Something for the weekend
(Bloomberg) — Hello from New York and the start of a long weekend in an honor of US presidents past and present. Before you get to commemorating…
Vice President Kamala Harris joins UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other leaders for the 59th Munich Security Conference, which takes place as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears the one-year mark. Harris, in an address, said the US has concluded Russia committed “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine and vowed that Moscow would be held to account for its actions. Europe’s first high-intensity war since 1945 has set off a massive arms race with munitions factories as critical as troops.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, was also at the event in Munich. Wang lashed out at the US over its decision to shoot a suspected Chinese balloon over US airspace, calling the action “almost hysterical.” He and Harris have no meeting scheduled in Germany. Instead, Harris will focus her time on the leaders of France, Germany, the UK, Finland and Sweden.
Harris’s boss, President Joe Biden, has been urged by nearly three dozen US lawmakers to appoint a Latino to fill the vacancy created on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors by the resignation of Vice Chair Lael Brainard. “The appointment of a qualified Latino candidate to the Board of Governors would be a critical step in bringing diverse perspectives to our nation’s central bank,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter,
The Biden administration has come under criticism for its response to a Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that unleashed toxic chemicals in eastern Ohio earlier this month, and now the company is facing scrutiny over its bungled messaging after the crash. Norfolk Southern initially kept a low profile after the derailment, and then skipped a chance to meet the town’s residents face-to-face.
Weekend Read: Ohio Train Crash Unleashes Local Rage, Suspicion Over Toxic Chemicals
Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is gearing up for a presidential run and he’s betting he can use one of Donald Trump’s biggest successes against the former president. During the height of the pandemic in the US, DeSantis portrayed a “free Florida” where kids got back to school, businesses reopened mask-free and vaccine mandates weren’t a thing. Trump pushed through vaccines, good for the country, less so with the GOP base.
Another crucial window into consumer demand, the trajectory of economic growth and Corporate America’s profitability begins next week, when major retailers from Home Depot and Walmart grab the earnings spotlight. Investors are eager to hear the companies’ outlooks, especially since inflation isn’t moderating the way the Federal Reserve wants.
Stock investors, meanwhile, have been betting on a Goldilocks scenario, even if the bond market has gotten the Fed’s message that it will keep raising interest rates to sticky chase inflation. That’s a potentially unsustainable development, and surging rates have long proven to be kryptonite to rallies.Bitcoin meanwhile finished the work week strong as bullish sentiment outweighed concern over a widening US crypto enforcement effort and the backdrop of rising interest rates.
Speaking of crypto: Read this fascinating account of how Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX’s reclusive coding wizard Gary Wang met as teenagers, before going on build a crypto empire that spectacularly imploded, turning the two long-term partners against each other.
Weekend Read: Man Behind China’s ‘Dream Come True’ Boosted Balloon Program
Over the past few months, more than two dozen large whales have washed up on the shores of the US East Coast, many of them in New Jersey. A coalition of environmental groups and conservatives are blaming the offshore wind industry. Some government officials and the companies behind those wind projects say the industry isn’t to blame. For all the finger-pointing, everyone does agree that a lot of whales are dying.
And finally…in the mood for a party? Maybe the world’s biggest party? The rager that is Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival is back at full force as Covid-19 concerns wane. “Two years ago, I thought I would never be able to deliver Carnival again,” the city’s mayor Eduardo Paes said.
Have a good weekend.
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