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FOMC Preview: The Fed Must Find Ways To “Out Dove” Market Expectations

FOMC Preview: The Fed Must Find Ways To "Out Dove" Market Expectations

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FOMC Preview: The Fed Must Find Ways To "Out Dove" Market Expectations Tyler Durden Tue, 07/28/2020 - 23:18

While nobody expects any fireworks from the Fed tomorrow or any major market-moving announcement, the FOMC meeting will likely involve a debate over the toolkit with a discussion of how to pivot from "stabilization" to "accommodation" policies according to BofA strategists, who notes that while there likely is an agreement that the next steps should accomplish the goal of "enhancing forward guidance," they do not think Fed officials have settled on the strategy.

Amid growing fears of covid chaos and renewed economic shutdowns, Powell will likely be grilled on, and will discuss some of the Fed's options while the minutes released in three weeks will provide more clarity. That said, the statement is likely to provide little new insight, with only a few edits to the current conditions paragraph to highlight improvement thus far, but also express caution over recent signs of slowing in some of the high-frequency indicators.

More importantly, the rates and FX markets expect no new policy action to be taken at the July FOMC meeting, which should lead to a muted reaction across markets (it also sets up markets for a surprise). Instead, according to BofA, market participants will be much more focused on the guidance and "stage setting" that Chair Powell provides on what the next easing steps might look like. On net, a discussion of additional easing measures in the Powell press conference - such as forward guidance, asset purchase duration, and YCC/YCT - risks lower real rates, flatter curve, and weaker USD (and, in the worst case, a very adverse reaction across risk assets).

Economics: a policy discussion

As BofA frames it, there seems to be an agreement among Fed officials on the "what" but not the "how." The consensus appears to be to send a strong signal that the Fed will be committed to accommodative policy, remaining at the ZLB, well into the recovery and perhaps even until full employment has been reached and inflation is able to run at/above the 2% target. This would be a more dovish strategy than following the 2008-09 recession when the Fed pursued a "normalization" policy, pushing up interest rates prior to achieving trend 2% inflation or closing the output gap. Back then the Fed discussed the balancing act between increasing rates earlier but slower, or waiting and having to hike more quickly. Looking back, it seems many Fed officials believe that waiting longer might have been prudent given that 2% inflation was not achieved and the Fed ended up reversing some of the hikes later in the recovery.

There are several options for the Fed to enhance forward guidance, which are not mutually exclusive:

  • the primary focus is on language, potentially using both outcome and calendar-based language. Fed officials seem particularly focused on making sure 2% inflation is reached, which means likely explicitly supporting an overshoot of the inflation target (something which the record surge in gold is clearly sniffing out). This could be done through a commitment to keep rates at zero until 2% is reached on a trend basis but also, perhaps, by reinforcing this language with calendar guidance.
  • The secondary focus is on balance-sheet policies such as yield curve caps or targets (YCT) or a change in the composition of the balance sheet (QE). While YCT on the short to medium end of the curve seems like an attractive option, it is still novel and Fed officials appear to want more time to study such a program. Recent language from Fed officials suggests our expectation for YCT to be introduced at the September meeting might end up being too early.

The Fed can choose to employ one or all of these strategies at the same time or phased in, depending on the state of the economy and markets (as a reminder, the worse the economy and the lower the S&P500, the greater the flexibility Powell will have to unleash the next phase, whatever it may be). Certainly, if facing a weaker economy with low realized and expected inflation, the Fed would likely need to be more aggressive. Another scenario would be if the market prematurely prices in hikes thereby tightening financial conditions. The Fed might look to fight this market pricing and push out hike expectations, which could be done through calendar guidance or YCT, most directly (unless of course the Fed wants to push the market lower so it has more degrees of freedom).

Meanwhile, the Fed is also engaging in a prolonged framework review that will likely guide the policy decision. The annual Jackson Hole conference will also take place virtually at the end of August. It has historically been a good forum for central bankers to debate policy and will likely be focused on the best way to achieve enhanced forward guidance.

Fed markets programs: extension likely

The July FOMC meeting will likely see some communication around an extension of Fed and Treasury markets programs. Most markets programs are slated to expire in September as shown in the table below.

