Baltic Dry Index. 952
+04 Brent Crude
69.06
Show me
the man, I’ll show you the crime.
Stalin.
In what is clearly an
attempt by America’s “deep state” to intimidate team Trump, and anyone inclined
to help them, the FBI yesterday raided the office and home of President Trump’s
personal lawyer. In a message right out of the worst of the old Soviet Union, “no
one is safe, we can get anyone we like, and at any time.” Forget rule of law, “show
me the man, I’ll show you the crime.”
Is President Trump
now a dead man walking on eggshells? Will another foreign adventure, in Syria or
Iran, now be on the cards to reign in the American deep state? Overnight, we
are suddenly facing the brink of war, or a late 2018, early 2019 impeachment
trial of President Trump.
Below, a world
sleepwalking towards the abyss. President Xi offers an olive branch, but is it
already too little too late?
April 10, 2018 / 2:19 AM
Stocks rally as Xi calms jitters over U.S.-China trade row
SINGAPORE
(Reuters) - U.S stock futures rallied, Asian equities bounced and the safe
haven yen fell on Tuesday as Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to lower
import tariffs on products including cars, helping soothe investor jitters over
an escalating U.S.-China trade row.
Xi, speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province, said that
China will take measures to sharply widen market access for foreign investors,
raise the foreign ownership limit in the automobile sector and protect
intellectual property of foreign firms.
Xi’s comments prompted a rapid and largely positive reaction in
financial markets, which have been rattled over the past week on fears the
tit-for-tat U.S.-China tariffs will explode into a full-scale trade war in a
blow to global growth.
“His comments seem to have covered all the major issues U.S. have
raised, including intellectual properties and liberalisation of domestic
markets,” said Yoshinori Shigemi, global market strategist for JPMorgan Asset
Management in Tokyo.
“Xi threw the ball into the U.S. court but it appears China is laying
the groundwork to achieve an agreement with the U.S.”
In stock markets, U.S. S&P 500 E-mini futures ESc1 rose by as much
as 1.5 percent ESc1 and were last up 1 percent.
More
‘New Normal’ of U.S.-China Tensions May Put Up to $400 Billion in Investment at Risk
By Katia Dmitrieva
U.S.-China trade tensions may be a lingering reality that puts as much
as $400 billion in investment at risk in the world’s two biggest economies, a
new report said.
Chinese investment into the U.S. slumped last year to $29 billion from
$46 billion, as the Asian nation restricted outbound capital and the Trump
administration took a tough stance on deals, according to the report Tuesday
from New York-based research firm Rhodium Group and the National Committee on
U.S.-China Relations. U.S. investment into China was little changed at $14
billion.
----Such actions form an increasingly difficult backdrop for the factories and other operations that businesses have spent years building up on both sides of the Pacific. U.S. companies have $256 billion invested in Chinese firms, while Chinese companies have invested about $140 billion in the U.S., according to the report.
“This more problematic political environment is likely not just
transient but rather the new normal,” Rhodium Group analysts Thilo Hanemann,
Daniel Rosen and Cassie Gao wrote in the report. “Firms already invested across
borders and prospective investors will have to deal with these new
realities."
Expectations have been building in recent days that the two nations will
be able to negotiate a settlement to prevent imposing the fees in full. That
would help assuage market anxieties that have buffeted stocks and have already
made it more expensive for some American companies to operate.
The U.S. administration’s current confrontational strategy toward China
links trade more closely with national security.
More
Here’s what FBI raid on Trump lawyer’s office means for the stock market
Published: Apr 9, 2018 8:42 p.m. ET
The stock market hates uncertainty, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s
raid Monday of the office of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer just
introduced a fresh dollop of political doubt. According to The Wall Street Journal, federal agents searched the office, home and Manhattan hotel room of Trump’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen. Cohen’s office later confirmed the raid, describing the search as “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” The raid was first reported by the New York Times.
News reports said federal prosecutors received a referral from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is charged with probing ties between President Trump and Russian operatives. However, the Cohen search isn’t directly related to Mueller’s investigation, the reports said.
Trump angrily criticized the raid, calling it a “disgraceful situation” and “an attack on our country.”
