What we’re reading (8/7)
“Investors Brace For More Market Volatility As Earnings Estimates Slump” (Wall Street Journal). “Wall Street often uses the ratio of a company’s share price to its earnings as a gauge for whether a stock appears cheap or overpriced. By that metric, the market as a whole had been especially pricey for much of the past two years when easy monetary policy propelled major stock indexes to dozens of new highs. That environment has disappeared…Yet even as stock prices dropped, the earnings half of the P/E equation remained relatively resilient. Now that Wall Street analysts are cutting profit estimates at a faster pace than usual, some investors are bracing for another stretch of volatility in the stock market.”
“Rate Hikes Are Not The Right Answer To ‘Wage-Price Persistence’” (James K. Galbraith, Project Syndicate). “There is no actual evidence that demand, rather than cost, caused the non-energy, non-food price increases – and there are good reasons to be skeptical. Costs are wages and raw materials plus profits; they are paid for by sales, also known as demand. Thus demand and cost are nearly inseparable; they are opposite sides of the same economic accounts.”
“The Newsletter Boom Is Over. What’s Next?” (Vox). “Now newsletters are less ... heated. Some writers who’ve gone out on their own have decided that they’d like a full-time job working for someone else, just like the old days. Substack has struggled to raise funding and has laid off some of its staff. Twitter doesn’t talk much about its newsletter plans anymore. And a year after launching Bulletin, its own Substack platform, Facebook has put the project on the ‘back burner.’”
“Inside The ‘Messy’ End Of A Facebook Contractor’s Job. Break Time Was Tracked Intensely, Perks Evaporated, And Workers Were Put On Performance Plans For Showing Up Late.” (Insider). “Many Facebook contractors in Austin, Texas recently lost their jobs after seeing perks evaporate, their work habits monitored intensely, and being put on more performance-improvement plans, Insider has learned. The cuts started late last month and impacted people contracted through Accenture to work for Facebook, according to a former worker whose role was eliminated. No other work was offered, but people affected were told that the loss of work wouldn't affect their ability to be rehired by Accenture in the future, said this person, who got no severance.”
“Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Reports $44 Billion Loss As Portfolio Value Falls” (MarketWatch). “Warren Buffett’s company reported a $43.76 billion loss in the second quarter as the paper value of its investments plummeted and he bought significantly fewer stocks, but Berkshire Hathaway’s many operating companies generally performed well.”
