Baltic Dry Index. 3218 -49 Brent Crude 73.51
Spot Gold 1764
“When people begin anticipating inflation, it doesn't do you any good anymore, because any benefit of inflation comes from the fact that you do better than you thought you were going to do.”
Paul Volcker.
Dow falls more than 500 points to close out its worst week since October
Stocks fell on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its worst weekly loss since October, as traders worried the Federal Reserve could start raising rates sooner than expected.
The blue-chip average dropped 533.37 points, or 1.6%, to 33,290.08. The S&P 500 slid 1.3% to 4,166.45. Both the Dow and S&P 500 hit their session lows in the final minutes of trading and closed around those levels. The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.9% lower at 14,030.38. Economic comeback plays led the market losses.
For the week, the 30-stock Dow lost 3.5%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down by 1.9% and 0.2%, respectively, week to date.
St. Louis Federal Reserve President Jim Bullard told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday it was natural for the Fed to tilt a little "hawkish" this week and that the first rate increase from the central bank would likely come in 2022. His comments came after the Fed on Wednesday added two rate hikes to its 2023 forecast and increased its inflation projection for the year, putting pressure on stock prices.
"The fear held by some investors is that if the Fed tightens policy sooner than expected to help cool inflationary pressures, this could weigh on future economic growth," Truist Advisory Services chief market strategist Keith Lerner said in a note. To be sure, he added it would be premature to give up on the so-called value trade right now.
Pockets of the market most sensitive to the economic rebound led the sell-off this week. The S&P 500 energy sector and industrials dropped 5.2% and 3.8%, respectively, for the week. Financials and materials meanwhile, lost more than 6% each. These groups had been market leaders this year on the back of the economic reopening.
The decline in stocks came as the Fed's actions caused a drastic flattening of the so-called Treasury yield curve. This means the yields of shorter-duration Treasurys — like the 2-year note — rose while longer-duration yields like the benchmark 10-year declined. The retreat in long-dated bond yields reflects less optimism toward economic growth, while the jump in short-end yields shows the expectations of the Fed raising rates.
This phenomenon hurt bank stocks particularly as their earnings could take a hit when the spread between short-term and long-term rates narrows. Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase shares on Friday lost more than 2% each. Citigroup fell by 1.8%, posting its 12th straight daily decline.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that officials have discussed tapering bond buying and would at some point begin slowing the asset purchases.
"This week's first whiff of an eventual change in Fed policy was a reminder that emergency monetary conditions and the free-money era will ultimately end," strategists at MRB Partners wrote in a note. "We expect a series of incremental retreats from the Fed's benign inflation outlook in the coming months."
Commodity prices were under pressure this week as China attempted to cool rising prices and as the U.S. dollar strengthens. Copper, gold and platinum fell once again on Friday.
Friday also coincided with the quarterly "quadruple witching" in which options and futures on indexes and equities expire. This event may have contributed to more volatile trading during the session.
The Fed will continue to dominate the market in the week ahead after sell-off
The Federal Reserve’s signal that it is looking to step away from some of its easy policy is expected to be a dominant trading theme in the week ahead and likely for the rest of the summer.
In the past week, investors repositioned across the financial markets after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the central bank was considering tapering its purchases of Treasurys and mortgage securities. That is important since when the Fed eventually acts, it would be the first serious reversal of the easy policies it put in place to add liquidity to markets when the economy shut down last year because of the Covid crisis.
The purchases, which amount to $120 billion a month, would be gradually whittled away once the Fed decides to slow down and end the bond buying, or quantitative easing. That could then open the door to interest rate hikes, which the Fed now projects would come in 2023.
----“I think the market is still digesting the Fed meeting,” said Ed Keon, chief investment strategist at QMA. Stocks were trading sharply lower Friday, after weakness Wednesday and Thursday. Yields fell on longer duration bonds, like the benchmark 10-year, but rose on the shorter duration 2- and 5-year notes.
