Baltic Dry Index. 431 +01 Brent Crude 55.17 Spot Gold 1566
Brexit Freedom Underway
Trump’s Nuclear China Tariffs Now in effect.
Coronavirus Cases 7/2/20 China 31,603
Deaths 639 (Maybe.)
The workshop of the world is closed. China is on a total-war footing. The Communist Party has evoked the "spirit of 1937" and mobilised all the instruments of its totalitarian surveillance system to fight both coronavirus, and the truth. Make GDP forecasts if you dare.
As of this week two-thirds of the Chinese economy remains shut. More than 80pc of its manufacturing industry is closed, rising to 90pc for exporters.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. The Telegraph.
Today, is reality finally seeping in? With China all but
closed and with it much of Asia’s just in time supply lines, why would anyone
think this is a good time to buy over priced stocks in record territory? It’s a
classic time to sell out of stocks and close out profits. If central banksters
want to buy up stocks for reasons of market confidence, it’s a perfect time to
take advantage of their foolishness, and take their cash.
Below, another weekend of a still growing coronavirus
crisis.
Rally in stocks runs out of steam as coronavirus toll climbs
February 7, 2020
/ 1:35 AM
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian share markets slipped on Friday
and oil price gains stalled, as the growing death toll and economic damage from
the coronavirus outbreak put a lid on the week’s sharp rally. The toll in mainland China from the new virus rose to 636, more than doubling in just under a week, with the number of infections at 31,161. ]
In the early hours of the morning one of the first Chinese doctors to raise the alarm about the virus died from the illness at a hospital in Wuhan, the outbreak’s epicentre.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.7%. Japan's Nikkei .N225 and Korea's Kospi .KS11 were in the red. Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI fell 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite .SSEC was 0.1% weaker.
Barring Shanghai, which has recovered about half of its $400 billion wipeout on Monday, all are ahead for the week, amid a broad global rally.
That has been underpinned by China’s sweeping efforts to contain the spread of the virus. But with deaths rising, cities shut off, flights cancelled and factories closed, global supply chains are in disarray and fears of a pandemic remain high.
“The rate of infection is not slowing,” said Michael McCarthy, chief markets strategist at brokerage CMC Markets in Sydney.
“I’m a little surprised at the way European and U.S. investors have shrugged this off. I think the reaction in the Asia-Pacific region is much more reasonable. There is real uncertainty,” he said.
U.S. stocks overnight gained for a fourth straight session and Wall Street’s main indexes hit record highs, while Asian assets - particularly currencies - remain under pressure.
In Asian trade, the steepest weekly slide in the yen since October has paused, leaving the currency sitting just above a two-week low at 109.93 per dollar.
More
Coronavirus cases on cruise liner off Japan jump to 61
February 7, 2020 /
12:56 AM
TOKYO
(Reuters) - Another 41 people quarantined on a cruise liner off Japan tested
positive for coronavirus on Friday, bringing the total confirmed cases to 61,
with thousands of passengers confined to cabins as testing continues.
---- The 61 cases came from a sample of 273 people who had been tested because they were either showing symptoms or had been in close contact with those who did, according to the health ministry.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told a news conference 21 of the newly
found 41 cases were Japanese. Further tests would be conducted if additional
passengers on board the ship developed symptoms, he said.
The rise in the number of infections has worsened the mood for
passengers stuck on the cruise, who were only allowed onto open decks briefly
for fresh air.
“A bit more anxious today after announcements of more positives,” one
passenger, a 43-year-old Hong Kong resident on the ship with his family, told
Reuters.
More
Honda to keep vehicle plants in Wuhan suspended through Feb. 13
February 7, 2020
/ 3:18 AM
TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said Friday it will
keep operations at its vehicle plants in Wuhan, China, suspended through Feb.
13, as previously planned. The Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday that Japan’s third-biggest automaker would extend the factory suspensions until at least late February. Wuhan is the epicenter of a new virus outbreak that has spread across China.
Domestic rival Toyota Motor Corp said Friday its Chinese plants would remain suspended through Feb. 16.
Dozens of trade fairs, conferences postponed amid China virus fears
February 6, 2020 /
10:57 AM
SHANGHAI/BEIJING
(Reuters) - More than two dozen large trade fairs and industry conferences in
Asia have been postponed because of the spread of the China coronavirus,
shuttering events where billions of dollars worth of deals have been signed in
the past.
The pushed back events, including some scheduled as late as the end of March, show the ripple effect the virus is having on businesses globally, with airlines cancelling flights as governments and companies curb travel, and thousand of factories and shops remain shut.
