Jan 28, Japan’s “orphan tsunami.” Jan 27, Washington State’s 9.0 earthquake.

Today, compare and contrast the real US economy versus the central bankster funded stock casino gambling economy.

U.S. economy likely logged its weakest performance in 74 years in 2020

January 28, 20215:19 AM By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy likely contracted at its sharpest pace since World War Two in 2020 as COVID-19 ravaged services businesses like restaurants and airlines, throwing millions of Americans out of work and into poverty.

The Commerce Department’s snapshot of fourth-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday is also expected to show the recovery from the pandemic losing steam as the year wound down amid a resurgence in coronavirus infections and exhaustion of nearly $3 trillion in relief money from the government.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its benchmark overnight interest rate near zero and pledged to continue injecting money into the economy through bond purchases, noting that “the pace of the recovery in economic activity and employment has moderated in recent months.”

President Joe Biden has unveiled a recovery plan worth $1.9 trillion, and could use the GDP report to lean on some lawmakers who have balked at the price tag soon after the government provided nearly $900 billion in additional stimulus at the end of December.

“Last year was awful for the economy,” said Sung Won Sohn, a finance and economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. “This was the first service industry recession in recent memory where a lot of jobs were lost.”

Economists are forecasting that the economy contracted by as much as 3.6% in 2020, the worst performance since 1946. That would follow 2.2% growth in 2019 and would be the first annual decline in GDP since the 2007-09 Great Recession.

In the fourth quarter, GDP is estimated to have expanded at a 4% annualized rate, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The virus and lack of another spending package curtailed consumer spending, and partially overshadowed robust manufacturing and the housing market.

The anticipated big step-back, following a historic 33.4% growth pace in the July-September period, would leave GDP roughly 2.3% below its level at the end of 2019. With the virus not yet under control, economists are expecting growth to further slow down in the first quarter of 2021, before regaining speed by summer as the additional stimulus kicks in and more Americans get vaccinated.

---- The services sector has borne the brunt of the coronavirus recession, disproportionately impacting lower-wage earners, who tend to be women and minorities. That has led to a so-called K-shaped recovery, where better-paid workers are doing well while lower-paid workers are losing out.

The stars of the recovery have been the housing market and manufacturing as those who are still employed seek larger homes away from city centers, and buy electronics for home offices and schooling. Manufacturing’s share of GDP has increased to 11.9% from 11.6 at the end of 2019.

A survey last week by professors at the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame showed poverty increased by 2.4 percentage points to 11.8% in the second half of 2020, boosting the ranks of the poor by 8.1 million people.

Rising poverty is likely be underscored by persistent labor market weakness. The Labor Department is expected to report on Thursday that 875,000 more people filed for state unemployment benefits last week, according to a Reuters survey.

About 16 million Americans were receiving unemployment checks at the end of 2020. The economy shed jobs in December for the first time in eight months. Only 12.4 million of the 22.2 million jobs lost in March and April have been recovered.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy/u-s-economy-likely-logged-its-weakest-performance-in-74-years-in-2020-idUSKBN29X0I8

The end of offices? New York's business districts face uncertain future

Issued on: 27/01/2021 - 03:22

Boarded-up stores, shuttered restaurants and empty office towers: Covid-19 has turned New York's famous business districts into ghost towns, with companies scrambling to come up with ways to entice workers to return post-pandemic.

"If they don't come back, we're sunk," said Kenneth McClure, vice president of Hospitality Holdings, whose Midtown bistro pre-coronavirus would buzz with the sound of financiers striking deals at lunch and sharing cocktails after a hard day at the office.

The group has closed its six restaurants and bars in Manhattan, two of them permanently, due to lockdown restrictions that have paused office culture - a culture as intrinsic to the Big Apple as a Broadway show, a yellow taxi or a slice of cheese pizza.

"Customers that you saw three, four, five times a week just virtually disappeared," McClure told AFP, recalling March of last year when the pandemic first swept New York, where it has killed more than 26,000 people.

According to data collected by security firm Kastle Systems, only 14 percent of New York's more than one million office workers had returned to their desks by the middle of January, putting the countless sandwich shops and small businesses in Midtown and Wall Street at risk.

With vaccines now rolling out, corporations and business leaders are grappling with how to attract employees back after spending the best part of a year working from home, and in turn maintaining the character of business districts.

Seventy-nine percent of employees questioned in a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey published this month said that working remotely had been a success, but the report also found that offices are not about to be consigned to history.

