The Daily Feather — The Mole
Fancy a subterranean lifestyle? Consider being a mole. These small mammals have cylindrical bodies, very small, inconspicuous eyes and ears, reduced hindlimbs, and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws adapted for digging. Moles’ pelts have a velvety texture not found in surface animals. Intrigued, Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom, had a mole fur made that ignited a fashion fury generating such demand that Scotland’s pest problem was transformed into a lucrative industry. Moles’ most unique characteristics are twofold. They tolerate higher levels of carbon dioxide than other mammals because their blood runs with a special form of hemoglobin with a higher affinity to oxygen. They also consume oxygen more efficiently because they reuse exhaled air. And then there is the matter of their thumbs – they have extra, or in scientific terms, a prepollex. While the mole’s other digits have multiple joints, the prepollex has a single, sickle-shaped bone that develops later and differently from the other fingers.
Extra thumbs also come in handy when posting on social media. In the space of 48 hours, Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Timiraos was in two places, almost at once. On Tuesday, he definitively downplayed a jumbo cut by the Fed next week. The shelter-induced increase in August’s core CPI made for a challenging backdrop against which to launch unusually large rate cuts come next week.
Tuesday is no Wednesday, however. In an article that dive-bombed the markets, Timiraos cited Jon Faust, former senior advisor to Fed Chair Powell: “I don’t think we’re in a spot that really shouts out for a pre-emptive 50. But my preference would be slightly toward starting with 50. And I still think there’s a reasonable chance that the FOMC might get there as well.” The Fed need not spook markets if it padded the cut with “a lot of language around it that makes it not scary.” Up went Fed funds futures pricing to about 25% from Wednesday’s close of 18%.