Baltic Dry Index. 3503 +93 Brent Crude 70.84
Spot Gold 1755
Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,100
Coronavirus Cases 13/08/21 World 206,254,882
Deaths 4,348,272
“Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”
Oscar Wilde. [And the Brits.]
It is Friday the 13th. Do you know what your local central bankster is up to today? Or this weekend as they celebrate 50 years of the global catastrophe of fiat money.
If the planet really is in existential danger from global warming like the UN’s IPCC allege, which I doubt, it was the disaster of a world operating on fiat money that got it there. Going carbon neutral by 2050, as the IPCC wants, if achievable at all, will for most of the global economy set off a crash not seen since the Black Death plague swept Europe starting in 1346.
In the stock casinos,
more pause or wobble.Waiting for Godot.
In shipping news, more supply chain bottlenecks. Buy now for Christmas while stocks last.
South Korea stocks lead losses in Asia; Samsung shares fall as heir Lee is released from prison
SINGAPORE — South Korean stocks led losses among the Asia-Pacific markets in Friday trade, with shares of firms related to conglomerate Samsung falling after the firm’s heir was released from prison.
In Friday trade, shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics plunged 3.38% while Samsung C&T dropped 1.11%. Samsung Life Insurance fell around 1.2% and Samsung SDS declined 1.68%.
Those losses came after Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee was released from prison on Friday. South Korea’s justice ministry announced earlier this week that he had qualified for parole.
Meanwhile, shares of chipmaker SK Hynix fell 0.5%, with the semiconductor sector under pressure after Morgan Stanley warned of a slowdown in the space ahead.
The broader Kospi in South Korea was down by 1.4%.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.7%. Mainland Chinese stocks were also lower as the Shanghai composite dipped 0.25% while the Shenzhen component declined 0.575%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was flat while the Topix index traded 0.22% higher.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.48% higher as investors watched the coronavirus situation, with the country’s capital Canberra entering a week-long lockdown from Thursday after a Covid-19 case was identified.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.71%.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 14.88 points to 35,499.85 while the S&P 500 gained about 0.3% to 4,460.83. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.35% to 14,816.26.
More
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/13/asia-markets-wall-street-covid-currencies-oil.html
China’s Port Shutdown Raises Fears of Closures Worldwide
By Joe Deaux, Robert Tuttle, and Yvonne Yue LiUpdated on 13 August 2021, 03:25 BST
·
· ‘You’re going to have a secondary hit,’ logistics firm says
A Covid outbreak that has partially shut one of the world’s busiest container ports is heightening concerns that the rapid spread of the delta variant will lead to a repeat of last year’s shipping nightmares.
The Port of Los Angeles, which saw its volumes dip because of a June Covid outbreak at the Yantian port in China, is bracing for another potential decline because of the latest shutdown at the Ningbo-Zhoushan port in China, a spokesman said. Anton Posner, chief executive officer of supply-chain management company Mercury Resources, said that many companies chartering ships are already adding Covid contract clauses as insurance so they won’t have to pay for stranded ships.
More
China Partly Shuts World’s Third-Busiest Port, Risking Trade
Bloomberg NewsUpdated on August 12, 2021, 5:21 AM EDT
·
· China shipping was recovering after Yantian shutdown
More
Next, is the global economy about to get an inflation break from Covid-19 Delta? Though it’s probably not the kind of break the global population wants or needs.
Spread of Covid-19 Delta variant knocks oil demand outlook — IEA
Published Thu, Aug 12 2021 4:44 AM EDT
Rising demand for oil abruptly reversed course in July and is set to proceed more slowly for the rest of the year due to the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.
“Growth for the second half of 2021 has been downgraded more sharply, as new COVID-19 restrictions imposed in several major oil consuming countries, particularly in Asia, look set to reduce mobility and oil use,” the Paris-based IEA said.
“We now estimate that demand fell in July as the rapid spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant undermined deliveries in China, Indonesia and other parts of Asia,” it said in its monthly oil report.
The IEA put the demand slump last month at 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) and predicted growth would be half a million bpd lower in the second half of the year compared to its estimate last month, noting some changes were due to revisions in data.
An output deal reached by the OPEC+ alliance last month would restore market balance in the near term, the IEA added.