Some 87 percent of employees said the office was important to them for collaborating with team members and building relationships, aspects of working life they felt was easier and more rewarding in person than over Zoom.

"Being here, seeing my colleagues and getting out of the house, it changes my mood for the whole week," said Jessica Lappin, speaking to AFP from her office at the Alliance for Downtown New York, where she is president.

Few workers plan on being in offices Monday to Friday, nine to five, though.

"The vast majority of employees say a hybrid system of two-to-three days working from home and two-to-three days working in the office is their preferred approach," said Deniz Caglar, co-author of the PwC report.

Experts say companies should transform their offices away from places where employees come to send emails or make phone calls, which they can do at home, towards more appealing spaces suited for mentoring, camaraderie and fostering creativity.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210127-the-end-of-offices-new-york-s-business-districts-face-uncertain-future

Now back to the Fed’s no billionaire left behind,” stock casino economy. But is it all coming to a gambler’s end.

Asia shares undone by Wall St swoon, short seller squeeze

January 28, 202112:22 AM By Wayne Cole

SYDNEY/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Asian shares slid on Thursday while the safe-haven dollar rallied as a sudden sell-off on Wall Street and delays with coronavirus vaccines served as an excuse to book profits on recent hefty gains.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan skidded 1.8%, with valuations looking stretched given the index had risen more than 6% just this month.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.3%, its sharpest drop since October, and Chinese blue chips lost 2.4% as liquidity tightened before the Lunar New Year holidays.

South Korea eased 1.7% led by losses in Samsung after it reported earnings.

Even the tech darlings were not immune with Facebook down despite reporting earnings well above expectations. Apple Inc also handily beat forecasts, yet its shares lost 3% after the bell.

There was a hint of resilience as U.S. stock futures pared steep early losses, leaving Eminis for the S&P 500 off 0.2% and NASDAQ futures 0.3%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures dipped 0.3% and FTSE futures 0.7%.

There was no obvious trigger for the rout, rather many seemed to have rushed for the exits at the same moment in a market that had been priced for perfection.

Dealers said highly leveraged investors were taking profits where they could to cover losses elsewhere, leading to sharp falls in a lot of overcrowded trades.

Some pointed a finger at retail investors who had forced a massive squeeze on hedge funds with short positions in stocks such as GameStop.

GameStop and several other highly-bid stocks later retreated in extended trade after Reddit briefly restricted access to its popular WallStreetBets site.

“The Reddit army should prepare for stricter rules and regulation shortly, which should kill the idea that what happened with GameStop will happen with others,” said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA.

The dogged optimism that vaccines would heal the global economy in just a few months has been strained by the outbreak of new variants and problems with the distribution of shots in the United states and Europe.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets/asia-shares-undone-by-wall-street-swoon-short-seller-squeeze-idUSKBN29X01E

Hedge-Fund Titans Lose Billions to Reddit Traders Running Amok

By Katherine Burton , Hema Parmar, and Melissa Karsh

28 January 2021, 02:28 GMT

Point72, D1 and Melvin among industry leaders hit with losses

· Day-traders continued to pile into shorted stocks on Wednesday

For once, Main Street is beating Wall Street.

In a matter of weeks, two hedge-fund legends -- Steve Cohen and Dan Sundheim -- have suffered bruising losses as amateur traders banded together to take on some of the world’s most sophisticated investors. In Cohen’s case, he and Ken Griffin ended up rushing to the aid of a third, Gabe Plotkin, whose firm was getting beaten down.

Driven by the frenzied trading in GameStop Corp. and other stocks that hedge funds have bet against, the losses suffered over the past few days would rank among the worst in some of these money managers’ storied careers. Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management has declined 10% to 15% so far this month, while Sundheim’s D1 Capital Partners, one of last year’s top-performing funds, is down about 20%. Melvin Capital, Plotkin’s firm, had lost 30% through Friday.

It’s a humbling turnaround for the hedge fund titans, who in 2020 staged a comeback by pouncing on the wild markets caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. But that crisis helped push thousands if not millions of retail traders into the U.S. stock market, creating a new force that for now the professionals seem powerless to combat.

Their assailants are a collection of traders using Reddit’s wallstreetbets thread to coordinate their attacks, which seem to be focused on stocks known for being held short by hedge funds. The most prominent is GameStop, the beleaguered brick-and-mortar retailer that’s soared more than 1,700% this month, but other targets include AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.

