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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird
@birdyword.bsky.social
10K followers 360 following 340 posts
Wall Street editor at The Economist, co-host of our Money Talks podcast.
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Aug 15
BIG NEWS: My book, The Land Trap, is coming out on Nov 4! I've been fascinated by this topic for years. The book tells the story of why land still occupies such a huge role in finance, economics and politics globally, and why that's a source of huge risk. You can preorder NOW!
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Reposted by Mike Bird
cobrollins.bsky.social
rob collins @cobrollins.bsky.social · 2d
Worked on the audio of the upcoming book from @birdyword.bsky.social the section on Japan was fascinating, I'm sure the rest is too. Finance bsky alert @peark.es @weisenthal.bsky.social www.amazon.com/Land-Trap-Hi...
The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset
The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset [Bird, Mike] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset
www.amazon.com
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · 1d
Thank you! That's great to hear
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · 12d
Audiobook recording is WRAPPED!

You can preorder here, or get yourself a print copy! Or ideally, both! Available at a bunch of other places too.
www.amazon.com/Land-Trap-Hi...
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Aug 15
BIG NEWS: My book, The Land Trap, is coming out on Nov 4! I've been fascinated by this topic for years. The book tells the story of why land still occupies such a huge role in finance, economics and politics globally, and why that's a source of huge risk. You can preorder NOW!
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · May 22
JP Morgan now accounts for about 30% of the market cap of large American banks, from 12% when Dimon started. Mike Mayo, the Wells Fargo banks analyst, thinks itsm's heading to $1tn. It already had a lead over competitors on efficiency pre-pandemic, but the gap is huge now.
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · May 22
Fun story this week. I interviewed Jamie Dimon and the each of the heads of the bank's major businesses (his potential successors) about JP Morgan's astonishing expansion, what could threaten the biggest bank in American history, and what's coming next.

www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Will Jamie Dimon build the first trillion-dollar bank?
We interview JPMorgan Chase’s boss, and his lieutenants
www.economist.com
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · May 1
My piece this week: for a long time, private markets firms have dreamed of "democratising" their asset class. They're not dreaming anymore - the moment of truth has arrived www.economist.com/finance-and-....
www.economist.com
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 18
Transpacific trade is already seizing up because of the tariffs.

Three weeks ago, about 60,000 TEU (a measure of container volume) were scheduled to be "blanked" from April 16-May 10 (cancelled voyages/stops at a port). Now the figure is *367,800*
www.sea-intelligence.com/press-room/3...
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 5
The media monoculture breaking down is so fun. This guy is visiting China, I had never previously heard of him, but as far as I can tell it's perhaps the third biggest global news story happening in the last week.
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Reposted by Mike Bird
jmackin2.bsky.social
James Mackintosh @jmackin2.bsky.social · Apr 4
Actually can take it back further: only 3 occasions since 1964 with larger 2-day sellouts in S&P 500
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 4
It's important to remember that for younger investors, a selloff can represent a great entry opportunity! Unless it represents a change in the value of discounted future cash flows.
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 4
Fact check true
duncanweldon.bsky.social
Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · Apr 4
Why are we surprised? The Economist made @birdyword.bsky.social Wall Street Editor in January. Wherever he goes disaster follows.
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 4
What was that all priced in, guilders? Spanish dollars?
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 4
There are now only two occasions in recent financial history where the S&P 500 sold off more sharply in two days than it has since the US tariff announcements - the peak of Covid panic in March 2020, and a cluster of occasions during the very worst moments of the global financial crisis in 2008
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 3
My piece today: Trump's tariff bazooka is the biggest threat yet to 15yrs of US equity exceptionalism.

It's not just the mindless economic hit. Amateurish execution undermines the widespread belief in pro-market US governance

www.economist.com/finance-and-...
What America’s stockmarket plunge means
Farewell to 15 years of exceptionalism?
www.economist.com
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 3
Some of the US stocks with the biggest international trade/production exposures have just been absolutely battered since mid-February. Best Buy, Dell and Nike down between 26% and 36%.
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 2
Capital Economics: if today's announcements are implemented, the effective US tariff rate will shoot straight past the Smoot-Hawley levels of the 1930s.

"The effective tariff rate on all imports will rise from 2.3% last year to around 26%, leaving it at a 131-year high"
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 1
I dunno, because there was quite a drumbeat for that which didn't come from Churchill. Was it also more binary than this? I don't know if there was any discussion about the precise level to peg at
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 1
Yeah it may be that - although at least the US was at that time perceptibly in crisis
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 1
I'm trying to think of something as clearly discretionary as this, where there's no immediate or meaningful consequence to just not doing it.
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 1
What's a historical example of an economic policy as significant as the tariffs being discussed, where we knew similarly little about the scale of the announcement right beforehand? The Covid + 2008 crisis responses seem different because they were triggered by exogenous events.
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Apr 1
There's something darkly funny in looking at these trends and remembering the RW mockery of the shifting "current thing" and NPCs who can't think for themselves
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Mar 31
Bit embarrassing to admit they missed this one
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Mar 28
It is fascinating that the entirety of the recent US stock selloff is accounted for by valuation re-rating. For all the reduced confidence, tariff threats etc, earnings estimates are still at an all-time-high.
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birdyword.bsky.social
Mike Bird @birdyword.bsky.social · Mar 28
Even if the Chinese economy rebounds (a big if), and its tech crackdown comes to a clear end, politics now makes it hard for Wall Street to turn really bullish.

Investors in Dubai, Singapore and Zurich will not feel the same compunctions. My column this week.
www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Can foreign investors learn to love China again?
Wall Street still needs more to coax it back. But non-American firms may be ready to return
www.economist.com
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