Baltic Dry Index. 698 +19 Brent Crude 41.17
Spot Gold 1697
Coronavirus Cases 09/6/20
World 7,234,564
Deaths 411,599
"We must not let daylight
in upon the magic."
Walter Bagehot.
It is day one of
the Federal Reserve meeting, and all the gamblers in the stock casinos know
full well that Chairman Powell and his Trump re-election team have their backs
covered all the way out to November 3rd.
It is “buy
anything and everything” time in US stock casinos, and that spills over into the
global stock casinos. Chairman Powell and his Trump re-election team, even
managed to turn bankrupt Hertz into a buy last week!
Of course,
November 3rd is still a long way off, but with the Powell Fed
willing to buy up anything and everything, and at 100 cents on the dollar,
using unlimited acres of electronic cash created out of nothing, what could
possibly go wrong?
It’s easy money
time in the stock casinos. Step up, step up, get your free cash now. Everyone a
winner, no billionaire or millionaire left behind. [Poor old sleepy Joe Biden,
how do you win fighting the Fed?]
The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that
most people will leap to a hasty opinion rather than undergo it.
Walter Bagehot
Asia stocks set to gain after recovery hopes push Wall Street higher
June 9, 2020 /
1:10 AM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Asian stocks were set
to climb on Tuesday as confidence in an economic recovery pushed the Nasdaq
benchmark to a record high, although doubts about crude supply cuts were likely
to keep oil prices under pressure.
Markets have been encouraged by a May U.S. jobs report last week that showed a surprise fall in the unemployment rate, bolstering views that the worst of the downturn is over and that the economy was moving towards a quick rebound.
“The jobs report blew away expectations and the numbers were unparalleled in history,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital in New York. “We’re starting to see in the market the magnitude and speed of U.S. government intervention and the market is now looking through the short-term negative numbers from GDP towards a much stronger recovery.”
Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures YAPcm1 were up 0.67% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures .HSI .HSIc1 rose 0.52%. However, Japan's Nikkei 225 futures NKc1 were down 0.04%.
The Nasdaq hit a record high close on Monday, becoming the first of Wall Street’s three main indexes to bounce back from the market crash caused by the pandemic.
Financial, automotive and retail-oriented and energy shares - the stocks most beaten-down since the pandemic slammed markets - have been leading equity indices higher recently.
U.S. stocks also added to gains late in the trading session after the Federal Reserve eased the terms of its “Main Street” lending program to encourage more businesses and banks to participate.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 1.7%, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.20% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 1.13%.
More
Fed will be encouraged by the May job-market surprise but unlikely to rip up its low-rates-for-longer script
Published: June 7, 2020 at 4:15
p.m. ET
The Federal Reserve will stand up to applaud the
surprisingly encouraging May jobs report but won’t make any other move to alter
its “low-for-longer”interest-rate policy, economists said.“It is exceedingly unlikely that ... a handful of more positive gauges like nonfarm payrolls and mortgage-purchase applications will drive the Fed to rewrite the narrative on the fly,” said Derek Holt, head of capital-market economics at Scotiabank.
Nurturing the recovery will remain the Fed’s focus, Holt added.
While the May jobs report was “a breath of fresh air after weeks of stifling pessimism, including from some Fed officials,” but it doesn’t mean the economy is out of the woods, said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
The May report showed a broad-based 2.5 million upturn in employment and a 1.4-percentage-point drop in the unemployment rate to 13.3%, though the Bureau of Labor Statistics allowed that the unemployment rate would be three percentage points higher if household data had been recorded accurately.
“The much-better-than expected May employment report is telling us something,” said Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp. “[W]e’re just not sure what.”
The report “changes nothing for the FOMC,” he said, as there is little doubt the central bankers see their job as far from done, Moody said.
Some economists think the latest monthly jobs data will put the Fed is a delicate position. If the Fed says the economy is improving, the market would be worried the central bank will reduce its support,
John Briggs, head of strategy for the Americas at NatWest Markets, said the Fed may set details on further quantitative easing.
“We see a commitment to around $100 billion a month in U.S. Treasury purchases and $80 billion in mortgage-backed-security purchases with an open-ended time frame,” Briggs said.
