Heavily indebted companies defaulted on $6 billion worth of junk bonds in August, the most since October 2020 when the COVID War was grinding the U.S. economy, Fitch Ratings reported. More defaults are ahead for the outstanding $1.5 trillion in junk bonds, defined as securities assigned a rating of BB or lower by Standard &...
Investors have been steadily pruning their bond portfolios this year, clearing out corporate as well as government bonds, and driving bonds into their first bear market in decades. The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which tracks both kinds of bonds, declined more than 20 percent from its most recent high last week, the definition of...
The federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) should have a Congressionally authorized role in regulating “non security tokens and related intermediaries” as long as that role does not infringe on the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) broader authority over the industry, SEC chair Gary Gensler told a crypto industry conference on 8 September. Gensler has...
Cryptocurrencies’ crash in recent months proved that established and regulated financial houses, not just start-ups, should offer cryptocurrency platforms and services, Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS, Singapore’s biggest bank, told the Financial Times. Trusting larger institutions that can implement “guard rails” for crypto speculators will better protect players and help stabilize crypto values, he said. ...
Despite crypto firms’ persistent complaints that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is unfairly targeting them for scrutiny, the agency will not reduce its oversight, SEC enforcement director Gurbir Grewal said on 9 September at a Washington conference. The SEC has a duty to protect naïve, poor, and minority investors, Grewal added. Crypto’s recent...
The U.S. announced last week a new financial package for Ukraine’s war effort while Kyiv announced significant gains on the battlefield during its counteroffensive in the east. The total sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded on 24 February is at $67 billion according to Anti-War.com Counteroffensive As of Tuesday afternoon, Kyiv claimed its troops liberated...
Well before the Russia-Ukraine War outbreak, and before it was on the national radar, The Trends Journal picked up on a story from Wisconsin farmers noting fertilizer supply problems (see “THE PRICE OF UREA IN CHINA” 12 Oct 2021). We suggested some enterprising American companies might want to get back into the fertilizer business, instead...
The National Institute on Drug Abuse found that marijuana and hallucinogen use in the U.S. among those 19 to 30 years old hit historic highs, according to a Monitoring the Future panel study. “As the drug landscape shifts over time, this data provides a window into the substances and patterns of use favored by young...
WEAK CONGRESS, STRONG BUREAUCRACY: THE DIGITAL DOLLAR QUESTION When Congress has to write a letter pleading to know whether the Federal Reserve has the extraordinary power to introduce a CBDC without an explicit authorization from the nation’s highest legislative branch, that’s a problem. That’s exactly what happened this past week, when several Republican lawmakers pressed...
The Environmental Protection Agency announced last month that it wants to begin labeling so-called “forever chemicals” found in many household products “hazardous” so releases of a certain amount of these substances will have to be reported to the federal government. The approval of PFOA and PFOS, which are part of a class of perfluoroalkyl and...