The $100 Burger? To Infinity And…

Baltic Dry Index. 5062 -144 Brent Crude 84.63

Spot Gold 1795

Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000

Deaths 53,100

Coronavirus Cases 15/10/21 World 240,388,665

Deaths 4,897,375

There needs to be a realization that the transition to cleaner energy will take a long time, and that calls to stop investing in hydrocarbon supply will only create “much higher energy prices in the coming years.”

Damien Courvalin, Goldman Sachs’ head of energy research.

We open as usual with the Asian stock casinos, but today’s real news lies in the Global Inflation section. Inflation is just getting going and our central banksters seem to want it that way.

Add in economic lunacy from the man-made global warming fanatics, plus pandering politicians unwilling to tell the eco-Nazis the hard inflation reality of a switch to unreliable “green” energy, and to this old dinosaur market follower it looks like the cost of living for most is about to soar. 

And just wait for all the cost-push nonsense from the upcoming COP-26 left-wing jamboree in Glasgow Scotland.

By this time next year, the $100 McDonald’s burger, when it’s available at all?

Asia-Pacific stocks rise following Wall Street rally

Published Thu, Oct 14 2021 7:39 PM EDT

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Friday morning trade following overnight gains on Wall Street with the S&P 500 jumping nearly 2%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was hovering near the flatline in morning trade. Hong Kong stocks returned to trade on Friday after stock markets in the city were closed for two days.

Mainland Chinese stocks advanced slightly, with the Shanghai composite up around 0.11% while the Shenzhen component gained around 0.23%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 climbed more than 1% while the Topix index advanced 1.11%. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6%. The Taiex in Taiwan surged 1.45%, with shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rising more than 3% following its Thursday earnings release.

Australian stocks edged higher as the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.57%. Shares of Qantas Airways jumped around 2% after the New South Wales government announced Friday that quarantine requirements will be scrapped for fully vaccinated international travelers from Nov. 1.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan traded 0.65% higher.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 surged 1.71% to 4,428.26 — its biggest jump since March — as investors cheered better-than-expected earnings reports from major firms such as Bank of America.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 534.75 points to 34,912.56 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.73% to 14,823.43.

More

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/15/asia-pacific-market-wall-street-rally-currencies-and-oil.html

Chip shortage could persist for another 2 to 3 years, major Chinese consumer goods maker warns

Published Thu, Oct 14 2021 10:24 PM EDT

QINGDAO, China — The global chip shortage could persist for another two to three years before ending, the President of Hisense, one of China’s largest TV and household goods makers, told CNBC.

Industries from consumer electronics companies to automakers are dealing with a shortage of semiconductors. This has led to shortage of products such as game consoles and manufacturers struggling to keep up with demand.

Chinese companies, including electric carmakers, are also feeling the pinch.

Hisense Group Holding Co., a Chinese state-backed maker of TVs and household appliances, has seen some impact too. Jia Shaoqian, president of the Qingdao-based company, said the cost of production for its products has risen but business remains normal.

“Hisense makes home appliances and consumer goods, and this requires relatively simple chips. Although the supply is tight and cost has become higher, our business remains normal,” Jia said in Mandarin, according to a CNBC translation.

Jia said that most chips are imported into China and final products are manufactured there before being exported. The U.S. and China have been locked in a trade war since the Trump presidency and those trade tensions continue today.

Semiconductors have become a point of tension between the two nations. The U.S. has looked to cut off China’s biggest chipmaker SMIC from U.S. technology.

More

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/15/chip-shortage-could-persist-for-another-2-3-years-hisense-president.html

Next, Goldie thinks oil’s going higher for longer, and that assumes we keep looking for and finding “dirty” oil and natural gas.

Going “green” energy as per COP-26, might mean most of the northern hemisphere turning “blue” from cold each winter. 

When the sun doesn’t shine, each night and most northern winters, if wind and hydro power can’t cover the demand, that leaves dangerous nuclear power, with leftover pollution that last thousands of years.

Goldman Sachs says oil prices could be higher for much longer

Published Thu, Oct 14 2021 6:46 AM EDT

Oil prices could stay at higher levels in the years to come as demand rebounds while supply remains tight, according to Goldman Sachs’ head of energy research.

Damien Courvalin, who is also a senior commodity strategist, said the market fundamentals warrant higher prices and that the bank’s forecast for Brent crude is $85 per barrel for the next several years.

“This is not a transient winter shock like it could be for gas. This is actually the beginning of a material repricing higher for oil,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs’ base case is for Brent to hit $90 per barrel by the end of the year.

---- The oil market is in “the longest deficit we’ve seen in decades,” and demand will continue to outstrip supply in winter, said Courvalin. The lack of upstream investment in oil supply while demand grows points to “sustained high prices” at least in the year ahead, he added.