The spreads between those shorter-duration notes and the 10- and 30-year bond yields narrowed dramatically in a so-called flattening trade. That’s common when interest rates are rising. The higher short rates reflect the expected increases in the fed funds rate, while the longer duration yields fall, because the thinking historically has been that a tightening Fed slows the economy.
The Fed also provided new economic forecasts, including a chart on interest rates that shows it expects to hike its fed funds rate twice in 2023, after its prior forecast included no increases.
Fed speakers will get a lot of attention in the week ahead. Powell speaks Tuesday before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on the Fed’s policy response and the economy. His remarks could be a highlight of what looks to be a slow, but volatile first week of summer for markets.
Paul Volcker
The 6'7" Giant Who Ended Stagflation and Has His Own Rule
By Kimberly Amadeo Updated January 25, 2021
Paul Volcker was Chair of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. In 1980, the Volcker Shock raised the fed funds rate to its highest point in history to end double-digit inflation.
---- Volcker fought greater than 10% annual inflation rates with contractionary monetary policy and courageously raised the fed funds rate to 20% in March 1980. He briefly lowered it in June. When inflation returned, Volcker raised the rate back to 20% in December and kept it above 16% until May 1981. That extreme and prolonged interest rate rise was called the Volcker Shock. It did end inflation. Unfortunately, it also created the 1981 recession.
Volcker knew he must take dramatic and consistent action for everyone to believe he could tame inflation. President Nixon had contributed to inflation by ending the gold standard in 1973. The dollar's value plummeted on the foreign exchange markets. That made import prices higher, creating inflation. Nixon tried to stop it with wage-price controls in 1971 that restricted business activity, slowed growth, and created stagflation.
Fed Chair Alfred Hayes tried to fight inflation and recession at the same time as he alternately raised and lowered interest rates. His stop-go monetary policy confused consumers and businesses. In 1972, Congress ended wage-price controls. Worried companies just raised prices to stay ahead of future high interest rates. Consumers kept buying before prices rose even more. The Fed lost credibility, and inflation rose to double digits.
More
https://www.thebalance.com/who-is-paul-volcker-3306157
EXPLAINER: What’s behind the heat wave in the American West?
PHOENIX (AP) — Much of the American West has been blasted with sweltering heat this week as a high pressure dome combines with the worst drought in modern history to launch temperatures into the triple digits, toppling records even before the official start of summer.
Record daily highs were seen this week in parts of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. Phoenix, which is baking in some of the U.S. West’s hottest weather, hit a record-breaking 118 degrees (48 Celsius) Thursday and was expected to reach 116 degrees (46 Celsius) Friday and Saturday.
----WHY IS THE AMERICAN WEST SO HOT THIS WEEK?
The heat comes from a high pressure system over the West, a buckle in the jet stream winds that move across the U.S. and vast swaths of soil sucked dry by a historic drought, said Marvin Percha, a senior meteorologist for the agency in Phoenix.
He and other scientists say the heat wave is unusual because it arrived earlier and is staying longer than in most years.
“June last year, things seemed pretty normal,” noted Park Williams, a University of California, Los Angeles, climate and fire scientist. “The record-breaking heat waves came in August and September.”
But with such an early heat wave this year, “this could be the tip of the iceberg,” Williams said.
----Scientists studying the dry period that began in 2000 looked at a nine-state area from Oregon and Wyoming down through California and New Mexico and found only one other that was slightly larger. That drought started in 1575, a decade after St. Augustine, Florida, was founded and before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620.
The hot weather can be tied to the drought drying out the landscape. Normally, some of the sun’s heat evaporates moisture in the soil, but scientists say the Western soil is so dry that instead that energy makes the air even warmer.
More
Drought intensifies to ‘extreme’ in 6 Illinois counties
By Natalina Sents 6/17/2021
Unlike their neighbors to the west, many Illinois farmers have adequate moisture for their crops so far this season. Nearly 80% of the state reported no drought conditions, according to the June 15 drought monitor.
