Notes today:

• Finland and Sweden took a major step on their way to NATO membership after Turkey dropped its opposition to their bids, all but ensuring the military alliance’s expansion on Russia’s doorstep. 

• Cassidy Hutchinson gave the most damning January 6 testimony yet in a House committee’s hearings on how the United States of America was attacked by its own president. 

• The Bank of Japan is under growing pressure to stabilize the yen as it sinks to a 24-year low and ought to abandon its 0.25% cap on benchmark bond yields. 

• Investors are on a real estate bargain hunt in Japan, fueled by the historic weakness of the yen. 

• Industrial production in Japan declined by 7.2 percent month-over-month in May. 
• Germany's Consumer price inflation unexpectedly eased to 7.6% in June from 7.9 % in May
• Germany's import prices have eased to 30.6% YoY in May from 31.7% in April  in a sign that inflation may have peaked.

• Brexit is making it harder for UK suppliers to get good caviar 😢

 

Later

Notes today:

• Putin is “scraping the bottom of the barrel”.

After losing top generals and commanders in the war with Ukraine, Putin calls General Pavel out of retirement to lead the Russian invasion. He weighs nearly 300 pounds.

• Intercepted Call: “They just threw us in like f*cking meat.”

• Russia Is Hours Away From Its First Foreign Default in a Century

After months of teetering on the edge of default, Russia is now just hours away from a dramatic moment in the financial battle that the US and others have waged against the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine.

Quick Overview is up to date

A ban on new gold imports from Russia

London has been one of the most important destinations for Russian precious metals: the $15 billion in Russian gold that arrived there last year made up 28% of UK gold imports, according to UN Comtrade data.

Confidence in the "extreme supreme" court

I don’t think today’s  decision will help.

In technical terms this is what’s called a "downside" breakout or breakdown. 

Or,  “fell out of bed”.

In addition - Bloomberg: In an extremely important church-and-state decision, the Supreme Court has held that if the state of Maine decides to pay for a child’s private education in lieu of a public one, it must allow its tuition money to be used at religious schools. The 6-3 decision, Carson v. Makin, profoundly undermines existing First Amendment law.

It represents the end of the centuries-old constitutional ban on direct state aid to the teaching of religion. And remarkably, it does all this in the name of religious liberty, giving the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment primacy over the establishment clause found in the exact same amendment.

FT: UK consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level since records began almost 50 years ago as inflation soars 

Quick Overview is up to date

Notes today: 

• JUST IN: American confidence in Supreme Court sinks to lowest level ever recorded by Gallup

• US banks pass latest round of Fed stress tests in sign of financial health (FT)

• And now officially: Ukraine is a candidate for membership of the European Union -  and so is Moldova.

• Brazil's 13.25% benchmark rate has boosted the appeal of its corporate bonds.

• Mexico’s central bank raised its key rate by 75 basis points to 7.75%. 

• Copper miners not doing so well  - 6% today

• FDA bans Juul products from US market in big blow to e-cigarette maker, citing a youth vaping epidemic and concerns over potentially harmful chemicals leaching from its liquid pods. 

• Intel warns Ohio factory could be delayed because Congress is dragging its feet on funding.

Hoping to sell before the price goes down..

U.S. extreme Supreme Court expands gun rights, strikes down New York law. Whatever happened to the well-regulated militia?

A collective rights theory of the Second Amendment asserts that citizens do not have an individual right to possess guns and that local, state, and federal legislative bodies therefore possess the authority to regulate firearms without implicating a constitutional right.

An so - JUST IN: American confidence in Supreme Court sinks to lowest level ever recorded by Gallup

Global average liveability score

Vienna tops the ranking for the third time since 2018

Notes today: 

• Inflationary pressures are rising in Japan after a long hiatus.
• Japan's consumer prices rose by 2.5% YoY in April 2022, the most since October 2014.  Core consumer prices rose 2.1% YoY, and beating the BoJ’s 2% target for the first time in seven years. 

• The possibility of Japan intervening directly in currencymarkets to stem the yen’s slide can’t be ruled out, according to Takehiko Nakao, former head of foreign exchange policy at the finance ministry.
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Quick Overview is up to date

 Latest from Artist: @mluckovichajc)

Looks like what was saved in 2020 is now rapidly going out the door..

Notes today:

 

• The Japanese yen depreciated to its lowest level against the dollar in over two decades. BoJ's Total assets have swelled to 137% of GDP - and leading the global race to print money
• From the BOJ minutes says from the members that the groups policy is not aimed at controlling FX rates. No kidding.
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• ProShares has publicly launched the first short bitcoin-linked ETF in the US. The ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSE Arca: BITI) 

• Goldman Sachs: 'We now see recession risk as higher and more front-loaded'. 

• The Supreme Court is bulldozing the Wall of Separation. In a ruling just handed down, the Court’s extremely conservative supermajority ruled that taxpayers can be forced to fund religious education. 

• "We've got lots of theories. We just don't have any evidence." -Rudy Giuliani 

• Argentina’s central bank lifted its benchmark interest rate for the 6th time this year to 52% as the government struggles to cool inflation expectations. 

• Colombia 10 Year Government Bond Yield increased to a 13-1/2-year high of 11.919% 

• Microsoft curbs its facial recognition platforms in the name of privacy and security. (lip service)

• The Philippine peso slumps to its lowest level in more than 16 years 

 

 

How much the S&P 500 fell during each recession

The Centuries-Old Financial System Better Than DeFi

Hawala is based on trust, while decentralized crypto lending is doomed by blockchain anonymity.

Of the $252 billion of investor funds tied up in DeFi protocols last December, less than $75 billion remain. 

What a remarkable collapse. And despite some forecasts – never went below zero. (was probably one of the lowest risk trades ever)