Be Boring Not Bored

Good Morning,
 

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday as Wall Street assessed the likelihood of tighter monetary policy following a weaker-than-expected jobs report.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 39.46 points, to close at 21,987.56. The index also rose above 22,000 earlier in the session for the first time since mid-August.

The S&P 500 gained 0.17 percent to end at 2,475.77, with energy leading seven sectors higher. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.1 percent to 6,435.33, a record close.   

The U.S. economy added 156,000 jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists polled by Reuters expected 180,000 jobs to have been added last month.

The BLS also said, however, that wages grew at an annualized rate of 2.5 percent, less than expected.

On the Canadian side, the economy unexpectedly accelerated at a 4.5 percent pace in the second quarter -- tops among Group of Seven countries -- led by the biggest binge in household spending since before the 2008-2009 global recession.

Annualized growth was the fastest in six years and topped the 3.7 percent average forecast from economists. This isn't just a win for Canada. This print is further evidence of a strong global recovery.

Our Take
 

August's nonfarm data in the US was disappointing but should be viewed the context of solid U.S. and global economic growth, strong earnings, low inflation and still-ample global liquidity which will likely allow the US rally to continue.

The disconnect between modest economic growth and low inflation continues to support equities here. Not to hot. Not to cold. Perhaps central banks search for inflation has turned Sisyphean and should be abandoned...

A good way to think about the present equity market is as follows:

1. Valuation compared to alternatives – positive

2. Valuation compared to inflation – positive

3. Risk of recession – extremely low

4. Financial stress – extremely low

5. Market skepticism – high

Musings

This week, throughout my conversations and observations about the market I couldn’t help but notice a common theme: boredom. The last 2 weeks have been relatively quiet in the markets as investors return from vacation while others gear up for the long weekend.

Nevertheless, the punditry and financial media have soldiered on doing their best to whip up stories suggesting that danger is lurking around every corner: The Fed, North Korea, Trump, China’s CDS market etc.

What these times of “boredom” acutely remind me of is a principle eloquently presented by Christoper Mayer: “Boredom can explain a lot. It can explain all kinds financial behavior. And there is definitely a “boredom arbitrage” to take advantage of in the markets.”

People get bored. Most of life for most people is “boring”. Most jobs require just enough concentration to prevent one from drifting off into a dream but not enough to really occupy the mind. As a result, we have boredom on a massive scale. As such, people will do all kinds of strange things to alleviate that boredom.

They will act like fools. Dress like idiots and make all kinds of decisions to sabotage their lives. Anything to kill the boredom.

The financial markets are still primarily composed of the results of people’s decision making and thus are influenced by boredom. People get bored and just want to make something happen.

In the financial markets, people wind up sabotaging their own portfolios out of sheer boredom.

Why else throw money at fly by night unregulated Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)? Or put money in “pre-revenue” tech startups with unproven founders? Or chase hyped up tech companies that trade at absurd levels with questionable prospects? Or go to cash or gold because Donald Trump is in the White House or “the market” looks overvalued?

They are bored!

It seems exciting to churn your money in this way. People buy and sell stocks so frequently because they are bored. They feel they have to do something.

This is the fundamental lesson to remind oneself of during these “boring” times. When asked in an interview this week why he hasn’t spoken out about Donald Trump, Warren Buffett reminded us that:

"Forty-five presidents of the United States and I lived under a third of them," he said. "I bought stocks under 14 of the 15. The first one was [President Herbert] Hoover. I was only 2 when he left so I hadn't gotten active at that point. But [ Franklin Delano] Roosevelt was next. And I bought stocks under him, even though my dad thought it was the end of the world when he got elected."

My goodness how boring. Yet how profitable. Furthermore, at a time when most investors are bored with anything that isn’t tech, artificial intelligence, blockchain or Alibaba, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has invested more money in financial stocks. Berkshire Hathaway reported a 17.5 million share stake in Synchrony Financial, in its June quarter 13F filing as well as converting warrants into 700 million shares of Bank of America (BAC) common stock.

This is a prime example of “boredom arbitrage”. Often what is out of favor is priced as such and thus offers the best prospects for outsized returns over the long-term.

Furthermore, people get bored of holding the same stock for long periods of time. They want action. But consider the classic 100 bagger Monster Beverage.

This company became a 100 bagger in 10 years and yet during that period there were over 10 occasions that the stock fell more than 25%. In three separate months, it lost more than 40% of its value. Yet if you focused on the business and not the stock price, putting $10,000 in, you would have ended up with $1 million at the end of ten years.

Be a reluctant seller. Hold for the long-term. Be boring not bored.

Hundredfold returns are unlikely to induce boredom...

Thought of the Week
 

"All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.” -Pascal

Articles and Ideas of Interest

• The free economy comes at a cost. Facebook, whose users visit for an average of 50 minutes a day, promises members: “It’s free and always will be.” It certainly sounds like a steal. But it is only one of the bargains that apparently litter the internet: YouTube watchers devour 1bn hours of videos every day, for instance. These free lunches do come at a cost; the problem is calculating how much it is. Because consumers do not pay for many digital services in cash, beyond the cost of an internet connection, economists cannot treat these exchanges like normal transactions. The economics of free are different.

• Too much power lies in tech companies’ hands. A libertarian case for caution after the Daily Stormer is booted off the public internet. Libertarians tend to worry about concentrations of power in the hands of the state. There is no consensus about the danger of concentrations of power in private hands. But when the private hands in question control access to the principal media of communication in the world, one has to hesitate when they decide that not everyone should be granted entree. For the power they are exercising is almost state-like. 

• Silicon Valley isn’t special. Tech has plenty of reasons to believe that it is an industry of upstarts but the facade is crumbling.

• Contrarian view of Amazon. Moody’s contrarian view is especially notable because it makes the intriguing argument that Amazon, while it may be an online juggernaut, is actually the weakest of the large U.S. retailers. Although the Seattle-based company does capture about half of all online retail sales, that’s a tiny share of all retail sales; about 90 percent of all sales are made offline.

• How the next quant fund crisis will unfold and why quant strategies are underperforming. Almost everyone knows that this month marks the 10th anniversary of the start of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. There was another significant event back then that gets overlooked but was still very significant. I’m referring to the quant equity crash of August 2007. Institutional quant hedge funds have addressed the risk issues that caused 2007 losses, but the newer retail products cannot. Another interesting piece looking at the recent underperformance of quant funds. The space is getting crowded.

• Finding the root cause of recessions. Two things bear most of the blame: external shocks and economic volatility.

• Robots will not take your job. Wired magazine paints a compelling picture as to why the fear and hype is overblown.

