Baltic Dry Index. 2795 -61 Brent Crude 68.04
Spot Gold 1867
Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,100
Coronavirus Cases 19/05/21 World 164,901,667
Deaths 3,418,730
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back in.
Will Rogers.
We open as usual with Asia, but today, not with Asian stock casinos on the verge of collapse, today it’s a 70 story building in the middle of Shenzhen China, that might be on the verge of collapse.
The building has been evacuated, but more nearby buildings will need to be evacuated if Chinese engineers can’t figure out a way to prevent its collapse.
Below BBC News covers the developing problem.
SEG Plaza evacuation: Shaking China skyscraper sends shoppers fleeing
Published 18 May 2021
A skyscraper of more than 70 storeys has been evacuated after it started to shake, sending shoppers scrambling for safety in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Local authorities do not yet know what caused the 300m (980ft) SEG Plaza building to wobble on Tuesday afternoon.
No earthquakes were recorded at the time. An investigation is under way.
The 20-year-old building houses an electronics market and offices.
It stands in the heart of Shenzhen, a sprawling city of more than 12 million people known for its shopping and booming tech industry.
Footage shared on social media showed hundreds of people running away from the skyscraper shortly after it was evacuated.
China's Global Times newspaper said the local government of Shenzhen's Futian district, where SEG Plaza is located, received reports of shaking from staff inside the building at 12:31 local time (05:31 GMT).
By 14:00, everyone inside the building had been evacuated, the newspaper reported.
In a later statement, the local government said a preliminary investigation found "no cracks in the ground surrounding the building" and no damage to "pieces of outer wall".
Completed in 2000, the SEG Plaza is the 104th-tallest building in China and the 212th-tallest in the world, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, an online database.
Shenzhen, which links Hong Kong to China's mainland, is at the cutting edge of technology and innovation in the country. Businesses with headquarters in the city include Tencent and Huawei.
The world's fourth-tallest skyscraper, the 599m Ping An Finance Centre, also studs the city's skyline.
Building collapses have been known to happen in China. In May last year, a hotel being used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in the Chinese city of Quanzhou collapsed, killing 29.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-57161083
Now back to those shaky stock markets.
LONDON — European stocks are expected to open sharply lower on Wednesday, following a global dip in stocks Tuesday.
London’s FTSE is seen opening 63 points lower at 6,980, Germany’s DAX down 148 points at 15,258, France’s CAC 40 down 60 points at 6,308 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 220 points lower at 24,427, according to IG.
European markets look set to follow dour sentiment elsewhere; U.S. stock futures were flat in overnight trading on Tuesday ahead of more retail earnings, while stocks in Asia-Pacific slipped in Wednesday morning trade, with some markets in the region closed for holidays.
Investors concerned about rising inflation will be keeping a close eye on the Federal Open Market Committee as it publishes the minutes from its April meeting on Wednesday.
Minutes of the meeting could provide more clues on when the central bank could consider tapering bond purchases, a move that is expected to come before it increases interest rates.
On the data front, U.K. inflation data for April is due while several European countries, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, release car registration data for April.
European earnings come from E.On, which also holds an annual general meeting. Deutsche Boerse, Uniper, Experian and Premier Foods will also publish their latest results.
In US stock casino and unicorn ranching news, where was the Fed?
Dow falls 260 points as markets reverse from early gains
May 18, 2021 / 5:13 PM
May 18 (UPI) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 260 points Tuesday as major U.S. markets gave up early gains to close at session lows.
The blue-chip index dropped 267.13 points, or 0.78%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.85% and the Nasdaq Composite closed the day down 0.56%.
Markets reacted to a Commerce Department report showing that housing starts had fallen 9.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.568 million units last month.
The S&P 500 turned in the worst performance of the major indexes Tuesday with Discovery dropping 1.6% and Comcast falling 0.91% to lead the decline after AT&T announced Monday it would merge WarnerMedia -- which includes HBO and CNN -- with Discovery to form a standalone streaming and entertainment company.
Major retailers also turned in better-than-expected earnings as Walmart stock rose 2.17% to lead the dow after reporting strong grocery sales and e-commerce growth in the fourth quarter.