However, it is virtually assured that these will all be extended as the Fed will want to keep these programs indefinitely in place to guard against the risk of a more material economic slowdown and potential tightening of financial conditions (and also because any of the "temporary" aspects of the covid crisis are really permanent). BofA anticipates that most programs will be extended until March 2021 (in reality they will never expire). This would reduce the risk of a material tightening of financial conditions in 2H and smooth volatility stemming from year-end dealer balance-sheet constrains.

Most of the programs require Treasury approval for extension, and it is safe to assume that both the Fed and Treasury will be supportive of pushing out their deadline.

Rates: September stage setting and twist potential

According to BofA STIR strategists, the US rates market expects no new policy action to be taken at the July FOMC meeting. Instead, market participants will be much more focused on the guidance and "stage setting" that Chair Powell provides on the next steps to ease policy, including enhanced forward guidance, asset purchase adjustments, and yield curve control (YCC)/yield curve targeting (YCT).

While no change is expected to the Fed's settings for administered rates (IOER, ON RRP) at this meeting, the rates market is already expecting a very dovish message from the Fed with the timing of the first rate hike not until late 2024 or early 2025 (if ever).

The main challenge for the Fed will be to find ways to "out dove" market expectations in their next easing round likely through:

  1. the establishment of an inflation framework that ensures a "durable" increase in core PCE at or above 2% for 6 or 12 months before the first rate increase and
  2. a potential reallocation of Treasury purchases to remove additional duration risk from the market.

BofA discusses the potential for a Fed UST twist and likely market reaction below:

Why twist? Recent media reports have suggested the Fed is considering changing the composition of their UST and MBS toward longer-dated securities to further ease financial conditions. This theme was furthered on last week by headlines from William Dudley, former NY Fed head, who noted that the Fed could extend its purchase duration. Both sets of comments come in the context of a Fed that is seeking to "pivot" from market stabilization to monetary easing via some combination of forward guidance, asset purchases, and potential YCC / YCT.

How to twist? The Fed has clear logic to twist upon implementation of enhanced forward guidance or YCC. The argument to twist would be most impactful if the Fed incorporated any calendar dimension to its guidance. For example, a credible Fed commitment not to raise rates or implement YCC until at least end '22 / end '24 would reduce the need to purchase securities at this part of the curve. The slated purchases could then be reallocated to longer-dated maturities to extract more duration risk from the market while keeping total purchase quantity the same or lower.

The Fed is currently purchasing $80bn/month of USTs (in proportion to USTs outstanding). BofA shows hypothetical Fed purchase scenarios below (Table 2) where the Fed could cease buying the 0-2.25Y or 0-4.5Y part of the curve, leave TIPS purchases unchanged, and distribute the remaining purchases in proportion to debt outstanding. The Fed could also remove more 10Y duration equivalent risk from the market while maintaining the current monthly purchase pace or lowering it to $65bn/m.

Twist effectiveness? Recall the 2011 twist and relevance of a similar policy today.

2011 twist: The Fed announced its most recent twist in September 2011 (a combination of short-term UST sales and longer-dated UST purchases) in reaction to the sharp risk off and economic slowdown following the US downgrade. This policy was mentioned in the August meeting minutes and was implemented the following meeting. The weighted average maturity of purchases increased substantially while keeping the total amount of UST holdings the same, on average (Chart 1, Table 2). Long-end rates declined materially the day the twist was announced and the curve aggressively bull flattened (Chart 2, Table 3). The month after the twist, rates sold off but the curve remained flatter.

Effectiveness today: Today is very different from 2011 and the Fed knows it. Comparing today vs September 2011: 10 and 30Y rates are 135-200bp lower, curves are significantly flatter, 10Y term premium measures have fallen 80-200bp, the real neutral rate (real 5y5y) has dropped 160bp, and the Chicago Fed fin conditions index is easier (Table 4).

The June FOMC meeting minutes reflect that the Committee is well aware of these dynamics: "declines in the neutral rate of interest, term premiums, and low levels of longer-term yields would likely act as constraints on the effectiveness of asset purchases in the current environment". However, Treasury WAM and longer-dated issuance is higher, which a Fed twist would offset.

Twist impact: Fed twist would likely result in (1) 30Y UST rally and curve bull flattening, likely on par with 2011, and (2) spread curve steepening. The spread curve move would be driven by a modest cheapening of short-dated USTs vs OIS (less Fed buying) and a richening of longer-dated USTs vs OIS (more Fed buying). Bank front-end policing would likely limit the potential for a material UST-OIS cheapening.