• Millennial Americans are moving to the ‘burbs, buying big SUVs. Wait I thought it was the gig economy and consumption was dead? Millennials are finally starting their own baby boom and heading for the suburbs in big sport utility vehicles, much like their parents did. Americans aged about 18 to 34 have become the largest group of homebuyers, and almost half live in the suburbs, according to Zillow Group data. As they shop for bigger homes to accommodate growing families, they’re upsizing their vehicles to match. U.S. industry sales of large SUVs have jumped 11 percent in the first half of the year, Ford Motor Co. estimates, compared with increases of 9 percent for midsize and 4 percent for small SUVs. Guess they just want to be like their parents after all.

• To come up with a good idea. First try and come up with the worst idea possible. There are many creative tools a designer uses to think differently, but none is more counter-intuitive than “wrong thinking,” also called reverse thinking. Wrong thinking is when you intentionally think of the worst idea possible — the exact opposite of the accepted or logical solution, ideas that can get you laughed at or even fired — and work back from those to find new ways of solving old problems. Nice piece in HBR looking at innovation and discovery.

• The cryptocurrency phenomenon is gaining further traction. The world’s biggest banks aren’t immune from cryptocurrency euphoria, with a range of projects underway to explore how traditional financial firms can benefit from the innovation. Swiss banking giant UBS and 10 other companies say that they plan to use the technical idea behind bitcoin—a distributed ledger called a blockchain—for their own digital currency (paywall). This could show the way for the world’s biggest central banks to do the same.

Our best wishes for a fulfilling week, 
 

Logos LP

• Asset Management 4
• Ideas 19
• Macro 9
• Newsletter 87
• Psychology 4
• Strategy 7

Stealth Bear Markets

Good Morning,
 

U.S. equities managed to stage a comeback from their session lows on Friday after Steve Bannon, one of President Donald Trump's top advisors, left the administration. Traders at the New York Stock Exchange literally cheered the news that Bannon was out of the administration.

The Dow and the S&P fell 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent for the week, respectively, marking their first two-week losing streak since May. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, posted a four-week losing streak, its longest of the year.

In Europe, stocks extended their declines after a horrific terrorist attack in Barcelona added to unease about U.S. policy paralysis and lingering tensions over North Korea.

Tension between Bannon and other top advisors to Trump, including Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, had been intensifying inside the White House. On Wednesday, Reuters reported that disagreement between Bannon and McMaster is destabilizing Trump's team.

As volatility picked up this week with the VIX rallying roughly 44% from its lows only a month ago, investors grew worried that Trump's economic agenda, which includes tax reform and fiscal stimulus, will not get through Congress. These concerns only grew as backlash multiplied from Trump's remarks following the violent protests in Charlottesville, VA.

This led to Trump dissolving two CEO advisory forums, one of which included JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon. Rumors also started circulating Thursday that Cohn, Trump's top economic advisor, could resign amid the fallout.

Investors pulled $1.3 billion from equity funds in the week ending Aug. 16 as tensions over the Korean peninsula escalated, according to EPFR Global data. Outflows from U.S. stock funds were triple that, suggesting a growing risk off attitude.

Our Take
 

Largely lost in the debate over how much credit President Donald Trump should or should not get for the performance of U.S. stocks this year is that perhaps the biggest reason for the rally is strong earnings. With more than 90 percent of the S&P 500 members having reported second-quarter results, earnings growth is tracking at a 12.2 percent pace year-over-year, much better than the 8.4 percent expected, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

All sectors of the benchmark are on pace to beat projections, except energy, where less than 40 percent of companies topped earnings forecasts. Technology and healthcare continue to lead upside surprises, with more than 85 percent of tech companies and 75 percent of health companies posting better-than-expected earnings per share.

This is all great news yet markets are forward looking, so it stands to reason that what happens next in earnings should have a big influence on the direction of stocks.

That’s where things may be looking a bit less tremendous. Despite the positive earnings surprises in second-quarter results, S&P 500 profit estimates for the next four quarters continue to edge lower. Earnings per share forecasts for the index through mid-2018 have been reduced by 0.7 percent since the end of June, with the fourth-quarter bearing the brunt of downward revisions, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. But should this worry the prudent long-term investor?

FactSet this week presented a nice overview of the charts/data that tell the story of 2017 so far. A few interesting trends which we believe are likely to continue through Q3 and Q4 were:

1) Consumer spending is not keeping up with consumer sentiment (not a good thing)

2) Consumer price inflation is slowing even as the Fed is planning to tighten (also not good)

3) Companies in the S&P 500 with more global revenue exposure are projected to report higher earnings and revenue growth in 2017 relative to companies in the index with less global revenue exposure. (perhaps a source of opportunity)
 

At the sector level, the Information Technology sector is expected to be the largest contributor to earnings and revenue growth in 2017. No wonder the Russel 2000 is up a measly 0.05% YTD while the Dow is up 9.67% and the S&P 500 is up 8.33%.

Absent any significant changes in foreign exchange rates and global GDP growth in the second half of 2017 which could alter these expected earnings and revenue growth rates for the full year, it is unlikely that David Tepper’s bold call that technology stocks "look cheaper than any other part of the market even though they moved” will prove foolish.  

So what are the opportunities? Well, we have spotted one such opportunity that recently took a dive after an earnings miss: Priceline Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN).

This online travel reservation business has been growing pre-tax earnings over the last decade at a compound annual rate of 42% per year. That is faster than Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Alphabet and Expedia (Expedia has been growing EBITDA over the last decade at around 7%).

Average ROE is about 28.4% and long-term prospects also look favorable. Last year travel accounted for roughly 10% of global GDP or $7.6 trillion and only about ⅓ of it is booked online. This share is expected to grow by a few percentage points per year and thus although rivals such as AirBnB, Tripadvisor, Expedia, Ctrip and perhaps Google are circling, the future looks bright indeed.

Sitting roughly 12% off its 52 week high Priceline is getting attractive. A move under 1600 or another 12% down from current levels and we would look to initiate a position.

Musings

Came across a pretty interesting chart this week from Michael Batnick which painted a nice picture of how the market has scaled the “wall of worry” in defiance of a plethora of doomsday predictions of an imminent selloff.

As the graph shows, since stocks bottomed in March 2009, the S&P 500 index has soared 271% to multiple records, meandering higher through the European debt crisis, Brexit, and the U.S. presidential election.

Political upheaval certainly does not necessarily translate to market volatility. But more importantly, the chart got me thinking about a common refrain these days: “things can’t keep going up like this”. Is that true? Are “things” bound to collapse? What may be more relevant to consider is what we mean by “things”?

