A roundup of what The Globe and Mail's market strategist Scott Barlow is reading today on the Web
A Bloomberg report details how Vancouver area residents aren't bothering with any other kind of investment besides real estate. I've heard the same sentiment in Toronto often, and, on one hand, it's worked so well you can't blame people. On the other hand, that kind of blind faith and lack of diversification rarely ends well.
"Why Bother With Stocks in Vancouver's Relentless Housing Market?" – Bloomberg
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Merrill Lynch oil strategist Francisco Blanch estimates that Hurricane Harvey will result in 40 million extra barrels of crude in U.S. inventories,
"Prior to the Harvey-related closures, US refinery crude runs reached an all-time high of 17.7 mn b/d. As of today, crude oil demand from domestic refiners has dropped by as much as 4.4 mn b/d. This means that the cumulative crude oil overhang from the storm could eventually exceed 40 mn barrels. With the refinery maintenance season around the corner and the potential for flood damage, we could well see an extended period of outages. Consequently, crude demand in the US could stay soft just as crude oil imports start to flow in again."
"@SBarlow_ROB ML: Harvey will add 40m barrels to oil inventories " – (research excerpt) Twitter
"Oil falls after Harvey floods U.S. refineries" – Reuters
"Gasoline Falls as Refineries Shut by Harvey Prepare to Reopen" – Bloomberg
Counterpoint: "@staunovo CHART: US oil demand in mbpd - rock solid -EIA " – (chart) Twitter
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Ritholtz Wealth Management's David Batnick asks the question "Did Warren Buffett kill value investing?",
"Prior to the publication of Superinvestors [in 1984], the Fama French Value index had outperformed the S&P 500 in 89% of all rolling twenty year periods, and since then, that number has fallen to 62%... maybe it's ridiculous to ask if Buffett killed value investing, but it's hard to deny that trying to distinguish between price and value has gotten harder as it's experienced widespread adoption. … The early bird gets the worm is true in nature and in markets. Buffett was the early bird, but now there are thousands of investors chasing after the same sized worm."
"Did Buffett Kill Value Investing?" – Irrelevant Investor
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I have not listened to this FT Alphaville podcast yet, but because I've been waiting for 'Amazon' and 'anti-trust' to be in the same headlines, I will be listening over the weekend,
"Does Amazon present an anti-trust problem?" – FT Alphaville
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If there's one area of the market I'm most concerned about, it's U.S. high yield bonds,
"Junk Bonds Face Wave of Supply Just as Investors Turn Sour" – Bloomberg
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Tweet of the Day: "@LJKawa Well, let's just update the Canadian infrastructure stimulus tracker and WHOA OMG #cdnecon " – (chart) Twitter
Diversion: "A biotech founded by a 32-year-old has a shot to launch 'the first new Alzheimer's drug in 15 years'" – Business Insider
Scott Barlow