Baltic Dry Index. 1823 + 20 Brent Crude 42.75
Spot Gold 1774
Coronavirus Cases 03/7/20
World 11,028,005
Deaths 525,674
"We
finished the year, and we reported that we had $17 billion of cash sitting at
the bank's parent company as a liquidity cushion. As the year has gone on, that
liquidity cushion has been virtually unchanged."
Alan Schwartz, CEO Bear Stearn's, March 12, 2008.
Bust March 16, 2008.
With the USA markets
closed today, Asian and European markets will be thin with many traders also
taking the day off.
The US Bureau of
Labor Statistics gave their version yesterday of US employment reality, spun by the media
positively as usual, but the likelihood is that during the Covid-19 crisis, the
statistics are at best unreliable and at worst meaningless.
The fact remains
that in the latest reporting period just under 1.5 million new unemployment
claims were filed, while continuing claims are still running above 19 million,
compared to about 220,000 and 3 million before the coronavirus crisis cratered
the economy.
Just don’t mention
it to the gamblers in the casino betting on the Fed’s latest stock bubble and
mania.
That it all ends
badly is a given, just not when nor what becomes the triggering event. My early
guess on timing and cause, this autumn and a second wave of Covid-19. But it could be sooner over Hong Kong.
Below, just another
day in the casino.
Asian shares hit four-month high as U.S., China recoveries gather pace
July 3, 2020 /
1:06 AM
TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Asian shares
rallied to a four-month high on Friday on robust U.S. payrolls data and a brisk
pickup in Chinese service sector activity but a surge in coronavirus cases in
the United States kept a lid on further risk-taking.
Mainland Chinese shares, which were among the best performers over the past month, extended gains, with the Shanghai composite index .SSEC hitting a high last seen in April 2019.
China’s services sector expanded at the fastest pace in over a decade in June, the Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed, as the easing of coronavirus-related lockdown measures revised consumer demand.
“Recovery in China’s domestic demand is accelerating, even though the external demand is still weak. Thus investors are shifting to domestic-demand oriented sectors,” said Wang Shenshen, senior strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.
S&P 500 futures were down 0.1% ESv1 but volumes were lower than usual due to a U.S. markets holiday on Friday for Independence Day.
The country’s nonfarm payrolls surged by 4.8 million jobs in June, above the average forecast of 3 million jobs in June, thanks to rises in the hard-hit hospitality sectors.
But economists noted there were caveats to the upbeat headline figures.
Even after two months of job recovery from May, the U.S. economy has recovered only just over a third of a historic plunge of 20.787 million in April.
A separate report on jobless claims, the most timely data on employment, showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell just 55,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.427 million for the week ended June 27.
The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid rose 59,000 to 19.290 million in the week ending June 20.
More
Next, Singapore
follows Germany in shutting the stable doors long after the commodity horses
have bolted. China next?
Exclusive: Banks in Singapore in talks to bolster lending practices for troubled commodity sector
July 2, 2020 /
6:51 AM
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Commodity trade financiers in
Singapore are teaming up to strengthen lending practices and improve
transparency in the sector following a spate of defaults at trading firms, four
sources with knowledge of the matter said. Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd, one of Asia’s biggest oil traders, and three other Singapore-based commodity traders ran into severe financial difficulties this year, hit hard by an oil price crash and a slump in fuel demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Commodity trade finance chiefs from about 20 banks including HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L), DBS Group Holdings Ltd (DBSM.SI) and OCBC (OCBC.SI), have formed a working group to propose new guidelines, the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity as the news has not been made public.
Authorities that have leant their backing to the working group include the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Enterprise Singapore, an agency that promotes trade, and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.
The move is the strongest response yet by banks and Singapore regulators to shore up confidence in the commodity trading industry.
More
Kingold Jewelry secures US$2.8 billion in loans with gilded copper bars, in latest fraud that embarrasses China, irks US
·
Nasdaq-listed Kingold, one of China’s largest
jewellery makers, allegedly used 83 tonnes of gold bars as loan collateral,
which later turned out to be gilded copper, according to a report by the Caixin
news outlet
·
It follows Luckin Coffee’s recent fraud case and
is sure to fuel a recent drive by US politicians to expel Chinese companies
from Wall Street
Published: 3:35pm, 30 Jun, 2020 Updated: 11:04pm, 30 Jun, 2020
Kingold Jewelry, a Nasdaq-listed jeweller and producer of household
ornaments, has been accused of large-scale fraud in the second major scandal in
three months involving a Chinese company listed in the US.
