The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• Maybe Baby Boomers Won’t Tank the Stock Market by Cashing Out: The common wisdom has been that retirees will liquidate their holdings in securities and real estate to fund their old age. (Chief Investment Officer)
• Everything Investors Know About Hedge Funds Is Based on Flawed Data: Researchers have found that performance is far higher than people think once the data includes the largest institutional hedge funds. “Every single piece of research needs to be revisited.” (Institutional Investor) see also American endowments’ complicated love affair with private equity: And venture capital and hedge funds, naturally. The average US university endowment underperformed this benchmark in 12 of the past 15 years, for an average annualised relative loss of 0.9 per cent. His conclusion was pretty biting. (Financial Times)
• Suddenly There Aren’t Enough Babies. The Whole World Is Alarmed. Birthrates are falling fast across countries, with economic, social and geopolitical consequences. (Wall Street Journal)
• The One Place in Airports People Actually Want to Be: Inside the competition to lure affluent travelers with luxurious lounges (The Atlantic)
• Global Chips Battle Intensifies With $81 Billion Subsidy Surge: US and allies vie with China for semiconductor supremacy, powered by wave of domestic investment. (Bloomberg)
• Why Is Car Insurance So Expensive? Soaring premiums have become a prominent driver of inflation, and insurers say that more increases could be on the way. How did it get like this? (New York Times) see also 4 Takeaways From Our Homeowners Insurance Investigation: Across the country, more intense heat, storms and fires are causing the home insurance market to start to buckle. (New York Times)
• The Re-Reinvention of Television: Streamers Dust Off Some of the Old Broadcast Playbook for a New Era. The recent “peak TV” era generated some of the best TV in history. Audiences, critics, awards shows and the rest of the industry shifted a lot of their attention to prestige streamer fare, while the linear worlds of broadcast and cable weren’t seen as sexy. Streamers’ steady output of new six- and eight-episode series orders were meant to draw viewers away from the old guard and get people to sign up for the new — and it worked. (Variety)
• The Israeli Defense Establishment Revolts Against Netanyahu: To appease his far-right flank, the prime minister has refused to commit to Palestinian governance of Gaza. Israel’s security figures are calling his bluff. (The Atlantic) see also The Unpunished: How Extremists Took Over Israel: After 50 years of failure to stop violence and terrorism against Palestinians by Jewish ultranationalists, lawlessness has become the law. (New York Times)
• Death of the Hiker: Lost on a dangerous trail, Leyton Cassidy’s thoughts take her down a dark path. (Longreads)
• How Kite Surfing in Remote Colombia Changed a Boy. And a Village. The sport came to Beto Gomez’s small Indigenous town nearly two decades ago. Despite some resistance back home, he is now the world’s only professional kite surfer with Wayuu roots. (New York Times)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Savita Subramanian, Head of US Equity and Quantitative Strategy, Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She was Institutional Investor All America Research Team for the past 11 years.
World’s Wealthiest Cities Report 2024
Source: Henley & Partners
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