Looking at this current market as a "market of stocks" rather than as a "stock market" it is clear that “things” most certainly cannot keep going up and in fact “things” most certainly are not continuously going up: The average Russell 2000 stock is already in a bear market, falling 22.42% from its 52-week high. The median Russell 2000 stock is 17.38% from its 52-week high. Likewise, the average and median S&P 500 stock are 8.04% and 11.77% from their 52-week highs.

What of this record bull market then? Well it may be that we have experienced several “stealth” bear markets within the current long-term uptrend.

It should be remembered that market crashes of over 30% are incredibly rare events. Could the bear market that so many people are predicting these days have already happened?

I think this an argument worth considering given the fact that research has shown that in 189 years of stock returns only 3 times since 1825 did the market finish a calendar year down 30% or worse. That’s about once every 63 years...recency bias is a hell of a drug...
 

Logos LP July Performance

 

July 2017 Return: -1.16%

2017 YTD (July) Return: +18.67%

Trailing Twelve Month Return: +21.59%

3-Year Annualized Return: +22.55%

Thought of the Week

"After seeing a movie that dramatizes nuclear war, they worried more about nuclear war; indeed, they felt that it was more likely to happen. The sheer volatility of people's judgement of the odds--their sense of the odds could be changed by two hours in a movie theater--told you something about the reliability of the mechanism that judged those odds.” -Michael Lewis

Articles and Ideas of Interest

• Ten years ago from August 9, people weren’t that worried about impending financial doom. Ten years ago August 9, all was not well with the global financial system. On Aug. 9, 2007 BNP Paribas froze more than $2 billion in funds, barring investors from withdrawing their money due to a “complete evaporation of liquidity in certain market segments.” This marked the beginning of a dangerous new phase in what eventually developed into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. What did we learn? Reuters puts together a decade in charts. Financial Times suggests that there were clear warnings that Wall Street ignored.

• Time to focus on return of capital strategies? Is there anybody left recommending risk assets? It sure seems like if there are, they are few and far between. The number of influential pundits warning about the risk of investing in assets such as corporate bonds and equities is growing exponentially. Recently it was Oaktree Capital Group co-Chairman Howard Marks and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Last week, it was the likes of DoubleLine Capital Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Gundlach, HSBC Holdings’ head of fixed-income research Steven Major and Pantheon Macroeconomics Chief Economist Ian Shepherdson. Have we reached the point in the investment cycle where you’ve got to start thinking the return on capital is rather less important than the return of capital…Luckily for doomsday preppers, the end of the world is good for business.

• Is passive investing “devouring capitalism”? Billionaire Paul Singer is warning of a growing and menacing threat: passive investing.“Passive investing is in danger of devouring capitalism,” Singer wrote in his firm’s second-quarter letter dated July 27. “What may have been a clever idea in its infancy has grown into a blob which is destructive to the growth-creating and consensus-building prospects of free market capitalism.” Almost $500 billion flowed from active to passive funds in the first half of 2017. The founder of Elliott Management Corp. contends that passive strategies, which buy a variety of securities to match the overall performance of an index, aren’t truly "investing" and that index fund providers don’t have incentive to push companies to change for the better and create shareholder value. Cranky underperforming manager (Singer’s Elliott Associates fund rose 0.4 percent in the second quarter, bringing gains for the first half to 3.5 percent) or luminary? The Atlantic explores the growing chorus of experts that argue that index funds are strangling the economy. I would agree. Diversification has brought undeniable benefits to large numbers of Americans. If recent scholarship is right, it has brought hidden costs to many more. For the opposing view see Gadfly.

• Forget robots — “super-workers” may be coming for your job. According to a report from PwC, one outcome of technology and automation could be the rise of the medically-enhanced “super-worker” by 2030. These workers will combine man, machine, and medical enhancements (like pharmaceuticals to boost cognition) to secure employment and guarantee performance in an increasingly competitive labor market. 70% of those surveyed by PwC said they’d undergo treatments to improve their bodies and minds if it would help their job chances. On a small scale, some of this is already happening: A Wisconsin firm recently made headlines for microchipping employees.

• Lego-Like brain balls could build a living replica of your brain. The human brain is routinely described as the most complex object in the known universe. It might therefore seem unlikely that pea-size blobs of brain cells growing in laboratory dishes could be more than fleetingly useful to neuroscientists. Nevertheless, many investigators are now excitedly cultivating these curious biological systems, formally called cerebral organoids and less formally known as mini-brains. With organoids, researchers can run experiments on how living human brains develop—experiments that would be impossible (or unthinkable) with the real thing.

• Digging for digital gold in Inner Mongolia. The crypto currency mania shows no sign of abating. Consider the case for $5000 bitcoin (why not $10000?). Yet also consider that at the heart of bitcoin are miners running massive computing operations to earn the $7 million up for grabs each day for solving complex mathematical equations. Zheping Huang and Joon Ian Wong got access to one of the world’s largest bitcoin mines, Bitmain, and offer a rare look at the lives of its workers, as does a photo essay for Quartz by Aurelien Foucault. I see bitcoin as here to stay. Perhaps grandpa had a pension and this generation has cryptocurrency. Great piece in the New York Times suggesting that “as traditional paths to upper-middle-class stability are being blocked by debt, exorbitant housing costs and a shaky job market, these investors view cryptocurrency not only as a hedge against another Dow Jones crash, but also as the most rational — and even utopian — means of investing their money."

Our best wishes for a fulfilling week, 
 

Logos LP

Where Is "The Crowd"?

Good Morning,
 

U.S. equities rose on Friday on better-than-expected employment data. The Dow Jones industrial average hit a record high and closed 66.71 points at 22,092.81. Goldman Sachs contributed the most gains. The index also posted its eighth straight record close.

Banks, including Goldman Sachs, outperformed the market, with the SPDR S&P Bank exchange-traded fund (KBE) advancing 0.81 percent. The space received a boost from a jump in interest rates, which followed strong U.S. employment data. The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs last month, according to the Labor Department, well above the expected gain of 183,000.

On the Canadian side, Canada’s labor market continued its stellar performance in July, with the jobless rate falling to the lowest since before the financial crisis. The unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent, the lowest since October 2008, as the labor market added another 10,900 jobs during the month, Statistics Canada reported from Ottawa. The total increase over the past year of 387,600 is the biggest 12-month gain since 2007. These jobs figures will likely bolster confidence that the country is quickly running out of economic slack and higher Bank of Canada interest rates may be needed to cool off growth...

