Baltic Dry Index. 4193 -08 Brent Crude 71.89
Spot Gold 1793
Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,100
Coronavirus Cases 26/08/21 World 214,741,111
Deaths 4,476,008
There can be few fields of human endeavour in which history counts for so little as in the world of finance. Past experience, to the extent that it is part of memory at all, is dismissed as the primitive refuge of those who do not have the insight to appreciate the incredible wonders of the present.
John Kenneth Galbraith.
Up first news from the Asian stock casinos. Another wobble on the news of the South Korean interest rate hike.
The first of many more rate hikes to come globally, I suspect, as global inflation proves to be anything but transitory, given all the new Magic Money Tree trillions of fiat money now chasing a limited supply of goods and services.
Chinese stocks lead declines in Asia-Pacific; South Korea hikes interest rates
SINGAPORE — Chinese stocks led declines among major Asia-Pacific markets on Thursday, as U.S. markets surged to record highs overnight. Meanwhile, South Korea’s central bank hiked interest rates.
China’s Shenzhen component fell 1.25%, while the Shanghai composite declined 0.50%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tumbled 1.44%. Alibaba was down 1.77%, and Meituan tumbled 1.94%. Apple supplier AAC Tech dived 11%.
South Korea’s central bank raised interest rates for the first time in nearly three years, making it the first major economy to do so in the pandemic era. The Bank of Korea raised its rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.79% while the Korean won weakened on that news to trade at 1,169.77 Korean won per dollar.
“The virus situation in Korea has deteriorated since the central bank’s July meeting, when it gave strong signals that tightening was imminent,” Capital Economics wrote in a note before the announcement.
“However, the economy has become increasingly resilient to outbreaks, as businesses have learned to live with the virus,” it said, adding that surging household debt and rising home prices are adding to financial stability issues.
In other markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading flat, while the Topix was slightly below the flatline.
Meanwhile, Australia’s new daily Covid cases shot up to more than 1,000 on Thursday for the first time during the pandemic, according to Reuters. Two major hospitals in Sydney had to set up emergency outdoor tents to cope with the surge in patients.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.44% on Thursday.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.66%.
U.S. stocks climbed again overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.24 points, or 0.1%, to 35,405.50. The S&P 500 added 0.2% to a new closing high of 4,496.19. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.1% to 15,041.86, also a new closing high.
More
In other news, the best laid plans of mice and men comes to mind.
A new worrying development. Is Covid-19 now starting to escape the vaccines? With the northern hemisphere winter 2021-2022 approaching, what does this mean for the global economy if our non-immunising vaccines start to fail?
U.S. data show rising 'breakthrough' infections among fully vaccinated
Tue, August 24, 2021, 7:15 PM
(This August 24 story corrects figures in 5th paragraph to read: 0.5% admitted to intensive care, from 0.05%; and to 0.2% placed on a ventilator from 0.25%)
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some 25% of SARS-CoV-2 infections among Los Angeles County residents occurred in fully vaccinated residents from May through July 25, a period that includes the impact of the highly transmissible Delta variant, U.S. officials reported on Tuesday.
The data, published in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's weekly report on death and disease, shows an increase in so-called "breakthrough" infections among fully vaccinated individuals.
The CDC is relying on data from cohorts, such as the Los Angeles County study, to determine whether Americans need a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines to increase protection. Government scientists last week laid out a strategy for booster doses beginning on Sept. 20, pending reviews from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the CDC.
The new data released on Tuesday involved more than 43,000 reported infections among Los Angeles County residents aged 16 and older. Of them, 10,895, or 25.3%, occurred in fully vaccinated persons, 1,431, or 3.3%, were in partially vaccinated persons, and 30,801, or 71.4%, were in unvaccinated individuals.
The vaccines did, however, protect individuals from more severe cases. According to the study, 3.2% of fully vaccinated individuals who were infected with the virus were hospitalized, just 0.5% were admitted to an intensive care unit and 0.2% were placed on a ventilator.
Among the unvaccinated who fell ill, 7.5% were hospitalized, 1.5% were admitted to an intensive care unit and 0.5% required breathing support with a mechanical ventilator.
In addition to the LA County data, the CDC on Tuesday released an update on the HEROES cohort study among healthcare workers that showed a significant drop in vaccine effectiveness among vaccinated frontline workers in eight states who became infected with the coronavirus.