The Times story on the raid broke just ahead of the closing
bell and appeared to add to a late round of selling. The stock market suffered
its worst final hour of trade in
about 6 ½ years, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.19%
already in a downtrend in the final 120 minutes of trade, shedding the lion’s
share of its gains by the end of the session. The Dow, S&P 500 index SPX, +0.33%
and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.51%
wrapped up Wednesday barely
in the green.
----Jack Ablin, founder and CIO at Chicago-based Cresset Wealth Advisors, said: “Clearly investors are looking at it as an important risk. I think everyone is trying to connect the dots here and figure out where this stuff ends.
“I think this nearly a 400-point reversal in the period of an hour or
two, I would call this a dramatic turn of events. I think it seems like the FBI
is tightening the ring fence around Trump” Ablin said.
John Manley, senior portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo’s WellsCap’s
Multi-Asset Solution Team said the market’s last minute of trading reflecting a
dislike of uncertainty.
When the FBI “pries the lid a little bit more, you never know what genie
will jump out,” Manley said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” he
said.
More
In trade war news,
China blames America for the trade war, and studies adding a currency war in
retaliation. If all of this madness ever takes effect, nothing good is headed
for the global economy, nor the fiat currencies.
Xi Warns Against Returning to a ‘Cold War Mentality’
Bloomberg News
Updated on 10 April 2018, 04:40 GMT+1
Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated pledges to open sectors from banking
to auto manufacturing, in a speech that also warned against returning to a
“Cold War mentality” amid trade disputes with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.Xi pledged a “new phase of opening up” in his keynote address Tuesday to the Boao Forum for Asia, China’s answer to Davos. While the speech offered little new policy, Xi affirmed or expanded on proposals to increase imports, lower foreign-ownership limits on manufacturing and expand protection to intellectual property -- all central issues in Trump’s trade gripes.
“Human society is facing a major choice to open or close, to go forward or backward,” Xi told hundreds of investors gathered on the resort island of Hainan, in a speech that didn’t mention Trump’s name. “In today’s world, the trend of peace and cooperation is moving forward and the Cold War mentality and zero-sum-game thinking are outdated.”
|
Highlights from
Xi’s Speech
|
|
----Since Trump’s election, Xi has presented himself as a champion of the existing global trading system, comparing protectionism to “locking yourself in a dark room” during a speech last year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. On Tuesday, he took a veiled swipe at Trump’s “America First” polices.
“Paying attention only to one’s own community without thinking of others
can only lead into a wall,” Xi said. “And we can only achieve win-win results
by insisting on peaceful development and working together.”
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan said Tuesday that
trade issues between the U.S. and China won’t get resolved soon and warned of
potential damage if the dispute is prolonged.
more
April 9, 2018 / 8:43 AM
China blames U.S for trade frictions, says negotiations currently impossible
BOAO,
China (Reuters) - China stepped up its attacks on the Trump administration on
Monday over billions of dollars worth of threatened tariffs, saying Washington
is to blame for frictions and repeating that it was impossible to negotiate
under “current circumstances”.
The comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday predicted
China would take down its trade barriers, and expressed optimism that both
sides could resolve the issue through talks.
Chinese state researchers and media talked down the likely impact of
U.S. trade measures on the world’s second largest economy and described the
Trump administration’s posturing on trade as the product of an “anxiety
disorder”.
“Under the current circumstances, both sides even more cannot have talks
on these issues, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters
at a regular news briefing.
“The United States with one hand wields the threat of sanctions, and at
the same time says they are willing to talk. I’m not sure who the United States
is putting on this act for,” Geng said.
The trade frictions were “entirely at the provocation of the United
States”, he added.
Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Qian Keming said at the Boao Forum for
Asia in the southern province of Hainan, that Beijing did not want to fight a
trade war, but was not afraid of one.
More
China Is Studying Yuan Devaluation as a Tool in Trade Spat
Bloomberg News
9 April 2018, 08:00 GMT+1 Updated
on 9 April 2018, 10:24 GMT+1
China is evaluating the potential impact of a gradual yuan depreciation,
people familiar with the matter said, as the country’s leaders weigh their
options in a trade spat with U.S. President Donald Trump that has roiled
financial markets worldwide.
