Baltic Dry Index. 925 -17 Brent Crude
55.49
Some people make things happen, some
watch while things happen, and some wonder what happened?
Anon. Might have been made for President
Trump.
The big news this week will likely be
the UK Supreme Court’s decision at 9:30 am on Tuesday on the Article 50 Brexit
decision. Since that, whichever way it
goes, will be over covered by mainstream media, we will leave that circus to
msm. The other big news this week will be the early actions of President Trump,
and by the weekend the arrival of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Since I can’t
predict the early actions of President Trump, nor how disruptive the Chinese
New Year will be to Asia’s economy, we’ll cover more mundane issues, like China
predicting a difficult year in its relations with Taiwan. Australia jumping the
gun on Brexit and a UK trade deal, and the other side of Donald J. Trump.
China sees 'grim' situation in relations with Taiwan this year
Relations between China and Taiwan this year will be "even more
complex and grim" and Beijing will resolutely oppose any form of separatist
activity, a senior Chinese official said, but added China would also maintain
peace and stability.
Yu Zhengsheng, the ruling Communist Party's fourth ranked leader, was
speaking at an annual work conference on policy towards the self-ruled island.
His comments came in the wake of concerns that, under a new presidency, the
United States is shifting its stance toward Taiwan.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who was inaugurated on Friday, broke with
decades of precedent last month by taking a congratulatory telephone call from
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.
That, along with subsequent comments by Trump that the "one
China" policy was up for negotiation, has infuriated Beijing, which views
Taiwan as a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if
necessary.
Proudly democratic Taiwan has shown no interest in being run by China.
China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, whose ruling Democratic Progressive
Party espouses the island's formal independence, a red line for Beijing, and
has cut off a formal dialogue mechanism with the island.
China must "resolutely oppose and check any form of 'Taiwan
independence' separatist activity, maintain national sovereignty and
territorial integrity, and maintain the peaceful development of cross-Taiwan
Strait relations and peace and stability", state-run Xinhua news agency
paraphrased Yu as saying.
In a letter to Pope Francis released by her office on Friday, Tsai said
Taiwan aspires to create a "new era" of peace with China as military
action cannot resolve problems.
Defeated Nationalist forces fled from China to Taiwan in 1949 after
losing a civil war with the Communists.
The report made no mention of Tsai's letter to the Pope. The Vatican is
one of a handful of countries to maintain formal ties with Taiwan.
Yu said that China would seek to "unite" all parties and
groups in Taiwan that accept both sides of the Taiwan Strait are part of
"one China".
More
China Slams Western Democracy as Flawed
Bloomberg News
China’s state media used Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president
to warn about the perils of democracy, touting the relative stability of the
Communist system as President Xi Jinping heads toward a twice-a-decade
reshuffle of senior leadership posts.
With ministries and senior officials stressing unity as a priority for
China, smoothing the path for the party’s congress in the fourth quarter, state
media were quick to highlight divisions within America shown by Trump’s
elevation, without necessarily directly referencing the new president.
Democracy has reached its limits, and deterioration is the inevitable
future of capitalism, according to the People’s Daily, the flagship paper of
China’s Communist Party. It devoted an entire page on Sunday to critiquing
Western democracies, quoting former Chairman Mao Zedong’s 1949 poem asking
people to "range far your eyes over long vistas" and saying the
ultimate defeat of capitalism would enable Communism to emerge victorious.
The unusual series of commentaries in the People’s Daily mirrors Soviet
efforts to promote an alternative political and economic system during the Cold
War. The rise of anti-establishment, protectionist politicians like Trump, amid
populist winds on several continents, has sent political parties scurrying to
shore up their support, helping China to portray itself as relatively steady.
