Baltic
Dry Index. 1487 -31 Brent Crude 44.35
Spot
Gold 1941
August 22, 565 A.D. St Columba reports
seeing a monster in Loch Ness, Scotland.
For today’s monster, scroll
down to the bottom to see the money monster lurking in the endlessly creatable
fiat currencies, led by the dollar. Barter comes next.
We open with new record highs
in key US stock casinos. Thing are now so “good” in the US economy, Easy Street
has merged with Main Street, not.
Well
maybe, but to me, more of a heavily subsidised dead cat bounce in the real
economy, doesn’t justify record highs in the Nasdaq and S&P 500. To me that
sounds more like just a stock pro talking up their forever buy book, in the
midst of a new arriving depression.
Pay
no attention to the falling Baltic Dry Index, new Covid-19 cases now rising at
almost 2 million a week. Nor new unemployment creeping higher again.
Below,
more Fed fiat Magic Money Tree money fuels more of the final bubble on Easy
Street.
Global stocks, dollar rise with U.S. economic data
August 21, 2020 / 1:01 AM
NEW YORK
(Reuters) - A jump in U.S. business activity and home sales helped push global
equities and the dollar higher on Friday, counteracting earlier stock declines
in Europe. Oil fell about 1%.
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit record highs and the dollar broke an eight-week losing streak, gaining as weaker economic data in Europe weighed on the single currency.
The fresh impetus came from a preliminary purchasing managers’ survey that showed U.S. business activity in August snapped back to the highest level since early 2019, data firm IHS Markit said.
Services and manufacturing indices also rose, even though new COVID-19 cases remain high across the United States.
U.S. home sales data for July showed deals rising at a record pace for the second straight month, providing another glimmer of growth in the U.S. economy.
Friday’s data counterbalanced a steep rise in U.S. jobless claims on Thursday and Federal Reserve minutes on Wednesday that suggested the economy was beginning to stall, prompting investors to seek safe havens, said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston.
“It’s not surprising to see a pick-up in manufacturing as the economy has started to reopen, even though pockets of the country have pulled back on their reopenings,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest. “It’s an encouraging sign and it supports the upside we have seen in the markets.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 190.6 points, or 0.69%, to 27,930.33.
More
Back in the real UK economy,
things are so “good” in the UK that HMG was just forced into a panicky, late,
one month extension on evicting tenants not paying their rent. Landlords must
now give six months notice of an eviction too.
Effectively, dead beat tenants
can now live rent free for another seven months, probably a little longer. Many private landlords will probably now go
broke in the next seven months. In commercial real estate, the zombie companies
will live on well into 2021. All are just hoping for something to turn up.
Not that things are any
different in the rump-EUSSR, where time is running out on Europe to keep tariff
free access to its second largest export market.
UK extends ban on evicting tenants for another four weeks
August 21, 2020 / 3:39 PM
LONDON
(Reuters) - The British government said on Friday it would extend a ban on
evicting tenants from social or private rented accommodation for another four
weeks due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The
moratorium on evictions, which has been in place for five months, had been due
to expire on Sunday.
The
government also said there will be a six-month notice period for evicting
tenants, meaning renters cannot be evicted until March next year.
The ban on
evictions was introduced to give greater protection to millions of renters who
may be experiencing financial difficulties as a result of the coronavirus
crisis.
UK economy recovering, for now, as public borrowing mounts
August 21, 2020 / 10:48 AM
LONDON
(Reuters) - Britain’s economic recovery from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic
has gathered pace, data showed on Friday, but government borrowing rose past
the 2 trillion pound mark and fears of future job losses are mounting.
Retail sales
rose above pre-pandemic levels in July and August’s Purchasing Managers’ Index
data showed the fastest growth in almost seven years, beating economists’
expectations in both cases.
But
Britain’s economy still faces a long recovery after shrinking by a record 20%
in the second quarter, the largest decline of any big country, and businesses
are shedding jobs, raising questions over how long consumers will continue
their spending spree.
“This uptick
in retail consumption may help ease concerns over the fragility of the UK
economy — but not for long,” said Alistair McQueen, head of savings and
retirement at insurance company Aviva.
