Every week I share recaps of “news you can use”: a handful of short blurbs from major sources of financial news, so you can be caught up in less than a minute.
I post these every Saturday. Use the comments below to tell me what you think!
Here are some headlines and quotes from select money stories for the week ending Feb. 5, 2022. At the end, you’ll find my take on the news.
Oil Set for Strongest January in Decades as Market Tightens (Jan. 30, Bloomberg):
Oil markets opened the week higher and were heading for the biggest January gain in at least 30 years as robust demand outpaced fresh supply.
The global crude benchmark rose 0.8%, paring earlier gains, but remains on track for a 17% gain this month. West Texas Intermediate futures traded above $87 a barrel.
Russia is willing to go to war and incur sanctions over Ukraine, analysts warn (Jan. 31, CNBC):
“You don’t send close to 100,000 troops and as many people in reserves to prove a point — Russia has raised the stakes so high for me at this stage that it seems improbable it will just simply back down unless it gets something in return.”
Coffee Prices Climb, Pushed Up by Bad Weather and Supply-Chain Woes (Feb. 1, The Wall Street Journal):
While analysts say the aftereffects of 2021’s weather are their principal concern, they are also watching for a La Niña weather pattern this year to see how long drought conditions in Brazil will persist.
Though coffee’s price rise can be mostly attributed to weather, higher shipping and freight costs have also helped fuel the rally.
Little of the Paycheck Protection Program’s $800 Billion Protected Paychecks (Feb. 1, The New York Times):
One new analysis found that only about a quarter of the money spent by the program paid wages that would have otherwise been lost, partly because the government steadily loosened the rules for how businesses could use the money as the pandemic dragged on.
And because many businesses remained healthy enough to survive without the program, another analysis found, the looser rules meant the Paycheck Protection Program ended up subsidizing business owners more than their workers.
Euro-Zone Inflation Unexpectedly Hits Record, Boosting Rate Bets (Feb. 2, Bloomberg):
Euro-area inflation unexpectedly accelerated to a record, overshooting expectations by the most in at least two decades and fueling bets the European Central Bank could raise interest rates earlier than expected. Consumer prices jumped 5.1% from a year ago in January, up from 5% in December.
Consumers Are Pivoting Spending to Services Like Dining and Travel (…….