More
Australia Opens Talks With U.K. Over Trade Deals Ahead of Brexit
by Perry Williams
22 January 2017, 00:20 GMT
Australia will open talks in London this week with the U.K. over new trade
and investment deals ahead of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.Treasurer Scott Morrison said despite “growing international anti-trade sentiment” the federal government will look to improve the close relationship between Australia and the U.K. as Brexit takes shape. The value of Australia’s trade with the U.K. was A$27 billion ($20 billion) in 2015-16, split between A$12 billion in exports and A$15 billion in imports.
“Discussions during this visit will begin laying the foundations for Australia to strike new beneficial trade and investment arrangements with the U.K. that benefit our businesses, exporters and citizens,” Morrison said in a statement Sunday.
British Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to quit the single European Union market last week while retaining the ability to negotiate new trade deals with countries outside the bloc.
Morrison will also hold meetings with financiers on the U.K.’s affordable housing policies to determine if they are “fit for purpose” in Australia.
Meetings are scheduled with U.K. Chancellor Philip Hammond, Housing and Planning Minister Gavin Barwell and City Minister Simon Kirby.
Trump Team in Talks with U.K. on Post-Brexit Trade Deal
by Jennifer Jacobs and Margaret Talev
21 January 2017, 23:26 GMT 22 January 2017, 12:37 GMT
The Trump administration will lay the groundwork this week for a trade
deal between the U.S. and the U.K. that would take effect after Britain leaves
the European Union, a White House aide said, as Prime Minister Theresa May
becomes the first foreign leader to visit the new president.
May last week declared Britain is "open for business" as she announced
plans to pursue a clean break with the EU, paving the way for the U.K. to
eventually strike new trade accords with the continent and other countries. May
said she will travel to Washington and speak to President Donald Trump on
Friday.
“We’ll have an opportunity to talk about our possible future trading
relationship, but also some of the world’s challenges that we all face --
issues like defeating terrorism, the conflict in Syria,” and NATO, May said in
an interview on the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show” on Sunday. “When I sit down with
Donald Trump, I’m going to be talking about how we can build on that special
relationship.”
Trump officials believe their discussions with May’s government
encouraged her to be more aggressive in exiting the EU. She can use any
American support to argue the U.K. will prosper outside the bloc although she
risks inflaming tensions with European leaders if they suspect her government
is actively negotiating trade deals while still an EU member.
More
Next, barely two
days into the job and the new American “jobs President” is already getting
results.
Foxconn CEO says investment for display plant in U.S. would exceed $7 billion
The plans come after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to put "America First" in his inauguration speech on Friday, prompting Gou to warn about the rise of protectionism and a trend for politics to underpin economic development.
Foxconn's proposal to build a display plant, which would be planned with its Sharp Corp (6753.T) unit, depend on many factors, such as investment conditions, that would have to be negotiated at the U.S. state and federal levels, Gou told reporters on the sidelines of a company event.
Gou said that Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (2317.TW), had been considering such a move for years but the issue came up when Foxconn business partner Masayoshi Son, head of Japan's SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T), talked to Gou before a December meeting Son had with Trump.
As a result of the meeting, Son pledged a $50 billion of investment in the United States and inadvertently disclosed information showing Foxconn's logo and an unspecified additional $7 billion investment. At the time, Foxconn issued a brief statement saying it was in preliminary discussions to expand its U.S. operations, without elaborating.
"Son is a good friend," Gou said, adding that Son had asked for his views about investing in the United States.
Gou said he told Son that the United States has no panel-making industry but it is the second-largest market for televisions. An investment for a display plant would exceed $7 billion and could create about 30,000-50,000 jobs, Gou told Son.
More
Trump to begin renegotiating NAFTA pact soon with Mexico, Canada
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he plans talks soon with the
leaders of Canada and Mexico to begin renegotiating the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
"We will be starting negotiations having to do with NAFTA,"
Trump said at a swearing-in ceremony for his top White House advisers. "We
are going to start renegotiating on NAFTA, on immigration and on security at
the border."
