May 12: Starlink crushes $6 Billion Revenue, Solar Storm lights up world, Coffee prices explode (Recap ep277)

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In today’s Recap, Marcello talks about Elon Musk’s Starlink, the satellite internet venture, that has stunned analysts with a projected revenue surge to $6.6 billion by 2024, showcasing its meteoric rise and disruptive force in the satellite communications industry. Meanwhile, a looming solar storm illuminated the skies with spectacular auroras, captivating observers with nature’s awe-inspiring display but also being a heads up on the risk this might pose to the electronic networks of the earth. On another front, the cost of robusta coffee beans has skyrocketed by over 60%, driven by a confluence of factors including adverse weather in Vietnam and rising competition from export crops like durian to China, foreshadowing potential changes in consumer habits and supermarket shelves worldwide.

Elon Musk’s Starlink, the satellite internet venture under SpaceX, is experiencing unprecedented growth, with analysts projecting a staggering revenue increase from $1.4 billion in 2022 to $6.6 billion in 2024. Since its inception in 2019, Starlink has rapidly expanded its constellation to nearly 6,000 satellites, with over 5,200 operational, and has deployed nearly 3 million terminals across 75 countries. This growth trajectory surpasses the combined revenue of the two largest geostationary satellite operators, SES and Intelsat, which recently announced a merger, highlighting Starlink’s disruptive impact on the satellite communications industry.
The cost of robusta coffee, the bean variety used in instant coffee & some espresso blends, has surged +60% over the past year, reaching its highest in nearly 50 yrs, which will be reflected in supermarket shelves. This is due to a combination of bad weather in Vietnam, world’s largest grower of robusta, plus competition with another fruit crop, namely the durian for export into China. Robusta beans had been in demand as roasters anticipated that the cost-of-living crisis, will prompt consumers to switch toward cheaper coffee blends. China is now developing a taste for coffee, ushering in an era, with coffee prices higher for longer.
A severe solar storm is supercharged the northern lights or aurora borealis on Friday, with forecasts indicating that auroras could be seen as far south in the United States as Alabama & northern California in North America. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center stated on Thursday that a series of solar flares & eruptions from the sun could trigger severe geomagnetic storms & spectacular displays of aurora on Earth from Friday evening through the weekend.
China’s economy is slowing & citizens are moving to buy more gold, as a safe-haven asset to hedge against economic uncertainties, sending prices of the precious metal to new record highs there. The country’s central bank has also joined the movement, adding 60K troy ounces of gold to its holdings in April, according to official data released. It marks the 18th straight month the People’s Bank of China was piling in on gold. The heightened interest in gold is also a pushback to the strong US dollar, which is making it too expensive for emerging nations like China to import goods.
U.S. consumer sentiment fell sharply in May to the lowest level in 6 months, as Americans cited stubbornly high inflation & interest rates, in addition on fears that unemployment will rise. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, released Friday, in a preliminary version, dropped to 67.4 this month from a final reading of 77.2 in April. May’s reading is still near +14% higher than a year ago. Consumers’ outlook has generally been grim since the pandemic & particularly after inflation first spiked in 2021. Consumers’ willingness to spend is a crucial driver of growth.

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