Baltic Dry Index. 477 +24 Brent Crude 36.21
Spot Gold 1742
Coronavirus Cases 21/5/20
World 5,090,061
Deaths 329,732
Joseph J. Cassano, a
former A.I.G. executive, August 2007, on Credit Default Swaps that wiped out
A.I.G in 2008.
Another Thursday, and
another report on new unemployment fillings in the USA. Today’s figure of an
expected 2.5 million increase will take America’s provisional figure up to 38
to 39 million unemployment filers in just about 2 months.
If the recent past
is any guide, it will be yet another signal for Wall Street’s Fed funded gamblers
to yet again barrel in to buy up stocks.
38 million
unemployed is anything but a reason to buy up stocks, it’s a very strong reason
to exit stocks and let greater fool buyers take on the risk. Take on the gamble
that one day the Fed will buy up stocks and give them a profit.
Below, more on the
great disconnect as greed triumphs, for now over sanity.
Asian markets little changed as
Japan reports plunge in exports
Published: May 20, 2020 at 11:48 p.m. ET
Asian markets were little changed in early trading
Thursday, after Wall Street bounced back and Japan reported miserable exports
data.
Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -0.16%
inched down slightly, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.02%
eked up a bit. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.05%
rose 0.1% while the Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.09%
slid 0.1%. South Korea’s Kospi 180721, +0.41%
gained 0.5%, and benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, +0.82%
, Singapore STI, +0.18%
and Malaysia FBMKLCI, +0.96%
rose. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.04%
was about flat.
On Wednesday, Japan reported its April
exports plummeted nearly 22% while imports fell 7%, the worst monthly
readings in more than a decade. Japan is the world’s third-largest economy, and
fell into recession in the first quarter due to coronavirus-related shutdowns.
China, meanwhile, is pushing to jump-start jobs lost to
pandemic closures. As many as 30% of China’s urban workers are estimated to
have lost their jobs, Fitch Ratings said, and the
Associated Press reported the government is being pressured to get the
economy going again as the country’s National People’s Congress is set to meet.
More
Japan exports fall most since
2009 as pandemic wipes out global demand
May 21, 2020 /
1:01 AM
TOKYO
(Reuters) - Japan’s exports fell the most since the 2009 global financial
crisis in April as the coronavirus pandemic slammed world demand for cars,
industrial materials and other goods, likely pushing the world’s third-largest
economy deeper into recession.
The ugly trade numbers come as policymakers seek to balance
virus containment measures against the need to revive battered parts of the
economy, with the risk of a second wave of infections only complicating this
challenge.
The central bank will hold an emergency meeting on Friday
to work out a scheme that would encourage financial institutions to lend to
smaller, struggling firms. Policymakers are also considering cash injections
for companies of all sizes.
Ministry of Finance (MOF) data on Thursday showed Japan’s
exports fell 21.9% in April year-on-year as U.S.-bound shipments slumped 37.8%,
the fastest decline since 2009, with car exports there plunging 65.8%.
Global automakers are struggling to cope with the health
crisis, which has pummelled car sales due to lockdowns in many countries.
Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T ) expects an 80% drop in full-year
operating profit while Mitsubishi Motors Corp (
7211.T )
has reported an 89% drop in annual profit.
The fall in overall shipments was the biggest since October
2009 during the global financial crisis, but slightly less than a 22.7%
decrease seen by economists in a Reuters poll. Exports fell 11.7% in March.
