Patti Mohr

U.S. Deficit For FY2021 Reached $2.8 Trillion, CBO Says

10Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Global Economics, Types of News: Brief, United States

U.S. Deficit For FY2021 Reached $2.8 Trillion, CBO Says

November 10, 2021--For the fiscal year that ended September 30, the U.S. government ran a $2.8 trillion budget deficit, the Congressional Budget Office reported on Monday. The figure was $360 billion less than the deficit in 2020 but three times the deficit from 2019. As a share of the GDP, the 2021 deficit was 12.4 percent the size of the economy. That's down from 15 percent at the peak of the pandemic in FY2020 but up from 3.2 percent in 2016. Federal spending increased above normal levels in 2020 and 2021 in response to the pandemic. They included the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Meanwhi...

10Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Global Economics, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Inflation Rises To 6.2 Percent

November 10, 2021--The Consumer Price Index increased 0.9 percent in October and 6.2 percent for the year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. While the rise in prices was "broad-based," the cost of energy, shelter, food, and vehicles rose at higher levels, the BLS said. Meanwhile, prices of airline fares and alcoholic beverages declined. Excluding food and energy, inflation still rose 4.6 percent, which was the "largest 12-month increase" since 1991. Over the last 12 months, energy prices increased the highest at a rate of 30 percent with fuel prices climbing by 49 percent. In recent meetings, the central banks for Europe, Britain, and the United States predicted inflation would rise higher this year and into 2022. Yet all three monetary policy boards left interest rat...

Citing ESG, BNY Mellon Cuts Ties With Controversial Coal Group

8Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Climate Action, ESG, Sustainable Finance, Types of News: Analysis

Citing ESG, BNY Mellon Cuts Ties With Controversial Coal Group

In the Wake Of A COP26-Led Pledge To Transition Away From Coal, Wall Street Takes Notice UPDATE: As of August 11, 2026, a U.S. court dismissed a bribery case against Gautam Adani after the Trump Administration's Justice Department dropped its case against the Indian billionaire and conglomerate chief. Adani had reportedly vowed to put $10 billion in foreign investment into the United States. Meanwhile, the Adani coal project mentioned in this story below moved forward. Private hedge funds picked up where BNY Mellon bank left off. U.S.-based King Street Capital Management and U.K.-based Sona Asset Management financed a 6-year, approximately US$207 million loan for Adani’s coal port operations in Australia in 2025. A year earlier, King Street Capital Management and Farallon Capital Manage...

UN Peacekeepers Under Investigation for Trafficking Diamonds And Gold

8Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Corruption, Bribes, Illicit Finance & Money Laundering, Critical Minerals, Organizations, IMF, WTO, G7, UN Security Council, Types of News: Brief

UN Peacekeepers Under Investigation for Trafficking Diamonds And Gold

File photo: UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic. Source: UN November 8, 2021--Over 300 Portuguese police and military officers are investigating reports that elite Portuguese troops taking part in a UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic may have engaged in the illegal trafficking of diamonds, gold, and drugs. Officers issued 10 arrest warrants and raided properties in Lisbon, Funchal, Bragança, Porto de Mós, Entroncamento, Setúbal, Beja and Faro, The Guardian and other news outlets reported on Monday. “What we are looking into now is the possibility that some soldiers taking part in the national detached force in CAR were used as couriers in the trafficking of diamonds, gold and drugs,” the army said in a statement. According to reporting by The G...

Bank of England Projects Inflation Rising To 5 Percent Inflation, Leaves Interest Rate At 0.1 Percent

5Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Global Economics, Types of News: Brief

Bank of England Projects Inflation Rising To 5 Percent Inflation, Leaves Interest Rate At 0.1 Percent

The committee for the Bank of England met November 4, 2021 and decided to leave interest rates unchanged. November 5, 2021--In a move that surprised many observers in the financial sphere, the Bank of England voted 7-2 yesterday to maintain its federal Bank Rate at 0.1 percent and it voted 6-3 to continue purchasing U.K.-government bonds. That came as a surprise move to many financial observers, including Merryn Somerset Webb is editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek, who had expected a moderate rise in the interest rate to 0.25 percent. Writing an opinion piece for the Financial Times, Webb said the concern is about reputation and expectation. "The Bank has told us for ages that the inflation we feel all around us is transitory," she wrote. "But it is also now telling us that it is “materi...

