In the year of the soft landing, here’s your guide to the risks — from Houthis to hyperinflation — that should be keeping officials awake at night in 2024

 

S&P 500 Stocks at 52 week highs:

Instrument Name	Close	Symbol
Alphabet Ord Shs Class A	143.48	GOOGL.O
Alphabet Ord Shs Class C	144.99	GOOG.O
Arista Networks Ord Shs	257.56	ANET.K
Boston Scientific Ord Shs	61.05	BSX
Cadence Design Systems Ord Shs	279.01	CDNS.O
Costco Wholesale Ord Shs	687.31	COST.O
Ecolab Ord Shs	200.46	ECL
Fastenal Ord Shs	67.93	FAST.O
Hartford Financial Services Group Ord Shs	82.99	HIG
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Ord Shs	185.71	HLT
Huntington Ingalls Industries Ord Shs	260.19	HII
Ingersoll Rand Ord Shs	78.18	IR
Intuitive Surgical Ord Shs	371.93	ISRG.O
Loews Ord Shs	71.49	L
Marriott International Ord Shs Class A	232.68	MAR.O
Martin Marietta Materials Ord Shs	503	MLM
Mastercard Ord Shs Class A	430.72	MA
McKesson Ord Shs	493	MCK
Meta Platforms Ord Shs Class A	376.13	META.O
Microsoft Ord Shs	393.87	MSFT.O
NVIDIA Ord Shs	571.07	NVDA.O
O Reilly Automotive Ord Shs	1015.53	ORLY.O
Parker-Hannifin Ord Shs	465.7	PH
Progressive Ord Shs	169.91	PGR
Republic Services Ord Shs	167.75	RSG
Salesforce Ord Shs	274.46	CRM
ServiceNow Ord Shs	745.96	NOW
Stryker Ord Shs	314.72	SYK
T Mobile US Ord Shs	164.89	TMUS.O
Trane Technologies Ord Shs	247.33	TT
TransDigm Group Ord Shs	1053	TDG
Travelers Companies Ord Shs	198.35	TRV
Visa Ord Shs Class A	268.14	V
Waste Management Ord Shs	183.51	WM
Western Digital Ord Shs	53.55	WDC.O
WR Berkley Ord Shs	74.38	WRB
WW Grainger Ord Shs	872.2	GWW

 

Notes today:

• The growing cooperation between Russia and North Korea could "drastically" influence the type of security threats coming from North Korea, said Pranay Vaddi, the White House's senior director for arms control.

• Container rates going up: many crew are now frightened at the prospect of transit.

• The scale of climate change can be a bit mind-boggling at times.
• For example, the Greenland ice sheet has lost over 6 trillion metric tons of ice since 1970 – or more than 700 tonnes lost per person for every person on the planet today:

 

from Zeke Hausfather @hausfath

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

 

 

The Most Eye Opening 45 Minutes Of Your Life — Charlie Munger's Legendary Speech

Notes today:

• Things we protect: Shipping.

• Things we don't protect: Children in Gaza. 

Fr Paul ✠

@revpaulwhite

 

 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

Notes today:

• The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.” - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 

• The UN’s top court has begun hearing South Africa’s allegation that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. 

• China was the main driver of global renewable energy growth in 2023, with the country more than doubling its capacity. 

• The SEC approved  bitcoin ETF. 

• Argentina's monthly CPI for December 2023 reached  25.5% - an astonishing 211.4% YoY

 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

 

 

On one key point, however, the IBWA, the WHO, the Columbia team and other scientific sources were in agreement: that bottled water was far from the only source of plastics pollution entering human bodies.

Libraries for the future: Europe’s new wave of ‘meeting places for the mind’

Notes today:

• The climate crisis has been previously identified as a threat to coffee and beer, and its impact could now be stretching to another of life’s joys: dessert. 