Since mid-March, the Fed has been buying assets “to support smooth market functioning.” After peaking at $75 billion per day into early April, the Fed has tapered the purchases to $4 billion in Treasurys a day and $4.5 billion in mortgage assets. With market functioning achieved, Wall Street is beginning to wonder about the end game.
“Ongoing tapering, without a formal plan, could lead market participants to assume the Fed is on their way to ending QE altogether, something we do not think the Fed intends to do,” Briggs said.
Fed officials will meet Tuesday and Wednesday. There will be a statement at 2 p.m. and a press conference led by Chairman Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m.
More
U.S. economy officially in 'recession' due to COVID-19: Economists
June 8, 2020
June
8 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy is officially in a
recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the National Bureau of Economic
Research said Monday.The bureau's Business Cycle Dating Committee announced that the COVID-19-related drop in jobs and consumer demand ended the longest economic expansion in recorded U.S. economic history that lasted 128 months from June 2009.
"The unprecedented magnitude of the decline in employment and production, and its broad reach across the entire economy, warrants the designation of this episode as a recession, even if it turns out to be briefer than earlier contractions," the committee said in a statement.
A recession is usually declared after two consecutive quarters of negative growth in U.S. production, but the committee said a "significant decline" started in February.
"In deciding whether to identify a recession, the committee weighs the depth of the contraction, its duration, and whether economic activity declined broadly across the economy," the committee said.
The private non-profit research organization, based in Cambridge, Mass., is made up of economists from major universities and is known for identifying the starts and end dates of economic recessions.
The pandemic caused a sudden drop in economic activity spread across the economy, "normally visible in production, employment, and other indicators," the bureau said.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed that the labor market peaked in February, the committee said. The amount of consumer spending, called real personal consumption rates, also peaked in February and then dropped.
More than 42 million United States workers have filed for unemployment benefits since the pandemic began, and stay-at-home orders closed many businesses for weeks to keep the virus from spreading.
But the report did not address the official U.S. Labor Report, released Friday, which surprised economists by showing that job losses were lower than expected in May and 2.5 million jobs were added while the national unemployment rate declined.
Economists are mixed about whether the economic effects of the pandemic will be far-reaching.
Last week, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office predicted in a report that the pandemic's economic toll could last more than a decade and cost the economy $8 trillion, or three percent of total gross domestic product.
But the federal agency said that the economic situation was unprecedented and that more research would have to be done to adjust predictions of the economic toll in the future.
More
In European news, it’s
dire. Europe’s largest economy continues its freefall. Spain’s runner up. Must
be a sure sign to buy more stocks.
Reuters confuses
Euros with Dollars. Or maybe their computers are so old that they don’t have a
euro key. € v $. Try control+alt+e.
Heathrow’s boss
foresees millions of job losses, if planes stay grounded, and that’s just in
GB! Possibly one of them his!!!
German industrial production dropped a record 17.9% in April
Published: June 8, 2020 at 2:13 a.m. ET
Germany's industrial production fell a
seasonally adjusted 17.9% in April, which is the largest monthly drop on
record, the Federal Statistical Office said Monday. Compared to April 2019,
production fell by 25.3%. Capital-goods production fell 35%, and automotive
production dropped 74.6%.
German industrial output posts record plunge in April due to coronavirus outbreak
June 8, 2020 /
7:22 AM
BERLIN (Reuters) - German industrial output posted its steepest plunge
on record in April as the coronavirus pandemic forced companies in Europe’s
largest economy to scale back production, data showed on Monday.
Industrial output dropped by 17.9% on the month, figures released by the
Statistics Office showed. A Reuters poll had pointed to a drop of 16.0%.
Spain's economy could shrink by up to 21.8% in second quarter, Bank of Spain says
June 8, 2020 /
12:14 PM
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s economy could shrink by 16% to 21.8% in the
second quarter against the previous quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the
Bank of Spain said on Monday as it charted various economic scenarios.
