February 18 (Friday)
Latest Morning Briefing: Executive Summary. Insurance, Tech & EVs.
Visions of higher interest rates to come are stoking investors’ optimism about prospects for financial services companies, fueling the S&P 500 Financials sector’s impressive ytd outperformance. Within the sector, the insurance industry has been faring well by both earnings and share-price measures as pricing power and strong investment returns have helped to offset higher costs and losses. … Also: Washington has guns out for Big Tech; we recap recent regulatory and (bipartisan!) legislative initiatives afoot. … And we survey the playing field for electric vehicles after their starring roles in Super Bowl ads.(subscribers’ link)
YRI
Daily Markets Overview
See subscribers’ link below for today’s Morning Briefing.
Replay of Dr. Ed’s webinar on February 14.
Markets
Dow Falls More Than 600 Points, Its Worst Day of 2022 | W
Gold jumps, stocks slide on Ukraine tensions mount | R
If Russia Hurts Wall Street, Don’t Expect Fed Help | W
Energy
Oil Prices: How the World Went From -$40 to Nearly $100 For Crude Oil | B
Europe’s Energy Crisis Pays Off for U.S. Natural-Gas Sellers, Global Traders | W
EU Plans Gas Storage Push to Avoid Crisis Next Winter After Record Energy Prices | B
EU Eyes Bolstering Carbon Market Transparency as Prices Surge | B
Central banks
Mester Backs Faster Fed Interest Rate-Hike Pace If Needed to Tame Prices | B
Fed Traders Have Dialed Back Bets on a Supersized March Interest Rate Hike | B
What could drive the Fed to a ‘Plan B’ for balance sheet reduction | R
Why Republicans Stalled Raskin’s Bid for Top Fed Post: Climate Views, Business Ties | W
Joe Manchin Remains Undecided on Biden’s Fed Nominees | B
US
Pay raises but higher prices: How inflation is affecting workers’ paychecks | Vox
Opinion: Why inflation is about to peak | NN
Inflation Should Moderate in Coming Months, White House Economist Says | W
Mortgage Rates Close In on 4%, Making Home Affordability Tougher | W
Americans Are Emerging From the Pandemic Ready to Splurge on Events and Travel | W
China
Baidu, Other Chinese Tech Names May Join Hang Seng in Reshuffle | B
Geopolitics & trade
Ukraine shelling renews invasion fears as Russia expels U.S. diplomat | R
Ukraine crisis: Blinken makes dramatic bid at UN to prevent Russian invasion | C
How Well Could Russia’s Economy Withstand Sanctions? | W
China Is South America’s Top Trading Partner. Why Can’t the US Keep Up? | B
Industries & companies
Autos: Ford’s Mustang Mach-E tops Tesla’s Model 3 in Consumer Reports list | C
Retail: Walmart says shoppers are on alert as grocery bills climb | C
Virus
California lays out plan to live with Covid for the long-term, fight future surges and new variants | C
Will Adults Need a Fourth Dose of Covid Vaccine? It’s Too Soon to Know. | N
