Energy-intensive crypto mining is no different than coal or oil a century ago. According to Cambridge University analysis, Bitcoin uses around 120 TWh of energy per year, on par with countries like Norway and Argentina, and is estimated to reach as much at 184 TWh, nearly the same consumption as that of London. That comes out to more than 90 million metric annual tons of CO2. Should progressives be thinking twice about greenhouse gas emissions from Bitcoin?
President Biden is set to announce his plan for additional fiscal stimulus today. Previous reports suggest that the new US stimulus package to be proposed by President Joe Biden calls for $3 trillion in new spending, although reports in the Washington Post raise the figure in Biden’s proposal to $4 trillion, which would be funded by tax increases of $3 trillion, up from the $1 trillion initially estimated.
Pablo Pardo | Jeff Sachs is the activist economist. An interview with him seems more like a conversation with a leader of a social or political movement than with one of the youngest full-time professors in the history of Harvard University. At 66 years old, he has just published in Spain his latest book, ‘The Ages of Globalization’ (Deusto). He still believes in the integration of the world economy as much as he did three and a half decades ago. However, at the slightest opportunity, he launches into anti-Trump meanders that do not always have to do with the question he has been asked.
Monex Europe | The March 17th FOMC meeting is likely to be one of the most important for Powell, with many drawing comparisons with the task presented to his predecessor Bernanke back in 2013. However, the meeting doesn’t require a decision on policy measures by the FOMC beyond what they wish to do with the Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR) relief. Instead, the challenge is one of communications. Since the January meeting, the US yield curve has substantially steepened with the 10-year yield rising some 60bps to trade above the 1.6% handle.
Banca March | BBVA yesterday partially clarified its dividend policy for 2021 which it will present at its General Shareholders’ Meeting. The bank announced it will consider distributing a cash dividend of up to 35% of the group’s profit for the first half of the year, without taking into account extraordinary items. This dividend would be paid in October and would be conditional on the ECB lifting the 15% restriction on the sector until October.
Monex Europe | With the entire Governing Council agreeing to increase the PEPP purchase pace, yesterday’s message may be more dovish than what markets initially expected, but the ECB continues to leave markets in the dark with regards to their exact reaction function and tolerance towards higher yields. Regarding last week’s data, President Lagarde stresses the impact the large number of redemptions had on putting a cap on net purchases.
The number of employed in the Eurozone in the fourth quarter of 2020 reached 157.9 million. This represents a loss of 3.1 million jobs compared to the same period in 2019, before the impact of the pandemic, the EU statistics office Eurostat has reported. In the European Union as a whole, the number of employed people in the fourth quarter of 2020 was 206 million, a figure 3.5 million lower than in the same quarter of 2019.
Mark Holman (Vontobel AM) | Since the UK’s decision to exit the European Union in June 2016, we have seen sterling denominated assets trade with what we have referred to as a Brexit premium. The value of that premium is something we have monitored continuously and have sought to capture as much as possible without materially adding to risk profiles. The reason for the update today is because Brexit as an event at least is now behind us, though both parties are now having to deal with the consequences.
The appointment of the day will be in the United States, where Biden will take office as the country’s 40th President. Donald Trump will not attend the simple inauguration ceremony.The health and economic crises are Biden’s main challenges for the current legislature, including the approval of a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. Just yesterday Janet Yellen, who will serve as Treasury Secretary in the Biden Administration, defended that stimulus plan in her speech at the Senate. “We must act big,” she said.
Nick Ottens (Atlantic Sentinel) | 400,000 Americans are dead. Trump added $7 trillion to the debt. He told thousands of lies… Donald Trump’s presidency ends on Wednesday. He leaves behind an America that is more in debt, more isolated in the world, less generous and less safe