However, drought is challenging growers in the northern three tiers of the state. Extreme drought was reported in parts of Boone, McHenry, Lake, DeKalb, Kane, and Cook counties covering about 3% of the state. An additional 4% of the state is suffering from severe drought. About 3% of Illinois is in moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions are scattered across about 11% of the state.
Average temperatures the week ending June 13 were about 78° F., more than 7°F. above normal. The driest parts of northeast Illinois saw temperatures pushing 11°F. above average between June 8 and 15.
Precipitation has also been below average. However, a handful of counties reported 2 or more inches of precipitation between June 8 and 15. More than 4 inches of precipitation was recorded in the southeastern part oof the state.
The June 14 Crop Progress Report showed topsoil moisture supply was rated 6% very short, 28% short, 56% adequate, and 10% surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated 5% very short, 25% short, 63% adequate, and 7 % surplus.
Little precipitation made for 5.9 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending June 13, said the latest Crop Progress Report.
Corn emergence is nearly complete at 98%, well ahead of the 90% five-year average.
The condition of Illinois corn declined to 1% very poor, 3% poor, 28% fair, 57% good, and 11% excellent.
Soybean planting is almost done at 95% complete, ahead of the 87% five-year average.
Soybean emergence was pegged at 91%, ahead of last year at 82% and the five-year average of 75%.
Monday’s report rated Illinois soybean condition 1% very poor, 4% poor, 32% fair, 53% good, and 10% excellent.
More
https://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/drought-intensifies-to-extreme-in-6-illinois-counties
Severe drought covers 40% of Iowa
By Natalina Sents 6/17/2021
Nearly all of Iowa is suffering from dry conditions and farmers’ concerns are growing. According to the June 15 drought monitor maps, 40% of the Hawkeye state reported severe drought. An additional 35% of the state is suffering from moderate drought, and abnormally dry conditions cover 19% of the state.
“Unseasonably warm temperatures and limited rainfall led to an increase in drought conditions across the state,” said Iowa secretary of agriculture Mike Naig early this week.
Temperatures were as high as 10°F. above average between June 8 and 15, according to data from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet. During the same period, no precipitation was recorded across many central Iowa counties. A handful of counties on the extreme western and eastern sides of the state recorded an inch or more of precipitation.
The June 14 Crop Progress report showed topsoil moisture levels rated 24% very short, 46% short, 30% adequate, and 0% surplus. Subsoil moisture levels rated 21% very short, 50% short, 29% adequate, and 0% surplus. Subsoil moisture conditions in northwest, north-central, west-central, central, and south-central Iowa rated close to 80% short to very short.
More
https://www.agriculture.com/weather/news/severe-drought-covers-40-of-iowa
No ‘excellent’ wheat in South Dakota
By Natalina Sents 6/16/2021
More than 2.5 inches of desperately needed rain fell in parts of northwest South Dakota over the last week. A drought map reflecting this precipitation will be released Thursday.
The June 8 drought monitor indicated 50% of the state was suffering from severe drought and about six counties in north-central South Dakota reported extreme drought. Only three counties in the southwest corner of the state reported no drought conditions.
According to the June 14 Crop Progress Report, topsoil moisture supplies rated 36% very short, 44% short, 20% adequate, and 0% surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies in the state rated 32% very short, 47% short, 21% adequate, and 0% surplus.
The report indicated 6.2 days suitable for fieldwork last week.
South Dakota Corn Progress
Monday’s crop progress reported 96% of corn in the state had emerged, ahead of the 87% five-year average.
South Dakota corn condition was rated 4% very poor, 9% poor, 42% fair, 43% good, and 2% excellent.
South Dakota Soybean progress
South Dakota soybeans were 94% emerged, ahead of both 83% last year and the 73% five-year average.
Soybean condition in South Dakota rated 3% very poor, 9% poor, 43% fair, 42% good, and 3% excellent.
South Dakota winter wheat progress
The June 14 Crop Progress Report indicated South Dakota winter wheat was 89% headed, ahead of 75% last year and the 76% five-year average.
