Barron’s (December 10)
As it attempts to address inflation without derailing the recovery (or worse), the Fed will be walking a tight rope. On the upside, “the banking system is now both better capitalized and less exposed to illiquidity risk than in the past.” Moreover, “both households and firms are in better shape to weather higher interest costs now than they were in 1981 or, indeed, other episodes of monetary tightening.”
Tags: Banking system, Capitalized, Derailing, Exposed, Fed, Firms, Households, Illiquidity, Inflation, Interest costs, Recovery, Risk
Financial Times (December 9)
“The Big Four accounting firms have recorded their strongest financial performance since the collapse of Enron as corporate clients rushed to transform their businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.” Revenues soared to over $167 billion, collectively, in spite of “continued criticism of the structure and performance of the firms, especially in audits, including scrutiny of EY’s failure to identify fraud at Wirecard.”
Tags: Accounting firms, Audits, Big Four, Clients, Collapse, Coronavirus, Criticism, Enron, EY, Failure, Financial performance, Fraud, Pandemic, Revenues, Scrutiny, Transform
New York Times (December 7)
“Stocks have swung wildly since the Omicron variant of the coronavirus emerged, once again raising concerns about the pandemic’s potential to damage the global economy.” In two years of “market upheaval,” a pattern has emerged. “Each bout of pandemic-driven volatility in the stock market since February 2020 has been shorter than the one before, and followed by a recovery to a new high. “
Tags: Coronavirus, Global economy, Losses, Market upheaval, Omicron, Pandemic, Peak, Recovery, S&P 500, Stocks, Volatility
Wall Street Journal (December 6)
“Three potential crises are proceeding in tandem: a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, continuing Chinese pressure on Taiwan and the potential collapse of Iran nuclear talks.” Individually, any “of these standoffs has the potential to shake the world order and produce wider conflict. Taken together, they signal that the U.S. and its allies are at a dangerous moment.” Findings a way to successfully “show firmness on each front without provoking a crisis” will provechallenging.
Tags: Allies, China, Collapse, Conflict, Crises, Dangerous, Iran, Nuclear talks, Russian invasion, Standoffs, Taiwan, U.S., Ukraine
Tampa Bay Times (December 6)
The emergence of the Omicron variant “proves that no nation is an island. Travel bans may slow the spread, but they can’t stop what has already happened…. So instead of pretending that the Atlantic and Pacific oceans somehow will keep the coronavirus and its variants far away, the United States should treat vaccinating people in other nations with more urgency.”
Tags: Urgency
Sydney Morning Herald (December 6)
“The crisis at the teetering giant Chinese property developer, China Evergrande, appears to be reaching a decisive moment, with the world’s most indebted property company conceding that it may be unable to meet the demand for repayment.”
Tags: China, Crisis, Decisive moment, Evergrande, Indebted, Property developer, Repayment, Teetering, Unable
Washington Post (December 4)
“About 1 in 420 Americans has died of covid-19, according to official data. And we’re still averaging more than 1,000 deaths per day,” but areas with “widespread vaccination” are faring much better. “Death rates are far below the national average in the most-vaccinated, often-urban areas.”
Tags: Death rates, Faring, Most-vaccinated, National average, U.S., Urban areas, Vaccination, Widespread
Houston Chronicle (December 2)
Twenty years on, “Enron remains a cautionary tale of corporate hubris and fraud. It’s lessons still carry weight, especially as Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes stands trial, accused of defrauding investors and patients about the viability and accuracy of its medical testing technology.”
Tags: Accuracy, Cautionary tale, CEO, Corporate hubris, Defrauding, Enron, Fraud, Holmes, Investors, Patients, Theranos, Trial, Twenty years
Wall Street Journal (December 3)
“Wages are going gangbusters in the U.S.—elsewhere, not so much.” In Australia and Japan, “pay growth remains anemic… despite labor shortages.” Nor do wages appear to be rapidly accelerating in Europe, all of which is “easing pressure on their central banks to raise interest rates.”
Tags: Anemic, Australia, Central banks, Europe, Gangbusters, Interest rates, Japan, Labor shortages, Pay growth, U.S., Wages
Reuters (December 2)
“The good news is that drugmakers are already increasing their manufacturing capacity, which should reduce vaccine hoarding.” Moderna, J&J, AstraZeneca and Pfizer “are expected to produce 12 billion doses between them next year, enough to give two jabs to 75% of the world’s population.” The bad news is “getting shots into arms is a bigger challenge. Many developing countries lack the trained staff to administer doses, or the kit and infrastructure to ship them in the right conditions.”
Tags: AstraZeneca, Capacity, Challenge, Developing countries, Drugmakers, Infrastructure, J&J, Moderna, Pfizer, Trained staff, Vaccine hoarding
