Producer-price
inflation accelerates to 4.4%, above estimates
·
China’s producer prices climbed the most since July 2018 as
commodity costs surged, a worrying sign for policy makers seeking stable
inflation and adding to global risks.
The producer price index rose 4.4% in March from a year
earlier after gaining 1.7% in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said
Friday, higher than the 3.6% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
The consumer price index increased 0.4% from a year earlier after falling for
two straight months.
More
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-09/china-s-march-producer-prices-jump-most-in-more-than-two-years
Global Food Costs Keep Climbing
in Threat to Consumer Wallets By Agnieszka
de Sousa and Megan
Durisin 8 April 2021, 09:04 BST
·
·
The global food-price rally that’s stoking inflation
worries and hitting consumers around the world shows little sign of slowing.
Even with grain prices taking a breather on good crop
prospects, a United Nations gauge of global food costs rose for a 10th month in
March to the highest since 2014. Last month’s advance was driven by a surge in
vegetable oils amid stronger demand and tight inventories, according to
Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist at the UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organization.
Food prices are in the longest rally in more than a decade
amid China’s crop-buying spree and tightening supplies of many staple products,
threatening faster
inflation . That’s particularly pronounced in some of the poorest countries
dependent on imports, which have limited social safety nets and purchasing
power and are struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Breakdown of last month’s food
costs: The FAO’s
food price index rose 2.1% from February. Vegetable
oil prices jumped 8% to the highest since June 2011.Meat and
dairy costs rose, boosted by Asian demand. Grains and
sugar prices fell. Grains prices recently climbed to multiyear highs as China
imports massive amounts to feed its hog herds that are recovering from a deadly
virus. Still, there are signs that tight supplies may get some relief from
upcoming wheat
harvests in the Northern Hemisphere.
“Generally speaking, supplies for now are adequate,”
Abbassian said. “We might have reached a level whereby from now on even if we see
price increases, they may be a bit more subtle” than advances seen in previous
months, he said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-08/global-food-costs-keep-climbing-in-threat-to-consumer-wallets?srnd=premium-europe
Commodity
Shipping Rates Are Surging and Rally Isn’t Over Isis Almeida
April 6, 2021
· Cost of shipping products
like corn and steel jumped over 50%
For a glimpse of how quickly and unevenly economies are
recovering from the pandemic, look no further than the market for shipping raw
materials.
Rising demand for everything from soybeans to steel has
sent the cost of hauling dry goods soaring more than 50% this year.
Manufacturing, which first picked up in China, is now accelerating
Analysts say the rally isn’t over, with rates to carry
unpacked commodities like grains, iron ore and coal -- known as dry bulk --
expected to remain high this year and possibly into 2022. That’s a stark
turnaround for a market that slid to a four-year low less than 12 months ago,
and comes amid a tight supply of vessels. It’s also happening as the uneven
recovery scrambles movements of ship containers, which carry everything from
furniture to packed commodities like coffee and white sugar.
“If you roll back a little bit and remember what the world
looked like and what the sentiment was around the world this time last year,
there was a great deal of uncertainty,” said Burak Cetinok, head of research at
Arrow Shipbroking Group. “But now that we are seeing light at the end of the
tunnel, the industrial sector is now building inventory. So that’s adding to
strong shipments.”
Freight costs started to recover as top commodities buyer
China emerged from the pandemic faster than other countries. Rebounding crops
The nation’s imports are so big that they helped send the
cost of hauling in Panamax ships -- those meeting the size limits for the
Panama Canal -- to the highest level in more than a decade. Some traders have
even likened it to the Great Grain Robbery
More
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-06/commodity-shipping-rates-are-surging-and-the-rally-isn-t-over?srnd=premium-canada
U.S. Property Taxes Jump Most in
Four Years With Sun Belt Catching Up Alex Tanzi April 7, 2021
(Bloomberg) -- U. S. property taxes increased at the
fastest pace for four years in 2020, with some of the steepest increases coming
in traditionally low-cost Sun Belt states, according to figures from ATTOM Data Solutions .
The average tax on a single-family home climbed 4.4% to
$3,719, double the rate of increase in 2019, according to the real estate
analytics firm. Nationwide, property taxes levied by counties rose to $323
billion from $306.4 billion.
“The latest tax numbers speak loud and clear about the
continuing pressure on both recent and longtime homeowners to support the
rising cost of public services,” said Todd Teta, ATTOM’s chief product officer.
The traditionally high-tax states of the U.S. northeast
remain the most expensive for property-owners. New Jersey, with an average
charge on single-family homes of $9,196, topped the list followed by New York
and New Hampshire.
