization and layoffs and growing labor disputes with employees. That’s a lot for CEO Bob Iger to handle.”
“How Gen Z And The Great Resignation Created A Wave Of Pverinflated Job Titles” (Insider). “Since 2019, employers have tripled their use of the word ‘lead’ in early-career tech jobs, upped their use of "principal" by 57%, and cut their use of the word ‘junior’ by half. ‘It was shocking to me how dramatic it's been,’ says Maryam Jahanshahi, the head of R&D at Datapeople. ‘It’s rampant in lots of different types of jobs.’”