More
Dow futures head lower ahead of
final flourish of earnings for the week, jobless claims and a fresh dose of
Powell
Published: May 20, 2020 at 11:58 p.m. ET
U.S. stock-index futures indicated modest losses at the
start of Thursday trade as investors braced for a fresh round of corporate
results and economic reports, including weekly jobless claims. Market
participants will hear from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for a third
time this week since his interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes.” Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMM20, -0.64%
were trading 112 points, or 0.5%, lower at 24,407, those for the S&P 500
index ESM20, -0.62%
were trading 15.25 points, or 0.5%, lower at 2,953.25, while Nasdaq-100 futures
NQM20, -0.47%
were trading 34.25 points lower to reach 9.451.25, a decline of 0.4% . ----Markets will wade through a morass of economic reports
on Thursday, including weekly jobless claims results that have mostly been
overlooked by bullish investors in favor of a creeping reopening of the U.S.
economy. A weekly report on Thursday is expected
to show that some 2.35 million people sought unemployment benefits in the
week ended May 16, likely bringing the total number of Americans out of work
during the COVID-19 pandemic to nearly 40 million on a seasonally adjusted
basis. See : The
economy is finally recovering from the coronavirus, but the ill-effects aren’t
going away for a long time That is about one out of every five workers in the labor
force. To be sure, the weekly figure represents a deceleration of
the recent unsightly trend of job losses, but may still be a sobering reminder
of the toll the viral pandemic has exerted on the U.S. economy over the past
few months. In addition to jobless claims due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern,
investors will watch for a survey of businesses conditions in the Philadelphia
area, the Philadelphia Fed index, due at the same time. Markit flash PMIs,
providing an early read of services and manufacturing activity for May, are due
at 9:45 a.m., while a report on existing home sales for April is expected at 10
a.m., along with a composite measure of leading economic indicators, including
building permits and factory orders, due at the same hour.
More
Pandemic could cost global
economy $82 trillion in depression scenario
Published: May 20, 2020 at 2:13 a.m. ET
How badly will the coronavirus pandemic impact the economy?
Does $82 trillion sound not good? That is the scary number put out by the Centre for Risk
Studies at the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School. That figure, of course, needs to be put into context.
That’s over five years, not one, and represents the potential hit to the global
economy and not just the U.S. in what’s called the “economic depression”
scenario. The GDP for the world’s 19 leading economies was $69.2
trillion last year. Its “optimistic” take is a loss of $3.3 trillion over five
years. It says the consensus expectation calls for $26.8 trillion, or 5.3% of five-year GDP, to be lost . For the U.S., the potential five-year loss ranges from $550
billion to $19.9 trillion. It’s safe to say financial markets are not pricing in a
global depression. The S&P 500 SPX, -1.04% has climbed over 30% from the lows of March. If the numbers sound too outlandish, consider that growth
and returns on assets can be depressed up to 40 years after the pandemic has
passed, according to Keith Wade, chief economist at U.K. fund manager
Schroders. He looked at pandemics dating back to the Black Death in
this hall-of-fame table of despair:
More
Finally,
the great rains. But what does it mean? Locusts, a coronavirus plague, global flooding,
economic collapse? It couldn’t be, could it?
Strongest cyclone in over a
decade slams into India, Bangladesh
May 20, 2020 /
6:47 AM
KOLKATA/DHAKA
(Reuters) - A powerful cyclone barrelled into eastern India on Wednesday with
heavy rain, wind and waves as millions of people were evacuated from there and
neighbouring Bangladesh in an operation complicated by the campaign against the
novel coronavirus.
Cyclone Amphan had begun moving inland, the India Meteorological Department
said in a bulletin at 3 p.m. (0930 GMT), after brewing for days in the Bay of
Bengal to become one of the strongest storms to hit the region in about a
decade.
Officials in India’s Odisha and West Bengal states said powerful winds
had torn off roofs, uprooted trees and bent electricity poles, hitting power
supplies in some areas.
In Bangladesh, junior minister for disaster management Enamur Rahman
said about 2.4 million people in the most vulnerable districts had been shifted
to more than 15,000 storm shelters.
“It has been challenging to evacuate people while maintaining
distancing. We have doubled the number of the cyclone centres to ensure safe
distancing and hygiene,” Rahman said.
Bangladeshi officials also said they had moved hundreds of Rohingya
refugees from Myanmar, living on a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, to
storm shelters.