The Wuhan-based company is alleged to have used fake gold bars as
collateral to fraudulently obtain 20 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) in loans, in
a case that risks fuelling a recent drive by American politicians to expel
Chinese companies from Wall Street.
Shares of the Nasdaq-listed gold processor plunged by almost a quarter
after the allegations emerged on Monday morning on the website of Caixin, a
mainland Chinese financial news outlet.
Kingold strongly denies any wrongdoing and is being investigated by the
“authorities”, according to Caixin. The company could not be reached for
comment by the Post.
Kingold, one of China’s largest gold jewellery
manufacturers, allegedly used 83 tonnes of gold bars as loan collateral, which
later turned out to be gilded copper. Caixin described it as one of the largest
gold loan fraud cases China has ever seen.
The loans were obtained over the past five years
from at least 14 Chinese financial institutions, Caixin’s report said.
The news comes just three months after Luckin
Coffee admitted to a US$310 million accounting fraud, in a corporate governance
scandal that sent shockwaves through the market and may have blocked the
pipeline of Chinese firms seeking to raise funds on US markets.
In April, TAL Education Group, a Beijing-based
operator of tuition centres listed on the New York Stock Exchange, said it may
have inflated the sales of one of its business segments worth hundreds of
millions of dollars. Nasdaq-listed Chinese video streaming company iQiyi was
also accused of inflating data, but denied the allegation.
These and other previous scandals have made
American lawmakers increasingly hostile to Chinese firms wishing to raise funds
in the US.
Amid escalating tension between the Washington and
Beijing over trade and barbed comments about the handling of the Covid-19
pandemic, the United States Senate recently passed an unprecedented bill to
fence off Wall Street from Chinese companies.
More
Finally, Hong
Kong, China tears up one country two systems. From now on it’s one country one
communist system.
China's security law upends freewheeling Hong Kong's legal landscape
July 1, 2020 /
12:01 PM
HONG KONG
(Reuters) - Leading Hong Kong lawyers are warning of a stark new era of
mainland justice as they digest the full impact of China’s new national
security law imposed directly by Communist Party leaders in Beijing.
The possibility of Chinese agents whisking suspects to the mainland for
trial and prison - a prospect effectively blocked last year amid large-scale
protests against an extradition plan - is one of several changes that is
alarming some in the legal, business and diplomatic communities.
The previously secret law for Hong Kong took immediate effect when it
was published at 11 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Tuesday, leaving many to scramble
overnight to understand its full sweep across
China’s freest city. Nearly 200
protesters, defying the new legislation, were arrested on Wednesday.
Hong Kong’s proudly independent judiciary, one of many freedoms
guaranteed when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule exactly 23
years ago, has long been considered key to its success as a global financial
hub.
The new law will punish crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and
collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, heralding a more
authoritarian future.
---- Significantly, the law allows Beijing to create a new national security agency in the city able to take enforcement action beyond existing Hong Kong laws in the most serious cases.
It even specifies that local authorities cannot inspect agents’
vehicles.
The mainland agents will have the ability to enforce mainland laws and
take suspects across the border for trial, potentially eroding the strength of
Hong Kong’s common law traditions.
Both Asian and Western envoys are watching developments closely, fearing their own nationals in the city could now be at greater risk, particularly as tensions spike between Beijing and Western governments over trade, human rights and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The prospect of formalised renditions is evoking memories of the disappearance of a mainland tycoon from a hotel in the city as well others from Hong Kong in recent years, including a bookseller who said he had been abducted by mainland agents and is now in Taiwan.
Under the new law, Hong Kong will also have its own national security agency, that will supervise a special local police unit with extra powers of search, electronic surveillance and asset seizure.
“In that single article alone, they are reversing years of safeguards of human rights that have been built up by case law,” said Simon Young, a professor at the University of Hong Kong’s law school.
More
Assigning judges to Hong Kong security cases is judiciary's responsibility - Chief Justice
July 2, 2020 /
8:27 AM
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong’s Chief Justice said on Thursday that
judges appointed to cases under Hong Kong’s new national security law would be
appointed on the basis of judicial and professional qualities, rather than
politics.