Vaccine efficacy during the period of the study when Delta was predominant fell to 66% from 91% prior to the arrival of the Delta variant, according to the report.
https://news.yahoo.com/u-data-show-rising-breakthrough-181525317.html
Manhattan Bosses Scale Back Hopes for September Office Return
Natalie Wong
(Bloomberg) -- Manhattan bosses have lowered their expectations for a return-to-office next month with cases of Covid-19’s delta variant on the rise.
Employers now see 41% of office workers returning by Sept. 30, down from an estimate of 62% in May, according to a survey by the Partnership for New York City conducted Aug 9-20. So far, about 23% of workers have returned to the workplace, up from 12% in May.
Major companies from BlackRock Inc. and PwC to Facebook Inc. have delayed their return-to-office plans amid the rise of delta, which has been shown to spread even among vaccinated people. Many Wall Street firms are reworking policies, pushing back the date they expect staffers to return, requiring workers to get vaccinated or insisting on masks.
About 44% of employers have delayed return plans because of the rise in Covid-19 cases, though 54% have not made changes, according to the Partnership, a nonprofit that represents the city’s business community. The majority of survey respondents were financial-services firms.
Most employers are adopting a rotating schedule, where staffers can work remotely for part of the week, the survey showed. Only 26% of companies are requiring full-time office work.
About 58% of firms that disclosed their vaccination policy are requiring all employees to have shots. Just 37% of companies reported not having a vaccination policy.
N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul adds 12,000 previously unreported COVID-19 deaths
Aug. 25, 2021 / 1:14 PM
Aug. 25 (UPI) -- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wasted little time Wednesday setting a tone for her administration as she implemented a mask mandate in schools, ordered in-person ethics training for state employees and added more than 10,000 deaths to the state's COVID-19 totals.
Hochul, who replaced Andrew Cuomo as governor this week, delivered a firm message to show how she will govern differently by offering more transparency on numerous issues.
For example, she added 12,000 coronavirus deaths to the New York total from state nursing homes that Cuomo was criticized for excluding. The addition brought the official total to 55,400.
Hochul, who was sworn in early Tuesday, said her mask mandate is needed to keep New York from returning to "last year's horrors" when the state led the nation in transmissions and crippled much of the state economy.
In an interview with The New York Times, Hochul said she feels "a heavy weight" of responsibility on her shoulders, being the first female governor of New York, but added that she embraces the opportunity.
More
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2021/08/25/new-york-kathy-hochul-covid/4391629908470/
Finally, in Afghan disaster news, is a shooting/suicide bombing war by ISIS about to breakout at Kabul Airport? Intelligence seems to think so.
The Latest: US, others issue security alert at Kabul airport
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia on Thursday advised its citizens in Afghanistan not to travel to Kabul’s airport, where there as a “very high threat of a terrorist attack.”
Australians in the airport’s vicinity were advised to move to a safe location and await further advice.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the travel advice was consistent with revised British and New Zealand advice. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned American citizens away from three specific airport gates over an unspecified security issue.
Australia has helped evacuated around 4,000 people from the airport since Wednesday last week including 1,200 overnight, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
That was triple the number that Morrison said he thought was possible last week.
“It remains a highly dangerous environment,” Morrison said.
“That danger and those risks have been increasing each and every day as we always knew they would, and that’s why we’ve been moving with the haste that we have,” he added.
MORE ON AFGHANISTAN:
— Poland, Belgium end Afghan evacuation as clock ticks down
— US says 1,500 Americans may still await Kabul evacuation
— 2 US lawmakers’ Kabul trip prompts questions, criticism
— Immigrant families from San Diego area stuck in Afghanistan
https://apnews.com/article/australia-7eb3a72bca661e758ebab955896115e2
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
George Orwell.
Global Inflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
German Power Market Set for Highest Winter Prices in 20 years
Power costs in Germany are headed for the highest levels in at least two decades this winter in a sign of what soaring fuel and carbon permit prices are having on Europe’s biggest electricity market.
