Wrap

Today was a deflationary day. Partly this was a jump in the value of $FB which won some anti-trust action. Bonds are strong, FX is pretty flat, and commodities were on average flat. Crude was down a lot, gas was up a lot, as was food. Bitcoin was up 7%: there is lots of noise about central banks using digital currencies, the latest being Russia’s. I don’t really see how the coming into existence of a competing product increases the price of the original one, but it must be the same reason that ten thousand different crypto currencies doesn’t seem to diminish the appetite of the investing public for more.

Monetizing ESG — with diesel generators

John Dizard has written a piece on diesel generators. He points out that as a result the phasing out of coal-fired power stations, power is a lot less reliable so people are buying their own diesel generators. The new F-150 from Ford even includes a 7.5 kW generator.

Generac Holdings Inc. has been a huge beneficiary of the ESG zealots. Its share price has risen tenfold in five years. I think that maybe Aggreko may be due to see some benefits, as it has not had anything like the same ramp up in profits or share price.

Is Lacy Hunt predicting that bonds are going up in price?

Most people would consider this as on a par with “Is Boris Johnson economical with the truth?” Of course Lacy is predicting no inflation, but I am sure he’s inserting a few caveats. I suspect that one of them is that the Fed reserves, which are currently money only for banks (which cannot actually spend it) do not get magically transformed into money for the consumer, via some sort of central bank digital currency.

I will listen to to the podcast, not least because I need to listen to someone with a point of view which is opposed to me. I will not be able to convince myself, let alone other people, that inflation is coming if I do understand the argument that it is not at least as well as its proponents, like Dr Hunt.

Dr. Lacy Hunt: Inflation and Growth Are Peaking, Excessive Debt Is Deflationary via The Sounding Line.

ReconAfrica — a con?

Viceroy Research have done the hard work.

Shorting anything in this market is practically suicidal, so this is definitely not investment advice. But I think it shows how the irrational exuberance of the market today is enabling this sort of fraud.

Yes, the rich got richer. It’s official.

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