Market Watch (January 13)
“Last week, a batch of blockbuster U.S. economic data prompted traders to consider the possibility that the Federal Reserve may need to pause interest-rate cuts until summer. As a result, stocks got crushed, with the S&P 500 erasing most of its postelection gains and the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its worst start to a year since 2016.”
Tags: 2016, Blockbuster, Crushed, Dow Jones, Economic data, Fed, Gains, Interest rate cuts, Postelection, S&P 500, Stocks, Summer, Traders, U.S.
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.
Washington Post (August 7)
“A summer covid wave” has cases increasing ”in at least 84 countries despite perceptions that the pathogen is a remnant of the past.” Diminished testing, vaccinations and restrictions are making it hard to precisely chart the surge and likely exacerbating it. For example, testing was pervasive at the Tokyo Games, but at the Paris Games (where dozens of athletes are known to have come down with covid), “people who tested positive are competing, there are no testing requirements, and spectators are back in attendance.”
Tags: 84 countries, Athletes, Covid wave, Exacerbating, Paris Games, Pathogen, Restrictions, Summer, Surge, Testing, Tokyo Games, Vaccinations
Washington Post (June 26)
“This summer marks 4½ years since covid-19 altered the meaning and location of work for many Americans. Most people are back at their place of employment…. But government workers remain largely at home, so much so that 17 out of 24 federal agencies were using only about one-quarter of their headquarters’ office space last summer.”
Tags: COVID-19, Employment, Federal agencies, Government workers, Home, Location, Meaning, Office space, Summer, U.S., Work
Washington Post (June 19)
“Scorching heat waves” are testing the “world’s resilience.” Before summer even began, “heat waves had already slammed disparate stretches of the planet, from Bangkok to Barranquilla.” The heat continued elsewhere in May and June. Now “parts of the United States are bracing for a potential record heat wave this week, while wildfires are already spreading” in the west. “In many ways, the climate disaster is already here.”
Tags: Bangkok, Climate disaster, Heat waves, Record, Scorching, Summer, U.S., Wildfires, World’s resilience
BBC (July 5)
“The world’s average temperature reached a new high on Monday 3 July, topping 17 degrees Celsius for the first time.” This marks “the highest in any instrumental record dating back to the end of the 19th century.” Scientists attribute the record high to “El Niño and mankind’s ongoing emissions of carbon dioxide.” With El Niño about to enter its hottest phase, “scientists believe that more records will be shattered as the summer goes on and El Niño gains strength.”
Tags: 17 degrees, CO2, El Niño, Emissions, High, Hottest phase, Record, Scientists, Shattered, Strength, Summer, Temperature
Market Watch (June 27)
“Stock futures are inching higher at the start of the week as investors seemingly cling to newfound optimism that a bond rout is ending, and the Fed’s rate-hike plans will get pruned due to a global slowdown.” There are, of course, no shortage of issues like surging inflation, but Brynne Kelly suspects “the next black swan for markets could be failing power grids and electricity shortages.” These could prove “catastrophic” as we move into the “height of the summer cooling season amid rising temperatures.”
Tags: Black swan, Bond rout, Catastrophic, Electricity, Fed, Inflation, Investors, Kelly, Markets, Optimism, Power grids, Rate hike, Shortages, Slowdown, Stock futures, Summer
Scientific American (May 20)
“When California suffers a heat wave, it leans heavily on hydropower from the Pacific Northwest to keep the lights on. But that hydropower may not always be available when it’s most needed” due to climate change. “Higher temperatures means snowmelt occurs earlier in the year and leaves less water available for power generation during the depths of summer. The result is a heightened risk of blackouts during extreme heat waves as a result of less hydro availability.”
Tags: Availability, Blackouts, California, Climate change, Heat wave, Hydropower, Pacific Northwest, Power generation, Risk, Snowmelt, Summer, Temperatures, Water
Boston Globe (April 5)
“After a year of forced dormancy, the restaurant industry is scrambling to get ready for an expected boom this summer…. Despite a massive labor pool, some restaurants say they are having trouble finding people willing to return to the business. The pandemic, it seems, prompted some to reconsider life in an industry notorious for difficult working conditions.”
Tags: Boom, Dormancy, Industry, Labor pool, Notorious, Pandemic, Reconsider, Restaurants, Scrambling, Summer
MarketWatch (October 11)
“For those of you expecting the world to return to some sense of normalcy by the time 2021 rolls around, JPMorgan Chase JPM CEO Jamie Dimon has a message: ‘We’re going to have to live with this.’” Dimon does not “expect normality to return until the summer of 2021.”