Bottom line: there is rising likelihood for a "twist" operation, especially since the Fed seemingly wants to ease more. This risks wider 30Y spreads and reinforces even lower longer-dated real rate view (currently 10Y TIPS is at a record low -0.93%). Guidance on the likelihood of a Fed twist from Powell's press conference or July FOMC minutes release (29 August) will be of keen interest to the rates market and the outlook for the long end of the curve. That said, not even BofA expects the Fed to commit to such a policy at this meeting, but likely start the stage-setting process this week.

* * *

Impact on the dollar

With an uneventful FOMC meeting widely anticipated, there is only moderate risk to FX and USD specifically. Still, potential discussion of the Fed's toolkit (specifically options to ramp up monetary policy support in the event that downside risks are realized) seems a negative USD risk, in BofA's view, as it is likely to reinforce the widespread belief among market participants in the Fed "put" that has driven up risk assets and undermined the greenback since end-March. For the same reason, extension of current programs may also weigh on USD. And while perception that a credible and effective set of additional Fed stimulus options exists, it would serve to further undermine USD per above, while as BofA ominously warns, "perception that the Fed is out of ammo could cause a reassessment of the Fed "put" and support USD via lower risk assets."

Sharp USD weakness over in the second half of July has accelerated into this FOMC meeting. Over the last week, the DXY is about -3% lower, with EUR and SEK leading the pack of outperformers against USD. Much of the recent USD weakness is due to (1) buoyancy in risky "reflation"-sensitive assets, which continue to decouple from challenging economic conditions and recently worsening COVID-19 dynamics; as well as (2) the accelerating EUR rally driven by market participants concerned over missing out on bullish price action post-EU Recovery Fund approval (which however does not equate to broad dollar weakness as discussed previously).

Looking forward, BofA expects a reversal in USD weakness despite persistent over-valuation, and forecasts EUR/USD is 1.08 at end-2020 due to COVID-19-related risks to the global and US economies although it concedes that "persistently frothy risk appetite is a risk to this call."

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‘Excess Mortality Skyrocketed’: Tucker Carlson and Dr. Pierre Kory Unpack ‘Criminal’ COVID Response

‘Excess Mortality Skyrocketed’: Tucker Carlson and Dr. Pierre Kory Unpack ‘Criminal’ COVID Response

As the global pandemic unfolded, government-funded…

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March 14, 2024

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'Excess Mortality Skyrocketed': Tucker Carlson and Dr. Pierre Kory Unpack 'Criminal' COVID Response

As the global pandemic unfolded, government-funded experimental vaccines were hastily developed for a virus which primarily killed the old and fat (and those with other obvious comorbidities), and an aggressive, global campaign to coerce billions into injecting them ensued.

Then there were the lockdowns - with some countries (New Zealand, for example) building internment camps for those who tested positive for Covid-19, and others such as China welding entire apartment buildings shut to trap people inside.

It was an egregious and unnecessary response to a virus that, while highly virulent, was survivable by the vast majority of the general population.

Oh, and the vaccines, which governments are still pushing, didn't work as advertised to the point where health officials changed the definition of "vaccine" multiple times.

Tucker Carlson recently sat down with Dr. Pierre Kory, a critical care specialist and vocal critic of vaccines. The two had a wide-ranging discussion, which included vaccine safety and efficacy, excess mortality, demographic impacts of the virus, big pharma, and the professional price Kory has paid for speaking out.

Keep reading below, or if you have roughly 50 minutes, watch it in its entirety for free on X:

"Do we have any real sense of what the cost, the physical cost to the country and world has been of those vaccines?" Carlson asked, kicking off the interview.

"I do think we have some understanding of the cost. I mean, I think, you know, you're aware of the work of of Ed Dowd, who's put together a team and looked, analytically at a lot of the epidemiologic data," Kory replied. "I mean, time with that vaccination rollout is when all of the numbers started going sideways, the excess mortality started to skyrocket."

When asked "what kind of death toll are we looking at?", Kory responded "...in 2023 alone, in the first nine months, we had what's called an excess mortality of 158,000 Americans," adding "But this is in 2023. I mean, we've  had Omicron now for two years, which is a mild variant. Not that many go to the hospital."

