Baltic Dry Index. 1195 -48 Brent Crude 52.24
How can you govern a country which
has 246 varieties of cheese?
Charles de Gaulle.
French voters voted pretty much as the
pollsters predicted, and France faces a run-off election on May 7 between a
pro-European centrist, and an anti-euro far right nationalist. The polls have
consistently shown an overwhelming win for the centrist in this sort of run-off. A EUSSR
rebound relief rally in the euro and related bonds should follow.
Macron, Le Pen in French Runoff as Establishment Crashes Out
by Helene Fouquet, Gregory Viscusi, and Gaspard Sebag
23 April 2017, 20:44 GMT+1
Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen
won the first round of the French presidential election, triggering a runoff on
May 7 between two radically different visions of the country’s future.
Macron, a first-time candidate and political independent, was on course to take
23.9 percent in Sunday’s election, with National Front leader Le Pen on 21.4
percent, according to projections from the Interior Ministry based on 97
percent of votes counted. A snap poll released late Sunday suggested Macron
would defeat Le Pen by more than 20 percentage points in the second round.
The
result means that for the first time in modern French political history,
both establishment parties were eliminated in the first round. Republican
Francois Fillon conceded within less than an hour of polls closing after
placing third with a projected 19.9 percent, while Socialist Benoit Hamon
trailed in fifth place with just 6.4 percent. Communist-backed Jean-Luc
Melenchon was on 19.6 percent and refused to concede.
More
France's Macron appears set for Elysee in runoff with Le Pen
Centrist Emmanuel Macron took a big step towards the French presidency
on Sunday by winning the first round of voting and qualifying for a May 7
runoff alongside far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Though Macron, 39, is a comparative political novice who has never held
elected office, new opinion polls on Sunday had him easily winning the final
clash against the 48-year-old Le Pen.
Sunday's outcome is a huge defeat for the two center-right and
center-left groupings that have dominated French politics for 60 years, and
also reduces the prospect of an anti-establishment shock on the scale of
Britain's vote last June to quit the European Union and the election of Donald
Trump as U.S. president.
In a victory speech, Macron told supporters of his fledgling En Marche!
(Onwards!) movement: "In one year, we have changed the face of French
politics." He went on to say he would bring in new faces and talent to
transform a stale political system if elected.
Conceding defeat even before figures from the count came in, rival
conservative and Socialist candidates urged their supporters now to put their
energies into backing Macron and stopping any chance of a second-round victory
by Le Pen, whose anti-immigration and anti-Europe policies they said spelled
disaster for France.
A Harris survey taken on Sunday saw Macron winning the runoff by 64
percent to 36, and an Ipsos/Sopra Steria poll gave a similar result.
More
If in fact Emmanuel Macron does go on
to become the next French President, nothing much changes. France will not get
the economic and labour reform it badly needs, neither will the rump-EU. Both
will limp along until the next global recession hits, when both will likely
enter a period of massive social instability. If Mrs Merkel is defeated in
Germany by an unrepentant, unreformed, old socialist later this autumn, the
Franco-German led rump-EUSSR will travel even further away from the long
overdue reform that it needs.
After the relief rally and the run-off election
that elects Macron, France and the EU face a summer of drift and inactivity
until after the German election. The outcome of the British general election in
June, is entirely parochial in reality. While it probably removes some tricky parliamentary
opposition fun and games, it’s irrelevant to the EC Brexit negotiators, who
governs in London or how.
In other real news:
Carrier group heads for Korean waters, China calls for restraint
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all sides to exercise restraint
on Monday in a call with U.S. President Donald Trump, as a nervous South Korea
and Japan sought to join drills with a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group
headed for Korean waters.
Reclusive North Korea said at the weekend it was ready to sink the U.S.
aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, which Trump had ordered to waters off
the Korean peninsula as a warning to the nuclear-armed North.
Japan said on Sunday it had sent two Japanese destroyers to join the
carrier group for drills, and South Korea said it was also in talks about
holding joint naval exercises.
China is increasingly worried the situation may spin out of control,
leading to war and a chaotic collapse of its isolated and poverty-struck
neighbor.
Xi told Trump that China resolutely opposes any actions that run counter
to U.N. Security Council resolutions, a Chinese foreign ministry statement
said.
China "hopes that all relevant sides exercise restraint, and avoid
doing anything to worsen the tense situation on the peninsula", the
statement paraphrased Xi as saying.
The nuclear issue can only be resolved quickly with all relevant
countries pulling in the same direction, and China is willing to work with all
parties, including the United States, to ensure peace, Xi said.
