Baltic
Dry Index. 1269 -27 Brent
Crude 39.83
Spot
Gold 1941
September 12, 1943, Gran Sasso raid.
The Gran Sasso raid was the rescue
of Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini from the Gran Sasso d'Italia
massif
by German paratroopers
and Waffen-SS
commandos in September 1943, during World
War II. The airborne operation was
personally ordered by Adolf
Hitler, approved by General Kurt Student,
and planned and executed by Major Harald
Mors.
Tech falters again as Wall Street ends worst week in months
NEW YORK
(AP) — Wall Street closed out its worst week since June with another day of
churning trading Friday, as big technology stocks resumed their suddenly
weakened ways.
The S&P
500 rose 1.78, or 0.1%, to 3,340.97, but only after a roller-coaster day where
a gain of 0.9% gave way to a loss of 0.9%. It kept swinging up and down after
that, the latest examples of the lightning-quick shifts in momentum that have
rocked Wall Street recently. Through the tumultuous week, the S&P 500 lost
2.5% to clinch its its first back-to-back weekly loss in four months.
The Nasdaq
composite, which includes many of the superstar tech stocks that have been the
focus of the market’s recent selling, lost 66.05, or 0.6%, to 10,853.55 after
also flip-flopping between gains and losses. Its 4.1% drop for the week was its
worst since market panic was peaking about the coronavirus and stocks hit a
bottom in late March.
The Dow
Jones Industrial Average rose 131.06, or 0.5%, to 27,665.64, but not before
careening between a gain of 294 points and a loss of 86 points.
Analysts
expect swings to continue to rattle markets for weeks, if not months, as
investors wait for more clarity on several key issues. At the head of the list
of uncertainties is what to do with Big Tech stocks, which critics have long
said were due for a slide after soaring too high through the summer.
“The
technology sell-off continues,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity market
strategist at Federated Hermes. “We don’t think this is anything more than a
technical pullback that’s cleansing. It’s healthy and was anticipated.”
Apple,
Amazon and others soared through the pandemic as their businesses boomed
despite the recession. The coronavirus accelerated a shift to online life
that’s benefited them, and a pile-on of investors into Big Tech sent their
share prices soaring to levels that critics said were overvalued.
----On Friday, tech stocks again swung from
gains to losses. The fluctuations came even after Oracle reported stronger
profit for its latest quarter than analysts expected. After leaping as much as
7.9% in the morning, its stock slipped 0.6%.
Big Tech and the high-growth area of the stock
market “just got ahead of itself,” said Jason Pride, chief investment officer
of private wealth at Glenmede. “It doesn’t matter how it got there, it matters
that it got there and now we’re kind of deflating that overvaluation a little
bit.”
----Investors are also worried about all the
uncertainty that elections bring generally, which can result in big changes for
tax laws and regulations that affect corporate profits. Concerns are likewise
high about trade tensions between the United States and China, among other
major economies, and whether the expectations building for a coming COVID-19
vaccine prove to be too optimistic.
European stock markets made modest moves. The
German DAX was close to flat, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.2%. The FTSE 100 in
London rose 0.5%
More
In the real world, there is no “V”
shaped recovery, just mounting concern over future job losses, and rising corona
virus cases again.
Heathrow Airport warns of jobs risk if no aviation recovery
September 11, 20208:27 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Heathrow Airport’s CEO
warned that up to a third of the 75,000 jobs across the airport could be at
risk if the aviation sector does not recover, after passenger numbers at the
London hub fell 81.5% in August because of COVID-19-related travel
restrictions.
“Furlough is going to be a cliff edge when
that comes to an end at the end of October,” CEO John Holland-Kaye told Sky
News on Friday.
“I think that there’s at least a third of
those jobs are at risk if we don’t see the aviation sector recovery.”
Heathrow, Britain’s biggest airport, employs
about 7,000 employees directly but about 75,000 work for different companies
across the airport.
COVID beds fill up as virus pressure builds in Marseille
MARSEILLE, France (AP) — All five intensive
care beds dedicated to COVID patients are in use at the Laveran Military
Training Hospital in Marseille, and its doctors are bracing for more.
It’s a small ward in a mid-sized hospital, but
what’s happening here reflects growing pressure on medical facilities across
France as infections resurge.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex warned Friday
that virus situation was “obviously worsening” in the country.
“For the first time in many weeks, we are
noting a substantial increase in the number of hospitalized people,” Castex
said.
The Laveran hospital’s medical staff suit up to
enter the COVID zone, hook patients up to monitors and tubes for hydration,
nourishment and medicine, and meet frequently to discuss their prognosis.
While France’s daily case count climbed back up
as summer vacations brought relaxed virus vigilance, the number of infected
patients in hospitals and intensive care units stayed low and stable for
several weeks. Until now.
