Farnam Street Mental Model: Multiplicative Systems (LINK)
Investing and Valuation Lessons from the Renaissance - by Aswath Damodaran (LINK)
Grant's Interest Rate Observer - Interview with Murray Stahl (LINK)
Research Perspective: Generals and Specials (LINK)
The Perfect Pitch - by Ian Cassel (LINK)
Economic Slump Sends Big Ships to Scrap Heap (LINK) [While I don't have any insight as to when the industry may turn, it seems that the shipping industry may be worth paying close attention to these days from a capital cycle point of view.]
In the past, recycling a ship has typically generated about one-quarter of the price of a new vessel of the same type and size. But owners say a sharp drop in the price of steel has cut the rate of return to an average of 10% to 15% of the price of a new ship.
Two years ago, in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were paying about $460 a ton of steel. Last year it was $300 and it is now roughly $250, shipowners say. Officials at the Alang scrapyard—one of the world’s biggest, on India’s West Coast—said prices were likely to stay low through the rest of the year, as China is flooding the market with recycled steel.
Braemar ACM expects about 550 dry-bulk ships to be recycled this year, 29% more than last year and 48% more than in 2014. About 170 container ships are likely to be scrapped this year, compared with 85 last year and 164 in 2014. The scrapping of other ship types, such tankers, car carriers, general cargo ships and fishing boats, bring the year’s total to about 1,000 vessels.
Don’t blame Brexit – we’re long overdue a fall in London property prices -- by Merryn Somerset Webb (LINK)
The war Microsoft should have won [H/T @BenedictEvans] (LINK)
The Sports Linchpin - by Ben Thompson (LINK)
Scott Anderson on Charlie Rose discussing his most recent piece, “Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart” (video) (LINK)