The central bank sees the economy starting to recover in the second part
of the year, with GDP likely contracting by 9 to 11.6% overall this year, which
is a more optimistic scenario than its latest forecast of a 9.5-12.4%
contraction.
The Spanish economy would then rebound in 2021.
In the first quarter, the Spanish economy shrank 5.2%.
Galeries Lafayette's Champs Elysees store struggles as group faces $1 billion hit - CEO
June 8, 2020 /
10:01 AM
PARIS
(Reuters) - Galeries Lafayette’s new outlet on the Champs Elysees is struggling
because people are staying away from the famous Paris boulevard due to
COVID-19, according to its CEO, who said the crisis would hit the group to the
tune of 1 billion euros.
The high-end French department store opened the outlet, about a tenth of
the size of its flagship store on Boulevard Haussmann, in March 2019 as a
retail laboratory to test new sales techniques and fashion labels.
But with borders still closed to foreign tourists and French consumers
cautious, France’s most famous shopping street is a shadow of its former self
following the end of a nationwide lockdown on May 11.
“It is very hard. We reopened the Champs Elysees store on May 11 but we
have to face the fact that a lot of customers are missing,” Galeries Lafayette
Chief Executive Nicolas Houze said on BFM Business radio.
Houze said that since the reopening of its stores, traffic is down by
about 20% compared to normal times and opening hours have been shortened for
now. He said the crisis would impact the wider group’s accounts by 1 billion
euros (890 million pounds) or more
“International clients may be missing till year-end or beyond and that
will weigh heavily because the Haussmann shop gets more than half of its
revenue from foreigners,” the CEO said.
He added that the family-owned company, which has 61 stores in France
and abroad, was in talks with banks and the finance ministry about a 300
million euro state-guaranteed loan.
Houze said a lot of major brands on the
Champs Elysees, including the Apple store, had not yet reopened and many hotels
and cinemas remain closed.
More
BP to cut 10,000 jobs as virus hits demand for oil
8th June, 2020
BP has announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs amid following a global slump
in demand for oil because of the coronavirus crisis.
The oil giant had paused redundancies during the peak of the pandemic
but told staff on Monday that around 15% will leave by the end of the year.
BP has not said how many jobs will be lost in the UK but it is thought
the figure could be close to 2,000.
Chief executive Bernard Looney blamed a drop in the oil price for the
cuts.
In an email to staff, he said: "The oil price has plunged well
below the level we need to turn a profit.
"We are spending much, much more than we make - I am talking
millions of dollars, every day."
Possibly millions of jobs could be lost if planes stay grounded, Heathrow boss says
June 8, 2020 /
8:46 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of jobs, if not millions, could
be lost in Britain if aviation is not able to resume quickly, the chief
executive of London’s Heathrow Airport said on Monday.
Britain introduced a 14-day quarantine period for international arrivals
on Monday despite warnings from its biggest airlines that the move will
decimate domestic tourism and damage exports.
“We cannot go on like this as a country,” Chief Executive John
Holland-Kaye told Sky News. “We need to start planning to reopen our borders.
“If we don’t get aviation moving again quickly, in a very safe way, then
we are going to lose hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs in the UK
just at the time when we need to be rebuilding our economy.”
In
other news, China’s importing US soybeans again. Russia says "they have
sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind"
Soy imports jump 7% in May: customs
By
Xie Jun and Yang Kunyi Source:Global Times Published: 2020/6/7 20:58:40
China's
soybean imports jumped nearly 7 percent by volume in the first five months of
the year, although the country's overall trade was flat from last May,
according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs
Sunday.
From January to May, soybean imports totaled 33.88 million tons, up 6.8 percent year-on-year. The average import price edged down by 1.7 percent to 2,770.2 yuan ($391) per ton, customs data showed.
The figure could be a sign of progress in the fulfillment of the Phase One trade deal with the US, as China strives to honor its promise of purchasing $80 billion worth of agricultural products in 2020 and 2021, said Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
"At this time of year, soybean exports from the US are usually slow as it is the growing season," Bai said. "But in the past few months, imports of US soybeans have been on a steady rise as part of the effort to fulfill the Phase One deal."
