User Tools

Site Tools


public:sotm:reading_2022

This is an old revision of the document!


2022-08-05

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-07-01/a-3-mortgage-leveraging-your-stocks-to-buy-a-home

  • Borrowers can ask their brokerage firms or banks to set up either a margin loan or a securities-backed line of credit tied to their investment account.
  • Raymond James requires that borrower's account size is >= $150,000.
  • Retirement accounts like IRAs are prohibited from this.
  • The mix of assets in a portfolio will determine the amount that can be borrowed
  • Typically, it is set as a percentage of the account
  • Borrowing against investments is cheaper (3% for margin loans vs. 5.8% for a 30-year mortgage)
  • Since there is no underwriting, it is much faster and easier process than obtaining a mortgage
  • Firms typically allow borrowers to tap up to 50% of the market value of their account, but sticking closer to 30% will give you more of a cushion to play it safe.
  • Margin-loan holders should check the mortgage rates quarterly. That way if the mortgage rates become comparable to the margin loan rate, they could switch to mortgage.
  • The interest you pay for a margin loan generally isn’t fully tax-deductible. You can only deduct that interest against any investment income you earn. With a traditional mortgage, you can deduct all the interest for loans up to $750,000 if you itemize your deductions.

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/coinbase-launches-derivatives-product-in-crowdedand-depressedmarket-11656763202

  • the crypto selloff began in November 2021
  • Coinbase
    • Core business is spot-trading
    • reported a loss of $429.7 million in Q1 2022. This is equal to a loss of $1.98 per share.
    • Boris Ilyevsky, the head of Coinbase Derivatives Exchange
    • rival crypto exchanges: Binance, Bybit, and OKX
  • Decentralized exchanges, or DEXes, are a class of crypto exchanges that automate the functions of traditional exchanges and allow traders to invest without an intermediary.
  • Coinbase and Binance are centralized exchanges
  • Centralized exchanges are currently larger than decentralized exchanges.
  • Centralized crypto exchanges are essentially brokering trades, matching orders, and executing and settling the orders. They are the central intermediary, and if something goes wrong, they are the party responsible.
  • Decentralized exchanges aren’t actually brokering trades on behalf of their customers or facilitating the execution or settlement of the trades. All of those functions are handled through software automation. The liquidity to ensure trades get executed comes from the users, too, collected into large “liquidity pools.”
  • dYdX is the second-largest derivatives exchange

2022-08-01

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/amgen-fights-irs-over-10-7-billion-tax-bill-11659346202?mod=hp_lead_pos4

  • Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that is considered a foreign country for corporate income-tax purposes
  • Amgen Inc.,
    • based in Thousand Oaks, Calif.,
    • helped pioneer the biotechnology industry
    • is among the world’s biggest drugmakers by sales
    • Its drugs include arthritis treatment Enbrel and Prolia for osteoporosis
    • $26 billion in revenue last year
  • AbbVie Inc. reduces its tax payments for U.S. sales of its blockbuster medicine Humira by keeping its patent rights under a Bermuda subsidiary, where it has no employees or significant operations, and manufacturing it in Puerto Rico.
  • When determining the location of profits, tax law focuses on where value is created. It doesn’t require that profits match the location of sales, but they are often similar. Pharmaceutical companies, however, rely on easy-to-move patents, and have typically had larger divides between where they put profits and where they have economic activity.
  • transfer pricing

2022-07-29

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-22/tesla-s-bitcoin-dump-leaves-accounting-mystery-in-its-wake?srnd=premium

  • “depreciation, amortization, and impairment” charge
  • Tesla's Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-dollar-emergency-is-worse-than-you-think-exchange-rate-money-euro-prices-inflation-bankers-yen-economy-11659023098?mod=hp_opin_pos_3#cxrecs_s

  • emerging markets ought to barricade themselves against the dollar by borrowing in their own currencies
  • Rapid dollar appreciation punishes global companies. But since it brings down dollar commodity prices, it might help domestic American companies by reducing their raw-material costs.
  • Global companies hedge their foreign-exchange risk. IBM, for instance, hedges its exposure to 35 currencies.

2022-07-27

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/nord-stream-inside-the-closure-of-europes-key-russian-natural-gas-pipeline-11658233177

  • This is a primer on Nord Stream pipeline
  • The Nord Stream pipeline
    • is 760-mile-long.
    • connects Russia’s prolific Siberian gas fields with Germany under the Baltic Sea.
    • was opened in 2011.
    • has a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters a year, which ~10% of the EU's annual consumption.
    • Gazprom is the majority shareholder of this pipeline
  • The Nord Stream 2 pipeline
    • the German government froze this project in February 2022 over the war in Ukraine.
  • Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU imported about 40% of its gas from Russia.
  • Gas from Norway, Algeria, the U.S. and Qatar, often comes in the form of liquefied natural gas transported by ship.

2022-07-21

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-to-buy-one-medical-for-3-9-billion-11658408934?mod=hp_lead_pos4

  • Amazon to buy One Medical Network
    • for $3.9 billion
  • One Medical Network
    • an operator of primary-care clinics
    • 1LifeHealthcare Inc. operates a primary-care practice under the name One Medical
    • ticker: ONEM
    • operates more than 180 medical offices in 25 U.S. markets
    • works with more than 8,000 companies to provide health benefits to employees, including with in-person and virtual care.
    • a technology-based primary-care company
  • Amazon
    • Chief Executive Andy Jassy
    • bought PillPack Inc., an online pharmacy two years ago
  • healthcare - $4 trillion business
  • Amazon Care
    • launched in 2019
  • private-equity firm Carlyle Group Inc.,

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-21/amazon-gets-whole-foods-of-primary-care-with-one-medical-deal?srnd=premium

  • One Medical parent 1Life Healthcare Inc.,
  • senior-focused care company Pine Park Health
  • Optum, CVS-Aetna
  • the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
  • One Medical
    • has never turned a profit
    • has more than 8,500 business clients and about 767,000 patients
  • Amazon
    • acquired mail-order pharmacy PillPack Inc. and folded the operation into its retail website

2022-07-19

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-markets-dow-update-07-19-2022-11658216206?mod=hp_lead_pos2

  • The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of 16 currencies

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/broke-colleges-resort-to-mergers-for-survival-11658239445?mod=hp_lead_pos5

  • Boston-based Northeastern
  • Northeastern absorbed Mills College
  • Mills College
    • a 170-year-old women’s school
    • began in 1852 as a women’s seminary
    • on a 135-acre campus
    • land is worth $1 billion
    • not far from Silicon Valley
    • school's endowment is $191 million
    • art collection includes works by Diego Rivera and Winslow Homer
    • liabilities $21 million
    • a liberal arts college with a focus on women’s rights and gender equity
  • Northeastern
    • President Joseph Aoun
    • provost David Madigan
    • was built a century ago on a work-study model
    • In 2021, 91,986 students applied for 2,620 spots
  • consulting group EY Parthenon
  • St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia absorbed the crosstown University of the Sciences
  • Boston College announced it will absorb Pine Manor College, also in the Boston area.
  • the National Student Clearinghouse

2022-07-18

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-07-18/did-buffett-and-munger-see-byd-s-one-problem-lithium-supplies?srnd=premium

  • BYD is connected with Youngy Co, one of China’s first spodumene, or raw lithium compound, miners.
  • participated in a private placement
  • the Sichuan region
  • lithium iron phosphate batteries
  • BYD won a a contract for lithium extraction in Chile

2022-07-11

Notes from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Arrows_Capital

  • Three Arrows Capital (also known as 3AC or TAC) was a Singapore-based cryptocurrency hedge fund which was ordered to liquidate on 27 June 2022 by a court in the British Virgin Islands.
  • It was founded in 2012 by Kyle Davies and Su Zhu.
  • In its last public statement, the fund claimed a net asset value of $18 billion.
  • Blockchain analytics firm Nansen estimated in March 2022 that Three Arrows managed about $10 billion in cryptocurrency assets, although there is speculation that most of their visible assets were sourced by uncollateralized borrowing from various lending platforms.