Tensions have risen sharply in recent months, with Washington and its
allies fearing Pyongyang could conduct another nuclear missile test or launch
more ballistic missiles in defiance of United Nations sanctions.
North Korea celebrates the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its
Korean People's Army on Tuesday, and has marked similar events in the past with
nuclear tests or missile launches.
More
China stocks head for worst day of 2017 as regulators tighten grip
China stocks tumbled more than 1 percent on Monday and looked set for their biggest loss of the year amid signs that Beijing would tolerate more market volatility as regulators clamp down on shadow banking and speculative trading.Recent signs of stability in China's economy "have provided a good external environment and a window of opportunity to reduce leverage in the financial system, strengthen supervision and ward off risks," the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.
"Over the past week, interbank rates trended higher, bond and capital markets suffered from sustained corrections and some institutions faced liquidity pressure. But these have little impact to the stability of the broader environment."
The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC slumped 1.6 percent to 3,123.80 points by the lunch break, after posting its biggest weekly loss so far this year last week.
The blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300 fell 1.3 percent to 3,423.11.
Barring a rebound, the indexes looked set for their biggest one-day percentage loss since mid-December.
More
Trump resorting to unilateralism with steel probe: China Daily
Washington's move to probe steel imports could trigger a trade dispute
between the United States and its major trading partners, who are likely to
take retaliatory steps, the official China Daily said in an editorial on
Monday.
The article was the strongest official response yet to U.S. President
Donald Trump on Thursday launching an investigation of China and other steel
producers for dumping cheap steel products into the United States.
"By proposing an unjustified investigation into steel imports in
the guise of safeguarding national security, the U.S. seems to be resorting to
unilateralism to solve bilateral and multilateral problems," the China
Daily said.
The probe could result in efforts by the United States to curb imports
that will affect the interests of a number of its major trade partners,
including China, it said.
"If the U.S. does take protectionist measures, then other countries
are likely to take justifiable retaliatory actions against U.S. companies that
have an advantage ... in fields such as finance and high-tech, leading to a
tit-for-tat trade war that benefits no one," it said.
The article called on the United States, the world's top economy, to use
the settlement mechanism under the World Trade Organization to resolve the
dispute over steel.
More
Japan steel industry head says concerned by Trump 'protectionism'
Japan Iron and Steel Federation chairman Kosei Shindo said on Monday he has strong concerns over "protectionism" by U.S. President Donald Trump."We will carefully observe the U.S. trade probe against imported steel," Shindo, who is also president of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp (5401.T), told a news conference.
Trump on Thursday launched a trade probe against China and other exporters of cheap steel into the U.S. market, raising the possibility of new tariffs.
Shindo also said he expects coking coal prices to gradually fall as rail lines resume operations in cyclone-hit Australia.
The price of coking coal - a key steel-making ingredient - has jumped since Cyclone Debbie disrupted rail lines in Australia late last month.
We close for the day with red flags in
America. US consumers seem to have run out of cash and credit.
Brick-and-Mortar Stores Are Shuttering at a Record Pace
Years of overbuilding and the rise of online shopping have come to a head; malls as ‘energy suckers’
April 21, 2017 7:53 p.m. ET
American retailers are closing stores at a record pace this year as they
feel the
fallout from decades of overbuilding and the rise of online shopping.Just this past week, women’s apparel chain Bebe Stores Inc. said it would close its remaining 170 shops and sell only online, while teen retailer Rue21 Inc. announced plans to close about 400 of its 1,100 locations.
“There is no reason to believe that this will abate at any point in the foreseeable future,” said Mark Cohen, the director of retail studies for Columbia Business School and a former executive at Sears Canada Inc. and other department stores.
Through April 6, closings have been announced for 2,880 retail locations this year, including hundreds of locations being shut by national chains such as Payless ShoeSource Inc. and RadioShack Corp. That is more than twice as many closings as announced during the same period last year, according to Credit Suisse.
Based on the pace so far, the brokerage estimates retailers will close more than 8,600 locations this year, which would eclipse the number of closings during the 2008 recession.
At least 10 retailers, including apparel seller Limited Stores Co., electronics chain Hhgregg Inc. and sporting-goods chain Gander Mountain Co., have filed for bankruptcy protection so far this year. That compares with nine retailers that declared bankruptcy, with at least $50 million liabilities, for all of 2016.
The seeds of the industry’s current turmoil date back nearly three decades, when retailers, in the throes of a consumer-buying spree and flush with easy money, rushed to open new stores. The land grab wasn’t unlike the housing boom that was also under way at that time.
