alpha

I think the real surprise is that rates have been so low for so long, that is really the driving factor.

The amount of retail investors gambling on stock options and equities. It seems like a large chunk of sports gamblers have switched to betting on the markets during the pandemic. Driven by no-fee apps and pandemic relief programs. The YOY numbers quoted in the following CNBC article are significant: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/04/pandemic-induced-options-trading-craze-shows-no-signs-of-slowing-down.html

The Canadian Government is now subsidizing home purchases valued over 500k for buyers with 150k incomes. https://www.yahoo.com/now/federal-liberals-boost-firsttime-home-buyers-incentive-and-plan-foreign-buyers-tax-204818131.html

I don't know about the East Coast but I have been getting into bidding wars for houses on Canada's West Coast and the realtors tell me it is mostly out of province/country bidders I am competing with... people fleeing Toronto/Vancouver etc...

Anyone happen to have a transcript of the speech Buffett made at a recent Goldman Sachs event for small business?

Something in the energy sector perhaps? Maybe building more positions in medical sector :o

Good news, but it still sounds like the virus will be around for a while. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be kept at -80c, has short shelf life, and requires 2 doses. Additionally it sounds like initial distribution is going to be split from Pfizers plants with vaccine produced in EU plants going to EU and USA produced vaccine going to US residents. With expectation of enough vaccine to vaccinate 600 million people total by the end of 2021 (1.2 billion doses). I am not sure if that includes the 100 million doses the US government already apparently has. Seems like the winter is still going to be rough in USA giving the surging case numbers going into holiday season.

What? Here in Texas the property taxes are insane because they are used to fund the school districts. I don't have kids but many of the public schools in local middle class neighborhoods seem very modern and well funded. During the recent pandemic friends with children have mentioned their transition to remote learning was smooth because all of the students already had standard issue: laptops, iPads, and hot spots from their public schools.

Iscar Turkey settlement: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/126/20201020_berkshire.pdf

We did that ages ago. Shares were bought and then registered with certificates being couriered to us by Wells Fargo who is the trustee. They were held as collateral for a collaterialized loan that we put in place. The value of the shares dwarfed the initial loan amount after a few years. If you hold shares that split, then the trustee has to mail out new certificates. The banks get a bit jumpy as the collateral suddenly goes down by the factor of the split. One time, we were away for the weekend and Purolator helpfully left $250K in share certificates under our front doormat late on Friday afternoon. Sunday night when we returned home, there they were...heartstopper! Would the stolen certificates not be worthless or are they not numbered in anyway like bearer bonds? Were you able to get favorable terms on a loan using the shares as collateral? Was it with a mainstream lender?

Does anyone know if these increases are going to affect "bare land stratas" in BC? or the increases only affecting condo stratas? Anyone know how to independently verify the financial health of a strata in BC? Thanks

I thought it was odd too. The Kodak CEO and chairman was on yahoo finance this morning trying to explain this. He said that primarily Kodak was not a camera company but a film company so they have lots of infrastructure in place for handling and processing large amounts of chemicals. https://finance.yahoo.com/video/kodak-stock-soars-white-house-155307355.html

I don't think this is a credible risk. There have always been skirmishes along the Indian border and China's focus is on the South China sea right now. The CCP won't allow a skirmish with India to escalate and risk bringing further international attention to their operations in the South China Sea which is their strategic priority.

Streaming prices are going up. Youtube TV just jacked their monthly fee to $65 and lots of rumblings during the past few weeks about it paving the way for Netflix to increase their rates. Content is also getting split up among multiple smaller streaming services requiring consumers to purchase multiple subscriptions to get the same content that was available from a single provider just a couple years ago.

It seems that the lowest price is currently on abebooks.com at only 338 usd. I purchased the book on amazon.com in 2012 for 19.69 usd :), my guess is that you just need to check again in a couple months. Hehe thanks, will wait for prices to drop again.

Anyone know if this books is available at a reasonable price anywhere? (Amazon etc.. have crazy prices)

I have a shared office at 1 Yonge St (prime Toronto real estate). The office manager is now offering 3 months free rent for any new 1 year office leases. This would have been unimaginable 6 months ago...

Even Elton John is hurting, to the tune of 75mil: https://canoe.com/entertainment/celebrity/elton-john-lays-off-band-after-losing-us75-million-due-to-cancelled-tour

BYD to supply ford with batteries. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ford-byd-electric/buffett-backed-byd-to-supply-ev-batteries-to-ford-idUSKBN2381VJ

Tonight on PBS news hour they interviewed an immunology doctor. He clearly said there is currently no way to test if someone is really immune from reinfection and stated there is no evidence to support reducing current social distancing steps etc... Video Clip: https://youtu.be/Zu8YKymgbYg?t=771

Short Andy Serwer interview: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/video/exclusive-warren-buffett-advanced-capitalism-130429262.html

SPDN

According to the latest WHO information there is no evidence getting infected with Covid will provide immunity to future infections. That's why they warned against "immunity passports".

Sapporo - received some as a gift and enjoyed it, decided to purchase more this weekend.