What we’re reading (3/15)
“Fund Managers Now See Equity Bear Market In 2008-Like Gloom” (Bloomberg). “Most investors now expect global equities to slump into a bear market this year as the growth outlook has tumbled to the lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis amid fears over the impact from the war in Ukraine.”
“How Bloomberg Media Beat The Pandemic Blues With Explosive Growth” (Poynter). “Most print-based media — newspapers and magazines — have been struggling for at least a decade to pick up the pace of digital transformation. Just as momentum was building, two years of COVID-19 and the accompanying downturn interrupted revenue progress as many advertisers pulled back. Not so at Bloomberg Media, whose best-known holding is Bloomberg Businessweek. The company announced some eye-popping 2021 results last week[.]”
“Part-Time Retirement Programs Are On The Rise” (Wall Street Journal). “Phased retirement programs—which allow workers nearing retirement age to cut back on their hours while keeping some pay and benefits—are growing in popularity. Human-resource executives say the pandemic has opened bosses to flexible work arrangements, while the fierce hiring market and higher-than-expected rate of retirements have motivated managers to find ways to retain older workers with key skills.”
“Stock Volatility And The War Puzzle” (Cortes, Vossmeyer, Weidenmier, NBER). “U.S. stock volatility is 33 percent lower during wartime and periods of conflict. This is true even for World Wars I and II, which would seemingly increase uncertainty. In a seminal paper, Schwert (1989) identified the “war puzzle” as one of the most surprising facts from two centuries of stock volatility data. We propose an explanation for the puzzle: the profits of firms become easier to forecast during wartime due to massive government spending.”
“Thieves In The Night: A Vast Burglary Operation Ring From Chile Has Been Targeting Wealthy U.S. Households” (Vanity Fair). “In the coming months, according to an inside source, federal teams are set to fan out and come down hard on the thieves, hoping to finger the shadowy figures they believe oversee the operations: Chilean ringleaders back home and in the U.S. as well as their partners—Colombian coordinators and fences, who manage to turn the stolen caches into cash. But first, some background.”