Our Take
 

The US report was very strong. Timing couldn’t be better as we are moving into the tail end of Q2 earnings as well as into August and September which are typically weak months for the market. This was a beat and raise guidance jobs number and the second month in a row the U.S. has come in above 200,000 and above expectations.

Furthermore, although lower wage Americans are still reeling from the great recession, they are finally getting some relief in the jobs market. Underneath a 209,000 gain in July payrolls, significant shares of job growth were in lower-wage industries such as restaurants and home health-care services. As the overall labor-force participation rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point, the level for people age 25 or older without a high school degree surged to the highest since 2011. In leisure and hospitality, which typically carries lower pay, annual wage gains of 3.8 percent outpaced the average. (For a breakdown of who is hiring see here)

Other indicators suggest that even with the tightening job market, some slack still remains. That leaves room for additional gains that would back up President Donald Trump’s drive to bring people back into the workforce as well as support the Federal Reserve’s go-slow approach to tightening credit. This is good news and suggests that perhaps we haven’t yet reached the peak of this economic cycle.

U.S. equity indexes have been on a roll lately with the Dow notching eight straight record closes.

Nevertheless, all is not rosy. Amid the talk of new highs and record levels, one section of the equity market is having trouble keeping up. Small-cap stocks, on track for their second weekly decline with a loss of 1.7 percent, are falling further behind benchmark equity gauges.

In addition, underneath what was another up week for the S&P 500 Index, things were a little more complicated. An equal weight version of the S&P 500 that strips out market value biases just posted its biggest weekly drop since May, and its worst week versus the regular S&P 500 all year. The reason: while enough megacap stocks rose to keep the S&P 500 afloat, single-stock blowups were far more common than single-stock rallies.

Perhaps we haven’t quite reached euphoria just yet…
 

Musings
 

During these summer months I’ve gotten the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and learn a few new things whilst doing so. Of great interest have been several conversations with those in the corporate sector.

Among many other enlightening insights, I was startled to hear of a new phenomenon in current deal making circles: deal quality has been decreasing. Deals are getting done that just 1-3 years ago would have been laughed at for their overvaluation, shoddiness, and/or high risk. Interesting data tending to support that risk-taking may be on the rise...

If not by coincidence one of our favorite investors Howard Marks put out a cautionary memo last week entitled “There they go again...Again” suggesting that “they” are “engaging in willing risk-taking, funding risky deals and creating risky market conditions.

Marks suggests 4 attributes of today’s investment environment: 1) uncertainties are unusual in number and scale 2) prospective returns for the vast majority of asset classes are about the lowest they have ever been 3) asset prices are high across the board 4) pro-risk behaviour is commonplace

These attributes support his overall suggestion that in this environment one should move forward with caution. As always, the memo is worth a close read.

Marks supports his 4 overarching attributes of the current market environment with several fascinating vignettes each showcasing “willy nilly risk taking” in a variety of asset classes.

1. U.S. equities: Many metrics such as average p/e, Shiller p/e and the “Buffett yardstick” and record low interest rates suggest stock prices are at lofty levels.

2. The VIX: The VIX is at record lows and this suggests that investor sentiment is largely positive.

3. Super-stocks: Bull-markets are marked by a single group of stocks that are “the greatest” and the FAANGs are having their moment. When the mood is positive multiples rise as one “can’t lose” in these names.

4. Passive investing/ETFs: These approaches are on the rise and in the current up-cycle, over-weighted, liquid, large-cap stocks have benefitted from forced buying on the part of passive vehicles, which don’t have the option to refrain from buying a stock just because its overpriced. Investors are thus turning capital over to a process in which neither individual holdings nor portfolio construction is the subject of thoughtful analysis and decision-making, and in which buying takes place regardless of price…

5. Credit: Low grade credit instruments are proliferating. Junk bond offerings are over subscribed and offer weak investor protections.

6. Emerging market debt: For only the third time in history, emerging market debt is selling at yields below those on U.S. high yield bonds.  

7. Private equity: PE firms will probably add more than a trillion dollars to their buying power this year.  Where will it be invested at a time when few assets can be bought at bargain prices? Too much money is chasing too few good deals. Standards are relaxing.

8. Venture capital: SoftBank’s recent raising of $93 billion for its Vision Fund for technology investments – presumably on the way to $100 billion. Can one wisely invest $100 billion in technology?

9. Digital currencies: digital currencies are nothing but an unfounded fad (or perhaps even a pyramid scheme), based on a willingness to ascribe value to something that has little or none beyond what people will pay for it.  The same description can be applied to the Tulip mania that peaked in 1637, the South Sea Bubble (1720) and the Internet Bubble (1999-2000).

This is a fascinating selection of examples yet perhaps the most interesting thing in the memo was his acknowledgement that many market participants are aware of these issues and agree that things can’t go well forever – that the cycle is extended, prices are elevated and uncertainty is high.

These cautious beliefs are what makes calling a top in this market so hard. Just this week CNBC ran a poll which asked readers “Is the stock market about to suffer an epic crash?”

11,736 readers voted and 44% of them said yes, 33% said no and 26% said not sure.

Think about that.

The poll didn't ask, "Is the stock market overvalued?" or "Will the stock market decline for the rest of the year?" (or in the next year, or anything like that). It asked about "an epic crash," and not just any time, but specifically about whether the market is about to crash. "About to" means that it's going to happen very soon.

It is rather incredible that such a large proportion of people say they expect such an extreme and rare event to happen within such a narrow time frame.

Not to mention, as Josh Brown reminded us in response to the Marks memo, that we’ve got an entirely lost generation of investors, the millennials, who prefer to hold cash and even bonds than own stocks.

Could the behaviour of the crowd (as Brown defines it) be telling a different story than the anecdotes in the Marks memo? A story of caution and bearishness?

Without a doubt, as Josh Brown points out, it is as good a time as any to be cautious as caution should be the default orientation for any serious investor.

But I believe this debate highlights something else of great importance that has plagued the pundit, the asset manager and the individual investor throughout this epic bull run: the consensus or “crowd” has been incredibly hard to pin down. Each of these groups seems unable to agree upon what the “consensus view” is.

Timeless investment wisdom suggests that avoiding the crowd is a good bet for beating the stock market but this is difficult for most as there is ample evidence to support one’s own definition of “the crowd”.

The crypto currency trader believes his asset class is misunderstood and unloved. He sees himself as ahead of the curve and thus ahead of the crowd while the value investor looks upon him with disdain. “Just another herd follower chasing returns with the crowd…”

As such, rather than expending excessive energy on the identification of “the crowd” it may be best to humbly return to first principles: What do I understand and what is my sphere of investment competence? What do I reasonably believe is valuable and can be acquired for less than it should be? Am I being skeptical enough? Do I accept that there is no free lunch?


