🇺🇸 I see we're doing the measles "outbreak" panic campaign again. So let's this chart—odds of dying from a cause in the year 2000 and from measles in 1962 (1 in X)—as a remedy for this mental illness.

This is where a person's odds of dying of measles in 1962 (the vaccine was released one year later in 1963) ranks among other unusual forms of death.

And it was an unusual form of death, make no mistake about it. Remember those chicken pox parties people would have? They did the same with measles. Because once you catch it, you attain lifetime immunity and a stronger early-life immune education, and those are serious perks.

Especially considering that it had a 99.9% survival rate (in 1962). It produces no more than a cough & a rash in the vast majority of cases. And when the oft-discussed complications do appear, vitamin A is the solution.

So where does it rank? Measles killed 408 out of 186,538,000. That's 1 in 457,000, well below "inhalation & ingestion of food causing obstruction" (1 in 370,000) or "contact with machinery" (1 in 407,000).

The risk is roughly on par with unfortunate activities like a "fall involving furniture" (1 in 424,000) and a "fall on [the] same level from slipping, tripping, and stumbling" (1 in 487,000).

So as the media once again degenerates into relentless medical fear porn, remember that such endeavors are a red flag indicating you must do one thing very urgently: look into whatever they're fear-mongering about with an intensive & unrelenting skepticism.

I assure you: you will be rewarded...

More on INTELRUNNER
• Impact of Childhood Vaccination on Short- and Long-Term Chronic Health Outcomes in Children (A Birth Cohort Study by Henry Ford Health System)
• Children Up To Date on Recommended Vaccines Has Dropped

💉 I N T E L R U N N E R 💉

🇯🇵 Domestic and Hedged Bond Yields for Japanese Investors

The Japanese are now better off investing in their own country's JGBs (from a yield perspective) than making hedged investments in German bunds, British gilts, or American treasuries.

🌫 I N T E L R U N N E R 🌫

🇺🇸 The Stock Market Last Week

The S&P 500 fell 0.35%, while the average stock fell 0.16%. 237 stocks outperformed over this four-day week.

Energy (+3.1%) and Basic Materials (+2.6%) were the strongest sectors. Financials (-2.5%) and Real Estate (-2.4%) were the weakest.

📉 I N T E L R U N N E R 📈

🇸🇬 Headline & Core Inflation in Singapore

Year over year inflation came in at 1.2% in both contexts. It was up 0.3% month over month for headline and 0.4% for core.

📈 I N T E L R U N N E R 📉

🇮🇷🇮🇷 The sites of suppressed protests in Iran according to research by the New York Times.

They will not be doing the corollary: sites of murders of security personnel & civilians in the pursuit of greater rebellion.

🗺 I N T E L R U N N E R 🗺

🇺🇸 Natural gas has had an insane week...

On January 16th, the Friday before last, it closed at $3.103/MMBtu. Yesterday, it hit $7.439/MMBtu intraday, closing around $6.80.

Overnight it's shed another 5% and is trading in the 6.40s. That's a 107.25% gain since that close on the 16th.

Is it just the storm? We covered that on the second day of the rally:

Arctic air minus steady supply plus aggressive short sellers equals the largest two-day gain since 1990 for Henry Hub: 54%.

🔥 I N T E L R U N N E R 🔥

🇺🇸 Percent of Population Under Age 18, 1990 vs. 2024, by American State

Same scale for both...

💫 I N T E L R U N N E R 💫

🇬🇧 The pound sterling is at 4+ year high, having reached levels last seen in October 2021.

The reading on GBPUSD is at roughly $1.38...

📈 I N T E L R U N N E R 📈

🇺🇸 Annual expenditure on alcoholic beverages in the United States, by generation

🥃 I N T E L R U N N E R 🍷

🇺🇸 Case-Shiller National Index (month-over-month, seasonally adjusted)

Housing prices are rising again, and the Fannie & Freddie haven't even started their MBS splurge.

The MoM percent change is up to 0.4%...

🏠 I N T E L R U N N E R 🏠

🌎 The Best Countries At Reading

The PISA measures youths' real-world reading skills in the country's native or primary language of instruction, with top performers scoring around 550-560.

🇸🇬 Singapore stands out as leader with an average score of 543.

📔 I N T E L R U N N E R 📔

🇺🇸 Who Will Sit on Donald
Trump's "Board of Peace"?

The countries who have agreed to be a part of Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" as of January 22, 2026 are highlighted.

The "Democratic Index" is complete & utter nonsense. If I don't cover that at NFU, someone remind me...

🕊 I N T E L R U N N E R 🕊

🇺🇸 Second Term Job Approval Through the First Year to Date (Comparing Trump, Obama, and Bush)

We're a couple months on from our last check-in and Trump is no longer leading the 21st Century 2nd Term Approval Rating Race.

Actually, as of this past week, he's losing.

George W. Bush had a 44% average approval rating at this point in 2006. On January 29th, 2014, Obama's average approval rating hit 43.5%.

Both of them had been on a bit of a slight recovery from mid-month brushes with 42%. Trump is at 42.8% right now, and he hasn't been able to crack 43% for weeks.

✅ I N T E L R U N N E R ❌

🇩🇰🇺🇸 Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical conglomerate, is up 15.4% since this post, even with the 7% pullback over the past week.

$NVO grew $64.16/share over the past month. I'd say that qualifies as "rallying to the mid-60s no problem."

💊 I N T E L R U N N E R 💊