What we’re reading (4/13)
“Valuation Bloat In Stocks And Bonds Is Catching Up With The Bull Market” (Bloomberg). “The economic cycle is advancing to a point where valuations may finally matter again for stock and bond investors. Fortress-like in their refusal to bend for the better part of a decade, both asset classes have come under pressure thanks to the ever-stiffening resolve of central banks to restore order to the global economy. The S&P 500 has dropped in five of the last six days while yields on 10-year Treasury notes is set to break a streak of seven straight increases.”
“The Fed Is Going To Have To Curb Economic Activity To Bring Down Soaring Inflation, Fed's James Bullard Says” (Insider). “‘There's a bit of a fantasy, I think, in current policy in central banks,’ Bullard told the FT in an interview published Wednesday. ‘Neutral is not putting downward pressure on inflation. It's just ceasing to put upward pressure on inflation.’”
“JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Says ‘Powerful Forces’ Threaten U.S. Economy” (Wall Street Journal). “Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the economy is strong and growing, citing double-digit growth in card spending, low delinquencies and healthy household and consumer balance sheets. But the bank surprised Wall Street by setting aside $900 million in new funds to prepare for economic turmoil; a year ago, it freed up $5.2 billion it had reserved for potential loan losses in the pandemic’s early months.”
“The Reports Of American Decline Are Greatly Exaggerated” (The Week). “What we are lacking a sense of self-belief, of confidence in our competence. We believe we are powerless and so become powerless. If you believe you will fail before you start, you probably will.”
“Anonymous Buyer Pays Over $1 Million For A Piece Of Invisible Art” (Smithsonian Magazine). “Before NFTs upended the art world, the artist Yves Klein sold nothing in exchange for solid gold. One of the key figures of the nouveau réalisme (New Realism) movement, Klein was a pioneer of conceptual art. Between 1959 and his death in 1962, he made one of the most outrageous artistic statements of his career, selling a series of receipts for invisible “zones” and accepting payment only in gold bullion. Now, six decades later, one of those receipts has sold for over $1 million at auction.”