Jiao Shanwei, editor-in-chief of agricultural information portal cngrain.com, said that China's import volume of US soybeans might reach a record high in the autumn, normally the peak season for US soybean sales, because of the Phase One trade deal.
However, it's hard to predict the underlying trend or trade volume due to political uncertainties between the two countries.
China has moved to purchase more agricultural products at a time when its own trade sector is facing downward pressure, with both exports and imports having recorded single-digit falls in the first five months this year.
According to the customs data, China's trade dropped 4.9 percent on a yearly basis to 11.54 trillion yuan from January to May. Exports slumped by 4.7 percent to 6.2 trillion yuan while imports fell by 5.2 percent to 5.34 trillion yuan.
The data showed that China's foreign trade situation remain severe, as export growth slowed considerably in May as a result of shrinking overseas demand.
China exported 1.46 trillion yuan worth of products in May, up just 1.4 percent year-on-year - a considerable decline from the 8.2-percent growth posted in April.
According to Bai, export growth in April, which was a pleasant surprise to Chinese market watchers, mostly reflected orders backed up in previous months due to logistics disruptions during the coronavirus epidemic.
But the slowing growth in May shows that the sector faces new headwinds, which is the lack of new export orders as the global COVID-19 pandemic drags on, he said.
However, some experts saw a bright side to the figures, and that the growth in May, although slight, showed the resilience of China's trade sector.
"China managed to achieve growth in exports in May after clearing order backlogs, which was better than market expectations. It also shows that many markets have inelastic demand for Chinese products," Tian Yun, vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times on Sunday.
The customs data also showed that although the pandemic has hit exports of daily necessities ranging from clothes to plastics and toys, exports of fabrics surged by 25.5 percent year-on-year in the first five months of the year, as the pandemic spurred demand for medical equipment such as face masks.
Experts said that pressure would linger for some time on China's trade sector but the situation would improve in the second half of the year.
From January to May, soybean imports totaled 33.88 million tons, up 6.8 percent year-on-year. The average import price edged down by 1.7 percent to 2,770.2 yuan ($391) per ton, customs data showed.
The figure could be a sign of progress in the fulfillment of the Phase One trade deal with the US, as China strives to honor its promise of purchasing $80 billion worth of agricultural products in 2020 and 2021, said Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
"At this time of year, soybean exports from the US are usually slow as it is the growing season," Bai said. "But in the past few months, imports of US soybeans have been on a steady rise as part of the effort to fulfill the Phase One deal."
Jiao Shanwei, editor-in-chief of agricultural information portal cngrain.com, said that China's import volume of US soybeans might reach a record high in the autumn, normally the peak season for US soybean sales, because of the Phase One trade deal.
However, it's hard to predict the underlying trend or trade volume due to political uncertainties between the two countries.
China has moved to purchase more agricultural products at a time when its own trade sector is facing downward pressure, with both exports and imports having recorded single-digit falls in the first five months this year.
According to the customs data, China's trade dropped 4.9 percent on a yearly basis to 11.54 trillion yuan from January to May. Exports slumped by 4.7 percent to 6.2 trillion yuan while imports fell by 5.2 percent to 5.34 trillion yuan.
The data showed that China's foreign trade situation remain severe, as export growth slowed considerably in May as a result of shrinking overseas demand.
China exported 1.46 trillion yuan worth of products in May, up just 1.4 percent year-on-year - a considerable decline from the 8.2-percent growth posted in April.
According to Bai, export growth in April, which was a pleasant surprise to Chinese market watchers, mostly reflected orders backed up in previous months due to logistics disruptions during the coronavirus epidemic.
But the slowing growth in May shows that the sector faces new headwinds, which is the lack of new export orders as the global COVID-19 pandemic drags on, he said.
However, some experts saw a bright side to the figures, and that the growth in May, although slight, showed the resilience of China's trade sector.
"China managed to achieve growth in exports in May after clearing order backlogs, which was better than market expectations. It also shows that many markets have inelastic demand for Chinese products," Tian Yun, vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times on Sunday.
The customs data also showed that although the pandemic has hit exports of daily necessities ranging from clothes to plastics and toys, exports of fabrics surged by 25.5 percent year-on-year in the first five months of the year, as the pandemic spurred demand for medical equipment such as face masks.
