What we’re reading (6/13)
“The Frenzied Pursuit Of Wall Street’s Low-Profile All-Stars” (Wall Street Journal). “Billionaire Steve Cohen doesn’t like losing out on superstars. In December, the New York Mets owner made headlines for paying $765 million to sign phenom outfielder Juan Soto, beating out the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Around the same time, Cohen and his investment firm Point72 were facing off against rival hedge-fund giants to poach a young stock picker who had become one of Wall Street’s hottest free agents.”
“Is Meta Really Spending $15 Billion To Hire A 28-Year-Old?” (Business Insider). “You probably don't know who Alexandr Wang is. But that's going to change: The 28-year-old is about to become known as the guy Mark Zuckerberg spent $15 billion on.”
“Reserving Judgment On The Gold Rally” (Financial Times). “Sure, it’s easy to dismiss the change in rank as a function of so-called ‘maths’. Both gold and the euro started the year with reserve shares not a million miles from one another, and after a 30 per cent rally the shiny metal came out top. However, part of the explanation for gold’s price surge lies at the feet of the central banks themselves. For the third year in a row, they’ve accounted for more than a fifth of total gold demand.”
“The Case For Rate Cuts Is Growing” (Wall Street Journal). “The Fed doesn’t have to act when it meets next week. There is less urgency than last September when rates were a full percentage point higher and rising unemployment carried a whiff of recession. Tariff effects might become more pronounced in coming months. But in their outlook and rhetoric, Fed officials need to acknowledge risks are shifting. And they can also pat themselves on the back, because the economy is actually unfolding much as they expected when they began easing nine months ago.”
“‘Unintended Consequences’ Of Section 899 Could Spark Foreign Investment Retreat” (Institutional Investor). “Speaking just a month ago at the SEC’s International Institute for Securities Market Growth and Development in Washington, Commissioner Hester Peirce addressed both how best to maintain this dominance and why the number of public companies listed on U.S. exchanges continues to fall…But recent government actions are spooking investors and asset managers — posing a potential threat to the robustness of the capital markets. Even as tariffs remain a threat to the economy, Section 899 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — passed by the House but not yet the Senate — is adding a whole new headache. Referred to as a ‘revenge tax’ or ‘retaliation tax,’ the proposal is designed to punish certain countries whose tax policies the U.S. government considers unfair.”
