Nobody Asks the Burrito
Dear Abbot,
Monk here.
Monday. Bangkok is wet and full of economists.
BANGKOK. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank begin their annual meetings in Bangkok today. Monk will report their forecasts once they have finished consulting the weather.
NEW YORK. In New York, the market could not agree with itself. The Dow rose 0.38 percent. The Nasdaq fell 0.44 percent. The S&P 500 moved six hundredths of one percent and was described in the headlines as moderating.
Energy and consumer staples led. Technology lagged. People must still drive and eat. They need not upgrade.
Noted.
WASHINGTON / BRUSSELS. In Washington, the administration announced a deal for Russia to supply millions of tons of diesel, to help lower fuel prices before the midterms. Six senators from both parties urged that it be reversed, since it sits awkwardly with sanctions. Meanwhile, in Brussels, the European Union sanctioned nearly 1,600 more Russian individuals and companies.
So one side of the Atlantic sanctions the seller, the other side buys his diesel, and both call it pressure.
“Master, are they on the same side?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are they doing opposite things?”
“Because one of them has an election in three weeks.”
STOCKHOLM. In Stockholm, the Nobel Prize in economics went to two scholars for their work on macroeconomic stabilization. On the day of the award, by one commentator’s count, diesel was at a record price and consumer sentiment at its lowest since May. Mortgage rates sat near 7.5 percent.
The theory is excellent. Reality has been informed and is considering it.
WASHINGTON. Also in Washington, regulators approved SpaceX’s plan for 15,000 satellites that connect directly to ordinary phones. Telecom shares fell in America and Europe.
Monk once climbed a mountain to be unreachable. It worked for a very long time. It will not work next year.
REDMOND. In Redmond, Microsoft unveiled its third-generation AI chip and said it may deploy more than a million of them next year. What a million chips will think about was not announced.
Thirty spokes share one hub, say the old texts, and it is the empty space at the centre that makes the wheel useful. Redmond has filled the centre with chips, and will tell us later what the wheel is for.
SEATTLE. And in Seattle, Starbucks denied that it was buying Chipotle. Starbucks shares rose. Chipotle’s fell nearly three percent.
Nobody asked the burrito. Nobody ever asks the burrito.
Anyway.
Monk remains in transit. Bowl clean. Diesel not purchased.
Please tell the novices that stabilization is a practice, not a prize. They may meditate on this until the prize money arrives.
Yours, from the departure lounge,
The Monk