Washington Post (October 2)
“The United States just witnessed its most extreme October heat.” On Tuesday, temperatures hit 117 degrees (47 °C) in Palm Springs, tying the October record for North America. “More than 200 warm weather records were set on Tuesday alone in the western United States on the heels of around 2,500 records set in the final third of September between the Southwest and Upper Midwest.”
Tags: 47 °C, Extreme, Heat, North America, October, Palm Springs, Record, September, Southwest, Temperatures, U.S., Upper Midwest, Weather
Reuters (September 28)
“Treasury yields and the dollar fell while the Dow registered a record closing high on Friday as a subdued U.S. inflation report lifted expectations of an outsized interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s November policy meeting.” On top of that, “a global stock index also reached a record high, helped by China’s stimulus boost, and European shares posted an all-time high close.”
Tags: China, Dollar, Dow, Europe, Expectations, Fed, Global stock, High, Index, Inflation, Interest rate, Policy meeting, Record, Stimulus, U.S., Yields
Traders Magazine (September 25)
“Compliance and risk leaders need to reorient their processes and technology to align with how traders trade in today’s markets.” Many legacy systems are “decades out of date, designed in a time when you had to keep an eye on one financial instrument or venue at a time.” Insider trading can occur through economically related securities and a rising number of ”social media-related market manipulation cases” are facing regulators in India (SEBI), Hong Kong (SFC) and the U.S. (SEC). “Market operators and financial institutions must… innovate their practices to ensure market integrity while creating value and opportunities.”
Tags: Compliance, Economically related securities, Financial instrument, Hong Kong, India, Legacy systems, Market manipulation, Processes, Risk leaders, SEBI, SEC, SFC, Social media, Technology, Traders, U.S.
OilPrice.com (September 17)
“U.S. power-generating companies are announcing plans for the highest volume of new natural gas-fired capacity in years as the AI boom is driving demand for electricity…. The increase in gas-fired generation jeopardizes the current U.S. emissions and ‘clean grid’ goals.”
Tags: AI boom, Capacity, Clean grid, Demand, Electricity, Emissions, Generation, Highest, Jeopardizes, New. Natural gas-fired, Power-generating, U.S.
The Economist (September 18)
“The Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates by half a percentage point, announced on September 18th, is momentous for two reasons. As the first cut by America’s central bank since it lifted rates to quell inflation, it marks the start of a monetary-easing cycle. It also represents a bet by the Fed that inflation will soon be yesterday’s problem and that action is needed to support the labour market.”
Tags: Action, Fed, Inflation, Interest rates, Labour market, Momentous, Monetary-easing cycle, U.S.
Reuters (September 13)
“U.S. consumer sentiment improved in September amid subsiding inflation, though Americans remained cautious ahead of the November presidential election,” according to the University of Michigan. Preliminary readings show “consumer sentiment came in at 69.0 this month, compared to a final reading of 67.9 in August” while expectations for one-year inflation “fell for the fourth straight month to 2.7%,” marking “the lowest reading since December 2020.”
Tags: Cautious, Consumer sentiment, Election, Expectations, Inflation, September, Subsiding, U.S., University of Michigan
Barron’s (September 4)
“Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel on Wednesday despite reports that OPEC+ nations are considering delaying a planned oil output hike in October.” One of the main drivers was ”weakening demand from China.” Other factors included the situation in Libya and “fears about a weakening U.S. economy.”
Tags: 70, Barrel, China, Delay, Fears, Libya, October, Oil prices, OPEC, Output hike, U.S., Weakening, Weakening demand
Washington Post (August 29)
“The United States and the entire planet are poised to clinch their most humid summer on record, scientists say. The sweltering conditions, which have pushed this year’s heat close to the limits of survivability in some areas and fueled flooding downpours, are part of a long-term increase in humid heat driven by human-caused climate change.”
Tags: Climate change, Downpours, Flooding, Heat, Human-caused, Humid, Limits, Planet, Record, Summer, Survivability, Sweltering, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (August 26)
In the “latest retreat by U.S. companies,” IBM is shuttering its R&D operations in China. “Geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China have led many multinational companies to reassess their business in China.” IBM once viewed “China as a major growth market,” but its market share has plummeted. Revenue dropped nearly 20% last year when “Beijing pushed Chinese buyers to purchase more from domestic technology suppliers, in a campaign dubbed ‘Delete America.’”
Tags: China, Companies, Geopolitical tensions, Growth, IBM, Market share, Multinational, R&D, Reassess, Retreat, Revenue, Shuttering, Suppliers, Technology, U.S.
New York Times (August 25)
“Given the war in Ukraine, the risks of a larger war in the Middle East and China’s accelerating challenge to American primacy, Europe needs the United States more than it has since the end of the Cold War. And America still has a unique and valuable asset that its growing list of rivals and adversaries don’t: reliable allies and partners in Europe.” No two ways about it: “America and Europe need each other.”
Tags: Adversaries, Allies, Asset, China, Cold war, Europe, Middle East, Primacy, Reliable, Risks, Rivals, U.S., Ukraine, Unique, Valuable, War
