What we’re reading (3/26)
“WeWork Agrees to SPAC Deal That Would Take Startup Public” (Wall Street Journal). “WeWork has agreed to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company in a deal that would take the shared-office provider public nearly two years after its high-profile failure to launch a traditional IPO.”
“Suez Canal Blockage Is Delaying An Estimated $400 Million An Hour In Goods” (CNBC). “The stranded mega-container vessel, Ever Given in the Suez Canal, is holding up an estimated $400 million an hour in trade, based on the approximate value of goods that are moved through the Suez every day, according to shipping data and news company Lloyd’s List.”
“Global Shipping Was In Chaos Even Before The Suez Blockage. Shortages And Higher Prices Loom” (CNN Business). “But even before the Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal earlier this week, global supply chains were being stretched to the limits, making it much more expensive to move goods around the world and causing shortages of everything from exercise bikes to cheese at a time of unprecedented demand.”
“Interest Rates, Earning Growth and Equity Value: Investment Implications” (Musings on Markets). “The first quarter of 2021 has been, for the most part, a good time for equity markets, but there have been surprises. The first has been the steep rise in treasury rates in the last twelve weeks, as investors reassess expected economic growth over the rest of the year and worry about inflation. The second has been a shift within equity markets, a "rotation" in Wall Street terms, as the winners from last year underperformed the losers in the first quarter, raising questions about whether this shift is a long term one or just a short term adjustment.”
“Comic Gold: The Easterner Goes West In Three Early American Comics” (Public Domain Review). “The California Gold Rush transformed the landscape and population of the United States. It also introduced a new figure into American life and the American imagination — the effete Eastern urbanite who travels to the Wild West in quest of his fortune. Alex Andriesse examines how this figure fares in three mid-nineteenth-century comic books.”
