<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg View – Noah Smith: Want Economic Growth? Empty the Suburbs Sprawl probably reduces productivity. When people cluster more tightly together, they become more productive — this is known in economics as an agglomeration externality. This explains why the same person will produce more economic output in New York… Continue reading Productivity And City Size
None Today
The Wall Street Journal – Front-Runners Try to Close the Deal in Indiana Trump keeps up attacks of GOP rivals while Clinton tries to pivot to general-election campaign Donald Trump, with a big lead in the polls in Indiana and the Republican presidential nomination within his reach, kept attacking his GOP rivals on the eve… Continue reading Election Betting – Indiana Primary Update
Philosophical Economics – Index Investing Makes Markets and Economies More Efficient U.S. equity index funds have grown dramatically in recent decades, from a negligible $500MM in assets in the early 1980s to a staggering $4T today. The consensus view in the investment community is that this growth is unsustainable. Indexing, after all, is a form… Continue reading Does More Indexing Make Markets More Efficient?
CNBC – Buffett says if the government did THIS the Dow could hit 100K Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC on Monday just how important interest rates are to stock investing. “If the government absolutely said interest rates are going to be zero for 50 years, the Dow would be at 100,000,” Buffett told “Squawk… Continue reading Buffett On Cheap Money
<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Oil Price Rally Isn’t as Deep Rooted as It Looks at First Glance Long-dated oil futures drop even as short-term prices recover Shale producers seen disrupting typical boom-bust oil cycle At first glance, oil prices have rallied — a lot. Look closer, however, and the market is… Continue reading Questioning The Oil Rally
<click on table for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Apple Takes a $4 Billion Bite Out of ETFs as Smart-Beta Shines Apple gave a nice boost to several ETFs on the way up. Now feeling the pain on the way down. There aren’t too many things worse for ETFs than a rotten Apple. When Apple has a bad… Continue reading Apple’s Slump Hurts All
CNBC – ECB study: Evidence suggests information leakage on key US data before release There is evidence that information is leaked ahead of key U.S. macroeconomic data, researchers from the European Central Bank said in a paper published a paper Monday. The study found that certain U.S. stock futures and Treasury markets moved well ahead… Continue reading Are Economic Reports Leaked?
<click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Financial Engineering Shows Its Downside Is the stock market engaged in unsustainable financial engineering in an effort to satisfy shareholders? Financial engineering has built vast financial edifices, but all too often there is little of substance providing support. The latest Wall Street constructs to… Continue reading Financial Engineering
The Financial Times – Rise of the robots is sparking an investment boom Global influx of machines set to open one of the hottest new markets in tech An army of robots is on the move. In warehouses, hospitals and retail stores, and on city streets, industrial parks and the footpaths of college campuses,… Continue reading The Rise of the Machines
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Hedge Funds Under Attack as Cohen Says Skilled People Are Scarce Point72’s billionaire founder `blown away’ by talent shortage Remarks follow Buffett slamming fees, Loeb seeing a `washout’ In less than seven days, hedge funds have been subject to a three-pronged attack by some of the biggest… Continue reading Your Daily Installment In Kicking Hedge Funds In The Teeth
The Financial Times – Patrick Jenkins: A nightmarish reprise of the financial crisis for European banks The flow of poor data from the continent’s biggest lenders is far from over If anyone had expected Europe’s banks to buck a downbeat set of quarterly results from their US rivals, they have been rapidly disabused of that… Continue reading Struggling European Banks