Baltic Dry Index. 1191 -21 Brent Crude 64.36
“I
learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of
the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I
could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both.”
Robert
Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Is the trade war
already over? Under rising global pressure of retaliation, did President Trump
just fold? Like the Grand Old Duke of York, is President Trump already marching
his men down again? If he is folding, Trump’s presidency can be rolled again
and again. But is this just a ploy? Sort of good cop, bad cop, from a Dr. Jeckyll
and Mr. Hyde President?
Below, reasons to
think that President Trump just blinked. But how long before he turns Edward
Hyde, bad cop again?
“If
you're not gonna pull the trigger, don't point the gun.”
James
Baker. United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Ronald Reagan,
and U.S. Secretary of State and White House Chief of Staff under President
George H. W. Bush.
March 8, 2018 / 12:48 AM /
Updated 2 hours ago
Asian shares find solace in hopes of smaller Trump tariff
TOKYO
(Reuters) - Asian shares found relief on Thursday as fears about a global trade
war amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to introduce protectionist tariffs
were tempered by signs the move could include carve-outs for key partners.
MSCI's
broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.9
percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI led
the region with rise of 1.2 percent. In Japan, the Nikkei .N225
gained 0.8 percent.
On
Wall Street, the S&P 500 .SPX ended
down just 0.05 percent at 2,726.8 after an initial loss of almost one percent,
with tech shares being a major bright spot.
They erased most
losses as White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a media briefing that the
impending hefty U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports could exclude
Canada, Mexico and a clutch of other countries.
That soothed
worries that the Trump Administration could lean more toward protectionist
policies after the departure of his top economic adviser Gary Cohn.
“Concerns about
the U.S. tariff should ease today following the comments from the White House,”
said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.
“Still the issue will continue to hang over in the markets. Investors need to
see exactly what steps Trump will take and what retaliatory actions other
countries will take in coming days.”
More
Canada, Mexico to Get Initial Exemption From Trump Tariffs
By Jennifer Jacobs, Andrew Mayeda, and Toluse Olorunnipa
Updated on 8 March 2018, 04:55 GMT
The Trump administration will initially exclude Canada and Mexico from
stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, an exemption they would lose if
they fail to reach an updated Nafta agreement with the U.S., White House trade
adviser Peter Navarro said on Wednesday.
The two nations won’t be subject to tariffs on their steel and aluminum
if they sign a new North American Free Trade Agreement that meets the
satisfaction of the U.S., Navarro said, adding that other American allies could
use a similar system to ask for an exemption.
If Nafta talks fall through, Canada and Mexico would face the same
tariff as other nations, expected to be 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on
aluminum.
“Here’s the situation, and the president has made this public,"
Navarro said. "There’s going to be a provision which will exclude Canada
and Mexico until the Nafta thing is concluded one way or another."
The decision-making process regarding the tariffs has evolved and more
changes could be made before President Donald Trump formally approves them.
China on Thursday vowed to retaliate, its most forceful comments yet on the
threatened tariffs.
More
China Warns of ‘Justified and Necessary Response’ to Trade War
Bloomberg News
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi vowed a “justified and necessary
response” to any efforts to incite a trade war, in the country’s most forceful
response yet to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened trade actions.
A trade war would hurt both the actor as well as the intended target,
Wang told a news briefing on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress in
Beijing Thursday. He urged the U.S. to work with China on a mutually beneficial
solution.
“A trade war has never been the right way to solve the problem,
especially under globalization,” Wang said. Such a conflict “will only harm
everyone and China will surely make a justified and necessary response.”
Trump’s economic advisers are defending U.S. plans to impose steel
tariffs, leaving the door open for exempting some countries and downplaying the
fallout of a possible trade war. Still, Trump hinted on Wednesday that his
restrictions on trade could run even deeper, citing China’s alleged theft of
intellectual property.
The U.S. is said to be considering clamping down on Chinese investment
and imposing tariffs on a broad range of goods to punish Beijing over unfair
intellectual-property practices as part of an ongoing U.S. investigation
ordered by Trump.
