📅 On This Day
Russia's $22.6 Billion Bailout Buys Just 36 Days of Hope
On July 12, 1998, Russia secured a $22.6 billion international rescue package — $15.1 billion of it from the IMF — as inflation soared and the ruble buckled under relentless pressure. The relief was fleeting: 36 days later, Russia devalued its currency and defaulted on domestic debt. The shock rippled into Western markets and brought Nobel laureate–run hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management to its knees, requiring a $3.6 billion Federal Reserve–orchestrated rescue.
LTCM had started 1998 with $4.7 billion in equity — a reminder that genius offers no immunity from contagion.
🇷🇺 RU
Source: IMF; Federal Reserve History
🌍 Around the World
Poland's Dividend Market Blooms From a Post-Communist Fresh Start
The Warsaw Stock Exchange relaunched in 1991, giving Poland a dividend culture notably younger than its Western European peers. Investors should note that Poland generally withholds around 19% on dividends, though treaty relief may be available depending on residency. Stalwarts like Bank Pekao — founded in 1929 — PKO Bank Polski, and copper-and-silver giant KGHM anchor the market, though KGHM's payouts can swing sharply with commodity cycles.
For cross-border investors, that ~19% withholding rate makes treaty eligibility worth checking before dividend season.
🇵🇱 PL
Source: Warsaw Stock Exchange; PwC Tax Summaries
🔥 Dividend Streak
P&G Has Paid Dividends Without Interruption Since 1890
Procter & Gamble began paying dividends the very year after it incorporated and has never stopped — a record of consistency that stretches back to 1890. The company has also raised its dividend for 70 consecutive years, placing it firmly among the rare Dividend Kings. Only a handful of S&P 500 companies can claim a longer run of annual increases.
Seven decades of unbroken dividend growth is the kind of quiet compounding story that rewards patient, long-term investors.
PG — Procter & Gamble Company
🇺🇸 US
Source: Procter & Gamble investor relations
💡 Did You Know
The World's Premier Central Banking Summit Exists Thanks to Trout
The Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium began in 1978 as a modest Kansas City Fed conference on agricultural trade — years before it shaped global monetary policy. The fateful turn came in 1982, when organizers needed a marquee draw: inflation-fighting Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, who happened to love fly fishing. They chose Jackson Hole precisely because the Snake River runs nearby, and it worked — Volcker showed up and set a precedent his successors have honored ever since.
Bernanke, Draghi, and Powell have all used Jackson Hole to move markets — all because of one man's love of trout.
🇺🇸 US
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City; Yahoo News; Marketplace