Bill Gates on personalized learning (LINK)
Why primary research is overrated [H/T @StaleyRdCap] (LINK)
Why primary research is overrated [H/T @StaleyRdCap] (LINK)
Related previous posts: 1) Quotes on doing what matters...; 2) Continuous reorganization, activity...
Grant's Summer 2016 Vacation Issue (LINK)
Everyone Wants Emerging-Market Bonds, But There Aren’t Enough to Go Around [H/T @jasonzweigwsj] (LINK)
As the hunt for yield stretches into emerging-market bonds, investors are finding there isn’t a lot of game to shoot. Such crowded terrain spells danger.
The gusher of money into emerging-market bonds has hit extraordinary levels of late. In July, over $18 billion flooded in, and as of last week, $5 billion had entered emerging-market bond funds this month, according to data provider EPFR. As a comparison, July’s inflows are almost the same amount that were sucked out of emerging markets during the so-called taper tantrum three years ago. If anything, the balance of flows are looking a lot like the 2009 post-financial crisis world.
And like 2009, bond supply is scarce. So even as some investors are driven by negative rates into higher yielding emerging-market bonds, they are meeting a dearth of product.
...This supply-demand mismatch has had an obvious effect on yields. It is with high-quality emerging-market bonds where the spreads seem to have become the most extreme. Emerging-market debt tends to trade alongside U.S. junk bonds, given the level of currency and political risk.
However now, emerging-market sovereigns are trading in line with investment grade global corporates, according to Moody’s indexes that track spreads on such debt. Meanwhile, lower-rated sovereign issuers are trading at about 1 percentage point tighter compared to Treasurys than similarly rated corporate issuers. They usually trade around the same levels.
Five Books: Massimo Pigliucci recommends the best books on Stoicism [H/T The Browser] (LINK)
The books: 1) The Discourses of Epictetus; 2) A Guide to the Good Life; 3) Meditations; 4) Letters on Ethics; 5) A New Stoicism
Related previous posts: 1) Stoicism quotes, thoughts, and readings; 2) Stoicism audiobooks; 3) Presentation by Massimo Pigliucci: Stoicism 101