What we’re reading (3/11)
“Stocks Turn Lower To Finish The Week” (Wall Street Journal). “Stocks opened the day higher, as traders bought stocks after Russian President Vladimir Putin said in televised remarks that there had been positive developments during talks with Ukraine, even as Russian forces continue to pound Ukrainian cities. By the afternoon, the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite had all turned lower, as investors weighed the risk of heading into the weekend holding stocks.”
“China Has Tools To Help Russia’s Economy. None Are Big Enough To Save It.” (New York Times). “To help Russia evade sanctions, China would have to offer a viable substitute to the American dollar. But Chinese money — the renminbi — is barely used outside of China. Only 3 percent of the world’s business is done using the redback. Even Russia and China conduct their trade mostly in U.S. dollars and euros.”
“Businesses Can't Pay Sufficiently Now, Or In The Future” (RealClear Markets). “[T]he two ‘D’s’ of demography and deglobalization are about to unleash a tidal wave of cost-pushing pressure no economy will be able to withstand. Among those making this case is British Economist Charles Goodhart. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal this week, the former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (because they’re all Economists) warned that inflation will go higher than it is now and will stay this way ‘for decades.’”
“As SPAC Bubble Burst, Hedge Funds Doubled Their Holdings” (Institutional Investor). “The current glut of SPACs is, in part, due to the difficulty these blank-check companies have had in hooking up with merger partners. Almost 800 SPACs filed for IPOs last year, raising $162.5 billion — more than half of the $300 billion raised since the financial crisis of 2008, SPAC Insider reports. But last year only 71 merger deals were announced, and just 53 completed.”
“War And Sanctions Have Caused Commodities Chaos” (The Economist). “Today Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is unleashing the biggest commodity shock since 1973, and one of the worst disruptions to wheat supplies since the first world war. Although commodity exchanges are already in chaos, ordinary folk have yet to feel the full effects of rising petrol bills, empty stomachs and political instability. But make no mistake, those things are coming—and dramatically so if sanctions on Russia tighten further, and if Vladimir Putin retaliates. Western governments need to respond to the commodity threat as determinedly as to Mr Putin’s aggression.”