On the county level, 12 of the 16 areas with average annual
taxes of more than $10,000 were in the New York City metro area -- led by
Rockland County, NY, where the charge was $13,931.
But some of the biggest annual increases came in Sun Belt
metro areas from Salt Lake City to Tampa, as they seek additional revenue to
deal with an influx of new residents.
more
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/us-property-taxes-jump-most-in-four-years-with-sun-belt-catching-up/ar-BB1fp1u1
Get ready
for inflation! Why your dollar could soon be hemorrhaging value Everything Should Be Better: We are spending more money
than anytime in the history of civilization. Obviously there's going to be
consequences Apr 08, 2021
A question for you, dear viewer: How
much would you pay for this VHS cassette of Jerry McGuire? $20? $10? Nothing,
because literally every thrift shop in the English-speaking world will gladly
hand you a basket of Jerry McGuire tapes for 10 cents?
When there is a lot of something
around, it magically loses value, be that Jerry McGuire tapes, K-cars, Pete
Rose autographs or even cold, hard cash. That’s right: The very currency in
your pocket can hemorrhage value if there’s too much of it around. And I have
some bad news: We are entering an economic climate where that exact thing is
poised to happen.
I’m talking about inflation: The
process by which everything gets more expensive because money starts to lose
value. In developed Western democracies there’s always a little inflation
around, usually around two per cent, but we could be on track for inflation to
hit up to 5 per cent, meaning that for every 12 months that goes by, your
loonie (or greenback) loses five cents.
Here’s why.
---- Governments
are spending like sailors (who are also rappers)
The U.S. just passed a $2 trillion stimulus package
In Canada, the savings rate has skyrocketed under COVID (particularly high-income earners and those in
unaffected occupations) are getting their stimulus cash and just sticking
it in the bank. The same thing is happening in the U.S., where millions of
people are either sitting on their stimulus cheques or spending it on fun stuff like guns
These are not the actions of a
population desperate for financial relief, so what you’re seeing is that in the
U.S. and Canada, governments are helicopter-dropping crates of cash onto people
who don’t need it.
More
https://nationalpost.com/news/get-ready-for-inflation-why-your-dollar-could-soon-be-hemorrhaging-value
Inflation is like toothpaste. Once it's out, you can hardly get
it back in again.
Karl Otto Pohl
Covid-19 Corner This
section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Asia's rising coronavirus cases a
worry as vaccine doubts cloud campaigns April
8, 2021 10:04 AM By Reuters Staff
Singapore
(Reuters) - India, South Korea and Thailand faced mounting coronavirus
infections on Thursday, undermining cautious hopes that Asia might be emerging
from the worst of the pandemic as worries about safety threatened to delay
vaccination drives.
India reported a record 126,789 new
cases, the third day this week tallies have surged to more than 100,000,
catching by surprise authorities who have blamed crowding and a reluctance to
wear masks as shops and offices reopen.
More infectious variants of the
virus may have played a role in India’s surge, some epidemiologists say, with
hundreds of cases found of variants first detected in Britain, South Africa and
Brazil.
The alarming numbers have led to New
Zealand putting a temporary ban on anyone arriving from India, even for the
first time blocking New Zealand citizens from coming home, for about two weeks.
“We are temporarily suspending entry
into New Zealand for travellers from India,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told
a news conference in Auckland.
New Zealand, which has virtually
eliminated the virus within its borders, recorded 23 new cases at its border on
Thursday, 17 from India.
Two other countries that managed to
largely keep the coronavirus under control during the first year of the
pandemic were also grappling with new waves, though smaller than India’s.
South Korea reported 700 new cases
on Thursday, its highest daily figure since early January, and the prime
minister warned that new social distancing rules would likely be needed.
Thailand, which has been planning a
cautious re-opening of its tourist industry, reported a rise in new daily
infections to 405 on Thursday, taking its total number of infections to 30,310,
with 95 deaths.
Adding to Thai worries, it has
detected 24 cases of a highly contagious virus variant first detected in
Britain, its first reported domestic transmission of the variant.
Cases
are also rising in parts of Europe but South America is the most worrying
region of the world for infections, with cases mounting in nearly every
country, the director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on
Wednesday.
More
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-asia/asias-rising-coronavirus-cases-a-worry-as-vaccine-doubts-cloud-campaigns-idUSKBN2BV138
A dozen Bangkok hospitals suspend
COVID-19 testing amid shortages April 9, 20215:09
AM
BANGKOK (Reuters) - At least 12
hospitals in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, said as of Friday they were
suspending testing for COVID-19 due to high demand and shortage of supplies,
amid a new spike in cases.
