December 21 - Echoes of Obsidian

Detective Isabella Ramirez leaned against the balustrade of her Santiago apartment, the city below twinkling like a sea of stars against the canvas of the Andean night. The rhythmic beat of salsa music drifted from distant clubs, a reminder of Santiago's vibrant pulse. Yet, tonight, a different melody lingered in the air too—something ominous and cold, carried down from the very peaks of the mountains.

Isabella's phone buzzed, cutting through the night's tranquility. The voice on the other end belonged to Captain Mateo Ruiz, a grizzled veteran who had seen Santiago's underbelly in all its shades.

"We caught one." He said.

"It's a big one."

"Anyone I know?" Isabella replied.

"I think so. It's Fuentes…Alejandro Fuentes."

"The art dealer?!" Isabella said.

"Mmm" Ruiz mumbled.

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Advent Calendarclaus vistesenChristmas 2023
December 20 - Monsters want Christmas presents too

Dear Santa Claws,

Greetings from the Monsterland! I hope this letter finds you in good cheer and surrounded by the warmth of your workshop. My name is Sunny Sprout, a little white and yellow monster; well I am actually not that little, but I am not big either, so…

This year, I've been on my best behavior. I've helped my fellow monster friends and family. We've been practicing our cutest roars and perfecting our snowball-throwing skills for the upcoming Snowy Spectacle Festival. I thought that was very fun. Now, Santa Claws, I know you're used to dealing with elves and reindeer, and those other those other things called hoomans. But I thought I'd drop you a letter with my wish list, just in case.

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Advent Calendarclaus vistesenChristmas 2023
Policy talk is cheap & we need more power

Monetary policymakers have been scrambling in the past week to push back against the dramatic shift in market expectations for rate cuts next year. This is true for Fed officials—despite the clear dovish pivot in the December meeting—and particularly so for the ECB, where Ms. Lagarde and her colleagues have been hard at work to disabuse investors of the notion that the central bank will start cutting rates in the first half of next year. Are central banks right to lean into the prevailing market winds here? It’s all in the eye of the beholder. The chart below plots futures-implied policy rates for the Fed and ECB through 2027. The focus at the moment is on 2024, where markets see 150bp and 120bp worth of cuts from the Fed and ECB, respectively. That sounds like a lot, but then again, inflation is now falling rapidly. The question we need to ask is whether markets will be fed information over the next few months that will drive a shift in pricing. I am not sure, and if they aren’t, talk from policymakers will be cheap.

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Economics, Business, and Finance , Global Economy, Monetary Policy, Markets and Tradingclaus vistesenFed, ECB, monetary policy, VPN, data centres, ChatGPT, AI
December 19 - Vespera-7 Hits a Snag

This is Captain Elara Rodriguez transmitting from the surface of Seraphia. We have moved the mission to the break-point between the permanent night and day zones to investigate the flora, fauna and animal life in the transition between these two parts of the planet. Our exploration has been proceeding well, but the mission was hit by an accident a few days ago when Dr. Sierra was was found incapacitated one mile from the main station. Dr. Sierra has come into contact with a parasitic organism that seems unique to the planet. The organism has attached itself to his face. It manifests as a series of intricate filaments intertwining with his epidermis. We initially attempted to extract the parasite but decided against it as we feared Dr. Sierra would incur tissue damage in the process. Our initial attempts to remove it was with resistance, as the filaments seem to embed themselves deeper into its host's skin when subjected to external force.

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Advent Calendarclaus vistesenChristmas 2023