Wall Street Journal (November 4)
Tags: AI build-out, Blue wave, Economic agenda, Economy, Excesses, Investors, Markets, Middle East, New era, Resounding, Stock indexes, Surged, Trump, U.S., Unrestrained, Voters, War
OilPrice.com (October 16)
Oil prices are heading for a “weekly gain as Hormuz attacks rattle markets…. Iranian strikes on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz had driven oil flows sharply down. In the week to October 13, the daily average dropped to 11.62 million barrels, from a baseline of 17.15 million barrels daily.”
Tags: 11.62 MMbbl, Attacks, Baseline, Flows, Hormuz, Iran, Markets, Oil prices, Rattle, Strait of Hormuz, Strikes, Tankers, Weekly gain
Wall Street Journal (October 7)
“France is on the precipice of a dangerous financial spiral. The global surge in interest rates has exposed the country, once considered an oasis of relative stability in Europe’s financial markets, as one of the continent’s weakest links.”
Tags: Dangerous, Europe, Exposed, Financial spiral, France, Global surge, Interest rates, Markets, Oasis, Precipice, Stability, Weakest link
Bloomberg (August 25)
“A growing chorus of Wall Street strategists” are “warning that markets are potentially overlooking risks to the AI trade tied to the November election.” They believe “voter backlash will drive increased scrutiny of AI infrastructure with policy pressure concentrated around data center regulation.”
Tags: AI infrastructure, AI trade, Chorus, Data center, Growing, Markets, November election, Overlooking, Policy pressure, Risks, Scrutiny, Strategists, Voter backlash, Wall Street, Warning
Bloomberg (August 6)
“With fiscal concerns, a trade war and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East also threatening to underpin inflation, some in markets are starting to reassess their taste for US bonds and the dollar amid concern that US policy is again becoming hard to decipher.” Some of those concerns have been created by Scott Bessent and Kevin Warsh, who were called “a double whammy to global markets that investors can’t ignore.” Some bond and currency investors are now “debating if it’s time to dust off last year’s ‘Sell America’ trade.”
Tags: Bessent, Big Players, Dead cat bounce, Guesses, Joint, Katayama, Manipulation, Markets, Perplexes, Underlying fundamentals, Volatility, Yen intervention
The Economist (July 18)
“It is too darn hot. On July 14th the surface temperature of Earth’s tropical and mid-latitude oceans was higher than on any other July 14th in modern records. The same was true for every other day in July, and for almost all of the days in June, too. Europe has gone through three heatwaves since May, and though the continent is better prepared for such things than it used to be, tens of thousands will have died as a result.”
Tags: Bessent, Bonds, Conflict, Currency, Decipher, Dollar, Fiscal concerns, Inflation, Investors, Markets, Middle East, Reassess, Trade war, US, Warsh
Reuters (July 1)
“Japan spent a record 11.7 trillion yen ($72 billion) intervening in foreign exchange markets between late April and early May. But the brief boost to the yen was quickly wiped out…. It slumped to a 40-year low of 162.66 per dollar on Tuesday.” The Ministry of Finance is reportedly changing tactics. “Japanese officials are abandoning their habit of telegraphing intervention risks, instead signalling a more targeted campaign to squeeze speculators and raise the cost of betting against the battered yen.”
Tags: $72 billion, Battered yen, Cost, Forex, Intervening, Intervention risks, Japan, Markets, MoF, Officials, Record, Slumped, Speculators, Squeeze, Tactics, Telegraphing, Wiped out
Barron’s (June 5)
“Markets have soared toward the rare air last breathed by investors in the mid-1980s, but the stalling tech rally is bringing stocks back down to Earth.” It was “a series of quarterly updates on Wednesday that punctured a hole in the AI trade that has powered markets higher since the end of March.” The “market’s angst” was compounded by “stubbornly high Treasury yields, the lack of an agreement on ending the U.S. war with Iran, and a near 10% gain for global crude prices since last Friday’s close.”
Tags: 1980s, AI trade, Angst, Crude, Investors, Iran, Markets, Punctured, Quarterly updates, Rare air, Soared, Stalling, Stocks, Tech rally, Treasury yields, U.S., War
Reuters (May 22)
“Asia buys about 80% of oil shipped through the shuttered Strait of Hormuz and stress in foreign exchange markets is one of the clearest signs that rising fuel prices are starting to hurt growth.” Asian governments have been left in “an unenviable position. The path to preserving growth is precarious because falling currencies can shake confidence and stoke inflation, but supporting them with higher rates means a hit for consumers and the economy’s growth engine on top of the fuel shock.”
Tags: Asia, Confidence, Consumers, Currencies, Forex, Governments, Growth, Inflation, Markets, Oil, Precarious, Prices, Rates, Shuttered, Strait of Hormuz, Unenviable
MarketWatch (May 12)
“The most expensive part of the Iran war may not be the oil prices themselves. It may be uncertainty. Markets can absorb expensive energy; businesses can adapt to higher fuel costs if those costs remain stable and predictable. What becomes far more damaging is an environment in which prices swing violently, geopolitical risks shift by the hour and corporate decision-makers lose visibility over what comes next.”
Tags: Adapt, Businesses, Decision-makers, Energy, Environment, Expensive, Fuel costs, Geopolitical risks, Iran war, Markets, Oil prices, Predictable, Prices, Shift, Stable, Uncertainty