“But the scale could tilt back to surplus in 2022 if OPEC+ continues to undo its cuts and producers not taking part in the deal ramp up in response to higher prices,” it said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/12/iea-spread-of-covid-19-delta-variant-knocks-oil-demand-outlook.html
Airlines begin to see drop in travel demand as virus numbers rise
Luz Lazo August 11, 2021
A surge in coronavirus caseloads across the nation is starting to dampen the enthusiasm of leisure travelers, with one major airline warning Wednesday that the more contagious delta variant could darken the outlook through fall.
Southwest Airlines, the nation’s fourth-largest domestic carrier, said it is seeing weaker bookings this month amid a jump in coronavirus infections. The airline said if caseloads remain elevated, that downward demand trend is likely to extend into September.
The report comes after Southwest and several other carriers earlier this summer reported strong passenger numbers and fares above July 2019 levels.
In a filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Southwest said “the Company has recently experienced a deceleration in close-in bookings and an increase in close-in trip cancellations in August 2021, which are believed to be driven by the recent rise in COVID-19 cases associated with the Delta variant.”
The announcement is an alarm bell about the variant’s spread for an industry that only last month was expressing confidence that air travel demand would continue to grow. Many airlines in recent weeks have announced hiring plans to capitalize on travel approaching pre-pandemic levels.
Until this month, airline executives had said there were no significant indications that the delta variant was depressing demand for travel. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines declined to provide information Wednesday about the variant’s impact on recent bookings and cancellations.
Southwest is the second airline to warn recently that the highly contagious delta variant is taking a hit on air travel. Frontier Airlines last week said it was seeing a decline in bookings.
More
Finally, Italy goes for a dodgy record. Well, it is Italy after all, but to me at least, they’re welcome to that record.
New heat record in Italy as 'Lucifer' sweeps in
Issued on: 11/08/2021 - 17:26
Regional authorities in Sicily recorded temperatures of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 Fahrenheit) Wednesday as an anticyclone dubbed "Lucifer" swept the country -- which if confirmed would be a new Italy record.
The blistering temperature was recorded near Syracuse, beating Italy's all-time record of 48.5 degrees in Sicily in 1999, although a spokesman for the national meteorological service told AFP this still had to be validated.
Elsewhere in southern Italy, the anticyclone was forecast to send the mercury rising to 39-42 degrees before sweeping northwards, with weekend temperatures of up to 40 degrees in the central regions of Tuscany and Lazio, which includes Rome.
As the capital warmed up on Wednesday, tourists sought out shade and water.
"I kinda like it, it's the goal of summer to be hot and sweat and just enjoy it!" said Nora Vert, a 20-year-old from France.
The heat has raised fears for the fires that have blighted Sicily and the region of Calabria all summer, many caused by arson but fuelled by warm winds and dry soil and plants.
Firefighters said earlier Wednesday they had recorded 300 interventions in the past 12 hours, while a 77-year-old man died from burns received while trying to shelter his herd in the countryside near Reggio Calabria.
Elsewhere in Calabria, fires threatened the Aspromonte mountain range, designated as a UNESCO area of international geological significance.
More
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210811-new-heat-record-in-italy-as-lucifer-sweeps-in
Italy swelters as Spain, Portugal brace for coming heat wave
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Italy baked in sweltering temperatures that continued to drive deadly wildfires Wednesday, with Spain and Portugal bracing for the arrival of a dangerous heat wave that has grilled southeastern Europe and is starting to push west toward the Iberian peninsula.
A heat wave fed by hot air from North Africa has engulfed large parts of the Mediterranean region in recent days, contributing to massive wildfires and killing dozens of people in Italy, Turkey and Algeria. In Greece, huge wildfires have ravaged forests for a week, destroying homes and forcing evacuations.
Sicily recorded Wednesday what may be a new European temperature record, though weather experts cautioned that the measurement still must be confirmed.
The Sicily region’s agriculture-meteorological information service, SIAS, reported that a temperature of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.84 degrees Fahrenheit) was reached at the island’s Syracuse station. The agency said on its Facebook page it is the highest temperature registered in the entire network since its installation in 2002.