Winter wheat condition rated 16% very poor, 26% poor, 36% fair, 22% good, and 0% excellent.
South Dakota spring wheat progress
The latest Crop Progress Report said spring wheat was 45% headed, well ahead of 19% last year and the five-year average of 26%.
Spring wheat condition rated 8% very poor, 18% poor, 57% fair, 17% good, and 0% excellent.
More
https://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/no-excellent-wheat-in-south-dakota
97% of Kansas is free of drought
By Natalina Sents 6/16/2021
The drought situation in Kansas looks much different than it did a year ago when 62% of the state was abnormally dry, or worse, and some areas recorded extreme drought.
Now, according to the most recent drought monitor maps, just 3% of the state is abnormally dry. About 97% of the state is free of drought conditions, the June 8 report said.
A handful of counties in southern and eastern Kansas recorded more than 2 inches of precipitation over the last week, but much of the state has been dry over the last 7 days. Temperatures have been above average by as much as 7°F. over the same period, according to data from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.
According to the June 14 Crop Progress Report, topsoil moisture supplies rated 1% very short, 11% short, 84% adequate, and 4% surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies in the state rated 1% very short, 8% short, 87% adequate, and 4% surplus.
The report indicated 6.5 days suitable for fieldwork last week.
Kansas Corn Progress
Monday’s crop progress reported 86% of corn in the state had emerged, behind 94% last year and the 91% five-year average.
Kansas corn condition was rated 0% very poor, 3% poor, 22% fair, 65% good, and 10% excellent.
Kansas Soybean Progress
Kansas soybeans were 82% planted and 63% emerged, behind 88% planted and 71% emerged last year.
Soybean condition in the state was rated 5% very poor, 3% poor, 27% fair, 62% good, and 3% excellent.
Kansas winter wheat progress
Winter wheat coloring was 79%, behind 85% last year and 84% for the five-year average. Mature winter wheat in Kansas was pegged at 18%, behind 28% last year.
Kansas winter wheat condition was rated 3% very poor, 8% poor, 25% fair, 53% good, and 11% excellent in Monday’s report
https://www.agriculture.com/news/crops/97-of-kansas-is-free-of-drought
Global
Inflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
Has Japan finally gone from deflation to inflation? One swallow doesn’t make a summer, but still …?
Japan consumer prices rise for first time in 14 months
Issued on: 18/06/2021 - 04:00
Consumer prices rose slightly in Japan in May for the first time in 14 months, data showed Friday, but analysts said they were unlikely to soar above pre-pandemic levels.
Japan has long battled to hit a two percent inflation target seen as key to turbocharging the world's third-largest economy.
A barrage of stimulus and monetary easing packages has seen the rate remain stubbornly low.
The May increase was still modest, with core consumer prices excluding volatile fresh food costs up 0.1 percent from a year earlier.
The rise was largely the result of a rebound in energy prices, after oil prices dipped last spring with knock-on effects for other energy prices.
It will be welcome news for the Bank of Japan, which will make a policy announcement later Friday after a two-day meeting.
The bank is not expected to make any major moves, given the inflationary trend in Japan will be significantly weaker than those in other parts of the world.
"While we expect headline inflation to rise further over the coming months, in contrast to many other large advanced economies Japan is unlikely to experience significant 'reopening' inflation, due to lower pent-up demand and far stickier inflation expectations," said Capital Economics Japan economist Tom Learmouth.
"We think underlying inflation will rise as price pressures in the services sector build further due to a likely vaccine bounce in the second half of this year," he added.
More
'There's no water,' says California farm manager forced to leave fields fallow
by Reuters Friday, 18 June 2021 10:00 GMT
June 18 (Reuters) - Salvador Parra, the manager of Burford Ranch in California's Central Valley agricultural breadbasket, is worried about the lack of water.
California's worst drought since 1977 has forced Parra to leave fallow 2,000 of his 6,000 acres and dig deep for water to save the crops already planted.
"There's not very much being grown out there, just because there's no water. There's literally no water," said Parra.