‘Warning sign’

What’s happening in the coal market — where prices are at record highs because supply shrank faster than demand — is a “warning sign” for oil, Courvalin said.

Oil drilling activity hasn’t recovered much on the supply side, while demand is growing, he said, describing the market as being in an “entrenched deficit.”

“We’re facing potential multi-year deficits and the risk of significantly higher prices,” he said.

There needs to be a realization that the transition to cleaner energy will take a long time, and that calls to stop investing in hydrocarbon supply will only create “much higher energy prices in the coming years,” he said.

More

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/14/goldman-sees-sustained-high-prices-for-oil-in-the-coming-year.html

Fed should pursue faster taper, inflation levels "concerning" -Bullard

October 14, 2021 2:49 PM

(Reuters) - Current high levels of inflation may not abate as soon as many U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers expect, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Thursday, as he once again urged the central bank to pursue a faster taper of its bond-buying program.

“I think this is concerning,” Bullard told a virtual gathering of the Euro50 Group, with regard to inflation. “While I do think there is some probability that this will naturally dissipate over the next six months, I wouldn’t say that’s such a strong case that we can count on that happening.” Bullard added that he sees only a 50% probability either way.

The Fed signaled on Wednesday it could start reducing its crisis-era support for the U.S. economy by the middle of November amid growing worries on inflation, and said a reduction of its bond-buying program would last until the middle of next year.

Bullard has been among the fiercest advocates among policymakers for an accelerated completion of the Fed’s tapering of its bond-buying program, which was put in place at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to stabilize financial markets and keep borrowing costs low.

He has said he would like to finish the taper by the first quarter of 2022 as doing so would allow the central bank to raise interest rates sooner than expected if inflation remains uncomfortably high.

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fed-bullard/fed-should-pursue-faster-taper-inflation-levels-concerning-bullard-idUSKBN2H41MP

Finally, get ready for Central Bank Digital Currency, but why?  What unmet currency gap does CBDC fill?

G7 finance officials endorse principles for central bank digital currencies

October 14, 20212:49 AM BST

WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - G7 finance officials on Wednesday endorsed 13 public policy principles for retail central bank digital currencies, saying they should be grounded in transparency, the rule of law and sound economic governance, the Treasury Department said.

"Innovation in digital money and payments has the potential to bring significant benefits but also raises considerable public policy and regulatory issues," Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers said in a joint statement.

"Strong international coordination and cooperation on these issues helps to ensure that public and private sector innovation will deliver domestic and cross-border benefits while being safe for users and the wider financial system."

The finance officials met in person, with some joining by video, in Washington on Wednesday during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank under the leadership of British finance minister Rishi Sunak.

In their joint statement, the G7 officials said central bank money in the form of Central Bank Digital Currencies, or CBDCs, would complement cash and could act as a liquid, safe settlement asset and an anchor for the payments system.

They said the principles were meant to support policy and design deliberations within and beyond the G7, complementing recently published work by a group of central banks and the Bank for International Settlements.

No G7 authority has decided to issue a CBDC, and careful consideration of the potential policy implications will continue, the statement said.

"We reaffirm that any CBDC should be grounded in our long-standing public commitments to transparency, the rule of law and sound economic governance," the statement said. "Any CBDC must support, and ‘do no harm’ to, the ability of central banks to fulfill their mandates for monetary and financial stability."

More

https://www.reuters.com/business/g7-finance-officials-endorse-principles-central-bank-digital-currencies-2021-10-14/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=technology-roundup&utm_term=Technology%20Roundup%20-%202021%20-%20Master%20List

Japan central bank will seek digital yen with 'simple' design, says BOJ official

October 15, 2021 4:25 AM

TOKYO (Reuters) - Any digital currency the Bank of Japan issues should have a simple design that private firms can use to develop financial and payment services for customers, a senior central bank official said on Friday.

If central banks were to decide on issuing digital currencies, they need to co-exist with private-sector payment services, BOJ executive director Shinichi Uchida said.

“To achieve vertical coexistence, a relatively simple central bank digital currency (CBDC) design is desirable for the private sector to use it as an ingredient” to develop various services, he told a speech.

For example, private entities could develop services that allow customers to use both CBDC and private payment means with a single wallet, Uchida added.

Global central banks have stepped up efforts to develop their own digital currencies to modernise financial systems and speed up domestic and international payments.

The BOJ has said it currently has no plan to issue CBDC. But it launched the first phase of experiments on CBDC this year and has set up a regular panel to exchange views with the private sector, as part of efforts to ensure any digital currency it issues does not stifle private innovation.

https://www.reuters.com/article/japan-economy-boj-cbdc/japan-c-bank-will-seek-digital-yen-with-simple-design-says-boj-official-idUSL4N2RB0S7

 

Global Inflation Watch.

Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,  inflation now needs an entire section of its own.

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.”

George Orwell.

US wholesale prices rose record 8.6% over 12 months

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER  October 14, 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation at the wholesale level rose 8.6% in September compared to a year ago, the largest advance since the 12-month change was first calculated in 2010.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the monthly increase in its producer price index, which measures inflationary pressures before they reach consumers, was 0.5% for September compared to a 0.7% gain in August.

The 8.6% rise for the 12 months ending in September compared to an 8.3% increase for the 12 months ending in August, which had been the previous record 12-month gain.

On Wednesday, the government reported that inflation at the retail level rose 0.4% in September with its consumer price index up 5.4% over the past 12 months, matching the fastest pace since 2008.

The jump in inflation this year reflects higher prices for food and energy and a number of other items from furniture to autos as the pandemic has snarled supply chains and demand has outstripped supply.

The report on wholesale prices showed that core inflation at the wholesale level, excluding volatile energy and food, was up 0.2% in September from August and was 6.8% higher over the past 12 months.

Almost 80% of the overall increase in wholesale prices last month was attributed to a 1.3% rise in the price of goods, the largest increase since May. In September, 40% of the jump in goods prices reflected rising energy prices. Price increases for services rose a smaller 0.2%

Food costs at the wholesale level rose 2% in September while energy prices were up 2.8%, the biggest jump since a 5% surge in March.

More

https://apnews.com/article/business-producer-prices-prices-inflation-728488dd62aec4d09527c7ba9779944f

Price pinch: global economy caught in perfect storm

October 14, 202111:57 AM BST

LONDON/TOKYO, Oct 14 (Reuters) - From beef bowls in Tokyo to chicken fillet rolls in London, consumers are beginning to feel the pinch from the surge in costs washing over the global economy.

The rebound in economic activity from coronavirus restrictions has exposed shortages across the supply chain with companies scrambling to find workers, ships and even fuel to powers factories, threatening a nascent recovery.

Britain's biggest chicken producer warned that the country's 20-year binge on cheap food is coming to an end and food price inflation could hit double digits due to the tidal wave of costs.

As it emerges from Brexit and COVID, the world's fifth largest economy faces an acute shortage of warehouse workers, truckers and butchers, exacerbating global supply chain strains.

"The days when you could feed a family of four with a 3 pound ($4) chicken are coming to an end," Ranjit Singh Boparan, owner of the 2 Sisters Group, said in a statement on Thursday.

Even in Japan, where weak growth has meant that prices of many things - including wages - haven't risen much in decades, consumers and businesses are facing a price shock for basics such as coffee and beef bowls.

Japan's core consumer inflation only stopped falling in August, snapping a 12-month deflationary spell. Economists and policymakers expect to see the recent price rises reflected in official data in the coming months.

In the United States, President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged the private sector to help ease supply chain blockages that are threatening to disrupt the U.S. holiday season.

Biden said the Port of Los Angeles would join the Port of Long Beach in expanding round-the-clock operations to unload an estimated 500,000 containers waiting offshore, while Walmart (WMT.N), Target (TGT.N) and other big retailers would expand their overnight operations to try to meet delivery needs.

----So far there are few signs of any reprieve in energy costs, with oil prices climbing again on Thursday on a bigger-than-expected draw in U.S. gasoline and distillate stocks.

The rise was also supported by expectations that soaring natural gas prices as winter approaches will drive a switch to oil to meet heating demand, with Brent crude futures hitting $83.85 a barrel at 0647 GMT.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that the energy crunch is expected to boost oil demand by half a million barrels per day (bpd) and could stoke inflation and slow the world's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

More

https://www.reuters.com/business/price-pinch-global-economy-caught-perfect-storm-2021-10-14/

Cold keeps China coal prices high, power crunch stokes factory inflation

October 14, 20217:46 AM BST

BEIJING, Oct 14 (Reuters) - China coal prices held near record highs on Thursday as cold weather swept into the country's north and power plants stocked up on the fuel to ease an energy crunch that is fuelling unprecedented factory gate inflation.

A widening power crisis in China - caused by shortages of coal, record high fuel prices and booming post-pandemic industrial demand as it shifts to greener fuels - has halted production at numerous factories including many supplying big global brands such as Apple Inc. read more

Soaring energy prices helped send producer price index (PPI) its highestin at least 25 years in September, rising 10.7% year-on-year, official Chinese data on Thursday showed. read more

Cold winter weather is likely to worsen the situation.

China's National Meteorological Center on Wednesday forecast strong winds could knock the average temperature by as much as 14 degrees Celsius in large parts of the country this week.

The three northeastern provinces of Jilin, Heliongjiang and Liaoning - among the worst hit by the power shortages last month - and several regions in northern China including Inner Mongolia and Gansu, have started winter heating, which is mainly fuelled by coal, to cope with the colder-than-normal weather.

