MSN: An early version of Covid-19 that appears to have been grown in a laboratory has been discovered in samples from a Chinese biotechnology firm. The finding lends weight to claims that the virus may have started life as a lab experiment that accidentally leaked out. Bioinformatics experts from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary,
Global Trends Europe Americas Asia Africa Australia More COVID-19 Statistics and Analysis See our latest blog posts or podcasts here. Please visit the Our World in Data Coronavirus data Dashboard for individual country data. Data sources This is a list of some
By Ross Elliott, cross-posted from The Pulse “The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie–deliberate, contrived and dishonest–but the myth–persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the
Global Trends Europe Americas Asia Africa Australia More COVID-19 Statistics and Analysis See our latest blog posts or podcasts here. Please visit the Our World in Data Coronavirus data Dashboard for individual country data. Data sources This is a list of some of the main
Courtesy of Morgan Stanley comes a chart of global rate hike curves: My own view is that the Fed won’t get that far before it breaks something important, the RBA won’t even get to lift-off, China will be slashing rates much more than that, and by H2, 2022 markets will be pricing everybody following China.
Charts from Deutsche. Look for curve inversion first: Plenty of times according to previous cycles: No worries…yet: But, this is no ordinary cycle. It’s much faster: And equities stress is already here before a single hike which is very unusual: My own view is that a global recession panic is a matter of months not
In late 2017, the Canadian Government launched a massive increase in the country’s immigration program, announcing that one million migrants would be let in over the following three years, with an annual migrant intake of 340,000 considered the “new normal”. Canada’s immigration minister, Ahmed Hussen, claimed the new targets would lift immigration to nearly 1%
Via Macquarie legend Viktor Shvets: Politics are struggling to contain geopolitics = disruption • In the ‘90s, Zbigniew Brzezinski (former National Security adviser, and one of the best known experts on Eastern Europe), said – ‘Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire’.
Global Trends Europe Americas Asia Africa Australia More COVID-19 Statistics and Analysis See our latest blog posts or podcasts here. Please visit the Our World in Data Coronavirus data Dashboard for individual country data. Data sources This is a list of some of the main data
Coolabah Capital’s Chris Joye with the note: Bitcoin is almost 6x more volatile than US equities and 18x more volatile than the US dollar. Also compare this to the change in the value of risk-free bank deposits, or cash investments, which have zero volatility since they are held at par (ie, not marked-to-market)…Bitcoin, and other
The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that the COVID pandemic is entering its blow-off phase and will soon become endemic as the majority of the world’s population becomes infected: The World Health Organisation, normally conservative in its statements on Covid-19, is predicting the end of the pandemic with an expected “period of quiet” as Omicron
Oh how times change. For the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia sealed itself off from the world as it tried to attempt a COVID elimination strategy. Now, the world is trying to seal itself off from Australia amid it explosion of COVID cases. Earlier this month, New Zealand sealed its border with
The modern seer. 100% right.
Military parade, Red Square with Kremlin in the background, May 2020. Once upon a time photos just like this were essential for any discussion of Russian military risk. After a hiatus, they are back. The Backdrop – January 2022 The world has stepped back in time. It is 1970s all over again. Last week in
Global Trends Africa Europe Americas Asia Australia More COVID-19 Statistics and Analysis See our latest blog posts or podcasts here. Please visit the Our World in Data Coronavirus data Dashboard for individual country data. Data sources This is a
Global Trends Africa Europe Americas Asia Australia Vaccination More COVID-19 Statistics and Analysis See our latest blog posts or podcasts here. Please visit the Our World in Data Coronavirus data Dashboard for individual country data. Data sources This is a list of
BofA Global Research with the note: The December FOMC meeting minutes included a lengthy discussion of the timing and speed of Fed balance sheet shrinkage (quantitative tightening or “QT”). The broad message appears to be that QT will start sooner than it did in the previous tightening cycle, and proceed at a faster pace. Even
BofA Global Research with the note: The impact of Covid on the economy has evolved over time. Here we argue Omicron adds a new chapter to the Covidonomics textbook: Successive waves of Covid are increasingly impacting the supply-side of the economy more than the demand-side. The biggest impact from Omicron will likely be a large
Goldman Sachs with the note: Inflation trends: The core PCE price index rose 0.46% month-over-month in November to a new three-decade high of 4.68% year-on-year, and core CPI inflation rose to 4.96%. Core inflation was again boosted by rapid shelter inflation—which has run at the highest level since 1990 over the last three months—and another
Morgan Stanley with the note: Tesla reported 4Q unit deliveries roughly 15pct ahead of consensus, annualizing to over 1.2mm units BEFORE contribution from Austin and Berlin which we ultimately expect to be far larger plants than Fremont and Shanghai. 3key thoughts: It’s not just the unit beat, but the favorable economics from reducing the proportion
McKinsey Global Institute has released a new report entitled, The rise and rise of the global balance sheet, which shows that the market value of the world’s balance sheet tripled in the first two decades of this century, driven by real estate. Below is the summary of this report: While the state of economies is
Deutsche Bank with the note: As we close out 2021, it is fair to say that this year has been one of the lowest vol years for credit on record. A perfect calm of the strongest growth for decades, coupled with still extreme level of stimulus has resulted in very low spread ranges. We think
Goldman Sachs’ Global Economics Analyst has released its top 12 charts of 2021. Below is the overview: The global economy recovered rapidly in 2021 as demand surged. Mass vaccinations and adaptation made growth less sensitive to infections although risk aversion to the virus remained high in Asia-Pacific for much of the year. Fiscal policy turned from
Only three months ago, Singapore was experiencing a massive surge in COVID cases that dwarfed anything Australia has experienced: This September outbreak produced a peak COVID death rate of only 2.5 people per million residents: Now with Omicron cases taking off, Singapore has sealed its border shut to Australia and 19 other nations included in
Chris Joye at Coolabah with the note: The moral hazard of having central banks and treasuries constantly bail-out bad businesses since 2007 has led to the rise of “zombie firms” that have earnings that cannot cover the interest repayments on their debts. In the US, around 15-20 per cent of all listed businesses now meet
