Baltic Dry Index. 1551 -07 Brent
Crude 64.18 Spot Gold 1461
Never ending Brexit now January 31, or maybe sooner.
Trump’s Nuclear China Tariffs Now in effect.
The USA v EU trade war started October 18. Now in effect.
“If you want to be a bank, follow the bank
rules. If Goldman Sachs and the others want to do proprietary trading, then
they shouldn’t be banks.”
Paul Volcker. 2011.
The “big news” today, is likely to be the widely
anticipated move in Washington by the Democrats in Congress, to bring at least
two impeachment charges against President Trump.
After that, sometime next week the full House of Congress
will vote on impeachment, and on a partisan political vote, the process will
move slowly on to a trial in the Senate early next year. With the Senate under
the control of the Republican party, it’s highly improbable that the Senate
will vote to impeach. Seen for afar, it’s Nero fiddling while Rome burns.
Back in the real world, the Fed begins its two day
meeting today, but nothing is expected until tomorrow, and probably not much
even then.
The markets are nervously watching for a sign from
President Trump of a China trade deal, and whether or not he intends to go
ahead with new tariffs on China’s exports on Sunday. No one expects him to make
that decision today.
Elsewhere, GB staggers on to Thursday’s general election,
with little sign that any of the latest campaigning is changing any minds. The
reality is that given it’s a winter election, with bad weather forecast on
Thursday for most of the country, getting out the vote for all parties might
prove very challenging.
Given that most of the last Parliaments MPs ignored the
voters decision in the Brexit referendum, there seems to be widespread apathy among
many voters. Why brave the rains, snows, ice and gales, if voting is irrelevant?
And so today is largely a big wait. The week is a big
wait, if you prefer, unless the Fed, or President Trump, or UK voters, surprise
everyone by doing something of interest.
Below, more sign of a growing global slowdown.
Asian shares ease slightly as tariff deadline looms
December 10, 2019
/ 12:39 AM
SHANGHAI (Reuters)
- Asian equity markets ticked down on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street losses as
investors fretted over a Dec. 15 deadline for the next round of U.S. tariffs on
Chinese imports to take effect.
Adding to the market uncertainty were comments from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday that while President Donald Trump did not want to implement tariffs, he did want to see “movement” from China.
The deadline looms over a series of other significant events this week, with markets also awaiting the UK election on Thursday, and U.S. and euro zone central bank meetings.
Investors have focused this year on the risks of the UK crashing out of the European Union without a deal and a sharp escalation in trade war tensions, said Frank Benzimra, head of equity strategy at Societe Generale.
“What you have seen since the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter was these two risks were receding ... And now this week you see those two concerns coming back on the market,” he said, adding that he expected their impact to be “short-term.”
With investors reluctant to make big bets, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was just 0.05% lower, with China's benchmark Shanghai Composite index .SSEC off 0.3%.
For its part, a Chinese official said on Monday Beijing hopes to make a trade deal with Washington as soon as possible before new U.S. tariffs are due to kick in this weekend.
---- “The decision whether or not to raise tariffs on Dec. 15 rests with President Trump and he has continued his constructive ambiguity on the issue which is keeping markets guessing,” said Tapas Strickland, a director of economics and markets at National Australia Bank.
Tepid trade followed weakness on Wall Street overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.38% to 27,909.6, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.32% to 3,135.96 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.4% to 8,621.83.
Investors were also keeping an eye on the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is expected to keep rates unchanged at its two-day policy meeting, which ends Wednesday.
More
China auto sales drop for 17th straight month in November - industry association
December 10,
2019 / 6:15 AM
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Auto sales in China fell for a 17th
consecutive month in November, with the number of new energy vehicles (NEVs)
sold contracting for a fifth month in a row, data from the country’s biggest
auto industry association showed on Tuesday.
Total auto sales in the world’s biggest auto market fell 3.6% from the
same month a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers
(CAAM) said.
That follows a drop of 4% in October and 5.2% in September. Car sales in
the country contracted last year for the first time since the 1990s against a
backdrop of slowing economic growth and a crippling Sino-U.S. trade war.
