Baltic Dry Index. 1894 +71 Brent Crude 42.80
Spot Gold 1772
Trump blasts 'left wing cultural revolution' at Mount Rushmore
July 3, 2020 / 12:13 PM
Speaking
underneath a famed landmark that depicts four U.S. presidents, Trump warned
that the demonstrations over racial inequality in American society threatened
the foundations of the U.S. political system.
“Make no
mistake, this left wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the
American revolution,” Trump said.
“Our
children are taught in school to hate their own country,” he added.
The event
drew an estimated 7,500 people, packed tightly into an amphitheater beneath the
famed landmark that depicts the images of U.S. presidents George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Masks were offered to
attendees but many did not wear them.
Trump has
held three public events that have drawn thousands of supporters over the past
three weeks, despite warnings from public-health officials who have urged
Americans to avoid large gatherings as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to
ravage the country. Seven states posted a record number of new COVID-19 cases
on Friday.
American History, Alive in Stone...
Majestic figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, surrounded by the beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota, tell the story of the birth, growth, development and preservation of this country. From the history of the first inhabitants to the diversity of America today, Mount Rushmore brings visitors face to face with the rich heritage we all share. Read Morehttps://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm
In other news, this summer weekend:
Seven U.S. states post record COVID cases, curfew ordered in Miami
July 3, 2020 / 5:55 PM
North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Idaho and Alabama all
registered new daily highs in cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the
novel coronavirus. Texas hit a new peak for hospitalizations, with one doctor
calling for a “complete lockdown” in the state to get the virus under control.
The daily
U.S. tally of cases stood at 53,483 late on Friday, below the previous day’s
record 55,405.
The recent
surge, most pronounced in southern and western states, has alarmed public
health officials, who urged caution ahead of a July 4th holiday weekend to
celebrate the Declaration of Independence of the United States in 1776.
North
Carolina, for one, reported 951 hospitalizations and 2,099 cases, both record
highs.
Bill Saffo,
mayor of Wilmington, North Carolina, said many infections had been traced to
large gatherings and predicted a further jump after the holiday weekend as
people flouted guidelines on social distancing and masks.
“We know
that the spread is going to happen. We know probably in about two weeks we’ll
see a spike from the July 4th weekend,” Saffo told CNN.
Despite the
jump in infections, the average daily death toll in the United States has
gradually declined in recent weeks, a reflection of the growing proportion of
positive tests among younger, healthier people who are less prone to severe
outcomes.
Second wave of virus closures wallops California restaurants
MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Associated PressJuly 3, 2020
LOS ANGELES
(AP) — Homayoun Dariyani was training servers and cooks for his soon-to-open
gourmet hamburger grill in March when California abruptly shut down dine-in restaurants
to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
After a
three-month delay, Dariyani held the grand opening for Slater’s 50/50 on June
18 after the state allowed restaurants to operate with limited capacity. It
would be a brief reprieve.
Gov. Gavin
Newsom on Wednesday shuttered indoor dining for at least three weeks across
much of the nation's most populated state, warning that infections were rapidly
climbing.
The sudden
reversal, less than two weeks after Dariyani opened the doors of his restaurant
in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita, left him stunned and in a financial
fix. He had stockpiled fresh beef and produce for a busy Fourth of July
weekend, which now could turn into a five-figure loss.
He’s struggling
— again — to keep 60 workers on the payroll with nearly 300 seats inside his
restaurant empty. He has a takeout window and room for 80 on his patios, where
customers are allowed to eat because the threat of virus transmission is much
lower outdoors.
The latest
order “is a huge step back for all the restaurants,” said Dariyani, who also
runs a catering business. “It’s not fair to anybody.”
The
coronavirus crisis has left millions unemployed, but few businesses have been
hit as hard as California's estimated 90,000 restaurants. Industry experts
predict that as many as one-third of them will never reopen, while others are
trying to navigate a maze of new sanitation rules and physical-distancing
guidelines that have gutted seating charts and boosted in-house costs.
“It’s
chaos,” said Jot Condi, who heads the California Restaurant Association.
More
Global Markets: COVID recovery vs COVID reality
Marc Jones
July 3, 2020 / 1:04 AM / Updated 14 hours ago
LONDON (Reuters) - World shares inched towards a four-month
high on Friday and industrial bellwether metal copper was set for its longest
weekly winning streak in nearly three years, as recovering global data kept
nagging coronavirus nerves at bay.
The market
rally fuelled by record U.S. jobs numbers had largely blown itself [out] amid a
spike in U.S. COVID cases, though the fastest expansion in China’s services
sector in over a decade and more stimulus ensured optimism remained.
Chinese
shares had charged to their highest level in five years, helping the pan-Asian
indexes to 4-month peaks, so the sight of European markets stalling early on
took some traders by surprise.
Currency and
commodity markets also had a subdued feel after an otherwise strong week for
confidence-sensitive stalwarts such oil, copper, sterling and the Australian
dollar, which all struggled on Friday.
