What we’re reading (11/23)
“U.S. Business Activity Slows Moderately In Mid-November - IHS Markit Survey” (Reuters). “U.S. business activity slowed moderately in November amid labor shortages and raw material delays, contributing to prices continuing to soar halfway through the fourth quarter…[d]ata firm IHS Markit said on Tuesday its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, fell to a reading of 56.5 in mid-November from 57.6 in October. A reading above 50 indicates growth in the private sector.”
“US Bond Bulls Hold Their Ground In Face Of Red-Hot Inflation” (Financial Times). “For some longtime bond bulls, the market’s nonchalance in the face of surging prices — typically kryptonite for debt investors — is a vindication of the view that inflation will not leave a lasting dent on the market and, when the dust settles on the economic recovery, the pre-pandemic landscape of low interest rates will be largely unchanged.”
“Biden Authorizes Use Of Strategic Oil Reserves To Combat High U.S. Gasoline Prices” (Washington Post). “The Biden administration on Tuesday said it was tapping U.S. oil reserves in an effort to combat high gasoline prices, the White House’s second move in a week to try to address rising energy costs at a time when millions of Americans are preparing to hit the road. The administration said the Department of Energy will release 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — an emergency pool kept by the United States — in conjunction with similar actions by several other countries.”
“Turkish Lira Crashes To ‘Insane’ Historic Low After President Erdogan Sparks Sell-Off” (CNBC). “Turkey’s currency has been in a downward slide since early 2018, thanks to a combination of geopolitical tensions with the West, current account deficits, shrinking currency reserves, and mounting debt — but most importantly, a refusal to raise interest rates to cool inflation…[i]nvestors fear the lack of independence of Turkey’s central bank, whose monetary policies are seen as being largely controlled by Erdogan. He has fired three central bank chiefs in roughly two years over policy differences.”
“Here’s How Institutional Investors’ Bets On Crypto Are Performing” (Institutional Investor). “[P]ublic pension funds and other big investors, including insurance companies, are dipping their toes into crypto and new research shows they’re having some success — at least in the short term. Those that have started to put capital to work in transparent exchange-traded funds tracking cryptocurrencies have outperformed their peers by 2.8 percent on an annualized basis between March 2018 and March 2020, the research found.”