'Safe and Effective'

Tucker also asked Kory why the people who claimed the vaccine were "safe and effective" aren't being held criminally liable for abetting the "killing of all these Americans," to which Kory replied: "It’s my kind of belief, looking back, that [safe and effective] was a predetermined conclusion. There was no data to support that, but it was agreed upon that it would be presented as safe and effective."

Carlson and Kory then discussed the different segments of the population that experienced vaccine side effects, with Kory noting an "explosion in dying in the youngest and healthiest sectors of society," adding "And why did the employed fare far worse than those that weren't? And this particularly white collar, white collar, more than gray collar, more than blue collar."

Kory also said that Big Pharma is 'terrified' of Vitamin D because it "threatens the disease model." As journalist The Vigilant Fox notes on X, "Vitamin D showed about a 60% effectiveness against the incidence of COVID-19 in randomized control trials," and "showed about 40-50% effectiveness in reducing the incidence of COVID-19 in observational studies."

Professional costs

Kory - while risking professional suicide by speaking out, has undoubtedly helped save countless lives by advocating for alternate treatments such as Ivermectin.

Kory shared his own experiences of job loss and censorship, highlighting the challenges of advocating for a more nuanced understanding of vaccine safety in an environment often resistant to dissenting voices.

"I wrote a book called The War on Ivermectin and the the genesis of that book," he said, adding "Not only is my expertise on Ivermectin and my vast clinical experience, but and I tell the story before, but I got an email, during this journey from a guy named William B Grant, who's a professor out in California, and he wrote to me this email just one day, my life was going totally sideways because our protocols focused on Ivermectin. I was using a lot in my practice, as were tens of thousands of doctors around the world, to really good benefits. And I was getting attacked, hit jobs in the media, and he wrote me this email on and he said, Dear Dr. Kory, what they're doing to Ivermectin, they've been doing to vitamin D for decades..."

"And it's got five tactics. And these are the five tactics that all industries employ when science emerges, that's inconvenient to their interests. And so I'm just going to give you an example. Ivermectin science was extremely inconvenient to the interests of the pharmaceutical industrial complex. I mean, it threatened the vaccine campaign. It threatened vaccine hesitancy, which was public enemy number one. We know that, that everything, all the propaganda censorship was literally going after something called vaccine hesitancy."

Money makes the world go 'round

Carlson then hit on perhaps the most devious aspect of the relationship between drug companies and the medical establishment, and how special interests completely taint science to the point where public distrust of institutions has spiked in recent years.

"I think all of it starts at the level the medical journals," said Kory. "Because once you have something established in the medical journals as a, let's say, a proven fact or a generally accepted consensus, consensus comes out of the journals."

"I have dozens of rejection letters from investigators around the world who did good trials on ivermectin, tried to publish it. No thank you, no thank you, no thank you. And then the ones that do get in all purportedly prove that ivermectin didn't work," Kory continued.

"So and then when you look at the ones that actually got in and this is where like probably my biggest estrangement and why I don't recognize science and don't trust it anymore, is the trials that flew to publication in the top journals in the world were so brazenly manipulated and corrupted in the design and conduct in, many of us wrote about it. But they flew to publication, and then every time they were published, you saw these huge PR campaigns in the media. New York Times, Boston Globe, L.A. times, ivermectin doesn't work. Latest high quality, rigorous study says. I'm sitting here in my office watching these lies just ripple throughout the media sphere based on fraudulent studies published in the top journals. And that's that's that has changed. Now that's why I say I'm estranged and I don't know what to trust anymore."

Vaccine Injuries

Carlson asked Kory about his clinical experience with vaccine injuries.

"So how this is how I divide, this is just kind of my perception of vaccine injury is that when I use the term vaccine injury, I'm usually referring to what I call a single organ problem, like pericarditis, myocarditis, stroke, something like that. An autoimmune disease," he replied.

"What I specialize in my practice, is I treat patients with what we call a long Covid long vaxx. It's the same disease, just different triggers, right? One is triggered by Covid, the other one is triggered by the spike protein from the vaccine. Much more common is long vax. The only real differences between the two conditions is that the vaccinated are, on average, sicker and more disabled than the long Covids, with some pretty prominent exceptions to that."