Logos LP in the Media

 

Commentary from Logos LP on investment opportunities in the defense sector in Forbes Magazine.
 

Thought of the Week

"Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” -Publilius Syrus

Articles and Ideas of Interest

• How bond markets can predict moves in stocks. Interesting research suggesting that high-yield bonds moving with the ebbs and flows of U.S. earnings announcements tend to predict stock returns for a slew of issuers -- particularly firms with a modest level of institutional equity ownership. So perhaps stock investors seeking an informational edge should keep their eyes on junk-bond prices on the heels of earnings reports.

• Commodities are a losing bet. Over the past 10 years, the Bloomberg Commodities Index is down 6.5 percent per year for a total loss of almost 50 percent. Over that same time frame, the S&P 500 is up a total of close to 100 percent, or a 7 percent annual return. This difference in performance has led to a huge divergence in the ratio of commodities to stocks, which has compelled some investors to ask whether there is a buying opportunity in commodities. There is also no financial reason that dictates that commodities must exhibit mean reversion. They provide no dividends or income. They don’t have earnings. Commodities are more of an input than a financial asset. In many ways, a bet for commodities is a bet against technology and innovation. Commodities have shown lower returns than cash equivalents with higher volatility than stocks. This is a poor risk-return relationship.

• There is no U.S. wage growth mystery. Economists are puzzled over U.S. wage growth, wondering why it has been so slow despite a labor market that is allegedly back to or close to full employment. Nice piece in Moody’s suggesting that if you look at the right wage growth and the right measure of employment slack there is no mystery: Wage gains are right where they should be. And it indicates the labor market has room to improve.

• Is productivity growth becoming irrelevant? As we get richer, measured productivity may inevitably slow, and measured GDP per capita may tell us ever less about trends in human welfare. Measured GDP and gains in human welfare eventually may become entirely divorced. Imagine in 2100 a world in which solar-powered robots, manufactured by robots and controlled by artificial intelligence systems, deliver most of the goods and services that support human welfare. All that activity would account for a trivial proportion of measured GDP, simply because it would be so cheap. Conversely, almost all measured GDP would reflect zero-sum and/or impossible-to-automate activities – housing rents, sports prizes, artistic performance fees, brand royalties, and administrative, legal, and political system costs. Measured productivity growth would be close to nil, but also irrelevant to improvement in human welfare.

• Why aren’t Americans moving anymore? In the 1990s, 3% of Americans moved out of state each year. Now the rate is half that, with US mobility hitting the lowest level since World War II. “The lack of mobility in the American workforce is a huge blocker of our economic growth,” says Ryan Sager, editorial director for Ladders. It's "definitely hurting Main Street,” writes business analyst Thanh Pham, who says there’s a mismatch between cities with abundant jobs and areas with potential workers. There are myriad reasons for the slowdown in mobility, from lack of job stability to the prohibitive expense of actually moving. Aeon suggests we are living in the quitting economy where employees are treated as short-term goods and thus market themselves as goods, always ready to quit.

• A highly successful attempt at genetic editing of human embryos has opened the door to eradicating inherited diseases. This is huge and ushers in a new era. Shoukhrat Mitalipov has performed the first highly successful use of the gene-editing technique called Crispr to improve human health: his team was able correct a genetic mutation that causes a life-threatening cardiac disease. None of the embryos were allowed to come to term. But if Mitalipov has his way, future projects could eradicate a disease that affects millions—one in 500 people carry the mutation—and even kills unsuspecting, seemingly fit adults.          

• Best summer reads 2017. Great list out of The Guardian. My favorite I revisit each summer: Herman Hess - Sidhartha.

Our best wishes for a fulfilling week, 
 

Logos LP

Can Sci-Fi Help Us Become Better Investors?

Good Morning,
 

U.S. equities fell along with the dollar (which has dropped to an 11-month low as measured by the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index) on Friday as investors assessed an investigation into U.S. President Donald Trump that may stall his economic agenda. Nevertheless, the three major indexes notched record highs this week as quarterly earnings from S&P 500 companies largely outperform expectations. Microsoft, Honeywell and Morgan Stanley are just a few of the companies that reported earlier this week.

Next week will be the busiest one this earnings season, with about 170 S&P 500 components scheduled to report.This remains an earnings-driven market and there have not been any major surprises yet. If earnings continue to grow, stocks should keep going higher.

Calendar second-quarter earnings have mostly exceeded expectations this far. With 20 percent of S&P 500 companies having reported, 73 percent have beaten expectations and 77 percent have beaten on sales, according to John Butters, senior equity analyst at FactSet.

Our Take
 

Interestingly, for all the fear associated with the gridlock and incompetence in Washington research actually suggests that stocks may like government gridlock as much as they like potential tax reform. Investment research firm Ned Davis Research found that when the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's Partisan Conflict Index — a measure of political disagreement in the United States — rises above 100, the S&P 500 has risen at a 11.7 percent annual rate. In contrast, the S&P rises just 5.8 percent when the index is below 100, according to analysis published on June 27.

On Wednesday, the Philly Fed said the index reached 201.15 in June, one of only seven times it has been above 200, and close to March's record of 271.29. In this case, traders may actually like the Trump-Russia headlines causing D.C. gridlock because they don't want politicians to mess up a good thing. Earnings are growing at a record pace, and economic growth is steady — two things markets like. New legislation could force businesses to change, potentially hurting their growth...

Last week the Bank of Canada embarked on what may be the slowest cycle of interest rate increases in more than three decades as it awaits evidence that consumer prices are picking up.

Surprisingly the median forecast of 16 economists in a Bloomberg survey suggest that the central bank will raise borrowing costs in October, and then twice in 2018 to bring its benchmark interest rate to 1.5 percent.

Governor Stephen Poloz flagged the risk of higher inflation as one reason the central bank hiked for the first time in seven years last week. Yet rapid inflation is among the least of Poloz’s concerns, according to the survey. Asked to rank five risks to monetary policy in order of importance, economists put “inflation overshoots” last.

Instead the biggest risk is the opposite one, they said: that inflation remains below target. They flagged a housing correction and U.S. policies that hurt Canada’s economic growth as the second-biggest. Despite these concerns, this Friday Canada’s core consumer prices and retail sales came in higher than expected, signaling that overall inflation may turn around to clear the way for another rate increase this year...

