I initially started this blog to share interesting links I was reading and it was a way for me to force myself read and write more. But instead, all the posts I’ve sporadically published have been longwinded rants 😐 But since we’ve all been imprisoned at home like in a bad zombie movie, we do have some extra time on our hands.
And given the tons of garbage published every day some really good stuff tends to get lost in the noise. The idea with these posts is to share interesting and timeless articles, podcasts, videos, research papers, and tweets on all things finance that I or we can find. I or we aren’t going to share breaking news or some nonsensical, flash in the pan idiotic news items. Not just me, I’ve enlisted the support of Anish and others to share things they find interesting. If you share something interesting, please hit me up (don’t beat me up) and I’ll share it here 🙂 Hopefully, this becomes a place for people to discover interesting things to read and share elsewhere.
That’s it, nothing more, nothing less. So, here’s the first edition of A Gaggle Of Links – awesome name, right? 😛
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Anish’s links
Not so tough now, are you? Time to respect Momma Nature, you puny homo sapien by Pravin Palande/ET Prime
Seduction of Pessimism by Morgan Housel/Collaborative Fund blog
Dead Cat Bounce by Michael Batnick/The irrelevant Investor
When Dollar Cost Averaging Matters the Most by Ben Carlson/A Wealth of Common Sense
Which Way Now? by Howard Marks
What would Jack Bogle Tell Us Now? by Allan Roth/Validea
Research
Equity Styles and the Spanish Flu by Pim van Vliet and Guido Baltussen
Mr. Boiling Frog’s links
Coronavirus Response Shows the World Is Not Ready for Climate-Induced Pandemics by Jennifer Zhang
COVID-19’s catastrophic impact on all walks of life critically demonstrates that the world is woefully unprepared for managing pandemics. This has dire implications for our ability to respond to emerging infectious diseases that are expected to spread more frequently due to climate change.
An important but indecent question that has to arise by Manu Joseph/Livemint
As often, US President Donald Trump has articulated a thought that is on the minds of people who run businesses but are too polite to say it: “We can’t let the cure be worse than the problem.” He announced that he will open the US for business in a matter of days. A familiar lament followed.
Fool’s links
A couple of days ago I went on a lenghty Twitter rant about why investing based on stories almost always gets retail investors into trouble. A few interesting links I had saved when I was writing the thread.
Why You Should (Probably) Avoid Story Stocks and Don’t “Disrupt” Your Investing by Nicholas Vardy
Investment Stories vs. Facts – Mastersinvest
Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling by Paul Zak/HBR
How Epidemics of the Past Changed the Way Americans Lived by Katherine Foss/Smithsonian Mag
As morose as it sounds, pandemics have been responsible for some of the most important changes in the way we live.
Ken Griffin’s Virus Plan Now Includes Emergency Trading Site in Florida by Liz McCormick/Bloomberg
Citadel is one of the largest liquidity providers in the US markets, not to be confused with Citadel the hedge fund. This piece gives an idea of how some of the most important actors in capital markets are adapting to life in the times of corona. Similarly:
‘We are not going to go back’: Tradeweb’s CEO explains why working from home is a game changer for the $1 trillion-a-day marketplace by Dan DeFrancesco/Business Insider
Another piece of how Tradeweb, one of the biggest bond trading platforms is adapting toe times. If you are one of those idiots asking for the Indian markets to be shut down, you should read these pieces and learn why it is important that the capital markets function even during these unprecedented times.
The Fed goes brrrrrr
The US Federal Reserve is pumping trillions of dollars in relief and stimulus measures to stop the US economy from seizing up. The scale of the programs makes the 2008 QE programs look like child’s play. As Jim Bianco describes it – the Fed has nationalized large swathes of the US financial markets. As a macro tourist, this is fascinating stuff and although the mainstream interpretation of Fed’s actions is limited to the usage of terms like Quantitative Easing, Stimulus etc, what’s happening is far more complex and astounding. Here are some links and resources that I am currently reading and listening to understand the true scale of the Fed’s actions.
Nathun Tankus’ newsletter is just brilliant. I highly recommend reading every single post and yhat you follow him on Twitter too. He covers all angles right from stimulus packages, bailouts, platinum coins to the need for dollar swap lines!
Speaking of swap line, check out this conversation with Adam Tooze who wrote the book Crashed, a magisterial assessment of how the 2008 crisis shaped our world.
Podcasts
George Selgin on Hidden Forces
I think, given what we are going through, it pays to understand what really went on during 2008. It was just a housing crisis, what really transpired is far more complex that the “housing bubble” narrative. The central banks are pretty much using the same playbook of 2008 but on steroids. I highly recommend listening to this loooong podcast of Adam Tooze.