Experts said that pressure would linger for some time on China's trade sector but the situation would improve in the second half of the year.
More
Building Hainan into a free trade port won’t strike HKSAR: Chinese officials
Source:Global
Times Published: 2020/6/8 12:13:40
China's
master plan to build South China's Hainan Province into a free trade port will
not have a negative influence on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
(HKSAR) as the two regions have different positions and main industries, and
their relations complement rather than rival one another, Chinese officials
said.
The comments were made at a press briefing of the State Council Information Office on Monday. The briefing provided a detailed interpretation of a mega plan, which China released on June 1, to build its southernmost island into a world-class free trade port, with a major focus on financial opening-up.
Lin Nianxiu, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's economic planner, said at the press briefing that Hainan will learn from predecessors such as the HKSAR, Singapore and Dubai, which are representatives of high-level global free trade ports and uphold international rules.
Lin stressed that Hainan's position is different to Hong Kong's.
"Hong Kong is an important global financial, trade and shipping center… In Hainan, we will fully utilize its edge in abundant natural resources, its unique geographic position and its proximity to a massive market to facilitate trade and investment while promoting the development of the tourism, services and high-tech industries," Lin said.
In the next step, Lin said that Hainan will strengthen coordination with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for joint development. "We will work together to ensure Hong Kong's security and long-term stability and prosperity. We will ensure the 'one country, two systems' principle."
Liu Cigui, Party chief of Hainan, stressed that the Hainan free trade port is a port under "the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics."
"We will not allow any moves that jeopardize national security and hamper [China's] socialist construction in any ideological perspective," Liu noted.
Under the free trade port plan unveiled last week, Hainan will encourage free flows of six elements including trade, investment and cross-border capital. Goods will be subject to zero tariffs, and services will be allowed to access and operate in the market.
Hainan Governor Shen Xiaoming said at the press briefing that Hainan will reduce barriers on market entry substantially to facilitate the opening-up of services sector.
The comments were made at a press briefing of the State Council Information Office on Monday. The briefing provided a detailed interpretation of a mega plan, which China released on June 1, to build its southernmost island into a world-class free trade port, with a major focus on financial opening-up.
Lin Nianxiu, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's economic planner, said at the press briefing that Hainan will learn from predecessors such as the HKSAR, Singapore and Dubai, which are representatives of high-level global free trade ports and uphold international rules.
Lin stressed that Hainan's position is different to Hong Kong's.
"Hong Kong is an important global financial, trade and shipping center… In Hainan, we will fully utilize its edge in abundant natural resources, its unique geographic position and its proximity to a massive market to facilitate trade and investment while promoting the development of the tourism, services and high-tech industries," Lin said.
In the next step, Lin said that Hainan will strengthen coordination with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for joint development. "We will work together to ensure Hong Kong's security and long-term stability and prosperity. We will ensure the 'one country, two systems' principle."
Liu Cigui, Party chief of Hainan, stressed that the Hainan free trade port is a port under "the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics."
"We will not allow any moves that jeopardize national security and hamper [China's] socialist construction in any ideological perspective," Liu noted.
Under the free trade port plan unveiled last week, Hainan will encourage free flows of six elements including trade, investment and cross-border capital. Goods will be subject to zero tariffs, and services will be allowed to access and operate in the market.
Hainan Governor Shen Xiaoming said at the press briefing that Hainan will reduce barriers on market entry substantially to facilitate the opening-up of services sector.
More
‘US, Europe getting back SAME CHAOS they've sown around the world’ – Russia’s FM spokeswoman on riots in America
8 Jun, 2020 00:58
The West has encouraged destabilization and divided groups against each
other around the globe, but now its own problems are of the same nature,
according to Maria Zakharova, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
“By sowing chaos [abroad], they’ve got chaos at home,” Zakharova
pointed out, when asked about the reasons for the current unrest in the US and
in some European countries, during her appearance on Rossiya 1 TV channel.
“Everything they’ve been embedding into the world’s consciousness –
they’re reaping it now.”
