What we’re reading (10/3)
“The Market Is Right To Be Spooked By Rising Bond Yields” (Wall Street Journal). “Why, you might reasonably ask, are stocks suddenly spooked by bond yields? In the boom up to March, stocks and yields marched higher together, and for the past two decades higher yields have generally been better for stocks. The difference is that investors see the central banks turning hawkish, even as economic growth slows, because they can’t ignore high inflation.”
“El-Erian Sees Fed Risking Disorderly Taper Without Quick Action” (Bloomberg). “Mohammed El-Erian has some advice for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell about tapering: Get going. The bond-market influencer has for months urged the Fed to reduce its asset purchases before inflation runs rampant and batters financial markets. A week ago, Powell said the U.S. central bank could begin scaling back in November and complete the process by mid-2022. ‘When it comes to an orderly taper, the window is closing,’ El-Erian, the chief economic adviser at Allianz SE and president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, said Friday on Bloomberg TV’s The Open.”
“Wall St Week Ahead Bruised Market Eyes Treasury Yields To Gauge Stocks' Path” (Reuters). “Investors are focusing on Treasury yields as a key factor in determining how stocks will fare the rest of the year, after a month in which equities notched their steepest losses since the coronavirus pandemic began. The S&P 500 index posted its biggest monthly drop since March 2020 in September, while pulling back as much as 5% below its all-time high for the first time this year.”
“Ozy Media Is Shutting Down After Reports About Misconduct And Lies At The Company” (CNBC). “Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson informed employees Friday that the board had voted to shut down the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. In a five minute phone call late in the afternoon, Watson informed Ozy’s staff of the decision, said the person, who asked not to be named because the conversation was private. A dejected-sounding Watson did not take any questions, the person said.”
“Romanov Wedding Is A Royal Russian Flashback” (Vanity Fair). “It’s been over a century since the last one, but Russia still knows how to do a royal wedding. Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov, a Spanish-born, Oxford-educated 40-year-old, is the Tsesarevich, meaning “heir apparent” to the Russian Empire … if such a monarchy still existed. On Thursday, he wed Victoria Romanovna Bettarini, an Italian national who converted to the Russian Orthodox Church (hence the Romanovna middle name). It was like nothing Russia has seen in a long time.The groom’s family, the Romanovs, first came to power in 1613, and include names you may recall from history class or Hulu such as Peter the Great, and, through marriage, Catherine the Great.”
