My morning train WFH reads:

• Autopsied bodies and false flags: How pro-Russian disinformation spreads chaos in Ukraine In Russia, military might and KGB-inspired disinformation go hand in hand. (Grid)

• It’s Ugly Out There Since 1950, the S&P 500 has declined 10% from its highs 25 times. Twelve times it fell more than 20%. A coin toss that a correction turns into a bear market. It’s important to point out that most investors don’t have all of their money in the S&P 500. The numbers don’t adequately convey the stress felt by some investors, so let me break it down… (Irrelevant Investor) see also S&P 500 Charts Are So Bad Even Bulls Are Looking to Adjust Bets Stocks under pressure on Ukraine-Russia tensions, hawkish Fed S&P 500 living on edge of support, says Piper’s Craig Johnson (Bloomberg)

• Why is Russia invading Ukraine and what does Putin want? For months Russia’s Vladimir Putin denied planning to attack Ukraine, but on Thursday he announced a “special military operation” in the country’s Donbas region. The announcement on live television was followed by reports of explosions in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv as well as other parts of the country. (BBC)

• The Case for the Big Five’s Continued Dominance The kings of the tech realm have suffered stock slides but still command powerful advantages. (Chief Investment Officer) but see Meta’s Stock-Market Wipeout Is Unmatched in the Megacap Era Shares are down more than 45% from a peak hit in September The stock is the cheapest it has ever been by some metrics (Bloomberg)

• Long Island, We Need to Talk (About Housing) The New York region is in the throes of a housing crisis. The paucity of construction in recent decades has driven prices to record heights, and the resulting shortage of affordable housing is constraining regional economic growth and destabilizing the lives of millions of families. By one A recent estimate, the region needs to add 772,000 homes for lower-income households. The search for sites tends to focus on New York City. What doesn’t get enough attention is the need to build more housing in the suburbs, especially in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. (New York Times)

• Shopify’s Evolution Even with a toehold in the consumer space, though, Shopify has remained a company that is focused first-and-foremost on its merchants and its mission to “help people achieve independence by making it easier to start, run, and grow a business. ” That independence doesn’t just mean one-person entrepreneurs either: good-size brands like Gymshark, Rebecca Minkoff, KKW Beauty, Kylie Cosmetics, and leverage leverage Shopify to build brands that are independent of Amazon in particular. (Stratechery)

• What It’ll Take to Get Electric Planes off the Ground The lithium-ion battery is good for moving cars short distances, but aviation requires longer-lasting power. Maybe we need to try other elements. (Wired)

• The Millions of People Stuck in Pandemic Limbo: What does society owe immunocompromised people? Close to 3 percent of US adults taking immunosuppressive drugs; at least 7 million immunocompromised people—a number that’s already larger than the populations of 36 states, without even including the millions more who have diseases that also hamper immunity, such as AIDS and at least 450 genetic disorders. (The Atlantic)

• Stunning Scottish Pterosaur is Biggest Fossil of its Kind The well-preserved find from Scotland’s Isle of Skye offers a rare peek into the evolutionary journey of these ancient wonders on wings. (National Geographic)

• The Biggest Galaxy Ever Found Has Just Been Discovered, And It Will Break Your Brain 16.3 million light-years vs 52,850 light-years for the Milky Way (Science Alert)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Sebastien Mallaby, whom we previously had on as a guest (MiB is here) discussed “More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite.” His new book is a must-read, a tour de force on the history of the VC: “The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future.”

More Trouble for a Troubled Market, Roiled by Russia’s hostilities toward Ukraine

Source: New York Times

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