German power futures for the fourth quarter are trading above 100 euros per megawatt-hour, twice the rate of last year and almost 50% more than the highest historical average daily price for the period in data going back to 2000.
more
New home sales tick higher as prices hit record highs
By Sylvan Lane - 08/24/21 04:29 PM EDT
New home sales ticked higher in July while prices climbed to another record high, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
Sales of new single-family homes rose 1 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 708,000, rising from 701,000 in June. The median sale price for a single-family home rose to $390,500, and the average price reached $446,000 — each a new record.
“Despite a surge in home prices to record levels, new home sales eked out a small gain in July,” wrote Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford Economics in a Tuesday analysis.
“While demand for new homes remains strong, high prices and backlogs in construction will temper sales in the months ahead,” she added.
A surge of demand for new homes unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic drove both sales and prices to staggering levels in 2020. Sales cooled off slightly this spring as prices continued to surge, but a severe lack of inventory and building supply backlogs have kept costs for new homes high.
The inventory of new homes for sale rose 5.5 percent to 367,000 in the fastest one-month increase since November 2008, Vanden Houten wrote, but construction has not yet started on a record 29 percent of those homes.
More
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/569233-new-home-sales-tick-higher-as-prices-hit-new-record-highs
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Sydney hospitals erect emergency tents as Australia’s new Covid cases top 1,000 for the first time
Australia’s new daily cases of Covid-19 topped 1,000 on Thursday for the first time since the global pandemic began, as two major hospitals in Sydney set up emergency outdoor tents to help deal with a rise in patients.
Sydney, the country’s largest city and the epicenter of the current outbreak, is struggling to stamp out a surge in the fast-spreading delta variant, with daily infections hitting record levels even after two months under lockdown.
New South Wales (NSW) state, where Sydney is the capital, reported 1,029 new locally acquired cases, exceeding the previous record of 919 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 969 were detected in greater Sydney, up from 838.
The rapid rise in Covid-19 patients has forced Sydney’s Westmead and Blacktown hospitals, which service the city’s sprawling western suburbs, to erect tents to screen and swab patients to help manage capacity.
The makeshift unit in the emergency department for Covid-19 patients will help “to offload delays,” a Western Sydney Local Health District spokesperson told Reuters.
----Of 116 people in intensive care in NSW, 102 are not vaccinated. Three new deaths were reported, including a man in his 30s who died at home, taking deaths from the latest outbreak to 79, although the death rate has slowed since last year.
In a video posted on Twitter Wednesday night, the Australian Paramedic Association said paramedics were given a choice to wait in their vehicles with infected people or “wait outside in the freezing rain” due to the rise in patients.
The fast-moving delta strain has taken the gloss off Australia’s early success against the virus that kept its coronavirus numbers relatively low, with some 47,700 cases and 989 deaths. About 32% of people above 16 have been fully vaccinated while just over 54% have had at least one dose.
Besides Sydney, the country’s second-largest city, Melbourne, and capital, Canberra, are also in hard lockdowns, putting more than half of the country’s 25 million population under strict stay-at-home orders.
More
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/26/australia-covid-updates.html
Coronavirus in Israel: 9,891 new cases, 2nd day in row nearing 10,000
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF AUGUST 25, 2021 10:19
Israel registered 9,891 new coronavirus cases, with 6.69% of tests coming back positive, the Health Ministry announced Wednesday morning.
Currently, 692 people are in serious condition, 172 in critical condition, and 129 currently on ventilators.
6,880 people in Israel have died of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic.
Global COVID-19 vaccine rollout hits 5-billion-dose milestone
Rich Haridy August 24, 2021
Over five billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have now been administered around the world. This incredible milestone comes eight months after vaccinations commenced late in 2020, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) continues to express concern over the disparity in vaccine distribution from country to country.
According to Our World in Data, a non-profit site managed by researchers from the University of Oxford, nearly 25 percent of the world population has now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and a little over 33 million vaccine doses are currently being administered every day.
Leading the world in total population vaccination rates is Malta, with an impressive 79.5 percent of people fully vaccinated. This is just over 90 percent of all citizens aged 12 and over.
With young children yet to be offered vaccines, the most highly vaccinated countries are currently sitting around the 70 to 80 percent mark. Iceland, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are all at 75 percent of their total population fully vaccinated.
At the other end of the spectrum several dozen countries are yet to even reach one percent of their population fully vaccinated. Haiti, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad are the least vaccinated countries in the world with less than 0.01 percent of people fully vaccinated.
