SL Advisors Talks Markets

This Friday’s inflation update will include the monthly Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) deflator and the Q1 Employment Cost Index (ECI). The Fed prefers the PCE because its weights are dynamic. When apples rise in price relative to oranges, CPI assumes no change in behavior, whereas some substitution towards oranges is to be expected. PCE picks […]

A wood-burning fireplace on a cold day is a welcoming sight. The crackle and smell of combusting organic matter has provided a place for humans to bond for millennia. Coal replaced wood as the developed world’s chief source of energy in the 19th century. Because of this some feel a misplaced sentimental attachment to burning […]

I’m the treasurer for our co-op in Naples, FL. I recently asked our local bank to pay a more competitive rate on our cash balance, which is well over the $250K FDIC insurance limit. Their deposit rate for business accounts was 0.5%, and maybe because Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) had just failed they quickly raised […]

Why are people so negative? A recent WSJ article included results to the yes/no question: “Do you feel confident that life for our children’s generation will be better than it has been for us?” 78% of respondents said no. They think the next generation will be worse off. This is the most negative reading in […]

FERC recently approved a request by Williams Companies to expand its Transco natural gas pipeline in New Jersey. As is usually the case, environmental extremists have been opposing this and other enhancements to the state’s energy infrastructure even though Williams, a commercial enterprise, is presumably meeting increased demand for its services. Of the seven fossil […]

I was in the UK recently where reducing emissions to zero by 2050 is now law. In spite of the conservative populism that drove Brexit, Britain is a politically liberal place from the eyes of this visitor who last lived there 41 years ago. Illegal immigration is a worldwide problem, and the British face African […]

According to the American Automotive Policy Council, the world’s biggest auto companies can use over a thousand silicon chips in each car. This fact from Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology resonated more than anything else in this fascinating book about the world’s reliance on computing power. Had I been asked […]

90% Of Everything moves by ship, at least according to author Rose George in her 2013 book that’s still fascinating reading today. George traveled as a passenger on a cargo ship called the Maersk Kendal. While onboard she interviewed the captain and crew members, enabling her to present an absorbing picture of maritime freight, an […]

First Citizens Bancshares has agreed to buy most, but not all, of Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) carcass from the FDIC. They’re acquiring $72BN of loans at a discount of $16.5BN. The FDIC estimates SVB’s failure will cost it around $20BN. The Deposit Insurance Fund currently sits at 128BN. It’s funded by banks, which means by […]

At some point Congressional oversight of the Federal Reserve should result in a careful examination of the central bank’s error-strewn record under Chair Jay Powell. Below is a roadmap for discriminating legislators willing to conduct a critical review of the Fed’s serial mistakes.  Above the Fed’s twin mandate of seeking maximum employment with stable prices […]