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-11/bitcoin-miners-shut-off-rigs-as-texas-power-grid-nears-brink?srnd=premium

  • Miners such as Riot Blockchain Inc., Argo Blockchain Plc and Core Scientific Inc.,
  • Bitcoin miners flocked to Texas due to its low energy costs and liberal regulations on crypto mining.
  • Texas is one of the largest crypto-mining hubs by computing power in the world.

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-11/blackrock-says-don-t-buy-the-dips-as-high-volatility-era-sets-in?srnd=premium

  • strategists including Wei Li, Vivek Paul and Scott Thiel wrote in a mid-year report by BlackRock Investment Institute
  • BlackRock Investment Institute, BlackRock's research arm

2022-07-10

Notes from https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1r249yny49whg/At-BlackRock-New-Accusations-of-Discrimination-and-Harassment-Are-Met-With-Contrition

  • date published | 2021-03-22
  • credit product strategy group
  • BlackRock became the world’s largest asset manager in 2009 when it acquired BGI
  • BGI created iShares
  • BlackRock acquired BGI for $15.2 billion
  • Mark Wiedman is now the head of international and of corporate strategy at BlackRock
  • Mark Wiseman was let go in December 2019 by BlackRock. He was global head of active equities and chairman of the alternatives business.
  • Jeff Smith was let go in July 2019 by BlackRock. He was the global head of human resources.
  • San Francisco’s gritty Tenderloin neighborhood
  • OrbiMed, a health care–focused hedge fund
  • assalamu alaikum, a standard Muslim greeting.
  • financial markets advisory analyst

2022-07-05

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-05/crypto-crash-weighs-on-states-plans-for-tax-payment-by-bitcoin?srnd=premium#xj4y7vzkg

  • Revenue departments in Colorado and Utah are implementing programs to enable businesses and individuals to pay their tax bills with virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin
  • Colorado, Utah - two Western states
  • global cryptocurrency market is now below \$1 trillion from a \$3 trillion peak last November

2022-06-29

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-the-celsius-sales-pitch-was-a-crypto-firm-built-on-risk-11656498142?mod=hp_lead_pos7

  • The median assets-to-equity ratio for all the North American banks in the S&P 1500 Composite index was about 9:1
  • Regulators look at this ration as an indicator of risk.
  • Celsius is a crypto lender. BlockFi is one of its competitor.
  • digital-asset manager Galaxy Digital
  • institutional crypto-lending firm Genesis
  • Celsius used some of that collateral to borrow more money itself, a process known as rehypothecation
  • “staking” cryptocurrencies, which is akin to a certificate of deposit account at a bank

2022-06-23

2022-06-22

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/indias-fintech-reckoning-arrives-11655906616?mod=rss_markets_main

  • unbridled growth
  • prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) — essentially prepaid purchasing cards
  • Slice and Uni Cards—which are funded by Tiger Global, Accel, General Catalyst and Insight Partners
  • Tracxn Technologies - source for data such as “Capital raised in the Indian fintech sector over the past 18 months”
  • PPI licenses
  • brokerage Macquarie
  • top global venture-capital firms - Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, AngelList, Accel and LetsVenture
  • digital-lending ecosystem
  • India’s top fintech company Paytm

Notes from https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-fda-order-juul-e-cigarettes-off-market-wsj-2022-06-22/

  • tobacco giant Altria Group (MO) owns a 35% stake in the vaping products maker Juul Labs Inc.
  • Juul rival British American Tobacco Plc

2022-06-15

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-15/us-retail-sales-growth-falls-constrained-by-plunge-in-autos?srnd=premium

  • 13 retail categories
  • Real spending data for May will be released later this month
  • Restaurant sales, the report’s only services component
  • control group sales – which are used to calculate gross domestic product and exclude food services, auto dealers, building materials stores and gasoline stations

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-sells-more-u-s-dollars-to-defend-currency-peg-11655289211?mod=rss_markets_main

  • Hong Kong’s currency has been tied to the U.S. dollar since 1983
  • It trades within a permitted range of 7.75 to 7.85 Hong Kong dollars per U.S. dollar
  • The city’s de facto central bank sells U.S. dollars if the local currency gets too weak or buys them if the Hong Kong dollar gets too strong.

2022-06-14

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/fedex-adds-board-members-in-deal-with-activist-d-e-shaw-11655212122?mod=hp_lista_pos1

  • Fedex
    • under pressure from activist investor D.E. Shaw Group
    • slated to report its latest results next week
    • raising its quarterly dividend to \$1.15 per share vs. current \$0.75.
    • Raj Subramaniam - new CEO
    • Fred Smith - old CEO
      • lead the company for decades
      • stepped down on June 1st
      • will remain as executive chairman
      • he is one of FedEx’s largest individual shareholders
    • new board of directors - Amy Lane and Jim Vena
    • Jim Vena
      • was operating chief at Union Pacific Corp (UNP)
  • Michael O’Mary, managing director at D.E. Shaw
  • As of 2022-03-31, D.E. Shaw held ~$200 million stake in FedEx
  • FedEx finance chief Michael Lenz
  • YTD S&P 500 declined 21%; Fedex declined 22%

2022-06-13

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/prologis-to-buy-duke-realty-in-26-billion-deal-including-debt-11655123510?mod=hp_lead_pos2

  • Prologis Inc. (PLD) is buying Duke Realty Corp. (DRE)
    • deal valued at $26 billion
    • both are real-estate companies
    • all-stock deal and includes debt
    • expected to close later this year.
    • PLD = 1 billion square feet of space; DRE = 160 million square feet
    • 1 DRE share = 0.475 PLD share
    • PLD plans to hold 94% of DRE's assets and exit one market.
  • PLD
    • world’s largest warehouse operator
    • one-billion-square-foot network of industrial facilities around the globe that help store, process and ship online orders
    • Customers include Amazon, Fedex
  • Amazon
    • looking to sublet at least 10 million square feet of warehouse space

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-crypto-lender-celsius-freezes-all-account-withdrawals-11655096584

  • Celsius Network
    • One of the largest crypto lenders
    • lends out customer deposits to other users to earn a return
    • managed $11.8 billion in assets as of May 17
    • offers users annual percentage yields of up to 18.63% on cryptocurrency deposits
    • it has 1.7 million users