More
237 dead, 800,000 displaced in
Kenya floods
NAIROBI, Kenya May 13 – 237 people have lost their lives due to floods
as rains cause havoc across the country, according to official statistics.
The worst affected areas are around Lake Victoria, Lake Naivasha, Tana
River, Nzoia River and parts of Central Kenya along tributaries that flow into
Tana River from The Aberdares.
“As of this (Wednesday) morning, Kenyans who have lost their lives due
to floods are 237,” said Eugene Wamalwa, the Devolution Cabinet Secretary,
“That is a very high number compared to those Kenyans who have lost their lives
to COVID-19 who are about 33.”
He said 161,000 households are also affected or displaced.
“Meaning we have 807,000 Kenyans who are affected by these floods,” he
told a news conference in Nairobi. “With rains going on and our dams filling
(up), it means more will be affected. We are urging people in flood-prone
areas, mudslide prone areas to move to higher grounds.”
In recent weeks, security forces have been moving people out by force to
higher grounds.
“We are visiting all the affected areas, like in Lake Naivasha
people around there have been affected but the worst affected is around
Lake Victoria. We are assisting those affected with food and clean
water and other basic necessities.”
The Kenya Meteorological Department projects that the ongoing rains will
continue to June.
Michigan river rises to highest
level ever after dam break
May 20, 2020 /
10:34 AM / Updated May 20, 2020 at 6:41 PM
May 20 (UPI) -- A dam breach in central Michigan that forced thousands to evacuate
has swelled the Tittabawassee River to its highest level in history,
forecasters said Wednesday. The earthen Edenville Dam held back the river, which
reached the record high of 34 feet in Midland, the National Weather
Service said. Forecasters from the NWS said the Tittabawassee River is expected to
fluctuate to around 35 feet before beginning to drop at around midnight.
They previously predicted the river could crest at 38 feet. The Edenville Dam ruptured Tuesday after swelling with
several inches of rain, and was followed by the failure of Sanford Dam in
Midland County. The failures forced thousands to evacuate Midland and
surrounding areas and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency. "This is unlike anything we've seen in Midland
County," Whitmer said at a news conference Tuesday. "If you have a
family member or loved one who lives in another part of the state, go there
now." Downtown Midland, the site of a major Dow Chemical plant,
is projected to be under as many as 9 feet of water by late Wednesday, Whitmer
said. Midland City Manager Brad Kaye said Wednesday that the
flood is expected to reach its peak height at around 9 p.m. and encouraged residents to remain vigilant. ---- According to records, the company that owns the dam
had a federal license revoked in 2018. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revoked the license for Boyce Hydro Power to generate power
at the Edenville Dam, citing the company's failure over a years-long span to
correct safety problems, including its ability to withstand a major flood. FERC regulators said they were revoking the license because
of the company's "longstanding failure to increase the project's spillway
capacity to safely pass flood flows, as well as its failure to comply with its
license" and commission regulations. Midland County and neighboring Gladwin Country agreed to
buy the dams from Boyce Hydro in January.
Michigan floodwaters displace
thousands, threaten Superfund site
Published: May 20, 2020 at 11:03 p.m. ET
MIDLAND, Mich. — Floodwaters surging through Central
Michigan on Wednesday were mixing with containment ponds at a Dow Chemical Co.
plant and could displace sediment from a downstream Superfund site, though the
company said there was no risk to people or the environment. Dow DOW, +1.51%
said the ponds held only water, and it has detected no chemical releases from
the plant in Midland where the company was founded, though the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency said state officials would evaluate the plant when they’re
able. Once the flooding recedes, Dow will be required to assess the Superfund
site — contaminated with dioxins the company dumped in the last century — to
determine if any contamination was released, the EPA said. Meanwhile, the Tittabawassee River crested at just over 35
feet in Midland, about 3 feet below the forecast level.
Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer had warned that the city of 42,000 people could end up under 9
feet of water by Wednesday evening after floodwaters overtook two dams and
forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people from their homes.
