MONDAY MATTERS | News Worth Knowing | AUGUST 17TH
News and topics that will shape the week ahead:
The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond hit a 19-year high of 5.31% as of this writing. With inflation remaining above the Fed’s 2% target and the Iran War raising concerns about energy-supply disruptions, a sustained decline in long-term yields below 5% appears unlikely anytime soon. Higher yields will only exacerbate America’s fiscal predicament by increasing the cost of servicing a national debt that is rapidly approaching $40 trillion.
President Trump ordered a pre-planned joint military exercise with South Korea to be scaled back, since it was “totally inappropriate and hostile” towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Some analysts contend that this gesture towards North Korea is due the U.S. military’s shortage of critical missiles.
All eyes will be on Florida tomorrow as voters across the Sunshine State select their parties’ nominees for federal, statewide, and local offices. Most pundits will be watching the heated Republican primary for governor, whose leading contenders include Trump-endorsed Congressman Byron Donalds, current Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, and populist firebrand James Fishback. The contest is seen, in part, as a referendum on several issues, ranging from President Trump’s popularity to growing public opposition to data-center development—an industry Donalds supports, provided that protections for ratepayers, water supplies, and residential communities remain in place.