2022-06-12

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/enfamil-and-smaller-baby-formula-brands-test-dominance-of-abbotts-similac-11655026203?mod=hp_lead_pos4

  • The market share for Abbott Laboratories' Similac, the country’s largest formula brand by sales, has been cut in half to around 20% as of last month.
  • The biggest rivals of Abbott Laboratories' Similac are Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC’s Enfamil and Nestlé SA’s Gerber
  • Similac and Enfamil have been the dominant formula brands for more than half a century, with both products accounting for nearly 80% of the $4 billion-a-year market
  • Both brands hold a larger chunk of the market for a single product than Coke and Pepsi have for soda, or Pampers and Huggies have for diapers
  • WIC
    • the country’s largest single buyer of formula
    • It is a federally funded program
    • known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
    • Families supported by WIC receive vouchers to get that specific formula at no cost.
  • Abbott's CEO Robert Ford
  • food giant Danone
  • Opening a factory cost ByHeart some $40 million

2022-06-08

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-08/sec-chief-takes-aim-at-payment-for-order-flow-in-sweeping-plans?srnd=markets-vp

  • $45 trillion US equities market
  • biggest overhaul for the US stock market in more than 15 years
  • different parts of the market: wholesalers, dark pools, and lit exchanges
  • Piper Sandler
  • order-by-order auction mechanism
  • encourage trading directly on exchanges, rather than through market makers
  • Payment-for-order flow has been around since at least the 1980s
  • Citadel Securities and Virtu are among market makers that dominate the business of paying brokers for orders and executing transactions.
  • Robinhood’s Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher
  • If a majority of the commissioners vote to propose the plans, they would be released for public comment and the agency would then hold another vote months later to finalize the regulations after taking into account the feedback.

Notes from https://nj1015.com/buy-gas-from-costco-in-nj-theyre-about-to-make-a-major-change/

  • Seventeen of Costco's New Jersey 20 locations have gas stations.
  • gas price website Gas Buddy

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/secs-trading-shake-up-expected-to-face-heavy-opposition-11654631947?mod=article_inline

  • brokerage firm Themis Trading LLC.
  • Virtu Chief Executive Douglas Cifu
  • trading-technology firm BestEx Research

2022-06-06

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiger-global-giant-tech-bet-11654523735?mod=hp_lead_pos5

  • Tiger global managed $23 billion at the end of 2021, was down 52% this year.
  • One of its long-only funds that managed $11 billion at the end of 2021 has lost 61.7%.
  • money manager LCH Investments
  • Tiger’s venture funds were valued at $64 billion at year-end
  • Tiger is led by 46-year-old founder Charles “Chase” Coleman
  • research firm PitchBook Data Inc.
  • Tiger’s hedge fund rose to \$25 billion in size by late 2021, from \$9 billion two years earlier.
  • Bahnsen Group, a wealth-management firm based in Newport Beach, Calif.
  • Tiger cut its management fee by 0.5% and is allowing investors to withdraw more of their money this year than before.
  • Tiger's venture-capital arm, run by Scott Shleifer, 44
  • JD.com Inc., now a Chinese e-commerce giant
  • used-car website Carvana Co.
  • Peloton Interactive Inc. and shoe maker Allbirds Inc.
  • private-equity firm Apollo Global Management
  • cloud software company Snowflake Inc.
  • Historically, software firms have been valued closer to five times revenue.
  • nicotine-vaping company Juul Labs Inc.
  • investor Union Grove Venture Partners
  • Tiger outsources much of its background research to consultant Bain & Co., where analysts interview customers and create dossiers on prospective companies.
  • Tiger is one of Bain’s largest clients and pays it more than $100 million a year
  • Series B funding—an early round of funding
  • term sheet
  • Moonpay, a Miami-based startup that backers call the PayPal of cryptocurrency
  • The average early-stage startup funding round is less than $20 million
  • The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has fallen by over $1.5 trillion since November, roughly halving the value
  • a venture fund’s performance often lags behind drops in public markets
  • Private companies are harder to value, and managers often rely on a company’s valuation at a prior fundraising round.
  • Sequoia China, the China business of venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital

2022-06-03

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-stock-markets-drop-is-hitting-many-401-k-s-harder-this-time-11653256655

  • The target-date funds hold about 40% of total assets in 401(k)-style plans Vanguard Group administers. They attract 60% of new contributions to 401(k) plans.
  • Vanguard is the largest target-date-fund provider, with about $1 trillion in such funds.

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-taiwan-relations-tensions-explained-11653322751

  • Chiayi Air Force Base in Taiwan
  • Taiwan
    • a self-ruled island of 24 million people
    • roughly 100 miles off China’s southeastern coast
    • democracy
    • was controlled by Japan for half a century until the end of World War II
    • After World War II, it became a part of the Republic of China
  • China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army
  • Mandarin is the dominant language in both China and Taiwan
  • fighter jets, bombers and spy planes
  • portable antitank and antiaircraft missiles
  • conscription
  • Since 1979, U.S. policy toward the defense of Taiwan has been governed by a law known as the Taiwan Relations Act, which holds that any attempt to determine Taiwan’s political future through anything other than peaceful means constitutes a threat to American interests.

Notes from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59900139

  • The split between China and Taiwan came about after World War Two, when there was fighting in mainland China between nationalist government forces and the Chinese Communist Party.
  • The communists won in 1949, and their leader, Mao Zedong, took control in Beijing.
  • Meanwhile, the nationalist party - known as the Kuomintang - fled to nearby Taiwan.
  • Currently, only 13 countries (plus the Vatican) recognise Taiwan as a sovereign country.
  • Taiwan
    • Dominates the global production of computer chips
    • the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company or TSMC - has over half of the world's chip market
  • Global foundry market share:
    • Taiwan - 65%, South Korea - 18%, China - 5%, Other - 12%
  • Taiwan - TSMC, UMC, PSMC, VIS
  • South Korea - Samsung
  • China - SMIC, HHGrace
  • Other - Global Foundries, TowerJazz
  • A “foundry” is a company which makes chips designed by consumer and military customers. It is a vast industry, worth almost $100bn in 2021.

