Practical analysis for investment professionals
26 November 2014

Weekend Reads for Global Investors: Thanksgiving Jokes and a Holiday Book List

Posted In: Weekend Reads

It’s that time of the year again and you can feel the holiday spirit in the air.

The best presents of the season so far came from central bankers in China and Europe. Last Friday, People’s Bank of China announced its first rate cut since 2012. European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi also hinted strongly at continued quantitative easing. Investors globally responded with a holiday cheer and promptly sent markets to new highs.

Of course we all know markets and the economy do not necessarily move in the same direction. Will rate cuts in China do anything to stimulate the slowing economy? There seem to be plenty of doubters. Why would it not work? Well, because commercial banks do not want to lend, according to Wei Yao of Societe Generale. More importantly, I think it is probably because there is no good reason for people to borrow. (Watch a video where Richard Koo explained why people do not want to borrow post-recession at the CFA Institute Japan Investment Conference last summer.) Although China’s problems are far different from those of Europe, lack of demand is a common theme in both cases. And if you believe in the Keynesian liquidity trap story, monetary easing in any form is probably not what you’ll count on to get you out of trouble.

Books are always popular among holiday gifts. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal‘s Jason Zweig provided a list of investment books, just in time for the holidays. In addition to classics such as Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel, he also included some of the new classics such as Peter L. Bernstein’s Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. I think readers may have the most fun with some of the lesser-known but not any less powerful books on his list. An example would be Darrell Huff’s How to Lie with StatisticsIt is a lighter reading but just as thought-provoking, if not more so.

Last but not least on our reading list for you this week is “Twenty-Five Thanksgiving Jokes That Will Get You Through Dinner with Your Family.” With that, we wish our readers around the world a happy start to the holiday season!

More Monetary Easing: China and Europe 

Investing 

Environment

Business Communication 

And Now for Some Truly Weekend Reading . . . 

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All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.

Photo credit: ©iStockphoto.com/JLGutierrez

About the Author(s)
Larry Cao, CFA

Larry Cao, CFA, senior director of industry research, CFA Institute, conducts original research with a focus on the investment industry trends and investment expertise. His current research interests include multi-asset strategies and FinTech (including AI, big data, and blockchain). He has led the development of such popular publications as FinTech 2017: China, Asia and Beyond, FinTech 2018: The Asia Pacific Edition, Multi-Asset Strategies: The Future of Investment Management and AI Pioneers in Investment management. He is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences on these topics. During his time in Boston pursuing graduate studies at Harvard and as a visiting scholar at MIT, he also co-authored a research paper with Nobel laureate Franco Modigliani that was published in the Journal of Economic Literature by American Economic Association. Larry has more than 20 years of experience in the investment industry. Prior to joining CFA Institute, Larry worked at HSBC as senior manager for the Asia Pacific region. He started his career at the People’s Bank of China as a USD fixed-income portfolio manager. He also worked for US asset managers Munder Capital Management, managing US and international equity portfolios, and Morningstar/Ibbotson Associates, managing multi-asset investment programs for a global financial institution clientele. Larry has been interviewed by a wide range of business media, such as Bloomberg, CNN, the Financial Times, South China Morning Post and the Wall Street Journal.

1 thought on “Weekend Reads for Global Investors: Thanksgiving Jokes and a Holiday Book List”

  1. Claudette says:

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