UK

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Hostile takovers:))

His personality is exactly a thing I do not like the most about him. In some way it is simillar with Trump. Perhaps Jobs or even Gates were not exatly flawless personalities either:)? I also never owned TSLA, to the contrary, only its put options:). He is promotional. He will do mistakes. But despite this I just can not understand how one can see him as underachiever or not inhumanely smart:). Of course he is not God, neither does everything alone, but boy he has achieved a lot as I see it.

I think this is actually very true. No one will replace WB being WB, but BRK could very well find other/new strenghts/avenues under new management.

Now, I do not like everything Elon says or does...but how come one can even doubt his brains or achievements at this point? And Luke, IIRC, at the same time you think that Putin and Xi are great and/or smart:)? With respect, but I personally think there are some serious flaws in your judgments:)

I think I would choose this over 100 percent SNP500 easilly , but maybe (not totally sure if or when) I would also consider adding SPY as a third position, to reduce BRK size, if no other good ideas come in the future.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2024/08/12/some-good-news-and-some-bad-news-about-house-of-the-dragon-season-3/ By all rights, we should be getting a new episode of House of the Dragon tonight. Alas, Season 2 was cut short by two episodes thanks to Warner Bros. cost-saving measures following the Discovery merger—a merger many questioned at the time, and one that has sent shockwaves through HBO’s programming slate, including the cancellation of beloved series like Raised By Wolves and Westworld. Finished watching this. Apparently Zaslav is also the one to blame for ending the 2 season of HoD too early:))

Free advertising for insurance industry!:)?

'This was not the worst-case scenario' - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' morning briefing 43 minutes ago 15:34 EEST Rich McKay and Stephen Farrell Governor DeSantis said that more than 80,000 people had stayed in shelters across the state overnight. He and state officials urged Florida residents to let rescue workers check affected areas before returning to them. State officials reported at least 42 rescues, and two arrests for looting. Florida airports remained closed on Thursday, including Tampa, Palm Beach and St Petersburg /Clearwater, with exceptions for emergency aircraft, according to the FAA. "We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses and you have people that are out there assessing damage right now, first responders have been working all through the night to help people who were in distress," DeSantis said. "The storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario. The storm did weaken before landfall." "The Tampa airport is reporting minimal damage and should be open no later than tomorrow." "Sea ports are awaiting Coast Guard channel surveys to reopen waterside, but as of now, our initial assessments is they will likely be able to resume operations very quickly." "The storm surge was most acute in Sarasota, and I think it was a little bit more than Sarasota got for for Helene, but it wasn't like so much more. I think was eight to 10 feet." "I don't think that you're looking at similar amount of damage to Ian... definitely the surge did not reach Helene levels." "We anticipate because of the amount of water, you know, you may see flooding happen, not just now but in the subsequent days. "

I think their goal is to send a message in the first place, rather than to acctualy buy large part of the market to backstop it. Sometimes strong words is enough, so far it is more than just words and if it is not enough, perhaps they can always opt for 'unlimited' version later:)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-10/pboc-launches-71-billion-liquidity-tool-for-stock-investors