Doctors in Marseille — the country’s
latest virus hotspot — started sounding the alarm this week. The 70 ICU beds
dedicated to virus patients in France’s second-biggest city and the surrounding
Bouches-du-Rhone region were all occupied by Tuesday. The number of ICU virus
patients in the region has doubled in the past 10 days and now surpasses 100.
More
Finally, hmm. Cheating in start-ups and on Wall Street. Never!
Electric-hydrogen truck startup Nikola is an 'intricate fraud,' report proclaims
A bombshell report says Nikola founder Trevor Milton essentially
lied and maneuvered his way to big-name partnerships without ever actually
producing anything of value.
Sean SzymkowskiSept.
10, 2020 2:01 p.m. PT
Nikola isn't a new name in the automotive field. For
years now, the startup has promised to change the world with fuel cell- and
electric-powered semi trucks, and in recent months, investors bought in as the
search for the next Tesla heats up. After years of it hyping proprietary
technology such as "game-changing" battery tech, cheap hydrogen fuel
and more, a new report alleges that the company has never had much at all.
Instead, the startup is alleged to have used
smoke-and-mirror tactics to land big-name partners from Bosch to General
Motors. A bombshell Thursday report from forensic financial research firm Hindenburg
Research compiles evidence that it says shows, at a minimum, that
Nikola and its founder Trevor Milton haven't been entirely forthcoming about
its trucks or its powertrain systems.
One key thing to note before we detail the findings: Hindenburg disclosed that it's a Nikola short-seller, meaning it may profit if Nikola stock performs poorly. (On its website, Hindenburg notes that its work has prompted executive resignations and investigations that led to SEC charges.) The research firm didn't immediately respond to Roadshow's request for comment.
Milton, though, quickly took to Twitter, calling the report a "hit job."
A Nikola spokesperson told Roadshow, "Nikola has been vetted by some of the world's most credible companies and investors. We are on a path to success and will not waver based on a report filled with misleading information attempting to manipulate our stock."
Hindenburg compiled a detailed account of Nikola's early days, predating the company itself and delving into Milton's past business doings. Hindenburg accuses Milton and the company of "intricate fraud" and supplies recorded phone conversations, text messages, emails and legal documents to back up its claims. This follows a Bloomberg report, which Hindenburg corroborates, that spilled details on how it says Milton and the company overstated the Nikola One's abilities.
A trail of proprietary technology that never existed, overinflated contract deals and exaggerations of employee experiences propelled Milton to early success, Hindenburg says its evidence shows. After he established Nikola, Milton worked to over-hype and over-promise its upcoming semi truck's capabilities and passed off pieces of equipment, such as inverters, as components designed in-house, it alleges.
The Nikola One, for example, was never a running truck, according to the report's evidence. Despite Milton's declarations that the truck was "not a pusher" and moved under its own power, no evidence suggests that's the case. In fact, a video used to demonstrate the truck moving at what looked like highway speeds was reportedly filmed on a downward grade with camera tricks. The semi rolled with gravity's momentum, not under its own power. Infotainment displays, which Roadshow's Emme Hall viewed in person at the One's reveal, were powered by a concealed cable. The rest of the technology was a mockup, and internals were put together using basic hardware-store parts, according to the report.
More
"There's
a sucker born every minute"
P. T. Barnum, attributed.
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.France’s Hospitalizations Rise as Virus Spread ‘Won’t Stop’
By Rudy Ruitenberg and Rodrigo Orihuela
Updated on September 11, 2020, 7:47 PM GMT+1
France
reported more than 9,000 new Covid-19 infections for the second consecutive day
and said hospitalizations are on the rise, signaling another worrisome turn in
Europe’s pandemic.
Prime
Minister Jean Castex said there’s a “clear degradation” in France as the virus
spreads mostly among young people, which also is causing more cases among the
most vulnerable. Daily virus-related deaths rose by 80, the most since
mid-July, according to official data on Friday.
“The
percentage of positive cases won’t stop increasing.” Castex said in a speech in
Paris. “For the first time in many weeks, we’re seeing a significant increase
in hospitalizations.”
In a bid to
win compliance from a virus-weary public, France will reduce the
self-quarantine period for people who test positive to seven days from 14,
Castex said.
Western
Europe surpassed the U.S. in daily new infections this week, re-emerging as a
global hot spot after governments squeezed by historic economic slumps lifted
severe lockdowns and Europeans traveled during the summer vacation season.
Castex said France remains committed to avoiding another national lockdown, so
people will have to live with the virus and observe precautions.
In
the U.K., the coronavirus is spreading rapidly for the first time
since March, driven by a surge in cases among younger people. Government
figures showed that the so-called reproduction rate was again above 1,
indicating that spread is increasing.
---- Spain, the country with the most confirmed cases in Europe, reported 4,708 new infections over the latest 24-hour period, the most since mid-April. With older cases included in the latest count, cumulative infections rose to 566,326, according to government data. An additional 241 patients died over the past week.
