What we’re reading (6/26)
“Meet The Short Seller Who Hopes Stocks Crash And Burn” (CNN Business). “It should be no surprise to hear that the founder of an investment firm named after the Hindenburg is looking for stocks that will crash and burn. Nate Anderson, founder of Hindenburg Research, has made a name for himself in the past few years by targeting companies that he thinks are overvalued and have suspect financials. In other words: looming stock market blowups resembling the infamous German zeppelin that crashed in New Jersey in 1937.”
“Lumber Prices Have Bottomed Out, But Are Likely To Stay Double The Historical Average For At Least The Next 5 Years, A Lumber Trader Says” (Business Insider). “‘My argument is the new normal is going to be significantly higher than the old normal while others think we're going to go back to pre-COVID price ranges,’ [Stinson] Dean [CEO and founder of Deacon Trading] said. After an intense run-up in the beginning of the year, Lumber has fallen nearly 50% from May's record high of over $1,700 per thousand board feet.”
“Remote Work Is The New Signing Bonus” (Wall Street Journal). “Marc Cenedella, founder and chief executive of Ladders, a job-search site for roles that pay north of $100,000 a year, says greater flexibility is shaping up as a perk that companies can wield to poach talented people. ‘Remote is going to be the new signing bonus,’ he says. ‘Instead of dangling, ‘We’ll give you $10,000 if you sign for this job,’ it’ll be: ‘Instead of having to commute 35 minutes every day, go to work, and get in your car and drive 35 minutes home, you can work from your home office all the time.’”
“The Miami Condo Collapse Is A Devastating Reminder Of America's Artificial Land Problem” (The Week). “It is not yet known for certain what caused the collapse, but one probable culprit was the fact that the building had been built on reclaimed wetland, and as a result, had been sinking into the ground for decades…[e]ven if some other factor was the proximate cause, the sinking surely made it worse — a building in such a situation can easily develop cracks in its foundation or other problems that compromise its structure. It's illustrative of a major problem in many American cities: reclaimed land. Big chunks of almost all American coastal cities are built on reclaimed land that will likely turn to soup as climate change causes ocean levels to rise.”
“Mongooses Solve Inequality Problem” (ScienceDaily). “Mothers in banded mongoose groups all give birth on the same night, creating a ‘veil of ignorance’ over parentage in their communal crèche of pups. In the new study, led by the universities of Exeter and Roehampton, half of the pregnant mothers in wild mongoose groups were regularly given extra food, leading to increased inequality in the birth weight of pups. But after giving birth, well-fed mothers gave extra care to the smaller pups born to the unfed mothers -- rather than their own pups -- and the pup size differences quickly disappeared.”
