Baltic Dry Index. 1496 -26 Brent Crude 60.54
“Capitalism was dead, to begin with ... This must be distinctly
understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.”
Alan Greenspan, with apologies to Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
In stocks, it’s bubble
on like there’s no tomorrow, and with no tomorrow, everyone and their dog is
grabbing theirs while the grabbing’s good. But there will be a tomorrow, and it
won’t be much like today. “Deficits don’t matter,” famously pontificated,
warmonger US Vice President Cheney, and
that was true right up until the day, out of the blue, (to Cheney, at least,)
they did!
But for now, it’s
party time in stocks. Everyone’s spiking the punch bowl. What could possibly go
wrong. Sit back in the Ferrari and relax, toss the punch drunk teenager the
keys, we’re going for a ride.
“You
are fettered," said Ebenezer Squid, trembling. "Tell me why?"
"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Central Bankster. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”
"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Central Bankster. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”
With
apologies to Scrooge and Charles Dickens.
U.S. Stocks Rise With Dollar on Fed Economy Views: Markets Wrap
By Jeremy Herron and Sarah Ponczek
Updated on November 1, 2017, 9:11 PM GMT
Most U.S. stocks advanced and the dollar rose after the Federal Reserve
acknowledged economic growth is solid. Small caps fell as the prospects for tax
reform remained uncertain amid political wrangling in Congress.The S&P 500 Index edged higher after the Fed reinforced expectations for a December rate increase by subtly upgrading its assessment of the economy. Treasuries maintained their advance, while the dollar budged little after the Wall Street Journal reported President Donald Trump has selected Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to lead the Fed.
The Fed meeting did little to alter perceptions, with investors focused on the prospects for tax cuts, corporate earnings and Friday’s U.S. jobs report. The Russell 2000 Index took a hit on speculation that failure to cut taxes would weigh on small companies hardest. Facebook Inc. added more than 2 percent in late trading after its results topped estimates. Apple Inc. is due to report Thursday.
Earlier, European equities hit a two-year high and share measures from Tokyo to Sydney climbed as corporate earnings poured in ahead of expectations. Nickel surged to the highest since 2015 on speculation demand will grow, while oil slumped from an eight-month high following a U.S. inventories report.
U.S. equity markets continue to show sensitivity to the tax plan as its prospects ebb and wax from headline to headline. Congress intended to release details Wednesday but delayed that until at least tomorrow as legislators debate how to pay for big reductions. Trump has insisted that the legislation be passed before Thanksgiving. The back-and-forth threatened to overshadow a raft of strong corporate earnings and sales that had bolstered optimism in the global economy.
“The market is pounding the table asking, ‘Where is this plan, why have I not seen it yet, the calendar is getting short,”’ said Michael Antonelli, managing director of institutional equity trading at Robert W Baird. “The Russell 2000 has been going lower every second of the day so far.”
Meanwhile, central banks remain on the docket. An announcement on who will helm the Fed is due Thursday, with current board member Jerome Powell said to have the edge over John Taylor. The Bank of England will probably lift borrowing costs on for the first time in a decade.
----Here are some other key upcoming events this week:
- The U.S. October payroll report comes out Friday.
- Trump starts an 11-day trip to Asia, his first as president, on Friday. Trade and security issues -- particularly North Korea -- will probably be in focus.
- A probable Bank of England rate hike on Thursday will be the first in a decade.
- The slew of earnings releases will culminate with Apple Inc. results.
More
November 2, 2017 / 4:59 AM
China stocks fall as economy, liquidity concerns arise; Hong Kong soft
SHANGHAI, Nov 2 (Reuters) - China stocks weakened on Thursday morning,
weighed down by banking and real estate shares, as investors who liked the
third-quarter reporting season now anticipate a possible economic slowdown and
tighter liquidity before year-end.
The Hong Kong market was also soft, as investors await a fresh catalyst
to restart a rally that appears to be losing steam.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.4 percent, to 3,979.75 points
at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.6
percent, to 3,376.11 points.
With China’s generally upbeat third-quarter earnings in the rear mirror,
investors set their eyes toward a possible slowdown in the economy as they
weigh the impact of government’s tough anti-corruption campaign and continuing
deleveraging efforts.
The rapid rise in bond yields since mid-October “is the result of a
sudden change in expectations toward the economy, and fresh assessment of the
government’s determination to deleverage,” wrote Qiao Yongyuan, Shanghai-based
strategist at CIB Research.
In the stock market, the impact of rising yields “is being gradually
felt,” he said.
But a correction in China’s A-shares could be seen as a bargain-hunting
opportunity for some overseas investors.
Foreign holdings of Chinese shares exceeded 1 trillion yuan ($151.1
billion) for the first time in September, central bank data showed on Thursday,
as capital market deregulation and MSCI’s China inclusion fuelled demand for
Chinese blue chips.