While the
government in Madrid suggested this week that the surge is leveling off,
officials have signaled increasing concern about the high numbers as children
return to schools.
In France,
the curve of infections has steepened and the positive-test rate has increased
since early August. Another 9,406 cases were reported on Friday after an
increase of 9,843 a day earlier, according to the public health agency.
More
China Starts Testing Covid-19 Nasal Spray Vaccine
Bloomberg News September 11, 2020, 6:07 AM GMT+1 The newest Covid-19 vaccine candidate to start human testing is the first where volunteers won’t get a painful injection. Instead, they’ll receive a spray through the nose. China on Wednesday approved phase I human testing for the nasal spray vaccine, which is co-developed by researchers at Xiamen University and Hong Kong University, as well as by vaccine maker Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co.Intranasal spray has previously been developed as a vaccine for the flu and is recommended for use among children and adults who want to avoid the more common needle injection. While it is not the most frequent choice for delivery, scientists around the world are working to develop sprays as an alternative to muscle jabs for all sorts of vaccines.
The intranasal vaccine is the 10th candidate from China to proceed to the crucial stage of human testing. The country is building its lead in vaccine development after western front-runner AstraZeneca Plc had to pause its late-stage human trial to investigate a spinal cord illness in a person who received its experimental shot.
The intranasal spray contains weakened flu virus that carries the genetic segments of the coronavirus’s spike protein. Administered through the nasal tract, it mimics the natural infection of respiratory viruses to stimulate the body’s immune response against the pathogen that cause Covid-19, according to Science and Technology Daily, a paper affiliated with China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
Some scientists hope a vaccine that gets sprayed through the nose may have a better chance of stopping the spread of the insidious virus through respiratory tracts. A needle injection can arouse a systematic immune response to prevent severe illness, but may not be strong enough to ward off infection.
More
Next, some very useful vaccine
links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most
informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World Health Organization -
Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Stanford Website. https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132
FDA information. https://www.fda.gov/media/139638/download
Regulatory Focus COVID-19
vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
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.
Anti-bacterial graphene face masks
Date: September 10, 2020
Source: City University of Hong Kong
Summary: Researchers have successfully
produced laser-induced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of 80
percent, which can be enhanced to almost 100 percent within 10 minutes under
sunlight. Initial tests also showed very promising results in the deactivation
of two species of coronaviruses. The graphene masks are easily produced at low
cost, and can help to resolve the problems of sourcing raw materials and
disposing of non-biodegradable masks.
Face masks
have become an important tool in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, improper use or disposal of masks may lead to "secondary
transmission." A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityU)
has successfully produced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of
80%, which can be enhanced to almost 100% with exposure to sunlight for around
10 minutes. Initial tests also showed very promising results in the
deactivation of two species of coronaviruses. The graphene masks are easily
produced at low cost, and can help to resolve the problems of sourcing raw
materials and disposing of non-biodegradable masks.
The research
is conducted by Dr Ye Ruquan, Assistant Professor from CityU's Department of
Chemistry, in collaboration with other researchers. The findings were published
in the scientific journal ACS Nano, titled "Self-Reporting and
Photothermally Enhanced Rapid Bacterial Killing on a Laser-Induced Graphene
Mask."
Commonly
used surgical masks are not anti-bacterial. This may lead to the risk of
secondary transmission of bacterial infection when people touch the
contaminated surfaces of the used masks or discard them improperly. Moreover,
the melt-blown fabrics used as a bacterial filter poses an impact on the
environment as they are difficult to decompose. Therefore, scientists have been
looking for alternative materials to make masks.
Converting
other materials into graphene by laser
Dr Ye has
been studying the use of laser-induced graphene in developing sustainable
energy. When he was studying PhD degree at Rice University several years ago,
the research team he participated in and led by his supervisor discovered an
easy way to produce graphene. They found that direct writing on carbon-containing
polyimide films (a polymeric plastic material with high thermal stability)
using a commercial CO2 infrared laser system can generate 3D porous
graphene. The laser changes the structure of the raw material and hence
generates graphene. That's why it is named laser-induced graphene.
Graphene is
known for its anti-bacterial properties, so as early as last September, before
the outbreak of COVID-19, producing outperforming masks with laser-induced
graphene already came across Dr Ye's mind. He then kick-started the study in
collaboration with researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology (HKUST), Nankai University, and other organisations.
More
'Never give a sucker an even break'
W. C. Fields.
This weekend’s musical diversion. The very underrated, and almost unknown, Herr
Fasch again.J. F. Fasch: Concerto for flute, oboe, strings & b.c. in G major / Ensemble Sans Souci
And finally, with the evenings
drawing in as we approach the coming equinox, a darts mathematics video, that
answers the question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin before
falling off, or put another way, how long have central banksters got before
they crash all the fiat currencies under an unrepayable debt bubble.
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