2022-06-01

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-oil-producers-stay-one-step-ahead-of-sanctions-11654076614?mod=hp_lead_pos2

  • blended refined products such as gasoline, diesel and chemicals

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-01/fed-starts-experiment-of-letting-8-9-trillion-portfolio-shrink?srnd=premium

  • The Fed is capping monthly runoff at \$47.5 billion = \$30 billion for Treasuries and \$17.5 billion for mortgage-backed securities – until September. Those thresholds will then double to a combined \$95 billion.
  • Fed's balance sheet
    • now it is $8.9 trillion
    • was $4.5 trillion at the end of 2014
    • was $3.8 trillion by September 2019

2022-05-31

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-leaders-spar-over-russian-oil-ban-11653921289?mod=article_inline

  • Sberbank - the largest bank in Russia.
  • Germany, the EU’s biggest economy, depends heavily on imports of Russian natural gas, which flows through pipelines.
  • OFAC = The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control
  • Russia’s oil exports rose by 620,000 barrels to 8.1 million barrels a day
  • Urals - popular grade of Russian crude
  • India's Jamnagar and Sikka ports
  • Indian energy giant Reliance Industries Ltd.
  • Lauren II, a giant crude carrier that can hold about 2 million barrels of oil

2022-05-21

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-bad-choice-and-a-baby-formula-crisis-factory-shutdown-shortage-infant-cronobacter-fda-11653080306?mod=latest_headlines

  • Cronobacter sakazakii infection in infants
  • “one product-population problem”
  • Cronobacter typically causes disease only in the elderly and immunocompromised.
  • deadly complications like sepsis and meningitis
  • “swabs and sponges”
  • CDC urges mixing powdered formula with water heated to 158 degrees Fahrenheit before serving the cooled solution to an infant.
  • Only one state, Minnesota, tracks Crononbacter infections.

2022-05-20

Notes from https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1099748064/baby-infant-formula-shortages

  • infant formula industry
    • multi-billion dollar business
    • four companies control about 90% of the US market
  • The Abbott manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Michigan
    • Abbott Nutrition is the firm behind it
    • manufactured baby formula
    • supplied as much as one-fifth of all the infant formula in the USA.
    • The formula produced by this plant was suspected to be contaminated which led to a recall
    • They shuttered it
    • It s a critical supplier of specialized formula for infants with allergies and other health conditions that require a particular diet.
  • JBS
    • is a giant meatpacking company
    • was hit by a ransomware attack last year
  • FDA Commissioner Robert Califf
  • Formula makers are regulated by the federal government
  • The federal government is the biggest customer of formula makers.
  • About half of all formula sold in the U.S. is paid for by the Department of Agriculture, through its Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
  • WIC contract
  • Abbott has the WIC monopoly in about two-thirds of all states
  • There are 17.5% tariffs on imported infant formula
  • it will take about two weeks to restart production at Abbott's Sturgis plant and another six to eight weeks to bring that plant to full capacity
  • market research firm IRI

Notes from https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/tesla-removed-sp-500-esg-index-autopilot-discrimination-concerns-2022-05-18/

  • S&P 500 ESG Index
    • weights
      • Apple 9.657%
      • Exxon 1.443%
    • SPDR S&P 500 ESG ETF is based on it
  • oil refiner Phillips 66 (PSX)
  • Tesla pioneered EVs and expanded into battery storage for electric grids and solar-power systems
  • Margaret Dorn, S&P Dow Jones Indices' head of ESG indices for North America
  • S&P Dow Jones Indices is majority-owned by S&P Global Inc. (SPGI)
  • Other big ESG ratings agencies
    • MSCI Inc
    • Morningstar Inc
  • Sustainalytics unit of Morningstar Inc

Notes from https://www.indexologyblog.com/2022/05/17/the-rebalancing-act-of-the-sp-500-esg-index/

2022-05-16

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/warren-buffett-spends-big-as-stock-market-sells-off-11652589031?mod=hp_lead_pos6

  • Berkshire Hathaway bought 901,768 shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY)
  • The SEC requires all institutional investors that manage more than $100 million to file the form 13F within 45 days of the end of each quarter.
  • Cash is dry powder
  • YTD energy stocks are the best-performing group in the S&P 500
  • Chevron (CVX) is up 43% YTD
  • OccidentalPetroleum (OXY) is up 121% YTD
  • S&P 500 is down 16% YTD
  • Energy stocks are likely to be an inflation hedge

2022-05-15

Notes from https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/sri-lanka-financial-economic-crisis-1930721-2022-03-29

  • low-return projects such as construction of ports, airport and coal power plants

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-russian-diamonds-and-gold-out-of-the-u-s-despite-sanctions-11652526180?mod=hp_lista_pos2

  • U.S. and European sanctions have outlawed the sale of gold and diamonds from Russia.
  • Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.) - proposed legislation further restricting Russian gold imports
  • processed diamonds and finished jewelry are often imported from countries such as China, India and Turkey
  • Russia contributes roughly a tenth of the global gold supply and 30% of the diamond supply
  • Russia has a gold stockpile of $140 billion worth
  • the World Gold Council
  • U.S. sanctioned polished Russian diamonds
  • EU has sanctioned Russian gold and jewelry
  • In April, U.S. sanctioned Alrosa
  • Alrosa is the giant Russian diamond producer responsible for 90% of the country’s total supply
  • Alrosa is a Russian miner (mining company)
  • “Stop Russian Gold Act,”
  • The gold industry mainly comprises of small businesses and a vast network of middlemen
  • Global Gold Transparency Initiative - GGTI
  • Big Western companies typically rely on U.K.-based “Responsible Jewellery Council” to certify gems and precious metals as ethical.
  • world’s leading jewelers - Gucci owner Kering SA, Pandora A/S and Cartier owner Compagnie Financière Richemont SA
  • Alrosa is one-third owned by the Russian state
  • Tiffany & Co. owner LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE
  • U.S. jewelry store operator Signet Jewelers Ltd.
  • fully traceable gold typically costs 20% more

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-fake-account-issue-that-elon-musk-cited-in-pausing-twitter-deal-11652612403?mod=hp_lead_pos9

  • As of March 31, Twitter has 229 million daily active users.

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-15/-11-trillion-and-counting-global-stock-slump-may-not-be-over

  • the S&P 500 is down more than 13% from its high on March 29
  • Fewer than 30% of the benchmark’s members have hit a one-year low
  • the 14-day relative strength index
  • Defensive stocks are now in demand
  • slowing growth hammers economically sensitive cyclical sectors
  • Stoxx 600 Defensives Index
  • cyclical-versus-defensive relative performance
  • Nasdaq 100 now trades at about 20-times forward earnings

2022-05-13

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/warnings-from-the-crypto-currency-crash-stablecoin-liquidity-terrausd-11652390321?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

article published date | 2022-05-12

  • $200 billion in crypto assets have blown up in 24 hours
  • stablecoin TerraUSD collapsed
  • Stablecoins are supposed to hold a fixed peg and let investors seamlessly trade crypto assets
  • TerraUSD is linked to another crypto currency - the token Luna
  • Examples of stablecoins - TerraUSD, Tether
  • Coinbase, the crypto exchange
  • Coinbase customers would be unsecured creditors in the event of a bankruptcy
  • Crypto market is $2.9 trillion in Nov 2021. It was $500 billion in Nov 2020.
  • junk bond prices are falling as concerns mount that some companies may struggle to roll over their debt
  • European Central Bank recently warned banks to hold extra capital against leveraged loans, which are sensitive to interest rates, to cover potential losses.
  • About $800 billion in leveraged loans in the U.S. were issued last year
  • Debt covenants and market discipline were already deteriorating before the pandemic
  • the oracles of the Eccles building

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/crash-of-terrausd-shakes-crypto-there-was-a-run-on-the-bank-11652371839?mod=hp_lead_pos7

  • TerrsUSD swelled to $18 billion.
  • TerraUSD's sister cryptocurrency, Luna
  • TerraUSD, which is known by the ticker UST
  • Jim Greco, a partner at crypto quantitative investment firm F9 Research, was celebrating his birthday at Manhattan’s Le Bernardin
  • Anchor Protocol is a crypto bank created by developers at Terraform Labs
    • allows digital-currency investors to earn interest on their coins by lending them out
    • Anchor offered 20% returns on deposits of TerraUSD
  • Investors had deposited $14 billion of TerraUSD in Anchor as of late last week.
  • Terraform Labs - Mr. Kwon's firm
  • Luna lost nearly $20 billion in value
  • a central bank in an emerging-markets country might spend dollar reserves to protect its currency
  • Mr. Kwon, a Stanford University graduate who worked at Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
  • “My dearest creation named after my greatest invention.”
  • Examples of stablecoins - TerraUSD, tether, and USD Coin

2022-05-12

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-11/terra-stablecoin-rescue-efforts-struggle-to-win-investor-support?srnd=premium-asia

  • Jump Crypto is an affiliate of Jump Trading LLC.

