What we’re reading (6/8)
“A Fresh Inflation Reading Greets A Stock Market Back Near All-Time Highs: What To Know This Week” (Yahoo! Finance). “Updates on consumer and wholesale inflation for the month of May will headline the week ahead. The first reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey for the month is also due for release at the end of the week.”
“The Missing Engineers” (Bloomberg). “Swedish battery startup Northvolt AB’s bankruptcy filing was preceded by a number of debilitating events: failing to fulfill its contracts with customers; pleas to investors for more cash; ghosting its creditors. But its downfall began with a problem many companies are facing today. There was a severe, years-long struggle to find enough workers with the right skills…A shortage of skilled workers, especially engineers, is a growing problem in developed countries.”
“The Future Of AI Will Be Governed By Protocols No One Has Agreed On Yet” (Business Insider). “With the boom in personal computing came USB, a standard for transferring data between devices. With the rise of the internet came IP addresses, numerical labels that identify every device online. With the advent of email came SMTP, a framework for routing email across the internet. These are protocols — the invisible scaffolding of the digital realm — and with every technological shift, new ones emerge to govern how things communicate, interact, and operate. As the world enters an era shaped by AI, it will need to draw up new ones. But AI goes beyond the usual parameters of screens and code. It forces developers to rethink fundamental questions about how technological systems interact across the virtual and physical worlds.”
“How To Invest When Everything Yields The Same” (Wall Street Journal). “Here’s an investment puzzle: Treasurys, stocks, cash and corporate bonds all yield about the same. Either risky assets are less rewarding than usual or safe assets are less safe than usual. Or, perhaps, both.”
“Junk Bond Sales Surge As Companies Try To Beat Fresh Tariff Uncertainty” (Financial Times). “US companies with risky credit ratings are rushing to sell junk bonds ahead of an expected resurgence of trade tensions in July that could depress demand for corporate debt. Companies with weaker credit ratings tapped the high-yield bond market for $32bn in May, the most since October, according to data from JPMorgan. Junk bond sales in the first week of June already have surpassed April’s $8.6bn total. Bankers and investors say they expect a steady flow of new debt sales during the rest of the month and into July while demand remains high and market uncertainty stays relatively low.”