Senior Chinese officials are studying a two-pronged analysis of the yuan
that was prepared by the government, the people said. One part looks at the
effect of using the currency as a tool in trade negotiations with the U.S.,
while a second part examines what would happen if China depreciates the yuan to
offset the impact of any trade deal that curbs exports.
The analysis doesn’t mean officials will carry out a devaluation, which
would require approval from top leaders, the people said, asking not to be
named as the information is private.
The yuan erased early gains on Monday, weakening 0.1 percent to 6.3094 per
dollar in onshore trading at 5:18 p.m. local time. China’s central bank didn’t
immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.
While Trump regularly bashed China on the campaign trail for keeping its
currency artificially weak, the yuan has gained about 9 percent against the
greenback since he took office and has been steady in recent weeks despite the
escalation of trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The
Chinese currency touched the strongest level since August 2015 last month.
----While a weaker yuan could help President Xi Jinping shore up China’s export industries in the event of widespread tariffs in the U.S., a devaluation comes with plenty of risks. It would encourage Trump to follow through on his threat to brand China a currency manipulator, make it more difficult for Chinese companies to service their mountain of offshore debt, and undermine recent efforts by the government to move toward a more market-oriented exchange rate system.
It would also expose China to the risk of local financial-market volatility, something authorities have worked hard to subdue in recent years. When China unexpectedly devalued the yuan by about 2 percent in August 2015, the move sent shock-waves through global markets.
“Is it in their interest to devalue yuan? It’s probably unwise,” said Kevin Lai, chief economist for Asia ex-Japan at Daiwa Capital Markets Hong Kong Ltd. “Because if they use devaluation as a weapon, it could hurt China more than the U.S. The currency stability has helped to create a macro stability. If that’s gone, it could destabilize markets, and things would look like 2015 again.”
More
Finally, on Sunday it
was striking French railway unions. Today Germany follows France. Welcome to
the insane asylum known as the EUSSR.
April 9, 2018 / 9:24 AM
German public sector strikes to hit air travel on Tuesday
BERLIN (Reuters) - German public sector workers will extend strikes to
airports across the country, labour union Verdi said on Monday, predicting
flight disruption as it seeks to increase pressure in pay talks.
Verdi, which is asking for a 6 percent pay rise for around 2.3 million
employees in various public sector roles across Germany, said ground staff and
some fire services staff would be on strike on Tuesday at Frankfurt, Munich,
Cologne and Bremen airports.
Frankfurt and Munich are the two biggest hubs for Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), Germany’s largest airline.
Verdi said the strike at Frankfurt airport would run from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time (0300-1600
GMT) on Tuesday and involve security staff, as well as workers who load and unload planes.
Frankfurt airport operator Fraport (FRAG.DE) warned passengers to expect significant disruption on Tuesday. A spokeswoman said security checkpoints would likely have to be closed due to the strike.
Similar strikes four years ago led to hundreds of flight cancellations at Germany’s largest airport, particularly on short haul flights.
Public transport, swimming pools, garbage collection, and childcare facilities are also areas that have been targeted by strike action in the latest pay dispute.
A third round of pay talks is scheduled for April 15 and 16.
“Employers have not yet put forward an offer. With strikes and industrial action, employees are increasing the pressure on employers to end their blocking tactics,” Verdi boss Frank Bsirske said in a statement.
One in four Air France flights to be cancelled Tuesday due to strike
9 April 2018
Air France said hundreds of its flights would be cancelled on Tuesday as
pilots, cabin crew and ground staff pursue a sixth day of strikes aimed at
securing higher pay.
The walkout has affected international and domestic travel, with a
quarter of all flights set to be cancelled on Tuesday.
Only 65 percent of long-haul flights to and from Paris Charles de Gaulle
will run normally, with 73 percent of medium-haul flights being maintained, Air
France said in a statement.
Only four out of five short-haul flights to and from Paris Orly airport
and in regional hubs were due to run.
Unions say workers deserve to benefit from years of belt-tightening that
have brought the carrier back to operating profitability, after seeing their
wages effectively frozen since 2011.
