Baltic Dry Index. 1491 +10 Brent Crude 45.15
Spot Gold 1936
Coronavirus Cases 25/8/20 World 23,729,539
Deaths 820,991
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows
where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams
— this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to
see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
Don
Quixote.
After last week’s
virtual Democratic Party convention, this week it’s the turn of the Republican
Party.
While last week it
was all about evil President Trump and those wicked Republicans, this week it’s
all about evil Senator Biden, the candidate for China and Iran, and those
wicked far left-wing socialist Democrats.
In the era of dumbed
down media and 24 hour fake news, politics merges with entertainment.
In the stock casinos,
nobody cares it seems. Massive amounts of new central bankster fiat money
continue to fuel our latest version of tulip-mania. Fools rush in and all that,
as the global central banksters, led by the US Fed, continue to recreate early 1929.
Below, buy, buy, buy,
until one day it becomes bye, bye, bye, but when?
Asian stocks mostly higher as trade, virus treatment hopes lift mood
August 25, 2020 /
2:19 AM
SINGAPORE/HONG
KONG (Reuters) - Asia’s stock markets were mostly higher on Tuesday as
investors cheered signs of progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations and
following a fresh Wall Street rally.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.32% to
its highest since early January and sits just a fraction below a two-year high.
Japan’s Nikkei was trading 1.5% higher and banking stocks led
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 up 0.58%.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was an outlier in early trade, slipping
0.27% while the Shanghai Composite was 0.15% firmer.
Markets worldwide were boosted when U.S. regulators on Sunday authorised
the use of blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients as a treatment option,
helping the S&P 500 1% higher to another record close overnight.
The positive tone across Asian markets on Tuesday follows reports that
top U.S and Chinese officials see progress being made in resolving concerns
around the Phase 1 trade deal reached between the two countries in January.
Ord Minnett investment advisor John Milroy said equities market
sentiment remained driven by elevated global liquidity levels.
“The strong rebound in markets continues to be driven by the large
amounts of money governments and central banks keep throwing at the system,”
Milroy said.
“There is no reason to expect markets to stop anytime soon even in the
face of reduced global activity levels. Investors keep looking ahead with
markets trading well above historical price to earnings levels.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s move to allow the blood plasma
treatment was hailed by President Donald Trump. Shares of AstraZeneca also rose
on a Financial Times report that the U.S. government was considering
fast-tracking its experimental vaccine.
That seemed to overshadow a rise in coronavirus cases in Europe and the
first documented case of human re-infection with COVID-19, where a man in Hong
Kong caught the virus again some four months after first being infected.
Also on Monday, top U.S. infections diseases expert Anthony Fauci also
told Reuters that rushing out vaccines could undermine trials of other
promising candidates.
----
Investors now await a Thursday speech from Federal Reserve
chairman Jerome Powell and expect he might address the future approach to
inflation and allow it to run hotter than 2% to make up for years of
undershooting.
More
Ignore some very bad Covid-19
news.
Hong Kong scientists report 1st case of COVID-19 reinfection
Aug. 24, 2020 /
12:01 PM
Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Researchers in Hong Kong said Monday they have confirmed the
world's first documented case of a patient becoming reinfected with COVID-19
following recovery.Scientists at the University of Hong Kong said the coronavirus disease was found in a 33-year-old man who'd initially tested positive in April, and was subsequently cleared.
The researchers said the findings indicate that, for some patients, antibody immunity may only last for a short period of time.
"SARS-CoV-2 may persist in the global human population as is the case for other common cold-associated human coronaviruses, even if patients have acquired immunity via natural infection," they wrote in a report.
The researchers said they ruled out the possibility that the man may have been a "persistent carrier" from his earlier infection by sequencing the virus. They said the two strains were "clearly different."
While most patients are able to mount an immune response against COVID-19, it's unknown how long that protection lasts.
Earlier studies suggested immunity may not last longer than several months, which would mean any vaccine might have to be given repeatedly.
"Since the immunity can be short-lasting after natural infection, vaccination should also be considered for those with one episode of infection," the Hong Kong researchers said.
Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's lead COVID-19 researcher, said more studies are needed to better understand the strength and durability of the antibody response in recovered patients.
In other under
reported news, here we go again.
