A roundup of what The Globe and Mail's market strategist Scott Barlow is reading today on the Web
Michael Lewis, author of finance crisis classic book The Big Short, has found another industry where he believes big trouble is ahead,
"The NFL has real business problems. The [head injury] issues… I'll give you the next short: the NFL."
There is no direct way I can think of to profit from the demise of football, but there may be some peripheral plays in publicly-traded advertising agencies and broadcasting.
"Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball: 'Short the NFL'" – Yahoo! Finance
=====
Bloomberg's Luke Kawa has a new column out with a sentiment that will have value investors pulling out what's left of their hair in frustration, "Buy the Bubbles or Get Left Behind,"
"A portfolio stuffed with allegedly over-inflated assets would have returned more than 120 percent so far in 2017, trouncing the S&P 500 Index and underscoring the challenge for investors facing a plethora of pricey securities.
"The hypothetical 'Bubblicious' portfolio includes Chinese real estate and internet names, a pair of U.S. tech behemoths, a cryptocurrency fund, the ETF industry, bonds that mature decades from now, and a dash of short volatility bets just to make things more interesting."
"In 2017, Investors Can Either Buy Bubbles or Be Left Far Behind" – Kawa, Bloomberg
=====
This may sound a bit harsh, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for investors who blindly invest in penny stocks with no revenue or profits and expect regulators to protect them from loss,
"The deal certainly raised some red flags. West High Yield filed a purchase and sale agreement that showed Gryphon Enterprises LLC as the buyer prepared to pay $750 million for West High Yield's main magnesium assets in British Columbia when the whole company was worth only $16 million. That price tag would have made the deal the fourth-biggest mining-asset sale this year globally -- underpinned by a company with no website, whose chief executive officer uses an AOL email address, and is based at a residential house built in 1992 in Swanton, Maryland.'
"Canada's 'Light Touch' on Penny Stocks Draws Ire as Deal Fails" – Bloomberg
=====
Maclean's investigates the extent to which Canadians can walk away from their mortgage if the housing market collapses,
"What is far less known is the fact that insolvency legislation in Canada supersedes a lender's right to sue a homeowner for a shortfall. In other words: if a homeowner who is unable to make mortgage payments files either a personal bankruptcy or a proposal in Canada, the shortfall (now unsecured) is included in the insolvency proceeding and fully dischargeable. It's the Canadian insolvency version of America's jingle mail."
"Here's how Canadians could walk away from their homes if house prices fall" – Maclean's
=====
Another day, another sign that video game stocks are printing money,
"Take-Two Interactive Software jumped 10.58 percent after the videogame maker offered a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast for the holiday quarter. That sparked a rally among its competitors, with Activision Blizzard surging 5.89 percent and Electronic Arts adding 2.19 percent."
"Wall Street hits high score as videogame makers rally" – Reuters
=====
Tweet of the Day: "@M_C_Klein Large electric vehicles are currently worse for the environment than small conventional cars vehicles over their expected life ft.com/content/a22ff8… " – Twitter (graphic)
Diversion: "Gene Therapy Restores Seven-Year-Old Boy's Skin in 'Major Biomedical Triumph'" – Gizmodo
Scott Barlow