My back-to-work morning train WFH reads:
• As Trump Sinks Dollar, Once-Unthinkable Worry Grips Markets. Just two months into his 2nd term, his escalating tariffs and bid to roll back decades of globalization is shaking confidence in the US currency — which has had a privileged place at the heart of the world financial system for eight decades. The dollar has dropped against all but a handful of the 31 major currencies over the last three months, sending the dollar index down 3%, its worst start to a year since 2017. (Bloomberg)
• The Wealthy Are Key to the Economy. What if They Pull Back? Consumer confidence plunged to a 12-year low, the Conference Board reported, corroborating similar downbeat recent readings from the University of Michigan. Those surveys poll the entire spectrum of the populace, but, as Moody’s Analytics recently reported, the top 10% of incomes account for nearly half of all consumer spending. So, how the rich think and feel has a hugely disproportionate impact on the U.S. economy. (Barron’s)
• We Mapped DOGE’s Silicon Valley and Corporate Connections: If Elon Musk is America’s CEO, DOGE is the Silicon Valley executive branch. (Wired)
• Investors will be ‘miles ahead’ if they avoid these 3 things, ‘How Not to Invest’ author says: Many people are bad investors largely because they aren’t skeptical enough: They react emotionally and they don’t understand compound interest, said Barry Ritholtz, chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management. (CNBC)
• Private Equity Is Coming for America’s $12 Trillion in Retirement Savings: Inside the push to change how every American’s nest egg is invested and make private assets mainstream. (Bloomberg)
• Edmunds: Tesla Trade-Ins Are At An All-Time High: JPMorgan analysts said this week they struggled to think of another time “a [car] brand has lost so much value so quickly.” (Huffington Post)
• Has the Decline of Knowledge Work Begun? The unemployment rate for college graduates has risen faster than for other workers over the past few years. How worried should they be? (New York Times)
• After 50 million miles, Waymos crash a lot less than human drivers: Waymo has been in dozens of crashes. Most were not Waymo’s fault. (Ars Technica)
• You Can Do Leisure Better, Seriously: If you think of personal time only as “not work,” you could be missing out on truly enriching experiences. (The Atlantic)
• Who Am I if the Mets Are Good? When you root for a team that’s won just two championships in its 63-year history, and none since 1986 — a team famous not just for losing but for losing with cartoonish flair and bottomless invention — you learn to be a little flexible. (New York Times)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Michael Lewis, author of MoneyBall, The Big Short, Liar’s Poker, and many others. His new book is Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service.
All post-inauguration periods since 1937 — 2025 is flirting with being the 2nd-worst for the S&P out of 23 election cycles (2001 is the worst).
Source: Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank
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