The heated riots involving clashes with police, torched buildings and
large-scale looting are a direct consequence of the ideas that Washington has
been promoting around the globe in recent years, such as “destabilizing the
situation, playing on the inner differences that exist in every country and
every society," she said.
The US administration has been actively and openly supporting opposition
groups in countries which promoted policies that were undesirable to
Washington, swiftly siding with demonstrators in Venezuela, Hong Kong, Iran and
elsewhere, no matter how violent these were.
But the US, and parts of Western Europe to a lesser extent, have found
themselves gripped by protests, after African-American George Floyd died in
police custody in Minneapolis in late May.
Thousands of people took to the streets to decry police brutality and,
although many rallies were peaceful, some turned violent in Minneapolis,
Washington, New York, Atlanta, Chicago and many other cities.
"The whole history of civilization is
strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly
afterwards."
Walter Bagehot.
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.
New Zealand says coronavirus 'eliminated' and life can resume without restrictions
June 8, 2020 /
4:36 AM
WELLINGTON
(Reuters) - New Zealand has eliminated transmission of the coronavirus domestically
and will lift all containment measures except for border controls, Prime
Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday, making it one of the first countries to
do so.
Public and private events, the retail and hospitality industries and all
public transport could resume without social distancing norms still in place
across much of the world, she said.
“While the job is not done, there is no denying this is a milestone ...
Thank you, New Zealand,” Ardern told reporters.
“We are confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New
Zealand for now, but elimination is not a point in time, it is a sustained
effort.”
The South Pacific nation of about five million people is emerging from
the pandemic while big economies such as Brazil, Britain, India and the United
States grapple with the spreading virus.
This was largely due to 75 days of restrictions including about seven
weeks of a strict lockdown in which most businesses were shut and everyone
except essential workers had to stay at home.
“Today, 75 days later, we are ready,” Ardern told a news conference,
announcing the government would drop social distancing restrictions from
midnight on Monday and move to a level 1 national alert from Level 2.
Border controls would remain and everyone entering the country would be
tested, she said.
There were no active cases in New Zealand for the first time since the
virus arrived in late February, the health ministry said. New Zealand has
reported 1,154 infections and 22 deaths from the disease.
More
At least 7 coronavirus strains circulating in Northern California, study finds
June 8, 2020 /
3:37 PM
June
8 (UPI) -- At least seven strains of the new
coronavirus have been circulating in California since the COVID-19
outbreak in the United States started, an analysis published Monday by the
journal Science has revealed.The findings suggest that the cases of the disease, caused by SARS-CoV-2, likely originated from several sources, including not only overseas travelers but also from visitors from other states -- like Washington -- as well, the authors said.
"While the sample size is small, this study suggests that there may
have been multiple introductions of the virus into the United States,"
Brandon Brown, an associate professor of social medicine population and public
health at the University of California-Riverside, told UPI.
"The findings may actually leave us with more questions than
answers regarding the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 in the U.S.," said Brown,
who was not part of the Science analysis.
Through Monday afternoon, 1.95 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have occurred in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University. To date, California has had roughly 129,000 of them, based on data from county public health departments.
For the Science study, conducted by a team of California public health officials and international researchers, researchers analyzed viral samples from 36 patients spanning nine counties and the Grand Princess cruise ship. The ship docked in San Francisco Bay in March after an outbreak occurred on board.
The analysis revealed the introduction of at least seven different SARS-CoV-2 lineages into California, including epidemic WA1 strains associated with Washington State, the authors said.
There was no "predominant lineage" and limited transmission between communities within the state, they added.
More
COVID-19 Can Last for Several Months
The disease’s “long-haulers” have endured relentless waves of debilitating symptoms—and disbelief from doctors and friends.
June 4, 2020
Hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson instated stringent social-distancing measures
to halt the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, LeClerc, a Glasgow-based journalist,
arrived home feeling shivery and flushed. Over the next few days, she developed
a cough, chest pain, aching joints, and a prickling sensation on her skin.
