By Ann
Saphir , David Lawder
(Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet
Yellen said on Tuesday she sees no inflation problem brewing, downplaying
earlier comments that rate hikes may be needed to stop the economy overheating
as President Joe Biden’s spending plans boost growth.
The initial comments made by Yellen,
a former Federal Reserve chair, deepened a sell-off in tech stocks and pushed
longer-dated Treasury yields higher.
“It may be that interest rates will
have to rise somewhat to make sure that our economy doesn’t overheat, even
though the additional spending is relatively small relative to the size of the
economy,” Yellen said in taped remarks to a virtual event put on by The
Atlantic.
“It could cause some very modest
increases in interest rates to get that reallocation, but these are investments
our economy needs to be competitive and to be productive (and) I think that our
economy will grow faster because of them.”
Later on Tuesday, Yellen told a Wall
Street Journal CEO Council event that she does not anticipate that inflation
would be a problem for the U.S. economy and that any price increases would be
transitory because of supply chain shortages and the rebound in oil prices to
pre-pandemic levels.
Asked directly about her remarks on
rates, Yellen said she was neither predicting nor recommending a rate rise.
“If anybody appreciates the
independence of the Fed, I think that person is me,” Yellen said.
“I don’t think there’s going to be
an inflationary problem. But if there is the Fed will be counted on to address
them,” she added.
Treasury bond yields have risen
sharply this year, especially in the first quarter, on growing expectations for
an economic recovery from the coronavirus recession.
More
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-yellen/yellen-says-she-sees-no-inflation-problem-after-rate-hike-comments-roil-wall-street-idUSKBN2CL1IY
Finally, this year’s
Bavarian October fest is cancelled, unless you fly to the one in Dubai. Munich
is not amused. But will there be any alcohol in Dubai’s German beer?
Germany says Oktoberfest is
cancelled. Dubai begs to differ May 3, 2021
Munich (dpa) – For the second year
in a row, the coronavirus has forced Germany's Oktoberfest to keep the beer
taps closed and the oompah bands at home. But officials in Dubai say you'll get
the next best thing at their sprawling German-style booze-up in the desert.
At the same time as the planned Expo
World Exhibition in autumn, Dubai is to stage its own version of the
Oktoberfest with beer tents, fairground rides and cheesy German folk music -
just like in Munich.
But organizers in Germany don't
think any traveller should see Dubai as an alternative to the real deal.
"There is only one genuine Oktoberfest, and that's in
Munich," Clemens Baumgaertner, the man tasked with organizing the annual
festival on behalf of the Bavarian capital said in response to news that Dubai
was planning its own version at the end of April.
Moving the Oktoberfest to the Gulf "is absolutely
absurd," he said, adding that they would investigate legal options to
protect Munich's Oktoberfest.
Nevertheless, Dubai organisers are already advertising the
event with superlatives, as is customary in the rich Emirate.
In terms of area and duration, it is "by far the
largest festival in the world", according to a website for the event,
which is to run from October 7 to March 31.
Oktoberfest
Dubai also wants to break records with the world's longest beer bar, the
largest maypole and the biggest beer glass. Organisers expect 4 million guests
per month arriving to see 620 businesses spread out over 400,000 square meters.
Several other of the world's major events are hoping to
open during the second half of the year amid expectations that many people will
be vaccinated by then and the numbers of new cases will be declining. The
United Arab Emirates have already vaccinated about half of their population
against the virus.
But even as vaccinations in Germany pick up pace, Munich
Oktoberfest organizers believe the risk of infection would be too great at the
event with beer tents often filled to capacity and large numbers of people
crowding the adjoining alleyways.
Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder and
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter announced on Monday they had agreed the autumn event
should be cancelled, disappointing the 6 million beer-drinking fans who head to
the festival each year.
---- Munich celebrated the first Oktoberfest in 1810 when it
marked the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig - later King Ludwig I - with
Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen.
Since then, Oktoberfest has been
cancelled about two dozen times during its 210-year history, including because
of war with Napoleon, the two world wars of the 20th century and cholera outbreaks.
More
https://www.dpa-international.com/topic/germany-says-oktoberfest-cancelled-dubai-begs-differ-urn%3Anewsml%3Adpa.com%3A20090101%3A210503-99-453131
“Beyond
this, the problem is universal. It is that governments are now held responsible
for the welfare of the people. The aspirations of the people can outrun their
ability to pay for them, and nobody has yet found a way to create answers to
the aspirations out of thin air.”
George Goodman, aka Adam Smith, The Money Game. 1968. [Until now.]
