What we’re reading (7/29)
“Investors On Alert For Fed Signals Of September Rate Cut” (Wall Street Journal). “The big question going into the Federal Reserve’s meeting Wednesday comes down to how strongly officials signal their desire to cut rates. The central bank is widely expected to hold its benchmark short-term interest rate steady—in a range between 5.25% and 5.5%, a two-decade high—while setting the table to begin a series of reductions at the next meeting in mid-September.”
“McDonald’s Earnings, Revenue Miss Estimates As Consumer Pullback Worsens” (CNBC). “Company executives acknowledged that diners considered their prices too high and said that they are taking a ‘forensic approach’ to evaluating value offerings and working with franchisees to make the necessary adjustments.”
“Texas Crude Oil Pipelines Full To The Brim, Getting Worse” (Bloomberg). “Crude oil pipelines connecting the busiest Texas oil fields to a critical export hub across the state are nearly out of space, threatening to cap US oil exports at a time when the world needs more.”
“Ethiopia Floats Its Currency In A Bid To Secure Loans” (Semafor). “Ethiopia’s government has allowed its currency to be traded on the open market instead of at a fixed rate as part of reforms aimed at securing loans from international lenders to stabilize its economy. The birr’s value against the dollar fell by 30% after it was allowed to float on Monday, said the country’s biggest lender, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. Removing the central bank’s fixed rate is part of sweeping reforms aimed at easing the chronic shortage of foreign currency that have plagued its economy.”
“The Problem Of The Tariff In American Economic History, 1787–1934” (CATO Institute). “‘The pursuit of free trade as national policy in the United States predates the Constitution. Responding to a Spanish government inquiry in 1780, John Jay expressed the fledgling nation’s commitment to a principle of unimpeded exchange: “every man being then at liberty, by the law, to cultivate the earth as he pleased, to raise what he pleased, to manufacture as he pleased, and to sell the produce of his labor to whom he pleased, and for the best prices, without any duties or impositions whatsoever.’ Jay’s sentiments captured the Founding generation’s unease with Britain’s habit of manipulating its colonies’ trading patterns through political interventions—a stated grievance of the Declaration of Independence some four years prior.”