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-11/crypto-billionaires-vast-wealth-destroyed-in-weeks-amid-turmoil?srnd=premium-asia

  • Coinbase Global Inc. founder Brian Armstrong
  • Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange
  • Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance
  • Binance, closely held
  • Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini
  • Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of crypto exchange FTX
  • Armstrong owns 16% of Coinbase and controls 59.5% of its voting shares
  • Ehrsam has a 4.5% stake in Coinbase and controls 26% of its voting stock

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-11/coinbase-gives-256-billion-reminder-about-agonies-of-bankruptcy?srnd=premium-asia

  • Coinbase Global Inc. is the biggest US crypto exchange
  • Coinbase was custodian for $256 billion of customer money on March 31
  • Adam Levitin, a Georgetown University law professor
  • automatic stay imposed on creditors
  • General unsecured creditors are the last to recover money. Ahead of them would be senior debtholders

2022-05-05

Notes from https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20220504a.htm

  • Fed raised the target range for the federal funds rate to 3/4 to 1 percent
  • Fed will reduce its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency MBS on June 1

Notes from https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20220504b.htm

  • System Open Market Account (SOMA)
  • For Treasury securities, the cap will initially be set at \$30 billion per month and after three months will increase to \$60 billion per month.
  • For agency debt and agency MBS, the cap will initially be set at \$17.5 billion per month and after three months will increase to \$35 billion per month.

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-approves-half-point-interest-rate-rise-ratcheting-up-its-inflation-fight-11651687201

  • Fed will shrink its balance sheet by allowing bonds to mature without reinvesting the proceeds into new securities rather than by selling them in the open market.
  • Fed will allow up to \$30 billion in Treasurys and \$17.5 billion in mortgage bonds to roll off every month in June, July and August.
  • After that, they will allow \$60 billion in Treasurys and \$35 billion in mortgage securities to run off every month.

2022-05-02

Notes from https://investors.publicstorage.com/news-events/press-releases/news-details/2022/Public-Storage-Provides-Update-in-Relation-to-Agreed-Acquisition-of-PS-Business-Parks-by-Affiliates-of-Blackstone-Real-Estate/default.aspx

  • Public Storage (PSA)
    • holds 41% common equity interest in PS Business Parks (PSB)
      • 7.2 million common shares
      • 7.3 million limited partnership units
      • it will receive $2.7 billion of cash (= (7.2 + 7.3) * 1e6 * \$187.50 = \$2.7 billion)

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/PSB

  • PS Business Parks (PSB)
    • shares outstanding = 27.61 M

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/blackstone-to-buy-ps-business-parks-in-7-6-billion-deal-11650894308

  • Blackstone (BX) to buy PS Business Parks (PSB)
    • for $7.6 billion
    • includes debt
    • BX will pay $187.50 cash for each PSB share
    • premium = 15% over the vwap of PSD's stock over the last 60 days
    • expected to close in Q3 2022
  • PS Business Parks (PSB)
    • a real-estate investment trust
    • owns and operates industrial and low-rise suburban offices and business parks, mostly in California, Miami, Texas and Northern Virginia
    • As of 2022-03-30, it owned
      • 96 properties with 4,900 tenants
      • 800 residential units
    • Public Storage (PSA) owns 26% of PSB's common stock (= 7.2 / 27.61)
  • Last week, Blackstone (BX) bought American Campus Communities for $12.8 billion

2022-04-28

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-28/fidelity-to-create-12-000-jobs-building-on-its-hiring-spree?srnd=premium

  • Fidelity
    • Boston-based fund manager
    • Founded in 1946
    • Closely-held
    • Controlled by the Johnson family
    • In last year: revenue = \$24 billion, operating income = \$8.1 billion
    • Worth $74.8 billion
    • 33.5 million brokerage accounts by Q1 end
    • Currently has 57,000 staff and will add 12,000 by Q3 end
    • discretionary assets of $4.2 trillion
    • Kirsten Kuykendoll, head of talent acquisition at Fidelity
    • Fidelity Diversifying Solutions is focused on liquid alternatives – products that offer regular investors access to hedge-fund like strategies
  • Charles Schwab Corp.
    • has 34,000 staff

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-28/lilly-says-obesity-drug-helps-patients-lose-about-20-of-weight?srnd=premium

  • Tirzepatide
    • Eli Lilly & Co.’s obesity drug
    • an average loss of about 15% of body weight, or 35 pounds, on a low dose of the drug
    • an average loss of about 21% of body weight, or 50 pounds, on the highest dose of the drug
    • Injected once a week
    • Works by mimicking the effects of two gut hormones called GLP-1 and GIP, suppressing appetite and potentially increasing energy expenditure
    • side effects included nausea, diarrhea and vomiting
    • 72-week research trial enrolled 2,539 participants who are either overweight or obese accompanied by another medical condition
  • Wegovy
    • a similar drug from Novo Nordisk A/S
    • average weight loss of about 15%
    • can bring in about $3.5 billion by 2025
  • Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults have measurements of body mass in the obese or overweight range

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-28/after-twitter-elon-musk-jokes-about-buying-coca-cola-to-put-the-cocaine-back?srnd=premium

  • Musk’s net worth $253 billion
  • Jeff Bezos net worth $162 billion.

2022-04-27

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-are-i-bonds-everything-you-need-to-know-to-earn-nearly-10-interest-11650543039

  • Americans snatched up nearly \$11 billion in Ibonds over the past six months, compared with around \$1.2 billion during the same period in 2020 and 2021, according to Treasury Department records.