The highest temperature ever recorded on the European continent is 48 degrees Celsius (118.40 degrees Fahrenheit) in 1977 in Athens.
---- The World Meteorological Organization said it would examine the reading but Randy Cerveny, the agency’s rapporteur for weather records, called it “suspicious, so we’re not going to make any immediate determination.”
“It doesn’t sound terribly plausible,” Cerveny said. “But we’re not going to dismiss it.”
---- Spain’s weather service forecast a heat wave through Monday and said temperatures could surpass 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas.
“The maximum and minimum temperatures will reach levels far above the normal for this time of the year,” Spain’s weather service, AEMET, said in a “special weather warning.”
More
https://apnews.com/article/europe-middle-east-africa-science-fires-f6c58bde54548cdcff156b5fe24f1eea
Global Inflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
First water cuts In US West supply to hammer Arizona farmers.
August 11, 2021
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (AP) — A harvester rumbles through the fields in the early morning light, mowing down rows of corn and chopping up ears, husks and stalks into mulch for feed at a local dairy.
The cows won’t get their salad next year, at least not from this farm. There won’t be enough water to plant the corn crop.
Climate change, drought and high demand are expected to force the first-ever mandatory cuts to a water supply that 40 million people across the American West depend on — the Colorado River. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s projection next week will spare cities and tribes but hit Arizona farmers hard.
They knew this was coming. They have left fields unplanted, laser leveled the land, lined canals, installed drip irrigation, experimented with drought-resistant crops and found other ways to use water more efficiently.
Still, the cutbacks in Colorado River supply next year will be a blow for agriculture in Pinal County, Arizona’s top producer of cotton, barley and livestock. Dairies largely rely on local farms for feed and will have to search farther out for supply, and the local economy will take a hit.
The cuts are coming earlier than expected as a drought has intensified and reservoirs dipped to historic lows across the West. Scientists blame climate change for the warmer, more arid conditions over the past 30 years.
---- He didn’t plant anything on 400 acres this year to cut down on water use. Farmers’ Colorado River water comes by way of Lake Mead, which sits on the Arizona-Nevada border and serves as a barometer for water deliveries to Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico, in the river’s lower basin.
The nation’s largest reservoir already has hit the level that triggers mandatory shortages — 1,075 feet (328 meters) above sea level. The Bureau of Reclamation will issue the official projection for 2022 water deliveries Monday, giving users time to plan for what’s to come.
Arizona is expected to lose 512,000 acre-feet of water, about one-fifth of the state’s Colorado River supply but less than 8% of its total water. Nevada will lose 21,000 acre-feet, and Mexico will lose 80,000 acre-feet. An acre-foot is enough water to supply one to two households a year.
More
Drought and Grasshoppers Ravage Fields in Northwest, Some Producers Bale 10% of Normal Hay Crop
By Tyne Morgan August 9, 2021
Grasshoppers are invading pastures and fields. The corn is so short farmers are forced to chop with a draper head. Ranchers continue to cull cows. The drought in the West is producing many firsts, as farmers and ranchers grapple with dire decisions as the latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows 98% of the West is covered in drought.
“It’s so widespread that I’m afraid it’s going to be pretty devastating to the industry,” says Bob Skinner, a rancher in southeast Oregon. “Hay in our country is going to be really hard to find. Prices are going up every day.”
Conditions are so dire, Skinner had to pull his cattle off federal BLM land more than a month early. The BLM land is a vital summer grazing resource in the Northwest, but this year, the drought took its toll on conditions and he was left with no choice.
“There’s no pasture, anywhere, period around here,” Skinner says. “It doesn’t matter where you go, or how much you pay for it. You can’t find pasture. You couple the drought with the grasshopper situation, and it means a lack of hay.”
North Dakota ranchers have been culling cows since April and May. As drought conditions grew worse, producers were forced to make those dire decisions early. (Read more about the impacts farmers and ranchers are facing due to the drought here.)
Plague of the Grasshoppers
What's adding to the dire drought situation is the plague of grasshoppers. Skinner says the infestation of grasshoppers is so intense, the insects are finishing off any grazing that survived the drought — making a bad situation worse. Skinner says it’s so dire, he’s reached out to state officials to see if APHIS or any other relief efforts could help ranchers in the area.
