Baltic Dry Index. 1555 +28 Brent Crude 42.19
Spot Gold 1744
In winter I get up at night. And dress
by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way, I have to
go to bed by day.
Robert Louis Stevenson.
Putin proposes UN Five to discuss common principles in world affairs
Modern system of international relations is
one of the most important outcomes of the World War II, and today’s world
leaders must guarantee that it will be preserved and improved, Russian
President said
18 Jun, 23:01
MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. /TASS/. Russia proposes to discuss the common principles in world affairs during the upcoming summit of the UN Security Council permanent members - Russia, China, France, the US and the UK, President Vladimir Putin says in his article on the history of the World War II, published in The National Interest journal.
"First of all, in our opinion, it would be useful to discuss steps to develop collective principles in world affairs", Putin wrote about the proposed agenda of the upcoming summit. He proposed to " speak frankly about the issues of preserving peace, strengthening global and regional security, strategic arms control, as well as joint efforts in countering terrorism, extremism and other major challenges and threats."
According to the head of state, the situation in the global economy, including "overcoming the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic" is a "special item on the agenda.".
Modern system of international relations is one of the most important outcomes of the World War II, and today’s world leaders must guarantee that it will be preserved and improved, Putin said.
"The creation of the modern system of international relations is one of the major outcomes of the Second World War," the article says. "It is a duty of ours - all those who take political responsibility and primarily representatives of the victorious powers in the Second World War - to guarantee that this system is maintained and improved."
Calls to
strip the permanent members of the UN Security Council of the veto power are irresponsible,
Putin said.
"The
calls that have been made quite often in recent years to abolish the veto
power, to deny special opportunities to permanent members of the Security
Council are actually irresponsible," the Russian leader writes.
"After all, if that happens, the United Nations would in essence become
the League of Nations - a meeting for empty talk without any leverage on the
world processes. How it ended is well known.".
Russia calls
on all nations to step up the process of declassification of archives on prewar
and wartime periods, and it is ready for a broad international cooperation in
this field, Putin said.
"We
urge all states to step up the process of making their archives public and
publishing previously unknown documents of the war and pre-war periods - the
way Russia has done it in recent years," Putin said. "In this
context, we are ready for broad cooperation and joint research projects
engaging historians.".
Exclusive: 'Sorry is not enough', Caribbean states say of British slavery apologies
June 19, 2020 / 8:10 AM
More than 10
million Africans were shackled into the Atlantic slave trade by European
nations between the 15th and 19th centuries. Those who survived the often
brutal voyage, ended up toiling on plantations in the Americas.
While the
history of Europe’s scramble for African slaves has been widely known for
centuries, the death of George Floyd in the United States has prompted a
sweeping global reassessment of racism and the financing of the slave trade.
The Lloyd’s
of London insurance market apologised on Thursday for its “shameful” role in the
18th Century Atlantic slave trade and pledged to fund opportunities for black
and ethnic minority people.
But a
regional alliance of Caribbean countries said that Britain’s institutions
should go much further than simply apologising and give some of the wealth back
to the Caribbean by funding development at the epicentre of the slave trade.
“It is not
enough to say sorry,” said Hilary Beckles, chairman of the CARICOM Reparations
Commission which was set up by Caribbean countries to seek reparations from
former colonial powers such as the United Kingdom, France and Portugal.
“We are not
asking for anything as mendicant as handing out cheques to people on street
corners,” Beckles told Reuters from Jamaica. “The issue of money is secondary,
but in this instance the moral discharge of one’s duty does require in a market
economy that you contribute towards development.”
---- “Unfortunately, one cannot go back and remake the history but you can make atonement: it is not enough to make your apology as a public spectacle, it is not enough to present it as public relations exercise,” said Beckles.
“It is not
about public relations - it is about a negotiated settlement whereby everyone
finds closure within a moral framework,” he said. “To say sorry and issue a
press release is disrespectful - it does not fly with the people who were
victimized.”
British
institutions, he said, should sit down with Caribbean nations to fund
development projects - or even consider a sort of “Marshall Plan” to give some
of the plundered wealth back - a reference to the U.S. aid given to Europe
after the destruction of World War Two.
Several U.S. states see coronavirus infection spikes, Wall Street unnerved
June 20, 2020 / 12:59 AM
Wall Street
jitters over a resurgence in COVID-19 cases as states moved to reopen
long-stifled commerce and ease social-distancing measures helped drive down
major U.S. stock indexes, reversing earlier gains.
Experts say
expanded diagnostic testing accounts for some, but not all, of the growth in
cases - numbering at least 2.23 million nationwide on Friday - and that the
mounting volume of infections was elevating hospitalizations in some places.
“Clearly the
cases are rising rapidly. It’s not just a matter of testing more,” said Dr.
Murtaza Akhter, an emergency room physician at Arizona hospitals, noting the
lag time between a positive test and severe illness or death. “The real concern
is what is coming up for us in the next week or two.”
