What we’re reading (5/25)
“Junkiest Junk Is Offering A Warning Sign For Debt” (Bloomberg). “For much of the year, money managers have embraced optimism and snatched up corporate bonds, sending valuations to ever more expensive levels. Now, Wall Street titans are saying it’s time to focus on how bad things can get.”
“Fed To Take In Stride Another Month Of Tame Inflation” (Bloomberg). “The Federal Reserve may take comfort that tariffs have yet to materially boost official inflation readings, but policymakers will continue to suggest interest rates are on hold until they better understand the coming impact of US trade policy.”
“The Fed Economist Accused Of Espionage For Beijing” (Wall Street Journal). “John Rogers was visiting Shanghai in May 2013, attending a business forum as a Federal Reserve economist, when he first received an email from an alleged Chinese intelligence agent. The man described himself as a Chinese graduate student who was interested in learning about the Fed. Rogers says he refused the man’s offer to pay him. But they stayed in touch, and later, the man invited Rogers to visit China again, all expenses paid. This time, Rogers made the trip, setting off a chain of events that led to espionage charges against him in the U.S.—and exposed new details about China’s alleged efforts to recruit informants inside U.S. government institutions.”
“Crypto Investor Charged With Kidnapping And Torturing Man For Weeks” (New York Times). “A 37-year-old cryptocurrency investor was charged on Saturday with kidnapping a man and beating, shocking and torturing him for weeks inside a luxury townhouse in downtown Manhattan, all in a scheme to get the man’s Bitcoin password, the authorities said.”
“The Prince, His Money Manager And The Corruption Scandal Rocking Monaco” (Wall street Journal). “Tucked one street behind Monte Carlo’s historic harbor, which is famously dotted with champagne bars and anchored by the storied casino that was the backdrop to multiple James Bond films, the Monaco police station may be the most unglamorous building in one of the world’s most glamorous settings…But over two days this February, in the police captain’s office with a window facing up the rocky slope toward the palace, a dapper 68-year-old suspect in a corruption scandal rattled one of Europe’s most storied royal families and shook the foundations of a tiny country built on polished appearances, ironclad confidentiality and tightly choreographed power.”