“I have state officials coming here tomorrow. I think they’re getting tired of listening to me, so they’re coming to look at our grasshopper situation. But they told me they’re not going to be able to do anything. It’s frustrating,” Skinner says.
More
UK GDP up 4.8 per cent in second quarter as reopening boosts economy
Thursday 12 August 2021 7:58 am
The UK economy grew at a rate of 4.8 per cent in the second quarter, data from the ONS said today, as the bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic continues.
As a result, GDP is now 4.4 per cent below where it was in the last quarter of 2019, before Covid-19 struck.
The figures fall just short of the Bank of England’s prediction that GDP would expand by more than 5.0 per cent for the second period, which saw the UK’s economy reopened as coronavirus restrictions were lifted.
However, the ONS said that the UK’s GDP growth for the quarter was faster than those recorded by the US, France, Germany, and Spain.
----In output terms, the largest contributors to this increase were from wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food service activities, and education, the ONS said.
The huge services sector grew by 1.5 per cent in June from May, with health activities contributing the most to services output and food and beverage services up by more than 10 per cent as punters flocked back to pubs and restaurant.
Although construction output also grew in the quarter, a growing number of businesses are now reporting limited availability of products like notably timber, steel, cement and tiles.
For June, the overall rate of growth was 1.0 per cent, faster than the 0.8 per cent predicted by economists.
However, the ONS revised back its previous estimates for May’s growth from 0.8 per cent to 0.6 per cent.
More
https://www.cityam.com/uk-gdp-up-4-8-per-cent-in-second-quarter/
Below, why a “green energy” economy may not be possible anyway, and if it is, it won’t be quick and it will be very inflationary, setting off a new long-term commodity Supercycle. Probably the largest seen so far.
The “New Energy Economy”: An Exercise in Magical Thinking
https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/R-0319-MM.pdf
Mines, Minerals, and "Green" Energy: A Reality Check
https://www.manhattan-institute.org/mines-minerals-and-green-energy-reality-check
"An Environmental Disaster": An EV Battery Metals Crunch Is On The Horizon As The Industry Races To Recycle
by Tyler Durden Monday, Aug 02, 2021 - 08:40 PM
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Mayo Clinic: COVID Breakthrough Risk May Be Much Lower With Moderna Than Pfizer
The risk of suffering a breakthrough COVID-19 infection with the delta variant after being fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine may be much lower than the risk for those who received the Pfizer vaccine, according to a new Mayo Clinic study that is awaiting a full review.
The study found that in July in Florida, where COVID cases are at an all-time high and the delta variant is prevalent, the risk of a breakthrough case was 60% lower for Moderna recipients as compared to Pfizer recipients.
Similarly, in Minnesota last month, the authors found that the Moderna vaccine (also known as mRNA-1273) was 76% effective at preventing infection, but the Pfizer vaccine (known as BNT162b2) was 42% effective.
“Comparing rates of infection between matched individuals fully vaccinated with mRNA-1273 versus BNT162b2 across Mayo Clinic Health System sites in multiple states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, and Iowa), mRNA-1273 conferred a two-fold risk reduction against breakthrough infection compared to BNT162b2,” the authors wrote in their abstract.
To be sure, the authors found that both vaccines “strongly protect” against severe disease; the difference appears to be more about whether people get infected at all in the first place. The CDC has said the risk of infection is 8x higher in the unvaccinated than the vaccinated, and the risk of hospitalization or death is 25x higher.
More
Young people hit hard by long Covid as Delta variant surges
Issued on: 12/08/2021 - 07:08
Initially spared the worst of the Covid-19 virus, more children and teens are experiencing “long Covid”, with medical clinics cropping up to treat their symptoms. And though children still account for fewer cases compared to adults – even as the Delta variant drives up the numbers – their long-term symptoms are proving just as debilitating.
Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, the prevailing view among medical experts has been that children and young people are more likely to recover quickly, or be asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, than adults.
But now a growing number of children and teens with even asymptomatic Covid-19 are experiencing long-term effects – sometimes many months after first becoming ill.
And while the data on children is scarce, doctors are finding long Covid in the young to be just as puzzling as it is in adults.