The pain is likely spreading across the hedge fund industry, with rumors swirling among traders of heavy losses at multiple firms. The Goldman Sachs Hedge Industry VIP ETF, which tracks hedge funds’ most-popular stocks, tumbled 4.3% on Wednesday for its worst day since September.

Fund managers covered their money-losing short sales while trimming bullish bets for a fourth straight session Tuesday. Over that stretch, their total outflows from the market reached the highest level since October 2014, data compiled by Goldman’s prime-brokerage unit show.

D1, which was founded in 2018 and had about $20 billion in assets at the start of the year, is buffeted to some degree from the attacks because private companies account for roughly a third of its holdings, and the firm has been reducing its exposure, according to people familiar with the matter. The fund is closed to new investments and has no plans to open for additional capital, one of the people said, asking not to be named because such decisions are confidential.

D1’s loss, described by people briefed on the situation, contrasts with a 60% gain for Sundheim, 43, during last year’s pandemic turmoil.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-28/cohen-sundheim-lose-billions-to-reddit-traders-running-amok?srnd=premium-europe

“Buy rising stocks and sell falling stocks.”

Jesse Livermore

Covid-19 Corner

This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.

In vaccine news, is AstraZeneca right or wrong? Enter the US Tort bar.

AstraZeneca’s Vaccine Testing Stumble Draws Investor Lawsuit

By Robert Burnson

January 27, 2021, 2:34 AM GMT

AstraZeneca PLC was sued by a pension fund on behalf of investors who it says suffered losses because of flaws in the company’s testing of its coronavirus vaccine.

For much of last year, the Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical company was touting strong progress on the development of its traditional-style vaccine and announced that it had signed contracts to provide 400 million doses. But in November, questions emerged about the vaccine when the company released initial test results.

Among other things, experts and health officials faulted the testing for a lack of data on the vaccine’s effectiveness for those 55 and older. They also raised questions about results from one trial that found the vaccine 90% effective for subjects who got a half a dose but only 62% effective for those who got the full dose.

Read More: Astra-Oxford Vaccine Study Leaves Key Questions Unanswered

In the three days after the release of the test results in late November, AstraZeneca’s stock price dropped 5%, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday by the public employees’ retirement system in Monroe County, Michigan.

Alleging “wrongful acts and omissions” by the company and its chief officers, the pension fund is asking to be allowed to sue on behalf of a class of all investors injured by the share price decline.

AstraZeneca didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-27/astrazeneca-s-vaccine-testing-stumble-draws-investor-lawsuit?srnd=premium-europe

Oxford University plans trials of ‘wonder drug’ that may reduce covid deaths

Updated: 25 Jan 2021, 11:17 AM IST Suzy Waite , Bloomberg

This batch of medicines will include ivermectin, which for decades has been used to treat livestock and people infested with parasitic worms

Oxford University researchers are planning a large-scale trial of an inexpensive drug that could help dramatically reduce Covid-19 deaths globally, according to a report in the Times.

The goal is to find treatments that could be used at home, shortly after symptoms appear, to catch the disease early and prevent serious illness.

This batch of medicines will include ivermectin, which for decades has been used to treat livestock and people infested with parasitic worms, the newspaper reported. Supporters call it a “wonder drug," but others say it hasn’t been properly evaluated.

While the drug has potential antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, “there’s a gap in the data," Chris Butler, professor of primary care at the University of Oxford and a co-chief of the trial, told the Times. “There’s not been a really rigorous trial."

The World Health Organization recently suggested it has encouraging effects, the newspaper said. The drug is approved in the U.K. as a topical agent for skin infections and inflammation.

https://www.livemint.com/science/health/oxford-university-plans-trials-of-wonder-drug-ivermectin-that-may-reduce-covid-deaths-11611553213905.html

London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine Launches Major Ivermectin Study in The Gambia Focusing on COVID-19

By TSN Author January 18, 2021

The London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) founded in 1899, specializes in public health and tropical medicine and now pursues a significant adaptive clinical trial affording the study team the ability to change the investigational products should evidence on the benefits or harm of the intervention being trialed implicate a particular direction. In the case of this Phase 3 trial, the prominent investigational team, operating in the West African country of The Gambia investigates the impact of cheap and widely available investigational products starting with Ivermectin.