In a statement, Geoffrey Ma said assigning judges to cases would be the
sole responsibility of judiciary.
Chinese boats sail near Japan-claimed islands for 80th consecutive day
July 2, 2020 /
12:16 PM
July 2 (UPI) -- Chinese Coast Guard boats have been navigating waters
near disputed islands in the East China Sea as tensions rise between Beijing
and Tokyo over the Senkaku or Diaoyutai Islands.
A total of four Chinese patrol boats traveled near the disputed
territory on Thursday, as the Japanese government expressed grave concern over
Chinese activities, NHK and Kyodo News reported.
Chinese boats have been detected in Japan's contiguous waters for the
80th consecutive day, according to reports.
"We take the activities of the Chinese side seriously, and have
carried out rigorous protests repeatedly through diplomatic channels,"
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
Chinese boats have been seen in Japan's contiguous waters daily since April, according to the Japanese government. In 2019, a record number of Chinese boats, 1,097 in total, appeared in Japan's contiguous zone for 282 days of the year. A total of 126 Chinese boats were detected in Japan's territorial waters for 32 days last year, the highest number of boats on record since 2013.
Last month, Yasuhide Nakayama, a politician with Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, introduced a bill that could stop Chinese activities in Japanese waters "using all means," including armed force.
China has defended its activities in response to Japanese protests.
"China's determination and will to protect its territorial and sovereign rights remain unchanged," the Chinese foreign ministry recently said. "The attempts by the Japanese side do not change the fact that the Diaoyutai Islands belong to China."
China's Coast Guard recently deployed a 5,500-ton patrol cutter near the islands, according to Beijing.
“It is hard for us, without being flippant, to even
see a scenario within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing one
dollar in any of those [CDS] transactions.”
Joseph J. Cassano, a former A.I.G. executive,
August 2007, on Credit Default Swaps that wiped out A.I.G in 2008.
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.
U.S. coronavirus cases hit new global record, rising over 55,000 in single day
July 3, 2020 /
12:39 AM
(Reuters)
- The United States reported more than 55,000 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday,
the largest daily increase any country has ever reported, according to a
Reuters tally.
A surge in coronavirus cases across the United States over the past week
has put President Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis under the microscope
and led several governors to halt plans to reopen their states after strict
lockdowns.
The daily U.S. tally stood at 55,274 late Thursday, topping the previous
single day record of 54,771 set by Brazil on June 19.
Just two weeks ago, the United States was reporting about 22,000 new
cases a day. It has now reported more than 40,000 cases for seven straight days
and broken records for new cases three days in a row, according to the tally.
New infections rose in 37 out of 50 U.S. states in the past 14 days
compared with the two weeks prior in early June, according to a Reuters
analysis.
Florida reported the biggest increase of any state so far on Thursday,
recording over 10,000 new cases in a single day. With 21 million residents, the
state has reported more new daily coronavirus cases than any European country
had at the height of their outbreaks.
More
Mexico posts record daily coronavirus tally to overtake Iran
July 3, 2020 /
1:29 AM
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico posted a record daily tally of
coronavirus infections on Thursday, as 6,741 cases carried the overall figure
to 238,511, according to the health ministry.
The new figure pushed Mexico past Iran to 10th place among nations with
the largest number of cases, a Reuters tally showed.
Mexico also recorded 679 more deaths, for a toll of 29,189 since the
pandemic reached the country in late February.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said authorities had begun
examining records for causes of death linked to COVID-19, the respiratory
illness caused by the virus.
The official death toll could climb once such cases were identified, he
told a news conference.
Lopez-Gatell said he stood by recent comments to the Washington Post
about deaths in Mexico City, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.
He had told the newspaper that actual deaths in the capital could
outnumber those reported by a factor of three.
The government has often said the real number of infected people is
probably significantly higher than the tally of confirmed cases.
Japanese capital sees more than 100 more coronavirus cases: NHK
July 2, 2020 /
5:02 AM
TOKYO
(Reuters) - Tokyo confirmed more than 100 more novel coronavirus infections on
Thursday, public broadcaster NHK said, the highest daily tally in two months in
the city at the centre of Japan’s outbreak.