“We can definitely say that children get long Covid,” said Dr Elaine Maxwell of the UK National Institute for Health Research in an interview with the Guardian. “But the problem with long Covid is that it’s not one definition.”
---- Children are reporting a host of lingering ailments – even if their initial symptoms were mild – including headache, muscle aches, fatigue, heart palpitations, gastrointestinal problems, nausea, dizziness, seizures, memory loss, hallucinations and other sensory symptoms like the loss of sense of taste and smell, and even numbness that leaves children unable to walk.
More
Moderna COVID-19 vaccine safe & effective for teens, clinical trial finds
Rich Haridy August 11, 2021
The results of a large Phase 3 trial testing Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in 12 to 17 year olds have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study indicates the vaccine is as safe and effective as it was previously found to be in adults.
The trial followed close to 4,000 young subjects aged between 12 and 17. The cohort was administered the same vaccine protocol and dose as previously tested and approved in adults.
As with previous trials, the most common side effects were injection site discomfort, headache and fatigue. No serious adverse effects were seen in the trial, and incidences of mild side effects were similar across all ages.
Mild heart inflammation has been previously noted as a potential rare side effect of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, primarily in young men. This trial did not detect any cases of myocarditis or pericarditis but it also notes these events are estimated to appear in around 13 cases per million doses, so it was expected to be too rare to arise in this trial.
Serology testing revealed the immune response in young subjects is similar to that seen in adults. The researchers say that because COVID-19 incidence is less in adolescents this trial lowered the bar for defining a positive case. Just one symptom was used to categorize a symptomatic infection. Based on that lowered metric the trial still found no symptomatic cases after two vaccine doses, suggesting the vaccine is incredibly effective in adolescents.
“The number of documented cases of Covid-19 is too small to generate robust assessments of vaccine efficacy,” the researchers cautiously note in the study “However, it appears that the mRNA-1273 vaccine safely induced levels of antiviral antibodies that should be protective against SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
Moderna first announced this trial data back in May before it was subsequently peer-reviewed and published. At the time Moderna indicated it would be submitting this data to regulatory bodies around the world.
In late July the European Medicines Agency approved use of Moderna’s vaccine in 12 to 17 year olds. However, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to issue an emergency use authorization for the vaccine in teenagers, despite approving Pfizer’s similar mRNA vaccine for that age group back in April.
Both Pfizer and Moderna are currently testing their mRNA vaccines in under 12 age groups. Based on concerns over rare side effects the FDA has recently requested both companies expand the size of those trials to include greater numbers of children.
These ongoing trials are split into three age groups: five to 11, two to five, and six months to two. Pfizer’s trials are slightly more progressed than Moderna’s, with preliminary data for the five to 11 year old age group expected as early as September.
The new research was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
COVID vaccine’s efficacy drops for all, 3rd shot weighed for 40+ - Ash
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has already asked Israel's health funds – which are in charge of the vaccination campaign – to start getting ready.
By ROSSELLA TERCATIN AUGUST 12, 2021 11:04
Israel is seriously considering starting to administer a third coronavirus vaccine to people over 40, Health Ministry’s Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash said Thursday, a day after the coronavirus cabinet approved a set of new restriction amid a spike in cases.
“We know that the decline in [vaccine’s] efficacy affects all ages,” Ash told Hebrew website Ynet. We see the infections and also people who are 40 years old and older can get seriously ill.
The ministry’s advisory committee on COVID vaccine is set to meet on Thursday evening to examine the possibility of offering a booster to individuals over 40 – currently the third shot is given to Israelis over 60.
“I think this should be considered seriously, and as soon as such a decision is made it will be implemented on Sunday,” Ash also said.
According to Channel 12, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett already asked the health funds – which are in charge of the vaccination campaign – to start getting ready.
Late Wednesday night, the ministers approved new restrictions to contain the outbreak that in the past few days has seen the number of daily cases spiking at about 6,000 a day, a number not seen since February, when the country was still grappling with the worst weeks of the pandemic.
Starting from August 18, the green pass system will be expanded to all activities and venues except for malls and stores, for which the Purple Ribbon outline will be brought back, allowing a maximum of one person per seven square meters (stores less than 100 sq. m. will be exempt).
----For private events where the green pass does not apply, a cap of 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors has been decided.
