Newsletter

Borrowing to keep up with the Joneses. The US gov’t has also borrowed to keep up. Rich nations continue to pay for others to reduce coal. ESG rating firm scores a fraud above fossil fuels. When you spot a virtue signaller, run!

One of the largest crypto exchanges, FTX, goes bust. FTX founder got Sequoia funding by saying, “you can buy a banana”. Sequoia told its investors, “we are in the business of taking risk”. Creative destruction wipes out bad businesses. Tech stock prices are back at the covid bottom.

Fed hiked 0.75% as expected by the market. Central banks have been loading up on gold. Biden disincentivizes energy investments. Hundreds of new mines are needed to meet battery demand. We could see an OPEC-style cartel for battery metals.

Elon Musk now controls Twitter. Snap shows that analysts aren’t great at predicting the future. Meta (Facebook) is so bad that even Jim Cramer apologized. ESG is not going that well at the moment. ESG has also meant increased dependence on China.

UK political crisis continues. US ramps up the Tech war with China. The East loads up on gold. US mortgage rate hits 7%. Private investments are at risk of blowing up. Where are we in the cycle?

Inflation is in the things you really need. OPEC+ agrees to cut production quotas, which could boost inflation. Fed seems committed to killing inflation; what will the terminal rate be?

Inflation is in the things you really need. OPEC+ agrees to cut production quotas, which could boost inflation. Fed seems committed to killing inflation; what will the terminal rate be?

Fed is hiking rates at a record pace. Jeremy Siegel pounds on the Fed. The Bank of England has already ended QT. Italy’s first female PM is anti-establishment.

The big event of the week was the FOMC meeting, where the Fed decided to hike 0.75% in line with market expectations causing the stock market to fall.

Reduced liquidity has driven down financial markets, bonds have been exceptionally bad in 2022YTD, and fertilizer production shutdowns are going to be painful for poor people worldwide.