The jump comes after the city of 14 million sought to hold new daily
cases at fewer than 20 since the government lifted a state of emergency on May
25, only to see its tally consistently exceed 50 over the past week.
Tokyo’s daily count last exceeded 100 on May 2. On Wednesday, it
confirmed 67 new cases.
As infections surpass the city government’s target, two weeks into its
the final phase of loosening of virus curbs, officials have repeatedly said
they see no need to declare a new state of emergency.
“The rise in infections is different from the rapid pace of infections
seen in late March,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
“We will continue to coordinate with the city of Tokyo to strike a
balance between preventing further infections and supporting economic
activity.”
Officials have also said the medical system can handle existing
infections and increased testing partly explains the rise in confirmed cases.
More
Some useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus
resource centre
Rt Covid-19
Covid19info.live
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.
This Scientist Says He’s Built a Jet Engine That Turns Electricity Directly Into Thrust
If this plasma propulsion tech is real, it could change everything.
Dan Robitzskia day ago
This past autumn, a professor at Wuhan University named Jau
Tang was hard at work piecing together a thruster prototype that, at first,
sounds too good to be true.The basic idea, he said in an interview, is that his device turns electricity directly into thrust — no fossil fuels required — by using microwaves to energize compressed air into a plasma state and shooting it out like a jet. Tang suggested, without a hint of self-aggrandizement, that it could likely be scaled up enough to fly large commercial passenger planes. Eventually, he says, it might even power spaceships.
Needless to say, these are grandiose claims. A thruster that doesn’t require tanks of fuel sounds suspiciously like science fiction — like the jets on Iron Man’s suit in the Marvel movies, for instance, or the thrusters that allow Doc Brown’s DeLorean to fly in “Back to the Future.”
But in Tang’s telling, his invention — let’s just call it a Tang Jet, which he worked on with Wuhan University collaborators Dan Ye and Jun Li — could have civilization-shifting potential here in the non-fictional world.
“Essentially, the goal of this technology is to try and use electricity and air to replace gasoline,” he said. “Global warming is a major threat to human civilization. Fossil fuel-free technology using microwave air plasma could be a solution.”
He anticipates this happening fast. In two years, he says, he thinks
Tang Jets could power drones. In a decade, he’d like to see them fly a whole
airplane.
That would all be awesome, obviously. But it’s difficult to evaluate
whether Tang’s invention could ever scale up enough to become practical. And
even if it did, there would be substantial energy requirements that could doom aerospace
applications.
One thing’s for sure: If the tech works the way he hopes, the world will
never be the same.
Tang’s curriculum vitae flits between a dazzling array of strikingly
disparate academic topics, from 4D electron microscopy to quantum dot lasers,
nanotechnology, artificial photosynthesis, and, of course, phase transitions
and plasmonics.
He’s held several professorships, done research at Caltech and Bell
Laboratories, published scores of widely-cited papers, edited several
scientific journals, and won a variety of awards. He holds a U.S. patent for a
device he calls a “synchrotron shutter,” designed to capture electrons
traveling near the speed of light.
Tang says he first stumbled onto the idea for the plasma thruster when
he was trying to create synthetic diamonds. As he tried to grow them using
microwaves, he recalls, he started to wonder whether the same technology could
be used to produce thrust.
More
Well if he says
so. I think he needs to team up with
that ex-WeWork fellow, now that he’s got time on his hands. One thought though,
where does the electricity come from when you’re jetting along at 30,000 feet?
Richard Wittington, an honest dreamer, travels to London “where
the streets are paved with gold”. Fairy Bow Bells realises his destiny, and
supplies him with an introduction to the leading London bitcoin gambler, Bernie
Buymore, a 22 year old dropout from the London School of Economics, who’s
fighting extradition to America over an unintended flash crash in shady
Chicago.
A Panto for modern times. With apologies to Richard Gauntlett
author of pantomime scripts.
Another
weekend, and what mischief can President Trump and his gang get up to on US
Independence Day weekend? I’m sure the media will keep us all over informed.
Have a great, safe, weekend everyone.
The Monthly Coppock Indicators finished June
DJIA: 25,813 -2 Down. NASDAQ: 10,059 +196 Up.
SP500: 3,100 +75 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 go higher. The Dow has now gone negative.
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