The hospitals issued notices on
their social media and on messaging apps this week, some saying the suspension
would last only a few days and others giving no date for resumption of tests.
Bangkok is at the epicentre of a new
outbreak in Thailand that has seen new cases go from only a few dozen per day
to several hundred per day, prompting the government to scramble to boost
testing and trace new cases.
The government has been hosting its
own mass testing in districts of Bangkok where clusters have been reported,
mostly involving bars or entertainment venues that have been ordered closed for
two weeks.
Thailand reported 405 new COVID-19
infections on Thursday, and nearly a third of cabinet ministers are
self-isolating due to potential exposure to cases.
The spike in infections comes at a
tricky time for Thailand, ahead of next week’s annual Songkran festival, known
for big gatherings and notoriously crowded water fights that authorities have
banned.
Thailand on Wednesday confirmed the
presence locally of the highly transmissible coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 first
identified in Britain.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-thailand/a-dozen-bangkok-hospitals-suspend-covid-19-testing-amid-shortages-idUSKBN2BW0BA
COVAX vaccines reach more than
100 countries, despite supply hits: GAVI/WHO April 8, 2021 1:05 PM
GENEVA (Reuters) - The COVAX vaccine
facility has delivered nearly 38.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more
than 100 countries and economies across six continents as of Thursday, six
weeks after it began to roll out supplies, a statement said.
Despite being hit by reduced supply
availability in March and April, and higher demand in India where much of its
main jab AstraZeneca is made, it expects to deliver doses to all economies that
have requested them in the first half of 2021, the GAVI vaccine alliance and
World Health Organization said.
“According to its latest supply
forecast, COVAX expects to deliver at least 2 billion doses of vaccines in
2021,” it said. Its portfolio, currently relying on AstraZeneca and the Pfizer
and BioNTech shots, would be diversified.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccines-covax/covax-vaccines-reach-more-than-100-countries-despite-supply-hits-gavi-who-idUSKBN2BV1PK
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/
Centers for Disease Control
Coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Spectator
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.
Carbon dots made from hair boost
stability of perovskite solar cells By Nick Lavars April 08, 2021
Over the past decade or so, gains in efficiency have seen
perovskite solar cells become a highly promising technology in the realm of
renewable energy, quickly coming to match or even outdo the performance of the
monocrystalline silicon solar cells widely used today. Holding them back,
however, are intrinsic instability issues and a vulnerability to the elements,
which has prevented their mainstream adoption. Scientists in Australia believe
they may have found a solution to these problems hiding in hair swept up from
the floor of a local barbershop.
This breakthrough in solar cell research actually stems
from earlier work carried out at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT),
where scientists were able to use human hair from barber shops to help create
flexible OLED displays .
This technology hinges on the fact that hair is rich in
carbon and nitrogen, which are valuable properties when it comes to engineering
light-emitting particles. The scientists burned the hair at 240 °C (464 °F) to
break it down and reduce it to a material with both carbon and nitrogen
embedded in its molecular structure.
These resulting carbon nanodots piqued the interest of
fellow QUT scientists working in perovskite research, who decided to integrate
them into solar cells out of curiosity. In doing so, the team found that the
nanodots formed a wave-like layer on the perovskite surface, which acted as a
protective buffer to preserve their function.
“It creates a kind of protective layer, a kind of armor,” says
Professor Hongxia Wang, who led the research. “It protects the perovskite
material from moisture or other environmental factors, which can cause damage
to the materials.”
Further to improving the stability side of things, the
scientists report that incorporating the carbon nanodots into the perovskite
solar cells also improved power conversion efficiency. In addition to boosting
stability and performance, the carbon nanodots made from barbershop waste also
promise a low-cost and sustainable manufacturing process for what could become
a key component of next-generation solar cells.
“The big challenges in the area of perovskite solar cells
are solving stability of the device to be able to operate for 20 years or
longer and the development of a manufacturing method that is suitable for large
scale production," says Wang. “Currently, all the reported
high-performance perovskite solar cells have been made in a controlled
environment with extremely low level of moisture and oxygen, with a very small
cell area which are practically unfeasible for commercialization. To make the
technology commercially viable, challenges for fabrication of efficient large
area, stable, flexible, perovskite solar panels at low cost needs to be
overcome."
The study was published in the Journal of
Materials Chemistry A , while the video below offers an overview
of the research.
https://newatlas.com/energy/carbon-dots-hair-boost-perovskite-solar-cells/
Another
weekend and how long do we have before noticeable (to the crooked central
banksters) inflation hits? But will it
be inflation or stagflation? How best to prepare? Does it end in starting a
war? Have a great weekend everyone.
The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the
currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a
permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.
Ernest
Hemingway.
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