October 16: Europe Burns Trash for Energy, Inflation persists, Real Estate Market collapses (Recap ep197)

In this week’s recap, Marcello talks about how Germany and Poland are allowing citizens to burn trash for heat; inflation persists. Pepsico is a prime example. Its prices have risen by 17% year on year; the real estate market is suffering as a result of central banks’ conservative policies.

Russia launched cruise missiles on Ukrainian cities on Monday in what the U.S. called horrific strikes, killing civilians & knocking out infrastructure & utilities, with its most widespread air attacks since the start of the war on February 24. 1000’s of residents were forced to flee to bomb shelters, as air raid sirens rang out through the day. The barrage of dozens of cruise missiles were fired from air, land & sea.
Prices U.S. consumers are paying for goods & services rose more than expected in Sept, as inflation pressures continued to weigh on U.S. economy. Consumer price index (CPI) +0.4% for the month, more than the +0.3% analyst estimate. Year to year, inflation was up +8.2%, off its peak around +9% in June, but still near the highest levels since early 1980’s. Excluding volatile food & energy prices, core CPI +0.6% vs estimate for a +0.4% increase. Core inflation +6.6% from a year ago, biggest 12-month gain since Aug 1982.
Kroger is the largest supermarket operator in the U.S. with 25 banners & has nearly 2,800 stores in 35 states & about 420K employees. The company still trails behind Walmart, which is the top grocer in the U.S. by revenue. Kroger could announce a deal to buy rival grocery company Albertsons this week. Albertsons is made up of 20 banners & has over 2,200 supermarkets in 34 states, with 290K employees. Kroger has a market cap of $32.96B. Albertsons’ shares surged +11.53% on the news Thursday at $28.63, with market cap of $13.65B.
One of Van Gogh’s most famous Sunflowers paintings from (1888) with an estimated value of £72.5 million ($80.99 million), has been cleaned & is back on display, after 2 climate activists threw cans of what appeared to be tomato soup over it on Friday. London’s National Gallery confirmed it is now back in place, about 6 hours after the soup incident. The gallery said earlier the painting was covered by glass & therefore not damaged, except slightly for the frame.

The UK’s economy is set to go into recession as data showed it unexpectedly shrank in August; Euro-zone industrial production soared in August way beyond expectations, as manufacturers boosted investment, despite worries of an upcoming recession; President Zelenskiy will ask the leaders of the G7 group of nations to urgently supply Ukraine with air defense weapons; Rivian Automotive recalled nearly all its vehicles.

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