Watch the entire interview above, and you can support Tucker Carlson's endeavors by joining the Tucker Carlson Network here...

Tyler Durden Thu, 03/14/2024 - 16:20

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Shakira’s net worth

After 12 albums, a tax evasion case, and now a towering bronze idol sculpted in her image, how much is Shakira worth more than 4 decades into her care…

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March 14, 2024

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Shakira’s considerable net worth is no surprise, given her massive popularity in Latin America, the U.S., and elsewhere. 

In fact, the belly-dancing contralto queen is the second-wealthiest Latin-America-born pop singer of all time after Gloria Estefan. (Interestingly, Estefan actually helped a young Shakira translate her breakout album “Laundry Service” into English, hugely propelling her stateside success.)

Since releasing her first record at age 13, Shakira has spent decades recording albums in both Spanish and English and performing all over the world. Over the course of her 40+ year career, she helped thrust Latin pop music into the American mainstream, paving the way for the subsequent success of massively popular modern acts like Karol G and Bad Bunny.

In late 2023, a 21-foot-tall bronze sculpture of Shakira, the barefoot belly dancer of Barranquilla, was unveiled at the city's waterfront. The statue was commissioned by the city's former mayor and other leadership.

Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images

In December 2023, a 21-foot-tall beachside bronze statue of the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer was unveiled in her Colombian hometown of Barranquilla, making her a permanent fixture in the city’s skyline and cementing her legacy as one of Latin America’s most influential entertainers.

After 12 albums, a plethora of film and television appearances, a highly publicized tax evasion case, and now a towering bronze idol sculpted in her image, how much is Shakira worth? What does her income look like? And how does she spend her money?

Related: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's net worth: How the new TKO Board Member built his wealth from $7

How much is Shakira worth?

In late 2023, Spanish sports and lifestyle publication Marca reported Shakira’s net worth at $400 million, citing Forbes as the figure’s source (although Forbes’ profile page for Shakira does not list a net worth — and didn’t when that article was published).

Most other sources list the singer’s wealth at an estimated $300 million, and almost all of these point to Celebrity Net Worth — a popular but dubious celebrity wealth estimation site — as the source for the figure.

A $300 million net worth would make Shakira the third-richest Latina pop star after Gloria Estefan ($500 million) and Jennifer Lopez ($400 million), and the second-richest Latin-America-born pop singer after Estefan (JLo is Puerto Rican but was born in New York).

Shakira’s income: How much does she make annually?

Entertainers like Shakira don’t have predictable paychecks like ordinary salaried professionals. Instead, annual take-home earnings vary quite a bit depending on each year’s album sales, royalties, film and television appearances, streaming revenue, and other sources of income. As one might expect, Shakira’s earnings have fluctuated quite a bit over the years.

From June 2018 to June 2019, for instance, Shakira was the 10th highest-earning female musician, grossing $35 million, according to Forbes. This wasn’t her first time gracing the top 10, though — back in 2012, she also landed the #10 spot, bringing in $20 million, according to Billboard.

In 2023, Billboard listed Shakira as the 16th-highest-grossing Latin artist of all time.

Shakira performed alongside producer Bizarrap during the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards Gala in Seville.

Photo By Maria Jose Lopez/Europa Press via Getty Images

How much does Shakira make from her concerts and tours?

A large part of Shakira’s wealth comes from her world tours, during which she sometimes sells out massive stadiums and arenas full of passionate fans eager to see her dance and sing live.

According to a 2020 report by Pollstar, she sold over 2.7 million tickets across 190 shows that grossed over $189 million between 2000 and 2020. This landed her the 19th spot on a list of female musicians ranked by touring revenue during that period. In 2023, Billboard reported a more modest touring revenue figure of $108.1 million across 120 shows.

In 2003, Shakira reportedly generated over $4 million from a single show on Valentine’s Day at Foro Sol in Mexico City. 15 years later, in 2018, Shakira grossed around $76.5 million from her El Dorado World Tour, according to Touring Data.

Related: RuPaul's net worth: Everything to know about the cultural icon and force behind 'Drag Race'

How much has Shakira made from her album sales?

According to a 2023 profile in Variety, Shakira has sold over 100 million records throughout her career. “Laundry Service,” the pop icon’s fifth studio album, was her most successful, selling over 13 million copies worldwide, according to TheRichest.

