1. The new glass ceiling…
A consistent message we received during reporting season was the easing of supply chain pressures across a variety of sectors. UBS have an Inflation Bottleneck Tracker which supports this commentary. It recorded its 5th consecutive month of improvement. And we are seeing global shipping costs falling, now down over 50% from their peak. Some routes are still ~3x higher than pre-Covid though.
But German beer maker Brauerei C. & A. Veltins has a new supply chain issue. They recently ordered 50 million glass bottles. Or an entire years supply. To protect against glass inflation. Glass is made of basically sand and gas, and you know what gas prices have done! Glass production is now under threat.
Shipping costs
Source: Bloomberg
2. Back to ‘normal’…
Wherever we are, whatever we do, inflation is always getting to 2%!
Source: Bloomberg, Bureau of Labor Statistics
3. Creative charting…
We are lovers of creative charts at Firetrail, as you might know. But there were some chartists in reporting season results that may have got a bit carried away with the creativity. Thanks to Evans for their sleuthing work. Below was the Firetrail teams’ favourite. Let us know if you spotted any others, or can identify the culprit!
When the largest positive contributor to your NPAT waterfall is annual leave…
Source: Evans