What we’re reading (10/9)
“Wall Street Isn't Sweating The Mixed Jobs Report” (CNN Business). “America added far fewer jobs in September than expected, but investors didn't seem too disappointed: Stocks were mostly unchanged Friday as Wall Street took solace that the unemployment rate continues to drop after the pandemic-fueled spike last year.”
“Markets Are Telling The Fed To Start Tapering Now After Big Miss On September Jobs Report, Says Mohamed El-Erian” (Insider). “‘…[T]he message from the market to the Fed is: 'Go ahead and taper, we expect you to.’…El-Erian has been banging the drum for months on the need for the Fed to taper as soon as possible. Last month, he blamed the central bank for bond-market turmoil, saying markets would begin to question the Fed's judgment on inflation the longer it waited to taper.”
“Global Supply-Chain Problems Escalate, Threatening Economic Recovery” (Wall Street Journal). “Earlier this year it cost more than five times as much to ship goods from China to South America compared with last year’s pandemic low, according to U.N. Conference on Trade and Development data. Freight rates on the more heavily trafficked China-North America route more than doubled.”
“The Bretton Woods Credibility Crisis” (Project Syndicate). “[F]ollowing the 2018 report, there were complaints about the data that had been used, leading the World Bank to commission the highly regarded law firm WilmerHale to investigate. Its report, issued last month, found serious irregularities with respect to China’s ranking in the 2018 report. The investigators report that Kristalina Georgieva, the Bank’s then-CEO (second in command) who has since become managing director of the IMF, urged staff to reconsider the results for China, and then ‘explored … ways to change the methodology to raise China’s ranking.’ The report also points out that the Bank had an interest in placating China, because it was seeking Chinese support for a capital increase at the time.”
“Why Tesla Bought Bitcoin” (Works In Progress). “Bitcoin has weathered its fair share of theoretical criticisms over the years. It’s just like tulips. It’s insecure. It’s technically unsound. It’s on the wrong side of a global macroeconomic network effect. It’s economically unworkable. It’s wasteful. It’s dangerous. It’s stupid. Besides, if it does eventually overcome these problems, the government will shut it down. And yet, there Bitcoin stands—thriving.”
