Financial Times (January 19)
“Trump’s bizarre designs on Greenland and his willingness to inflict financial pain on allies” mean that “the U.S. has squandered its most valuable financial asset: trust. It risks paying a heavy price for this for decades to come.” The U.S. remains the only market “big enough to absorb” giant capital flows so this “is not about ‘sell America.’” Europe is not going to sell its $8 trillion worth of Treasuries overnight. Rather, Trump’s latest move provides “a big incentive for investors to buy more bonds and stocks from elsewhere over time…. to spread things a little more globally.”
Tags: $8 trillion, Allies, Asset, Bizarre, Bonds, Capital flows, Europe, Financial pain, Greenland, Heavy price, Incentive, Investors, Risks, Sell America, Squandered, Stocks, Treasuries, Trump, Trust, U.S., Valuable
CNN (January 15)
“For China, the record $1.2 trillion annual trade surplus its authorities reported Wednesday is resounding proof of the resilience of its economy in the face of US trade friction.” The record surplus “also tells another story: one of the far-reaching potential for China’s massive export engine to reshape the global economy – and help Beijing win more leverage in its rivalry with the United States.”
Tags: $1.2 trillion, China, Economy, Export engine, Friction, Global economy, Leverage, Potential, Proof, Record, Resilience, Trade surplus, U.S.
The Week (January 14)
“President Donald Trump has renewed his efforts to take over Greenland, and tapping into the Danish territory’s natural resources is a key part of the strategy. But even if Trump were to somehow make Greenland a U.S. territory (something Denmark vehemently opposes), experts say the island’s harsh climate and environment make mining Greenland’s natural resources an unachievable goal.”
Tags: Climate, Denmark, Efforts, Environment, Experts, Greenland, Mining, Natural resources, Opposes, Renewed, Strategy, Trump, U.S., Unachievable
Market Watch (January 14)
“For investors, a meaningful erosion of central-bank independence would weaken the Fed’s inflation-targeting discipline and be negative for both stocks and bonds, as markets have long operated under the assumption that Fed independence will hold.” Although “we do not expect the Trump administration to capture the Federal Reserve, continued pressure on central-bank independence is likely to weigh on the U.S. dollar.” Ultimately, “market calm is conditional on the Senate acting as a backstop to Fed independence. If that condition is misread, markets will break down.”
Tags: Bonds, Capture, Central bank, Discipline, Dollar, Erosion, Fed, Independence, Inflation, Investors, Markets, Negative, Senate, Stocks, Trump, U.S., Weaken
OilPrice.com (January 12)
“Regardless of how investable Venezuela will be in the future, the U.S. control over its oil industry would change the power balance in the oil markets, giving the U.S. more sway in longer-term supply. This would leave OPEC and the wider OPEC+ group including Russia and Kazakhstan with potentially diminished clout in influencing the oil market balances and prices.”
Tags: Clout, Control, Diminished, Future, Investable, Kazakhstan, Market balance, Oil industry, OPEC, Power balance, Prices, Russia, Supply, U.S., Venezuela
Barron’s (January 8)
“There are few winners in the U.S. stock market from higher tariffs,” but investors are betting and hoping to win if the Supreme Court strikes Trump’s tariffs down. “The Supreme Court may or may not issue a Friday ruling regarding the legality of President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs without the approval of Congress. But investors already appear to be betting that the court will strike a blow against the levies.”
Tags: Congress, Emergency powers, Investors, Ruling, Stock market, Supreme Court, Tariffs, Trump, U.S., Winners
Reuters (January 7)
“U.S. job openings dropped to a 14-month low in November while hiring resumed its sluggish tone, pointing to ebbing demand for labor amid policy uncertainty related to import tariffs and the integration of artificial intelligence in some work roles.” Nevertheless, “employers remained hesitant to carry out mass layoffs, keeping the labor market in what economists and policymakers call a ‘no hire, no fire’ state.”
Tags: AI, Demand, Ebbing, Employers, Hiring, Import tariffs, Job openings, Labor market, Layoffs, Low, November, Policy uncertainty, Sluggish, U.S.
Washington Post (December 30)
ESG investing has become a political hot potato in the U.S. New York is considering a motion to shift from BlackRock, which “oversees $42.3 billion in index funds for city pensions” to other asset managers with a more proactive stance on ESG. Ironically, “BlackRock and its leader Larry Fink leaned into ESG during a different political moment. But that changed after Texas passed a law blacklisting BlackRock for its fossil fuel ‘boycott.’”
Tags: $42.3 billion, Asset managers, Blacklisting, BlackRock, Boycott, City pensions, ESG investing, Fink, Fossil fuel, Hot potato, Index funds, New York, Political, Texas, U.S.
New York Times (December 28)
“Breaking China’s dominance will require creativity and patience…. The United States and its allies must solve their rare earth problem. The world’s democracies cannot depend on the most powerful authoritarian state — and an increasingly aggressive one — for critical minerals. The potential costs, to prosperity and freedom, are too great.”
Tags: Aggressive, Allies, Authoritarian, China, Costs, Creativity, Critical minerals, Democracies, Dominance, Patience, Prosperity, Rare earth, U.S.
The Week (December 24)
“The economic slump has affected several iconic American brands.” Brown-Forman, the company that owns Jack Daniel’s, Old Forester and Woodford Reserve is “laying off about 650 employees, or 12% of its workforce, in the face of declining demand.” Other brands have fallen into receivership. “But Jim Beam has taken perhaps the most extreme move by announcing it would halt production at the plant’s main distillery in Clermont, Kentucky, for an entire year.”
Tags: Brands, Brown-Forman, Declining demand, Distillery, Economic slump, Employees, Halt, Iconic, Jack Daniel’s, Production, Receivership, U.S., Workforce
