Baltic Dry Index. 1857 -106 Brent Crude 61.91
Spot Gold 1497
Never ending Brexit now October 31,
maybe. 33 days away.
Trump’s Nuclear China Tariffs
Now In Effect.
USA v EU trade war postponed to
November, maybe.
Mrs. Marcus:
Emmeline, do you know why your husband had a nervous breakdown? It's because he has sunk $40,000, including $15,000 of my money into a company that makes seaweed for people to eat.
J. Russell Finch:
Yeah but...
Mrs. Marcus:
And not only does nobody like it, but it costs over $4.00 a can.
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World.
With China about to take a week to
celebrate the 70th anniversary of Communist China, this weekend we
focus on today’s China. USA v China Trade war. And the Trump trade war
team contemplating delisting Chinese firms from US markets if they don’t comply
with US rules and regulations, i.e. most of them. Just take an informed look at
Alibaba.
Was WeWork ever real, or just another
over-hyped scam? We let you the reader decide, but it could lead to an office
rent recession in New York City and London.
Explainer: China's celebrations to mark 70 years of the People's Republic
September 25, 2019 / 2:11 AM
BEIJING
(Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping will oversee a massive military parade
through central Beijing on Oct. 1 to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding
of the People’s Republic of China.
It is China’s most important and high-profile event of the year. The government has taken no chances, shutting down parts of the city for rehearsals and tightening security as it readies for a show of might and pageantry.
Here is what the anniversary is about and what will happen.
REBIRTH FROM CIVIL WAR
Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic from atop Beijing’s Gate of Heavenly Peace on Oct. 1, 1949, at the tail end of a vicious civil war with the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek, in which millions died.Chiang and the remains of his government fled to Taiwan that December after a last stand in southern China failed.
With the country in ruins, Mao embarked upon an ambitious rebuilding project with the help of the Soviet Union, as China was largely isolated from the Western world and especially the United States, which retained ties with Chiang in Taiwan, recognizing his as the legal Chinese government.
Since embarking on landmark reforms beginning in the late 1970s, the country has emerged from isolation to become the world’s second-largest economy.
Xi has made national renewal a central theme of his administration, wanting the country to become a respected and wealthy member of the international community.
Critics, including many Western politicians, say that campaign has come at the expense of a crackdown on civil rights and the locking up of perhaps 1 million Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority, in China’s at times violence-torn far western region of Xinjiang.
SENSITIVE DATE
All anniversaries in China are sensitive, with the party eager to control the narrative and not let dissenting voices spoil the atmosphere.In the case of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown this June, the government sought to quash any remembrances, lest they remind people of the party’s often bloody past.
This year’s National Day is extra sensitive, as Oct. 1 is also a holiday in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, which has been roiled by mass pro-democracy protests for the past three months.
It is unclear what will happen in Hong Kong on Oct. 1, but the party will be hoping the world sees images of orderly troop formations and dancing civilians in Beijing rather than huge protests in Hong Kong.
ON OCT. 1
The highlight of the day will be a military parade through central Beijing, overseen by Xi, who will also give a speech.The military will show off new equipment, which is expected to include the Dongfeng-41 intercontinental ballistic missile that may be able to carry several nuclear warheads and reach the United States, supersonic drones, fighter jets and tanks, according to Chinese state media.
China has not invited foreign leaders, but foreign ambassadors based in Beijing will attend. Retired Chinese leaders will be on the podium with Xi, perhaps including former president Jiang Zemin, who at 93 is still active behind the scenes.
Ordinary citizens will not be allowed to attend, and Beijing will be locked down. The party will hand-pick the crowd watching from the square and participating in the civilian parts of the parade after evaluating potential attendees for loyalty and reliability.
Oct. 1 marks the start of a weeklong national holiday, one of the country’s two “golden week” vacations, when tourist sites across China are packed and Chinese travelers flock abroad.
UNCERTAINTY AHEAD
Soon after the National Day holiday ends, the party and government are in for a busy few weeks.Chinese negotiators are set to head to Washington for trade talks early in the month, and the party will in October hold a key closed-door meeting of its senior leadership - formally called a plenum - though the date has not been set.
In November,
Xi will go to South America for a BRICS summit in Brazil and then APEC in
Chile, probably the next opportunity for him to meet U.S. President Donald
Trump, assuming he also attends. Trump skipped last year’s APEC meeting in
Papua New Guinea.
China’s
slowing economy adds to the clouds on the horizon for Xi, and more supportive
measures could be rolled out before the end of 2019. But Beijing is not
expected to throw open the credit floodgates yet, wary of plunging the country
further into debt.
