Capitalogix

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Sometimes words matter ... Sometimes things speak for themselves.

 

 

  

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• If You Want to Succeed in Business, Think like a Shark. (Huffington Post)
• An Ivy League Professor Explains Chaos Theory, the Prisoner's Dilemma, and Why Math Isn't Really Boring. (BI)
• Alibaba’s Jack Ma: the Problem with Counterfeits is They’re “Better Quality” Than Authentic Luxury Goods. (Quartz)
• 11 ‘Smart’ Gadgets that Totally Exist. (TechInsider)
• Is There Really a Five-second Rule about Food on the Floor? (Apple) 

 

Trading Links:

• Investors Pile into Quant Funds. (FT)
• Should We Slow down High-speed Traders? (QuantNews)
• Why the Hedge Fund Industry Should Welcome the Pain It's Experiencing. (Finance)
• Microsoft Buys LinkedIn for $26.2 Billion. (Mashable)
• What Tech’s Unicorn Cult Can Learn from the Art World. (Apple)

Ray Dalio's Top 10 Rules For Success

He's an American businessman and founder of the investment firm Bridgewater Associates.

He appeared on the annual Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

According to Forbes, he was the 30th richest person in America and the 69th richest person in the world with a net worth of $15.2 billion as of October 2014.

He's Ray Dalio - and here are his Top 10 Rules for Success.

 

 

 

 via YouTube.

1. Practice radical truth and transparency

2. Fail, learn, move forward

3. Learn from disagreements

4. People and culture is all that mattersAfter completing his education, Dalio worked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and invested in commodity futures.

5. Meditate

6. Don't let fear stop you

7. Mistakes are good things

8. Build a balanced portfolio

9. Sometimes the high points come from the low points

10. Know that you don't know a lot

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

While conspiracy theorists argue whether the NBA rigged the finals to get to get to game 7, I find this more disturbing ... it's a photo combining Hillary and Trump into a Clump.

 

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• 12 Neglected Questions Successful Leaders Keep Asking. (LeadershipFreak)
• The 5 Books Bill Gates Wants You to Read this Summer. (Inc)
• Netflix Launches Fast.com, a Dead Simple Way to Test Your Internet Speed. (Mashable)
• Your Life in Weeks. (WaitButWhy)
• The 8 Most Elite Special Forces in the World. (BusinessInsider)

 

Trading Links:

• Buffett Becomes Apple’s 56th Largest Shareholder with $1 Billion Investment. (BuzzFeed)
• Apple's Latest Billion-dollar Business: Venture Capital? (Mashable)
• 22 U.S. Companies that Just Keep Getting More Profitable. (MarketWatch)
• What Current Trends Tell Us about the Future of the Hedge Fund Industry. (QuantNews)
• JPMorgan Has New Theory about What Really Caused the Flash Rally. (Bloomberg)

The Future of FinTech

FinTech is hot ... and FinTech startups are disrupting the value chain, and the industry itself, by grabbing market share, increasing customer churn, and putting pressure on margins.

I recently was at the Future of Finance conference, where I talked with the CEO of CB Insights about the changing landscape of trading and asset management.

 

 

 

via YouTube. 

At the conference, one of the sessions was about how banks are "suffering death by a thousand cuts" and being relegated to utilities as they fail to adapt to new tech trends.  Here is a graphic showing the competitive pressures FinTechs are putting on banks.

 

via CBInsights.

Likewise, according to a report by PwC released last week, 9-out-of-10 insurers fear losing meaningful business to stand-alone FinTechs.

The game is changing, and so is what you have to do in order to win.

 

Related articles

PwC: Global Alternative Asset Industry Heading Towards Center Stage

PwC Looks Ahead to 2020: Offers a Roadmap for Alternative Investment Managers

2/3 Of Global Stocks Are Down Since Last Year

Statistics can be misleading.  For example, if markets are near the highs, they must be strong; right?

Gavekal Research recently put out a note that caught my eye.

Since 5/21/2015 (the date that the MSCI World Index made a high), 2 out of 3 mid-large cap stocks have declined.

