#FoodSecurity: Wheat crop harvests in Russia and Ukraine at risk for 2023. Barron's. @BatchelorShow

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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#France: The tactical garbage strike in Paris and the strategic thinking pensioners vs. Macron. John Batchelor, Briefings Magazine.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Société d'histoire locale et de protection du patrimoine de Villejuif, 

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Barron's: This Summer Could Be a Scorcher, Lifting Wheat Prices

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Expectations of an unusually hot and dry summer, combined with the impact of the war in Ukraine, will likely send wheat prices surging by around 20% from current levels as early as April, experts say.

“Drought will return and hurt spring wheat, not only in the U.S. but other places,” says Shawn Hackett, president of Hackett Financial Advisors, in Boca Raton. That, in turn, could lift prices. Read more here.

Busted T-72BA near Starobesheve in East Ukraine

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Briefings Magazine: The Hidden Benefits of Mass Disruptions

Tech hasn’t had a big wave of extinction since 2001.

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There’s no doubt about it. Consumer-tech companies such as Meta, Apple, Google, Netflix, and Amazon came of age over the last decade or so. Some grew from dorm rooms or garages into corporate behemoths at warp speed and hired experts by the boatload. Collectively they gained colossal publicity and political influence. Then came 2022, with plummeting stock prices. So began the hiring freezes and eye-popping layoffs.

Should we be concerned? Perhaps not. Tech’s always been a rough-and-tumble place, embracing an ongoing cycle of innovation, disruption, and destruction. Each cycle is similar, but each has its unique quirks. Read more here.

WABC: Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failures.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#MrMarket: Affordable College in sophisticated Europe. @JohnBatchelor WSJ

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky , 

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Citywire: Things are changing fast for exchange-traded fund investors

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Since the launch of the first US ETF three decades ago, index-tracking funds have been the mainstay of the ETF world. And while active funds have been ‘stuck in neutral’ the past while, they are now on course to make a booming comeback, experts say.

‘For a long time, active funds were stuck in neutral,’ says Aniket Ullal, head of ETF data and analytics at New York-based research company CFRA. ‘[But] there is now a focus on active – and yes, it’s a long-term thing.’ Read more here.

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