Global Inflation Watch. Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our
spendthrift politicians, inflation now
needs an entire section of its own.
Inflation Risk Intensifies With
Supply Shortages Multiplying Michelle Jamrisko Wed, May 5, 2021, 2:30 A/M
(Bloomberg) -- Signs of inflation
are picking up, with a mounting number of consumer-facing companies warning in
recent days that supply shortages and logistical logjams may force them to
raise prices.
Tight inventories of materials as
varied as semiconductors, steel, lumber and cotton are showing up in survey
data, with manufacturers in Europe and the U.S. this week flagging record
backlogs and higher input prices as they scramble to replenish stockpiles and keep
up with accelerating consumer demand.
As commodities become increasingly
expensive, whether faster inflation proves transitory -- or not -- is the
biggest question for policy makers and markets. Rising prices and the potential
for a response from central banks topped the list of concerns for money
managers surveyed by Bank of America Corp.
Many economists and central bankers,
from the Federal Reserve on down, maintain that price gains are temporary and
will be curbed by forces such as virus worries and unemployment. Investors
remain skeptical, with businesses including Nestle SA and Colgate-Palmolive Co.
already announcing they’ll need to raise prices.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet
Yellen, a former Fed chair, entered the debate on Tuesday when she ruffled
markets with the observation that rates will likely rise as government spending
ramps up. She later clarified she was neither predicting nor recommending an
increase.
The Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index,
which tracks 23 raw materials, has risen to its highest level in almost a
decade. That has pushed a gauge of global manufacturing output prices to its
highest point since 2009, and U.S. producer prices to levels not seen since
2008, according to data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and IHS Markit. JPMorgan
analysts also estimate non-food and energy import prices in the biggest
economies rose almost 4% in the first quarter, the most in three years.
More
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-risk-intensifies-supply-shortages-210000287.html
Home Prices Soaring Across SoCal
As Buyers Battle It Out To Win Bidding Wars By CBSLA
Staff
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The median
home price is now at an all-time record and the number of homes sold last month
compared to March 2020 was also a record.
“We’ve been beaten out by all cash,
and it’s like I don’t even know where people get that much cash,” said buyer
Laura Beecher.
When Laura and Austin Beecher got
married last year, they thought they would find a home in a few months.
“We typically would be one of the
first offers, if not the first three. Then, we wouldn’t hear back because our
offer would get immediately beat,” said buyer Austin Beecher.
Six offers over asking and six
months later, they still haven’t been able to say they’re homeowners.
After 33 years in Orange, broker Al
Ricci says he’s never seen a market quite like this, fueled by low-interest
rates and low inventory.
“It’s been the best year in real
estate that we know. It’s just crazy. The city of Orange for example is up 18%
in 12 months,” Ricci said. “Typically we have 150 to 200 homes in the city of
Orange; today we have 80.”
Brokers said they never would have
predicted that home values would have risen the way they have now, so they say
they have no idea where an ending to this might be.
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/05/03/home-prices-southern-california/
Gas Prices Continue To Climb In
SoCal For 9th Day By CBSLA
Staff
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Gas prices continued to increase
in or around Southern California for the ninth day in a row. And that appeared
to be a similar trend nationwide where other states were seeing an increase as
well.
The average price of a gallon of
regular gas in the Beverly Grove area on Saturday was $4.99 and $5.99 for
premium.
“Right now, I spent almost $100 on gas,” said Edwin Palma,
who commutes almost 100 miles per day. Though the price bump is not uncommon as
summer approaches, this year, there is a new factor: a shortage in tanker truck
drivers.
“With the fuel prices, there is a definitely an increase in
that because of a cost to deliver to the station,” said Joe Keith of Pacific
Gas Lines, which is based in Riverside.
He says a 50 to 80 percent drop in delivery requests due in
large part to the COVID stay-at-home orders last year led to a drop in
qualified drivers.
“What we really need is more people coming in,” said Keith,
who explained that an increase in drivers could bring the prices down and
prevent what industry leaders fear could be a shortage of fuel at gas stations
across the country.
More
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/05/02/gas-prices-continue-to-climb-in-socal-for-9th-day/
Covid-19 Corner This
section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
World’s Most Vaccinated Nation Reintroduces
Curbs as Cases Surge Kamlesh Bhuckory Antony Sguazzin May 05
2021, 2:41 AM May 05 2021, 6:49 AM
( Bloomberg) -- Seychelles, which has
fully vaccinated more of its population against Covid-19 than any other
country, has closed schools and canceled sporting activities for two weeks as
infections surge.
