Week InReview
Friday | Oct 22, 2021
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Tyranny of the Early Birds |
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Illustration: Harry Haysom/FT |
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BEFORE the pandemic, working life trapped most of us in a one-size-fits-all schedule. During lockdowns, when homeworkers were suddenly able to choose their own wake-up times, most slept later.
“Standard employment schedules force [night] owls into an unnatural sleep-wake rhythm,” writes Matthew Walker in 'Why We Sleep.' “Job performance of owls as a whole is far less optimal in the mornings, and they are further prevented from expressing their true performance potential in the late afternoon and early evening as standard work hours end prior to its arrival.” Also, owls in particular sacrifice sleep in order to get to work at ridiculous times. Before the pandemic, nearly a third of Americans were averaging six hours a night or less.
Given that remote work is here to stay, the moral is obvious. Let people choose their own start-times whenever possible. There may need to be core hours when everyone in a team is working — between 10am and 3pm, say — but beyond that, let’s overthrow the tyranny of the early birds, though preferably only after a long lie in.
— Financial Times
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Container vessels off shore from the Long Beach/Los Angeles port complex. Photo: Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Getty Images |
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U.S. ports are full of goods, U.S. yards and warehouses are full of goods, hardly anyone wants to drive a truck to pick up and deliver those goods and those who do sit waiting in lines, often unpaid. And Americans continue to buy more stuff from abroad than ever. A supply-chain crunch stretches from overseas manufacturers into American ports and retail stores. President Joe Biden and his administration have been working for months to smooth out bottlenecks, but his power to influence what is almost entirely a private-sector problem is limited. (Bloomberg Politics | Oct 21)
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday led the Financial Stability Oversight Council in judging climate change to be an “emerging threat” to the nation’s financial stability, releasing tentative recommendations for how agencies should begin preparing to contain the risk. Their report is an important first step in catching up with countries that have gone much further in assessing and addressing climate-related financial risks, a Treasury official said. The panel, however, was not united in backing the report. (Bloomberg Green | Oct 21)
Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles said he favors an initial move to slow monetary stimulus next month and is concerned by a broadening of inflationary pressures that could require a policy response. Quarles said he agreed that current high inflation is “transitory,” and that the central bank is not “behind the curve” with its monetary policy. While price moves have been prompted by supply disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic, the surges have lasted longer than expected and there has been a broadening of the number of items that have seen price surges, he said. (Bloomberg Economics | Oct 20)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing a draft plan to press companies to include candidates supported by management and those nominated by shareholders on the same proxy ballot, says Chair Gary Gensler. The proposal for “universal proxy” ballots is now before commissioners, Gensler said during an interview on Tuesday with NYU Law Professor Robert Jackson. SEC commissioners could vote to release the plan for public comment. (Bloomberg Government | Oct 19)
The default rate on muni bonds may rise as cash-strapped cities struggle with extreme weather events. About a quarter of all U.S. infrastructure is at risk of serious flooding, new research shows, which could hit prices in the $4 trillion municipal bond market and jeopardize the creditworthiness of city and state issuers. (Financial Times | Oct 18)
Finance chiefs are drawing on early-pandemic playbooks to create forecasts for the months ahead, tweaking their models week by week, sometimes day by day, as coronavirus infection rates vary across countries. Still, companies continue to confront residual effects of the pandemic, such as shipping bottlenecks and manufacturing slowdowns tied to lockdown measures in Southeast Asia. (The Wall Street Journal | Oct 18)
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U.S. housing market has downturn cushion with Fannie and Freddie |
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View of the Fannie Mae Federal National Mortgage Association building in Washington DC. Photo: Tom Brenner/Reuters |
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(Oct 21) — Data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac show there’s likely to be plenty of support for the U.S. housing market if real estate starts to turn sour. That could ease concerns about any potential dislocation if and when the Fed tapers MBS purchases, and about rising interest rates or a general economic slowdown.
Fannie Mae’s retained mortgage portfolio has been rapidly shrinking in recent years. August’s monthly summary shows the portfolio at ~$119 billion, which is a fraction of the end balance in August 2015 of $378 billion. That in turn was less than half of the balance in August 2010 of $809 billion.
Fannie’s debt outstanding will drop below $195 billion to start November, a level not seen for decades, according to Academy Securities’s head of rates trading Ian Burdette. Both Fannie and Freddie are now smaller from both an asset and a liability perspective. That means regulators could easily turn the spigot back on — giving the companies more room to buy and package mortgages into bonds.
Meanwhile, sales of previously owned U.S. homes may have bottomed. They rose more than expected in September, by the most in a year. The Fed holds some $2.5 trillion of MBS, an amount which has steadily grown.
Source: Felice Maranzin/Bloomberg Government
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The Colonial Pipeline system was hacked using software believed to have been built by Fin7, which has since set up a fake company to recruit employees, security researchers say. Photo: Mike Stewart/Associated Press |
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Ransomware gang masquerades as real company to recruit tech talent
A criminal organization believed to have built the software that shut down a U.S. fuel pipeline has set up a fake company to recruit potential employees, according to researchers at the intelligence firm Recorded Future and Microsoft Corp. The fake company is using the name Bastion Secure, according to the researchers. On a professional-looking website, the company says it sells cybersecurity services. But the site’s operator is a well-known hacking group called Fin7.
FSB calls for greater convergence in cyber incident reporting
The Financial Stability Board published a report on existing approaches to cyber incident reporting and next steps for broader convergence. Cyber incidents remain a threat to the financial system and are rapidly growing in frequency and sophistication. In light of increasing financial stability concerns, especially given the digitalization of financial services and increased use of third-party service providers, the FSB explored whether harmonization in cyber incident reporting could be achieved.
Treasury Department offers crypto guidance
Suspicious activity reports related to ransomware jumped significantly in 2021, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. There was $590 million in suspicious activity related to ransomware in the first six months of 2021, exceeding the entire amount in 2020, when $416 million was reported, according to the report. Treasury also identified 68 different variants of the malware
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Some hotels are offering hot buffets on weekends, when they’re full, but no hot breakfast on weekdays, when occupancy is lower. Photo: Hyatt Corporation |
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The incredible disappearing hotel breakfast — and other amenities travelers miss
Eighteen months into the pandemic, travelers say they keep encountering misleading and false promises on hotel websites. They complain of finding the elite-level lounges, free breakfast or happy-hour receptions with snacks unavailable — sometimes even when hotels claim they’ve been restored. Some road warriors say they routinely call ahead now to find out what the hotel has cut. Guests often see compensation for service cuts only after complaining.
The workers won't be coming back, Covid or not. Here are theories on where they went.
What is wrong with America’s labor market? Americans are quitting their jobs at a record pace while millions who left the workforce during the pandemic have yet to return. Many economists say Covid is the culprit, but there may be more going on than meets the eye.
Fed staff says Wall Street is getting inflation call all wrong
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues expect elevated inflation to abate next year. Noteworthy: The Fed’s staff forecasts for inflation have been historically more accurate than consensus forecasts, and by a significant amount.
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