Nevertheless, this fear is and should be shared by monetary policy watchers worldwide. As we have mentioned before, global inflation is far from target and in fact appears to be decreasing rather than increasing as expected/modeled…

Just this week The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady, but pushed back the timing for achieving its 2% inflation target to 2020. "Risks to the economy and price outlook are skewed to the downside," the BOJ said in a statement. Inflation targets have been pushed back six times since the central bank launched its massive stimulus program in 2013. Foreshadowing what comes next for the rest of the developed world or isolated case?
 

Musings
 

Read an interesting piece this week in Harvard Business Review which suggested that business leaders should read more science fiction. Typically the genre is associated with spaceships, aliens and distant worlds, but it offers far more than escapism. By presenting plausible alternatively realities, science fiction encourages us to confront what we think but also how we think and why we think it. Science fiction tales reveal how fragile the status quo is and how malleable the future can be.

As Eliot Peper points out, William Gibson famously coined the term “cyberspace” in his 1984 masterpiece Neuromancer. Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age inspired Jeff Bezos to create the Kindle; Sergey Brin mines Stephenson’s even more famous Snow Crash for insights into virtual reality and the Star Trek communicator spurred the invention of the cell phone. Just last week researchers in China successfully teleported the first object from earth into orbit...

Nevertheless, to understand the real value of science fiction it is best to view it as useful not because it may be predictive, but rather because it reframes our perspective of the world.

We can think of “science fiction” as a “mental model” in the sense used by Charlie Munger on the path to building what he terms “worldly wisdom”. Worldly wisdom is an approach to business, investing and life which is based upon using a range of different models from a range of different disciplines to produce something that has more value than the sum of its parts.

As Robert Hagstrom wrote in his book on worldly wisdom entitled Investing: The Last Liberal Art: “each discipline entwines with, and in the process strengthens, every other. From each discipline the thoughtful person draws significant mental models, the key ideas that combine and produce a cohesive understanding.”

Although it may be a stretch to call science fiction a “discipline” it is useful to consider it a mental model which helps us to question our assumptions.

Assumptions which lead us to follow the herd. Assumptions which lead us to make decisions which are merely average and at times assumptions which can cause disaster.

As such, “science fiction” can increase the power of a latticework of such mental models which extends far beyond narrow questions. Such a latticework can lead to rich and unique understanding of the full range of market forces- new business opportunities and trends, emerging markets, the flow of money, international shifts, the economy in general and the actions/behaviour of humans in society and markets.

Assumptions can be useful as they help us with the cognitive shortcuts we need for navigating an increasingly complex and noisy world.  Nevertheless, they can also be detrimental as they fail to update as the world changes and condition us to be trend followers.

Superior decision makers, businesess people and investors train themselves to do the exact opposite. They train themselves to think in a way that is different than others, more complex and more insightful. By definition, most of the crowd can’t share such a way of thinking.

Thus, the judgements, ideas and assumptions of the crowd can’t hold the keys to success. Instead to free your mind from its false constraints and assumptions and connect with the intellectual explorer within, consider some science fiction this summer and your investment returns may just improve...

I recommend The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin and for a list of the top 25 works click here.

Let the mind bending begin...

Thought of the Week

"The less prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we should conduct our own affairs.” - Warren Buffett

Articles and Ideas of Interest
 

• Americans agree on the best way to invest their money - but they’re wrong. A new survey by Bankrate.com through Princeton Survey Research Associates International asked more than 1,000 Americans what they consider the best way to invest money they won't need for 10 or more years. The most popular answer, chosen by 28 percent of respondents, is to use it to buy real estate. Zero-risk cash investments, such as high-yield savings accounts, came in second with 23 percent of respondents, while the stock market took third place, with 17 percent of respondents. Yikes….does this support the thesis that US stocks find themselves in a bubble? (full article in CNBC here).

• Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's wise. Bankrate cites a study from London Business School and Credit Suisse, which found that after adjusting for inflation, housing offered returns around 1.3 percent per year from 1900 to 2011, while stocks performed more than four times better. If you believe the story that everyone else believes you will get what everyone else always got. Only a skeptic can separate the things that sound good and are from the things that sound good and aren’t...The ultimately most profitable investment actions are by definition contrarian: you’re buying what everyone else is selling (and thus the price is low) or you’re selling when everyone else is buying (and the price is high). These actions are lonely and uncomfortable because most people don’t believe them or do them...Next time you look at your “investments” consider how comfortable you are…

• A leading “happiness” researcher says we’re giving our kids bad advice about how to succeed in life. Habits are built at an early age yet these principles appear to be timeless and thus valuable at any age. Emma Seppala Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education suggests that many widely held theories about what it takes to be successful are proving counterproductive. Surprise surprise conventional wisdom/assumptions appear to be flawed. The problems and solutions are as follows:

• Focus on the future. Keep your eyes on the prize
• What we should be saying: Live (or work) in the moment   

• Stress is inevitable - keep pushing yourself
• What we should say: Learn to chill out

• Stay Busy
• What we should say: Have fun doing nothing

• Play to your strengths
• What we should say: Make mistakes and learn to fail

• Know your weaknesses, and don’t be soft
• What we should say: Treat yourself well

• It’s a dog eat dog world
• What we should say: show compassion to others

• Why Canada is able to do things better. Interesting perspective in the Atlantic suggesting that most Canadians understand that when it comes to government, you pay for what you get. Since the election of Donald Trump, there’s been no shortage of theories as to why America’s social contract no longer seems to work—why the United States feels so divided and dysfunctional. Hyper-partisanship, racist tendencies, secular politics of race and nationalism? The author suggests something more mundane: “The United States is falling apart because—unlike Canada and other wealthy countries—the American public sector simply doesn’t have the funds required to keep the nation stitched together. A country where impoverished citizens rely on crowdfunding to finance medical operations isn’t a country that can protect the health of its citizens. A country that can’t ensure the daily operation of Penn Station isn’t a country that can prevent transportation gridlock. A country that contracts out the operations of prisons to the lowest private bidder isn’t a country that can rehabilitate its criminals.”

• Earth’s sixth mass extinction event is underway. Researchers talk of “biological annihilation” as this new study reveals billions of populations of animals have been lost in recent decades. There hasn’t been much talk of the effects of climate change of late but this piece does a great job of highlighting new research which analysed both common and rare species and found billions of regional or local populations have been lost. The researches blame human overpopulation and overconsumption for the crisis and warn that it threatens the survival of human civilisation, with just a short window of time in which to act.                    