In November, sales of NEVs fell 43.7%, CAAM said, following a 45.6% drop
in October. NEV sales had jumped almost 62% last year even as the broader auto
market contracted.
NEVs include plug-in hybrids, battery-only electric vehicles and those
powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
China has been a keen supporter of NEVs and has implemented sales quota
requirements for automakers. But it cut subsidies this year and plans to phase
them out after 2020 amid criticism that some firms have become overly reliant
on the funds, making NEVs costlier and dampening demand.
The prolonged car sales crisis
has made global car makers from Ford (F.N)
to PSA cut China production plans.
More
China's consumer inflation at eight-year high, but PPI stuck in the red
December 10, 2019
/ 2:42 AM
BEIJING (Reuters)
- China’s consumer inflation climbed to nearly eight-year peaks in November as
pork prices doubled, but factory-gate prices remained in the red, adding to
uncertainty over whether the manufacturing sector is bottoming out as trade risks
persist.
Beijing is under pressure to unleash more stimulus to boost industrial
activity, but high inflation ahead of the Lunar New Year may be a headache for
policymakers trying to shore up growth that has slipped to the lowest in nearly
30 years.
Consumer prices in November rose 4.5% on year, the fastest pace seen
since January 2012, driven mostly by a surge in pork prices as African Swine
Fever ravaged the country’s hog herds, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data
showed on Tuesday. That topped analysts’ expectations of 4.2% and October’s
3.8% rise.
However, core inflation - which excludes food and energy prices - stayed
largely subdued.
“The high CPI would surely have an impact on China’s monetary policy,
but overall we don’t see risks of inflation spike across the board, so current
monetary policy with a loosening bias will not be significantly affected,” said
Liu Xuezhi, an analyst with Bank of Communications.
In contrast, the producer price index (PPI), seen as a key indicator of
corporate profitability, fell 1.4% on year, falling for the fifth month in a
row. That compared with a 1.5% drop forecast in a Reuters poll and 1.6% fall in
October.
More
Finally, in
Washington District of Crooks, politics as usual expected later today. The
Democrats, who’ve never accepted the reality that Hillary Clinton lost the
presidential election to Donald Trump, are expected later today to move
forwards on impeaching President Trump. It’s doubtful that this impeachment will
be any more successful than the others when it reaches the Senate.
Two impeachment articles expected against Trump: reports
Issued on: 10/12/2019 - 04:58Modified: 10/12/2019 - 04:55
Democrats are expected to announce on Tuesday two articles of
impeachment against Donald Trump, US media reported Monday evening, after
laying out their case at a hearing against a president they branded a
"clear and present danger" to national security.
The articles will focus on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress,
The Washington Post said, citing three official familiar with the matter.
It added that the full House of Representatives would vote on the
articles next week, ahead of a trial in the Senate.
CNN said a third article on obstruction of justice was still being
debated, and the network's sources cautioned that plans were still being
finalized.
Four months after a whistleblower sparked the investigation of Trump for
seeking illicit political favors from Ukraine, Democrats said at Monday's
hearing there was abundant evidence that he had committed bribery, abused his
power and obstructed the investigation.
"President Trump's persistent and continuing effort to coerce a
foreign country to help him cheat to win an election is a clear and present
danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security," said
Daniel Goldman, counsel for the Democrats.
Facing an almost certain vote to make Trump the third American leader
impeached and placed on trial, top Republican Doug Collins countered that the
effort was simply "a good PR move" for Democrats ahead of next year's
presidential elections.
"It's all political," Collins said. "Where's the
impeachable offense? Why are we here?"
The allegations came in a contentious House Judiciary Committee hearing
in which Republicans repeatedly punched back, while Trump himself denounced the
inquiry as a "disgrace" and "hoax."
More
“A remarkable consensus has
developed among modern central bankers ... that there’s a new ‘red line’ for
policy: a 2 percent rate of increase in some carefully designed consumer price
index is acceptable, even desirable, and at the same time provides a limit. I
puzzle at the rationale. A 2 percent target, or limit, was not in my textbooks
year ago. I know of no theoretical justification.”
Paul Volcker, 2018.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner.
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled
over.
Today, what were they thinking? Only in Canada, as they say.