 

• Container shipping giant Maersk is diverting all vessels from Red Sea routes around Africa's Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future -  warning customers to prepare for significant disruption. 
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• The euro zone’s annual inflation rate rose to 2.9% in December, up from 2.4% in November, ending seven months of slowing price growth. 

 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

Shares of QuantumScape Corp. QS, +43.08% blasted 47.5% higher in very active trading Thursday, after the battery maker’s solid-state cell, viewed as the next big step in battery development, passed the first endurance test, according to Volkswagen AG VWAGY, +1.91% VOW, +1.56% subsidiary PowerCo.

Notes today:

• There is only three ways a smart person can go broke: liquor, ladies and leverage” - Charlie Munger

• Scientists hail new antibiotic that can kill drug-resistant bacteria

• Elon Musk defeats bid to be questioned in Tesla fatal crash lawsuit.
• Elon Musk’s X is now worth less than a third of the price he paid for Twitter, according to Axios. 

• Panama Canal: hundreds of vessels have been backed up at the critical shipping corridor, which handles $270 billion a year in global trade.
• A controversial plan to fix the Canal could cost billions if it is even feasible. 

• The United States does not have any reason to believe that Israel assassinated Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Wednesday. Seriously? 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

 

U.S. Recession Probabilities increasing..

 

Quick Overview is up to date

 

😃Your last chance  to send in  a contribution for 2023

Notes today:

 

• Brexit has completely failed for UK, say clear majority of Britons – poll theguardian.com. 

• Iran discovers one of the world's largest lithium deposits of more than 8.5 million tons. 

• You are hard wired to avoid risk and that's why almost everyone underperforms. 

• Chinese Carmaker Overtakes Tesla as World’s Most Popular EV Maker.  

• Russia and Iran have agreed to avoid using the dollar in bilateral trade. They will use their own currencies moving forward. 

• Maersk, (ROE % TTM 16.15) one of the largest shipping companies in the world, suspended all container ship sailings in the Southern Red Sea after  Iranian-backed Houthi militants attacked one of its vessels.

 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

 

 

Financial distress: As measured by debt delinquency, the share of Americans experiencing financial distress has risen in 2023. With credit card debt, the distress has returned to a level seen during the Great Recession..

 Stalled UK economy. Tory party perhaps?

 

Notes today:

 

• "Revenge spending" drives US credit card debt past $1 trillion. Americans have spent down their savings and racked up debt as the economy hums along, but experts are pondering whether consumers can keep going. Bloomberg 

• “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.” — Richard Feynman 

• According to the World Gold Council, central banks have bought 800 tons in the first nine months of the year, up 14% YoY. 

• OJ: This is what happens when agriculture land is replaced with urban sprawl. 
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• It’s not just Paris. Bedbugs are resurgent everywhere. Like bacteria, the insects are becoming resistant to the chemicals used to kill them.

 

• Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.
• Btw, humans can only think about 4 things at once – according to the research team led by University of Oregon psychology professors Edward Awh and Edward Vogel. So, to help, we limit notes. 😉

 

 

Happy Holidays

 

Underwater Car Loans

Costco sold a jaw-dropping $100 million worth of one-ounce gold bars in its latest quarter, the company's CFO Richard Galanti said in earnings call yesterday. Selling out “within a few hours”  ..

"For you last-minute shoppers out there," he added, "there's a Mickey Mantle autographed 1951 rookie card in nearly perfect condition, and it's on sale online for $250,000."

Brian Cox reads If I Must Die, by beloved Palestinian poet, teacher and martyr Refaat Alareer. Refaat was killed on December 7th by an Israeli airstrike. This was the last poem he published.

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves”

Confucius

My Freeloaders having breakfast..

Something beautiful..

 

Quick Overview is up to date

Poor Asian countries face an ageing crisis

In South and South-East Asia less than 40% of the elderly population gets a pension, according to the International Labour Organisation. In Cambodia and Pakistan, the share is less than 10%. And the pensions that are on offer are meagre. India’s national pension for the poor provides a measly Rs200 ($2.40) a month.