What caught my eye this week.
I am just back from two days away for a wedding with a slightly sore head, a very favourably updated impression of Liverpool, and our regular weekend links only now finalised and tidied up.
Oh, and also to the discovery this morning that I hadn’t done as badly as I’d gathered from furtive half-glimpses at my live portfolio-tracking spreadsheet in the quiet moments before the cake was cut.
Rather, I’d forgotten one of my recently re-upped stocks was due a 10-to-one stock split at the end of the week!
Phew – it turns out there’s a benefit to my usual active obsessiveness after all. But also an even-bigger case for slipping my reading glasses into my wedding suit and never mind lumpy pockets in the photos.
Alright that’s it for a soaring treatise waffly intro this week. Thanks to my email software, I know a select few of you are out there banging ‘refresh’ repeatedly in your eagerness to get your weekly investing reads.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
From Monevator
What next for Bill Ackman and Pershing Square Holdings? – Monevator [1] [Members [2]]
US historical asset class returns – Monevator [3]
From the archive-ator: Five lessons for investors from an Olympic superstar of 2008 – Monevator [4]
News
Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view click through to read the article. Try privacy/incognito mode to avoid cookies. Consider subscribing to sites you visit a lot.
Housebuilder says consumer confidence has returned amid cheaper mortgage rates… – Guardian [5]
…but landlord sales are rising as financial pressures grow [Search result] – FT [6]
Founders in line for £850m as Hargreaves Lansdown agrees to sale – This Is Money [7]
Various US trading platforms suffered outages during the recent sell-off – Sherwood [8]
[9]
Volatility pros say record VIX surge on Monday was a head fake – Bloomberg [10]
Products and services
Hargreaves Lansdown’s private equity bid could herald fees makeover [Search result] – FT [11]
NS&I offers new two and five-year fixed savings for the first time since 2009 – This Is Money [12]
Get up to £1,500 cashback when you transfer your cash and/or investments to Charles Stanley Direct [13] (T&Cs apply. Capital at risk) – Charles Stanley Direct [13]
The cheapest ways to watch Premier League, EFL and other football on TV – Be Clever With Your Cash [14]
Are private banks still worth it? [Search result] – FT [15]
Open an account with low-cost platform InvestEngine via our link [16] and get up to £50 when you invest at least £100 (T&Cs apply. Capital at risk) – InvestEngine [16]
Why is home insurance more expensive for period properties? – Which [17]
The new ’74’ number plates banned because they’re too rude – This Is Money [18]
How an Australian built herself a tiny house fit for a big life – Guardian [19]
Comment and opinion
The well-off people who can’t spend money – The Atlantic via MSN [20]
Taking the keys – Humble Dollar [21]
No purpose or place – Life Beyond the Daily Grind [22]
Meaningful investing that actually matters, with Meb Faber [Podcast] – 50 Fires via Spotify [23]
Market volatility is business as usual mini-special
Why the markets are down (and it’s okay not to care) – The Atlantic [24]
Reasons to sell – Spilled Coffee [25]
I can’t explain – Behavioural Investment [26]
How long can stocks underperform? – Of Dollars and Data [27]
No news trumps fake news – A Teachable Moment [28]
This is normal – A Wealth of Common Sense [29]
Naughty corner: Active antics
CNBC’s perfect market-timing indicator – Charlie Bilello via X [30]
Does WallStreetBets deliver alpha? – Alpha Architect [31]
Classifying economic regimes – Verdad [32]
A great company that’s a turtle not a hare – Morningstar [33]
The active management reinvention project – Investment Ecosystem [34]
Kindle book bargains
The Happy Index by James Timpson – £0.99 on Kindle [35]
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt – £1.99 on Kindle [36]
Smarter Investing by Tim Hale – £9.29 on Kindle [37] [£9.29! But rarely reduced]
Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking by Matthew Syed – £0.99 on Kindle [38]
Environmental factors
North-South charger divide threatens EV revolution – This Is Money [39]
Ocado starts trial selling everyday products in reusable packaging – Guardian [40]
Inside Silicon Valley’s grand ambitions to control our planet’s thermostat… – Noema [41]
…but many are wary of planet-scale engineering projects – New York Times [42] [h/t Abnormal Returns [43]]
Great Barrier Reef at record temperatures – Semafor [44]
Lab-grown eel meat is a slippery business – The Generalist [45]
Robot overlord roundup
Where Facebook’s AI slop comes from – 404 Media [46]
Are we in an AI bubble or not? Arguments for and against – Sherwood [47]
LLMs are a dead-end, new AI prize founder claims – Free Think [48]
It’s practically impossible to run a big AI company ethically – Vox [49]
AI Friend or AI Friendo? – Spyglass [50]
Off our beat
The new-ish weight loss drugs are starting to look like miracle cures – Wired [51]
You’d be amazed how little being an Olympic hero on Team USA pays – Sherwood [52]
“Why I hate Instagram now” – The Atlantic via MSN [53]
Etsy is struggling to keep its platform curated for handmade goods – Semafor [54]
A ‘strategic Bitcoin reserve’ is an absurd idea – The Overshoot [55]
How to know if you’re living in a doom loop – The Honest Broker [56]
A few little ideas – Morgan Housel [57]
And finally…
“A bubble can easily be punctured. But to incise it with a needle so that it subsides gradually is a task of no small delicacy.”
– John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929 [58]
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