What we’re reading (8/24)
“VinFast, Arm And Other Index Orphans Miss Out On Billions From Passive Investors” (Wall Street Journal). “The two stocks sit in a weird no-man’s-land between countries, qualifying neither for their home index nor the S&P 500, thanks to their decision to list outside their home countries. They’re in a growing group of companies including the Italian fashion designer Prada, the Swedish music streamer Spotify and the German vaccine maker BioNTech, which miss out not only on the trillions of dollars tracking domestic indexes and index futures but also on global index money.”
“How Jackson Hole Became An Economic Obsession” (New York Times). “Mr. Powell will be speaking at a moment when the Fed’s next moves are uncertain as inflation moderates but the economy retains a surprising amount of momentum. Wall Street is trying to figure out whether Fed officials think that they need to raise interest rates more this year, and if so, whether that move is likely to come in September. So far, policymakers have given little clear signal about their plans. They have lifted interest rates to 5.25 to 5.5 percent from near zero in March 2022, and have left their options open to do more.”
“Macro Illusions — Which Ones Are You Suffering Under?” (Marginal Revolution). “I am not saying all of these (or even most of these) are wrong. I am saying that various doctrines appeared to be ‘quite true’ on a temporary basis, and yes I stress that word temporary. Then they are not true, or at least not obviously true any more. So which are the macro delusions of our current time? I would nominate a clear winner for number one: 1. Enough government action on the demand side can fix macroeconomic problems and ensure full employment Maybe sometimes that is true. But it is not always true, and I hope you all can be wiser than the people who got caught up in earlier macroeconomic illusions, or should I call them delusions? Furthermore, all discussions of the Phillips curve — no matter what the point of view — should be conducted with this blog post in mind.”
“Wall Street Funds Discuss Potential Bankruptcy Plan For WeWork” (Wall Street Journal). “A group of Wall Street firms that lent hundreds of millions of dollars to WeWork is exploring the possibility of a bankruptcy filing that could help the company exit from expensive office leases, one of several options under discussion, according to people familiar with the creditors’ talks.”
“Nordstrom Rack And Macy’s Stores Are Ransacked By Groups Of Thieves Who Made Off With Thousands Of Dollars Worth Of Designer Purses In California” (DailyMail). “A Nordstrom Rack in Riverside has been ransacked by a band of six thieves who made off with thousands of dollars worth of designer handbags. The incident comes as Southern California experiences a wave of ‘flash robberies’, where a group of thieves overwhelm a store's employees and security before making off with as many items as possible. The department store on Canyon Springs Parkway was hit first on July 10 and again just weeks later in a separate incident on August 14.”