Britain
entered lockdown in late March and shops in England only fully reopened on June
15. Bars and restaurants followed suit on July 4.
Retail sales
in July were 1.4% above year-ago levels and 3.0% above their level before the
pandemic, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
August’s
preliminary composite PMI, which covers most of Britain’s private sector other
than retail, rose to its highest level since October 2013, after striking a
record low in April.
More
Euro zone economic recovery falters in August
August 21, 2020 / 9:05 AM
LONDON
(Reuters) - The euro zone’s recovery from its deepest economic downturn on
record hit the brakes in August, particularly in services, as pent-up demand
unleashed by the easing of coronavirus lockdowns dwindled, a survey showed on
Friday.
To contain
the spread of the virus, which has infected over 22.5 million people globally,
governments imposed strict lockdowns - forcing businesses to close and citizens
to stay home, bringing economic activity to a near halt.
After many
of those restrictions were relaxed, activity in the euro zone expanded in July
at the fastest pace since mid-2018. But as infection rates have risen again in
parts of the region, some earlier curbs have been reinstated.
So in data
likely to concern policymakers and diminish hopes for a V-shaped recovery, IHS
Markit’s flash Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index sank to 51.6 from July’s
final reading of 54.9, below all forecasts in a Reuters poll that predicted no
change.
“The fall
back in the euro zone composite PMI in August suggests the initial V-shaped
rebound following the lifting of the lockdowns is already fizzling out,” said
Jessica Hinds at Capital Economics.
The flow of
incoming new business for firms slowed and once again some of August’s activity
was derived by businesses completing backlogs of work.
Germany and
France, the bloc’s two biggest economies, also lost economic momentum this
month, driven by the services slowdown.
---- In Britain, outside the currency union and who entered and exited lockdown later than its euro zone neighbours, the recovery from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic quickened again in August.
British
retail sales surged past pre-pandemic levels in July, the first full month
shops selling non-essential goods were open since the country went into
lockdown in March, although economists fear the retail recovery may not last.
However,
snowballing job cuts sent an ominous signal for the months ahead.
---- Growth in the euro zone’s dominant service sector stalled, with that PMI plummeting to 50.1 from 54.7, below all forecasts in the Reuters poll which predicted a small dip to 54.5.
With demand
waning, the bloc’s services firms cut headcount for a sixth month and more
sharply than in July.
Economists
noted the employment components of the PMIs suggested trouble in the job
market.
“Those
numbers indicate that the worst is yet to be seen in the euro area labour
market and clearly points to a gradual recovery path,” noted Tuuli Koivu at
Nordea Markets.
More
EU, Britain trade blame after scant progress towards post-Brexit deal
August 21, 2020 / 9:01 AM
BRUSSELS/LONDON
(Reuters) - Britain and the European Union made scant progress towards a deal
on future ties in talks this week, and their chief negotiators blamed each
other for the stalemate as time ticks down to an end-of-year deadline.
“Those who
were hoping for negotiations to move swiftly forward this week will have been
disappointed,” the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told a news
conference after two full days of talks in Brussels.
His British
counterpart David Frost said a deal on post-Brexit relations was “still
possible” and was still London’s goal but would not be easy to achieve.
“There are
... significant areas which remain to be resolved and even where there is a
broad understanding between negotiators, there is a lot of detail to work
through,” Frost said in a statement. “Time is short for both sides.”
British
officials said London was willing to talk about any issue and that the EU’s
insistence Britain must accept its position on state aid and fisheries meant
Brussels was responsible for slowing the talks down.
On Jan. 31,
Britain became the first country ever to leave the EU, which it had joined in
1973.
---- Without
an agreement, trade and financial ties between the world’s fifth-largest
economy and biggest trading bloc would break down, potentially deepening the
economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Disagreements
over state aid rules and fishing quotas have so far thwarted a deal, which the
EU says must be in the making in time to be approved at an Oct. 15-16 summit of
the bloc’s 27 national leaders to enable ratification this year.
Beyond the
biggest stumbling blocks, differences also linger in discussions on migration,
security, dispute-settling mechanisms, human rights guarantees and other areas.
More
"You can have your cake and eat it too."