North Korea U.S. policy on hold amid Kim Jong Un 'coma' rumors
Aug. 24, 2020 /
11:14 AM
Aug. 24 (UPI) -- North
Korea could unveil new policies aimed at the United States and South Korea
next year at a January congress of the Korean Workers' Party, according to The
Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul.The analysis of anticipated North Korea developments comes days after a South Korean analyst had said Kim Jong Un likely fell into a coma after April 11, and that Pyongyang has been publishing "fake" photos of the North Korean leader.
According to the INSS brief issued Monday, North Korea's statements on the Eighth Party Congress of January 2021, made known at a Central Committee meeting of the party last Wednesday, did not include information on South Korea or foreign policy.
For this reason and a few others, North Korea could be expected to make foreign policy announcements in January.
The South Korean brief also said the North Koreans are aware the key to resolving their economic crisis is to "go through the United States" or obtain sanctions relief. North Korea may also be undecided about next moves until the outcome of the U.S. presidential election is final, the analysis said.
The central committee meeting held last week included Kim Jong Un in state media photos, but at least one South Korean analyst claims the photos and other evidence of Kim's status are fake.
Chang Seong-min, chairman of the World and Northeast Asia Peace Forum and a former aide to President Kim Dae-jung, told local news service Kuki News that all recent images of the North Korean leader are false and are being used to cover up illness.
Chang also said North Korean first lady Ri Sol Ju has not appeared in public for 120 days, and it is likely top North Korean official Choe Ryong Hae "is in control."
Kim Yo Jong's increased presence on the political stage provides further evidence the North Korean leader is confined to bed, or that North Korea has undergone a coup, Chang said.
Finally, is Covid-19
the death of the office skyscraper? Hong Kong’s new communist security law set
off a property boom in England.
Many Companies Planned to Reopen Offices After Labor Day. With Coronavirus Still Around, They’re Rethinking That.
Companies had hoped to bring homebound workforces back in September, but employee outcry and fears over outbreaks have led bosses to change course
Aug. 23, 2020 5:30 am ET
This summer, executives at health-care-technology firm Epic
Systems announced a plan: Most of the 9,500 employees at its 1,000-acre campus
in Wisconsin would be expected back in the office in September.The company, like many others, says its employees do their best work when they can collaborate in the same space. But blowback to the mandate was swift. Employees expressed fears about safety and spreading the new coronavirus. Local health officials questioned the move. So Epic joined legions of other companies making late-in-the-game changes to office-reopening plans, saying this month that staffers could work from home at least through the new year.
“I always say my crystal ball is not good enough,” said Brett Rehm, an Epic vice president involved in the company’s return-to-office strategy. “It is good to have future plans, but you have to pay attention on a daily basis to what is going on.”
Expecting the virus to be under control by Labor Day, many employers had hoped to bring white-collar workers back to the office next month. But as cases rose in dozens of states throughout the summer, major school districts settled on remote or hybrid instruction, complicating the picture for working parents. Some employers have already scuttled plans to force office workers back so soon.
They include some of the country’s biggest companies.
More
Respawn point: The inevitable reincarnation of the corporate office
Forget the utopian visions—nothing ever happens neatly, or without struggle.
Sean Gallagher -
8/21/2020, 2:00 PM
If you told any executive at a major corporation in
mid-2019 that close to half of the US workforce would be working from home
within the next year, they would have at least raised a skeptical eyebrow (and
then probably called security to have you removed). Yet, here we are.Major technology companies, including Microsoft, Facebook, and Google, have closed their physical offices until well into 2021. Twitter has told many employees that they can work from home permanently. And now that we have nearly six months of involuntary widespread work-from-home behind us, many other organizations are also reconsidering the value of office space.
In April, a Gallup poll showed 62 percent of the workforce working from home, and 59 percent hoping they could continue to do so as much as possible once the pandemic is under control. While the numbers have since dropped to some degree—Stanford Institute for Economic Research figures in June showed only 42 percent of the US workforce working from home full-time—the fact remains that people's relationship with their workplace has been dramatically restructured, perhaps permanently.
Management seems to be coming to the same conclusions. An April Gartner survey found 74 percent of chief financial officers planning to at least partially fulfill that wish, moving some portion of their workforce to permanent remote work to cut costs. The question is to what degree companies will transform their definition of the office to take advantage of the cultural and technical adjustments they've made to keep things moving while offices are empty.