The
measures, which include bans on the intermingling of households and the early
closure of bars, come even as the country has fully vaccinated more than 60% of
its adult population with two doses of coronavirus vaccines. The curbs are
similar to those last imposed at the end of 2020.
“Despite
of all the exceptional efforts we are making, the Covid-19 situation in our
country is critical right now with many daily cases reported last week,” Peggy
Vidot, the nation’s health minister, said at a press conference Monday. The
Indian Ocean archipelago, which has a population of about 98,000, is dependent
on tourism for much of its foreign exchange and acted quickly to begin
vaccinations in January using a donation of Chinese vaccines from the United
Arab Emirates. It has procured other vaccines since.
To
date 62.2% of its eligible population is fully vaccinated, according to the Bloomberg
Vaccine Tracker. That compares with 55.9% for Israel, the next most vaccinated
nation.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/world-s-most-vaccinated-nation-reintroduces-curbs-as-cases-surge
‘Horrible’ weeks ahead as India’s
virus catastrophe worsens By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL May 4, 2021
NEW DELHI (AP) — COVID-19 infections and deaths
are mounting with alarming speed in India with no end in sight to the crisis
and a top expert warning that the coming weeks in the country of nearly 1.4
billion people will be “horrible.”
India’s official count of coronavirus cases
surpassed 20 million Tuesday, nearly doubling in the past three months, while
deaths officially have passed 220,000. Staggering as those numbers are, the
true figures are believed to be far higher, the
undercount an apparent reflection of the troubles in the health care
system.
The country has witnessed scenes of people dying
outside overwhelmed hospitals and funeral pyres lighting up the night sky.
Infections have surged in India since February
in a disastrous turn blamed on more contagious variants of the virus as well as
government decisions to allow massive crowds to gather for Hindu religious
festivals and political rallies before state elections.
India’s top health official, Rajesh Bhushan,
refused to speculate last month as to why authorities weren’t better prepared.
But the cost is clear: People are dying because of shortages of bottled oxygen
and hospital beds or because they couldn’t get a COVID-19 test.
India’s official average of newly confirmed
cases per day has soared from over 65,000 on April 1 to about 370,000, and
deaths per day have officially gone from over 300 to more than 3,000.
On Tuesday, the health ministry reported 357,229
new cases in the past 24 hours and 3,449 deaths from COVID-19.
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown
University’s School of Public Health in the U.S., said he is concerned that
Indian policymakers he has been in contact with believe things will improve in
the next few days.
“I’ve been ... trying to say to
them, `If everything goes very well, things will be horrible for the next
several weeks. And it may be much longer,’” he said.
----
The death and infection figures are considered unreliable because testing is
patchy and reporting incomplete. For example, government guidelines ask Indian
states to include suspected COVID-19 cases when recording deaths from the
outbreak, but many do not do so.
----Municipal records for this past
Sunday show 1,680 dead in the Indian capital were treated according to the
procedures for handing the bodies of those infected with COVID-19. But in the
same 24-hour period, only 407 deaths were added to the official toll from New
Delhi.
More
https://apnews.com/article/india-coronavirus-health-41a6a064b0d22b0ed4d2d1753e4ff31c
India's IPL cricket suspended
over coronavirus Issued on: 04/05/2021 -
10:28
The Indian Premier League, the
world's richest Twenty20 cricket tournament, was suspended for safety reasons
on Tuesday as India battles a massive surge in coronavirus cases.
"The Indian Premier League
Governing Council and Board of Control for Cricket in India in an emergency
meeting has unanimously decided to postpone (the) IPL 2021 season, with
immediate effect," organisers said in a statement.
"The BCCI does not want to compromise
on the safety of the players, support staff and the other participants involved
in organising the IPL. This decision was taken keeping the safety, health and
well-being of all the stakeholders in mind," it said.
The suspension, which follows growing
controversy over the tournament, comes a day after two players tested positive,
forcing a match to be postponed.
India is also due to host the
Twenty20 World Cup in October and November.
The big-bucks IPL has been running
since early April, even as India's health care system has been overwhelmed by a
vicious second wave of virus cases.
This prompted criticism from some
who said the competition was inappropriate, while others defended it as a
welcome distraction.
The players from the eight teams
have been in strict bio-bubbles as matches take place in six cities including
New Delhi and Mumbai, both badly hit by the pandemic.
"These are difficult times,
especially in India and while we have tried to bring in some positivity and
cheer, however, it is imperative that the tournament is now suspended and
everyone goes back to their families and loved ones in these trying
times," the statement said.