• There are two kinds of popularity and we are choosing the wrong one. Which kind of popularity you pursue matters, says Mitch Prinstein, a professor and director of clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina. He recently published Popular: The Power of Likability In A Status-Obsessed World. Prinstein delves into reams of research about what popularity is, and what effects it has on us. He shows that people who seek to be likable tend to end up healthier, in better relationships, with more fulfilling work, and even live longer. Status-seekers, on the other hand, often end up anxious, depressed, and with addiction problems. In the age of Instagram, it’s no surprise that most of us are gravitating to the wrong kind...Getting lost in the pursuit of status will likely come with sacrificing of the only relationships that matter..No wonder we are living in the golden age of “bailing”. David Brooks for the NYT suggests that “There was a time, not long ago, when a social commitment was not regarded as a disposable Post-it note, when people took it as a matter of course that reliability is a core element of treating people well, that how you spend your time is how you spend your life, and that if you don’t flake on people who matter you have a chance to build deeper and better friendships and live in a better and more respectful way. Of course, all that went away with the smartphone.”

• Machines taking over hedge funds despite lack of evidence they outperform humans. Data science is a big part of the comeback story as Credit Suisse’s mid-year survey says 81% of investors likely to put money in hedge funds during the second half of 2017. About 60% of those investors are planning to increase allocations to quantitatively focused strategies over the next 5 years. To be sure, just because a hedge fund has a quantitative strategy does not guarantee returns. A recent Barclays report showed that while investors perceive quant strategies outperform those that are less technology-driven, there's no research that would indicate that is actually the case. In the first half of the year, so-called systematic diversified strategies, or those that have investment processes managed almost entirely by computers and have very little human influence over portfolio management, underperformed other strategies, according to new data by Hedge Fund Research Inc. The HFRI Macro: Systematic Diversified Index declined 2.8 percent during the first half of 2017, while the broader industry gained 3.7 percent. While the headcount, assets and interest appear to be growing, it doesn't appear that the returns are following suit. Interestingly, human brains are able to do useful things that machine brains currently cannot: forget. What does it mean to be human in a world filled with robots anyway? Quartz inquires.

• Lots of talk about bubbles these past few weeks. Justified? Recently for Fox News Greg Ip wrote that: “If you drew up a list of preconditions for recession, it would include the following: a labor market at full strength, frothy asset prices, tightening central banks, and a pervasive sense of calm. In other words, it would look a lot like the present.” In another recent piece Scott Galloway convincingly paints a picture of the “full-monty bubble” we are nearing. As evidence, he mentions some hard metrics but focuses on a few interesting soft ones:
   

  -Mediocrity + two years tech experience = six figures

  -Bidding wars for commercial real estate

  -Gross idolatry of youth

  -You can’t get a table at average restaurants

  -There’s an Uber for private jets

  -Jay Z and Jared Leto are considered thoughtful startup investors

  -The food at your company is … good

  -A lot of articles explaining why “this time is different” (here, here, and here)

  -You’re introduced to remarkably uninteresting tech people at Cannes, who people think are “fascinating”

  -Tech CEOs are on the cover of fashion magazines and marrying supermodels

  -Founders of tech firms believe it’s their responsibility to put a man on Mars and cure death because … you know, they’re awesome

  -Billionaires with undergraduate and graduate degrees pay kids to drop out of college#negligent

  -Currencies mined by machines are … currency (I have a better understanding of the chemical underpinnings of a Leonid Meteor Shower than Bitcoin or Ethereum #huh)

  -There are CEOs of two firms at once

   

  This list I must say is convincing but it should be remembered that calling a market top is incredibly difficult as the only thing we can predict is the inevitability of market cycles. Why? Primarily because the future is unknown. Thus, as the calls of a market top multiply (which at present they are) the best response is simple: try to figure out what is going on around you, and try and use that to guide your actions. Is the pendulum oscillating at its peak ready to swing back to the opposite extreme? Or is it just passing its midpoint? Or as Barry Ritholtz teases, you can join the crowded landscape of pundits predicting the next crash by following his guide: 1) pick a bogeyman 2) cite household authority figures 3) always be confident 4) pay attention to non-financial events 5) pick a favoured asset class 6) charts, plenty of charts 7) claim vindication early and often 8) don’t forget the esoteric technical indicators 9) ignore contradictory data 10) don’t manage money...

Our best wishes for a fulfilling week, 
 

Logos LP

Just Ask Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger

Good Morning,
 

U.S. stocks bounced back from the most significant selloff since May, while Treasuries fell after unexpectedly strong hiring data improving confidence in the American economy, bolstering the Federal Reserve’s case for raising interest rates.

Broad-based payroll gains that topped estimates boosted sentiment among equity investors a day after stocks suffered the biggest drop in six weeks. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat as tepid wage growth stoked concern that inflationary pressure remains weak. The hiring report supported the Federal Reserve’s stance that recent signs of labor market sluggishness are transitory, though the tepid wage gains gave fuel to arguments that weakness remains. 

On the Canadian side, Canada’s job market delivered another stellar performance in June by adding 45,300 positions, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The number, which vastly surpassed economists’ consensus expectation of 10,000 new jobs, increases the probability that the Bank of Canada (BoC) will raise interest rates at its next rate announcement on July 12.

Our Take
 

There are plenty of reasons to be bullish as global earnings per share are expected to grow around 11 percent this year, compared to just 2 percent growth last year. In fact, all the major economies around the globe and the companies which compose them are gaining momentum at the same time, the first such simultaneous recovery in years.

What we are looking at is a “global synchronous recovery”. This is a big change compared to recent years, when we had various regions and countries moving in and out of EPS recessions.

Furthermore, Janet Yellen's bet on pulling workers back to the labor force appears to be paying off. The flow of people moving from outside of the labor force straight into jobs jumped in June to 4.7 million, its highest level in records that go back to 1990. Labor force participation has stabilized after a long-run decline, and the share of the population that works continues to rise moderately. And as long-hidden labor market slack gets absorbed, it could be helping to keep wage gains modest and inflation in check.

Nevertheless, there are reasons to remain cautious as central bank chiefs in the US and UK seem very sure of themselves. Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England and chair of the international Financial Stability Board, said this week that issues of the last financial crisis had been “fixed“.

Last week, his American counterpart, Janet Yellen said at a Q&A in London:

“Would I say there will never, ever be another financial crisis? You know probably that would be going too far but I do think we’re much safer and I hope that it will not be in our lifetimes and I don’t believe it will be.”

Last week, Mario Draghi, governor of the European Central Bank, sent the euro to its highest level in more than a year by proclaiming that the euro-zone economy was improving and that he was “confident” the bank’s policies working. Both the Bank of Canada and Sweden’s Riksbank have also recently suggested that their economies probably don’t need any more monetary stimulus.

The problem is that the wage increases which should go along with increasingly low unemployment are nowhere to be found. Inflation remains below central bank targets. 