Get our full coverage on the coronavirus: here
The venue of China’s oldest and biggest trade fair, the Canton Fair, has suspended exhibitions until further notice. The Canton Fair was due to hold its spring exhibition at the complex from April 15. Last year, $29.7 billion worth of deals were signed at the event.
Organizers of the East China Import and Export Commodity Fair - due to be held in Shanghai between March 1-4 - said they would postpone the event, without giving later dates. The fair that usually attracts traders of garments and household goods, announced $2.3 billion in deals last year.
The Chinese government has also asked local authorities and business associations to hold off hosting events and conferences, as concerns rise about the disease that has killed more than 560 people and infected over 28,000.
---- Other postponed events, due to be held in the last two weeks of March, include the annual trade conference for the global chip industry in China, SEMICON, and the International Building and Construction Trade Fair in Shanghai.
The annual China Development Forum, a high-level gathering of international
leaders, whose past attendees included Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, will be
delayed, its organizers said. It is usually held in late March.
The outbreak casts doubt on attendance at high-profile events outside
China as well, industry executives said, as companies restrict mainland Chinese
visitors from traveling to other countries.
Korea’s LG Electronics has withdrawn from the Mobile World Congress
event in Barcelona scheduled for Feb 24-27.
More
Virgin Atlantic extends suspension of London-Shanghai flights until March 28
February 6, 2020
/ 11:12 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Virgin Atlantic has extended its suspension of daily
operations to Shanghai until March 28 due to the outbreak of coronavirus and
increased travel restrictions to mainland China.
It had previously suspended the flights from London Heathrow to Shanghai
for two weeks from Feb. 2. On Tuesday, Britain advised that its citizens in
China should leave the country if they could.
“Given this new FCO advice, the increasing entry restrictions
on recent visitors to mainland China, and our rigorous focus on safety, Virgin
Atlantic has opted to extend the suspension of Heathrow-Shanghai
operations until March 28,” the airline said in a statement
World Health Authorities Warn Virus Hasn’t Peaked After China’s Deadliest Day
Death toll in country now stands at 636, with more than 31,000 cases
By Liza Lin and Stu Woo
Updated Feb. 6, 2020 11:19 pm ET
The World Health Organization said Thursday it was too early to declare
a peak in the spread of the coronavirus, a day after China marked its deadliest
day since the outbreak began.
Separately, Singapore—home to the second-largest number of cases outside
mainland China—reported two new infections, including one with no apparent link
to China. The city-state warned the public to be “prepared for the possibility
of new infection clusters involving locals within the community,” and that
future cases might not arise from recent travel to China or contact with
travelers from that country.
Early Friday in China, government health authorities raised the death
toll from the virus from the virus to 636 from 563. There were 31,161 confirmed
illnesses, up from 28,018.
More
China’s coronavirus is not remotely under control and the world economy is in mounting peril
6
February 2020 • 8:03pm
As of this week two-thirds of the Chinese economy remains shut. More than 80pc of its manufacturing industry is closed, rising to 90pc for exporters.
The Chinese economy is 17pc of the world economy and deeply integrated into international supply chains
More
In other news, the rump-EU
continues its slide towards a new recession.
German manufacturing plunged in December
Published: Feb 6, 2020 2:17 a.m. ET
German manufacturing orders unexpectedly fell on the month in December,
the Federal Statistical Office Destatis said Thursday, suggesting that the
downturn in the German industrial sector continues.
Manufacturing orders contracted 2.1% in December in adjusted terms,
according to Destatis, following a revised 0.8% decrease in November.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected orders to increase 0.7%
from the previous month.
On an annual comparison, orders plunged 8.7% adjusted for calendar and
price effects.
Domestic orders increased 1.4%, while foreign orders fell 4.5% in
December, Destatis said.
In November, manufacturing orders fell while industrial production rose,
giving mixed signals and indicating that the industrial sector wasn’t out of
the woods yet.
German industrial production data for December are due to be published
Friday.
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
John Kenneth Galbraith
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner.
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled
over.
Today, a repeat of yesterday’s dramatic, and
hopefully wrong news. But what if it’s closer to the truth than China’s
official figures? What if it’s why China is crash building giant quarantine
hospitals?
Tencent briefly lists 154,023 infections and 24,589 deaths from Wuhan coronavirus
By Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer 2020/02/05 18:59
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As many experts question the veracity of China's
statistics for the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, Tencent over the weekend seems
to have inadvertently released what is potentially the actual number of
infections and deaths, which were astronomically higher than official figures.
