Eric Culp

European Editor, LiveSquawk News. Views are mine (So not a bot?) Non-work handle: @eculp.bsky.social
Baseball, books, films, power chords, Steelers & Pirates

[Eric Culp @EricCulpLS]

Well that's not how to sell an ideology.

[Frederik Ducrozet @fwred]

🇪🇺 A very bad inflation report for the ECB, including a 50bp rise in services inflation that looks at odds with national data, way above staff projections.
Likely to be reversed, but this will keep the ECB on high alert following an all-but-certain rate hike next week.

[Eric Culp @EricCulpLS]

Well, she was armed.
https://t.co/6zull0BKQZ

[Eric Culp @EricCulpLS]

@AUaussieF @LiveSquawk I think any impact is already in the market.

[🇨🇭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿InLucysHead🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇭© @InsideLucysHead]

Retiring from the British Army can be complicated...

Lt. Colonel Robert Maclaren retired from the British Army in 2001 after a long fulfilling career. On the day that he retired he received a letter from the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defence setting out details of his pension and, in particular, the tax-free ‘lump sum’ award, (based upon completed years of service), that he would receive in addition to his monthly pension.

The letter read:

“Dear Lt. Colonel Maclaren,

We write to confirm that you retired from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards on 1st March 2001 at the rank of Lt Colonel, having been commissioned into the British Army at Edinburgh Castle as a 2nd Lieutenant on 1st February 1366.

Accordingly your lump sum payment, based on years served, has been calculated as £68,500. You will receive a cheque for this amount in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Army Paymaster”

Col Maclaren replied:

“Dear Paymaster,

Thank you for your recent letter confirming that I served as an officer in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards between 1st February 1366 and 1st March 2001 – a total period of 635 years and 1 month.

I note however that you have calculated my lump sum to be £68, 500, which seems to be considerably less than it should be bearing in mind my length of service since I received my commission from King Edward III.

By my calculation, allowing for interest payments and currency fluctuations, my lump sum should actually be £6,427,586,619.47p.

I look forward to receiving a cheque for this amount in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Maclaren (Lt Col Retd)”

A month passed by and then in early April, a stout manilla envelope from the Ministry of Defence in Edinburgh dropped through Col Maclaren’s letter box, it read:

“Dear Lt Colonel Maclaren,

We have reviewed the circumstances of your case as outlined in your recent letter to us dated 8th March inst.

We do indeed confirm that you were commissioned into the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards by King Edward III at Edinburgh Castle on 1st February 1366, and that you served continuously for the following 635 years and 1 month.

We have re-calculated your pension and have pleasure in confirming that the lump sum payment due to you is indeed £6,427,586,619.47p.

However,

We also note that according to our records you are the only surviving officer who had command responsibility during the following campaigns and battles:

*The Wars of the Roses 1455 -1485 (Including the battles of Bosworth Field, Barnet and Towton)

*The Civil War 1642 -1651 (Including the battles Edge Hill, Naseby and the conquest of Ireland)

*The Napoleonic War 1803 – 1815 (including the battle of Waterloo and the Peninsular War)

*The Crimean War (1853 – 1856) (including the battle of Sevastopol and the Charge of the Light Brigade)

*The Boer War (1899 -1902).

We would therefore wish to know what happened to the following, which do not appear to have been returned to Stores by you on completion of operations:

*9765 Cannon
*26,785 Swords
*12,889 Pikes
*127,345 Rifles (with bayonets)
*28,987 horses (fully kitted)

Plus three complete marching bands with instruments and banners.

We have calculated the total cost of these items and they amount to £6,427,518.119.47p.

WE have therefore subtracted this sum from your lump sum, leaving a residual amount of £68,500, for which you will receive a cheque in due course.

Yours sincerely . . . .”

[The Steelers n'at @thesteelersnat]

France is not ready for Yinzers to drop in and be like "I'm from North Versailles"

[Tom Nuttall @tom_nuttall]

A second day of marvelling at the swathe of German commentators who appear to believe that Friedrich Merz is responsible for the actions of the president of the United States.

[Frederik Ducrozet @fwred]

Go home ECB sources, you're drunk.
*ECB OFFICIALS SEE JUNE HIKE IF ENERGY PRICES DON’T EASE FIRST

[Charlotte Lee @cljack]

no professional economist has ever been or will ever be again this funny on purpose

[Ángel Talavera @atalaveraEcon]

So far Eurozone GDP growth tracking at a big fat zero. Looks like it will be either 0% or 0.1%, making the life for the ECB a little bit more interesting.

[Eric Culp @EricCulpLS]

But is it Merz's fault?

[POLITICOEurope @POLITICOEurope]

Germany's Friedrich Merz is casting around for someone to blame abroad as growth stalls and his popularity nosedives at home.

🔗 https://t.co/D5gSz7BGZx

[Eric Culp @EricCulpLS]

@dw_politics "Dr" on his nametag. 🙄

[LiveSquawk @LiveSquawk]

The #ECB is widely expected to hold key interest rates at current levels this week as officials seek more insight about the impact of the #IranWar on #GDP and #inflation. $EUR #monpol.
European Editor @EricCulpLS previews Thursday's decision here: https://t.co/g70cQIiXQT

[Ángel Talavera @atalaveraEcon]

A reminder that while tracking consumer inflation expectations is useful (e.g. unanchoring of expectations), they have no predictive value.
Consumers have absolutely no clue what inflation will be in one year. And really, why would they?

[Eric Culp @EricCulpLS]

Yikes.

[LiveSquawk @LiveSquawk]

#Ifo sums up this month's business confidence report in one sentence: "The German economy is being hit hard by the Iran crisis."
April's reading was the worst since May '20.
$EUR #Germany #IranWar‌
European Editor @EricCulpLS reviews today's report here: https://t.co/utmM4bgK2o

[Eric Culp @EricCulpLS]

Superpower Suicide? I'd buy tix to see that band on the name alone.

[Sarah Longwell @SarahLongwell25]

We are committing superpower suicide in real time. Trump is making China Great Again.

[Frederik Ducrozet @fwred]

🇪🇺 The PMI chart landing on @Lagarde's desk:
- big rise in output prices in manufacturing (less than half of the 2022 peak)
- very small rise in prices charged in services

Consistent with a hold in April, and a cautious stance overall.

[Eric Culp @EricCulpLS]

Boom.

[LiveSquawk @LiveSquawk]

The #IranWar‌ has driven investor sentiment in #Germany to its lowest point since late '22, and the outlook remains concerning, according to the country's #ZEW economic institute. $EUR
European Editor @EricCulpLS reviews today's report here: https://t.co/Z76SMNgL5k

[Eric Culp @EricCulpLS]

@mattyglesias <sniffs>
I call bullshit. "Authors' calculations."

[Frederik Ducrozet @fwred]

🇪🇺ECB unlikely to hike in April.
⁦@Lagarde⁩: « This double uncertainty about the duration of the shock and the breadth of pass-through argues for gathering more information before drawing firm conclusions for our monetary policy. » https://t.co/nkISsCK5gz

[LiveSquawk @LiveSquawk]

Shipping stoppages rooted in the #IranWar‌ are expected to reduce the #ZEW's investor confidence measures for #Germany again this month. $EUR
European Editor @EricCulpLS previews Tuesday's report here: https://t.co/e09wcGlBgU