What we’re reading (5/6)
“S&P Suffers Longest Weekly Losing Streak In Decade: Markets Wrap” (Bloomberg). “At the end of a week marked by fickle trading, quick reversals and heightened anxiety, the S&P 500 failed to stay in the green and fell to its lowest level in about a year. The gauge posted its fifth straight weekly drop -- the longest losing streak since June 2011. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 underperformed. Treasury 10-year yields remained above 3%, while the dollar rose. Gasoline futures in New York settled at a record high.”
“Ex-Fed Official Says Rates Of At Least 3.5% Will Be Needed To Slow Inflation” (Wall Street Journal). “‘Even under a plausible best-case scenario in which most of the inflation overshoot last year and this year turns out to have been transitory, the funds rate will, I believe, ultimately need to be raised well into restrictive territory,’ said Richard Clarida, referring to the federal-funds rate, in remarks prepared for delivery Friday at a conference at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.”
“Consumer Debt Soared By $52 Billion In March” (CNN Business). “Paying off credit card debt is about to get even more difficult for those who don't make the minimum monthly payment: The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced a half-point rate hike as part of a series of actions intended to address rampant inflation. That means interest rates will rise on everything from credit cards to car loans, pressuring household budgets even further.”
“What Is Happening To The People Falling For Crypto And NFTs” (New York Times). “‘On the one hand we’re seeing problem after problem after problem on a scale that has not been seen in most technologies,’ she told me. On the other hand, well-funded companies are running Super Bowl ads pushing crypto to the public, and big financial firms are gearing up to let people invest in digital currencies as part of their retirement funds. And much of this stuff is unregulated.”
“500 Kilos Of Cocaine Found In Coffee Bags At Nespresso Plant” (Moneyweb). “Nespresso said employees immediately informed the police on Monday after discovering a suspicious substance at its production site in Romont. The cocaine is more than 80% pure and its market value is estimated at more than 50 million francs ($50.6 million), the police said.”