Looking at a global map of vaccine distribution, it is clear access to COVID-19 vaccines has not been equitable. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, has been lambasting wealthy countries for hoarding initial vaccine supplies, and for beginning to roll out third-dose booster programs when many countries are still struggling to get initial doses.
In a recent speech to the African WHO Committee, the Director-General particularly noted a “shocking disparity” in vaccine access for African countries.
“Just 87 million doses have been administered in the African region – less than 2 percent of the global total,” the Director-General noted. “Globally, 140 countries have vaccinated at least 10 percent of their populations, but in our continent, only four countries have been able to reach that target, owing to the shocking disparity in access to vaccines.”
Administering five billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines in inarguably an incredible achievement. A year ago only the most optimistic experts would have predicted reaching this benchmark by mid-2021.
But, as the pandemic continues to evolve, and new variants of SARS-CoV-2 arise, where the next five billion doses go could determine the future of this crisis. Children under 12, fully vaccinated adults looking for boosters, and low-income countries chasing first doses are all vying for crucial vaccine supplies.
Source: Our World in Data
Vaccine Efficacy Diminished as Delta Arose, CDC Report Shows
John Tozzi August 24, 2021
(Bloomberg) -- The effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines among front-line workers declined to 66% after the delta variant became dominant, compared with 91% before it arose, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vaccines are still protective, the CDC said, and the finding must be interpreted with caution, as vaccine effectiveness might wane over time and the estimates of efficacy were imprecise.
“Although these interim findings suggest a moderate reduction in the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines in preventing infection, the sustained two-thirds reduction in infection risk underscores the continued importance and benefits of Covid-19 vaccination,” researchers wrote in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The findings echo earlier evidence from Israel and the U.K. suggesting Covid vaccines lost some potency in preventing infections over time as the delta variant spread. These and other research results will be under scrutiny next week as CDC advisers weigh the Biden administration’s plan to administer booster doses to most vaccine recipients in the U.S.
The booster campaign, still awaiting the sign-off of the Food and Drug Administration, is set to begin Sept. 20. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will consider the extra-dose plan during a two-day meeting that starts Monday.
The finding of diminished effectiveness when delta was the dominant virus strain comes with an important caveat: The range of that estimate is highly uncertain. Researchers reported 95% confidence that the efficacy was between 26% and 84% in that period.
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)
Technology Update.
With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.
Fuel-cell vehicles are set for big gains in China’s commercial truck market, JPMorgan says
Published Tue, Aug 24 2021 9:16 PM EDT
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are set to become a major player in China’s commercial truck market, predicts JPMorgan’s Elaine Wu.
“Currently, the fuel cell vehicles account for less than 5% of the commercial truck market in China and that could grow to about one-third of total market share in 2050,” Wu, head of Asia ex-Japan ESG and utilities research at the firm, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
Fuel cell electric vehicles run on electricity powered by hydrogen, which can can be used to store and deliver energy derived from other sources. Hydrogen is a clean fuel and when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water.
One reason why fuel cell vehicles are a “very good option” for the commercial truck market is due to their refueling time of only around 10 to 15 minutes, Wu said. They also have a travel range of around 800 kilometers, about 50% to 100% above lithium battery electric vehicles.
Major automakers such as Toyota, Honda and BMW are tapping into the hydrogen fuel cell market.
China is already pushing for the promotion of fuel cell vehicles, according to the JPMorgan analyst.
“The [Chinese] government is promoting something, what we call ‘city clusters’ so that there could be demonstrative cities telling successful stories of how fuel cell vehicles are implemented in various parts of the country,” Wu said.
“This is also a policy that we saw implemented about a decade ago, when the central government was trying to produce lithium battery electric vehicles. And we saw how successful that was.”
Beijing has said it would like 20% of new cars sold to be new energy vehicles by 2025. Competition is fierce in the domestic electric vehicle space, with Tesla competing against the likes of homegrown players such as Nio and Xpeng.
With China’s pledge to become carbon neutral by 2060, hydrogen will likely play a role in heavy industry as a clean energy source, according to Wu.
More
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/25/jpmorgan-fuel-cell-vehicles-set-for-gains-in-china-truck-market.html
Christopher Columbus set an example the Government's never forgotten. He didn't know where he was going, he didn't know where he was when he got there, and he did it all on borrowed money.
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