Washington Post (September 10)
“Twenty-five years after the 9/11 attacks, powerful agencies and vast legal authorities created to stop another terrorist catastrophe are being turned inward, with the Trump administration using many of those powers to round up immigrants, battle drug traffickers and target political dissent.”
Tags: 9/11 attacks, Drug traffickers, Immigrants, Legal authorities, Political dissent, Powerful agencies, Powers, Terrorist catastrophe, Trump administration, Turned inward
Time (September 9)
As the “Buy Canadian” movement gains momentum, “Consumers in Canada are finding different ways to navigate how best to boycott U.S. goods and services, putting extra time in at the grocery store to ensure they are buying Canadian as often as they can.” The movement’s resurgence “comes amid a deepening U.S.-Canada trade dispute that shows no signs of waning.”
Tags: Boycott, Buy Canadian, Canada, Consumers, Deepening, Goods, Grocery store, Momentum, Movement, Navigate, Resurgence, Services, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (September 9)
“A new superpower is about to enter the fray, one that is unknowable and unending and potentially dwarfs the U.S. and China individually or collectively.” Artificial intelligence already poses significant threats, “yet AI’s most consequential advances—starting with recursive self-improvement—are still ahead.” At their upcoming summit, Trump and Xi “need to make AI safety the top priority for the rest of their tenures.”
Tags: Advances, AI, China, Consequential, Priority, Recursive self-improvement, Safety, Summit, Superpower, Threats, Trump, U.S., Unending, Unknowable, Xi
New York Times (September 8)
“Investors are bracing for more inflation data this week that could persuade the Fed to raise its benchmark lending rate for the first time in three years. That uncertainty is roiling the bond market, just as rising oil and copper prices (more on copper below) threaten to pinch households and businesses.”
Tags: Benchmark, Bond market, Bracing, Copper, Fed, Households, Inflation, Investors, Lending rate, Oil, Pinch, Prices, Raise, Rising, Roiling, Uncertainty
Bloomberg (September 7)
“Global financial markets already under strain from a bond selloff and sharp currency swings face the risk of more volatility in the months ahead with the prospect of interest-rate hikes, mounting concerns over fiscal deficits and the ongoing war in the Middle East.”
Tags: Bond selloff, Concerns, Currency swings, Financial markets, Fiscal deficits, Global, Interest rate hikes, Prospect, Risk, Strain, Volatility, War
Market Watch (September 6)
“The U.S.’s status as a financial safe haven has begun to clash with President Trump’s growing barrage of economic and military threats to advance his agenda.” There seems be a common fear behind the Netherland’s recent withdrawal of reserve gold from the U.S., the drawdowns of France and Germany’s U.S.-based reserves, and a current plan in Norway to cut Treasury holdings. Basically, what’s to stop Trump from simply seizing their assets? His “sweeping tariff fight shocked the world last year. Then came the capture in January of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, February’s launch of the U.S.-Iran war, and plans in late August to control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil. In between, there’s been taunting of European and NATO allies, a campaign to takeover over Greenland and its natural resources and, lately, an escalating U.S.-Canada trade war.” So even if seizure sounds far-fetched, it is a legitimate risk for central banks to mitigate.
Tags: Allies, Assets, Barrage, Canada, Capture, Clash, Economic, Escalating, Europe, Fear, France, Germany, Gold, Greenland, Iran war, Maduro, Military threats, Nato, Netherlands, Norway, Reserves, Risk, Safe haven, Seizing, Seizure, Tariff, Taunting, Trade war, Treasury, Trump, U.S., Venezuela, Venezuelan oil, Withdrawal
The Times (September 4)
“Russia was caught in the act in its attack on Leipzig airport and Europe’s reaction simply confirmed its increasing solidarity.” It is true that “Russia would be hard put to mount a major attack against Nato now” with “its strength drained by the war.” Still, “the threat from Russia is real. With decisive victory on the battlefield eluding him, and with the war’s effects now being felt across his vast domain, Mr Putin may, like many a gambler before him, decide to double down. If that happens, Nato must be ready.”
Tags: Attack, Battlefield, Caught, Decisive, Europe, Leipzig airport, Major attack, Nato, Putin, Reaction, Real, Russia, Solidarity, Strength, Threat, Victory, War
Institutional Investor (September 3)
“After years of low interest rates, which masked managers’ mistakes in underwriting and risk-taking, the current economic environment is exposing a huge gap in origination quality and covenant discipline among managers. But allocators aren’t panicked: More than half see the current challenges as cyclical rather than structural, with 62 percent expecting private credit to emerge stronger. In addition, 75.5 percent of allocators agree that periods of market stress are the best times to reassess managers and renegotiate terms for the future.”
Tags: Allocators, Covenant discipline, Cyclical, Economic environment, Exposing, Gap, Interest rates, Managers, Market stress, Origination quality, Private credit, Renegotiate, Risk-taking, Structural, Underwriting
Wall Street Journal (September 2)
“The 10-year Treasury note ticked up to 4.8% on Tuesday amid a global bond selloff that sent yields on Japan’s 10-year to a three-decade high. The U.S. 30-year bond hit 5.28%, while the U.K.’s 30-year gilt rose to a 28-year high of 5.9%.” These “early murmurs” of the “bond vigilantes” are a welcome development. “They are sending a message to Washington and other Western nations to clean up their fiscal acts. Bond investors may be the only people who can force the politicians to pay attention. The real worry is if the politicians don’t listen.”
Tags: 10-year, 30-year, 4.8%, 5.28%, 5.9%, Bond selloff, Clean-up, Fiscal acts, Gilt, Global, Investors, Japan, Murmurs, Politicians, Treasury note, U.K., Vigilantes, Washington, Welcome, Yields
BBC (September 2)
“The Dutch central bank (DNB) has confirmed that billions of dollars in gold has been taken out of north America and relocated to London, citing ‘increasing geopolitical unrest.’” In total, the DNB removed 86 tonnes of gold “from the US and Canada in a complex operation that took several months. It is now being held by the Bank of England, where the precious metal can be traded more easily ‘in a crisis situation.’”
Tags: 86 tonnes, Bank of England, Canada, Crisis situation, Dutch central bank, Geopolitical unrest, Gold, London, Precious metal, Relocated, Traded, U.S.