Lauren Goodwin, an economist and portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments, told CNBC that while growth stocks may be reaching a peak amid concerns about inflation "it's not a bull-market breaker yet."
"Data can't stay at peak levels forever and tailwinds from fiscal stimulus are likely to wind down," Goodwin said. "This can complicate the environment for investors; history suggests that when the economy starts to slow, market returns tend to slow with it."
More
$280 billion wiped off crypto market as bitcoin falls below $40,000 for first time in 14 weeks
Bitcoin fell sharply on Tuesday continuing a major sell-off that began a week ago.
The digital currency fell over 13% to hit an intraday low of $38,585.86 at around 12:54 a.m. ET, according to CoinDesk data. It was the lowest level since Feb. 9, the last time it dropped below $40,000.
Negative news over the past week has dampened sentiment for bitcoin.
On May 12, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the electric carmaker had suspended vehicle purchases using bitcoin, citing environmental concerns over the so-called computational “mining” process. This is where high-powered computers are used to solve complex mathematical puzzles to enable transactions using bitcoin.
Musk’s comments caused over $300 billion to be wiped off the entire cryptocurrency market that day.
The announcement to suspend bitcoin payment came just three months after Tesla revealed that it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin, and would start accepting bitcoin in exchange for its products.
Early this week, the Tesla CEO clarified that the company has “not sold any Bitcoin.”
Then on Tuesday, three Chinese banking and payment industry bodies issued a statement warning financial institutions not to conduct virtual currency related business, including trading or exchanging fiat currency for cryptocurrency.
China’s hard line on digital currencies is not new. In 2017, authorities shut down local cryptocurrency exchanges and banned so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs), a way for companies in the space to raise money through issuing new digital tokens.
Traders in China once accounted for a huge share of the bitcoin market but after the crackdown, their influence was reduced significantly. Chinese cryptocurrency operations have moved abroad.
Bitcoin is still up over 40% year-to-date and 320% in the last 12 months.
More
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/19/bitcoin-btc-price-plunges-but-bottom-could-be-near-.html
In more USA free money news, Illinois is about to pay the people’s rents! Well it makes slightly more sense than the Fed’s funding of the stock casino manias. The downside, another 120,000 become dependant on Big Brother with no word on how the free money is to be paid for. It is hoped that the 120,000 will remember who to vote for.
Illinois Gov. Prtizker announces $1.5B in pandemic rental relief
May 18, 2021 / 5:39 AM
May 18 (UPI) -- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has announced a $1.5 billion expansion to the state's rental relief program to aid those suffering amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Democratic governor announced the expansion Monday during a press conference, stating it will ensure 120,000 more household renters will receive relief.
Residents who rent their home, are behind on payments and experienced financial hardships due to the coronavirus pandemic are eligible to apply for up to $25,000 to be paid directly to their housing provider or landlord, he said.
"It was clear when we implemented last year's housing relief programs that the need was far greater than the dollars allocated to our state," he said. "That's why I'm pleased to announce today that Illinois is expanding rental relief to $1.5 billion, nearly four times the amount that was available last year."
Pritzker added that later this summer an additional $400 million on top of the $1.5 billion will be made available for mortgage assistance.
The move Monday expands the Illinois Rental Payment Program, which last year provided more than $329 million in past due rent and mortgage payments from more than 56,000 households, he said.
"The need is far greater than the number of families we were able to help last year, that's why today's announcement is so meaningful," he said. "Tens of thousands of families across Illinois will receive substantial assistance to help overcome the financial crisis the pandemic brought to their lives."
Finally, the US Treasury Secretary thinks higher taxes and yet more spending will lead to higher profits. No seriously, America is going to tax and spend itself into unprecedented prosperity.
It’s an old trick and its never worked yet, but this time it’s different, right? How well did her time as Chairwoman of the Fed work out?
U.S. Treasury's Yellen says tax hike, infrastructure plan will boost profits
May 18, 2021 1:49 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defended President Joe Biden’s $2.2 trillion infrastructure corporate tax hike plans on Tuesday, telling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the proposals will enhance the profitability and competitiveness of American corporations.
