Mike Bird
@birdyword.bsky.social
Wall Street editor at The Economist, co-host of our Money Talks podcast.
Today's the day: the Land Trap is now OUT in the US! Just two days to wait until the UK release. Pre-orders landing imminently. If you're interested in why land is so vital in finance everywhere, the rise and fall of Georgism, and how land shaped Japan, China and Singapore, this is the book for you
Very excited to see the first major review of my book, which now comes out in less than three weeks, by @martinsandbu.ft.com in the Financial Times! www.ft.com/content/cb90...
Just finished the final touches on the audiobook.Less than three weeks to go now, getting very exciting! If you're interested, the best thing you can possibly do now is pre-order! Available all over the place - Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Guardian Bookshop and many other bookshops.
rob collins@cobrollins.bsky.social · 10mo agoWorked on the audio of the upcoming book from @birdyword.bsky.social the section on Japan was fascinating, I'm sure the rest is too. Finance bsky alert @peark.es @weisenthal.bsky.social www.amazon.com/Land-Trap-Hi...
Worked on the audio of the upcoming book from @birdyword.bsky.social the section on Japan was fascinating, I'm sure the rest is too. Finance bsky alert @peark.es @weisenthal.bsky.social www.amazon.com/Land-Trap-Hi...
The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset
The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset [Bird, Mike] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset
amazon.com
Audiobook recording is WRAPPED! You can preorder here, or get yourself a print copy! Or ideally, both! Available at a bunch of other places too. www.amazon.com/Land-Trap-Hi...
BIG NEWS: My book, The Land Trap, is coming out on Nov 4! I've been fascinated by this topic for years. The book tells the story of why land still occupies such a huge role in finance, economics and politics globally, and why that's a source of huge risk. You can preorder NOW!
Fun story this week. I interviewed Jamie Dimon and the each of the heads of the bank's major businesses (his potential successors) about JP Morgan's astonishing expansion, what could threaten the biggest bank in American history, and what's coming next. www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Will Jamie Dimon build the first trillion-dollar bank?
We interview JPMorgan Chase’s boss, and his lieutenants
economist.com
My piece this week: for a long time, private markets firms have dreamed of "democratising" their asset class. They're not dreaming anymore - the moment of truth has arrived www.economist.com/finance-and-....
economist.com
Transpacific trade is already seizing up because of the tariffs. Three weeks ago, about 60,000 TEU (a measure of container volume) were scheduled to be "blanked" from April 16-May 10 (cancelled voyages/stops at a port). Now the figure is *367,800* www.sea-intelligence.com/press-room/3...
The media monoculture breaking down is so fun. This guy is visiting China, I had never previously heard of him, but as far as I can tell it's perhaps the third biggest global news story happening in the last week.
Actually can take it back further: only 3 occasions since 1964 with larger 2-day sellouts in S&P 500
It's important to remember that for younger investors, a selloff can represent a great entry opportunity! Unless it represents a change in the value of discounted future cash flows.
There are now only two occasions in recent financial history where the S&P 500 sold off more sharply in two days than it has since the US tariff announcements - the peak of Covid panic in March 2020, and a cluster of occasions during the very worst moments of the global financial crisis in 2008
My piece today: Trump's tariff bazooka is the biggest threat yet to 15yrs of US equity exceptionalism. It's not just the mindless economic hit. Amateurish execution undermines the widespread belief in pro-market US governance www.economist.com/finance-and-...
What America’s stockmarket plunge means
Farewell to 15 years of exceptionalism?
economist.com
Some of the US stocks with the biggest international trade/production exposures have just been absolutely battered since mid-February. Best Buy, Dell and Nike down between 26% and 36%.
Capital Economics: if today's announcements are implemented, the effective US tariff rate will shoot straight past the Smoot-Hawley levels of the 1930s. "The effective tariff rate on all imports will rise from 2.3% last year to around 26%, leaving it at a 131-year high"
What's a historical example of an economic policy as significant as the tariffs being discussed, where we knew similarly little about the scale of the announcement right beforehand? The Covid + 2008 crisis responses seem different because they were triggered by exogenous events.
There's something darkly funny in looking at these trends and remembering the RW mockery of the shifting "current thing" and NPCs who can't think for themselves
It is fascinating that the entirety of the recent US stock selloff is accounted for by valuation re-rating. For all the reduced confidence, tariff threats etc, earnings estimates are still at an all-time-high.
Even if the Chinese economy rebounds (a big if), and its tech crackdown comes to a clear end, politics now makes it hard for Wall Street to turn really bullish. Investors in Dubai, Singapore and Zurich will not feel the same compunctions. My column this week. www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Can foreign investors learn to love China again?
Wall Street still needs more to coax it back. But non-American firms may be ready to return
economist.com
I think when you already have slightly cartoonish facial furniture, these things work even better
To put the recent rally in Chinese tech stocks in context, they're still much cheaper by forward PE (red line) than US tech stocks (green line), but also cheaper than *the US market overall*. The drop from a PE of 70 at the peak of the 2020-early '21 mania is insane.
"(Two other users subsequently added prayer emoji.)"
The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · last yr.American war planning usually takes place in highly secure facilities. But the Trump administration planned its strikes on the Houthis using a group chat—and accidentally included The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. theatln.tc/IuULQFiY
A happy reminder from Google Photos of my first of three trips into various forms of quarantine in Hong Kong, five years ago today! How the time flies eh
Henry VIII's 1527 suit of armour next to his 1544 suit of armour in the "Track Your Calories" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Trump is so powerful that he may even manage to break the overwhelming anti-incumbent trend in global politics, by propelling the Canadian Liberals back into office.