He said the
latest wave of cases has put Arizona’s major hospitals at or near capacity, and
placed the Southwestern state on track to surpass New York at its peak on a
per-capita basis.
More than
119,000 Americans have perished from COVID-19 to date, according to Reuters’
running tally.
Wirecard slumps 40% as search for missing billions turns to Philippines
June 19, 2020 / 7:48 AM
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Wirecard shares fell
by more than 40% as two Philippine banks said the German payments company,
which is scrambling to find $2.1 billion missing from its accounts, was not a
client and alleged that documents had been falsified.
Germany’s
Wirecard, which face the possibility of having to repay 2 billion euros ($2.24
billion) in bank loans if it cannot get its results signed off by its auditor
on Friday, said in a statement that it could have been the victim of fraud.
Wirecard’s
auditor EY has refused to sign off its 2019 accounts over the missing money,
which sent shares in the German financial technology firm spinning on Thursday.
“It cannot
be ruled out that Wirecard AG has become the aggrieved party in a case of fraud
of considerable proportions,” Wirecard Chief Executive Markus Braun said in an
online video.
Braun did
not identify those he suspected of fraud, while BPI and BDO, the two Philippine
banks, both issued statements denying any relationship with Wirecard.
“Wirecard is
not a client of the bank. The document claiming the existence of a Wirecard
account with BDO is a falsified document and carries forged signatures of bank
officers,” BDO said.
“The matter
has already been reported to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” BDO added in a
statement, referring to the Philippines’ central bank.
Wirecard
said its in-house auditor EY was unable to confirm the existence of 1.9 billion
euros in cash balances on trust accounts, representing about a quarter of its
balance sheet.
“Wirecard is
not a client. Their external auditor presented to us a document that claimed
that they are a client. We have determined that the document is spurious. We
continue to investigate this matter,” BPI said in a statement.
EY had
regularly approved Wirecard’s accounts in recent years, and its refusal to sign
off for 2019 confirms failings found in an external probe by KPMG in April.
Wirecard was
a welcome technology success story in Germany, which made its name in heavy
industry. But its fortunes unravelled after a whistleblower alleged that it
owed its success in part to a web of sham transactions.
The company
dismissed the claims but its failure to win a clean bill of health this week
from auditors for its accounts shattered investor confidence.
Wirecard lands $1 billion investment from Japan's Softbank
April 24, 2019 / 6:28 AM
BERLIN (Reuters) - Japan’s Softbank Group
Corp will invest around 900 million euros ($1 billion) in Wirecard in a
convertible bond deal that could give it a 5.6 percent stake in the German
digital payments company.
The
investment by the world’s biggest private technology company is a vote of
confidence in Wirecard’s business as it defends itself against allegations of
fraud, and will allow the Munich-based firm to expand its operations in Asia.
Shares in
Wirecard jumped 10 percent to the top of Germany’s blue-chip index by 1240 GMT.
Wirecard,
founded in 1999, ousted Commerzbank from Germany’s leading share index last
year as it benefited from an accelerating global trend towards digital payments
driven by e-commerce.
More
Lufthansa may sell Brussels Airlines or let it go bankrupt: report
June 19, 2020 / 11:37 AM
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) could let its
Belgian subsidiary Brussels Airlines go bankrupt or sell it, La Libre newspaper
reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources at the airline. Brussels Airlines, which employs 4,200 people, said last month it would cut its fleet of aircraft by 30% and its workforce by a quarter to ensure its survival during and after the coronavirus crisis.
Talks to
save the Belgian airline been have stalled for weeks but directors of
Lufthansa, which has itself been bailed out by the German government, and Brussels
Airlines would meet on Monday to discuss a plan for its future.
A
spokesperson for Lufthansa declined to comment.
Belgium’s
government said last month it was committed to reaching a 300 million euro
($336 million) deal with Lufthansa to save Brussels Airlines if its future was
guaranteed.
Finally, what’s up with the volatile Baltic Dry (shipping) Index? Basically, after a takeover of the dull as lead, (founded 1744,) Baltic Exchange in 2016, the new owners (Singapore Exchange, founded 1999,) wanted to juice up the BDI by re-weighting it into a “Capesize” index on steroids.
In March 2018 they got their wish and the rest of us got a more volatile, less useful shipping index. Well, less useful to me. On Friday, the BDI closed at the 2020 high.
---- The Baltic Exchange’s new owners want to rev up investment activity by transforming one of Baltic’s premier indexes, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI). This index averages out the price of moving non-containerized raw materials like coal, ores, grains, and cement on 23 different global shipping lanes.