Fed Chairman Powell, with apologies to Stan Laurel.
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneededSouth Korea expands social distancing rules as coronavirus outbreak grows
August 22, 2020 / 5:15 AM
SEOUL
(Reuters) - South Korea said tougher social distancing guidelines to curb the
spread of coronavirus will be rolled out nationwide starting Sunday as it
battles a new outbreak of the disease spreading from the capital, Seoul.
The Korea
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 315 new domestic
coronavirus infections as of midnight Friday, the latest in a string of triple
digit increases in new local cases which take the country’s tally to 17,002
with 309 deaths.
South Korea
used advanced contact tracing and widespread testing to contain its first
outbreak of the novel coronavirus, but Asia’s fourth-largest economy has
experienced persistent outbreaks in recent weeks, mostly in and around densely
populated Seoul and the surrounding areas.
In Seoul and
some surrounding cities, the government has reimposed social distancing rules,
including restricting large gatherings, banning in-person church meetings while
closing nightclubs, karaoke bars, buffets and cyber cafes.
The same
guidelines will be imposed on other areas across the country effective Sunday.
Morehttps://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-southkorea/south-korea-expands-social-distancing-rules-as-coronavirus-outbreak-grows-idUKKBN25I04S?il=0
Poland reports record daily coronavirus figures
August 21, 2020 / 10:44 AM
WARSAW
(Reuters) - Poland reported 903 new coronavirus cases on Friday, according to
the Health Ministry’s Twitter account, the highest daily increase since the
pandemic began.
The new
record comes days after the health minister resigned and as Poland braces for
the new school year starting on Sept.1.
The health
ministry data showed the biggest increase in the south of Poland, including the
mining region Silesia, which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis as many
miners caught the disease and mining operations were closed.
But there
were also significant rises in central and northern Poland. The health ministry
said outbreaks have become more dispersed and mostly stem from gatherings, such
as weddings, crowded working places and organised holidays.
Earlier this
week Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski resigned from his post, the second
resignation in two days from the ministry, which has faced growing criticism
for its handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Morehttps://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-poland/poland-reports-record-daily-coronavirus-figures-idUKKBN25H12J?il=0
Singapore scientists find coronavirus variant with milder infections
August 21, 2020 / 8:29 AM
SINGAPORE
(Reuters) - Researchers in Singapore have discovered a new variant of the
COVID-19 coronavirus that causes milder infections, according to a study
published in The Lancet medical journal this week.
The study
showed that COVID-19 patients infected with a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 had
better clinical outcomes, including a lower proportion developing low blood
oxygen or requiring intensive care.
The study
also showed the variant, which has a large deletion in a part of its genome,
elicited a more robust immune response.
The study
involved researchers from various Singapore institutions, including the
National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), the Duke-NUS Medical School and
the Agency for Science, Technology and Research.
“These
studies provide the first convincing data showing that an observed genetic
change (mutation) in SARS-CoV-2 has affected the severity of disease in
patients,” said Gavin Smith at Duke-NUS.
The
scientists said the findings had implications for vaccine development and
treatments for COVID-19.
The variant,
which likely came from Wuhan, China, was detected in a cluster of infections
that occurred from January to March 2020. In Singapore, the virus was
transmitted from person-to-person across several clusters before being
contained.
An expert
told Reuters this week that mutations in viruses may be “a good thing”. Viruses
tend to become less virulent as they mutate so as to infect more people but not
to kill them as they depend on the host for food and shelter, according to Paul
Tambyah at Singapore’s National University Hospital.
Renowned EU Scientist: COVID-19 Was Engineered In China Lab, Effective Vaccine "Unlikely"
by Tyler Durden Fri, 08/21/2020 - 06:00
It will not be possible for
the Dr. Fauci’s of the world to dismiss Professor Giuseppe Tritto as a
crank.
Not only is he an internationally known expert in biotechnology
and nanotechnology who has had a stellar academic career, but he is also the
president of the World
Academy of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies (WABT), an institution
founded under the aegis of UNESCO in 1997.
In other words, he is a man of considerable stature in the global scientific community. Equally important, one of the goals of WABT is to analyze the effect of biotechnologies - like genetic engineering - on humanity.
