Bananas
July 18, 2026
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Remember this? It was an art installation by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. A banana taped to a wall with duct tape. 2019.
“The artwork made international headlines when a duplicate sold for a staggering $6.2 million at an auction in New York.”
From Wikipedia; Maurizio Cattelan is an Italian artist known for his tongue-in-cheek art, such as his 2016 creation America, a fully functional golden toilet.
Maurizio was ahead of his time, as these two conceptual pieces of art capture the Trump era perfectly. The one I want to focus on here though, is the banana.
Here’s a clip from a BBG article Friday. — President Donald Trump’s media company wants traders and investors to pay for real-time access to Truth Social posts from the social media platform’s “highest-ranking” accounts.
Just astoundingly tone-deaf. Grift doesn’t begin to capture it. I’m guessing the Truth Social brainstorm came together with news of the White House teleprompter guy making > $100k on bets prior to Trump speeches.
Hernando de Soto is a Peruvian economist. Again from Wiki: “He is known for his work on the informal economy and on the importance of business and property rights.” My recollection is that he is a big supporter of the types of institutions that make (made?) America great. Property rights and the legal framework to support both business and individuals. He felt that Peru needed to move in this direction, in conjunction with deregulation, to provide strong incentives for the economy to work. Fairly. What we used to call, ‘a level playing field’.
Peru might have been categorized in the ‘banana republic’ basket. Rather than strengthening institutions that form the bedrock of America, both parties seem to be racing to dismantle the integrity of markets and property rights. I don’t know how many ethics courses I have been required to take that stress, “If something even seems like it remotely might be construed as a conflict of interest, don’t do it.” The administration has thrown that concept against the wall. Bananas.
The fact that stocks took a stumble this week can be attributed to: 1) the renewed jump in oil as Iran hostilities heat up, 2) the chip meltdown 3) Fed officials jaw-boning about the need to contain inflation. I am going to throw in another factor, alluded to above. When the administration is front and center in demeaning fairness in markets, faith tends to disintegrate, dragging valuations down. This week, SPX fell 1.6% and NDX -4.1%.
Next FOMC July 29
Jackson Hole Symposium is 27-29 August
| 7/10/2026 | 7/17/2026 | chg | ||
| UST 2Y | 420.8 | 417.0 | -3.8 | |
| UST 5Y | 430.8 | 427.0 | -3.8 | |
| UST 10Y | 456.7 | 454.1 | -2.6 | |
| UST 30Y | 507.0 | 506.2 | -0.8 | |
| GERM 2Y | 264.5 | 278.2 | 13.7 | |
| GERM 10Y | 306.4 | 312.4 | 6.0 | |
| JPN 20Y | 370.6 | 359.1 | -11.5 | |
| CHINA 10Y | 173.1 | 173.2 | 0.1 | |
| SOFR U6/U7 | 15.5 | 16.0 | 0.5 | |
| SOFR U7/U8 | -13.0 | -11.5 | 1.5 | |
| SOFR U8/U9 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | |
| EUR | 114.16 | 114.37 | 0.21 | |
| CRUDE (CLU6) | 71.34 | 81.78 | 10.44 | |
| SPX | 7575.39 | 7457.69 | -117.70 | -1.6% |
| VIX | 15.03 | 18.77 | 3.74 | |
| MOVE | 69.55 | 70.88 | 1.33 | |
