July 26 2024
Olympic sabotage; joint Russian-Chinese bombers near AK; US 2Q24 GDP; small business boom; Venezuelan election
FLASH Paris Olympics opening ceremony tonight
1 Sabotage! Arson attack delays millions of Olympic train passengers in Paris
2 Joint Russian and Chinese bombers intercepted near Alaska
3 US economic growth unexpectedly strong in second quarter
4 Small stocks rally in anticipation of Trump
5 Venezuelan election this weekend likely to cause civil unrest
7/26/1775 U.S. postal system established
see ad astra on x @greg_loving
FLASH Paris Olympics opening ceremony tonight
1 Sabotage! Arson attack delays millions of Olympic train passengers in Paris
Coordinated arson attacks disrupted service on three high-speed train lines in France on Friday, causing travel chaos across the nation on the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris. Train service is expected to be affected through the weekend, causing travel issues for more than a million people, including French vacationers and Olympic athletes. The attacks were all detected around 4 a.m., according to Patrice Vergriete, France’s transportation minister. The disruptions rippled beyond Paris, with Eurostar, an international rail service, saying it would divert trains from the city. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. French officials suggested that the fires had been set to disrupt the Olympics. The mood was already tense in Paris, where security has been tightening for weeks ahead of Friday night’s opening ceremony. Tens of thousands of police officers, joined by counterterrorism units and the military, have been deployed across the city to guard Olympic venues, tourist sites, train stations and street corners.
Article Source: NYT
2 Joint Russian and Chinese bombers intercepted near Alaska
Russian and Chinese warplanes were intercepted off the coast of Alaska by U.S. and Canadian fighters Wednesday, marking the first time strategic bombers from the two U.S. adversaries have operated together near North America, a U.S. official said. Two Russian TU-95 Bear and two Chinese H-6 bombers flew into the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, a buffer zone in international airspace, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. The flights, which came as close as 200 miles off the Alaskan coast, were the most recent sign of growing military and security cooperation between Moscow and Beijing.
Article Source: WSJ
3 US economic growth unexpectedly strong in second quarter
The U.S. economy accelerated in the second quarter as consumers increased their spending, businesses invested more in equipment and stocked inventories, and inflation cooled. Gross domestic product—the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., adjusted for inflation and seasonality—rose at an annual rate of 2.8% for April through June to $22.9 trillion, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was faster than the 1.4% pace in the first quarter, and well above the 2.1% rate economists had expected. Household spending, the main driver of the U.S. economy, increased at a quicker pace as Americans’ incomes continued to rise.
Article Source: WSJ
4 Small stocks rally in anticipation of Trump
Believe it or not, corporate America still makes room for the little guy. Around half of working Americans are employed by a firm with less than 500 workers. Nine in ten banks are community institutions that hold less than $10bn in assets. This rather parochial picture, however, is not reflected in the country’s stockmarket, where the falling number of public companies and extreme concentration of value are a concern. Among America’s 3,000 largest public firms, the biggest 1,000 account for 95% of total value. The next 2,000, which form the Russell 2000 index, are collectively worth less than Apple, the world’s most valuable company. Now the unloved miniatures of America’s stockmarket are having their day in the sun. For most of the year, their shareholders watched the bull market from the stands: the Russell 2000 barely budged, while the s&p 500 index of large American firms rose by almost a fifth. Until the past week, that is, when the Russell 2000 was hurled forward as if by both of the market’s charging horns. The index has jumped by 9%, reaching its highest level since the beginning of 2022. Compared with the s&p 500, which is down slightly over the past week, its outperformance is the largest in history. Analysts are debating whether the move is a freak incident, the beginning of a “small-cap summer” or even a “great rotation” from big stocks to small ones.
Any investor yet to place their “Trump trade” is now scrambling to do so. For every one that sees fiscal indiscipline pushing up companies’ cost of capital and tariffs zapping profits, another predicts that corporate tax cuts and deregulation will boost the stockmarket. Investing in small firms appears to be a reasonable way to prepare for an administration that claims to be pro-business but despises the dominance of the largest technology firms. Indeed, the Russell 2000, with its domestic focus, could be a safe haven from Mr Trump’s blunders abroad, while benefiting from reshoring efforts and lower corporate tax at home. J.D. Vance, whom Mr Trump has selected as the Republican nominee for the vice-presidency, even once helped invest a venture-capital fund called “Rise of the Rest”. Small really could be beautiful for investors.
Article Source: Economist
5 Venezuelan election this weekend likely to cause civil unrest
In advance of Sunday’s presidential election, the Venezuelan government has stepped up arrests and conspiracy claims in the contest between Maduro and retired diplomat, Edmundo González. Pollsters say González could easily win in a fair election. That isn’t expected to happen, according to diplomats and Venezuela experts. They say Maduro and his lieutenants would likely face charges for drug trafficking and extrajudicial killings in Venezuela and abroad, an incentive to hold power. Maduro in a rally last week warned of civil war if he lost—“a blood bath,” he said.
The Biden administration has tried to nudge the regime toward free and fair elections. Maduro responded by jailing more dissidents. Political repression and economic deprivation has driven nearly eight million people from Venezuela in the past decade. They have settled across Latin America, with a growing number arriving in the U.S.
Article Source: WSJ
7/26/1775 U.S. postal system established
Sources
2. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/world/olympics-paris-attack-opening-ceremony/arson-france-trains-olympics?smid=url-share
3. https://www.wsj.com/world/u-s-intercepts-russian-and-chinese-bombers-on-first-joint-mission-off-alaska-4d3e4927?st=fjecdi2qacevnmz&reflink=article_copyURL_share
4. https://www.wsj.com/economy/us-gdp-economy-second-quarter-2024-485df1dc?st=430t4lmybu313m3&reflink=article_copyURL_share
5. https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/07/18/why-investors-have-fallen-in-love-with-small-american-firms
6. https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-elections-f6baa913?mod=Searchresults_pos2&page=1
Thanks for reading!