In his new book, this world-class scientist does exactly that. And what he says is that the China Virus definitely wasn’t a freak of nature that happened to cross the species barrier from bat to man. It was genetically engineered in the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s P4 (high-containment) lab in a program supervised by the Chinese military.
Prof. Tritto’s book, which at present is available only in Italian, is called Cina COVID 19: La Chimera che ha cambiato il Mondo (China COVID 19: The chimera that changed the world). It was published on August 4 by a major Italian press, Edizioni Cantagalli, which coincidentally also published the Italian edition of one of my books, Population Control (Controllo Demografico in Italian) several years ago.
What sets Prof. Tritto’s book apart is the fact that it demonstrates - conclusively, in my view - the pathway by which a PLA-owned coronavirus was genetically modified to become the China Virus now ravaging the world. His account leaves no doubt that it is a “chimera”, an organism created in a lab.
He also connects the dots linking the Wuhan lab to France and the United States, showing how both countries provided financial and scientific help to the Chinese as they began to conduct ever more dangerous bioengineering experiments. Although neither American nor French virologists are responsible for the end result—a highly infectious coronavirus and a global pandemic—their early involvement may explain why so many insist that the “chimera” must have come from nature. The last thing they want to admit is that they might have had a hand in it.
Those of us
who, early on, argued for a laboratory origin were dismissed as conspiracy
theorists. Our articles
were censored as “fake news,” often by American virologists who knew perfectly
well what the truth was, but preferred to protect China, and themselves, from
scrutiny lest they themselves be implicated.
Dr. Tritto’s
272 pages of names, dates, places, and facts leaves such apologists with no
place to hide.
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.
Trapping and controlling light at the interface of atomically thin nanomaterials
Date: August 20, 2020
Source: SPIE--International Society for
Optics and Photonics
Summary: Scientists propose a new method
to confine light in an atomically thin graphene layer by leveraging topological
phenomena that occur at the interface of specially designed nanomaterials.
Light can
partake in peculiar phenomena at the nanoscale. Exploring these phenomena can
unlock sophisticated applications and provide useful insights into the
interactions between light waves and other materials.
In a recent
study, scientists at Cornell University propose a novel method by which
nanoscale light can be manipulated and transported. These special modes of
light transport are known to arise at finely tuned interfaces between slightly
different nanomaterials. Minwoo Jung, lead researcher on this study,
illustrates this concept through a simple analogy: "A floating tube has a
hole in the middle, but a normal balloon doesn't. No matter how you squeeze the
round balloon, it cannot be reshaped like a donut-at least not without popping
the balloon, re-knitting the rubber, and re-injecting the air. Thus, a tube and
a balloon are distinct in their topology because they are not connected through
a smooth deformation."
Jung further
explains that physicists have been interested in gluing two topologically
distinct materials side by side so that one of them acts like a balloon and the
other like a tube. This means that, at their interface, a process that connects
these two materials must occur, much like the
poking/popping/re-knitting/re-injecting from a balloon to a tube. Under the
right conditions, this process can give rise to a strong channel for transmitting
energy or information along the interface. Because this process can be applied
to light (which acts as a carrier of energy or information), this branch of
physics is called topological photonics.
Jung and his
team combined the fascinating concept of topological photonics with an
innovative technique that traps light in an atomically thin material. This
method brought together two rapidly emerging fields in applied and fundamental
physics: graphene nanolight and topological photonics. Jung says, "Graphene
is a promising platform for storing and controlling nanoscale light and could
be key in the development of on-chip and ultracompact nanophotonic devices,
such as waveguides and cavities."
More
Internet speed record shattered at 178 terabits per second
Michael Irving August 20, 2020
The fastest internet speed in the world has been clocked at
an incredible 178 terabits per second (Tb/s) – fast enough to download the
entire Netflix library in under a second. Engineers in the UK and Japan have
developed new ways to modulate light before it’s beamed down optical fibers,
allowing for much wider bandwidths than usual.That new top speed is an insane feat. It’s 17,800 times faster than the current fastest internet connections available to consumers – 10 Gb/s in parts of places like Japan, the US and New Zealand.