The histogram below shows the number of companies in Gavekal's version of the MSCI All-Country World Index that have had positive performance (green) or negative performance (red) since 5/21/2015.  

 

 via Gavekal.

Overall, 66% of stocks have declined over the past year -- while just 34% have posted unchanged or positive performance. 

Interesting, but does that show opportunity or hidden weakness?

 

Related Articles

A Closer Look: World Markets

Don't worry about bad breadth

Stock Market Breadth: Weakness Extends to the Large Caps

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

A friend of mine just bet me that Trump would win the election.  So far, Trump has offended a lot of "interest groups" with campaign remarks.  But, then there is Hillary.  It is going to be close.

 

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• 17 Surprising Interview Questions these CEOs Always Ask. (Inc)
• Should We Be Afraid of AI? (Aeon)
• Don't Read This! (It's Only the Most Valuable Psychology Hack You Can Learn.). (Entrepreneur)
• Liberal Brains are Different from Conservative Brains, with Psychiatrist Gail Saltz. (BigThink)
• Jerry Jones Disinterested in Presidential Run, but “Proud” to See Hillary Clinton Earn Democratic Nomination. (Star-Telegram)

 

Trading Links:

• Delinquency Rates Surge in 2016, Poised to Head Higher. (FinancialSense)
• 4 Blockchain Companies that Could Change Everything from Accounting to Money Transfers. (MarketWatch)
• In the U.S. and Abroad, More Young Adults are Living with Their Parents. (PewResearch)
• Top 100 Economics Blogs of 2016. (Ritholtz)
• How Much Did the Clintons Make from Paid Speeches in 2015? (CNW)

The Universal Hot vs Crazy Matrix - A Man's Guide to Women

Thought this was funny.  Hope you enjoy it too.

Care to guess where my wife fits?

 

 

YouTube.

There is even merchandise ... and a much shorter women's guide to men.

Each State's Biggest Export Trading Partner

Despite Canada's considerable geographic challenges, a friend sent me this as a reminder.

This chart shows the country to which each state exports the most.  The states that border Mexico send a lot of goods there, while 35 states have Canada as their biggest export partner.

 

via Business Insider.

 

Back to the chart ... International trade is a big part of America's economy, and a factor in each of the fifty state economies that constitute it.

The Census Bureau publishes annual figures on each state's international trade. In addition to the top 25 goods imported and exported by each state, the Bureau reports the 25 countries each state imports the most from and exports the most to.

In addition, here is a list of the U.S.'s largest trading partners (including a different list showing countries of which U.S. is the largest trading partner).

Finally, here is a link to a map showing U.S. states renamed for countries with similar GDPs.

 

Remembering Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali, considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, died last Friday at 74 years old.

Besides boxing, he was known for his quick wit, sharp tongue, and memorable quotes.  

Here's one of my favorites.

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

― Muhammad Ali

 

Here's another.

  

 via USAToday.

 

Here is a link to some great photos.

There are many videos recounting his life and the times, but I like this video because it shows him doing what made people call him "The Greatest".

 

 

YouTube.

 

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

You know you are old if you remember life before emojis.

 

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links:

• Amazon’s Secrets of Invention: Jeff Bezos Explains How to Build an Innovative Team. (GeekWire)
• TED Talk in Two Minutes: 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation. (Moo)
• "Was Ist Sex" - These are the Cartoons Germany Uses to Teach Sex to Refugees. (ZH)
• Father's Day 2016 Gift Ideas for the Discerning Geek. (InfoWorld)
• What Spiral Dynamics Says about Trump and Clinton. (Coaching Mastery)

 

Trading Links:

• After Distancing Herself from Bill Clinton’s Economic Policies, Hillary Wants Him as Mr. Economic Fix It. (NakedCapitalism)
• Rise of the Billionaire Robots: How Algorithms Have Redefined Hedge Funds. (TheGuardian)
• COT Data Insights: are the Bears Ready to Step Up? (SeeItMarket)
• Forget AWS, Amazon Has Another Billion-Dollar Business on Its Hands. (Forbes)
• Revealed: Saudi Arabia Owns $117 Billion of U.S. Debt. (Money)