David Merkel

The two main goals: teaching investors about better investing through risk control, and tying all of the markets into a coherent whole.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

It just got easier to place rapid-fire trades in stocks and options, as “pattern day trader” restrictions start going off the books at brokers like Robinhood Markets and Webull https://t.co/ED4G4ZiJ4P Given that there are zero day options, eliminating the PDT rule makes sense

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

Investors tend to look first at performance, then (maybe) at fees and last (if at all) at taxes. That makes no sense, writes @jasonzweigwsj. https://t.co/VbukRDVNuB On the tax merits of broadly diversified equity ETFs.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

Some of Russia’s best known hawks have become more open in expressing a belief that Moscow simply doesn’t have the capacity to achieve an outright victory against Ukraine https://t.co/21FRQOGrFZ Russia is losing. Unmotivated men. Lousy tactics. Incompetent leaders.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

The Dirt That Refused To Die (Lifelike biochemistry continued to unfold in sterilized soil for six years, pointing to a metabolic theory for how biology began.) https://t.co/V9zT6xaAqo No, chemical reactions do not mean life.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

The Family Feeling https://t.co/WTIIl92lM0 In general, I agree w/this, but I think many of the cases listed do not qualify. It would have been a better article if less anecdotal, & more analytic. How does a "family firm" get created & succeed in a competitive world?

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

The Rikishi Moment [By catering to SpaceX index companies have destroyed their credibility] https://t.co/SideRswwUU By acting like active managers, index funds lose credibility. This could be the great rebirth of active managers outperforming.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

California Democrats head to a primary election on Tuesday after a raucous race to help determine a successor to Gov. Gavin Newsom https://t.co/RInEUgIqFa Searching for the man who will perfect California's cultural failure.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

Incoming Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh wants the central bank to consider alternative measures of inflation when setting monetary policy—some of which show price pressures actually are much lower https://t.co/A433ApI2ZF Median CPI is better still.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

The dot-com bubble,” Muir observed, “didn’t end when the internet stopped growing. No, it ended when it stopped growing as fast as was expected.” https://t.co/LLtCjwto4j A bearish take. Be careful.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

Should investors just buy anything with a hint of artificial intelligence, or try to find the parts of the AI supply chain where bottlenecks capture more of the value? https://t.co/sE6F9Gs7ZF Trying to find the next $AMZN is a fool's bargain; instead small companies w/moats.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

Three New Exchange-Traded Funds to Watch https://t.co/s1x9Rc3vbf Leaving aside $LOHA, these are all undiversified investments. Better to buy the leading company in each, and skip the fees.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

Aircraft owners lease out engines rather than whole planes as prices soar https://t.co/ZkR6KfZ6LL It is a tight market. Long $WLFC

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

The Average Guys Outsmarting Wall Street on Prediction Markets https://t.co/pVP7axEbLD Gambling harms society as a whole. Ban ALL gambling.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

The slow housing market is forcing many real-estate agents to walk away from the business https://t.co/mdHiAbgZ18 In some ways, this is healthy. The commissions are too high. It's also payback for the low interest rate era. Too much money went into housing...

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

Vladimir Putin is betting with the Kremlin’s coffers that unorthodox science may keep him alive forever. https://t.co/onlJwffgVK The self-idolatry will kill him, as it did many of his predecessors. Don't tell the Russian Orthodox; they are spiritually dead already.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

The stock-market surge has propelled the use of a new kind of tax-loss harvesting. We break it down. https://t.co/UMrkjysDtT Simplicity in investing is better. Avoid complexity with high fees.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

Life insurance companies are investing more policyholders’ money in private credit sold by parent firms or affiliated parties, an approach critics say sets up potential conflicts of interest https://t.co/VPKlrOQOAv A genuine problem as the ratings on the private debt are too high

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

Ford Motor’s stock price has surged to its highest level in nearly three years, and the reason has little to do with cars or trucks https://t.co/ZJEjNCwJvR Wait until $F becomes a battery company, fires all of its unionized auto workers, making cars & trucks no more.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

A federal regulator is pushing pause on its review of the blockbuster merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, imperiling the timetable of their $71.5 billion railroad deal https://t.co/PdvwLjwieL Would you expect otherwise? I'm not afraid of monopolies but most are.

[David Merkel @AlephBlog]

‘How much money do you make?’ Since you can’t ask your date that, ask this instead. https://t.co/2YxiZLAh2l Decent article, but if you can't speak frankly about money directly, you don't have much of a relationship.