Crypto Assets Grew By 200 Percent In 2021

4Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Finance, Banks, Cryptocurrency, Metals, Types of News: Brief

Crypto Assets Grew By 200 Percent In 2021

Ethereum Grew Tenfold Over The Last Year November 4, 2021—Cryptocurrency assets grew by roughly 200 percent, from just under $800 billion to $2.3 trillion, according to Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability of the Bank of England. The rapid growth in the takeup of the asset is grabbing the attention of regulators around the world. "When something in the financial system is growing very fast, and growing in largely unregulated space, financial stability authorities have to sit up and take notice," Cunliffe said, in an October speech. He added that regulators shouldn't overreact. "We should not classify new approaches as 'dangerous' simply because they are different." Institutions Are 'Just Getting Started' Meanwhile, as the assets go mainstream, some of the hold...

U.S. Government Adds Four Spyware Companies To Trade Blacklist

4Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Global Trade, Human rights, Types of News: Analysis, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Government Adds Four Spyware Companies To Trade Blacklist

Israeli Spyware Firm NSO Group Named On Commerce Department's Prohibited List November 4, 2021—In a move meant to put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy, the U.S. Commerce Department announced yesterday it is adding four companies to a list of companies subject to trade restrictions. The four companies include Israel-based Candiru and the NSO Group, a Singapore-based company called the Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE (COSEINC), and Russia's Positive Technologies. In effect, the decision puts the companies on trade blacklist that imposes extra licensing requirements. Specifically, companies on the Entity List under Export Administration Regulations face limited availability of most license exceptions for, exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) to...

Fed Decision ‘Skews Risk Toward Inflation’

3Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Finance, Banks, Cryptocurrency, Metals, Global Economics, Types of News: Brief, United States

Fed Decision ‘Skews Risk Toward Inflation’

Despite Economic Recovery And Rising Prices, U.S. Central Bank Keeps Interest Rates Near Zero November 3, 2021—The Federal Reserve announced today it will begin reducing the amount of Treasury securities it purchases every month, in light of economic progress. However, in a move that mirrors the European Central Bank decision, the U.S. central bank is maintaining an accommodative stance on monetary policy, meaning it will continue to increase the money supply. Specifically, the committee is keeping the Federal funds rate at 0 to 0.25 percent, which is slightly above Europe's negative rates. A key point is the Fed is no longer basing the decision on the U.S. unemployment rate, which is historically low. The measure of success for the central bank now includes the labor participat...

Biden: To Reach 1.5 Degree Celsius, ‘Marathon’ To Net-Zero Is Needed

2Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Climate Action, ESG, Sustainable Finance, Types of News: Videos

Biden: To Reach 1.5 Degree Celsius, ‘Marathon’ To Net-Zero Is Needed

November 2, 2021--U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the COP26 in Scotland. Here is a clip of his speech from yesterday. https://youtu.be/bGPhBabHMA0 "We’re planning for a both short-term sprint to 2030 that will keep 1.5 degrees Celsius in reach and for a marathon that will take us — take us to the finish line and transform the largest economy in the world into a thriving, innovative, equitable, and just clean-energy engine of net-zero — for a net-zero world. That’s why today I’m releasing the U.S. long-term strategy, which presents a vision of achieving the United States’ goal of net-zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050 and reinforces an absolutely critical nature of taking bold action with the — in the decisive decade. We’re also going to try to do our part when it...

‘Climate Change Can Tear Us Apart,’ Italy’s Draghi Says

2Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Climate Action, ESG, Sustainable Finance, Types of News: Videos

‘Climate Change Can Tear Us Apart,’ Italy’s Draghi Says

Italian PM Says Costs Add Up To $390 Billion A Year November 2, 2021--Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi talks about the social, security and economic costs of climate change. "Climate change can tear us apart," he said at COP26. According to Draghi, risks of a warming Earth include social tensions, migration flows, terrorism and organize crime, among others. https://youtu.be/104FDAEQMtc