https://www.barrons.com/articles/insurance-stocks-hurricane-milton-8eb294bf It is possible that the storm could inflict $50 billion to $100 billion of losses on the insurance industry if it makes a direct hit on Tampa. Computer models indicate that could happen later this week, leaving insurers to face what has long been considered one of the worst potential scenarios for the industry. Miami and Tampa/St. Petersburg are the two biggest metro areas in the state. Lloyd’s outlined a scenario earlier this year for a hurricane strike on Pinellas County, where St. Petersburg is located, that could result in insured losses of $134 billion. Pegging potential losses is difficult at this stage. But in a tweet Tuesday, Enki Research said that while the economic impact will depend on the exact course of the storm, most estimates cluster around $60-$75 billion, with some as high as $150 billion. If the storm strikes south of Tampa, as models say is possible, losses could be lower. So why are the stocks higher Tuesday? They were hit hard Monday: Reinsurers Everest Group and RenaissanceRe Holdings fell about 9% and primary insurers Chubb , Allstate , Progressive and Travelers were off 3% to 4%. The stocks have arguably priced in sizable losses. Some 36 stocks covered by KBW analyst Meyer Shields lost a collective $50 billion of market value. The selloff also could have reflected profit-taking after what has been a strong year for P&C insurance stocks. Many were up 30% or more before trading began on Monday. Tuesday afternoon, reinsurers Everest Group was up 0.7% to $375.32; RenaissanceRe was 3.7% higher at $263.28; and Arch Capital gained 2% to $109.94. Among primary insurers, Chubb was 1% higher at $280, while Allstate was up 0.7% at $182.59. Berkshire Hathaway , which has a large P&C business, was little changed at $679,584, based on its Class A shares. Investors may be taking comfort from leading insurers’ strong capital positions, anticipating that property insurance rates, particularly for reinsurers, could be stronger than previously expected. Another potential positive is that the storm has been downgraded to Category 4 from Category 5, though it remains potentially devastating. It could be a Category 3 storm when it hits the Florida coast. Big primary insurers have been reducing their exposure to the Florida homeowners market due to storm risk, mitigating their potential losses. Because national companies are pulling out of Florida, the largest homeowners’ insurer in the state is the state-run Citizen’s Property Insurance, with a roughly 20% market share. Reinsurers took some of the biggest hits Monday because they provide insurance to primary carriers like Chubb, Travelers, and Allstate, which deal directly with insurance customers. They tend to have more catastrophe risk than the primary carriers. “Coming out of hurricane season, reinsurance stocks tend to do better,” says Chai Gohil, the global insurance analyst at Neuberger Berman. He says that the next key date for reinsurance renewals is Jan. 1. The thinking now, he said, is that property rates could be flat to up in the mid single digits, rather than falling in the mid to high single digits, as had been expected until recently. Gohil says investors have been looking at disclosures by reinsurers about what the industry calls probable maximum loss from a catastrophe with a 1% chance of happening in a given year. Investors calculated that loss for some reinsurers Monday and figured that the stocks might have overreacted. Everest, for instance, pegs its Southeast hurricane PML at about 8.4% of equity, or close to $30 a share. Its stock fell about $35 on Monday. Neuberger owns stock in companies that it views as some of the strongest insurers, including Berkshire, Chubb, and auto specialist Progressive. Gohil says that one risk for insurers is that there tends to be a large variance between “eventual losses” from a storm and modeled estimates. “In case of Katrina, Irma – the losses were 20-30% higher, partly due to higher demand surge, and increased litigation activity. We will likely see the same as Milton is on the heels of Helene, so stocks may react negatively with further adverse revision of loss estimates,” he wrote Monday. Florida passed legislation last year to curb what had been rampant insurance fraud involving so-called assignment of benefits, which allowed third parties to act on behalf of homeowners and make claims against insurers. Unscrupulous contractors, for instance, would repair roofs and then make huge damage claims to insurers. The effectiveness of that litigation could be tested by Milton. The exodus of big insurers from Florida has left a void that has been filled by smaller public companies and private ones like Tower Hill. The smaller public insurers with Florida exposure, including American Coastal Insurance , Heritage Insurance, and Universal Insurance were hit hard Monday. They suffered some of the biggest losses in the sector. Universal was up 3.8% Tuesday to $17.54 after falling 19% Monday, while American Coastal gained 1% to $9.60 after dropping 15%. Universal has the No. 2 market share in homeowners’ insurance in Florida while American Coastal is the No. 1 provider of commercial residential insurance in the state. Both are tiny relative to national players like Allstate and Travelers, with market values of about $500 million each.

I am not sure about War and Peace or other aurhors, but almost certain you can read Dostoevsky in your own language and it will still beat like 80 percent or more of original language alternatives. I also read same book by Bulgakov in both languages and translated version was not bad either.

No offense taken:). I wish I also could post this epic gif of Spekuliatius about investing in China, featuring boar, but I can not find it:))

Why would you say this? I do not disagree with you or Tepper much and was just kidding:)

Interesting map in the backgroud. Not sure I recognize it or what teritory is marked by the red to the west from the yellow one (Russia?), but for his birthday I wish him to rule only in the yellow part to the east in the future:))

https://www.barrons.com/amp/articles/hurricane-milton-insurance-stocks-220b0d88

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-10-06/china-is-making-investor-calls-so-awkward

Good. Is his take on China/Taiwan available?

This is true:). But at the same time I think 2008-2009 was the last time markets and even economy was left for its own, at least for a while:). I am afraid (or should I say happy?) we now live in a newly discovered central bank put and very understanding government era and I am not sure economy and markets would be put in a very shitty toilet for long (though maybe currencies will be, one day, as a concequence). And these interventions worked, more or less, so expect this to continue. Just like in China currently, loans for buybacks, who would have thought:)? I am not sure that it means much for concentrated stockpicking, but i think it could be a mistake to wait to invest only after market prices halves or something, as likelly this has way less chances if at all to occur in the new era:). And perhaps to be not too greedy and to start buying big after smaller market drop:)

Thanks!

This I can understand:)

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