After a week of bed rest, she started improving. But on day 12, every old
symptom returned, amplified and with reinforcements: She spiked an intermittent
fever, lost her sense of taste and smell, and struggled to breathe.When I spoke with LeClerc on day 66, she was still experiencing waves of symptoms. “Before this, I was a fit, healthy 32-year-old,” she said. “Now I’ve been reduced to not being able to stand up in the shower without feeling fatigued. I’ve tried going to the supermarket and I’m in bed for days afterwards. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.” Despite her best efforts, LeClerc has not been able to get a test, but “every doctor I’ve spoken to says there’s no shadow of a doubt that this has been COVID,” she said. Today is day 80.
COVID-19 has existed for less than six months, and it is easy to forget how little we know about it. The standard view is that a minority of infected people, who are typically elderly or have preexisting health problems, end up in critical care, requiring oxygen or a ventilator. About 80 percent of infections, according to the World Health Organization, “are mild or asymptomatic,” and patients recover after two weeks, on average. Yet support groups on Slack and Facebook host thousands of people like LeClerc, who say they have been wrestling with serious COVID-19 symptoms for at least a month, if not two or three. Some call themselves “long-termers” or “long-haulers.”
I interviewed nine of them for this story, all of whom share commonalities. Most have never been admitted to an ICU or gone on a ventilator, so their cases technically count as “mild.” But their lives have nonetheless been flattened by relentless and rolling waves of symptoms that make it hard to concentrate, exercise, or perform simple physical tasks. Most are young. Most were previously fit and healthy.
More
No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry
for the death of a political economist.
Walter Bagehot
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.
The sensitive strain sensor that can detect the weight of a feather
Date:
June 4, 2020
Source:
University of Sussex
Summary:
Physicists have created the most sensitive strain sensor ever made, capable of
detecting a feather's touch.
Physicists have created the most sensitive strain sensor ever made,
capable of detecting a feather's touch.
The sensor, developed by the Materials Physics Group at the University
of Sussex, can stretch up to 80 times higher strain than strain gauges currently
on the market and show resistance changes 100 times higher than the most
sensitive materials in research development.
The research team believe the sensors could bring new levels of
sensitivity to wearable tech measuring patients' vital signs and to systems
monitoring buildings and bridges' structural integrity.
Marcus O'Mara, from the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at
the University of Sussex, said: ""The next wave of strain sensing
technology uses elastic materials like rubber imbued with conductive materials
such as graphene or silver nanoparticles, and has been in development for over
a decade now.
"We believe these sensors are a big step forward. When compared to
both linear and non-linear strain sensors referenced in the scientific
literature, our sensors exhibit the largest absolute change in resistance ever
reported."
Alan Dalton, Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of
Sussex, said: "This promising technology may prove especially useful in
established fields such as healthcare, sports performance monitoring and
rapidly growing fields such as soft robotics.
"Our research has developed cheap, scalable health monitoring
devices that can be calibrated to measure everything from human joint motion to
vitals monitoring. Multiple devices could be used across the body of a patient,
connected wirelessly and communicating together to provide a live, mobile
health diagnostics at a fraction of the current cost."
The
new paper, published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials,
details the process for incorporating large quantities of graphene nanosheets
into a PDMS matrix in a structured, controllable fashion that results in
excellent electromechanical properties.
More
June
9, 68 AD Emperor Nero commits suicide.
In 67 AD Nero participated in the Olympics.
He had bribed organizers to postpone the games for a year so he could
participate,[107]
and artistic competitions were added to the athletic events. Nero won every
contest in which he was a competitor. During the games Nero sang and played his
lyre on stage, acted in tragedies and raced chariots. He won a 10-horse chariot
race, despite being thrown from the chariot and leaving the race. He was
crowned on the basis that he would have won if he had completed the race. After
he died a year later, his name was removed from the list of winners
President Trump doesn’t
drive chariots, but he does win all the time at golf.
The Monthly Coppock Indicators finished May
DJIA: 25,383 +12 Down. NASDAQ: 9,490 +178 Up.
SP500: 3,044 +83 Down.
The NASDAQ has remained up.
The S&P and the DJIA still remain down despite the best efforts of the Fed
to get them to higher.But not for much longer?
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