Involving: a link to a post that I thoroughly enjoyed writing, why bookstores might be here to stay (even if they’re within the confines of a Walmart), and some unsurprising observations about bond trading.
Good morning
The headlines:
- intrade.com.
Link: it may be rude to laugh, but…
Wrote about it here. And had fun doing it.
- Wal-mart considers HMV.
Link: the future?
Wal-mart’s UK branch is apparently considering putting in a bid for HMV. And it does beg the question: why?
I don’t think that anyone disagrees that digital and online downloading is the way forward. But I have a hunch that, in the end, we’re still going to need bookstores and shops that sell music and film media.
And that’s because they’re mostly the reason I go to shopping centres. Yes, I may occasionally need to buy jeans, or a new shirt, and those are functional reasons to go shopping. But even though I buy books less often – if there is a bookstore in the mall, I will visit it. Bookstores and music places are the fun part; without them, a shopping centre stops being an experience, and becomes a chore. And once that happens, other types of shop begin to suffer.
Because most of my consumerism happens by chance. As in: “I was looking for a book for my friend Sarah, and then found this great shirt in Guess, and remembered that I needed new work shoes so I went to Green Cross, and then there was a sale, where I bought this DVD boxset of The Good Wife because I felt like watching it when I got home. And then I had to get coffee, when I walked past that weird place near the pharmacy, and look at these awesome placemats that I found!”
So maybe Wal-mart is seeing this more holistically. Because if you are the one place where I can still browse for music and books that I won’t buy, you can be sure that I will find other things to spend money on.
- “The shocking truth about bond forecasting”.
Link: not too shocking.
Limited upside, practically unlimited downside.
When you realise that bond yields are near zero – it means that you’re almost at the point of paying for the privilege of lending the borrower money. And when the market decides that it would quite like to put its money elsewhere, you will lose.
Conclusion: don’t buy bonds.
That’s all for now.
Have a good day.