In remarks prepared for delivery to the business lobby group, she said the “Jobs Plan” infrastructure investments would have a direct payoff to the American people, create jobs and simply “return the corporate tax rate toward historical norms.”
“We are confident that the investments and tax proposals in the Jobs Plan, taken as a package, will enhance the net profitability of our corporations and improve their global competitiveness. We hope that business leaders will see it this way and support the Jobs Plan,” she said.
It's easy being a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you.
Will Rogers
Global Inflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
EU completes bulk of SURE funding with 14 bln euro bond sale
May 18, 2021 10:37 AM By Yoruk Bahceli
* EU to complete most of SURE fundraising
* Receives 92 bln euros demand for 14.1 bln euro 8, 25-year bonds
* Focus will turn to recovery fund (Adds details, updates sourcing)
May 18 (Reuters) - The European Union launched bonds on Tuesday that will complete the bulk of funding for its SURE unemployment scheme against a tough market backdrop that saw government bond yields hit multi-month highs a day earlier.
The EU will raise 14.137 billion euros from new eight and 25-year social bonds on Tuesday on the back of 92 billion euros of demand, according to a lead manager memo seen by Reuters.
With less than 5 billion euros of planned issuance remaining, the bonds will complete the vast majority of its funding for the SURE scheme and pave the way for the EU to begin issuance to fund its up to 800 billion euro recovery fund expected to start in the summer.
That will mark much more meaningful EU debt issuance that investors hope will create a euro zone safe asset.
Antoine Bouvet, senior rates strategist at ING, said the key takeaway from SURE going into the recovery fund issuance was that “demand for the name EU is strong, and proportional to the amount of debt they have to sell”.
“There was a hype factor that has somewhat faded but this is understandable. Remember that (the recovery fund) will also carry out auctions so, more and more, EU issuance will resemble that of a sovereign treasury with an undramatic issuance process.”
The sale follows a big sell-off in euro area government bonds on Monday driven by speculation that the ECB may slow its pandemic emergency bond buying and concerns over Italy’s economic reform path.
More
A ‘taper tantrum’ in Europe is dangerous, but so is German inflation
Read this exclusive extract from our Economic Intelligence newsletter and sign up at the bottom of the article to get it every Tuesday
German inflation will break above 3pc this year, the highest since the reunification boom of the early 1990s. The European Central Bank has already conceded the point.
This was not supposed to happen under the implicit contract of the Maastricht Treaty. Germany agreed to share the immense prestige of the Bundesbank on the assurance that the euro would be successor to the Deutsche Mark, and that precisely this would never be permitted.
The German economy suffered less damage from the pandemic and less debt accumulation than southern Europe. It will recover faster, regaining its pre-Covid levels of GDP at least a year earlier than Italy and Spain.
It is hitting capacity constraints and will follow the US into incipient overheating before long, given interest rates of minus 0.5pc that are several degrees too loose for German conditions. The German press is raging about a house price spiral and the corrosive onset of the British property disease.
Germany’s inflation rate is now structurally higher than in Club Med. Greece, Portugal, and Italy are barely out of deflation. The eurozone is once again diverging into opposed blocs at different stages of the cycle, with different needs that cannot be met by a one-size-fits-all policy.
More
U.S. companies are bearing the brunt of Trump’s China tariffs, says Moody’s
Published Tue, May 18 2021 12:49 AM EDT
American businesses are bearing most of the cost burden from the elevated tariffs imposed at the height of the U.S.-China trade war, said Moody’s Investors Service.
The ratings agency said in a Monday report that U.S. importers absorbed more than 90% of additional costs resulting from the 20% U.S. tariff on Chinese goods.
That means U.S. importers pay around 18.5% more in price for a Chinese product subject to that 20% tariff rate, while Chinese exporters receive 1.5% less for the same product, according to the report.
“A majority of the cost of tariffs have been passed on to US importers,” Moody’s said in the report.
“If the tariffs remain in place, pressure on US retailers will likely rise, leading to a greater pass-through to consumer prices,” the agency added.
