News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by kaycebasques on Thursday January 02, 2020 @06:08PM (#21940962)
I don’t know if this comment is too basic, but if you appreciate this type of speculation/investment, you’d be interested in the world of macro investing, short for macroeconomic. It’s all about looking at big global trends and then figuring out how to translate those into investments/bets.
Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by wyxuan on Thursday January 02, 2020 @09:27PM (#21942492)
My goodness, but Macrovoices by Erik Townsend is GREAT. Macrovoices.com Ignore the latest episode with Pippa Malmgren, but it has a ton of macro insights that lay people can understand; while not being too basic.
Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by kaycebasques on Saturday January 04, 2020 @01:26PM (#21956450)
This was also the first thing I thought of recommending but I was worried it required too much background knowledge in economics.
Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by jeffshek on Friday January 03, 2020 @02:47AM (#21944073)
One caveat though is global macro is notoriously difficult.

Even when you think all signs point to a conclusion - think “peak oil hypothesis” something can come out of the moon that changes all your hypothesis, ruining your funds return easily.

Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by weberc2 on Thursday January 02, 2020 @06:43PM (#21941270)
Any resources (blogs, podcasts) suitable for laypeople?
Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by finolex1 on Thursday January 02, 2020 @06:53PM (#21941351)
You could like at the website of Bridgewater Associates, a big macro hedge fund, though they obviously don't publish most things.
Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by Psyladine on Friday January 03, 2020 @07:35AM (#21945357)
Read Liar Poker, Michael Lewis's expose of Wall Street in the 80s.

One sterling example of what makes a great trader came when he was woken up to news of Chernobyl. Like most people aware of the disaster, he was thinking in terms of fear, long term effects of radiation and nuclear anxiety. His trader friend called him with a tip to buy potatoes. He called back to say also diapers.

The trader correctly identified market trends in reaction to both nuclear radiation on global food stocks, and human behavior aggregates to nuclear anxiety (which in 9 months leads to higher demand for diapers).

It's a state of mind not entirely human, but understanding human behavior.

Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by majos on Friday January 03, 2020 @08:17AM (#21945563)
> human behavior aggregates to nuclear anxiety (which in 9 months leads to higher demand for diapers).

Is this real? Similar claims were made about a baby bump around June 2002 (9 months after 9/11), but nothing happened [1].

[1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/baby-boom-3/

Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by throwawaymath on Thursday January 02, 2020 @08:36PM (#21942130)
Read the blogs and articles published by AQR.
Re:One-quarter of the world’s pigs died in a year due to swi... by maroonblazer on Thursday January 02, 2020 @09:13PM (#21942391)
While not exclusively macro, the podcast Econtalk regularly explores macroeconomic issues. https://www.econtalk.org/

The host has a libertarian bias but is pretty upfront about it so you know where he's coming from. I don't agree with him on everything but his podcast is almost always interesting.