What we’re reading (9/13)
“The Tax Moves Day Traders Need To Make Now” (Wall Street Journal). “If you’re one of the millions of day traders who have jumped in and out of markets this year, check your taxes now. Being a taxpayer may not be top of mind, but not paying attention could dent your bottom line next April…[m]any new traders likely aren’t aware they are trading in taxable accounts, where each sale has tax effects. (Robinhood customers can’t trade within retirement accounts such as traditional or Roth IRAs, where sales aren’t taxable.) Next year, many will be surprised to receive long tax forms for 2020.”
“Ray Dalio, In Economic Club Of New York Address, Speaks Of Threats Beyond The Pandemic” (Institutional Investor). “According to Ray Dalio, the coronavirus pandemic was a blow to the system. But in his view, Covid-19 isn’t the biggest game changer. Instead, the Bridgewater Associates founder said Thursday that he sees the convergence of monetary policy, social and economic gaps, and the rise of China as forces that could change the world.”
“Wall Street Has Wanted An Apple Bundle For Years — Soon it Might Get One” (CNBC). “For Apple investors, the most exciting product the company could release this fall isn’t a new version of the iPhone or Apple Watch: It’s a bundle that tie some of the company’s subscription services together and give users with a discount for subscribing to more than one at the same time.”
“2020 Is The Year Of The SPAC” (Crunchbase). “If direct listings were the most-talked-about way to go public in 2019, SPACs are the new direct listings. Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have been popping up in SEC filings left, right and center, with high-profile names often attached to them: venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman have all launched these ‘blank-check’ companies.”
“Mathematicians Open A New Front On An Ancient Number Problem” (Wired). Do odd perfect numbers exist? A BYU Professor is on the beat: “The Greek mathematician Nicomachus declared around 100 CE that all perfect numbers must be even, but no one has ever proved that claim. Like many of his 21st-century peers, [BYU Professor Pace] Nielsen thinks there probably aren’t any OPNs. And, also like his peers, he does not believe a proof is within immediate reach. But last June he hit upon a new way of approaching the problem that might lead to more progress. It involves the closest thing to OPNs yet discovered.”
