First Republic nears FDIC takeover: WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/jpmorgan-pnc-bid-to-buy-first-republic-as-part-of-fdic-takeover-aeb936a0 . The sale of the bank was expected to be completed Sunday, to avoid a market drop Monday. However, that has not happened as of 1 am Eastern Time Monday morning. Therefore, we may a significant downward turn of the markets when they open in 8 hours.
WSJ: China withholds important economic data: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-locks-information-on-the-country-inside-a-black-box-9c039928 . The signs continue that the world is rapidly moving toward a “two axes” system.
WSJ: Guessing about a debt ceiling default: https://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-what-treasury-fed-might-do-in-a-debt-ceiling-crisis-88ed096c . While no one wants to contemplate a default, this article does provide some guidance on what will happen. Specifically, the US government would pay one day’s liabilities at a time, with the next day paid only when the US Treasury received sufficient funds to fully cover the next day. Ugly, but not the complete end of the world.
Vatican Ukraine war peace mission: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/30/europe/ukraine-pope-peace-mission-intl/index.html .
(As readers surely note, the newsletter is remarkably short today. I did follow my full standard procedures – however, the news media published very few articles in the last 24 hours.)