“I think
infection rates and fears of localised lockdowns have doused some of the
enthusiasm,” said Societe Generale strategist Kit Jukes.
“We have
three elements now; vaccine hopes, decent data in most places but also the
return of infection rates which can make you nervous.”
Against a
basket of currencies, the dollar rose slightly in early London trading. It was
up less than 0.1% at 97.306 and still firmly on track for its biggest weekly
fall since the first week of June.
----U.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.
The number
of permanent job losers continued to rise, increasing by 588,000 to 2.9 million
in June while the unemployment rate remains a chunky 7.6 percentage points
above its February level. A Deutsche Bank analysis put the U.S. unemployment
rate behind all its developed market peers barring Canada.
The recovery
also faces more headwinds as a surge of new coronavirus infections prompts U.S.
states to delay and in some cases reverse plans to let stores reopen and
activities resume.
More than
three dozen U.S. states saw increases in COVID-19 cases, with cases in Florida
spiking above 10,000.
Morehttps://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets/global-markets-covid-recovery-vs-covid-reality-idUSKBN244003
Some useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus
resource centre
Rt Covid-19
Covid19info.live
Finally, just how safe is modern “money?” Turns out, not very safe at all. Many more
scandals to come, I suspect. Where’s next?
Your Wirecard E-Cash Was Safe Until It Wasn’t
The aftershocks of the German fintech firm's collapse reach the U.K., with chilling results.By Lionel Laurent
July 3, 2020, 7:17 AM GMT+1
The collapse of fintech darling Wirecard AG into insolvency proceedings is a total embarrassment for Germany, whose regulatory apparatus and corporate-governance system failed to properly scrutinize the company’s accounting practices even as red flags kept being waved.
But it’s also a serious problem for the U.K., where a burgeoning fintech industry grew up around Wirecard. The German company’s British subsidiary, Wirecard Card Solutions, has an “e-money” license, which allows it to handle digital cash without fully becoming a deposit-taking bank. As a member of Mastercard and Visa's payment networks, the unit is able to issue cards under those brands.
Fintech startups unwilling or unable to go through the regulatory hoops to do it all themselves flocked to Wirecard over the years as a cheap and convenient way to offer digital wallets, money transfers and widely-accepted payment cards.
Last Friday, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority slapped a temporary halt on Wirecard Card Solutions. Those handy cards suddenly stopped working for customers at firms with names like Curve, Pockit and ANNA (whose acronym stands for Absolutely No Nonsense Admin). The freeze was lifted late on Monday, marking a pretty long blackout for 21st-century finance. In racing to protect the money of millions of people and ensure the U.K. is isolated from woes in Germany,
British regulators have exposed a lack of trust in the system that consumers won’t soon forget.
These weren’t full-blown bank accounts, and in many cases users had fallback options, so disruption was obviously far less severe than in financial crises such as the Northern Rock or Lehman Brothers failures. Some companies, like Curve, were even able to set up alternatives to Wirecard over the weekend, but they were exceptions. Wirecard Card Solutions said that after “intensive work” with the regulator the FCA was satisfied that its client money is safe.
Still,
it was a far cry from the marketing campaigns promoting these cards as an
easy way to shop, save or get special deals from merchants. The reality of
catering to the “unbanked” meant that people on government benefits couldn’t
access their money. Hip startup founders in t-shirts found themselves trying to
explain the inner workings of payments to enraged customers who wondered why
they hadn’t stuck with old brick-and-mortar banks.
This
is an expensive lesson in cheap banking: Nothing is risk-free and the
convenience of e-money also brings fewer protections than regulated bank
deposits (such as government-guaranteed schemes).
----Today, though, regulators don’t seem so confident in high-flying fintechs’ commitment to the rules. The FCA’s freeze was apparently intended to make sure customer money was where it was supposed to be. After all, Wirecard AG had just admitted that it couldn’t locate 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of cash. There was perhaps an additional fear of U.K. customer funds becoming mixed up in insolvency proceedings.
But the
freeze also symbolizes a breakdown of faith in German regulators, who have
taken over and ring-fenced Wirecard’s banking operations. In imposing the
freeze, the FCA’s list of demands to Wirecard’s U.K. subsidiary included
safeguarding customer funds at a bank authorized in
Britain, something industry folks say is a new development in what is
supposed to be a harmonized European system.
Morehttps://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-07-03/u-k-fintech-your-wirecard-e-cash-was-safe-until-it-wasn-t?srnd=premium-europe
“Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No.1”
Warren Buffett
F. JIRÁNEK: Flute Concerto in in D major Jk 11, Collegium Marianum
František Jiránek
Jiránek was born on 24 July 1698 in Lomnice nad Popelkou (Northern Bohemia, present-day Czech Republic). His parents were servants of the Counts of Morzin; František also started to work for them as a musician. Count Václav Morzin sent[1] him to Venice in 1724 to improve his musical abilities. His teacher was probably Antonio Vivaldi himself.[1] Count Václav Morzin was a very important supporter of Vivaldi (Vivaldi dedicated to him his famous Four Seasons).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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