Higher trade tariffs came into force during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s term. Most of those tariffs have remained in place and affect over half of all trade flows between the U.S. and China, said Moody’s.
U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods stood at an average of 19.3% on a trade-weighted basis in early 2021, while Chinese tariffs on American products were about 20.7%, according to data compiled by think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Before the U.S.-China trade war in early 2018, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods were on average 3.1% while China’s tariffs on American goods were at 8%, the data showed.
U.S. importers are not the only one bearing the brunt of the elevated tariffs.
Moody’s said in the report that U.S. exporters also absorbed most of the costs from tariffs imposed by China. That’s partly because the U.S. exports targeted by those retaliatory tariffs are products that may be sourced from other places, such as agricultural goods.
Economists and businesses had argued that Trump’s tariffs on China harm the U.S. economy, while failing to force China to reverse its unfair trade practices.
President Joe Biden previously said he disagreed with Trump’s approach to China, but is not in a hurry to reverse his predecessor’s policies. His administration had suggested that it’s open to using tariffs to fight China’s unfair trade practices.
U.S. housing starts drop sharply in April
May 18, 2021 1:37 PM By Reuters Staff
WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - U.S. homebuilding fell more than expected in April, likely pulled down by soaring prices for lumber and other materials, but construction remains supported by an acute shortage of previously owned homes on the market.
Housing starts tumbled 9.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.569 million units last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Data for March was revised lower to a rate of 1.733 million units, still the highest level since June 2006, from the previously reported 1.739 million units.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast starts falling to a rate of 1.710 million units in April.
Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?
Will Rogers.
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
The Latest: India reports record for single-day virus deaths
NEW DELHI — India’s total virus cases since the pandemic began swept past 25 million as the country registered more than 260,000 new cases and a record 4,329 fatalities in the last 24 hours.
The numbers reported Tuesday follow a trend of falling cases after infections dipped below 300,000 for the first time in weeks a day earlier.
Active cases in the country also decreased by more than 165,000 on Tuesday — the biggest dip in weeks. But deaths have continued to rise and hospitals are still swamped by patients.
India has recorded nearly 280,000 virus deaths since the pandemic began. Both the number of deaths and total reported cases are thought to be vast undercounts.
The government on Monday announced that 17 new labs will help track variants, boosting India’s genome sequencing abilities as concern grows over a potentially worrisome variant first detected here. The variant may spread more easily but the country has lagged behind in doing the testing needed to track it and understand it better.
The variant first identified in India has prompted global concern — most notably in Britain, where it has more than doubled in a week, defying a sharp nationwide downward trend in infections.
More
S. Korea's COVID-19 variant cases top 1,000, set to further rise
15:01 May 18, 2021
SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has confirmed 247 more cases of major variants of the new coronavirus, raising the total caseload to over 1,000, amid concerns that the country's fight against the pandemic may be stressed by more transmissible strains of the virus.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said of the newly identified variant cases from May 9 to 15, 195 were local infections, while 52 were imported cases, bringing the total variant cases the country has confirmed since October last year to 1,113.
Of the newly identified major variant cases, 199 were the Britain-originated strain, followed by 29 Indian variant cases, 18 South African variant cases, and one Brazilian variant case.
Health authorities said they also identified 581 other emerging variant cases, including 552 that originated from California.
South Korea has stepped up efforts to block the spread of variant cases in the country, strengthening quarantine measures for arrivals from India in light of the spike in infections there.
More
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20210518007800320?section=national/national
Next best thing to a cure: Queensland researchers in huge Covid-19 breakthrough as they find a way to kill 99.9% of the virus in people's lungs
· Australian scientists develop groundbreaking treatment that stops coronavirus
· The antiviral therapy was proven to kill 99 per cent of the virus in the lungs
· The technology works by using an RNA medicine known as gene-silencing
An antiviral therapy that kills off 99.9 per cent of Covid-19 particles in the lungs is being heralded as the next best to a cure.
The 'next-generation' technology works like a 'heat-seeking missile' to detect the particles and attack them, having been developed by a team of international scientists from Australia's Menzies Health Institute Queensland at Griffith University.
