Friday saw US Treasury yields 10-12bps higher and the curve flatter after headline retail sales were lower but strong core, Michigan year-ahead inflation expectations leaped from 3.6% to 4.6%, the Atlanta Fed wage tracker showed steady *positive* real wage growth for job switchers and stayers, and the heads of JP Morgan and Blackrock both said they don't see inflation falling back rapidly, and that US rates will stay higher for longer. The Financial Times ('Why economists are learning to speak human') also mentioned Polanyi's view that markets sit on politics and society --e.g., 2016's 'Thin Ice' said the global neoliberal architecture would crack once the US saw China as a hegemonic rival; or the surge in US investment being seen under the IRA, as noted in the press today-- stressing this will continue; as will related arguments over redistribution; as will financial repression that keeps inflation higher than bond yields to reduce debts.

On Sunday, Yellen said credit tightening is de facto Fed rate hikes --not her job-- and that "There is a risk when we use financial sanctions that are linked to the role of the dollar that over time it could undermine the hegemony of the dollar," even if this is not "easy" to do. That kind of talk raises structural inflation risks, as do a flurry of related geopolitical developments:

US regulators are focusing on hedge funds and shadow banking, following on from crypto.

Germany shut its final three nuclear power plants despite energy tail risks ahead.

A US intelligence leak says China secretly agreed to send Russia lethal aid, as a defence minister visit looms, and the Kyiv Independent says Chinese components are in Russian supplies. China would gain swift air superiority over Taiwan, according to the same source.