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-04-08/how-bill-hwang-of-archegos-capital-lost-20-billion-in-two-days?srnd=premium

  • Losses from Archegos implosion
    • Credit Suisse Group AG lost $4.7 billion
    • Nomura Holdings Inc. lost $2 billion.
    • Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. lost $300 million
    • Goldman, Deutsche Bank AG, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo - no losses.
  • penthouse overlooking Manhattan’s Central Park
  • hillside chalet at the Yellowstone Club
  • private jets
  • a “Tiger cub,” an alumnus of Tiger Management, the hedge fund powerhouse that Julian Robertson founded
  • ViacomCBS, GSX Techedu, and Shopify
  • Media conglomerates ViacomCBS and Discovery
  • four Chinese stocks: GSX Techedu, Baidu, Iqiyi, and Vipshop
  • arbitrage on collateralized bundles of obscure financial contracts
  • popular themes such as cord cutting, virtual education, and online shopping
  • family, business, and charity - the Grace & Mercy Foundation
  • Sung Kook Hwang immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea in 1982 and took the English name Bill.
  • Tiger Management, run by Julian Robertson, became one of the first widely famous hedge funds. Many former Tiger employees went on to open their own shops. Hwang’s onetime colleagues at Tiger Management include: Andreas Halvorsen, Viking Global Management; Philippe Laffont, Coatue Management; and Chase Coleman, Tiger Global Management
  • a key lesson: to live with losses
  • Tiger closed in 2001
  • investing only in Korean, Japanese, and Chinese companies that generated all of their revenue domestically
  • a group called Liberty in North Korea, or Link, that has helped about 1,300 North Koreans escaping the regime.
  • the Financial Services Ministry, a group affiliated with New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church that connects Christians in finance
  • Paul Gojkovich, a former director at Merrill Lynch
  • U.S. rules prevent individual investors from buying securities with more than 50% of the money borrowed on margin. No such limits apply to hedge funds and family offices.
  • 2x leverage = $1 million borrowed for every $1 million of capital
  • In a typical swap agreement, a bank gives its client exposure to an underlying asset, such as a stock. While the client gains—or loses—from any changes in price, the bank shows up in filings as the registered holder of the shares.
  • Cursing was not tolerated in Archego's offices. It is a policy borrowed from Robertson’s Tiger.
  • Uniqlo, the fast-fashion brand, because it’s cheap and comfortable
  • hedge fund running a similar strategy would lever up two to two-and-a-half times
  • a portfolio short, a broad bet against the stock market, often made through an options or futures contract on the S&P 500.

2022-04-26

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25/musk-s-21-billion-mystery-where-will-he-get-cash-for-twitter?srnd=premium

  • total
    • $21 billion equity portion
      • personally guaranteed by Musk
    • $13 billion in bank financing
      • secured by Twitter
    • $12.5 billion margin loan
      • backed by a pledge of some of Elon Musk's $170 billion Tesla Inc. stake
  • $54.20 per share of Twitter
  • Musk
    • net worth $257 billion
    • $3 billion in cash
  • Private U.S. companies are generally limited to fewer than 2,000 shareholders
  • Dorsey’s stake in Twitter is worth almost $1 billion

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/bezos-asks-will-musk-s-twitter-deal-disrupt-tesla-in-china?srnd=premium

  • About half of Tesla's cars sold globally last year were produced at its plant in Shanghai
  • Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post
  • Twitter is banned in China
  • Tesla has boomed in China due to tax breaks, cheap loans and the green light to wholly own its domestic operations.
  • Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc. - Amazon's competitors in China

2022-04-21

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-21/musk-is-said-to-vet-potential-equity-partners-for-twitter-bid?srnd=premium

  • Apollo Global Management Inc., Blackstone Inc., Brookfield Asset Management Inc., and Vista Equity Partners

2022-04-19

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/blackstone-bets-on-campus-housing-with-13-billion-acquisition-11650366000?mod=hp_lead_pos2

  • American Campus Communities Inc.
    • the largest publicly traded owner and developer of student housing in the U.S.
    • also known as ACC
    • Austin, Texas-based
    • owns 166 buildings in cities and college towns across the U.S.
    • About a quarter of its properties are on campus
  • There is relatively little new student-housing construction
  • Big investors such as Blackstone and Brookfield Asset Management Inc.
  • Nadeem Meghji, Blackstone’s head of real estate for the Americas

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-19/russia-touts-swift-alternative-but-will-keep-its-members-secret?srnd=premium

  • Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina
  • the central bank will no longer publish quarterly data on the schedule for repayments of foreign debt

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-19/putin-calls-time-on-foreign-listings-in-fresh-blow-to-tycoons?srnd=premium

  • Russia’s richest man, Vladimir Potanin
  • steel billionaires Vladimir Lisin and Alexey Mordashov
  • MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC and Lukoil PJSC, registering depository receipt programs in New York, London and Frankfurt.
  • Lukoil Chairman Vagit Alekperov
  • Since the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, trading in depository receipts of Russian companies has been frozen by foreign bourses.

2022-04-18

2022-04-06

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-06/how-a-russian-oligarch-s-17-billion-fortune-reached-an-off-campus-lsu-dorm?srnd=premium

  • Viktor Vekselberg
    • $16.6 billion
    • invested in Arlington Cottages, an off-campus apartment complex for Louisiana State University (LSU)
      • 732-bed complex
      • built in 2016
      • was appraised at $63.6 million
      • financed with a $44.1 million loan
      • KeyBank NA, the loan’s servicer
      • features a large pool surrounded by palm trees and cabanas
      • facilitated by the investment firm Bracken Capital
    • has a 8-meter (256-foot) superyacht, called Tango valued at $100 million
    • Cyalume Technologies, a Florida-based maker of chemical lighting solutions
    • Odyssey Online, a publishing platform popular with college students
  • Coastal Ridge Real Estate Partners, an investment firm overseeing $3.5 billion of apartments and student housing

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-06/jetblue-bid-for-spirit-is-driven-by-hunger-for-stealth-asset?srnd=premium

  • JetBlue, Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes
  • the four biggest U.S. carriers control about 80% of the domestic market
  • Airbus customers face a wait of two to three years for A320 delivery slots

2022-04-05

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-05/treasury-cuts-off-russian-reserves-in-the-u-s-as-war-drags-on?srnd=premium

  • Energy exports are set to hand President Vladimir Putin a $321 billion windfall this year if the commodities continue flowing.
  • Russia had foreign-currency and gold reserves of about $604 billion as of March 25.

2022-04-04

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-04/elon-musk-s-passive-stake-in-twitter-belies-his-big-influence?srnd=premium

  • Shareholders who intend to remain “passive” – those who don’t seek to influence or change control of a company – file a shorter form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, called a 13G.
  • Those angling for board seats or seismic shakeups typically file a longer and more in-depth form, a 13D, within 10 days of buying their stake.
  • A 13D requires more disclosure – shareholders have to say what their plans are, and how they’re financing the purchase of the stock.
  • The rule applies to anyone acquiring 5% or more of a public company’s stock.
  • Musk announced his 9.2% stake in Twitter by filing the 13G
  • Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey are friends
  • Musk has 80 million followers on Twitter
  • Unlike Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Snap Inc., Twitter’s founders don’t have special voting control over its future
  • Jared Birchall, the head of Elon Musk's family office

2022-04-01

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-01/russian-bond-arbitrage-is-minting-near-guaranteed-profits?srnd=premium