But the danger isn’t over, and Midland officials asked that residents
not return yet. The National Weather Service said communities farther
downstream were bracing for flooding in the coming days.
No injuries or fatalities related to the flooding have been reported,
Midland spokeswoman Selina Tisdale said.
Residents near the river were urged to seek higher ground following what
the National Weather Service called “catastrophic dam failures” at the
Edenville Dam, about 20 miles northwest of Midland, and the Sanford Dam, about
8 miles downriver.
Midland City Manager Brad Kaye said Wednesday that the Sanford Dam is
overflowing but that the extent of structural damage isn’t yet known.
If the entire dam structure were to fail, “there would be a much higher
surge that will come down the river and that could raise the level much more
quickly than what we’re seeing right at the moment,” Kaye said.
In nearby Edenville, Bob Yahrmarkt, 79, evacuated his home along the
river on Tuesday afternoon. He said he couldn’t believe what he saw when he
returned Wednesday. “Just devastation,” said Yahrmarkt.
His garage, which housed tools and equipment he amassed over 70 years,
was swept away. His home was heavily damaged by water: It has three levels —
two beneath the main floor, which itself was more than a foot underwater.
More
The rain it raineth every day,
Anon.
Covid-19 Corner
Though
hopefully, we are passing/have passed the peak of new cases, at least of the
first SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, this section will continue until it becomes
unneeded.
WHO reports largest number of
COVID-19 cases in single day
May 20, 2020 /
5:29 PM
May 20 (UPI) -- World Health Organization Director-General Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday marked a grim milestone in the coronavirus
pandemic -- the largest single-day total of confirmed cases.
He said public health officials reported 106,000 cases of the virus in
the past 24 hours, two-thirds of which came from four countries.
While Ghebreyesus didn't specify which four countries he
was talking about, the United States, Russia, Brazil and Britain account for
the most confirmed cases at more than 2.3 million, according to Johns
Hopkins University. "We still have a long way to go in this
pandemic," Ghebreyesus said.
As countries conduct more testing and more positive results
are returned, the globe is likely to surpass 5 million confirmed cases over the
next 24 hours. Johns Hopkins' global tracker says there are 4.96 million
cases worldwide, with at least 325,800 deaths. Of the confirmed cases, 1.87
million have recovered from COVID-19 . "We are very concerned about rising cases in low and
middle income countries," Ghebreyesus said. "The pandemic has taught
and informed many lessons. Health is not a cost; it's an investment. "To live in a secure world, guaranteeing quality
health for all is not just the right choice; it's the smart choice." Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's Emergencies
Program, meanwhile, warned people not to use hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus
treatment or prevention. His comments on the malaria drug came two days after
President Donald Trump told reporters he's taking the drug to
prevent COVID-19. Scientific studies show there's little evidence the drug successfully treats the virus and
the Food and Drug Administration warned it causes serious and potentially life-threatening
side effects, including heart rhythm problems.
China’s New Outbreak Shows Signs
the Virus Could Be Changing
Bloomberg News
May 20, 2020, 7:02 AM GMT+1 Updated on May 20, 2020,
10:00 AM GMT+1
Chinese doctors are seeing the coronavirus manifest differently among
patients in its new cluster of cases in the northeast region compared to the
original outbreak in Wuhan, suggesting that the pathogen may be changing in
unknown ways and complicating efforts to stamp it out.
Patients found in the northern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang
appear to carry the virus for a longer period of time and take longer to test
negative, Qiu Haibo, one of China’s top critical care doctors, told state
television on Tuesday.
Patients in the northeast also appear to be taking longer than the one
to two weeks observed in Wuhan to develop symptoms after infection, and this
delayed onset is making it harder for authorities to catch cases before they
spread, said Qiu, who is now in the northern region treating patients.
