First Quarter Closes Out -- March 31, 2022

Jobless claims:

• weekly
• remain at 50-year lows, but rose "modestly"
• 202,000 vs 196,000 expected
• 188,000 previous week -- lowest level since September, 1969
• continuing claims
• 1.307 million vs 1.340 million expected

Insulin: US House votes to cap price. About time. True travesty. 

• Senator Joe Manchin clearly on wrong side on this one. 
• opponents call it government price fixing. 
• my suggestion: release one million doses daily from the insulin strategic reserve for the next six months. 
  

Amazon: sticks with Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan after flirting with AMEX.

Open book test: Walgreen's beats earnings expectations; omicron-fueled demand for tests, boosters.

Putin's War: head fake. Those who thought Putin was withdrawing ... never mind.

• ruble: has recovered most of its losses 
• following the ruble and ignoring the bigger picture
• having said that, Russia likely to "miss" it's April 4, 2022, debt payment
  
• I'm sticking with Zeihan.

Nord Stream 2:

• $11 billion to build;
• now unused and abandoned.

The "slap":

• Smith Will facing suspension, expulsion from the Academy;
• my hunch: a one-year suspension
• Chris Rock: ticket prices soaring; he's coming out looking pretty nifty

Augusta, next weekend:

• Tiger?