The European Central Bank must avoid knee-jerk policy action over the conflict in the Middle East, according to Governing Council member Martin Kocher . “It makes sense to clearly communicate that we are not accepting an inflation development that is not in line with our mandate,” he said in an interview on Friday. “But it also doesn’t make sense to preempt something that doesn’t happen later on.”...
The European Central Bank must avoid knee-jerk policy action over the conflict in the Middle East, according to Governing Council member Martin Kocher . “It makes sense to clearly communicate that we are not accepting an inflation development that is not in line with our mandate,” he said in an interview on Friday. “But it also doesn’t make sense to preempt something that doesn’t happen later on.” The Austrian central bank chief — attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington — commented just as Iran said it would open the Strait of Hormuz for the duration of a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, increasing the prospect of an agreement to end the wider war in the region. “Uncertainly remains high — it’s good to see positive signals but we don’t know whether they will persist,” Kocher said. “We need to keep an open mind until the meeting, and even when entering the meeting.” The ECB’s next interest-rate decision is just two weeks away, though policymakers are leaning toward a hold at the April 29-30 gathering while they wait for more clarity. “Once the Strait is really fully open, it will still take some time before we will be back to a more normal situation,” Kocher said. “There will still be some frictions, some of the energy production and transport facilities have been destroyed.” The central banker, generally considered one of the more hawkish Governing Council members, highlighted that “we may be seeing some improvements right now but the hit to the economy has already happened — this makes our baseline scenario the best-case scenario.” “We’ve been seeing some second-round effects that are natural, for example in air fares,” he said. “But those are very strongly energy dependent. What matters is what happens outside the energy world. There’s anecdotal evidence for some of these second-round effects, but it’s not yet widespread.” He also stressed that medium inflation expectations “are still q...
Codelco is targeting a slight increase in copper output in 2027 as Chile’s state-owned miner looks to reclaim the mantle of world’s biggest supplier of the industrial metal. Total production next year is budgeted at 1.5 million metric tons, according to people briefed on the projections. The amount includes Codelco’s share of output from mines it doesn’t operate but holds minority ownership in. Pr...
Codelco is targeting a slight increase in copper output in 2027 as Chile’s state-owned miner looks to reclaim the mantle of world’s biggest supplier of the industrial metal. Total production next year is budgeted at 1.5 million metric tons, according to people briefed on the projections. The amount includes Codelco’s share of output from mines it doesn’t operate but holds minority ownership in. Production from its own mines is targeted to rise to 1.37 million tons from 1.34 million tons this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because 2027 guidance hasn’t yet been published. Read More: Codelco Sticks to Guidance Even as Maintenance Erodes Output The company is striving to reverse a prolonged decline in output while getting its aging mines and delayed expansion projects back on track. Chairman Maximo Pacheco is eying a return to pre-pandemic levels of 1.7 million tons by the end of the decade when the global market is expected to tighten. Codelco has overhauled management and decentralized project leadership to counter falling ore grades, cost overruns and a heavy debt load. Bloomberg Intelligence says Codelco is on track to displace BHP Group as the top global producer. BHP operates Escondida in northern Chile, the world’s biggest single copper mine. “If Codelco manages to squeeze out a few more tons and Escondida’s grade does decline according to the mine plan, Codelco could take top spot again,” BI analyst Grant Sporre said.
Olemedia/E+ via Getty Images Albemarle ( ALB ) down 8.3% in Friday's trading, a day after the stock topped the S&P 500 leaderboard with a 16% surge to its best close since July 2023, with the stock's recent strength driven largely by a sharp rebound in global lithium prices from their 2025 troughs. Baird analyst Ben Kallo believed Albemarle's ( ALB ) big gain was tied to strong results from Chines...
Olemedia/E+ via Getty Images Albemarle ( ALB ) down 8.3% in Friday's trading, a day after the stock topped the S&P 500 leaderboard with a 16% surge to its best close since July 2023, with the stock's recent strength driven largely by a sharp rebound in global lithium prices from their 2025 troughs. Baird analyst Ben Kallo believed Albemarle's ( ALB ) big gain was tied to strong results from Chinese competitor CATL, as well as reports of a temporary truce between Lebanon and Israel, but with the stock's 40%-plus YTD appreciation, the analyst said he is stepping to the sidelines, downgrading the lithium producer to Neutral from Buy with a $210 price target. Kallo said CATL presents longer-term challenges for Albemarle ( ALB ) and its decision to create a minerals subsidiary is "a sign that China will attempt to continue controlling this piece of the value chain which may hinder visibility long-term." CATL's bullish tone regarding its outlook suggests robust demand for lithium leading to strong pricing power, but the analyst thinks future increases in lithium pricing "will likely incentivize additional supply coming online and tempter pricing upside to an extent." More on Albemarle Albemarle: Strategic Asset In Energy Security (Rating Upgrade) Albemarle: Why Sodium-Ion Technology Makes This Lithium Giant A Value Trap Albemarle: The Drawdown Could Continue Despite Improving Lithium Supply-Demand
Meghan Swiber, senior US rates strategist Bank of America Securities, and Ashok Bhatia, CIO and global head of fixed income at Neuberger, joins Katie Greifeld on "Bloomberg Real Yield." Treasuries jumped, sending yields to their lowest levels in a month, as easing Middle East tensions drove oil lower and pushed traders to price roughly even odds of a Federal Reserve rate cut this year. (Source: Bl...
