A quick note on the state of the economy in light of some recent data. Q1 2024 Gross Domestic Product expanded at a disappointing 1.6% — note this is seasonally and inflation-adjusted annual rate. That lagged economists’ consensus of 2.4%. However, it’s not quite all it appears. Some of this is that “long and variable lag” of higher rates starting to bite — but it’s not just that. As Sam Ro explains: -Personal consumption grew at a 2.5% rate. -Business investment grew at a 2.9% rate. -Residential investment grew at a 13.9% rate. The weakness was, in Sam’s words, a sign of “U.S ..read more

     At the Money: What Data Matters and What Doesn’t  (April 24, 2024) Bill McBride has spent the past 20 years taking apart economic data, creating “opinion-free” analysis of the economy, and accurately identifying booms, busts, bubbles, and recoveries in real-time, including the great financial crisis and its subsequent housing bottom + recovery. He discusses the data that matters, and the data that doesn’t, and how investors can tell them apart. Full transcript below. ~~~ About this week’s guest: Bill McBride has been publishing Calculated Risk since the early 2000s, where ..read more

     The transcript from this week’s, MiB: Ashish Shah, CIO, Public Investing, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is below. You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.     ~~~   00:00:02 [Speaker Changed] This is Masters in business with Barry Ri Holtz on Bloomberg Radio. 00:00:08 [Speaker Changed] This week on the podcast, I have another extra special guest. Asis sha is co-head and CIO of public investing ..read more

    @TBPInvictus here: Back in December 2022, I hypothesized that Elon Musk’s antics and his newfound desire to own the Libs were going to destroy Tesla’s appeal to many of his most important buyers.  The latest data confirms those sentiments were on point. I looked at 2020 voting data and TSLA registrations in counties throughout the state of New York, and theorized as follows: Watching Musk’s ongoing antics, it has become very clear to me that his actions are not only destroying Twitter, but the collateral damage is taking Tesla down with it – a veritable twofer of ineptitude ..read more

     Hey, it’s been a few months since my last update, so I thought I would share some of the amazing progress we have made over the past three months. To start with, the electric motor and batteries are in. It’s been quite a process, and as you can see above the car drives. We got here via a series of new installations, additions, updates, and improvements: The key installed components include the motor, batteries, software, gauges, transmission, and charge port. ~~~ Let’s start with the Fellten motor: 440 HP of EV power: A better angle from underneath shows the size of this monst ..read more

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of  coffee, grab a seat by the fire, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads: • He Loves Speed, Hates Bureaucracy and Told Ferrari: Go Faster: A tech executive with a new management strategy took the wheel of the luxury carmaker. Then it was off to the races. (Wall Street Journal) • Boeing’s problems were as bad as you thought: Experts and whistleblowers testified before Congress today. The upshot? “It was all about money.” (Vox) • 15 Ideas from Seth Klarman’s Margin of Safety (Part 1): Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thought ..read more

     This week, we speak with Ashish Shah, Chief Investment Officer, Public Investing, Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Previously, he was co-head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management LP’s global fixed income and liquidity solutions business, and serves as global head of GSAM’s cross-sector strategy and as a member of the fixed income strategy group. Prior to joining the firm, Shah was chief investment officer for global credit and head of fixed income for AllianceBernstein LP, where he oversaw all credit-related strategies. Shah was previously managing director and head of global cred ..read more

     At The Money: Andrew Slimmon on Closet Indexing  (April 17, 2024) Are your expensive active mutual funds and ETFs actually active? Or, as is too often the case, are they only pretending to be active? Do they charge a high active fee but then behave more like an index fund? If so, you are the victim of closet indexing. We discuss the best ways to avoid the funds that charge high fees but fail to provide the benefits of active management. Full transcript below. ~~~ About this week’s guest: Andrew Slimmon is Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and ..read more

     The transcript from this week’s, MiB: Samara Cohen, CIO, Blackrock ETF & Index Investments, is below. You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.     ~~~   Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News. This is Masters in business with Barry Ritholtz on Bloomberg Radio. Barry Ritholtz: This week on the podcast, I have an extra special guest. Samara Cohen is, wow, what a career. She has Chief In ..read more

Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures: • The Rise Of The Bee Bandits: Where once there was cattle and horse rustling, the American West is now confronting the theft of its bees. (NOEMA) • Why car insurance rates are so high: You’re paying a lot more for car insurance than you were in 2020. Here’s why. (Vox) see also Insurers Are Spying on Your Home From the Sky: Companies are using drones to check out roofs or to spot yard debris and undeclared trampolines. (Wall Street Journal) • As Kushner’s Investment Firm Steps Out, the Potential ..read more