In a good year, the ranch grows everything from garlic, onions, tomatoes and alfalfa to cotton. This year, Parra needs emergency water sources just to bring a reduced crop to harvest.
One well he is depending on is 800 feet (244 m) deep "and we're having to pump it all the way up to the surface so that we can irrigate our crops."
The pipe system is costing the ranch thousands of dollars, but other options are just out of reach, Parra said.
He said the water that is available, called supplemental water, is very expensive - $2,000 an acre foot versus the regular price of $200-$250 an acre foot.
"So, ten times the cost. We can't afford it."
The cost of the drought will ultimately be borne by the consumer, Parra said.
"Consumers should be worried about garlic and onions and other crops, because come this time next year, they're going to be very scarce and the cost is going to be higher," he said.
More
https://news.trust.org/item/20210618084953-8venz
“A global economy requires a global currency.”
Paul Volcker.
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
New Covid study hints at long-term loss of brain tissue, Dr. Scott Gottlieb warns
Published Thu, Jun 17 2021 7:57 PM EDT Updated Thu, Jun 17 2021 8:06 PM EDT
Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned Thursday about the potential for long-term brain loss associated with Covid, citing a new study from the United Kingdom.
“In short, the study suggests that there could be some long-term loss of brain tissue from Covid, and that would have some long-term consequences,” the former FDA chief and CNBC contributor said.
“You could compensate for that over time, so the symptoms of that may go away, but you’re never going to regain the tissue if, in fact, it’s being destroyed as a result of the virus,” said Gottlieb, who serves on the board of Covid vaccine-maker Pfizer.
The U.K. study examined brain imaging before and after a coronavirus infection and looked specifically at the potential effect on the nervous system.
Gottlieb explained to CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that the destruction of brain tissue could explain why Covid patients lost their sense of smell.
“The diminishment in the amount of cortical tissue happened to be in regions of the brain that are close to the places that are responsible for smell,” he said. “What it suggests is that, the smell, the loss of smell, is just an effect of a more primary process that’s underway, and that process is actually shrinking of cortical tissue.”
U.K. Virus Cases Surge Even as 8 in 10 Have Received Shots
By Charles Capel17 June 2021, 17:15 BST
· Over 11,000 new infections recorded, most since mid-February
· Government says 8 in 10 adults have now had first vaccine dose
The U.K. recorded the most coronavirus cases in a day since mid-February, amid warnings the current wave of infections driven by the highly transmissible delta variant may still be weeks from peaking.
More than 11,000 new cases of the disease were reported on Thursday, along with 19 deaths, according to the Department Health. A study by Public Health England showed infection rates increasing across all age groups, but are highest among people aged 20 to 29. Separately, the government said eight in 10 adults have now had their first vaccine dose.
The data illustrates how the delta variant, first identified in India, upended the government’s plan to lift remaining pandemic restrictions this month. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a four-week delay on Monday to allow more adults to receive a second dose of the vaccine, which data show significantly increases protection against the new strain.
“It is important to take up the offer of the vaccine to protect yourself and others,” PHE Medical Director Yvonne Doyle said in an emailed statement. “Case rates have increased across all age groups and regions around England, and we are seeing further increases in hospitalizations.”
Research from Imperial College London published Thursday found the prevalence of Covid-19 in England is increasing exponentially, driven by younger age groups that haven’t been vaccinated.
The current infection surge will “definitely” lead to more hospital admissions and deaths, England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty told a medical conference on Thursday, according to the Press Association.
“The height of that surge is still uncertain and we’ll have to see how this goes over the next several weeks,” he said. He also warned the National Health Service should brace for another wave of infections over the winter.
The latest data show a surge in cases in Cornwall, which hosted last week’s Group of Seven
Rumors of U.S. Secretly Harboring Top China Official Swirl
SpyTalk, Jeff Stein June 17, 021
Chinese-language anti-communist media and Twitter are abuzz this week with rumors that a vice minister of State Security, Dong Jingwei defected in mid-February, flying from Hong Kong to the United States with his daughter, Dong Yang.
