What we’re reading (8/19)
“Bets Against Cathie Wood's ARK Innovation Fund At Record High - S3” (Reuters). “Short interest in star investor Cathie Wood's flagship ARK Innovation ETF was at a record high, data from analytics firm S3 Partners showed on Wednesday, as several hedge funds disclosed this week they had bet against the top performing ETF of 2020.”
“The IMF Acts Against The Taliban” (Wall Street Journal). “Late Wednesday…the U.S. and the IMF signaled the Taliban won’t have access [to ~$400 million in Special Drawing Rights from the IMF] due to the chaos on the ground and the ‘lack of clarity’ from the international community on who should be recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. This is an excellent start, but it is only a temporary fix. The Taliban will surely come back and seek recognition once they are in full control of the country.”
“Three Former Netflix Engineers Charged With Insider Trading” (CNN Business). “Three former Netflix engineers and two of their associates have been charged with illegally profiting more than $3 million in a long-running insider trading scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday. The SEC complaint said that the person at the center of the scheme, Sung Mo Jun, traded on nonpublic information about the growth of the platform's subscriber base, both while he was employed at Netflix and after he left the company in 2017.”
“Are Television Ratings Rigged, Or Merely Inaccurate?” (RealClearMarkets). “While they may not agree on nearly anything else, one issue manages to unite Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN: an archaic television ratings system that is known to wildly misrepresent viewership. At a time when cord-cutting has brought about many new ways to consume television news and entertainment, the industry’s primary measurement tool, Nielsen Ratings, seems stuck in another era. Those chosen as “Nielsen families” have complained for years about the cumbersome, almost primitive methods used to track their viewership.”
“What Happens When All Of Your Co-workers Quit?” (The Cut). “The so-called great resignation has created a seismic power shift that has already forced corporations like McDonald’s, Walmart, and Starbucks to boost wages or offer perks to entice new hires. There has been an endless parade of Schadenfreude-inducing headlines about employers who are now on their knees begging for staff like desperate suitors…[but] in the meantime it has been devastating to those left behind whose unbearable workloads have led to depression, substance abuse, and trips to the hospital. After all, not everyone can quit.”