  • relative-value trade
  • A negative-basis trade involves buying beaten down government or corporate bonds along with corresponding credit-default swaps, which insure the debtholder in the event of non-payment.
  • pay out at par quoted recently at 80 cents on the dollar
  • Rob Citrone’s $2.6 billion Discovery Capital Management
    • bought long-dated Russian government bonds at about 20 cents on the dollar, while also hedging with one-year CDS at a price of around 60 cents
    • position accounts for a couple percentage points of Discovery’s portfolio
  • Aurelius Capital Management, GoldenTree Asset Management and Silver Point Capital
    • have been piling into Russian markets by snapping up corporate bonds
  • H2O Asset Management has been adding to its Russian debt holdings
  • distressed-debt veterans - a group known for its combative personalities and aggressive tactics
  • Volumes in Russian corporate bonds soared to their highest levels in two years last month
  • trading of Russian credit-default swaps has surged, dwarfing other single-name contracts
  • Bond and CDS packages were being offered by sales desks for as much as 95 cents on the dollar
  • Marathon Asset Management’s Bruce Richards
  • half of Russia’s foreign-exchange reserves are frozen
  • Clearstream, one of the biggest clearinghouses in the world
  • Jay Newman, the hedge fund veteran behind Elliott Management’s 15-year battle with Argentina following that nation’s default
  • Specialist investors, crossover investors
  • hedge-fund consultant Macro Intelligence 2 Partners
  • setting up offshore structures in order to buy Russian assets

2022-03-27

Notes from
https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2021ltr.pdf
Warren Buffett's 2021 letter to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders

  • Charlie and I are not stock-pickers; we are business-pickers.
  • In 2021, Berkshire's U.S.-based “infrastructure” assets are $158 billion
  • In 2021, Berkshire paid $3.3 billion in federal income taxes.
    • This is roughly $9 million a day.
  • Compare this to $402 billion which is the total corporate income-tax receipts as reported by the U.S. Treasury.
  • “I gave at the office”
  • In 1955, Berkshire Fine Spinning and Hathaway Manufacturing agreed to merge their businesses.
  • Both of them are venerable New England textile companies
  • Fall River (Berkshire) and New Bedford (Hathaway)
  • The New England textile industry had silently entered an extended and non-reversible death march.
  • Berkshire's insurance float is \$147 billion. It increased by \$9 billion last year. In the past two years, it increased by 25%.
  • Ajit Jain was hired in 1986.
  • Marmon has more than 100 individual business operations, ranging from the leasing of railroad cars to the manufacture of medical devices.
  • Berkshire owns 5.55% of Apple, up from 5.39% a year earlier.
  • Each 0.1% of Apple's 2021 earnings amounted to $100 million.
  • In 2021, Apple paid $785 million of dividends to Berkshire.
  • BNSF had earnings of $6 billion in 2021. This figure is calculated after interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and all forms of compensation.
  • Bull markets breed bloviated bull
  • BHE earned $4 billion in 2021.
    • Berskhire purchased BHE in 2000. At that time it was earning $122 million.
    • Berkshire owns 91.1% of the company.
    • BHE's website https://brkenergy.com/
  • David Sokol and Greg Abel
  • Berkshire’s two long-time investment managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.
    • they both manage $34 billion
  • Pilot Corp., a leader in travel centers
  • Berkshire has $144 billion of cash and cash equivalents
    • Of this, $120 billion is held in U.S. Treasury bills with maturity < 1 year. This is 0.5% of publicly-held U.S. national debt.
    • Berkshire will always hold more than $30 billion of cash and cash equivalents
  • Warren Buffett keeps 80% of his net worth in equities but he prefers it to be 100%.
  • Examples of productive investments - stocks, apartments, farms, oil wells
  • During the past two years, Berkshire repurchased 9% of the shares that were outstanding at yearend 2019 for a total cost of $51.7 billion.
  • As of February 23, 2022, since yearend Berkshire repurchased additional shares at a cost of $1.2 billion.
  • Paul Andrews died last year. He was the founder and CEO of TTI, a Fort Worth-based subsidiary of Berkshire.
  • purchasing agent
  • distribute small electronic components
  • TTI now employs 8,043
  • John Roach - a mutual friend of Paul Andrews and Warren Buffett
  • Deb Bosanek - assistant of Warren Buffett
  • Matt Rose, CEO of BNSF
  • “secrets” are catnip to kids
  • the orangutan effect: If you sit down with an orangutan and carefully explain to it one of your cherished ideas, you may leave behind a puzzled primate, but will yourself exit thinking more clearly.

2022-03-21

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-21/china-plane-crash-update-132-people-on-boeing-737-feared-dead?srnd=premium

  • the Civil Aviation Administration of China
  • China Eastern flight
  • Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc.,
    • SPR
    • manufactures about 70% of the 737 Max’s frame for Boeing
    • Supplier
  • India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
  • India DGCA Chief Arun Kumar
  • Air India Express is the low-cost overseas unit of Air India Ltd.,
  • Air India Express and SpiceJet Ltd. operate 737 jets.
  • Vistara is the local affiliate of Singapore Airlines Ltd.
  • Vistara operate some 737 aircraft previously used by now-defunct Jet Airways India Ltd.
  • Aviation Safety Network
  • Boeing 737-800 NG model
    • NG = Next Generation
    • best safety records among all aircraft
    • 11 fatal accidents out of more than 7,000 planes delivered since 1997
    • There are 4,502 Boeing 737-800 NGs in service globally, including 950 in the U.S.
  • Boeing 737 Max was subjected to a global grounding after two deadly crashes
  • The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA)

2022-03-09

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/david-bennett-the-patient-who-received-a-pig-heart-dies-two-months-after-transplant-11646842067?mod=hp_lead_pos13

  • University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore
  • xenotransplantation - the transplantation of an organ between two species
  • Roughly 106,000 people are on the wait list for organ transplants
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network
  • Human heart valves are regularly replaced with ones from pigs.
  • Pig's organs are similar in size to humans’ and also have large litters

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-08/oil-pushes-higher-after-u-s-escalates-russia-sanctions-with-ban?srnd=premium

  • Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismaael
  • The International Energy Agency recently said that it will release 63 million barrels of crude and products
  • OPEC+ produces 400,000 barrel-a-day
  • U.S. distillates inventories

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-03/blackrock-suspends-purchases-of-russian-securities-across-funds

  • BlackRock
    • is pressing index providers to remove Russian securities from broad-based benchmarks
    • AUM at the end of 2021 is more than $10 trillion
  • Russian securities account for less than 0.01% of client assets, mostly in index portfolios
  • Rich Kushel, head of the portfolio management group
  • Salim Ramji, global head of iShares and index investments
  • Polymetal International Plc
    • precious-metals miner
    • based in St. Petersburg, Russia
    • plunged 86% this year
    • will be removed from the FTSE 100 index as of March 21

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-09/blackrock-hedge-fund-raised-its-russia-bet-suffered-record-loss?srnd=premium

  • BlackRock’s Emerging Frontiers Fund
    • AUM at the end Jan 2022 is $960 million
    • down 7% ytd
    • Sam Vecht is the head of the team that manages the fund
      • He is the head of the emerging Europe and frontiers team
      • That team is within the fundamental active equity division
      • That division is part of BlackRock’s Active Equities Group
    • It currently has zero exposure to Russia
    • The Emerging Frontiers fund has never lost money in a full year since launching in Sept. 2011
  • BlackRock halted purchases of Russian securities across its actively managed and index funds effective Monday, Feb 28th.

