Sugar Drop

How to play Sugar Drop

The US Federal Reserve raised the effective federal funds rate by 0.25% to a range of 3.75%-4% on Wednesday, representing its first rate hike in three years as the economy grapples with sticky inflation, record-high energy prices and rising bond rates with no end in sight to the ongoing war with Iran that kicked off in February.

Investors began 2026 expecting multiple rate cuts, which tend to juice capital markets and spur dealmaking activity. But on 28 February things changed quickly after joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran largely curtailed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital Middle East waterway where some 20% of the world’s oil transited before the conflict began.

Several factors weighed heavily on the decision to raise rates. The average nationwide gas price now is $4.36 compared to $3.18 a year ago, per AAA, and the average diesel price of $6.31 is a record. Brent crude oil has crested over $100 per barrel compared to about $68 a year ago. Inflation was 3.4% in August, compared to 2.9% last year. And US 10-, 20- and 30-year Treasuries have reached their highest rates in decades.

How to play Sugar Drop

To all of those I met at the handful of conferences I attended before Covid-19 sent everything to digital, and all of those I met over email or Zoom since, it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope we get the chance to meet again when all of this is over, and you can reach me at any of my contact details listed at the bottom if you want to catch up in the meantime.

I’m still not 100% sure what I’ll be doing next, but I suspect it will still be in the gambling industry. This has been my life for more than a decade, and it’s an industry I continue to love and appreciate. No matter if I continue to write about it or throw myself back into an operations setting, it will always be apart of who I am. If you still want to be in touch, you can connect with me on LinkedIn, or you can follow me on Twitter if you to know whatever tangent I’ve gone off on next.

The post The Beat Goes On appeared first on CalvinAyre.com.

How to play Sugar Drop

There’s a huge team of writers, video editors and IT developers who have made Calvinayre.com this huge success. Raise a glass to them, they have helped turn this site into the success that it is.

Personally, the journey at Calvinayre.com has been about the great people I’ve been lucky enough to work with. It’s a rare thing in the world to be able to find great people to work with. I want to thank two former bosses who encouraged me to chase my passions in this industry. AD, a former Calvinayre.com editor and T2 who took a chance on me as well.

I don’t know what I’m going to be doing next, but I know I want to stay in the casino industry. It’s an industry I always come back to and love.