Saturday saw the highest cancellation rate since unions called for the
daylong work stoppages in February in pursuit of a six percent pay raise. Air
France management estimated 34 percent of pilots walked out, 26 percent of crew
and 19 percent of ground staff.
Management's offer of a one percent raise this year has been rejected.
more
“It is difficult not to marvel at the imagination which was implicit in this gargantuan insanity. If there must be madness something may be said for having it on a heroic scale."
John Kenneth Galbraith. The Great Crash: 1929.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.
No crooks, seriously bent politicians, or doubled
over banksters today. Today, something far more serious.
Two major crop scourges are hybridizing to produce a new mega-pest
April 9, 2018.
Australian scientists have found evidence that two of the world's most
damaging pests have hybridized to create a dangerous mega-pest with
pesticide-resistant genes. The new hybrid has presently only been identified in
Brazil but the researchers warn that its spread throughout the global agricultural
community could be devastating.Helicoverpa armigera, commonly known as the cotton bollworm, and Helicoverpa zea, the corn earworm, are two types of very hungry caterpillar that cause billions of dollars of damage to crops every year. Corn, cotton, tomato and soybean are just some of the many crops these pests can attack, with the cotton bollworm having developed resistance to all pesticides targeted at it.
In 2017, an eight-year project that mapped the entire genome of both caterpillars was completed. The study was designed to help researchers identify specific genes that cause the pests to become resistant to pesticides. A new paper has now been published showing evidence that the two moths are clearly hybridizing in a variety of novel ways.
"No two hybrids were the same suggesting a 'hybrid swarm' where multiple versions of different hybrids can be present within one population," says one of the researchers on the study, Tom Walsh.
The researchers suggest that it is too early to identify signs of successful selection in the resulting hybrids but the clear variety of genetic transference found between the two individual pests is a source of great concern. The impact of these evolving pests is already damaging agricultural output in Brazil, and the researchers warn that if these mega-pests establish as a discrete species it would be agriculturally problematic for the entire Americas and beyond.
"They are very impressive little things," Walsh told the ABC. "They can eat a wide range of hosts, seem to survive all our attempts to control them … and that really is my research interest: why isn't it dead when it ought to be?"
The research was published in the journal PNAS.
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?
Cost effective technique for mass production of high-quality graphene
Novel method uses 50 times less solvent than conventional methods
Date:
April 4, 2018
Source:
National University of Singapore
Summary:
Scientists have developed an economical and industrially viable strategy to
produce graphene. The new technique addresses the long-standing challenge of an
efficient process for large-scale production of graphene, and paves the way for
sustainable synthesis of the material.
Graphene is a two-dimensional material with a honeycomb structure of
only one atom thick. Dubbed as the material of the future, graphene exhibits
unique electronic properties that can potentially be employed for a wide range
of applications such as touch screens, conductive inks and fast-charging
batteries. The difficulty to produce high-quality graphene affordably on a
large scale, however, continues to pose hindrance to its widespread adoption by
industries.
The conventional method of producing graphene utilises sound energy or
shearing forces to exfoliate graphene layers from graphite, and then dispersing
the layers in large amounts of organic solvent. As insufficient solvent causes
the graphene layers to reattach themselves back into graphite, yielding one
kilogram of graphene currently requires at least one tonne of organic solvent,
making the method costly and environmentally unfriendly.
Producing graphene with 50 times less solvent
The NUS-led development research team, on the other hand, uses up to 50
times less solvent. This is achieved by exfoliating pre-treated graphite under
a highly alkaline condition to trigger flocculation, a process in which the
graphene layers continuously cluster together to form graphene slurry without
having to increase the volume of solvent. The method also introduces
electrostatic repulsive forces between the graphene layers and prevents them
from reattaching themselves.
The resulting graphene slurry be easily separated into monolayers when
required or stored away for months. The slurry can also be used directly to
3D-print conductive graphene aerogels, an ultra-lightweight sponge-like
material that can be used to remove oil spill in the sea.
More
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished March.
DJIA: 24,103 +272 Down
10. NASDAQ: 7,063 +300 Down 13. SP500: 2,641 +202 Down 10.
All
three slow indicators moved down in March. For some a new bear signal, for
others a take profits and get back to cash signal.
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