Walmart apologizes for sweaters featuring Santa with cocaine, pants off
By Jackie
Salo
Published: Dec 8, 2019 6:14 p.m. ET
Walmart Inc. has apologized for an adults-only Christmas
sweater that appeared to depict Santa with cocaine on its Canadian website,
according to a report.The retailer WMT, +0.94% pulled the holiday outfit — along with several other risque seasonal sweaters — Saturday after they caused a stir with social media users, Global News Canada reported.
“These sweaters, sold by a third-party seller on Walmart.ca, do not represent Walmart’s values and have no place on our website,” a spokesperson told the outlet.” We have removed these products from our marketplace. We apologize for any unintended offense this may have caused.”
The sweater showed Santa with three lines of a white substance along with the phrase “let it snow.”
“We all know how snow works. It’s white, powdery and the best snow comes straight from South America,” the description read. “That’s bad news for jolly old St. Nick, who lives far away in the North Pole. That’s why Santa really likes to savor the moment when he gets his hands on some quality, grade A, Colombian snow.”
Read: Nothing says Christmas like $30 Trump Pence wrapping paper and $60 ‘Keep America Great’ ornaments
Other items for sale depicted Father Christmas in compromising situations, including with his pants off — roasting his “chestnuts” — in front of a fireplace.
The threads quickly made the rounds on social media, where shoppers expressed shock about Saint Nick’s antics.
“EXCUSE ME HWAT, WALMART IS ADVERTISING COCAINE ON ITS CHRISTMAS SWEATERS,” wrote one user.
A version of this report appears on NYPost.com.
“What’s critical, of course, is that any change
protect the core principle: ‘Thou shalt not gamble with the public’s money.’”
“Keeping At It: The Quest for Sound Money and Good Government,” by Paul
Volcker and Christine Harper, 2018
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?
First US steel plants powered by wind, solar energy are coming for industry with big carbon footprint
Published Sat, Dec 7 201910:30 AM EST
- Nucor’s $250 million micromill in Sedalia, Missouri, is set to be the first U.S. steel plant to run on wind energy.
- A recycled steel plant run by EVRAZ in Colorado is transitioning from coal to solar in a partnership with Xcel Energy and a solar developer half owned by BP.
- Although recycled steel plants run by renewables can make a dent in the industry’s carbon footprint, steel contributes as much as 6% to 7% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
Nucor’s micromill in Sedalia, Missouri, is set to be the first U.S. steel plant to run on wind energy, according to Evergy. The $250 million plant, which is expected to open by the end of the year, is a partnership between the steel company and local utility Evergy, which will power the plant after a 75 megawatt power purchase agreement between the companies.
With sustainability goals becoming increasingly important to companies, plants like this one could be built more frequently, and Evergy senior vice president Chuck Caisley says that the Midwest is in a prime position for more projects like the Nucor plant.
“We sit in the Saudi Arabia of wind,” Caisley said. “I think that
increasingly there will be sustainability requirements companies will want to
meet. In Kansas and midwest Missouri we have great wind to meet current and
prospective customers with price competitiveness and sustainability. It reduces
our environmental footprint in the area and creates jobs.”
The Nucor plant was not initially conceived with a goal of using wind
energy, but the Evergy executive said a competitive price ended up attracting
the steel-producing company to Missouri over other wind-rich states, like
Nebraska and Kansas, who were finalists for the project. Caisley said that the
price competitiveness, along with helping Nucor meet sustainability goals, were
important to get the project to Missouri. There is a law in the state that lets
utilities apply for discounted electric rates for aluminum and steel producers
that buy significant amounts of energy.
Morehttps://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/07/first-us-steel-plants-powered-by-wind-solar-energy-are-coming.html
“The central issue is we’re developing into a plutocracy. We’ve got an enormous number of enormously rich people that have convinced themselves that they’re rich because they’re smart and constructive. And they don’t like government and they don’t like to pay taxes.”
Paul Volcker, New York Times interview, 2018.
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished November
DJIA: 28,051 +76 Up. NASDAQ: 8,665 +94 Up. SP500: 3,141 +90 Up. All higher again, but it’s
not a buy signal I would follow. I would wait for the next sell signal.
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