Co-lead researcher Professor Nigel McMillan from MHIQ said the groundbreaking treatment prevents the virus from replicating and may even put a stop to Covid-related deaths across the world.
'We can specifically destroy the virus that grows in someone's lungs.'
It works by using a medical technology called gene-silencing that was first discovered in Australia during the 1990s.
Gene-silencing utilises RNA - fundamental building blocks in the body, similar to DNA - to attack the respiratory disease.
'This is a technology that works with small pieces of RNA that can specifically bind to the genome of the virus,' Professor McMillan said.
'This binding causes the genome to not work anymore and in fact it causes the cells to destroy it.'
Although there have been other antiviral treatments such as Zanamivir and Remdesivir which have reduced symptoms and allowed coronavirus patients to recover faster, this is the first treatment to directly stop the virus.
The medicine needs to be delivered into the bloodstream via injection in something called a 'nanoparticle'.
'These nanoparticles go to the lungs and fuse into the cells delivering the RNA,' Prof McMillan said.
'The RNA seeks out the virus and it destroys its genome, so the virus can no longer replicate.'
Scientists have been working on the treatment since April last year, as Australia was ordered into a nationwide shutdown for six weeks.
WHO: COVID-19 pandemic 'long way from over' despite vaccination efforts
May 17, 2021 / 6:23 PM
May 17 (UPI) -- World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet despite high COVID-19 vaccination rates and falling case numbers in some countries.
During a press conference from WHO's Swiss headquarters, Tedros noted global COVID-19 cases and deaths had declined for the second consecutive week but also that some nations, such as India, are facing surges.
"There is a huge disconnect growing, were in some countries with the highest vaccination rates, there appears to be a mindset that the pandemic is over, while others are experiencing huge waves of infection," he said.
"The situation in a number of countries continues to be very concerning. The pandemic is a long way from over, and it will not be over anywhere until it's over everywhere."
Since the start of the pandemic, 163,2 million people have been infected and nearly 3.4 million have died as a result of the virus while 1.47 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally.
Tedros' comments came after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that vaccinated people are no longer required to wear face coverings while outdoors or indoors. The United States reported a weekly average of 33,200 cases per day Sunday, down from 19% the prior week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Meanwhile, India reported an average of nearly 330,000 new cases per day over the same period, down 15% from the previous week but still nearly 10 times higher than the United States.
More
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
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.
New technology turns plastic trash into jet fuel
May 17, 2021 / 5:28 PM
May 17 (UPI) -- Researchers at Washington State University have developed a new method for converting plastic waste into jet fuel.
The technique, detailed Monday in the journal Chem Catalyst, can be tweaked to turn plastic waste into a variety of in-demand hydrocarbon products.
Importantly, the conversion method is highly efficient, working at moderate temperatures and converting nearly 90 percent of the input material.
The technique is also fast, taking less than an hour from start to finish.
RELATED Microbes could help remove microplastics from the environment
"In the recycling industry, the cost of recycling is key," lead researcher Hongfei Lin said in a news release.
"This work is a mile stone for us to advance this new technology to commercialization," said Lin, an associate professor of chemical engineering at the Washington State University.
The accumulation of plastics in ecosystems across the globe remains one of the planet's most pressing environmental problems.
-----Converting plastic waste into usable products can help shrink the plastic industry's carbon footprint.
Typically, recycled plastic is simply melted and remolded, but the recycling process reduces the plastic's quality and structural integrity.
Plastic waste can also be converted into usable chemicals, but conversion methods are currently too expensive and energy intensive. As a result, just 9 percent of plastic waste is recycled in the United States.
In the lab, scientists deployed a ruthenium on carbon catalyst and a common solvent to trigger the depolymerization process and turn plastic waste into the components used to make jet fuel.
The conversion technique worked at temperatures of approximately 428 degrees Fahrenheit, much lower than temperatures used for other conversion methods.
More
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2021/05/17/plastic-waste-conversion-jet-fuel/9871621278141/
An economist's guess is liable to be as good as anybody else's.
Will
Rogers.
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