What we’re reading (9/15)
“For Ray Dalio, A Year Of Losses, Withdrawals And Uneasy Staff” (Bloomberg). This article is generating a lot of buzz in the investments community this morning. Bridgewater’s flagship Pure Alpha II fund is down 18.6 percent year-to-date. But that’s not all, according to Bloomberg: “[t]hose losses, the worst in a decade, top a sprawling list of troubles that has plunged Bridgewater into a round of crisis management, according to more than 25 people with knowledge of the firm’s inner workings.” Worth noting: Mr. Dalio will be on air this afternoon, ostensibly to respond to the article.
“Finance Chiefs Prioritize Employee Retention As Coronavirus Pandemic Drags On” (Wall Street Journal). “Keeping staff has become a key focus for companies as they navigate the current economic downturn. Finance chiefs at these businesses are safeguarding employee retention programs from broader cost-cutting efforts for fear top-ranking employees might leave…[e]ighty-eight percent of senior managers ranging from vice presidents to C-Suite executives said they are worried about losing high-performing office professionals, up 7% from last year, according to a survey by staffing agency Robert Half International Inc. More than a third of those attributed their anxiety to staff cuts and planned pay freezes, the survey said.”
“The Federal Reserve Will Stay On Hold Until 2023, According To CNBC Survey” (CNBC). “In the first CNBC Fed Survey since the Federal Reserve announced its new, more dovish monetary policy strategy, respondents now forecast no rate hikes from the central bank until 2023. The results are a potential first sign that the Fed’s new strategy of allowing inflation to run above its 2% target for an unspecified time have had an immediate impact on the rate outlook.”
“U.S. Blocks Imports Of Chinese Goods It Says Are Made With Forced Labor” (Washington Post). “The Trump administration has banned the import of certain apparel and computer parts from China, saying they are made by forced laborers from the Xinjiang region. The move adds five new Chinese entities to an import blacklist the United States has used several times in recent years to combat what it calls China’s widespread practice of forcing ethnic minorities from the Xinjiang region to work under involuntary conditions.”
“The 20-Year Hunt For The Man Behind The Love Bug Virus” (Wired). “The love bug virus was unleashed on May 4, 2000. It was simple, but devastatingly effective and highly contagious. Once infected, many of the user’s files would be overwritten with copies of the virus, so that whenever the victim tried to open the files, they’d reinfect their system. The virus also tried to steal people’s passwords. But the true genius lay in how it spread. Once infected, the victim’s computer would send an email to everyone in their Microsoft Outlook contacts book. The emails read: ‘kindly check the attached love letter coming from me,’ and attached was a copy of the virus, disguised as a text file with the title ‘love-letter-for-you.’”
