10 Wednesday AM Reads – The Big Picture

My mid-week morning train reads:

• What surprisingly low November inflation means for 2023: There was barely any inflation in November, indicating that the economic environment might be more mild than previously thought, potentially giving the Federal Reserve the opportunity to ease up on interest rate hikes and perhaps even avoid a recession — if it wants to. (Grid)

• The Fed is Dead: Its interest rate hikes are hurting consumers and workers while bypassing the main source of inflation (Robert Reich) see also Unpredictable 10-Year Treasury Yield Poses Puzzle for Investors, Fed: Recent declines in critical borrowing benchmark have come despite expectations for higher short-term interest rates. (Wall Street Journal)

• Some Thoughts About Investing: Self-confidence as an investor comes from being comfortable with uncertainty. It’s not easy to admit you don’t know what the future holds, but coming to this realization can make your life a whole lot easier since we all have a bunch of other stuff to worry about on a daily basis. Once you let go of the illusion of control when it comes to the future, you focus on what you can control and let the chips fall where they may. (A Wealth of Common Sense)

• How Did the Housing Market Get So Unaffordable for So Many? Recent volatility in home prices and rents has been a long time coming. Fixing it will require abandoning outdated policy frameworks. (Wall Street Journal)

• Some Bosses Embrace Work From Home to Keep Wages Down: With potential hires in short supply, companies increase their recruiting in areas where pay is lower. (Businessweek)

• The Brilliance and Weirdness of ChatGPT: A new chatbot from OpenAI is inspiring awe, fear, stunts and attempts to circumvent its guardrails. (New York Times)

• Jay Leno on Electric Cars, Hydrogen Fuel, Space Travel—and His Recent Accident: The comedian and car lover has been very happy with the EVs he has bought. He is less interested in leaving Earth, though. (Wall Street Journal)

• Everyone Is Sick Right Now: For the past two years, social distancing kept seasonal viruses at bay. Now they’re roaring back. (Wired) but see Covid-19 vaccines have saved more than 3 million lives in US, study says, but the fight isn’t over. Without Covid-19 vaccines, the nation would have had 1.5 times more infections, 3.8 times more hospitalizations and 4.1 times more deaths than it did between December 2020 and November 2022. (CNN)

• Astronomers Grapple with JWST’s Discovery of Early Galaxies: Researchers are convinced the James Webb Space Telescope has glimpsed an unexpected population of galaxies in the early universe. Now they’re trying to decide what this means for our understanding of the cosmos (Scientific American)

• The ultimate gate-crasher reaches the end of the line: He’d claim he was an NFL ref. He’d dress as a doctor, complete with black bag and stethoscope. He’d pretend to be with the band, the press, the organist. One time he got in by pushing himself in a wheelchair. He had enough disguises to satisfy a studio back lot. I’m still not sure it wasn’t Dion who blew the lights out at the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans just to get in. (Washington Post)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Kathleen McCarthy, Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate. Blackstone is the world’s largest owner of commercial real estate globally with a $565 billion portfolio and $319 billion in investor capital.

Housing, Inflation and Why the Fed Should Consider a Pause

Source: Calculated Risk