---- This trial is being conducted in The Gambia by the MRC Unit The Gambia at the LSHTM working closely with the Gambian Ministry of Health. A long list of investigators and government officials have designed the trial and are working on its implementation which is very important for the country and the region. On the other hand, trial implementation is also very challenging due to the stigmatization surrounding COVID-19. Targeting 1,200 participants, the Medical Research Council, London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) sponsors one of the larger studies to date that started in January according to a recent disclosure with clinicaltrials.gov.

An adaptive study, the study includes two cohorts including (1) current index cases with mild COVID-19 or moderate pneumonia randomized to Ivermectin 0.3-0.4 mg/kg daily for three days (arms 1 and 2) or non-identical placebo (arm 3). Index case randomization will also include HH members to be treated with Ivermectin 0.3-0.4 mg/kg daily for three days (arm 1) or non-identical placebo (arms 2 and 3). All households will receive a preventative package containing soap and personal protective equipment such as masks; (2) patients admitted to hospital meeting World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for severe COVID-19 pneumonia will be randomized to aspirin 150mg or non-identical placebo for 28 days or until hospital discharge (whichever is sooner) as reported in clinicaltrials.gov. Other care will follow National guidelines.

Carried out in multiple trial sites within The Gambia, with the option to recruit from other Western African countries should it be necessary. Of course the study team would be subject to further local ethical reviews.

This study again commences this month with the planned Estimated Primary Completion Date is March 2022, and the Estimated Study Completion Date of July 2022.

https://trialsitenews.com/london-school-of-hygiene-tropical-medicine-launches-major-ivermectin-study-in-the-gambia-focusing-on-covid-19/

Ivermectin, ‘Wonder drug’ from Japan: the human use perspective

Proc Jpn Acad Ser B Phys Biol Sci. 2011 Feb 10; 87(2): 13–28.

doi: 10.2183/pjab.87.13 PMCID: PMC3043740 PMID: 21321478

Abstract

Discovered in the late-1970s, the pioneering drug ivermectin, a dihydro derivative of avermectin—originating solely from a single microorganism isolated at the Kitasato Intitute, Tokyo, Japan from Japanese soil—has had an immeasurably beneficial impact in improving the lives and welfare of billions of people throughout the world. Originally introduced as a veterinary drug, it kills a wide range of internal and external parasites in commercial livestock and companion animals. It was quickly discovered to be ideal in combating two of the world’s most devastating and disfiguring diseases which have plagued the world’s poor throughout the tropics for centuries. It is now being used free-of-charge as the sole tool in campaigns to eliminate both diseases globally. It has also been used to successfully overcome several other human diseases and new uses for it are continually being found. This paper looks in depth at the events surrounding ivermectin’s passage from being a huge success in Animal Health into its widespread use in humans, a development which has led many to describe it as a “wonder” drug.

Keywords: avermectin, ivermectin, mode of action, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, drug resistance

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043740/

In confined spaces, air purifiers may actually aid the spread of COVID-19

Jan. 26, 2021 / 1:29 PM

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- In especially confined spaces, like an elevator, air purifiers may actually do more harm than good in the fight against airborne viral transmission.

Since the beginning of the global pandemic, health officials have warned of the dangers of viral transmission in confined spaces where air circulation is limited.

In hospitals, powerful ventilation and air purification systems ensure air a regularly cleaned and recycled to prevent the accumulation and spread of viral aerosols. Similarly, in airplanes, air is constantly recycled to minimize the viral transmission.

The air in elevators is mostly stagnant, periodically stirred up by the opening and closing elevator doors. But some elevator manufacturers have attempted to solve this problem by installing air purification systems.

These attempts may be misguided, however, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Physics of Fluids.

Air purification systems don't impact the cleanliness of the air in a confined space, they also influence air circulation. Until now, authors of the new study argue, the effects of air purifiers on air circulation in confined spaces weren't well understood.

For the new study, researchers tweaked a model designed to simulate the spread of saliva aerosol droplets produced by a mild, unmasked cough. They then adapted the model to the 3D equivalent of a five-person elevator.

The team also modeled the effects of masks and different weather conditions on the movement of viral particles inside the elevator.

Next, researchers looked at how an air purification system, with different combinations of inflow and outflow positions, would influence the movement of air inside the elevator.

"We quantified the effect of air circulation on airborne virus transmission and showed that installing an air purifier inside an elevator alters the air circulation significantly but does not eliminate airborne transmission," study co-author Dimitris Drikakis, researcher at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, said in a news release.

The simulations showed the risk of viral transmission inside the elevator was actually lowest in elevators with the least air circulation.