2022-03-03

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-02-28/which-u-s-european-companies-are-pulling-out-of-russia-after-ukraine-invasion?srnd=premium

  • Russia’s largest foreign investor, BP Plc
  • state-controlled Rosneft
  • BP announced on Sunday that it would exit its 20% stake in Rosneft. This result in a $25 billion write-off and cut its global oil and gas production by a third.
  • Shell owns 50% of the Salym Petroleum Development, which last year earned the company $700 million of adjusted earnings.
  • state-controlled Gazprom
  • Sakhalin-II liquefied natural gas facility
  • Nord Stream 2 pipeline project
  • Kwasi Kwarteng, the U.K. business secretary
  • Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden
  • Equinor ASA is Norway’s biggest energy company and majority owned by the state
  • France’s TotalEnergies SE is involved in major liquefied natural gas projects in Russia
  • Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is the largest in the world

2022-03-02

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-02/biggest-crypto-exchange-says-blocking-all-russians-unethical?srnd=premium

  • Binance - world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange
  • other large cryptocurrency exchanges - Kraken, Coinbase

2022-03-01

2022-02-25

2022-02-22

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-22/mortgage-businesses-seen-laying-off-thousands-as-volume-drops?srnd=premium

  • The number of people working as brokers for mortgages and other kinds of loans is a proxy for total home lending employment.
  • LoanDepot Inc. is one of the largest lenders to consumers outside of the banking sector in the U.S.
  • Mortgage lender Homepoint Capital
  • Better.com, an online mortgage lender
  • The credit rating for the average borrower whose loan is bundled into a mortgage bond backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac fell to 733 in January from 750 a year earlier
  • FICO scale goes from 300 to 850
  • Mortgages for home purchases can take longer to process than refinancings
  • For a purchase, the underwriter needs to evaluate new appraisal documentation, and look at down payments and other moving costs.
  • Purchase loans = loans for home purchases
  • United Wholesale Mortgage is one of the biggest mortgage wholesalers in the U.S.
  • Home loans to borrowers that can’t document income and therefore don’t qualify for mortgages backed by government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae are known as “non-qualified mortgages”
  • Non-QM take longer to underwrite.

Notes from https://www.credit.com/blog/what-is-a-prime-vs-subprime-credit-score-189867/#:~:text=Scores%20of%20620%20to%20799,distribution%20among%20United%20States%20consumers.

  • Scores of 620 to 799 are usually considered prime. Scores below 620 are subprime.

2022-02-21

Notes from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/20/massive-credit-suisse-leak-reportedly-reveals-possible-criminal-ties-among-18000-accounts.html

  • Credit Suisse is the second-biggest Swiss bank
  • OCCRP - Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

2022-02-18

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-ukraine-putin-nato-11643121821

  • Nord Stream 2 is a natural-gas pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany.
  • The pipeline is 764-mile long.
  • U.S. thinks that the pipeline will strengthen Russia’s grip on the European energy market and weaken Ukraine.
  • Germany is a NATO member.
  • Germany is the world’s biggest buyer of Russian gas.
  • Germany draws more than half of its gas supply from Russia
  • German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

2022-02-14

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-14/morgan-stanley-s-wilson-sees-war-a-polar-vortex-risk-to-stocks?srnd=premium

  • Michael Wilson
    • Morgan Stanley’s chief U.S. equity strategist
    • one of Wall Street’s most vocal bears

2022-01-19

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-18/stocks-set-to-extend-drop-amid-higher-bond-yields-markets-wrap

  • Upbeat earnings from Morgan Stanley, UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co.

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-19/blackrock-alumni-have-a-new-gameplan-to-disrupt-junk-debt-etfs?srnd=markets-vp

  • Ben Johnson, director of global ETF research at Morningstar Inc
  • AUM in U.S. fixed-income ETFs is around $1.3 trillion
  • AUM in stock ETFs is around $5.6 trillion

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-19/schwab-ceo-sees-brokerage-of-the-future-looking-more-like-uber?srnd=markets-vp

  • “Charles Schwab Corp/The”
    • CEO = Walt Bettinger
      • He is 61 years old
    • ticker = SCHW
    • 50-year-old firm
    • more than $8 trillion of client assets
    • acquired TD Ameritrade for $26 billion
    • relocating to Westlake, Texas, from San Francisco
    • investment-services industry
      • does SCHW come under this industry?
  • Uber, DoorDash, Amazon
  • Thinkorswim

2022-01-14

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-14/blackrock-s-assets-pass-10-trillion-for-the-first-time

  • Current AUM is $10 trillion
  • It has a chart that shows Blackrock's AUM by fiscal year; from FY2011 through FY2021.
  • S&P 500 climbed 27% in 2021.
  • AUM in actively managed funds = $2.6 trillion. The actively managed funds include ETFs and mutual funds.
  • AUM in alternatives business = $265 billion. The alternatives business includes hedge funds.

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-14/cathie-wood-outflows-grow-as-diehard-fans-face-biggest-ever-test?srnd=premium

  • Cathie Wood’s flagship ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK)
  • ARK
    • 9 ETFs with current AUM $25 billion
    • was founded in 2014
    • investment horizon = 5 years
  • ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG)
  • ARK Israel Innovative Technology ETF (IZRL)
  • The settlement schedule for the products mean that flow data arrives with a one-day lag.

2022-01-05

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-05/td-bank-to-sell-bonds-as-financial-companies-tap-market-en-masse?srnd=markets-vp

  • TD Bank = Toronto-Dominion Bank
  • Scott Kimball - head of investments for U.S. fixed income at BMO Global Asset Management

2022-01-04

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-04/charlie-munger-s-daily-journal-nearly-doubles-alibaba-holding?srnd=markets-vp

  • Daily Journal Corp., a newspaper and software business
  • The Chairman of its Board of Directors is Charlie Munger

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-04/u-s-schools-close-in-droves-as-omicron-drives-staff-shortages?srnd=premium

  • In New Jersey, 30% of schools had switched to virtual learning as of Jan. 3.
  • Among 1.4 million K-12 students, infections have more than doubled in three weeks, to 11 per 1,000 pupils.
  • Staff positives have quadrupled, to 24 per 1,000, according to state data.

Notes from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-04/denmark-dumps-7-billion-in-kroner-on-fx-market-to-protect-peg?srnd=markets-vp

  • Denmark’s central bank sold 47 billion kroner ($7.1 billion) last month to protect its euro peg, the biggest monthly currency intervention to weaken the krone in seven years.
  • With the sale, Denmark’s foreign currency reserves jumped to 529.8 billion kroner at the end of December 2021.
  • The bank uses currency interventions to steer the krone in a tight band to the euro and changes its interest rates when those interventions become too great.
  • Its benchmark deposit rate is already at minus 0.6%.
  • Denmark has had negative rates longer than any other country.
public/sotm/reading_2022.1659719154.txt.gz · Last modified: 2022/08/05 17:05 by raju