February 21 (Monday)
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
Stock Market’s Next Move Is Lower. It’s Not Just Russia and the Fed. | BR
Stocks fall, bonds rise on Ukraine tensions | R
Rising Treasury Yields Are Diminishing the Appeal of Dividend Stocks | BR
Europe Looks Beyond Russia for Natural Gas. These Companies May Benefit. | BR
Russia-Ukraine Tensions Power Gold to Eight-Month Highs | W
Central banks
Ukraine and Inflation Are Wild Cards as Western Central Banks Look to Reset Policy | BR
The Fed Is Scrambling to Tame Inflation While Avoiding a Recession | BR
How the Fed Will Reduce Its Balance Sheet: Slow and Steady | BR
Fed chief Powell to give policy update to Congress in early March | R
US
Fiscal Stimulus Is Turning Into a Fiscal Drag, in a Big Headwind for Growth | W
How states are using, and misusing, funds from the American Rescue Plan | E
Europe
Germany’s plans for wind power are dauntingly ambitious | E
China
China’s Latest Default Warning Takes Shock Factor to Extreme | B
Geopolitics & trade
NATO’s chief says Russia could invade Ukraine ‘without any warning’ | C
Russia Extends Belarus Drills for Thousands of Troops as Ukraine Violence Escalates | W
Alexander Gabuev writes from Moscow on why Vladimir Putin and his entourage want war | E
Whether he invades Ukraine or backs down, Putin has harmed Russia | E
Why Russia has never accepted Ukrainian independence | E
Ukraine’s second city braces for war. Sort of | E
Ukraine braces for cyber invasion | E
China wants to insulate itself against Western sanctions | E
Industries & companies
Consumer discretionary: Amazon’s sprawling grocery business has become an ‘expensive hobby’ | C
Pharma: Covid-19 Pill Access at Risk as Pharmacies Push for Bigger Payments | W
Tech: Why Apple, Amazon and Google Are Uniting on Smart-Home Tech: Matter Explained | W
Tech: Apple Finds Itself Under Scrutiny in Washington’s Big Tech Clampdown | W
Beyond markets
Beijing Winter Olympics End With Record Gold Haul for China | B
The true cost of empty offices | E
Thanks to Remote Work, Many in Gen Z May Never Work in an Office. Will It Matter? | W
Massive Credit Suisse leak reportedly reveals possible criminal ties among 18,000 accounts | C