More
U.S. Trade Gap Widens to Post-Recession High
By Sho Chandra
7 March 2018, 13:30 GMT
The U.S. trade deficit widened more than forecast in January to a
post-recession high, adding to figures cited by President Donald Trump as
evidence of American weakness while he brings the nation to the brink of a
trade war.
The gap increased 5 percent to $56.6 billion, the biggest since October
2008, from a revised $53.9 billion in the prior month, Commerce Department data
showed Wednesday. Exports fell 1.3 percent from December, the most in more than
a year, while imports were little changed.
From a current economic standpoint, the widening deficit indicates trade
may again be a drag on the pace of first-quarter expansion. The gap has
increased in recent months as steady household spending and business investment
boost imports. Improving global growth and a weaker dollar have been supporting
overseas sales of American-made goods, though not enough to outpace inbound
shipments.
From a political standpoint, however, the gap has formed a statistical
backdrop first to Trump’s 2016 election campaign and now to his planned tariffs
on steel and aluminum. The president has opened multiple fronts in trade
battles, from targeting strategic rival China to angering allies like Canada
and EU with threats to erect fresh barriers.
The European Union is preparing retaliatory levies on products including
motorcycles, jeans and bourbon whiskey if Trump follows through on his threat. A
full-blown trade war would risk blunting the effects of the president’s
policies such as tax cuts and reduced regulation, aimed at boosting U.S.
growth.
“The United States has been taken advantage of by other countries, both
friendly and not so friendly, for many, many decades,” Trump said Tuesday when
asked if he would push forward with the tariffs despite concerns from fellow
Republicans. In an apparent reference to the full-year trade gap in goods,
Trump said, “we have a trade deficit of $800 billion a year. And that’s not
going to happen with me.”
---- Exports declined to $200.9 billion, led by civilian aircraft, oil and other industrial materials, according to the Commerce Department. At the same time, exports of consumer goods rose to a record $17.9 billion, while shipments of automotive vehicles and parts were the highest since July 2014.
Imports held at $257.5 billion, as petroleum imports rose to a
three-year high while capital and consumer goods declined.
The report also showed the merchandise trade gap with China, the world’s
second-biggest economy behind the U.S., widened in January to $36 billion, the
highest since September 2015, on an unadjusted basis. The goods trade deficit
with Canada hit a three-year high of $3.6 billion.
More
Walmart, Nike Suppliers Put on Notice by China Tariff Threat
By Angus Whitley and Daniela Wei
7 March 2018, 04:55 GMT Updated on 7 March 2018, 09:14 GMT
Some
of China’s biggest manufacturers that supply U.S. multinationals from Walmart Inc. to Nike Inc. find themselves in
President Donald Trump’s cross hairs as his administration discusses new import tariffs.
The U.S. is considering taxing imports from shoes and clothing to consumer electronics, putting on the hook companies including Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd. and Li & Fung Ltd. that help fuel the about $450 billion in Chinese goods imported to America annually. Chinese manufacturers won’t be the only ones hurt in a trade war, as their close relationships as suppliers to American brands will likely create a ripple effect.
“Our greatest fear is a trade war,” said Eric Li, the owner of Huizhou Baizhan Glass Ltd., which has a factory in Guangdong province and makes glass lampshades for Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Cos. “I hope Trump realizes that everything has a price. Americans also have things they need to sell to China and the world, so he should think of the consequences."
Many Chinese manufacturers are part of the global supply chain. Li & Fung, which sources clothes and toys for retailers, counts Walmart and Macy’s Inc. as customers, while Yue Yuen supplies Nike and Under Armour Inc.
Yue Yuen generates about 25 percent of its sales in the U.S., while Li & Fung relies on the U.S. for almost two thirds of revenue, according to Bloomberg data. The American Apparel and Footwear Association said that some 98 percent of shoes and 97 percent of clothing sold in the U.S. are imported. Most of that manufacturing comes from China.
Read more: The U.S. Businesses at Risk From Trade War With China: QuickTake
Companies that have products assembled in China, such as Apple Inc., may be hurt. It’s also not clear how tariffs might affect a borderless company like Samsonite International SA. The Hong Kong-listed company has headquarters in Mansfield, Massachusetts, and uses Chinese factories to make some of its travel luggage.
More
Oh, The
grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.