Exactly how much money Shakira has taken home from her album sales is unclear, but in 2008, it was widely reported that she signed a 10-year contract with LiveNation to the tune of between $70 and $100 million to release her subsequent albums and manage her tours.

Shakira and JLo co-headlined the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show in Florida.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

How much did Shakira make from her Super Bowl and World Cup performances?

Shakira co-wrote one of her biggest hits, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” after FIFA selected her to create the official anthem for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. She performed the song, along with several of her existing fan-favorite tracks, during the event’s opening ceremonies. TheThings reported in 2023 that the song generated $1.4 million in revenue, citing Popnable for the figure.

A decade later, 2020’s Superbowl halftime show featured Shakira and Jennifer Lopez as co-headliners with guest performances by Bad Bunny and J Balvin. The 14-minute performance was widely praised as a high-energy celebration of Latin music and dance, but as is typical for Super Bowl shows, neither Shakira nor JLo was compensated beyond expenses and production costs.

The exposure value that comes with performing in the Super Bowl Halftime Show, though, is significant. It is typically the most-watched television event in the U.S. each year, and in 2020, a 30-second Super Bowl ad spot cost between $5 and $6 million.

How much did Shakira make as a coach on “The Voice?”

Shakira served as a team coach on the popular singing competition program “The Voice” during the show’s fourth and sixth seasons. On the show, celebrity musicians coach up-and-coming amateurs in a team-based competition that eventually results in a single winner. In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Shakira’s salary as a coach on “The Voice” was $12 million.

Related: John Cena's net worth: The wrestler-turned-actor's investments, businesses, and more

How does Shakira spend her money?

Shakira doesn’t just make a lot of money — she spends it, too. Like many wealthy entertainers, she’s purchased her share of luxuries, but Barranquilla’s barefoot belly dancer is also a prolific philanthropist, having donated tens of millions to charitable causes throughout her career.

Private island

Back in 2006, she teamed up with Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame and Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz to purchase Bonds Cay, a 550-acre island in the Bahamas, which was listed for $16 million at the time.

Along with her two partners in the purchase, Shakira planned to develop the island to feature housing, hotels, and an artists’ retreat designed to host a revolving cast of artists-in-residence. This plan didn’t come to fruition, though, and as of this article’s last update, the island was once again for sale on Vladi Private Islands.

Real estate and vehicles

Like most wealthy celebs, Shakira’s portfolio of high-end playthings also features an array of luxury properties and vehicles, including a home in Barcelona, a villa in Cyprus, a Miami mansion, and a rotating cast of Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Philanthropy and charity

Shakira doesn’t just spend her massive wealth on herself; the “Queen of Latin Music” is also a dedicated philanthropist and regularly donates portions of her earnings to the Fundación Pies Descalzos, or “Barefoot Foundation,” a charity she founded in 1997 to “improve the education and social development of children in Colombia, which has suffered decades of conflict.” The foundation focuses on providing meals for children and building and improving educational infrastructure in Shakira’s hometown of Barranquilla as well as four other Colombian communities.

In addition to her efforts with the Fundación Pies Descalzos, Shakira has made a number of other notable donations over the years. In 2007, she diverted a whopping $40 million of her wealth to help rebuild community infrastructure in Peru and Nicaragua in the wake of a devastating 8.0 magnitude earthquake. Later, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Shakira donated a large supply of N95 masks for healthcare workers and ventilators for hospital patients to her hometown of Barranquilla.

Back in 2010, the UN honored Shakira with a medal to recognize her dedication to social justice, at which time the Director General of the International Labour Organization described her as a “true ambassador for children and young people.”

On November 20, 2023 (which was supposed to be her first day of trial), Shakira reached a deal with the prosecution that resulted in a three-year suspended sentence and around $8 million in fines.

Photo by Adria Puig/Anadolu via Getty Images

Shakira’s tax fraud scandal: How much did she pay?

In 2018, prosecutors in Spain initiated a tax evasion case against Shakira, alleging she lived primarily in Spain from 2012 to 2014 and therefore failed to pay around $14.4 million in taxes to the Spanish government. Spanish law requires anyone who is “domiciled” (i.e., living primarily) in Spain for more than half of the year to pay income taxes.

