Archive for June, 2022

• Morning News: June 6, 2022
  Eddy Elfenbein, June 6th, 2022 at 7:02 am

  ‘Friend-Shoring’ Might Be Bad for Global Growth, Inflation

  Biden Has ‘Only Bad Options’ for Bringing Down Oil Prices

  Americans Sour Over Economy, Politics

  Why Peak Inflation Is Near, According to Experts Who Bet on Short-Lived Price Rises

  Yellen Says She Never Urged Smaller Rescue Package Over Inflation Concerns

  Hedge Funds Bet Against 10-Year Treasuries as Yields Approach 3%

  Elliott Sues the LME For $456 Million Over Nickel Chaos

  Thefts, Fraud and Lawsuits at the World’s Biggest NFT Marketplace

  Baby-Formula Shortage Expected to Persist Weeks Longer

  Housing Boom Fails to Lift All Homes to Previous Peak

  Twilight of the NIMBY

  The Idea Of Working In The Office, All Day, Every Day? No Thanks, Say Workers

  Banks and Tech Giants Are Losing Skilled Staff to Flexible Fintechs

  Elon Musk’s Bot Problem on Twitter Is Extraordinary

  Musk’s Mixed Tesla Jobs Messages Send Everyone on Wild Ride

  Macy’s, Gap and Other Clothing Stores Are Stuck With the Wrong Items

  CEOs Like the Late Jack Welch Embody the Endless Possibilities of Capitalism

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• May Jobs Report
  Eddy Elfenbein, June 3rd, 2022 at 11:39 am

  The May jobs report came out this morning and it was a pretty good one. The U.S. economy added 390,000 net new jobs last month. Wall Street had been expecting 328,000.

  The weak spot is that average hourly earnings rose by 0.3% last month. The unemployment rate held at 3.6%.

  The unemployment rate is lower today than it was in every single month of the 1970s, 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s up to September 2019.

  Job gains were broad-based. Leisure and hospitality led, adding 84,000 positions. Professional and business services rose by 75,000, transportation and warehousing contributed 47,000, and construction jobs increased by 36,000.

  Other areas that saw notable gains included state government education (36,000), private education (33,000), health care (28,000), manufacturing (18,000) and wholesale trade (14,000).

  Retail trade took a hit on the month, however, losing 61,000 in May, though the BLS noted that the sector remains 159,000 above its February 2020 pre-pandemic level.

• Morning News: June 3, 2022
  Eddy Elfenbein, June 3rd, 2022 at 7:04 am

  Turkish Inflation Reaches Fastest Since 1998 With Surge Past 73%

  India Can’t Afford to Lose the World’s Trust on Trade

  US Crackdown on Forced Labor in China Risks Further Supply Chaos

  Is ‘Greedflation’ Rewriting Economics, or Do Old Rules Still Apply?

  Why a Not-So-Hot Economy Might Be Good News

  Elon Musk’s ‘Super Bad Feeling’ About the Economy

  Job Growth Seen Slowing but Remaining Strong

  Fed’s Logan Says Digital Money Could Affect Central Bank Operations

  U.S. Technology, a Longtime Tool for Russia, Becomes a Vulnerability

  ‘Most Clever Oligarch’ Severed His $37 Billion Fortune From Russian Roots

  New York Just Passed a Bill Cracking Down on Bitcoin Mining — Here’s Everything That’s In It

  Redditors Rip SEC Over Video Targeting ‘Meme Stock’ Investors

  Ex-Merrill Banker’s Broker App Boosts Valuation to $5.4 Billion

  Restaurants Add New Fees to Your Check to Counter Inflation

  Hormel Says Bird Flu to Squeeze Turkey Supply

  Sheryl Sandberg Built Meta’s Ad Machine but Someone Else Will Have to Fix It

  Frontier Airlines to Pay Spirit $250 Million Breakup Fee if Deal Falls Apart

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• Morning News: June 2, 2022
  Eddy Elfenbein, June 2nd, 2022 at 7:01 am

  Trillions at Stake in India as Women Disappear From Workforce

  China Warns US Ban on Xinjiang Goods to ‘Severely Disrupt’ Ties

  In Russia, No Air Bags, Costly Toilets and Old Hollywood Movies Are Sanctions Fallout

  Europe’s Russian Oil Ban Could Mean a New World Order for Energy

  Saudi, OPEC May Make Up for Russian Oil Output Loss as Biden Visit Looms

  Economic Scorecard: Biggest Numbers May Not Be Best, for Now

  Biden Says No Short-Term Fix to High Energy, Grocery Prices

  Federal Reserve’s Portfolio Runoff Has Begun

  SPACs Were All the Rage. Now, Not So Much.

  Jamie Dimon Says U.S. Consumers Still Have Six to Nine Months of Spending Power

  Gen Z Workers Want Mission-Driven Jobs. A Big Paycheck Would Be Nicer.

  $5.8 Billion in Loans Will Be Forgiven for Corinthian Colleges Students

  Sheryl Sandberg Is Stepping Down From Meta

  Sheryl Sandberg’s Advertising Empire Leaves a Complicated Legacy

  Winklevoss Twins’ Gemini Slashes Staff 10% on Crypto Slump

  This Tesla-Supplying Battery Maker Has Lost Some of Its Power

  When Elon Musk Dreams, His Employees Have Nightmares

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• ISM Improves in May
  Eddy Elfenbein, June 1st, 2022 at 11:59 am

  The stock market is down again today. This could be our second down day in a row.

  This morning’s ISM Manufacturing Index improved to 56.1. That’s up from 55.4 in April. Wall Street had been expecting 54.5.

  Job openings fell by 455,000 in April. That’s still a huge number compared with the amount of unemployed.

  The openings total declined by 455,000 from the upwardly revised March number to 11.4 million in April, about in line with the FactSet estimate, according to the bureau’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

  That left a gap of 5.46 million between openings and the available workers, still high by historical standards and reflective of a very tight labor market, but below the nearly 5.6 million difference from March. As a share of the labor force, the job openings rate fell 0.3 percentage point to 7%.

  Two other news items to pass along. Janet Yellen admitted that she was wrong when she said that inflation was “transitory.”

  Delta Air Lines said that business will return to pre-pandemic levels.

• Morning News: June 1, 2022
  Eddy Elfenbein, June 1st, 2022 at 7:08 am

  Russian Oil Producers Stay One Step Ahead of Sanctions

  How the World Is Paying for Putin’s War in Ukraine

  Russian Yachts and Money Are Going Where US Influence Has Waned

  Seizing Russian Assets to Help Ukraine Sets Off White House Debate

  The Bolsheviks to Putin: A History of Russian Defaults

  President Biden, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell Meet With Inflation at Its Highest in 40 Years

  Fed Starts Experiment of Letting $8.9 Trillion Portfolio Shrink

  25% of Americans Are Delaying Retirement Due to Inflation, Survey Finds

  Sizzling U.S. Energy Stock Rally Confronts Global Growth Worries

  Americans Start Summer Travel Season Beset by Record Gas Prices

  EV Sales Will Triple by 2025 and Still Need More Oomph to Reach Net Zero

  Missed Payments, Rising Interest Rates Put ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ to the Test

  Forbes, Chronicler of Wealthy and Powerful, Will Scrap Plan to Go Public via SPAC

  Animal-Testing Calls Threaten to Derail ‘Cruelty-Free’ Cosmetics

  Movie Theaters Experiencing Popcorn, Candy Shortages Over Inflation

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