Even NASA can’t compete, with its 400 Gb/s ESnet.
It also
leaves other experimental devices in the dust, including a photonic chip
developed in Australia that clocked a still-impressive 44 Tb/s just a few
months ago, and beats the previous record holder – a Japanese team with 150
Tb/s – by almost 20 percent.
“While
current state-of-the-art cloud data-centre interconnections are capable of
transporting up to 35 terabits a second, we are working with new technologies
that utilize more efficiently the existing infrastructure, making better use of
optical fiber bandwidth and enabling a world record transmission rate of 178
terabits a second,” says Lidia Galdino, lead researcher on the study.
To hit these speeds, engineers at University College London (UCL), Xtera and KDDI Research developed new technologies to essentially squeeze more information through the existing fiber optic infrastructure. Most are currently capable of a bandwidth of up to 4.5 THz, with some new technologies approaching 9 THz. The team’s new system, however, raises the bar to 16.8 THz.
To get this much extra “room,” the researchers develop new Geometric Shaping (GS) constellations. Basically, these are patterns of signal combinations that alter the phase, brightness and polarization of the wavelengths, in order to fit more information into light without the wavelengths interfering with each other. This was done by combining different existing amplifier technologies into a hybrid system.
Perhaps the best news is that because it uses the fiber optic cables already in place in many parts of the world, this technology could be integrated into existing infrastructure relatively easily. Instead of replacing miles and miles of cable, it would only require upgrades to the amplifiers, which appear every 40 to 100 km (25 to 62 mi) or so.
The research was published in the journal IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.
G.Ph. Telemann: Concerto in D major for Violin, Cello, Trumpet and Strings, TWV 53:D5
Natural trumpet
A natural trumpet is a valveless brass
instrument that is able to play the notes of the harmonic series.
---- After the brief attempt at developing a keyed trumpet, the instrument for which Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel wrote their famous concerti, the development of the more versatile valve trumpet (c. 1815) spelled the eventual demise of the natural trumpet in Western music, until its resurrection in the 20th century. Throughout the first half of the 19th century, the valveless, natural trumpet and the valved trumpet (also the cornet) vied for position in the orchestra, with the valved trumpet establishing a permanent position only in the second half. Even as late as 1843, for example, Wagner was writing for valveless trumpets in his opera The Flying Dutchman.
In modern-day performances of Baroque and Classical works by period orchestras, the trumpets used are usually slightly altered copies of natural instruments of the period, with the addition of anachronistic nodal "tone holes" (also called "venting holes") used to more easily and accurately correct the intonation of the instrument. (There is a growing consensus to refer to these instruments as "baroque trumpets" to distinguish them from pure "natural trumpets".) The use of finger holes on reconstructions of natural trumpets is traceable to Otto Steinkopf, who early in the 20th century discovered holes on a few museum originals. However, it appears that these holes were usually placed at antinodes, and thus designed to prevent the note from sounding, rather than allowing it to be played in tune.
Since for the moment we
are headed for the quadrillions and collapse, the following table is provided
as a service to those unable to master the scientific notation that will
rapidly be needed in handling the ever increasing fiat currency. In the U.S
number system we work as follows:
In dollars:
Million - 1,000,000
Billion - 1,000,000,000
Trillion - 1,000,000,000,000
Quadrillion - 1,000,000,000,000,000
Quintillion - 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
Sextillion - 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 for comparison,
In seconds:
Million - 1,000,000
Billion - 1,000,000,000
Trillion - 1,000,000,000,000
Quadrillion - 1,000,000,000,000,000
Quintillion - 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
Sextillion - 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 for comparison,
In seconds:
Million - 11.5 days
Billion - 31.7 years
Trillion - 31,700 years
Quadrillion - 31,700,000 years
Quintillion - 31,700,000,000 years
Sextillion - 31,700,000,000,000 years
Billion - 31.7 years
Trillion - 31,700 years
Quadrillion - 31,700,000 years
Quintillion - 31,700,000,000 years
Sextillion - 31,700,000,000,000 years
In fiat dollars, we are
already operating in the 30,000s of years. Stay long gold. Add on select dips,
seems to be the message from the “to infinity and beyond” global central banksters.
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.
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