If you were only to read one thing…
A Wealth of Common Sense: How Does Something Like Bitcoin Happen? – Ben Carlson 12/7
- The best synopsis of the cryptocurrency I’ve read to date.
- A taste: “Anyone who tells you they know where this thing is heading, how to value it, where it ends, etc. is nuts. No one has a clue. This is everything you’ve ever read about the markets all wrapped into one — FOMO, supply & demand, human nature, behavioral biases, volatility, booms, busts, uncertainty about the future, etc.”
Perspective
Worthy Insights / Opinion Pieces / Advice
Be Inspired: The Power of Morning Routine – Jim Kwik 11/26 (YouTube Video)
Farnam Street – Maker vs. Manager: How Your Schedule Can Make or Break You – Shane Parrish 12/9
Fortune – Inside Elliott Management: How Paul Singer’s Hedge Fund Always Wins – Jen Wieczner 12/7
FT – Self-driving finance could turn into a runaway train – Gillian Tett 12/7
- “…at a recent financial technology conference at Michigan Law School, regulators and academics estimated that computers are now generating around 50-70% of trading in equity markets, 60% of futures and more than 50% of treasuries. Increasingly, machine learning and artificial intelligence are being added to the mix, to analyze data, trade securities and offer investment advice.”
- “What we are seeing, in other words, is the rise of self-driving investment vehicles, matching the auto world. But while the sight of driverless cars on the roads has sparked public debate and scrutiny, that has not occurred with self-driving finance.”
FT – $400m for a Leonardo da Vinci. Has the art world gone mad? – Jan Dalley 12/7
Investment News – Stripped of fat commissions, nontraded REIT sales tank – Bruce Kelly 12/7
- “The Department of Labor’s fiduciary standard, and new securities industry account statement rules for greater clarity in the prices of products, have forced nontraded real estate investment trusts to slice their commissions. Since then, sales of the product have collapsed.”
- “No fat commissions on REITs means poor sales by brokers.”
- “REIT managers and broker-dealer executives are likely reluctant to make the connection, at least publicly. But there is no denying that brokers’ appetite for the product disappeared almost overnight once upfront commissions were cut from 7% on an A share to 3% for a T share.”
- “When REIT sales were booming a few years ago, the product’s pitch was simple: real estate kicks off an income stream of 6% to 7% annually, real estate is an asset class that is not correlated to the stock market, and with interest rates at record lows, investors needed the yield.”
- “Those conditions haven’t changed dramatically, but nontraded REIT sales have tanked regardless.”
- “InvestmentNews reported last month that Robert A. Stanger & Co. expects nontraded REIT sales this year to reach just $4.4 billion, about $100 million less than last year and the lowest levels since 2002.”
- “If the ‘income, diversify and interest rate’ pitch was accurate back in 2012 and 2013, when REIT sales were booming, why isn’t it working today? There is little change in the narrative.”
- “Interest rates have risen only marginally, and with the stock market roaring, wouldn’t it make sense for a broker to peel off some clients’ gains and invest in commercial real estate, a hard asset not correlated to stocks?”
- “With brokers no longer getting juicy commissions for REIT sales, they simply don’t appear interested in selling the product.”
- “Most brokers who still sell nontraded REITs no longer earn the eye-popping 7% commission, the standard rate paid to brokers who sold the product back in 2013, when REIT sales hit their all-time high and brokers sold $19.6 billion of the product.”
- “The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. recently put into place a new rule, known as 15-02, that makes pricing of illiquid securities like nontraded REITs more transparent to investors. In the past, client account statements showed illiquid securities like REITs at the value they were bought by the client and did not subtract commissions, which were high.”
- “‘Now that REITs are getting priced on statements, with Finra 15-02, advisers are having to consider these positions from a total return standpoint, not just income,’ Mr. Rooney said. ‘They are re-evaluating the client’s perception of the product.'”
Markets / Economy
WSJ – Daily Shot: FRED – US Treasury Securities Held by the Federal Reserve 12/8
- “And so it begins… Quantitative tightening is finally here.”
Real Estate
Business Insider – Here’s where the future of retail is headed in 2018 – Stephanie Pandolph 12/5
- Industry to top $5.5tn by 2020.
FT – Norway’s oil fund makes first Asian property investment – Richard Milne 12/7
- “Sovereign wealth fun takes stake in 5 buildings in Tokyo and plans more deals.”
Finance
WSJ – Daily Shot: WP – Bitcoin Rising 12/7
- “Bitcoin blasts past $15k, $16k, $17k in less than 24 hours.”
WSJ – Bitcoin’s Wildest Rise Yet: 40% in 40 Hours – Paul Vigna and Steven Russolillo 12/7
- “Bitcoin mania reached new highs Thursday as the price of the digital currency jumped about 40% in 40 hours, smashing through five separate $1,000-barriers and surging past $16,000.”
NYT – Bitcoin’s Price Has Soared. What Comes Next? – Nathaniel Popper 12/8
China
WSJ – Jailed for a Text: China’s Censors Are Spying on Mobile Chat Groups – Eva Dou 12/8
- If only George Orwell could see the tools at Big Brother’s disposal now.
FT – International investors chase the red dragon – Chris Flood 12/9