Trump pledged during his presidential campaign that if elected he would
renegotiate the NAFTA trade pact to provide more favorable terms to the United
States.
NAFTA, which took effect in 1994, and other trade deals became lightning
rods for voter anger in the U.S. industrial heartland states that swept Trump
to power this month.
Canada's ambassador to the United States said it was clear the Trump
team were concerned above all about trade deficits with Mexico and China.
"I don't think Canada is the focus at all," David MacNaughton
told reporters in Calgary, Alberta, ahead of a two-day government retreat
focused on how to handle the new Trump administration.
Trade experts, academics and government officials say Canada and Mexico
will also seek tough concessions and that NAFTA's zero-tariff rate would be
extremely difficult to alter. Any renegotiation would likely take several
years, they say.
More
We end with less reported Trump news. Less reported because most of the
media has an anti-Trump agenda.
Trump Offers Father Down on His Luck $10,000 Check at Inaugural Event
20 Jan 2017Washington D.C
A FedEx courier and former security guard from
Illinois was surprised with an invitation to meet with Donald Trump after
the President-elect saw a story on the struggling single father. But the
special meeting wasn’t the only surprise. The young man was stunned when Trump
presented him with a check for $10,000.
Shane Bouvet, a 23-year-old single dad, was featured in a Washington Post story highlighting his visit to D.C. to support Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The paper revealed that Bouvet was headed to D.C. in a borrowed suit and
donated shoes to celebrate Trump’s oath of office.
“This is pretty much the biggest thing I’ve done in my life,” Bouvet told
the paper. “I don’t get out much. I’m a small-town, blue-collar guy.”
But a mere visit to Washington to see this historic day was far from the
only notable thing about Bouvet’s visit, because Trump himself saw the paper’s
feature on Bouvet and invited the young man to a one-on-one meeting.
On Thursday, only a day before he took the oath of office to become the
45th president of the United States of America, Donald Trump met Mr. Bouvet,
shook his hand, and offered some help.
“This is the greatest guy,” Trump said as he shook Bouvet’s hand in a
tented area behind the Lincoln Memorial on Thursday, the Post reported.
Bouvet called his father and had him say hello to the president in waiting.
The President-elect laughed that Bouvet’s father, who is also named Don, has “a
great name.”
After Bouvet’s phone call back home, Trump signed autographs for the
young man’s son and then came the big surprise.
As Mr. Bouvet prepared to end his historic meeting with the
President-elect, Donald Trump handed him a personal check for $10,000.
As he walked away stunned and crying, Bouvet muttered aloud, “Did that just
happen?”
Do what’s right. Do it
right. Do it right now.
BC Forbes. Scottish born founder and editor of Forbes
Magazine.
At the Comex silver depositories Friday
final figures were: Registered 29.19 Moz, Eligible 150.94 Moz,
Total 180.13 Moz.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
Today, when friends fall out. With friends like
these, who needs enemies?
Apple files $1 billion lawsuit against chip supplier Qualcomm
Apple Inc filed a $1 billion lawsuit against supplier Qualcomm Inc on
Friday, days after the U.S. government accused the chip maker of resorting to
anticompetitive tactics to maintain a monopoly over key semiconductors in
mobile phones.
Qualcomm is a major supplier to both Apple and Samsung Electronics Co
Ltd for "modem" chips that connect phones to wireless networks. The
two companies together accounted for 40 percent of Qualcomm's $23.5 billion in
revenue in its most recent fiscal year.
In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
California, Apple accused Qualcomm of overcharging for chips and refusing to
pay some $1 billion in promised rebates. Apple said in its complaint that
Qualcomm withheld the rebates because of Apple's discussions with South Korea's
antitrust regulator, the Korea Fair Trade Commission.
"If that were not enough, Qualcomm then attempted to extort Apple
into changing its responses and providing false information to the KFTC in
exchange for Qualcomm's release of those payments to Apple. Apple
refused," Apple said in its lawsuit.
