A celebrity, with money to burn, might buy an NFT to use as an avatar. But it seems “really, really weird” that NFT trading reached billions of dollars at the peak of the mania. One wonders what will happen when reality starts to return to the valuations of the 10 FAANMG+ stocks currently boosting the S&P 500.
Chemicals and the Economy
Another Minsky Moment may be approaching
The global economy is now in the middle of its 3rd downturn in the past 4 years. The chart above shows how the blog’s benchmark products have acted as leading indicators on each occasion (yellow highlight): • In 2008, naphtha (red line) PTA (purple), benzene (green) and polyethylene (PE, blue) all peaked around the middle […]
Financial markets rally as real economy weakens
Petrochemical markets continue to provide plenty of warning signs about the deteriorating state of the global economy. As the above chart shows of price movements since January, even benzene is now weakening as supply disruptions fade. The obvious conclusion is that downstream users have simply been unable to pass through recent increases. Instead, these further […]
Markets weaken as real problems remain unsolved
It is hard to be very optimistic about the demand outlook for Q2. Demand in Q1 was lacklustre, even though it should have been the strongest quarter of the year. H1 is seasonally strong, and Q1 also benefited from Easter being in Q2. Equally, the Chinese holidays fell in January, so February and March should […]
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