"The BCCI will do everything in
its powers to arrange for the secure and safe passage of all the participants
in IPL 2021."
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210504-india-s-ipl-cricket-suspended-over-coronavirus
More people diagnosed with
COVID-19 in past 2 weeks than in first 6 months of pandemic, WHO says Mon, May 3, 2021, 8:40 PM
As Americans continue to take steps
toward normal life, India and several other countries are dealing with an
explosion of new coronavirus infections likely to delay the world’s recovery
from the deadly crisis, health authorities warned Monday.
The number of COVID-19 cases
reported around the world in the last two weeks was higher than the total of
confirmed infections in the first six months of the pandemic, according to the
World Health Organization. India and Brazil, which are going through their
worst days since the pandemic began, account for more than half of last week’s
cases, the agency said.
WHO’s director-general, Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said many other countries also face “a very fragile
situation” and are running out of basic hospital supplies.
“What is happening in India and
Brazil could happen elsewhere unless we all take these public health
precautions that WHO has been calling for since the beginning of the pandemic,”
he told reporters during a news briefing in Geneva.
Ghebreyesus said vaccines are “part
of the answer,” but he called on the world’s richest countries to lead a global
effort to help nations with limited vaccine supplies.
More
https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-people-diagnosed-covid-19-194000156.html
Vietnam Extends Quarantine Past
14 Days After India Variant Found By Nguyen
Dieu Tu Uyen and Xuan
Quynh Nguyen 4 May 2021, 10:27 BST
Vietnam is keeping people in quarantine centers longer than
the 14-day period in its latest step to prevent the spread of coronavirus amid
the emergence of cases being traced to overseas travelers.
Provinces were instructed by the health ministry to
“temporarily keep” in quarantine until further notice people who have completed
the 14-day isolation, according to a post on the government website. Three
patients in Vinh Phuc were found to be carrying a virus variant first detected
in India, the health ministry said.
Authorities are scrutinizing cases including that of an Indian
national who checked into a hospital in Hanoi on May 3 and tested positive for
Covid-19 earlier on Tuesday. This was after he had completed the required
14-day quarantine when he arrived in Vietnam on April 17. He isolated in a
hotel in the coastal city of Haiphong and tested negative twice after ending
quarantine.
It’s
Not Just India. New Virus Waves Hit Developing Nations (2)
More
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-04/vietnam-is-extending-quarantine-period-to-prevent-virus-spread?srnd=premium-europe
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.
Not the usual
technology update today. Today, an interesting
medical technology update.
Ice microneedle patches deliver
drugs, then melt away By Michael Irving May 04, 2021
Nobody
likes needles, but they’re often a necessary evil. Microneedle
patches are emerging as a painless alternative, and now
researchers at City University of Hong Kong have developed a new version of the
tech that’s made of ice, for easier manufacture and use.
Microneedle
patches are designed to be applied to the skin like a Band-Aid, with the
skin-facing side containing an array of the tiny needles. Unlike the big
hypodermic needles that need to be long enough to reach the vein in your arm,
microneedles are less than 1 mm long. That means they only penetrate a very
short distance into the skin, falling short of the nerve endings so they’re
painless.
Usually, the needles themselves are made of biodegradable
polymers that dissolve to release a payload, which can be drugs ,
vaccines ,
cells
or other therapeutic molecules. But for the new study, the CityU researchers
made theirs out of a simpler material – ice.
The principle for these cryomicroneedles is mostly the
same. Therapeutic cells are loaded into the microneedles, although in this case
they’re paired with a cryoprotectant then frozen in the ice. Once the needles
enter the skin, they break off the backing patch and the patient’s body heat
melts them, delivering their payload.
The team says that using ice has a
few advantages over existing microneedle systems. The most obvious is that it’s
a simpler material to make than biodegradable polymers, but they also leave
less waste and the ice can also preserve the cells for long-term cold storage.
That said, the requirement to remain frozen could be a downside for shipping
and storage.
In tests, the researchers used the
cryomicroneedles to treat cancer in mice. They loaded the patches with
ovalbumin-pulsed dendritic cells – a form of cancer immunotherapy – and found
that the immune responses it triggered were better than those from subcutaneous
or intravenous injection.
It’s an interesting twist on the idea, but whether it
stacks up remains to be seen with further tests. The team notes that other
payloads could be integrated into the devices too.
“The application of our device is not limited to the
delivery of cells,” says Dr. Xu Chenjie, lead author of the study. “This device
can also package, store, and deliver other types of bioactive therapeutic
agents, such as proteins, peptides, mRNA, DNA, and vaccines. I hope this device
offers an easy-to-use and effective alternative method for the delivery of
therapeutics in clinics.”