On late Saturday evening (Feb. 1), Tencent, on its webpage titled
"Epidemic Situation Tracker," showed confirmed cases of novel
coronavirus (2019nCoV) in China as standing at 154,023, 10 times the official
figure at the time. It listed the number of suspected cases as 79,808, four
times the official figure.
The number of cured cases was only 269, well below the official number
that day of 300. Most ominously, the death toll listed was 24,589, vastly
higher than the 300 officially listed that day.
Moments later, Tencent updated the numbers
to reflect the government's "official" numbers that day. Netizens
noticed that Tencent has on at least three occasions posted extremely high
numbers, only to quickly lower them to government-approved statistics.
Netizens also noticed that each time the screen with the large numbers
appears, it shows a comparison with the previous day's data which demonstrates
a "reasonable" incremental increase, much like comparisons of
official numbers. This has led some netizens to speculate that Tencent has two
sets of data, the real data and "processed" data.
Some are speculating that a coding problem could be causing the real
"internal" data to accidentally appear. Others believe that someone
behind the scenes is trying to leak the real numbers.
However, the "internal" data held by Beijing may not reflect
the true extent of the epidemic. According to multiple sources in Wuhan, many
coronavirus patients are unable to receive treatment and die outside of hospitals.
A severe shortage of test kits also leads
to a lower number of diagnosed cases of infection and death. In addition, there
have been many reports of doctors being ordered to list other forms of death
instead of coronavirus to keep the death toll artificially low.
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3871594
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?
Crystal-stacking process can produce new materials for high-tech devices
Date:
February 5, 2020
Source:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Summary:
Stacking ultrathin complex oxide single-crystal layers allows researchers to
create new structures with hybrid properties and multiple functions. Now, using
a new platform, researchers will be able to make these stacked-crystal materials
in virtually unlimited combinations.
The magnetic, conductive and optical properties of complex oxides make
them key to components of next-generation electronics used for data storage,
sensing, energy technologies, biomedical devices and many other applications.
Stacking ultrathin complex oxide single-crystal layers -- those composed
of geometrically arranged atoms -- allows researchers to create new structures
with hybrid properties and multiple functions. Now, using a new platform
developed by engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researchers will be able to make these
stacked-crystal materials in virtually unlimited combinations.
The team published details of its advance Feb. 5 in the journal Nature.
Epitaxy is the process for depositing one material on top of another in
an orderly way. The researchers' new layering method overcomes a major
challenge in conventional epitaxy -- that each new complex oxide layer must be
closely compatible with the atomic structure of the underlying layer. It's sort
of like stacking Lego blocks: The holes on the bottom of one block must align
with the raised dots atop the other. If there's a mismatch, the blocks won't
fit together properly.
"The advantage of the conventional method is that you can grow a
perfect single crystal on top of a substrate, but you have a limitation,"
says Chang-Beom Eom, a UW-Madison professor of materials science and
engineering and physics. "When you grow the next material, your structure
has to be the same and your atomic spacing must be similar. That's a
constraint, and beyond that constraint, it doesn't grow well."
A
couple of years ago, a team of MIT researchers developed an alternate approach.
Led by Jeehwan Kim, an associate professor in mechanical engineering and
materials science and engineering at MIT, the group added an ultrathin
intermediate layer of a unique carbon material called graphene, then used
epitaxy to grow a thin semiconducting material layer atop that. Just one molecule
thick, the graphene acts like a peel-away backing due to its weak bonding. The
researchers could remove the semiconductor layer from the graphene. What
remained was a freestanding ultrathin sheet of semiconducting material.
More
Another weekend
and will we finally get the truth on China’s coronavirus epidemic? I won’t hold
my breath, but why the panic building of giant quarantine hospitals? What
really happened in Hunan? Have a great weekend everyone. It might be a good
time to stay away from airports and cruise ships.
In central banking as in diplomacy, style, conservative
tailoring, and an easy association with the affluent count greatly and results
far much less.
John Kenneth Galbraith
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished January
DJIA: 28,256 +97 Up. NASDAQ: 9,151 +152 Up.
SP500: 3,226 +130 Up.
All higher again, but it’s not a buy signal I would take.
The rally is all down to the Fed monetizing at a rate of about 100 billion a
month. I continue to look on the Fed’s latest stock bubble as an exit rally,
made all the more urgent by the rising economic threat from the coronavirus
crisis.
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