Friday, April 19, 2024

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Korn Ferry: A New Record

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A record number of UK residents have dropped out of the workforce for medical reasons. How to get them back. Read more here.



#ENERGY: Prices higher and stable after the barrage. @RealConstable, Occitanie @BatchelorShow

 By SIMON CONSTABLE


Listen here.

John and I discuss the oil market calming after the Iranian attack on Israel and the likely impact if the war engulfs the entire Middle East region.

Drilling rigs moored off Invergordon in the Cromary Firth, Scotland. 
Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

CC: British Free Speech Under Threat, Russia Doomed @RobinHorsfall

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Listen here.

Hate crime laws in the UK may be being used to silence the populous, Russia's future looks bleak, and there are insights into Horsfall's writing.

Learn more about Horsfall and his books via these links:


Photo credit: Robin Horsfall


The intro is a shortened version of a clip by Richard WagnerEEF OAL-1, licensed via Wikimedia Commons, performed by:

Conductor: James Allen Gähres

Ensemble: Ulm Philharmonic

Location: CCU Einsteinsaal, Ulm

Opera: The Valkyrie (Die Walküre)

Movement: Prelude from Act 3

Date 3 June 2014


The horn sound is Horn of Tokyo Metro 6000 series circa 1969

SourceTrainz addons file by JIRCTRAINZ?

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.


The thunderclap outro is a shortened version of a clip by Jonathan HuntCC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Thursday, April 11, 2024

#INFLATION: Food inflation driven by weather in Brazil and war in Eurasia. @RealConstable Briefings Magazine @BatchelorShow

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Listen here.

John and I discuss the pending food shortages that will cost the poor disproportionately, as detailed in my recent column for Briefings Magazine.

That and more. Listen here.


Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Briefings Magazine: The Great Food Shortage?

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

For much of history, a bad harvest could be the difference between life and death. Fortunately, since World War II, grain production has generally kept pace with the global population. But over the past five years, reserves of corn, wheat, and soybeans have dwindled by up to 11 percent, spurring a double-digit price increase worldwide. Two major drivers of the increase are severe weather, which has caused crop destruction, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has created interruptions in food production. All of this might sound bad, but it may only be the warm-up for something worse. Read more here.


Sunday, April 7, 2024

WSJ: FINANCIAL FLASHBACK Joe Jett Kidder Peabody Scandal 1994

FINANCIAL FLASHBACK

A look back at Wall Street Journal headlines from this month in history

By Simon Constable

 30 YEARS AGO: Kidder Discloses Scam in Bonds, Fires Top Trader

In April 1994, investment bank Kidder Peabody accused its chief government-bond trader, Joseph Jett, of scamming the company. The affair added to the company’s already tarnished reputation, which had resulted from Wall Street’s insider-trading scandals less than a decade before. 

Jett had allegedly created false profits of $350 million to help boost his bonus to more than $9 million. He was accused of doing so by trading in so-called Treasury strips, or zero-coupon fixed-income securities, temporarily producing phantom profits.

The storm around Jett, who was dismissed by Kidder, came after the insider-trading troubles in 1986. Then, arbitrager Ivan Boesky was accused of insider dealing or trading on nonpublic information, by joining with a Kidder investment banker. Read more here.