However long it takes to get to the point where we can put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, it seems certain that the role of "the office" is bound to change. You don't have to search very hard to find utopian stories about the "office of the future" and "work after COVID."
More
Hong Kong buyers rush for UK properties after security law
August 24, 2020 /
7:50 AM
HONG
KONG/LONDON (Reuters) - Hong Konger Winnie Tong aims to move to Britain with
her family in two years, but is stalling on plans to buy a house there after
prices jumped almost 15% since April.
The 40-year-old who used to be in two minds about leaving Hong Kong now
wants to settle in Birmingham as she is concerned about an increasingly
politicised environment for her young children.
“Last year because of the anti-extradition law protests I wanted to
migrate more, and it’s pretty much this year, because of the national security
law that I’m determined to move.”
Property agents said they sold more than double the number of apartments
to Hong Kong buyers in the past two months, with the spike in purchases mainly
for personal use.
“The good quality houses are all sold out and prices are more
expensive,” Tong told Reuters. “Too many Hong Kong people are snatching up
(property) in the UK now.”
The UK government in July offered about 3 million British National
Overseas passport holders in Hong Kong a path to British citizenship after
Beijing imposed sweeping new security legislation in Hong Kong.
“We have never received so many calls from existing clients,” said Marc
von Grundherr, director of London estate agent Benham and Reeves, which lets UK
properties for about 1,000 clients in Hong Kong.
More
“Thou hast seen nothing yet.”
President Trump, with apologies to Don Quixote.
Covid-19 Corner
South Korea closes most schools in Seoul area to battle resurgent coronavirus
August 25, 2020 /
3:19 AM
SEOUL
(Reuters) - South Korea on Tuesday ordered most schools in Seoul and
surrounding areas to close and move classes back online, the latest in a series
of precautionary measures aimed at heading off a resurgence in coronavirus
cases.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 280 new
coronavirus cases as of midnight Monday, bringing the country’s total to 17,945
with 310 deaths.
That represents a drop in daily new infections from 397 reported as of
midnight Saturday, the highest daily tally since early March.
With most of the new cases centred in the densely populated capital
area, however, health authorities say the country is on the brink of a
nation-wide outbreak and have called on people to stay home and limit travel.
All students, except for high school seniors, in the cities of Seoul and
Incheon and the province of Geonggi will take classes online until Sept. 11,
the Ministry of Education said on Tuesday.
The beginning of the spring semester had been postponed several times since
March, but as daily coronavirus cases dropped sharply since a February peak,
most of South Korea’s schools reopened in stages between May 20 and June 1.
Over the past two weeks, at least 150 students and 43 school staff have
tested positive in the greater Seoul area, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae told
a briefing.
Seoul on Monday ordered masks to be worn in both indoor and outdoor
public places for the first time, and has ordered places like churches,
nightclubs, karaoke bars and other high-risk venues closed.
More
Hong Kong Plans New Rules; FDA Head Backtracks: Virus Update
Bloomberg News
Updated on August 25, 2020, 5:24 AM GMT+1
Hong Kong plans to announce new social distancing rules on
Tuesday as cases drop. Infections in South Korea increased as the government
warned of the impact to the economic recovery.The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration walked back his claim that an experimental therapy had provided a dramatic benefit to Covid-19 patients. President Donald Trump put his response to coronavirus center stage on the first night of the Republican Nation Convention.
Qantas Airways Ltd. plans to slash as many as 2,500 more jobs. Singapore had a resurgence of the virus in worker accommodation. In the U.S., the University of Alabama had a total of 531 Covid-19 cases across its Tuscaloosa campus since classes resumed Aug. 19.
Key Developments:
· Global Tracker: Cases top 23.5
million; deaths surpass 810,000
·
Covid’s lingering malaise adds to $35 trillion
economic cost
·
Vanishing jobs, empty offices plague Britain’s retailers
·
Virgin Australia creditors to lose almost all under
deal
·
Starbucks outbreak spared employees who wore masks
· Virus
vaccine could be bad for Malaysia’s glove stocks
· Vaccine Tracker: where we are in the
race for protection
Sweden’s Prime Minister Says Crisis Has Changed Society Forever
By Rafaela Lindeberg
August 23, 2020, 3:17 PM GMT+1
Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven says now is the time to build
something better amid the country’s worst pandemic in 50 years.