“Thousands of new doors opened and rents soared,” Richard Hayne, chief executive of Urban Outfitters Inc., told analysts last month. “This created a bubble, and like housing, that bubble has now burst.”
More
You may be sure that the
Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are
beyond imagination.
Charles de Gaulle.
At the Comex silver depositories Friday
final figures were: Registered 30.53 Moz, Eligible 164.04 Moz,
Total 194.57 Moz.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
Today, other less reported EUSSR news. It isn’t
only Catalonia wanting to break away from the status quo.
Italy's Lombardy, Veneto regions to hold autonomy vote in October
Italy's wealthy northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto, controlled by
the right-wing Northern League, will hold referendums in October to try to
obtain greater autonomy from the central government, Lombardy's president said
on Thursday.
The result of the ballots will not be binding but a victory could
strengthen the League and raise the profile of the popular governor of Veneto,
Luca Zaia, widely seen as a potential leader of Italy's center-right.
"The referendums will be in October," Lombardy President
Roberto Maroni told reporters in Milan, saying the date would be announced
later this week.
Italy's Constitutional Court threw out Zaia's original plan to ask
voters if they wanted Veneto to secede from Italy or keep control of 80 percent
of tax revenue collected in the region.
Instead the question on the ballot paper will be: "Do you want
Veneto to be given further forms and particular conditions of autonomy?"
The question for Lombardy has not yet been set.
Tax remains the key issue. Lombardy, around Milan, is Italy's commercial
hub and accounts for roughly a fifth of the country's gross domestic product,
while Veneto produces just under 10 percent of the national GDP.
Many inhabitants resent seeing a large part of their taxes used to help
finance services in poorer southern regions.
The League hopes a big victory for "yes" on a high turnout
will give it greater bargaining power in negotiations on fiscal policy with the
government of Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
It also hopes the campaign will boost its support ahead of a
parliamentary election due in early 2018.
More
No country without an atom
bomb could properly consider itself independent.
Charles de Gaulle
Technology 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?
Wonder material? Novel nanotube structure strengthens thin films for flexible electronics
Date:
April 21, 2017
Source:
University of Illinois College of Engineering
Summary:
Reflecting the structure of composites found in nature and the ancient world,
researchers have synthesized thin carbon nanotube (CNT) textiles that exhibit
both high electrical conductivity and a level of toughness that is about fifty
times higher than copper films, currently used in electronics.
Reflecting the structure of composites found in nature and the ancient
world, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have
synthesized thin carbon nanotube (CNT) textiles that exhibit both high
electrical conductivity and a level of toughness that is about fifty times
higher than copper films, currently used in electronics.
"The structural robustness of thin metal films has significant
importance for the reliable operation of smart skin and flexible electronics
including biological and structural health monitoring sensors," explained
Sameh Tawfick, an assistant professor of mechanical science and engineering at
Illinois. "Aligned carbon nanotube sheets are suitable for a wide range of
application spanning the micro- to the macro-scales including
Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), supercapacitor electrodes, electrical
cables, artificial muscles, and multi-functional composites.
"To our knowledge, this is the first study to apply the principles
of fracture mechanics to design and study the toughness nano-architectured CNT
textiles. The theoretical framework of fracture mechanics is shown to be very
robust for a variety of linear and non-linear materials."
Carbon nanotubes, which have been around since the early nineties, have
been hailed as a "wonder material" for numerous nanotechnology
applications, and rightly so. These tiny cylindrical structures made from
wrapped graphene sheets have diameter of a few nanometers -- about 1000 times
thinner than a human hair, yet, a single carbon nanotube is stronger than steel
and carbon fibers, more conductive than copper, and lighter than aluminum.
However, it has proven really difficult to construct materials, such as
fabrics or films that demonstrate these properties on centimeter or meter
scales. The challenge stems from the difficulty of assembling and weaving CNTs
since they are so small, and their geometry is very hard to control.
"The study of the fracture energy of CNT textiles led us to design
these extremely tough films," stated Yue Liang, a former graduate student
with the Kinetic Materials Research group and lead author of the paper,
"Tough Nano-Architectured Conductive Textile Made by Capillary Splicing of
Carbon Nanotubes," appearing in Advanced Engineering Materials. To
our knowledge, this is the first study of the fracture energy of CNT textiles.
MoreThe monthly Coppock Indicators finished March
DJIA: 20,663
+131 Up. NASDAQ: 5,912 +165 Up. SP500: 2,363 +135 Up.
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