The research was published in the journal Nature
Biomedical Engineering
https://newatlas.com/medical/frozen-cryomicroneedle-patches-drug-delivery/
Intranasal influenza vaccine
enhances immune response and offers broad protection Date: May 3, 2021
Source: Georgia State University
Summary: An influenza vaccine that is made of
nanoparticles and administered through the nose enhances the body's immune
response to influenza virus infection and offers broad protection against
different viral strains, according to new research.
An influenza vaccine that is made of
nanoparticles and administered through the nose enhances the body's immune
response to influenza virus infection and offers broad protection against
different viral strains, according to researchers in the Institute for
Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.
Recurring seasonal flu epidemics and
potential pandemics are among the most severe threats to public health. Current
seasonal influenza vaccines induce strain-specific immunity and are less
effective against mismatched strains. Broadly protective influenza vaccines are
urgently needed.
Intranasal vaccines are a promising
strategy for combatting infectious respiratory diseases, such as influenza.
They are more effective than vaccines injected into a muscle because they can
induce mucosal immune responses in respiratory tracts, preventing infection at
the portal of virus entry. They can also stimulate systemic immune responses
throughout the body.
Scientists can overcome vaccine
safety concerns and the long production phase of virus-based influenza vaccines
by constructing intranasal vaccines with recombinant proteins or peptides.
However, these vaccines are poor at producing immune responses, so it's
necessary to have potent mucosal adjuvants, substances that enhance the body's
immune response to antigens (the molecular structures on pathogens). The
absence of appropriate mucosal adjuvants currently hinders the development of
such a vaccine.
In this study, the researchers
developed an intranasal influenza vaccine using recombinant hemagglutinin (HA),
a protein found on the surface of influenza viruses, as the antigen component
of the vaccine. HA is integral to the ability of influenza virus to cause
infection.
They also created a two-dimensional
nanomaterial (polyethyleneimine-functionalized graphene oxide nanoparticles)
and found that it displayed potent adjuvant (immunoenhancing) effects on
influenza vaccines delivered intranasally. The findings are published in the
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Conventional flu vaccines
predominantly induce antibody responses," said Dr. Baozhong Wang, senior
author of the study, principal investigator of the National Institutes of
Health grant supporting the study and a professor in the Institute for
Biomedical Sciences. "However, recent research demonstrates that lung
resident memory T cell responses are indispensable for optimal cross-protection
against pulmonary influenza infection. The development of lung resident T cell
responses requires vaccination by a respiratory route or influenza virus
infection. Our research opens a new path for the development of needle-free and
logistically simplified intranasal flu vaccines for cross-protection."
"In our study, we reported for
the first time that two-dimensional graphene oxide nanomaterials had a potent
adjuvant effect in boosting the immune responses of intranasal hemagglutinin
(HA) vaccines," said Dr. Chunhong Dong, lead author of the study and a
postdoctoral research Fellow in Dr. Baozhong Wang's lab in the Institute for
Biomedical Sciences.
"This study gives new insights
into developing high performance intranasal vaccine systems with
two-dimensional sheet-like nanoparticles," Dong said. "The graphene
oxide nanoparticles have extraordinary attributes for drug delivery or vaccine
development, such as the ultra-large surface area for high-density antigen
loading, and the vaccine showed superior immunoenhancing properties in vitro
and in vivo. The nanoplatform could be easily adapted for constructing mucosal
vaccines for different respiratory pathogens."
The study, conducted in mice and
cell culture, found the nanoparticles significantly enhanced immune responses
at mucosal surfaces and throughout the body in mice. The robust immune
responses conferred immune protection against influenza virus challenges by
homologous (same) virus strains and heterologous (different) virus strains.
The results are also promising
because needle-free, intranasal influenza vaccines possess superior logistical
advantages over traditional injectable vaccines, such as easy administration
with high acceptance for recipients and the avoidance of biohazardous waste.
Co-authors of the study include Dr.
Chunhong Dong, Ye Wang, Gilbert Gonzalez, Yao Ma, Yufeng Song, Dr. Sang-Moo
Kang and Dr. Baozhong Wang of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia
State and Shelly Wang and Dr. Richard W. Compans of Emory University School of
Medicine.
The study was funded by the National
Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210503151306.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmatter_energy%2Fgraphene+%28Graphene+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
This is the way things are, and the
Game has been so successful that, like everything, it will get more and more
successful until it stops being successful.
George Goodman, aka Adam Smith,
The Money Game. 1968.
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