Crypto mania again. Separating fools from their
money. A variant of Ebenezer Squids Gods work.
Bitcoin’s Tokyo Whale Sold $400 Million and He’s Not Done Yet
By Go Onomitsu
Updated on 7 March 2018, 22:53 GMT
He’s not your typical Bitcoin whale, but Nobuaki Kobayashi has become a
force to be reckoned with in the cryptocurrency world.
The Tokyo attorney and bankruptcy trustee for the now-defunct Mt. Gox exchange
disclosed on Wednesday that he sold about $400 million of Bitcoin and Bitcoin
Cash since late September. Kobayashi, who’s liquidating the tokens on behalf
of Mt. Gox creditors, has another $1.9 billion to offload.
Once the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection four years ago after disclosing that it lost 850,000 Bitcoins, then worth about $500 million. The company, which later said it recovered about 200,000 Bitcoins, blamed hackers for the loss.
While Kobayashi didn’t provide details of his strategy for selling the coins, he said he tried to get “as high a price as possible.” Disclosures in his report on the Mt. Gox website suggest his Bitcoin sales since September fetched the equivalent of $10,105 on average. The cryptocurrency was trading at $10,031 as of 6:45 a.m. Hong Kong time on Thursday.
Switzerland’s Crypto Crush Marred by $1 Billion Spat
By Hugo Miller
7 March 2018, 04:00 GMT
All is not well in Crypto
Valley.One of the highest profile digital-currency projects in Switzerland, a country that’s been among the most enthusiastic advocates for cryptocurrencies, is under fire from both outsiders and insiders over allegations of false marketing and mismanagement, prompting its president to resign.
Now the Tezos Foundation, which raised $232 million in an initial coin offering, is engaged in the most American of pursuits: a round of lawsuits.
The non-profit’s fundraising touted an all-new model for the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies. A group of investors are claiming in California court that the entrepreneurs behind the offering misleadingly marketed the purchase of “Tezzie” tokens as part of a charitable contribution, which would leave investors with nothing if the project collapses.
Switzerland ranks second just behind the U.S. in capital raised in ICOs, with most of the transactions done by foreigners flocking to Switzerland, according to a 2017 report by venture capital firm Atomico. This case has broad implications for Switzerland’s future as a launching pad for ICOs.
“Will the judge accept the narrative that this was just like contributing to public radio and all you get is a tote bag, or was it an investment where everyone expected a return,” says Stephen Palley, a lawyer who runs the cryptocurrency practice at the firm of Anderson Kill in Washington. “The structure was misused and the age of token entrepreneurs going to Switzerland to set up Swiss foundations is probably over.”
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton last month said that ICOs will face fresh scrutiny as the market is probably full of fraud. The SEC has issued a clutch of subpoenas to ICO operators as part of a broad crackdown.
All About Bitcoin, Blockchain and Their Crypto World: QuickTake
The Tezos lawsuit “should give Swiss or other foreign entrepreneurs and enthusiasts pause if they are thinking about trying to raise funds for a U.S. operation or from U.S. investors using an ICO structure that doesn’t comply with the registration requirements of the Securities Act,” says Joel Fleming, a Boston lawyer who represents some of the plaintiffs.
At a hearing on March 15 in San Francisco, the investors are expected to consolidate their putative class-action lawsuits. The legal action comes on top of a separate dispute between Tezos’s co-founders, a Franco-American couple named Kathleen and Arthur Breitman, and South African Johann Gevers, one of the pioneers behind Zug’s push to make itself a cryptocurrency hub. The Breitmans have accused Gevers of mismanagement and conflicts of interest.
$1 Billion?
The stakes for the Tezos project have risen to more than $1 billion, the plaintiffs allege, as the value of the ether and Bitcoin tokens which were used to invest in the ICO in July has surged.Late last year, the Swiss regulator that oversees foundations examined Tezos and demanded it add a board member to reinforce the foundation’s independence. On Feb. 22, Gevers stepped down as president of the Tezos Foundation and five days later, an entirely new board was appointed.
Oliver Bussmann, who worked with Gevers to establish Crypto Valley, acknowedged that the Tezos dispute has had a negative impact. But he said he’s glad that with a new board and Gevers’s resignation, Tezos appears to have “solved their deadlocked situation and can move forward.”