During the period in question, Shakira listed the Bahamas as her primary residence but did spend some time in Spain, as she was dating Gerard Piqué, a professional footballer and Spanish citizen. The couple’s first son, Milan, was also born in Barcelona during this period. 

Shakira maintained that she spent far fewer than 183 days per year in Spain during each of the years in question. In an interview with Elle Magazine, the pop star opined that “Spanish tax authorities saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started to salivate. It's clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what."

Prosecutors in the case sought a fine of almost $26 million and a possible eight-year prison stint, but in November of 2023, Shakira took a deal to close the case, accepting a fine of around $8 million and a three-year suspended sentence to avoid going to trial. In reference to her decision to take the deal, Shakira stated, "While I was determined to defend my innocence in a trial that my lawyers were confident would have ruled in my favour [had the trial proceeded], I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight."

How much did the Shakira statue in Barranquilla cost?

In late 2023, a 21-foot-tall bronze likeness of Shakira was unveiled on a waterfront promenade in Barranquilla. The city’s then-mayor, Jaime Pumarejo, commissioned Colombian sculptor Yino Márquez to create the statue of the city’s treasured pop icon, along with a sculpture of the city’s coat of arms.

According to the New York Times, the two sculptures cost the city the equivalent of around $180,000. A plaque at the statue’s base reads, “A heart that composes, hips that don’t lie, an unmatched talent, a voice that moves the masses and bare feet that march for the good of children and humanity.” 

Related: Taylor Swift net worth: The most successful entertainer joins the billionaire's club

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Delta Air Lines adds a new route travelers have been asking for

The new Delta seasonal flight to the popular destination will run daily on a Boeing 767-300.

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11 hours ago

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March 14, 2024

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Those who have tried to book a flight from North America to Europe in the summer of 2023 know just how high travel demand to the continent has spiked.

At 2.93 billion, visitors to the countries making up the European Union had finally reached pre-pandemic levels last year while North Americans in particular were booking trips to both large metropolises such as Paris and Milan as well as smaller cities growing increasingly popular among tourists.

Related: A popular European city is introducing the highest 'tourist tax' yet

As a result, U.S.-based airlines have been re-evaluating their networks to add more direct routes to smaller European destinations that most travelers would have previously needed to reach by train or transfer flight with a local airline.

The new flight will take place on a Boeing 767-300.

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Delta Air Lines: ‘Glad to offer customers increased choice…’

By the end of March, Delta Air Lines  (DAL)  will be restarting its route between New York’s JFK and Marco Polo International Airport in Venice as well as launching two new flights to Venice from Atlanta. One will start running this month while the other will be added during peak demand in the summer.

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“As one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Venice is hugely popular with U.S. travelers, and our flights bring valuable tourism and trade opportunities to the city and the region as well as unrivalled opportunities for Venetians looking to explore destinations across the Americas,” Delta’s SVP for Europe Matteo Curcio said in a statement. “We’re glad to offer customers increased choice this summer with flights from New York and additional service from Atlanta.”

The JFK-Venice flight will run on a Boeing 767-300  (BA)  and have 216 seats including higher classes such as Delta One, Delta Premium Select and Delta Comfort Plus.

Delta offers these features on the new flight

Both the New York and Atlanta flights are seasonal routes that will be pulled out of service in October. Both will run daily while the first route will depart New York at 8:55 p.m. and arrive in Venice at 10:15 a.m. local time on the way there, while leaving Venice at 12:15 p.m. to arrive at JFK at 5:05 p.m. on the way back.

According to Delta, this will bring its service to 17 flights from different U.S. cities to Venice during the peak summer period. As with most Delta flights at this point, passengers in all fare classes will have access to free Wi-Fi during the flight.

Those flying in Delta’s highest class or with access through airline status or a credit card will also be able to use the new Delta lounge that is part of the airline’s $12 billion terminal renovation and is slated to open to travelers in the coming months. The space will take up more than 40,000 square feet and have an outdoor terrace.

“Delta One customers can stretch out in a lie-flat seat and enjoy premium amenities like plush bedding made from recycled plastic bottles, more beverage options, and a seasonal chef-curated four-course meal,” Delta said of the new route. “[…] All customers can enjoy a wide selection of in-flight entertainment options and stay connected with Wi-Fi and enjoy free mobile messaging.”

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