What we’re reading (7/28)
“Jeff Bezos Has Been On A Collision Course With D.C. For Years—This Week’s Hearing Marks A New Chapter” (CNBC). Anticipated highs are in the mid-90s for Wednesday in the nation’s swampy national capital, but it may get even hotter than that as the Amazon chief steps into the hot seat on Capitol Hill. Expect lots of posturing. It’s an open question as to whether lawmakers even understand, and are therefore likely to ask, the right questions. Either way, should be fun to watch.
“Wall Street Turns A Blind Eye to Atrocities Committed In China” (MarketWatch). The author rightly points out that “[m]utual-fund companies and financial advisers, stuck in the rote mindset of knee-jerk diversification, urge clients to invest more in underperforming Chinese and emerging markets equities...[and] [i]ndex providers have accommodated them by raising the weighting of mainland Chinese stocks in their emerging markets and international indexes.” All of this despite what amounts to the “most extensive ethnic cleansing since World War II” being visited upon the inhabitants of Xinjiang by the Chinese government in real time.
“Fed Extends Emergency Lending Programs By Three Months” (Wall Street Journal). When the economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic started becoming clear, the Fed announced nine emergency lending programs intended to stabilize credit markets and ensure the “plumbing” of the financial system would continue to function in the event of a deepening crisis. Until now, several of those lending facilities were set to expire in September.
“‘Un-Investable’? Airlines Could Double In A Year, Fund Manager Says” (Yahoo! Finance). Anything is possible, but I wouldn’t bet my retirement on it. We still think the airlines are, by and large, garbage stocks.
“DJ D-Sol Delights The Socially-Undistanced Masses” (Dealbreaker). This may come as a surprise for the uninitiated, but the current CEO of Goldman Sachs (David Solomon) moonlights as a DJ under the pseudonym “DJ D-Sol.” A recent show in the Hamptons (of course) is drawing the ire of some in Albany.