In a statement, Qualcomm General Counsel Don Rosenberg called Apple's
claims "baseless."
"Apple has been actively encouraging regulatory attacks on
Qualcomm’s business in various jurisdictions around the world, as reflected in
the recent KFTC decision and FTC complaint, by misrepresenting facts and withholding
information," Rosenberg said in the statement.
"We welcome the opportunity to have these meritless claims heard in
court where we will be entitled to full discovery of Apple’s practices and a
robust examination of the merits.”
Qualcomm's stock closed 2.4 percent lower at $62.88 on the news.
Qualcomm has patents for chips which include standard essential patents,
a term used to describe technology that is required to be licensed broadly and
on "reasonable" terms.
In its lawsuit, Apple accused Qualcomm of refusing to license the
technology to other manufacturers to prevent them from making the chips.
More
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing
is not enough; we must do.
Goethe.
Solar & Related Update.
With events
happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this
section. Updates as they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap
AC or DC energy mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards? DC?
A quantum computer next?
Graphene's sleeping superconductivity awakens
Date: January 19, 2017
Source: St John's College, University of Cambridge
Summary: The intrinsic ability of graphene to superconduct (or
carry an electrical current with no resistance) has been activated for the
first time. This further widens the potential of graphene as a material that
could be used in fields such as energy storage, high-speed computing, and
molecular electronics.
Researchers have found a way to trigger the innate, but previously
hidden, ability of graphene to act as a superconductor -- meaning that it can
be made to carry an electrical current with zero resistance.
The finding, reported in Nature Communications, further enhances
the potential of graphene, which is already widely seen as a material that
could revolutionise industries such as healthcare and electronics. Graphene is
a two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms and combines several remarkable
properties; for example, it is very strong, but also light and flexible, and
highly conductive.
Since its discovery in 2004, scientists have speculated that graphene
may also have the capacity to be a superconductor. Until now, superconductivity
in graphene has only been achieved by doping it with, or by placing it on, a
superconducting material -- a process which can compromise some of its other
properties.
But in the new study, researchers at the University of Cambridge managed
to activate the dormant potential for graphene to superconduct in its own
right. This was achieved by coupling it with a material called praseodymium
cerium copper oxide (PCCO).
Superconductors are already used in numerous applications. Because they generate
large magnetic fields they are an essential component in MRI scanners and
levitating trains. They could also be used to make energy-efficient power lines
and devices capable of storing energy for millions of years.
Superconducting graphene opens up yet more possibilities. The
researchers suggest, for example, that graphene could now be used to create new
types of superconducting quantum devices for high-speed computing.
Intriguingly, it might also be used to prove the existence of a mysterious form
of superconductivity known as "p-wave" superconductivity, which
academics have been struggling to verify for more than 20 years.
The research was led by Dr Angelo Di Bernardo and Dr Jason Robinson,
Fellows at St John's College, University of Cambridge, alongside collaborators
Professor Andrea Ferrari, from the Cambridge Graphene Centre; Professor Oded
Millo, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Professor Jacob Linder, at
the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.
----"If p-wave superconductivity is indeed being created in graphene,
graphene could be used as a scaffold for the creation and exploration of a
whole new spectrum of superconducting devices for fundamental and applied
research areas," Robinson said. "Such experiments would necessarily
lead to new science through a better understanding of p-wave superconductivity,
and how it behaves in different devices and settings."
The study also has further implications. For example, it suggests that
graphene could be used to make a transistor-like device in a superconducting
circuit, and that its superconductivity could be incorporated into molecular
electronics. "In principle, given the variety of chemical molecules that
can bind to graphene's surface, this research can result in the development of
molecular electronics devices with novel functionalities based on
superconducting graphene," Di Bernardo added.
More
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished December
DJIA: 19763
+74 Up NASDAQ: 5383 +70 Up. SP500: 2239 +75 Up
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