More
Bitcoin price drops 10% as hackers exploit Binance’s API keys
Welcome to another rollercoaster day for the cryptocurrency community. In just a few minutes, bitcoin price crashed from $10,740 to $9,690, which represents a 10.8 percent crash.As always, it’s a bit hard to know for sure what’s happening. But one company in particular is having a bad day. Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has spotted some unusual activities and halted withdrawals.
Binance is one of the biggest exchanges out there. According to CoinMarketCap, it’s one of the 4 biggest exchanges for the top cryptocurrencies when it comes to traded volume.
Many people noticed something highly unusual with Viacoin happening right before the crash. There was a huge increase in buy orders for Viacoins on Binance. In just a few minutes, Viacoin’s market capitalization jumped from $64 million to $159 million
Binance looked into it and noticed unauthorized sell orders. “We are investigating reports of some users having issues with their funds. Our team is aware and investigating the issue as we speak,” the company wrote on Reddit. “As of this moment, the only confirmed victims have registered API keys (to use with trading bots or otherwise). There is no evidence of the Binance platform being compromised.”
So it seems like a third-party service or app got compromised. Users of
that third-party app were relying on API keys to control Binance accounts. A
hacker may have developed a bot that submits orders at the same time (7:00 AM
Pacific).
While the Binance team halted withdrawals, it might be too late. It’s
also possible that the hacker already had a big position in Viacoin on another
exchange. The hacker could have sold a big pile of Viacoins shortly after
manipulating the price on Binance.
More
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?
Nanotechnology treasure trove
Date:
March 6, 2018
Source:
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Summary:
Scientists have identified more than 1,000 materials with a particularly
interesting 2-D structure.
2D materials, which consist of a few layers of atoms, may well be the
future of nanotechnology. They offer potential new applications and could be
used in small, higher-performance and more energy-efficient devices. 2D
materials were first discovered almost 15 years ago, but only a few dozen of
them have been synthesized so far. Now, thanks to an approach developed by
researchers from EPFL's Theory and Simulation of Materials Laboratory (THEOS)
and from NCCR-MARVEL for Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials,
many more promising 2D materials may now be identified. Their work was recently
published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, and even got a mention
on the cover page.
The first 2D material to be isolated was graphene, in 2004, earning the
researchers who discovered it a Nobel Prize in 2010. This marked the start of a
whole new era in electronics, as graphene is light, transparent and resilient
and, above all, a good conductor of electricity. It paved the way to new
applications in numerous fields such as photovoltaics and optoelectronics.
"To find other materials with similar properties, we focused on the
feasibility of exfoliation," explains Nicolas Mounet, a researcher in the
THEOS lab and lead author of the study. "But instead of placing adhesive
strips on graphite to see if the layers peeled off, like the Nobel Prize
winners did, we used a digital method."
More than 100,000 materials analyzed
The researchers developed an algorithm to review and carefully analyze
the structure of more than 100,000 3D materials recorded in external databases.
From this, they created a database of around 5,600 potential 2D materials, including
more than 1,000 with particularly promising properties. In other words, they've
created a treasure trove for nanotechnology experts.
To build their database, the researchers used a step-by-step process of
elimination. First, they identified all of the materials that are made up of
separate layers. "We then studied the chemistry of these materials in
greater detail and calculated the energy that would be needed to separate the
layers, focusing primarily on materials where interactions between atoms of
different layers are weak, something known as Van der Waals bonding," says
Marco Gibertini, a researcher at THEOS and the second author of the study.
A plethora of 2D candidates
Of the 5,600 materials initially identified, the researchers singled out
1,800 structures that could potentially be exfoliated, including 1,036 that
looked especially easy to exfoliate. This represents a considerable increase in
the number of possible 2D materials known today. They then selected the 258
most promising materials, categorizing them according to their magnetic,
electronic, mechanical, thermal and topological properties.
More
The
quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
George
Orwell.
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished February
DJIA: 25,029 +283 Up 01. NASDAQ: 7,273 +313 Up 03. SP500: 2,714 +212 Flat.
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