Most sectors sagged on Thursday. An index tracking China’s biggest
lenders sank 0.8 percent and the property subindex lost 0.9 percent.
More
November 2, 2017 / 2:43 AM
Nikkei at 21-year high; Honda, Sony up on earnings boost
TOKYO,
Nov 2 (Reuters) - Japan’s Nikkei share average extended its strong rally to top
a new 21-year peak on Thursday morning, with the mining sector getting a boost
while buyers continued to pile into companies such as Honda Motor and Sony on
robust earnings prospects.
The Nikkei rose 0.5 percent to 22,527.07 in early deals, the highest
level since July 1996, trimming those gains to stand flat at 22,429.30 in
midmorning trade.
Mining stocks staged a rally and were the best performers on the board,
with Inpex Corp rising 2.3 percent and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co adding
0.4 percent.
Honda Motor Co rose more than 5 percent after the automaker raised its
forecast for full-year operating profit by 2.8 percent as it expects to sell
more cars and motorcycles this year. It also boosted its second quarter
dividend and announced a share buyback plan.
Sony Corp jumped 2.7 percent, extending its gains from the previous day
to hit a nine-year high after it forecast record earnings.
On
the other hand, Panasonic Corp, the world’s largest automotive lithium-ion
battery maker, tumbled more than 4 percent after Tesla Inc pushed back its
target for volume production on its new Model 3 sedan by about three months,
saying it was difficult to predict how long it would take to fix all production
bottlenecks.
In EUSSR news, German
car makers look set to be forced to make honest diesels. But will anyone want
to buy them at any price? Too little to late comes to mind. In GB at least,
there’s a very noticeable black cloud left behind when most German diesels pull
away from traffic lights.
November 1, 2017 / 3:08 PM
German Greens make stand on car emissions in coalition talks
BERLIN
(Reuters) - Germany’s Greens said on Wednesday that any coalition government
they join would have to agree to make carmakers introduce mechanical changes to
engine and exhaust systems to cut toxic emissions.
Transport
is among the policy areas being thrashed out in talks taking place between Chancellor
Angela Merkel’s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the
Greens, who are aiming to form a coalition by Christmas.
The parties are discussing all policy areas before launching detailed
negotiations. While the atmosphere has improved in recent days, there have been
few actual deals, with immigration and climate change among the biggest
sticking points.
The Greens’ demand on carmakers would go further than software fixes so
far agreed between politicians and German car bosses to help repair the
industry’s badly damaged reputation.
The future of Germany’s mighty car industry, the country’s biggest exporter and provider of some 800,000 jobs, is a tricky area as it tries to recover from the diesel emissions testing scandal which broke at Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) two years ago.
Despite public concern and planned diesel bans in countries
including France and Britain in coming decades, German lawmakers have not yet
dared ask the same of its carmakers, such as BMW, VW, Daimler and Porsche who
have invested heavily in diesel.
In August, politicians and car bosses agreed to overhaul
engine software on 5.3 million diesel cars to cut pollution and avoid bans on
polluting vehicles but they stopped short of committing to more expensive
hardware modifications.
More
Finally, in other
news, everyone, well Bahrain anyway, is running out of money. Another red flag
in the rickety, dying, Great Nixonian Error of fiat money, it seems to me. How
long before Bahrain has to devalue, wreaking financial havoc in the Persian
Gulf?
Bahrain Asks Gulf Allies for Aid to Stave Off Crisis
By Alaa Shahine and Zainab Fattah
Updated on November 2, 2017, 5:05 AM GMT
Bahrain has asked Gulf Arab allies for financial assistance as it seeks
to replenish its foreign-exchange reserves and avert a currency devaluation
that could reverberate across the region, according to people with knowledge of
the talks.
The request was made to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two
of the people said. A third person said Kuwait was also asked. The countries
responded by requesting the island kingdom do more to bring its finances under
control in return for the money, the people said on condition of anonymity
because the discussions were private. The talks are at an early stage, one
person said.
The slump in oil prices has battered the six-member Gulf Cooperation
Council, at times raising questions over whether a dollar peg seen as a bedrock
for economic stability for more than three decades was sustainable. And while
bets against the region’s currencies have subsided this year, a devaluation of
a GCC member would risk shifting the attention to others. Gulf central banks,
including Bahrain’s, have repeatedly brushed aside talk of abandoning their
exchange-rate regimes.
“Most people are fully expecting the other Gulf countries to
come to Bahrain’s aid,” said Jason Tuvey, a London-based economist at Capital
Economics. “If Bahrain was forced to devalue its currency it would
probably start to raise questions about other currency pegs.”