In case of mass events with no fixed seating, the limit will be placed at 1,000 indoors and 5,000 outdoors.
Israel registered some 5,964 new cases on Wednesday, with 4.62% of the people screened resulting positive.
As of Thursday morning, there were 421 serious patients – 24 hours earlier they were 400, a week earlier they were 262.
Japan reports record number of COVID-19 cases in one day
Aug. 11, 2021 / 2:24 PM
Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Japan reported its highest-ever daily rise in COVID-19 cases as experts warned the country's healthcare system could soon be overwhelmed by patients in major hubs like Tokyo.
Japan's daily caseload on Wednesday was 15,813, including 4,200 new patients in the capital. Other COVID-19 hotspots include Osaka, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures. More than 1 million people in Japan have been infected since the start of the pandemic and the country has confirmed 15,346 deaths, NHK reported.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura said Wednesday the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus is "highly contagious" as he asked the public to avoid travel during a national holiday period that begins this week.
Japan has witnessed a surge in COVID-19 cases during and after the Tokyo Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga have denied a connection between the rise in cases and the Summer Games.
As Japan looks ahead to hosting the Paralympic Games, which begin on Aug. 24, organizers could be planning to hold the event without spectators like the Summer Games, Nikkan Sports reported. More than 4,000 athletes from around the world are expected to take part in the Paralympics in venues in Tokyo, Shizuoka, Chiba and Saitama prefectures.
Experts are warning of a public health disaster in the country.
Hiroshi Nishiura, professor of public health at Kyoto University, said at a health ministry panel on Wednesday that all 6,000 beds in Tokyo hospitals reserved for COVID-19 patients could be filled by mid-August, Kyodo News reported.
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.
“Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.”
Mark Twain
Lighter winds slow progress at offshore firms Orsted, RWE
August 12, 20219:35 AM
COPENHAGEN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Orsted and RWE, the world’s two largest offshore wind players, both suffered from lighter winds in the first half of the year, highlighting how profits in the booming industry remain tied to weather conditions.
Denmark’s Orsted said wind speeds in the April-June period were “significantly lower than normal” and ranked among the worst three quarters in over more than 20 years.
As a consequence, it said it would likely hit only the lower end of its guided core profit range in 2021.
Orsted was however confident that it wind speeds would return to more normal levels.
“Over time the wind speeds have been incredibly stable. We build wind farms that have an average life time of 30+ years and we have no reason to believe that this is something which will structurally challenge that,” CEO Mads Nipper told journalists.
Shares in Orsted traded 2.3% lower at 0933 GMT, while RWE slipped 0.1%.
Orsted said quarterly wind speeds amounted to an average of 7.8 meters per second (m/s) across its offshore portfolio, which was lower than the 8.4 m/s seen in the second quarter last year and the normal wind speeds of 8.6 m/s it had expected.
Germany’s RWE also cited much lower wind volumes in Northern and Central Europe compared with the very high level last year, reporting a 22% decline in core profits at its offshore unit to 459 million euros ($539 million) in the first half.
The results show that despite strong fundamentals, renewables continue to be an intermittent technology where swings in the level of winds and sunshine have a direct impact on earnings.
---- The weather is not the only challenge faced by firms in the industry, after some of the world’s largest turbine makers, including Denmark’s Vestas and Spanish-listed Siemens Gamesa, pointed to high raw materials prices.
Denmark’s Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbines maker, this week cut its 2021 outlook, citing constraints in the freight market related to the impact of COVID-19 which have driven global supply chains towards breaking point.
More
https://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSKBN2FD0R9
Another weekend and the 50th anniversary of the Great Nixonian Error of fiat money, communist money, August 15, 1971. On fiat money we all make hundreds of times what we earned before, it’s just that nearly everything costs thousands of times more. Have a great weekend everyone.
FIAT
Noun. Decree, command, edict, mandate, permission. A cheap Italian car.
FIAT CURRENCY
A currency whose value is whatever it is decreed to be, undetermined by market forces. One Italian Lira. Wampum.
DOLLAR
Noun. The chief U.S. monetary unit, buck, greenback, simoleon. See Wampum.
WAMPUM
Noun. Beads used as money by extinct N. American Indians. Had a value of whatever the Chief said.
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