Speaking from his party’s retreat in Bommersvik the leader of the Social
Democrats said, “the coronavirus has shown that the welfare state we are so
proud of has clear shortcomings, not least in terms of elderly care.”
The crisis is “a reminder that the society affected by the pandemic was
not a perfect society, therefore we will not go back to how everything was
before,” he said.
----In terms of Covid-19, the Nordic nation has experienced an increased rate of infections in the first half of August after it declined rapidly during the prior month. But the country has so far chosen to avoid stricter lockdowns or even the use of face masks.
“The increase we saw at the beginning of August has mainly affected people aged 20-40 who don’t really follow the recommendations in place,” state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said in an interview with Swedish newspaper Expressen.
Tegnell however isn’t overly concerned by the latest uptick, which has seen the country’s “R” number, representing the number of people each new case infects, rise to more than 1.2 this month from 0.5 in July.
“It’s not directly worrying, mainly because it hasn’t impacted health care or care for the elderly to any great extent,” the Swedish scientist said.
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.
Reaction Engines testing ammonia as carbon-free aviation fuel
David Szondy August 23, 2020
Reaction
Engines and Britain's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) have
completed a concept study into the practicality of using ammonia as a jet
aviation fuel. By teaming Reaction Engines's heat exchanger technology with
STFC's advanced catalysts, they hope to produce a sustainable, low-emission
propulsion system for tomorrow's aircraft.
----One way of achieving these cuts is to look at alternatives to conventional jet fuels to power airliners. The problem is that most of these alternatives have much lower energy densities than standard aviation fuels and suffer from other drawbacks. For example, present-day battery technology would require future aircraft to be very small, short-range, and with little payload capacity.
Meanwhile, liquid hydrogen could be a viable alternative, but so much of it would need to be carried that planes would have to be completely redesigned and new infrastructure built.
The idea of using ammonia as aviation fuel isn't new. Though it only has a third of the energy density of diesel, it's relatively easy to liquefy and store, and was already used by the famous X-15 rocket-plane, propelling it into space on a series of suborbital missions in the 1950s and '60s. In addition, it's carbon-free.
The tricky bit is finding an economically viable way to use it in aviation. To solve this problem, Reaction Engines produced a new propulsion system based on the heat exchanger technology it developed for its SABRE hypersonic engine, which was then evaluated by STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Didcot in Oxfordshire.
In this new system, the ammonia is stored as a chilled, pressurized liquid in the wings of the airplane just as kerosene-based fuel is today. Heat harvested from the engine by the heat exchanger would warm the ammonia as it is pumped out and fed into a chemical reactor where a catalyst breaks down some of the ammonia into hydrogen. The ammonia/hydrogen mixture is then fed into the jet engine where it burns like conventional fuel, though the emissions consist mainly of nitrogen and water vapor.
According to Reaction Engines, the energy density of ammonia is high enough that the aircraft wouldn't need significant modifications and the engine could be retrofitted in a relatively short time. A ground-based test is in the works with a first flight possible in a few years.
"The combination of Reaction Engines’ transformative heat exchanger technology and the STFC’s innovative catalysts will enable development of a game-changing class of green ammonia-based aviation propulsion systems," says Dr. James Barth, engineering lead at Reaction Engines. "Our study showed that an ammonia-fueled jet engine could be adapted from currently available engines, and ammonia as a fuel doesn’t require a complete re-think of the design of civil aircraft as we know them today. This means a fast transition to a sustainable aviation future is possible at low cost; ammonia-powered aircraft could be serving the world’s short-haul routes well in advance of 2050."
Source: Reaction Engines
“In
short, to sum up all in a few words, or in a single one, I may tell you I am
Don Trump of Mar a Lago, otherwise called 'The Knight of the Rueful
Countenance;' for though self-praise is degrading, I must perforce sound my own
sometimes, that is to say, when there is no one at hand to do it for me.”
With
apologies to Don
Quixote.
The Monthly Coppock Indicators finished July
DJIA: 26,428 -1 Up. NASDAQ: 10,745 +243 Up. SP500:
3,271 +89 Up.
The NASDAQ
has remained up. The DJIA and SP500 have turned up. With stock mania running
fueled by trillions of central bankster new fiat money programs, I would not
rely on the indicators.
No comments:
Post a Comment