Paul Krugman Would Have Predicted This -- April 4, 2020

Link here.

From the linked article:

The dollar resumed its climb against major currencies on Friday as investors took refuge in safety bids amid worsening economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The greenback index is on course for a near 2.5% gain over the week, having whipsawed last month from highs on a scramble for cash before slumping as the US Federal Reserve flooded the market with liquidity.

Indecision among euro zone governments about a rescue package for the region's hobbled economies has weakened the euro in recent days, helping the dollar to its best day in two weeks against the single currency on Thursday.

Analysts said the euro may also be faltering due to rebalancing by forex reserve managers stocking up on dollars. The dollar was up 0.5% against the euro on Friday at $1.8060, putting it on course for a 3% gain over the week. It was also up 0.5% against a basket of currencies.

Time to dig out those US Series E, war bonds, but instead of 30- and/or 40-year bonds, since folks are living longer, make them 50-year bonds. A huge "thank-you" to a reader who first suggested this to me several months ago.

Speaking of which, I thought I had cashed in all my Series EE bonds (which replaced the series E bonds in 1980) some years ago, but I just discovered a small cache of Series EE bonds in my firebox.

As long as I've digressed this much:

• silver, about $17/oz today
• gold, about $1,600/oz today 

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The Apple Page

My biggest decision this week: whether to buy my first pair ever -- the Apple AirPods.

Apple's AirPods Pro have returned to their low price of $234.98 on Amazon, down from $249.00. At about $14 off, this remains the lowest price we've ever tracked for a brand new model of the AirPods Pro among the major Apple resellers online.

There is so much going on at Apple right now. Best place to catch up: MacRumors. A rundown of headlines, links may or may not be provided later, depending on how much time I have:

• Apple iPhone SE could be announced this next week; I would be really, really surprised if it is not;
• Amazon's Prime Video app now allows users to bypass Apple's in-app purchase system and rent/buy movies directly from Amazon -- wow! Apple approved the deal;
• Apple acquired popular weather app Dark Sky, "totally unexpected";
• new Apple SE, 4.7 inch, vs original Apple SE, 4.0
• huge whoops! Apple accidentally released "AirTags" -- this is huge, and something I've been waiting for, for quite some time; amazing this wasn't done years ago;
• Apple Music was second biggest global music streaming service in 2019: Spotify, 35%; Apple, 19%; best part of that story -- with only 19%, Apple has a lot of room to grow; Amazon Music at 15%; the rest don't matter;
• Apple acquires AI startup Voysis to improve Siri; 
• Luna Display adaptor: converts an iPad or Mac into a second screen;
• Powerbeats Pro returns to $200 at multiple retailers, including Amazon;

Last night when I turned in, I asked Alexa to play "Fleetwood Mac." No response. I tried again, no response. Then I remembered that Sophia, age 5, asked me, earlier in the day, if she could "stop" Alexa from listening to us. Amazing. She knew that by pushing a button on top of the Amazon Echo she could keep Alexa from listening to us. And she knew which of the four buttons.