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Good morning. Some quick updates today plus I’m sharing an example of the personalized SITREPS I announced yesterday. Famine in the Horn of Africa and North Korea Wheat and grain prices remain high making many food staples more expensive around the world but there are also many who are living in famine or near-famine conditions (Axios). The Horn of Africa is undergoing another period of drought following its fifth failed rainy season. This places millions in Somalia, Eastern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya in severe danger of acute malnutrition. (UNICEF) ...

Good morning. There’s some macroeconomic analysis that’s worth your time today (or over the weekend), plus a belated recommendation to read the WEF’s Global Risk Report if you haven’t already. Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. And thanks to everyone who voted on the layout. The overwhelming response was that you prefer having the analysis first so we’ll stick with this format and starting next week, I’m going to trim the commentary around the metrics unless there’s a big event or change. That should streamline things even more ...

A sad morning. The death toll in Turkey and Syria following Monday’s terrible earthquake is rising and the latest death toll at the time of writing was over 1,000 but this number has been rising steadily all morning. The full toll will be many times higher while thousands more are injured or without shelter and power. The recovery and aid operations will be complex and likely hampered by political and security considerations. ...

Good morning. Welcome to the upside-down edition of the Daily SITREP Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as the Upside Down. Image © Stra Things / Netflix I like numbers. You like numbers. We all like numbers. (If you don’t…) But the danger of writing a daily briefing that leads with the metrics is that it can feel like a market tracker (this isn’t) and you can get a little ‘number blind’. You also might get sidetracked on your way to the updates which are hopefully flagging what you really need to pay attention to (that would be bad). ...

Good morning. Surprisingly, markets quickly shrugged off Moscow’s Friday announcement that Russia would cut oil production by half a million barrels per day (bpd), suggesting that Russia’s influence on oil markets is much diminished. Meanwhile, two stories on regulation are good reminders that rules should be followed but also that the communication of these rules can be complicated and subtleties can be lost. Unfortunately, ‘we were confused by your messaging’ isn’t an excuse for non-compliance, so it falls to leaders to ensure that staff understand, and meet, obligations. ...

Good morning. The readout after Wednesday’s meeting between Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy was positive, giving some hope for smoother-than-anticipated negotiations around the debt ceiling. The Fed continued to raise rates but less quickly, which markets took as a sign that the worst was over. However, Mardi Gras is still three weeks away – and landing the US economy even farther off – so shouts of ‘laissez les bons temps rouler’ from Wall Street are premature. Finally, Kosovo is one of many seemingly small disputes that can cause oversized headaches and is therefore worth keeping an eye on. ...

Good morning. 🌐 A rapid-fire roundup of some of the big geopolitical issues today: Tunisia, the Turkey / Syria earthquake, Russian sanctions, the Nigerian Election, and Israel-Palestine. The Cyprus election run-off is this weekend and America will be watching a football game while eating a record number of nachos and wings. See you on Monday! 🇹🇳 Tunisia There have been no steps to address the lack of a decisive outcome in the election runoff that took place two weeks ago despite protests and complaints that the government of President Saied is illegitimate. Instead, the President has sanctioned a crackdown on the opposition, increasing the number arrested or charged with frivolous offenses and is describing the opposition on the terms of a “cancer” on the country. ...

GM and welcome to So What: a fresh perspective on an emerging risk that will add to your grey hairs. Let’s dive in. 839 words – 3 mins, 31 seconds read time TL;DR Container prices remain at record highsThis affects global shipping of all goods with an impact on supply chains and pricesThis looks set to continue through 2022 and maybe into 2023 so companies should plan accordingly.This also reinforces the dangers of globalization and just-in-time inventory which need to be reduced. ...

Good morning. First, a clarification **In yesterday’s piece on sovereign debt, I said that Secretary Janet Yellen had announced that the US would hit the debt ceiling in early June and she was implementing special measures to help manage that process. In fact, Secretary Yellen said that the US will probably hit the ceiling around January 19 (A.K.A tomorrow!) but that the “extraordinary measures [will] prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations”. These measures can be sustained until early June, after which it is unclear exactly when the US will run out of cash, although many economists believe that this will happen by August. ...

Good morning. It’s a bite-sized issue as there’s a lot to share today. Tanks are heading to Ukraine, the ECB has issued new climate metrics and the NYSE had some wild swings on Tuesday. (Oh, and Chad’s fully refreshed after his spa day so the metrics are back. ) Feedback so far is that quite a few folks seem to prefer having the commentary first but please use the poll to let me know what you think. ...