"This is due to reduced flow mixing inside the elevator," said Talib Dbouk, study co-author and Nicosia researcher. "Regulatory authorities should thus define the minimum ventilation required depending on the type of building."

According to the study's two authors, the model did not consider differences in the effectiveness of the virus-killing mechanism in different air purifiers.

While in most large spaces, the benefits of air purification outweigh the pitfalls of increased air circulation, in some small spaces, the latest research suggests more stagnant air may be best.

"Our results show that installing an air purifier may increase the droplet spread," Drikakis said. "The air intake integrated inside the purifier equipment induces flow circulation that can add to the transport of contaminated saliva droplets in the cabin."

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2021/01/26/In-confined-spaces-air-purifiers-may-actually-aid-the-spread-of-COVID-19/4771611676594/

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.

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

Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker

Some other useful Covid links.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Rt Covid-19

https://rt.live/

Covid19info.live

https://wuflu.live/

Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)

https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national

Technology Update.

With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.

Graphene: Increased market penetration by 2025

Date: January 25, 2021

Source: Graphene Flagship

Summary: Graphene Flagship experts identify key opportunities in graphene commercialisation after a comprehensive three-year analysis of production methods and potential applications.

What happened to the promised applications of graphene and related materials? Thanks to initiatives like the European Union's Graphene Flagship and heavy investments by leading industries, graphene manufacturing is mature enough to produce prototypes and some real-life niche applications. Now, researchers at Graphene Flagship partner The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) in Karlsruhe, Germany, have published two papers that roadmap the expected future mass introduction of graphene and related materials in the market.

Back in 2004, graphene was made by peeling off atomically thin layers from a graphite block. Now, thanks to the advances pioneered by the Graphene Flagship, among others, we can produce high quantities of graphene with a reliable and reproducible quality. Furthermore, the Graphene Flagship has driven the discovery of thousands of layered materials, complementary to graphene in properties and applications, and has spearheaded efforts to standardise the fabrication of graphene to ensure consistency and trustworthiness.

The new publications by Graphene Flagship researchers at Fraunhofer ISI, just issued by IOP Publishing's journal 2D Materials, review the latest outcomes of the Technology and Innovation Roadmap, a process that explores the different pathways towards industrialisation and commercialisation of graphene and related materials. In particular, these articles summarise the impact that graphene and related materials will have transforming the manufacturing process and triggering the emergence of new value chains.

"Our final goal is seeing graphene and related materials fully integrated in day-to-day products and manufacturing," says Henning Döscher from Graphene Flagship partner Fraunhofer ISI, who leads the Graphene Flagship Roadmap Team. "We are continuously analysing scientific and technological advances in the field as well as their capacity to fulfil future industrial needs. Our first Graphene Roadmap Brief articles summarise some of the most exciting results," he adds. "Graphene and related materials add value throughout the value chain, from enhancing and enabling new materials to improving individual components and, eventually, end products." The most immediate applications of graphene, such as composites, inks and coatings are already commercially available, as highlighted by the Graphene Flagship product gallery. The industry will soon be ready to absorb and implement the latest innovations and start manufacturing batteries, solar panels, electronics, photonic and communication devices and medical technologies.

"The market demand for graphene has almost quadrupled in the last two years," explains Thomas Reiss from Graphene Flagship partner Fraunhofer ISI, and co-leader of the roadmap endeavour. "By strengthening standards and creating tailored high-quality materials, we expect to go beyond niche products and applications to broad market penetration by 2025," he adds. "Then, graphene could be incorporated in ubiquitous commodities such as tyres, batteries and electronics."

The dawning decade seems decisive in the road to market of graphene and related materials. "By 2030 we will see if graphene is really as disruptive as silicon or steel," says Döscher. "The Graphene Flagship has already shown that graphene is useful for numerous applications," he adds. "Now, we need to ensure that Europe stays a leader in the field, to ensure we benefit from the economic and societal impact of developing such an innovation."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210125113130.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmatter_energy%2Fgraphene+%28Graphene+News+--+ScienceDaily%29

In a bull market your game is to buy and hold until you believe that the bull market is near its end.

Jesse Livermore.

London Irvine Report

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Thursday, 28 January 2021

Stock Mania Madness!

U.S. economy likely logged its weakest performance in 74 years in 2020

The end of offices? New York's business districts face uncertain future

Asia shares undone by Wall St swoon, short seller squeeze

Hedge-Fund Titans Lose Billions to Reddit Traders Running Amok

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