It is the maxim of every prudent master of a family, never to
attempt to make at home what it will cost him more to make than to buy...What
is prudence in the conduct of every private family, can scarce be folly in that
of a great kingdom.
Adam Smith. The Wealth of Nations, 1776.
It’s Fed day again, in America, but
with a US presidential election less than two months away, it would be a
suicidal US central bankster who voted change anything ahead of the election.
In Japan, a new Prime Minister takes over
from the retiring Abe later today. No policy change is expected. Harshly
described on the extreme left wing BBC World Service radio as the retiring
Prime Minister’s backroom Mr Fix-it.
In Gulf hurricane news, hurricane Sally
seems to have stalled just offshore, turning it into a massive rain event,
about which we likely hear more about later today and tomorrow.
Friday sees quadruple witching -- the
quarterly expiration of futures and options on indexes and stocks -- in U.S.
markets.US casinos are likely to remain
nervous into the witching.
Will the Robinhooder’s win big time with
their call options, or will the professional call sellers drive down stocks and
take Robinhood’s merry men to the cleaners? Of course, none of this has
anything to do with the real economy.
Below, life goes on despite all the
mainstream media hype and trivia drivel.
Asia Stocks Steady Ahead of Fed
Meeting; Oil Rises: Markets Wrap
Asian stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors
awaited a Federal Reserve meeting to gauge the extent of central bank support
for the economic recovery. Crude oil extended gains.
Shares were little changed in Japan, China, Hong Kong and South Korea,
while Australia outperformed. S&P 500 futures edged higher after the
benchmark rose for a third consecutive session, as gains in technology shares
helped offset a late slide in financials. Nasdaq 100 contracts erased earlier
losses seen in the wake of news that Facebook Inc. might face a possible U.S.
antitrust lawsuit. Treasuries and the dollar were steady.
While a gauge of Asian stocks is up for a fifth straight
day, the longest stretch since June, investors are looking for catalysts to
take markets higher after an impressive global recovery from March lows
sputtered in the first half of September.
The Fed is expected to maintain its dovish stance at its
policy meeting Wednesday after earlier saying it will shift to a more relaxed
approach on inflation. Central bank stimulus has been shoring up sentiment in
the face of risks from the pandemic, the U.S. presidential election and the
possibility of a no-deal Brexit.
“Given the volatility we have seen in the stock market in
the last couple of weeks -- as more evidence of some bubble-like
characteristics in the exposure to growth stocks has been revealed -- it’s hard
to see a new, strong rally ahead of the U.S. election,” said Chris Iggo, chief
investment officer of core investments at AXA Investment Managers.
Meantime, President Donald Trump said a vaccine shot could
be ready within four weeks. Trade issues also continue to simmer, with the
World Trade Organization ruling that the U.S. violated international
regulations by imposing tariffs on more than $234 billion of Chinese exports.
Here are some key events coming up:
Wednesday sees the FOMC
policy decision and news conference from Chair Jerome Powell.
Bank of Japan, Bank
Indonesia and Bank of England policy decisions come Thursday.
Friday sees quadruple
witching -- the quarterly expiration of futures and options on indexes and
stocks -- in U.S. markets
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
Futures on the S&P 500
added 0.2% as of 1:26 p.m. in Tokyo. The gauge increased 0.5% on Tuesday.
Japan's Suga elected as country's
first new PM in eight years
September 16,
2020
A global push is on to develop a vaccine to slow the
spread of Covid-19, and experts hope several will be ready in 2021. Yet even
with one, the coronavirus is likely to remain with us for years, demanding long
efforts to find a cure for those who still fall sick.
In humanity’s millennia-long
struggle against viruses, prevention with vaccines has been far more
successful
than treatment with drugs. In fact, modern medicine has come up with a true
cure for only one viral infection. For many serious infections, the best
approaches are a cocktail of drugs that throw speed bumps in front of the
infection.
It’s a lackluster medical armory,
belied by the seeming simplicity of our viral foes.
“They can’t live by themselves, they
aren’t independent, they can’t process food, take in oxygen, reproduce
themselves without the master support system of being the parasite inside a
living cell,” said Paula Cannon, a professor at the University of Southern
California’s Keck School of Medicine.
So why do viruses give humans so
much trouble? Outside of the body, a vigorous hand-washing is enough to kill
many. Inside, the immune system’s long memory is enough to make short work
of most.
It’s when we run into a new virus that
the problems start.
Next, some vaccine links
kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most informative
update from Stanford Hospital in California.
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.
Growing gold nanoparticles inside
tumors can help kill cancer
Gold
isn’t just a pretty face – it’s shown promise in fighting cancer in many
studies. Now researchers have found a way to grow gold nanoparticles directly
inside cancer cells within 30 minutes, which can help with imaging and even be
heated up to kill the tumors.
For this new study, researchers instead found a way to grow the gold
directly inside the cancer cells. The advantage is that it doesn’t require as
high a concentration of gold in the cell, and it can be done much quicker than
other methods.
The team used polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a delivery vector for ionic
gold, which is essentially gold salts dissolved in a liquid. When this is
introduced to the cancer, the acidic cellular microenvironment converts the
gold from its ionic form into plasmonic gold nanoparticles. The team says this
happens in as little as 30 minutes, making it much faster than other treatments
which can take 24 hours or more.
“We have developed a unique system where gold nanoparticles are reduced
by cellular biomolecules and those are able to retain their functionality,
including the capacity to guide the remaining cluster to the nucleus,” says
Dipanjan Pan, corresponding author of the study.
In tests on mice, the researchers took the process a step further. They
first grew gold nanoparticles inside tumors of living mice, then hit them with
lasers to heat them up, killing the cancer cells. This method has been
demonstrated in the past, but the gold isn’t usually grown inside the cells
themselves.
“The intracellular formation and nuclear migration of these gold
nanoparticles presents a highly promising approach for drug delivery
application,” says Pan.
The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in
what manner they ought to employ their capitals, would not only load himself
with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely
be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever,
and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly
and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.
The NASDAQ
remained up. The DJIA and SP500 turned up in July. With stock mania running
fueled by trillions of central bankster new fiat money programs, especially
tech stock mania in the NASDAQ, the indicators are essentially worthless after
all these years. I will discontinue this section at the end of the month.
Following the markets on both sides of the Atlantic since 1968. A dinosaur, who evolved with the financial system as it was perverted from capitalism to banksterism after the great Nixonian error of abandoning the dollar's link to gold instead of simply revaluing gold. Our money is too important to be left to probity challenged central banksters and crooked politicians.
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