In January,
self-ruled and proudly democratic Taiwan, claimed by the party as China’s
sacred territory since 1949, holds presidential elections.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-anniversary-explainer/explainer-chinas-celebrations-to-mark-70-years-of-the-peoples-republic-idUSKBN1WA03JWorld must work together to fight US sanctions abuse
By Wang Jiamei Source:Global Times
Published: 2019/9/26 20:03:40
The US is imposing new sanctions on five
Chinese nationals and six Chinese companies for shipping Iranian oil, the US
Treasury Department announced on Wednesday.
It is not the first time that the US has blacklisted Chinese companies over Iran.
In July, the US issued the first sanctions against Zhuhai Zhenrong, one of China's largest oil traders, after having ended the sanctions waivers for nations importing Iranian oil.
According to a Thursday statement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China has and will continue to take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese entities.
The Chinese government can, of course, provide support like tax breaks or cheap financing to the blacklisted companies, but more fundamentally, the US abuse of unilateral sanctions on other countries and companies highlights the need for China to strengthen anti-sanction cooperation with the international community.
It should be made clear that a call for joint anti-sanction efforts is not meant to establish a new global system to confront the US, but that it is time to somehow restrain the unilateral hegemony of the US, which cannot be that unscrupulous in imposing sanctions on any country, entity or individual. In this sense, all businesses around the world that have been affected by the US sanctions are encouraged to take proper anti-sanction measures and strengthen cooperation instead of silently complying.
If a large number of companies are involved in the anti-sanction effort and they are strong enough, then the entire sanction regime will fall apart.
The fear of being sanctioned comes from the US dominance of the global financial system, backed by the US dollar-based global settlement and payment system SWIFT.
As such, it is necessary for China to establish its own payment system and put it into practical usage as soon as possible, which could weaken the US financial dominance and stop its abuse of sanctions. Such a payment system may also allow companies to keep trading with countries and companies sanctioned by the US.
While it is not difficult to build such a global financial payment network with a similar function as SWIFT in terms of the technology, a successful international payment platform must be based on genuine global trade, monetary investment, and real participants.
In this sense, China needs to strengthen cooperation with other economies, such as European countries, the Middle East, Russia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Africa and other economic alliances, to establish a joint global payment, clearance and settlement system to resist the US financial hegemony.
Especially, European countries like France, Germany and the UK can make good partners considering the fact that the three have already developed a special purpose vehicle, known as the Paris-based Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, which is now operating to help European companies circumvent US sanctions.
The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn
It is not the first time that the US has blacklisted Chinese companies over Iran.
In July, the US issued the first sanctions against Zhuhai Zhenrong, one of China's largest oil traders, after having ended the sanctions waivers for nations importing Iranian oil.
According to a Thursday statement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China has and will continue to take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese entities.
The Chinese government can, of course, provide support like tax breaks or cheap financing to the blacklisted companies, but more fundamentally, the US abuse of unilateral sanctions on other countries and companies highlights the need for China to strengthen anti-sanction cooperation with the international community.
It should be made clear that a call for joint anti-sanction efforts is not meant to establish a new global system to confront the US, but that it is time to somehow restrain the unilateral hegemony of the US, which cannot be that unscrupulous in imposing sanctions on any country, entity or individual. In this sense, all businesses around the world that have been affected by the US sanctions are encouraged to take proper anti-sanction measures and strengthen cooperation instead of silently complying.
If a large number of companies are involved in the anti-sanction effort and they are strong enough, then the entire sanction regime will fall apart.
The fear of being sanctioned comes from the US dominance of the global financial system, backed by the US dollar-based global settlement and payment system SWIFT.
As such, it is necessary for China to establish its own payment system and put it into practical usage as soon as possible, which could weaken the US financial dominance and stop its abuse of sanctions. Such a payment system may also allow companies to keep trading with countries and companies sanctioned by the US.
While it is not difficult to build such a global financial payment network with a similar function as SWIFT in terms of the technology, a successful international payment platform must be based on genuine global trade, monetary investment, and real participants.
In this sense, China needs to strengthen cooperation with other economies, such as European countries, the Middle East, Russia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Africa and other economic alliances, to establish a joint global payment, clearance and settlement system to resist the US financial hegemony.
Especially, European countries like France, Germany and the UK can make good partners considering the fact that the three have already developed a special purpose vehicle, known as the Paris-based Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, which is now operating to help European companies circumvent US sanctions.
The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn
Oil shipping rates soar as U.S. supertanker sanctions rattle crude trade
September 27, 2019 / 3:26 AM
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Key oil freight
rates from the Middle East to Asia rocketed as much as 28% on Friday in a
global oil shipping market spooked by United States sanctions on units of
Chinese giant COSCO for alleged involvement in ferrying crude out of Iran.
In what the
State Department called “one of the largest sanctions actions the U.S. has
taken” since curbs were re-imposed on Iran in November last year, two units of
COSCO were named alongside other companies in claims of involvement in
sanctions-busting shipments of Iranian oil.