Dong Jingwei supposedly gave the U.S. information about the Wuhan Institute of Virology that changed the stance of the Biden Administration concerning the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dong is, or was, a longtime official in China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), also known as the Guoanbu. His publicly available background indicates that he was responsible for the Ministry’s counterintelligence efforts in China, i.e., spy-catching, since being promoted to vice minister in April 2018. If the stories are true, Dong would be the highest-level defector in the history of the People’s Republic of China.
Dong’s defection was raised by Chinese officials last March at the Sino-American summit in Alaska, according to Dr. Han Lianchao, a former Chinese foreign ministry official, before defecting after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. In a Wednesday tweet, Han, citing an unnamed source, alleged that China’s foreign minister Wang Yi and Communist Party foreign affairs boss Yang Jiechi demanded that the Americans return Dong, and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken refused.
Former Pentagon, State Department and CIA expert Nicholas Eftimiades, author of Chinese Espionage: Operations and Tactics, called the report “exactly what it is, a rumor. It happens all the time” in the information warfare between Beijing and anti-communist overseas Chinese. But he called Dr. Han, a pro-democracy activist with the Washington, D.C.-based Citizen Power Initiative for China group, “a straight shooter, not known to exaggerate in any way or form… trusted for his integrity.
---- Without naming Dong, the pro-Trump web site Red State reported June 4 on a high-level defection from China, saying the Defense Intelligence Agency had received information from him that Beijing is covering up biological warfare research at the Wuhan lab, and advanced its story to question the integrity of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Sources say the level of confidence in the defector’s information is what has led to a sudden crisis of confidence in Dr. Anthony Fauci, adding that U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) personnel detailed to DIA have corroborated very technical details of information provided by the defector,” it said.
More
Next, some very useful vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Stanford Website. https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132
FDA information. https://www.fda.gov/media/139638/download
Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some more useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
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. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap AC or DC energy mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards.
'Wonder material' can be used to detect COVID-19 quickly, accurately
Researchers show a graphene-based sensor can detect SARS-CoV-2
Date: June 16, 2021
Source: University of Illinois at Chicago
Summary: Researchers have successfully used graphene -- one of the strongest, thinnest known materials -- to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in laboratory experiments.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have successfully used graphene -- one of the strongest, thinnest known materials -- to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in laboratory experiments. The researchers say the discovery could be a breakthrough in coronavirus detection, with potential applications in the fight against COVID-19 and its variants.
In experiments, researchers combined sheets of graphene, which are more than 1,000 times thinner than a postage stamp, with an antibody designed to target the infamous spike protein on the coronavirus. They then measured the atomic-level vibrations of these graphene sheets when exposed to COVID-positive and COVID-negative samples in artificial saliva. These sheets were also tested in the presence of other coronaviruses, like Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS-CoV.
The UIC researchers found that the vibrations of the antibody-coupled graphene sheet changed when treated with a COVID-positive sample, but not when treated with a COVID-negative sample or with other coronaviruses. Vibrational changes, measured with a device called a Raman spectrometer, were evident in under five minutes.
Their findings are published in the journal ACS Nano.
More
This weekend’s musical diversion. Antonio Vivaldi again and for the highbrow. From his head chopping, gory opera Juditha Triumphans. Approx. 5 minutes,
Matrona inimica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv-6gMxIK8E
This weekend’s chess masterclass. Approx. 20 minutes.
When You Find the TOP ENGINE MOVE unassisted :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ8EE3u2yRo
This weekend a look at the future of the North Sea. Approx. 8 minutes.
The Future of the North Sea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRLW-3Niseg
“It is a sobering fact that the prominence of central banks in this century has coincided with a general tendency towards more inflation, not less. [I]f the overriding objective is price stability, we did better with the nineteenth-century gold standard and passive central banks, with currency boards, or even with 'free banking.' The truly unique power of a central bank, after all, is the power to create money, and ultimately the power to create is the power to destroy.”
Paul Volcker.
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