The BDI itself is not really traded against on the futures market other than a few over the counter notes because it does not represent a single commodity—it combines separate indices for Capesize (100K+ deadweight tons), Panamax (60-80K DWT), Supramax (45-59K DWT), and Handysize (15-35K DWT) ships. The indices representing the three largest classes of ship, Capesize, Panamax, and Supramax, are quite volatile because supply is inelastic. In other words, it’s extremely expensive and time-consuming to remove or add supply to the marketplace—it takes years to design, order, build, and deliver a large ship, and it costs too much money to take one of these massive freighters out of water into storage if there’s a temporary drop in demand.
Therefore, dry bulk carriers are not able to respond to changes in demand, which can occur rapidly. Since the carriers cannot effectively take ships offline or bring them back online to respond to fast-moving market conditions, the shipping rate itself fluctuates wildly, with even marginal changes in demand having outsize effects on rates.
---- The volatility of Capesize, Panamax, and Supramax rates have made them attractive for derivatives investors. If you’re a bulk carrier and you’re worried that rates may go down, you can hedge that risk by taking a short position against the rate.
---- The old version of the BDI—the one that the Baltic Exchange will continue to publish until March 1—weighted all four classes of ships equally, each size representing 25%. This meant that there was a lot of ‘dead weight’ in the index, so to speak: it would not actually move with the rates investors were most worried about, those of three largest classes. The 25% weight given to the relatively stable Handysize rates made the BDI less responsive, therefore less informative, and therefore less useful. The other aspect of the BDI that made it an imperfect basis for a derivatives market is its composite nature. In a trucking analogy, the BDI is like an average of dry van, reefer, and flat bed rates—it might tell you something about the general nature of supply, demand, and economic activity in a given market, but if you’re exclusively a refrigerated carrier, the reefer rate is the only one you care about.
The new
version of the BDI eliminates the Handysize component and weights Capesize
rates at 40%, Panamax rates at 30%, and Supramax rates at 30%. The Baltic
Exchange said they made the decision to adjust the composition of the index
based on commodities and financial markets that had shown interest in trading
the BDI.
More
Baltic index logs record jump as Capesize demand spikes
The Baltic
Exchange’s main sea freight index recorded its biggest ever daily percentage
jump on Wednesday, propelled by surging capesize rates due to a spike in
iron-ore shipments.
The Baltic
dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and
reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, rose 192 points, or
about 18.2%, to 1,246, its highest since Dec. 17.
The Baltic
capesize index jumped 601 points, or about 32.4% to 2,455, its highest since
Dec. 13.
Average
daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport cargoes of 170,000
tonnes to 180,000 tonnes, including iron ore and coal, increased by $4,250 to
$19,036.
Increasing
shipments of iron ore out of Brazil, along with coal from the east coast of the
United States to India, have brought down the number of open ships, leading to
a massive change in capesize rates over the past two weeks, said Peter Sand,
chief shipping analyst at BIMCO.
A sharp rise
in demand for the steel-making ingredient has helped the index recoup losses
caused by a pandemic-led global economic slump that hammered capesize vessel
demand and pushed the index into negative territory.
“The main
driver is iron ore,” with strong flows along both Australian and Brazilian
routes and likely to improve further, ship broker Fearnleys said in a note.
“Period
interest is increasing gradually as well with operators again being more
active.”
Iron-ore
inventories at Chinese ports have also dropped to their lowest since October
2016, SteelHome consultancy data showed.
The panamax
index gained 70 points, or 7.4%, to 1,019.
Average
daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of
about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, rose $625 to $9,170.
The supramax
index rose 10 points, or 1.6%, to 634.
Baltic index sees best day ever as capesize vessel rates surge
The Baltic Exchange’s
main sea freight index marked its largest single-day percentage rise on
Thursday, as capesize vessel segment rates jumped 50% on strong iron ore
demand.
The Baltic
dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and
reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, rose 281 points, or
about 22.6%, to 1,527, its highest since Dec. 10.
The Baltic
capesize index jumped 1,217 points, or 49.6%, to 3,672, its highest since Sept.
25.
Average
daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport cargoes of 170,000
tonnes to 180,000 tonnes, including iron ore and coal, increased by $6,244 to
$25,280.
Dalian iron
ore has risen 32% in the second quarter, amidst worries about disruptions in
Brazil’s iron ore supply and hopes that China will step up its economic
stimulus effort.
Inventories
of the steel-making ingredient have declined steadily over the past three weeks
in China, dropping to 107.75 million tonnes last week, their lowest since
October 2016, SteelHome consultancy data showed.
More
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/baltic-index-sees-best-day-ever-as-capesize-vessel-rates-surge/
When the wind is out of the East, 'tis
never good for man nor beast. Merrie Olde Englande weather saying. Useful too.
G.F. HÄNDEL: Concerto per il Liuto e l'Harpa in B flat major Op.4/6 HWV 294
The Monthly Coppock Indicators finished May.
DJIA: 25,383 +12 Down. NASDAQ: 9,490 +178
Up. SP500: 3,044 +83 Down.
The NASDAQ has rebounded to up. The S&P and the DJIA remain down. But
the game is now totally rigged by the Fed.
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