“The
longer period during which infected patients show no symptoms has created
clusters of family infections,” said Qiu, who was earlier sent to Wuhan to help
in the original outbreak. Some 46 cases have been reported over the past two
weeks spread across three cities -- Shulan, Jilin city and Shengyang -- in two
provinces, a resurgence of infection that sparked renewed lockdown measures
over a region of 100 million people.
Scientists
still do not fully understand if the virus is changing in significant ways and
the differences Chinese doctors are seeing could be due to the fact that
they’re able to observe patients more thoroughly and from an earlier stage than
in Wuhan. When the outbreak first exploded in the central Chinese city, the local
health-care system was so overwhelmed that only the most serious cases were
being treated. The northeast cluster is also far smaller than Hubei’s outbreak,
which ultimately sickened over 68,000 people.
More
Pathogen May Be Changing; Brazil
Cases Surge Again: Virus Update
Bloomberg News
May 20, 2020, 12:50 AM GMT+1 Updated on May 20, 2020,
11:54 AM GMT+1
Brazil reported a record
day for infections, making it the world’s fastest-growing virus hot spot,
and President Donald Trump is considering
a ban on Brazilians traveling to the U.S. Russia added the fewest cases since
the start of the month and recoveries outpaced new infections for the first
time. Chinese doctors are seeing the virus manifest differently
in its new cluster of cases, suggesting that the pathogen may be changing and
complicating efforts to stamp it out. Millions were evacuated in India and
Bangladesh before the biggest cyclone
in two decades, hampering efforts to curb the outbreak. Trump said the U.S.’s 1.5 million cases were a “badge of
honor ” for the country’s testing efforts. Republicans are pushing for the
World Health Organization’s director-general and China’s ambassador to the U.S.
to testify
before the House virus oversight subcommittee.
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.
"Battery butter" could
give solid state batteries a much-needed boost
We've
recently been hearing a lot about solid
state batteries , which have some definite advantages over their
conventional counterparts. Although they're still not quite ready for everyday
use, a newly developed butter-like substance could help change that.
Ordinarily, lithium-ion batteries consist of two oppositely charged
electrodes (the anode and cathode), which are separated by a liquid
electrolyte. Lithium ions travel through that liquid, going back and forth
between the two electrodes during the charge and discharge cycles.
Unfortunately, though, such electrolytes tend to be environmentally
unfriendly, posing a challenge when batteries are damaged or disposed of. Additionally,
they're quite flammable, and can thus ignite within an overheating process
known as thermal runaway.
Solid state batteries attempt to address these problems by replacing the
liquid electrolyte with an eco-friendly, non-flammable, solid ceramic electrolyte.
There's still a problem, though, as the interface between the anode and this
material can be chemically unstable, limiting the rate at which ions are able
to pass through.
Researchers from Sweden's Chalmers University and China's Xi'an Jiaotong
University are attempting to address that shortcoming, with their new
interlayer paste.
Similar in texture to "butter from the fridge," the substance
gets spread onto the surface of a metal lithium anode, forming a transitional
layer between it and the solid electrolyte. It consists of nanoparticles of the
electrolyte material – a ceramic called LAGP – along with an ionic liquid
(which is salt in a liquid state).
When added to an existing solid state battery, the paste was found to
produce a tenfold increase in current density, which is defined as the
amount of charge per unit time that flows through a unit area of a chosen cross
section .
"This interlayer makes the battery cell significantly
more stable, and therefore able to withstand much higher current density,"
says Chalmers researcher Shizhao Xiong. "What is also important is that it
is very easy to apply the soft mass onto the lithium metal anode in the battery
– like spreading butter on a sandwich." A paper on the study was recently published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials Source: Chalmers University
Jean-Claude
Juncker. Failed former Luxembourg P.M., serial liar, ex-president of the
European Commission. Scotch
connoisseur.
The Monthly Coppock Indicators
finished April
DJIA: 24,346 +26 Down. NASDAQ: 8,890 +162 Up.
SP500: 2,912 +89 Down.
The NASDAQ has rebounded to
up. The S&P and the DJIA remain down.
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