My morning train reads:
• The Era of Free Seas Is Unraveling—and Now Everyone’s Going to Pay: America led a maritime system that enriched the world for decades. Iran’s “toll booth” shattered it. (Wall Street Journal)
• Private Equity’s Great Escape: The industry bought companies for too much money and made a bunch of bad loans. Now they’re scrambling to avoid the reckoning. (American Prospect) see also Private Credit and the New World of Financial Risk: There’s a whiff of 2008 in the air in the private credit market. The opacity, the leverage, and the complacency are all disturbingly familiar. (Paul Krugman)
• Consumers are in a foul, foul mood: Michigan sentiment numbers are ugly. When consumers turn this sour, the next leg down in spending typically follows within months. Watch this space. (Axios)
• When Being Right Less Than Half the Time Is … Fine: A great piece on the math of investing: you don’t need to be right most of the time if your winners dramatically outpace your losers. Asymmetric payoffs are the whole game. (Bloomberg)
• What 1,000-year-old companies know about resilience: Eric Markowitz on the philosophy of long-term thinking, drawn from companies that have survived a millennium. The lessons are simple, but Wall Street will never apply them. (Big Think)
• Surging HOA Fees Are Pushing Homeowners to the Brink: Monthly costs of homeowners associations have jumped 26% since 2019; owners can also be hit with special fees for large repairs. (Wall Street Journal)
• Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? New interviews and closely guarded documents shed light on the persistent doubts about the head of OpenAI. (New Yorker)
• It’s Taking Over the Lives of Wealthy, Elderly Men. It Could Be Coming for You Next.: $25,000 gene-therapy injections are in, regular doctors are out. The longevity tourism industry is coming for wealthy retirees first, but it won’t stop there. (Slate)
• MAGA Is Winning Its War Against U.S. Science: Krugman documents the systematic dismantling of American scientific institutions. When you defund research and chase away talent, don’t be surprised when innovation moves elsewhere. When a political movement believes that ignorance is strength (Paul Krugman)
• Moon Joy: Photos from Artemis II: On April 6, 2026, four astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, Integrity, swung around the far side of the moon, traveling farther from the Earth than any humans had ever gone before, and taking spectacular photographs along the way. (The Atlantic) see also 16 inspiring Artemis II photos that’ll make you feel like a tiny Earthling: A welcome palate cleanser: stunning images from humanity’s return to lunar orbit. Sometimes you need a reminder that we’re capable of more than just arguing on the internet. (Popular Science) see also Photos: NASA releases first images from moon flyby: More breathtaking images from Artemis II’s lunar flyby. NASA keeps delivering the goods, and the photos keep reminding us why we explore. (NPR)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Mike Pyle, Deputy Head of BlackRock’s Portfolio Management Group (PMG) and member of the Global Executive Committee. He helps oversee $5 trillion in client assets across systematic & discretionary strategies as well as directly overseeing PMG’s hedge funds platform. He also heads the BlackRock Investment Institute.
Tech Valuations Back to Pre-AI Boom Levels
Source: Apollo
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