Cortland Bridge and Dolly
August 26, 2026
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This doesn’t have much to do with markets, but the above picture highlights the Cortland Bridge in Chicago. On the east side, shaded in red was A. Finkl and Sons steel mill, right there west of Lincoln Park. Really cool to drive by in the early evening and see the red lava of molten steel. Other worldly. It was shuttered in 2015. That little bridge (40 meters) is still a heavily used thoroughfare. However, it closed to car traffic a year ago in September for a rehab project.
It was supposed to be a year-long project but is now expected to take years (partially due to historic preservation). YEARS. Chicago used to have the moniker. “The City That Works.” Not now. Maybe I am wrong, but in China this project would take less than six months? (but maybe wouldn’t last for 124 years…)
From WSJ:
Structural budget deficits, political disorder and ballooning payments on pensions and debt service have prompted three ratings firms to downgrade Chicago’s credit since January 2025—to levels two or three notches above junk
https://x.com/StuLoren/status/2091933379411263692
–Main feature of Tuesday’s market was continued bid in US treasuries, esp the long end. Data was weak, with Philly Fed Services at -10.6 vs expected +3.6. New Home Sales in the dirt at just 607k annual rate vs 620k expected. Consumer Confidence dipped back toward the COVID lows at just 89.4 vs 90.2 expected. Dick’s Sporting Goods dropped 30% on weak forward guidance (challenged consumer environment). Data remains mixed, with last week’s Philly Mfg and S&P PMI’s strong. A dump in oil prices was also a factor, with CLV6 -2.61 late at 82.40.
–On the SOFR strip every contract from reds through blues (years 2, 3 and 4) were up 5 to 6.5 bps. 2y yield fell 3.9 to 4.197%, with the thirty year down 5.1 bps to 5.179%. Implied vol fell across the board, with SOFR straddles mostly -1 to -1.5 bps. This morning CLV6 is tickling 80 (80.18, -2.18) but stocks and bonds are ignoring the signal with treasuries unch’d and ESU down slightly.
–Today brings 5y auction and PCE Prices, expected 0.1 with Core 0.2. YOY expected 3.6% from 3.7% last with Core 3.3% from 3.3%. Call me a crazy conspiracist, but in front of Jackson Hole and Warsh promising 2% inflation, I would take the UNDER on PCE price expectations. NVDA earnings post-bell.
–I just love the story about Lebron getting a $300 million loan against future earnings outside of basketball, from insurance companies. The amount of questionable insurance annuities investments in Dodgy vehicles is starting to pile up. For example:
https://x.com/EconomPic/status/2089843709655630003
–The financialization of the US has crossed the Rubicon. Ask yourself, what would Dolly Parton do? Elvis at one point wanted to buy her hit song, I Will Always Love You. Elvis’ mgr. Colonel Tom Parker phoned Dolly and said Elvis was going to perform it that weekend, offering to buy half the copyright. Dolly DECLINED! and eventually made a tremendous amount of money from Whitney Houston’s rendition.
But THIS is the Dolly Parton story that makes her a cultural icon:
“Two hundred million books, a man told me at a gas pump. Then, seeing the number had defeated me, he made it smaller and heavier at once. “She did it for her daddy,” he said. “He never got to read. So she made sure every child after him would.”
