Dear Reader,

I hope this letter finds you enjoying your summer. If you’re a brief subscriber (you should be!) you may have noticed that my plans to do a weekly update didn’t quite materialize. But that’s because I’ve been working on something much bigger for the Bear Market Brief. And now, I am happy to make that news public.

Starting in September (when the daily brief will resume), Bear Market Brief will be partnering with the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), a think tank based in Philadelphia. The partnership and accompanying funding will allow me build a bigger team and ramp up the Bear Market Blog, to bring you more and better analysis on Russia.

What’s Changing? First, the brief will be renamed the FPRI Bear Market Brief, and sent from an FPRI email address. I’ll be shooting you all a test email later in the summer and instructions beforehand to ensure smooth delivery. That change means some tweaks to the look of the email – branding, colors, etc. Second, there will be a new feature(!): daily columns. Compiled by the team I’m currently building, the brief will feature a weekly, more zoomed-in, update on a specific topic/issue set, such as the energy sector, banking/finance, regions/politics, along with an ‘around the sectors’ update that will look at pharma, auto, agriculture, and aviation. Lastly, I have set aside funds to solicit pieces for the Bear Market Blog, which will be a much more active place.

What Isn’t Changing? For one, the Bear Market Brief will remain daily and free, at least until May 2018. I also aim to maintain a focus on explaining the issues that matter, and to avoid stuffy language that might get in the way of doing that. Tha, and if you were hoping this might mean the end of my horrible wordplay in subject lines, well … you’re fresh out of luck.

I’m really excited to be working on this, and I am grateful to all of you for your support over the past year. As is always the case, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, please get in touch. Поехали! 

Best Regards,