The surprise
move, affecting one of the world’s largest energy shippers, operating more than
50 supertankers, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to exert maximum
pressure on Iran to drop nuclear programmes.
As some
Asian oil buyers rushed to secure vessels, rates for chartering supertankers,
or very large crude carriers (VLCCs), to load crude oil from the Middle East to
north Asia in October surged nearly 19% overnight to about 75-76 points on
Worldscale, an industry tool used to calculate freight charges, shipping and
industry sources said.
That means
an increase of about $600,000 (486,933.9 pounds) per ship, a Singapore-based
crude oil trader said.
More
Trump considers delisting Chinese firms from U.S. markets: sources
September 27, 2019 / 5:01 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald
Trump’s administration is considering delisting Chinese companies from U.S.
stock exchanges, three sources briefed on the matter said on Friday, in what
would be a radical escalation of U.S.-China trade tensions.
The move would be part of a broader effort to limit U.S. investment in Chinese companies, two of the sources said. One said it was motivated by the Trump administration’s growing security concerns about the companies’ activities.
Major U.S. stock indexes slipped on the news, which came days before China celebrates the 70th anniversary of the birth of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1, when the world’s No. 2 economy will shut down for a week of festivities.
Shares of Hangzhou, Zhejiang-based Alibaba (BABA.N) ended down 5.15%. JD.com (JD.O) fell 5.95% and Baidu Inc (BIDU.O) declined 3.67%. The iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI.P) shed 1.15%.
Shares of New York Stock Exchange-owner Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N) ended down 1.88% and shares of Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ.O) declined 1.70%.
It was not immediately clear how any delisting would work.
In June, U.S. lawmakers from both parties introduced a bill to force Chinese companies listed on American stock exchanges to submit to regulatory oversight, including providing access to audits, or face delisting.
Chinese authorities have long been reluctant to let overseas regulators inspect local accounting firms - including member firms of the Big Four international accounting networks - citing national security concerns.
“Beijing
should no longer be allowed to shield U.S.-listed Chinese companies from
complying with American laws and regulations for financial transparency and
accountability,” Republican Senator Marco Rubio said at the time.
One of the
sources briefed on the matter said the idea of delisting was the latest salvo
in this longstanding dispute.
More
The BABA Investor Call.......Trade War?...What Trade War?
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
As I've been doing every quarter since the
BABA IPO back in September of 2014, I've taken the time to listen to Thursday
morning's investor call, review the presentation and read the press release and
6K for this financial dumpster fire. For me, like driving past a bad car
accident on the freeway, it's difficult and painful to see, but for some
reason, I can't bring myself to look away.
The relevant links to same are listed directly below for your own personal amusement and/or self-abuse.
The relevant links to same are listed directly below for your own personal amusement and/or self-abuse.
---- For those of you new to this
"Alibaba Investor Call" reality show, the format for these quarterly
extravaganzas is generally the same. They open up with a motivational
speech by Joe Tsai, describing the nearly boundless, macro opportunities that
are just waiting to jump into the lap of every US investor, if they are just
bold enough and wise enough to get aboard this unstoppable Chinese Communist
express train to riches.
Next Daniel Zhang stumbles and bumbles through some brand new made up metrics for a few minutes and Maggie spends some time going through the fake financial statements.
The call ends with a few analysts displaying their adoration for management genius, extolling their virtues and asking some irrelevant "if you were a tree...what kind of tree would you be?" questions.
Next Daniel Zhang stumbles and bumbles through some brand new made up metrics for a few minutes and Maggie spends some time going through the fake financial statements.
The call ends with a few analysts displaying their adoration for management genius, extolling their virtues and asking some irrelevant "if you were a tree...what kind of tree would you be?" questions.
More. Much, much more.
Finally this weekend, yet another red
flag, klaxon and bell, all in one failed “property” IPO. As “the biggest office tenant in New York and
one of the largest in London,” an office rental price collapse is now likely in
NYC and London.
This now collapsed IPO was supposed to
raise 47 billion just two months ago, but when it was pulled it was already
down to just 10 billion. Oracle founder
and CEO, Larry Ellison, who probably knows a thing or two about IPOs and
business models, rated the fast sinking IPO
WeWork 'almost worthless'.
WeWork halts all new lease agreements to stem losses
Landlords brace for effect on valuations as new co-chief executives cut back
Eric Platt and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York and Judith Evans in London 10 hours ago
WeWork has put a halt to the signing of
new lease agreements with property owners as the lossmaking group tries to
rapidly rein in costs, according to people briefed on the matter.
The move will rattle commercial
property owners across the globe who rented to WeWork, which often upgraded the
spaces so the group could re-let the buildings to its own customers.