Meghan Swiber, senior US rates strategist Bank of America Securities, and Ashok Bhatia, CIO and global head of fixed income at Neuberger, joins Katie Greifeld on "Bloomberg Real Yield." Treasuries jumped, sending yields to their lowest levels in a month, as easing Middle East tensions drove oil lower and pushed traders to price roughly even odds of a Federal Reserve rate cut this year. (Source: Bloomberg)
A 25-year-old Tennessee man avoided prison time after pleading guilty to accessing government systems with stolen login credentials and boasting of the deed on an Instagram account with the handle, @ihackedthegovernment. Defendant Nicholas Moore accessed user accounts on the US Supreme Court's electronic filing system, AmeriCorps, and the Veterans Administration Health System. He then publicly pos...
A 25-year-old Tennessee man avoided prison time after pleading guilty to accessing government systems with stolen login credentials and boasting of the deed on an Instagram account with the handle, @ihackedthegovernment. Defendant Nicholas Moore accessed user accounts on the US Supreme Court's electronic filing system, AmeriCorps, and the Veterans Administration Health System. He then publicly posted screenshots of the users' personal information to his @ihackedthegovernment account on Instagram. It's unclear how he obtained the stolen login information. Moore was sentenced to a year of probation today in US District Court for the District of Columbia. The US government had requested 36 months of probation for the unauthorized access that took place in 2023 from August to October. The government sentencing recommendation did not request any jail time or a fine. Read full article Comments
Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir and managing partner at 8VC, once recalled that his early attempt to join PayPal began with a rejection from Max Levchin. Early Rejection At PayPal Interview Lonsdale recalled that while studying at Stanford University, he noticed many of the "smartest, most interesting people" around him heading to PayPal, which at the time had only around 70 to 80 employees. ...
Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir and managing partner at 8VC, once recalled that his early attempt to join PayPal began with a rejection from Max Levchin. Early Rejection At PayPal Interview Lonsdale recalled that while studying at Stanford University, he noticed many of the "smartest, most interesting people" around him heading to PayPal, which at the time had only around 70 to 80 employees. He decided to apply, but his first interview did not go well. "He had me on the whiteboard and we ar
The venture capital market posted a record-shattering $267 billion the first quarter of 2026. But the data shows the landscape is almost entirely consumed by the AI race. Kyle Stanford, director of venture capital research at PitchBook, discusses the firm’s latest report with Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow on “Bloomberg Tech.” (Source: Bloomberg)
The venture capital market posted a record-shattering $267 billion the first quarter of 2026. But the data shows the landscape is almost entirely consumed by the AI race. Kyle Stanford, director of venture capital research at PitchBook, discusses the firm’s latest report with Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow on “Bloomberg Tech.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Torsten Asmus/iStock via Getty Images The Invesco Ultra Short Duration ETF ( GSY ) is an ETF that helps investors back away from any sort of duration conviction, since the index essentially pays out a yield that compensates investors according to spot rate assumptions. While we are still somewhat bearish on duration as in our previous coverage , in this case because the structural and conflict ris...
Torsten Asmus/iStock via Getty Images The Invesco Ultra Short Duration ETF ( GSY ) is an ETF that helps investors back away from any sort of duration conviction, since the index essentially pays out a yield that compensates investors according to spot rate assumptions. While we are still somewhat bearish on duration as in our previous coverage , in this case because the structural and conflict risks remain elevated in our view, short term duration is going to lose some yield on the latest developments in the Middle East, namely all-front ceasefire, continued negotiations, and momentary reopening, without conflict, of the Strait of Hormuz. If this ceasefire endures (which is not a given), we don't have to worry about supply crunch anymore which is going to be important for allowing the Fed to continue with cuts, which they couldn't contemplate while the War went on. But this isn't great for spot yields. Of course, there is no capital gain threat or benefit from changing spot assumptions because there is no duration here. The point is, with GSY effectively equal to cash with a yield in terms of portfolio risk characteristics, we'd move into some select equities, also because GSY isn't going to get a positive capital gains effect from falling YTMs from lower credit spreads and benchmark rate assumptions. Also, for foreign investors, the USD outlook is getting a bit gloomier with maybe the return of trading factors like the debasement trade coming back. Finally, GSY has a higher expense ratio than the iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF ( FLOT ), which accomplishes basically the same thing, though actually better because it truly has negligible duration while GSY has 0.58 years. We'd always pick FLOT over GSY. GSY Breakdown Expense ratio is 0.22% relative to the FLOT's 0.15% . Both are basically spot duration bets. Both have mostly single-A rated bonds, lots of commercial papers and things like that - one of the biggest markets for very short term credit, in this case corpor...