David Stock

Cacao prices rise as supply from Ivory Coast decreases
Cocoa prices rose moderately on Monday to a 1-1/2 week high. Signs of lower cocoa supply boost prices
Cocoa prices are also supporting signs of strong global demand for cocoa.

Japan's 30% of listed companies to post record profits in fiscal 2021

Japan has recently seen a peak in earnings reports from listed companies. Driven by rising resource prices and the depreciation of the yen, 30% of companies achieved the highest profits in fiscal 2021 (ending March 2022), reaching the highest level in about 30 years. In addition to trading companies and shipping companies, large manufacturing companies such as IHI are also maintaining good results. Of the approximately 1,890 listed companies that had reported results as of May 13, about 70% achieved net profit growth, and the percentage of companies that achieved the highest profits was the highest since fiscal 1990 (ending March 1991).
With the high prices of iron ore and coal, all seven major Japanese trading companies recorded the highest profits. Sumitomo Metal Mining also posted the highest profit in 14 years due to higher prices for copper and other products.

Kashkari: The strength of measures to curb inflation depends largely on the outlook for energy and other supplies

At the Energy and Inflation Conference, co-hosted by the Dallas and Minneapolis Feds, Kashkari said, "I believe my colleagues and I, have the confidence to do what we need to do to bring inflation back down. I hope we'll have to do less, but we can only do less if supply increases."
For most of last year, Fed officials hoped and expected that more supply would come online to ease what was then seen as "temporary" inflation.
But by the end of 2021, it became clear that the supply chain would take longer than expected to get out of the woods, that workers were not returning to the labor market as quickly as expected, and that inflation was intensifying, not cooling.
In March 2022, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict begins to push up global energy prices, the Fed begins to raise interest rates. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell now says he won't count on supply bottlenecks easing, almost promising more sharp rate hikes in the future.