In response, central banks are largely sticking to the script: The retreat in inflation is transitory, idiosyncratic even, and the slow-but-steady slog back toward the central bank's 2 percent target will probably resume.

The prevailing wisdom based on the Phillips curve is that the jobless rate is so low that wages and inflation just have to -- at some point -- really start to pick up.

So far this isn’t happening and thus as we have stated before, it may be wise to allow inflation to run above the 2% target rather than raise rates prematurely and risk undermining a still fragile global recovery.

Musings
 

A shorter note this week. For insights into how we are navigating this market I urge you to read our Q2 letter to our investors included below.

Nevertheless, to pick up on the themes of patience and discipline included in our letter, I wanted to briefly consider an article I read this week from Nir Kasissar in Bloomberg.

Nir reminds us that despite the reams of financial data and vast computing power to process it, investing remains a stubbornly superstitious and emotional pursuit.

As such, it should come as no surprise that the investment world has always prized “discipline” as the holy grail of personal attributes. 

As an investor, you should find a strategy and have the discipline to stick to it over the long-term. Just ask Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger.

The problem is that every style of investing -- no matter how thoughtfully constructed and ably executed -- goes through a long, agonizing period when it doesn’t work. Again just ask Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger.

Only a few years ago pundits dared to suggest that Buffett’s underperformance was evidence that perhaps he had “lost his touch”.

The longer an investing style falters, the harder it is to know whether that style is temporarily out of favor or destined for retirement. The line between discipline and foolishness becomes increasingly blurry, even to elite investors.  

Further compounding this dilemma are two issues:

1) Current markets are abnormal : Value stocks, for example, are supposed to shine during recoveries. They haven’t. Low interest rates are supposed to translate into meager returns from bonds. Sub 5% unemployment is supposed to translate into greater than 2% inflation. Again nope.

2) “Long-term” doesn’t mean the same thing anymore : In the 1960’s the average hold time for stocks was roughly six years. Today that average hold time is from six weeks to six months.

In this environment, patiently finding the line between discipline and foolishness is itself a fantastic test of discipline...

Logos LP Updates
 

June 2017 Return: -3.69%

2017 YTD (June) Return: 19.66%

Annualized Returns Since Inception March 26, 2014: 24.89%

Cumulative Return Since Inception March 26, 2014: 82.99%

Logos LP in the Media


Our Q1 2017 letter to our investors picked up by ValueWalk

Our Q2 2017 letter to our investors picked up by ValueWalk



Thought of the Week

"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet" -Jean-Jacques Rousseau


Articles and Ideas of Interest

• What history says about low volatility. For all that's being said and written about the lack of volatility in financial markets these days, you might think something unusual is going on. In fact, history suggests it's the opposite. Nice piece in Bloomberg suggesting that volatility is lower than average historical levels, but it’s at levels typical of the bottom of a quiet period between two crises. Instead of fretting about complacency, it appears that history shows us that crises occur when the VIX and realized volatility are above 20 percent, and investors typically get warned months in advance of what the headlines refer to as “shocks”...the market anticipates news events about 18 months in the future. It’s not perfect, of course, but it may be a lot better than experts and commentators. Evidence of smooth sailing over the next while?

• Rising inequality may be the real risk of automation. Technological change has had more impact on earnings distribution than on demand for workers. If your main worry over automation is losing your job, history suggests you’ll probably be just fine. The bigger concern, economists David Autor and Anna Salomons reckon is how technological advances will affect earnings distribution. Interestingly, in the AI age, “being smart” will mean something completely different. HBR suggests that we will need to take our cognitive and emotional skills to a much higher level.

• How to deal with North Korea? The Atlantic proposes that there are no good options. But some are better than others. For his part, Trump has tweeted that North Korea is “looking for trouble” and that he intends to “solve the problem.” For his part, Trump has also tweeted that North Korea is “looking for trouble” and that he intends to “solve the problem.” Nevertheless, the U.S. has 4 broad strategic options: 1) Prevention : crush them using a military strike 2) Turn the screws : limited targeted precision strikes and small scale attacks to debilitate 3) Decapitation : remove Kim and his inner circle and replace the leadership with a moderate regime 4) acceptance : allow nuclear ambitions and train and contain. Acceptance is how the most current crisis should and most likely will play out…

• Baby boomers will live long but might not prosper. The biggest threat to the majority will be outliving their nest egg. As life expectancies continue to climb, managing longevity risk will be a key input in the portfolio management and planning for the 10,000 or so baby boomers retiring every day for the next 19 years or so. Ben Carlson suggests a few tips to stay above water. One I particularly like is try generational financial planning. Bring other trusted family members into the retirement planning process. Just don’t count on millennials buying your home. Student loans are a problem for all of us not just the young. Great piece in Businessweek suggesting that mounting student debt in the U.K., U.S. and elsewhere, might hold young people back from buying houses and saving for retirement. That would endanger economic growth and asset prices, with the effects made worse by shifting demographics. This should worry everybody.

• There is a “wellness” epidemic going on. Why are so many privileged people feeling so sick? Luckily (or unluckily) there’s no shortage of cures. Wellness is a very broad idea, which is no small part of its marketing appeal. On the most basic level, it’s about making a conscious effort to attain health in both body and mind, to strive for unity and balance. This is not a new idea. But perhaps what is new is that there is something grotesque about this multi billion dollar industry’s emerging at the moment when the most basic health care is still being denied to so many in America and is at risk of being pulled away from millions more. In addition, what is perhaps most concerning about wellness’s ascendancy is that it’s happening because, in our increasingly bifurcated world, even those who do have access to pretty good (and sometimes quite excellent, if quite expensive) traditional health care are left feeling, nonetheless, incredibly unwell. Will all the high priced meditation retreats, aromatherapy, yoga, pressed juice, spiralizers and supplements really change anything? Or is history repeating itself with the resurrection of the 18th century peddler with dubious credentials, selling “snake-oil” with boisterous marketing hype often supported by pseudo-scientific evidence? Get your ashwagandha, bacopa, chaga mushrooms, colloidal silver, cordyceps mushrooms, eleuthero root, maca, selenium and zizyphus while supplies last…

• Last Domino’ just fell for Canada rate hike. Canada added more than four times the number of jobs economists had expected in June, capping the best quarter since 2010 and solidifying the view the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates at its meeting next week. A series of government measures and the prospect of higher interest rates boosted listings and sparked the biggest sales decline in more than eight years last month, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported Thursday. The Toronto Real Estate Board also lowered its forecast for sales and prices. Expect prices to decline further as central banks begin to reign in easy money policies.

Our best wishes for a fulfilling week, 
 

Logos LP