Bahrain, the Gulf’s smallest economy and a close Saudi ally, has been
more vulnerable to slumping oil prices and regional political instability than
richer GCC states, several of whom have cut spending and curtailed handouts to
their citizens. And while Bahrain’s budget deficit is set to narrow this year,
the International Monetary Fund expects the shortfall to be the highest in the
GCC.
The central bank’s foreign reserves, including gold, have tumbled about
75 percent since 2014 to just above 522 million dinars ($1.39 billion) in
August, according to the most recent official data. Without aid or a recovery
in oil revenue, authorities may struggle to keep the currency’s peg to the U.S.
dollar -- maintained at 0.376 Bahraini dinars.
More
"I
never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
Albert Einstein, scientist.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.
Today, the EUSSR busy at work and how it helps out. And still no London
rent-seeking, leveraged gambling banksters have slithered off to Paris, or
anywhere else on the continent made for tanks. Remember that after the Brexit
vote they were all going to head for dangerous Paris, boring Frankfurt, tax shy
Dublin, and the Siberia of tax dodgy Luxembourg. Still, according to one of the
legion of ridiculous EUSSR Presidents, it was going to end western
civilisation, and start World War Three, which hasn’t happened. Migrant Mad
Merkel’s folly might yet accomplish those last two, just give it time.
Dodgy Dave Cameron: "Juncker, I
haven't tasted food for 3 days."
Juncker: "Well, I wouldn't worry about it... it still tastes the
same."
How the EU helps out. With apologies to
Curly, Moe, and Larry.
November 1, 2017 / 11:48 AM
Two years after the Paris attacks, France ends state of emergency
PARIS (Reuters) - Two years after militants killed 130 people in coordinated attacks across Paris, France officially ended a state of emergency, replacing it with the introduction of a new security law which critics say undermines civil liberties.
The new anti-terrorism law, effective from Wednesday, gives police
extended powers to search properties, conduct electronic eavesdropping and shut
mosques or other locations suspected of preaching hatred.
“Some dread that now that we are out the state of emergency there could
be a drop in vigilance, it is the opposite,” French Prime Minister Edouard
Philippe told journalists during a short visit to police officers guarding the
Eiffel Tower in Paris.
“The level of threat is high everywhere in the world,” he said,
referring to the attack in New York on Tuesday where a pickup truck driver
killed eight people.
The new legislation transposes some of the measures contained in the
state of emergency rule into law, although with some modifications.
One measure will allow the Interior Ministry, without approval from a
judge, to set up large security perimeters in case of an identified threat, restricting
movement of people and vehicles and with power to carry out searches inside the
area.
Conservative politicians warn the regulations are not going far enough
while human rights groups and members of the left fear police misconduct.
“France has become so addicted to the state of emergency that it is now
injecting several of these abusive measures into ordinary law,” Human Rights
Watch said before parliament backed the legislation last month.
More
November 1, 2017 / 1:38 PM
Refugees in Greece demand transfer to Germany, start hunger strike
ATHENS
(Reuters) - A group of mainly Syrian women and children who have been stranded
in Greece pitched tents opposite parliament in Athens on Wednesday in a protest
against delays in reuniting with relatives in Germany.
Some of the refugees, who say they have been in Greece for over a year,
said they had begun a hunger strike.
“Our family ties our stronger than your illegal agreements,” read a banner
held up by one woman, referring to deals on refugees between European Union
nations.
Greek media have reported that Greece and Germany informally agreed in
May to slow down refugee reunification, stranding families in Greece for months
after they fled Syria’s civil war. Greece denies this.
Some of the refugees, who say they have been in Greece for over a year,
said they had begun a hunger strike.
“Our family ties our stronger than your illegal agreements,” read a
banner held up by one woman, referring to deals on refugees between European
Union nations.
Greek media have reported that Greece and Germany informally agreed in
May to slow down refugee reunification, stranding families in Greece for months
after they fled Syria’s civil war. Greece denies this.
“I have not seen my husband, my child, for more
than one year and nine months,” said 32-year-old Syrian Dalal Rashou, who has
five children, one of whom is in Germany with her husband.
---- About 60,000 refugees and migrants, mostly Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis, have become stranded in Greece after border closures in the Balkans halted the onward journey many planned to take to central and western Europe.
Nearly 148,084 refugees and migrants have crossed to Greece from Turkey
this year - a fraction of the nearly 1 million arrivals in 2015 - but arrivals
have picked up in recent months.
An average of 214 people arrived each day in September, up from 156 in
August, 87 in July and 56 in March, Mouzalas said.
The rise has stretched Greek island camps, which are struggling to cope
with numbers two to three times their capacity. Most new arrivals are women and
children, according to United Nations data.
