What the Media Was Worried About – February 2022
The big story for February 2022 was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Russian buildup was loudly called out by US/NATO intelligence. The world saw it happening, warned Russia not to do it, but Russia eventually did it anyway. The Pandemic has quietly ended. There was no celebration, just a shift in the CDC’s focus from cases to hospitalizations due to COVID. Would this have been a bigger deal without the Ukraine conflict? Investing’s top story was that a Federal Reserve president roiled markets by saying what everything thinks the Fed should do, but nobody says it because it would roil the markets if said out loud. Oops. In other news, SNOWMAGEDDON came and went. Newspersons have taken to calling these storms ‘WINTER STORM BOMB CYCLONES’ now because it sounds way more gnarly than saying an area will get a foot of snow. Just wait for March’s “nature wants you dead” headline. It’s right up there with MURDER HORNETS.
SNOWMAGEDDON!!!
Pandemic
Governors starting to remove mask mandates in schools and indoors
Hawaii is the last state to remove their mask mandate
Canada
Truckers protest Canadian vaccine mandates in Ottawa and at US/Canada border
Canada declares emergency – disperses truckers – emergency powers ended – donors to trucker protest doxxed
Ukraine
Russia invasion of Ukraine “imminent” – Biden admin
Biden admin – didn’t really mean imminent
Russia invasion of Ukraine “any day now” – Biden admin
Putin has already made the decision to invade – Biden
Russia and Ukraine both say invasion won’t happen
Macron to Russia – speaks with Putin
Biden working on sanctions/shutting down Nordstream with Germany if invasion happens
Russia invasion of Ukraine expected “next week” to be bloody and horrific 2-11-2022
Russian invasion of Ukraine scheduled for 2-16-2022
Russian invasion “imminent” 2-17-2022
2-22-2022 Two breakaway provinces in Ukraine (Donetsk and Luhansk) recognized as independent by Putin – Russia sends “peacekeepers”
It’s “Keev”, not “Key-yev”
Hundreds killed in first days of fighting in Ukraine
Russian shelling targets civilian areas in Ukraine
Sports
Possibly least watched modern Olympics – Russian figure skating controversy with positive doping tests and dramatic meltdowns off the ice
MLB season likely delayed
MLB to cancel games as negotiations continue between players and owners
Tom Brady retires
Finance
March rate hike might be 50 bps!!!
Possible emergency rate hike tomorrow (2/11 – “any day now”) of 50 bps
Rate hike expectations walked back – Now expecting 25 bps in March and 4-5 total for the year as energy rises due to fighting in Ukraine
While February’s headlines were bleak, dominated by war, looking back a month later is helpful in processing the headlines we see today. Spoiler alert, but the sports headlines for March will be a good example of this. The story doesn’t necessarily end after the story is printed.