Landlords have been bracing for the
possibility that WeWork, which has become the biggest office tenant in New York
and one of the largest in London, could suspend its expansion. (Emphasis mine.)
The decision to put all new leases on ice
comes as WeWork’s parent group, the We Company, readies to lay off thousands of
its 12,000-plus employees in the coming weeks.
On
Thursday, the company was planning to cut the jobs of roughly 20 employees with
close ties to co-founder Adam Neumann, including some of its top managers,
those who had been briefed said. Among the senior figures under pressure are
vice-chairman Michael Gross and Chris Hill, a brother-in-law of Mr Neumann’s
wife, Rebekah.
$60m+ The price WeWork paid for a
Gulfstream G650 jet last year that is now up for sale Mr Gross was among the
most senior executives and accompanied Artie Minson, who was elevated to
co-chief executive of WeWork this week alongside Sebastian Gunningham, on
investor roadshows last year.
Others, in what was described as “Adam’s
posse” by one insider, caught up in the cuts include a company driver for Mr
Neumann’s Maybach luxury car. The new co-CEOs have also put up for sale a
Gulfstream G650 jet which WeWork bought new for more than $60m last year.
Mr Hill rose quickly through the company
ranks, holding titles including “chief We officer” of its Japanese operations
and most recently chief product officer of the whole group.
Jennifer Berrent, the chief legal officer
who was seen as having been sidelined by the promotion of Mr Minson and Mr
Gunningham to co-CEOs, was expected to remain at the company, some of the
people added. Ms Berrent was co-president alongside Mr Minson before he stepped
up this week.
The company’s Chelsea headquarters has
been gripped by crisis since Mr Neumann was pushed out as chief executive on
Tuesday in the wake of the dramatic collapse of its initial public offering.
WeWork, which had been expected to be a highlight in a banner year for IPOs, is
now trying to secure a new financing lifeline.
The group has burnt through capital
as it expanded to more than 500 offices in 111 cities, and last year it
reported a loss of $1.6bn on sales of $1.8bn. (Emphasis
mine.)
Creditors have raised concerns over its
capital reserves, which stood at roughly $2.5bn at the end of June, and on
Thursday analysts S&P Global cut the company’s credit rating deeper into
junk territory. The yield on WeWork’s debt surged above 10 per cent on the
downgrade, in a sign of the financial strain on the group.
The company is due to receive a $1.5bn
capital injection next year from its largest backer, Japan’s SoftBank. The two
sides have been in talks over an increase to the sum SoftBank would pump in of
at least $1bn, with negotiations centred on the valuation cut WeWork would be
dealt in the transaction.
Fresh capital is critical for WeWork,
which is also seeking to clinch a much-reduced $3bn to $4bn loan from a group
of Wall Street banks. The lenders are refusing to bankroll a deal of that size
unless WeWork first raises new equity, according to multiple sources.
----The unravelling of the IPO has already
shown up in the accounts of several of WeWork’s investors. The investment bank
Jefferies late on Thursday took a $146m writedown on a stake it purchased in
the co-working space provider in 2013. Jefferies said it had reduced its
valuation based on an estimate it made on August 31, which included a
“significant discount due to uncertainty regarding the timing and pricing of
We’s IPO”, and that it could face further writedowns in the future.
In Brexit news, some good advice from
accountants Grant Thornton.
Tax specialist Grant Thornton offers advice for UK businesses in event of 'no deal' Brexit
Five steps to managing tax requirements when dealing with UK/EU imports and exports in a no-deal world
Lee Squires September
25, 2019 01:47 PM
If the UK leaves the EU
without a deal on October 31, trade between the UK and EU would revert to World
Trade Organisation (WTO) terms.
This means the movement
of goods between the UK and EU would be subject to customs duty and controls.
Here are the top five
steps businesses that trade with the EU should take to prepare for a no-deal
Brexit from a UK customs and tariffs perspective.
(Note, these do not
apply if you are located in Northern Ireland and only import directly from the
Republic of Ireland — the UK government has announced it will not apply customs
duties or controls to goods crossing the land border.)
First, you should apply
to HMRC for an Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number
if you don’t already have one. An EORI number is needed to import from and
export to the EU after Brexit.
More
This weekend’s musical diversion. J. S. Bach.
Think organ playing is easy? This outstanding organist shows just what’s
involved in playing Bach.
.J. S. Bach/M.Dupré Sinfonia Cantata 29 - Olivier Penin, Orgue Ste Clotilde Paris
“Even businessmen, who rob and cheat and steal from people
everyday, even they have to pay taxes.”
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished August
DJIA: 26,403
+52 Down. NASDAQ: 7,963 +59 Down. SP500: 2,926 +53 unchanged.
An inconclusive month, but all three shows signs of weakening.
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