More
October 31, 2017 / 7:37 AM
German police arrest Syrian suspect, avert 'major terrorist attack'
BERLIN (Reuters) - German police arrested a
19-year-old Syrian suspected of planning an Islamist-motivated bomb attack in
Germany with the aim of killing as many people as possible, the federal
prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said security officials had averted
a “major terrorist attack”.
The man, identified as Yamen A., had been in contact online with
jihadists including one who described himself as a “soldier of the caliphate”,
a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor’s office said.
Yamen A. was arrested in the early hours in the northeastern town of
Schwerin. Police searched his home and also those of other people not suspected
of being directly involved.
“According to the findings so far, Yamen A. made the decision no later
than July 2017 to detonate an explosive device in Germany in order to kill and
injure as many people as possible,” the prosecutor’s office said in a
statement.
“As a result, he began to procure components and chemicals needed to
make an explosive device. Whether the suspect had already envisaged a specific
target for his bomb attack is still unclear,” the office added.
He had ordered chemicals over the internet that could be used to make
the explosive TATP, short for triacetone triperoxide, the spokeswoman for the
prosecutor’s office later added. He had also acquired two radios, batteries and
a cellphone battery, suggesting he planned a remote-controlled explosion by
radio or mobile telephone.
There were no indications that he was a member of a terrorist
organisation, the office said. It did not say when he arrived in Germany.
More
“People
say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.”
J-C
Juncker, Failed Luxembourg Prime
Minister and ex-president of the Euro Group of Finance Ministers. Confessed
liar. European Commission President. Scotch connoisseur. With apologies
to A.A. Milne, and Winnie-the-Pooh.
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?
Graphene enables high-speed electronics on flexible materials
Date:
October 31, 2017
Source:
Chalmers University of Technology
Summary:
A flexible detector for terahertz frequencies (1,000 gigahertz) has been
developed using graphene transistors on plastic substrates. It is the first of
its kind, and can extend the use of terahertz technology to applications that
will require flexible electronics, such as wireless sensor networks and
wearable technology.
Terahertz radiation has a wide range of uses and can occur in everything
from radio astronomy to medicine. The term refers to the electromagnetic waves
whose frequencies range from 100 gigahertz to 10 terahertz. Demand for higher
bandwidth in wireless communications and depiction for security applications
has led to intensified research on systems and components intended for
terahertz frequencies.
One challenge has long been to enable low weight and cheap applications.
However, advances in polymer technology have promoted the development of
flexible electronics and enabled the production of high frequency units on
flexible substrates.
Now, Chalmers researchers Xinxin Yang, Andrei Vorobiev, Andrey
Generalov, Michael A. Andersson and Jan Stake have developed the first
mechanically flexible and graphene-based terahertz detector in its kind. Thus,
paving the way for flexible terahertz electronics.
The detector has unique features. At room temperature, it detects
signals in the frequency range 330 to 500 gigahertz. It is translucent and
flexible, and opens to a variety of applications. The technique can be used for
imaging in the terahertz area (THz camera), but also for identifying different
substances (sensor). It may also be of potential benefit in health care, where
terahertz waves can be used to detect cancer. Other areas where the detector
could be used are imaging sensors for vehicles or for wireless communications.
The unique electronic features of graphene, combined with its flexible
nature, make it a promising
material to integrate into plastic and fabric,
something that will be important building blocks in a future interconnected
world. Graphene electronics enables new applications for, among other things,
everyday objects, which are commonly referred to as the Internet of Things.
The detector shows the concrete possibilities of graphene, a material
that conduct electric current extremely well. It is a feature that makes
graphene an attractive building block in fast electronics. The Chalmers
researchers' work is therefore an important step forward for graphene in the
terahertz area, and a breakthrough for high performance and cheap flexible
terahertz technology.
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished October
DJIA: 23,277 +233 Up. NASDAQ: 6,728 +284 Up. SP500: 2,575 +183 Up.
Hey man,
ReplyDeleteAfter accepting the economic growth of the Federal Reserve, most of the United States stocks are developed and the dollar increases. The possibility of tax reforms was uncertain in the political rebellion in Congress, the small caps.
U.S. equity markets continue to show sensitivity to the tax plan as its prospects ebb and wax from headline to headline.“The market is pounding the table asking, ‘Where is this plan, why have I not seen it yet, the calendar is getting short,”’ said Michael Antonelli, managing director of institutional equity trading at Robert W Baird. The detector shows the concrete possibilities of graphene, a material that conduct electric current extremely well. It is a feature that makes graphene an attractive building block in fast electronics. The Chalmers researchers' work is therefore an important step forward for graphene in the terahertz area, and a breakthrough for high performance and cheap flexible terahertz technology.I agree with this post. Thanks for sharing your post.......
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