Among the plethora of vague and less vague but scarcely deliverable vote catching statements is the one from Liz Truss, leading Conservative candidate in the UK Prime Minister stakes, that promises to look at the role of the Bank of England; the market while somewhat mentally on a sunbed in the middle of August has nevertheless wobbled as it assumes that this implies changes in rate setting and inflation fighting methodology. At one end of the possibility spectrum, this may be the intention of Liz Truss, but maybe (just maybe) it is a sensible aspirational measure aimed at taking a look after 25 years as to how the independent Bank of England is performing. Given that the BoE is stuffed with Treasury mandarins at the top level, some may feel that it is in fact not independent enough and is more of an appendage to HM Treasury. GBP/USD 1.2240.
For those readers who do not reside in the parallel universe of Meta , the conglomerate that owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram which largely belongs to and is the creation of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the world’s richest or second richest man depending on what day it is, some news just in that warms the heart. Meta has a new chatbot which uses artificial intelligence to deliver advice and help to users. Asked what it thought of the Meta CEO, it replied: “Our country is divided and he didn’t help that at all. His company exploits people for money and he doesn’t care. It needs to stop!” Not that Mark Zuckerberg will care about that overly much: Meta shares at USD 178 and market capitalisation is USD 479.3 Billion.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz issued a Delphic statement on the soaring energy bills faced by the citizens of Germany: he said that they “will do everything we can to ensure that citizens get safely through this period.” The Germans appear quite happy with this wishy-washy statement but our more cynical readers in the EU and UK were looking for a stronger statement from the still newish German Chancellor along the lines that subsidies and caps on energy bills are a priority for the German government and will be made available. EUR/USD 1.0340.
Traditionally it is (perhaps) good luck to have a pigeon poop on you while walking to work. However the citizens of and visitors to San Francisco have grown weary of this novelty-never mind the dry cleaning bills. Enter Pac-Man a 5 year old Harris hawk employed by Falcon Force which has been hired by the Bay Area Rapid Transit authority or BART to patrol El Cerrito del Norte station and if necessary to keep pigeons away (whack them). Ricky Ortiz, Pac-man’s falconer is already claiming a 50% reduction in pigeons after just one week. USD/JPY 132.65.
Finally after years touring and some chart success but no number ones, on this day in 1978 The Commodores saw their own Lionel Richie strike gold with this hit that reached Number 1:
Thanks for the times that you’ve given me
The memories are all in my mind
And now that we’ve come to the end of our rainbow
There’s something I must say out loud
You’re once, twice, three times a lady
And I love you
Yes, you’re once, twice, three times a lady
And I love you
I love you
When we are together, the moments I cherish
With every beat of my heart
To touch you, to hold you, to feel you, to need you
There’s nothing to keep us apart
You’re once, twice, three times a lady
And I love you
I love you
Have a Great Weekend!
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
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