More

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/cold-keeps-china-coal-prices-high-power-crunch-stokes-factory-inflation-2021-10-14/

Jim Ratcliffe predicts winter-long energy crisis and blames Government

Two more energy suppliers go bust to bring total to 11 companies since the start of September, with more expected to follow

13 October 2021 • 11:45pm

Billionaire industrialist Sir Jim Ratcliffe has blamed the Government for Britain’s gas crisis and warned that sky-high prices will last throughout winter. 

The Ineos boss said the UK could be forced to shut down industry amid a chronic shortage of gas, with catastrophic implications for the economy. 

Asked if the country could run out of gas in the event of a cold winter, Sir Jim said: “Yeah, in which case then, what you would do is you’d shut down industry”. 

A lack of storage has left the UK particularly vulnerable to the global gas supply crunch. Asked who was to blame, Sir Jim told ITV: “That’s [the] government. That’s a strategic issue for energy supplies in the UK, you need some storage, and we’ve got 10 days. Ten days’ storage is a bit pathetic really for a nation as important as the UK, on the continent they’ve got 40 or 50 days’ storage.” 

His comments came as a major wholesale gas supplier decided to stop supplying its remaining domestic utility clients after several were pushed out of business amid soaring wholesale prices. 

CNG’s boss Paul Stanley told Bloomberg the company had “been forced into an impossible situation” as it reportedly advised 18 customers to seek alternative sources of gas, threatening further disruption. 

Earlier in the day it emerged that two more domestic suppliers were going bust. Colorado Energy and BP-backed Pure Planet became the latest of 11 companies to collapse since the start of September, with more expected to follow.

More

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/10/13/jim-ratcliffe-predicts-winter-long-energy-crisis-blames-government/?WT.mc_id=e_DM1505420&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_Cit_New_v2&utmsource=email&utm_medium=Edi_Cit_New_v220211014&utm_campaign=DM1505420

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

George Orwell.

Covid-19 Corner

This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.

As goes Israel, so goes the world, at least with Covid-19?

Coronavirus: No new deaths reported in 24 h. for 1st time in 4th wave

Some 1,732 new cases were identified on Wednesday. A week earlier they were 2,549.

By ROSSELLA TERCATIN   OCTOBER 14, 2021 11:59

No new coronavirus death was reported in Israel in the previous 24 hours for the first time since the beginning of the fourth wave, Health Ministry’s data showed on Thursday morning.

According to the daily COVID updated released the death toll stood at 7,959, the same figure as of Wednesday morning.

Some 1,400 people have lost their life since July. While the number has been lower than the deaths registered during the third wave in January and February, August and September were nonetheless among the deadliest months since the beginning of the pandemic.

As the morbidity in the country began to slow down in the past few weeks, also the number of daily deaths has been decreasing. Between mid-August and mid-September, on most days over 20 people succumbed to the virus, with a peak of 36 individuals on September 7. In the past week, the highest deadly toll has been 14.

The number of serious patients has been declining for three weeks, dropping to 403 on Thursday, 60 less than on the previous Thursday.

Some 1,732 new cases were identified on Wednesday. A week earlier they were 2,549.

Israel has 22,000 active virus carriers. At the peak of the wave they were over 80,000. 

More

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/coronavirus-in-israel-1732-new-cases-403-serious-cases-681972

 

Approx.  9 minutes.

Merck COVID Pill - Side Effects You NEED to KNOW About!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFkfE61Gewc

 

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

Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker. https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker

Some other useful Covid links.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Rt Covid-19

https://rt.live/

Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

The Spectator 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.

Octopus Energy and RES commit £3bn to build new UK hydrogen plants

Thursday 14 October 2021 11:21 am

Octopus Energy and RES will invest £3bn in the construction of new hydrogen plants across the country by 2030.

The aim is to help the UK become more energy independent.

The new plants will maximise electrons when they are generated in abundance on sunny and windy days by storing them as green hydrogen.

In the long term, the two companies also believe that the growth of hydrogen power will help protect the industry from gas price volatility which caused two more energy firms to cease trading this week.

Rachel Ruffle, EMEA CEO for RES argues that hydrogen will be an effective supplemental energy supply to wind and solar.

She said, “We know that renewable based electrification using wind and solar is the fastest way to decarbonise. When coupled with the production of green hydrogen, it becomes the natural choice for industry and our hard to abate sectors. Our partnership will enable industrial users to make the switch to reliable and cost-effective green hydrogen.”

Octopus Renewables co-head, Alex Brierley added, “The supply of green hydrogen will be critical to the success of many industries in meeting the UK’s net zero targets and with this partnership we are providing a solution for those businesses to help deliver on the government’s ambitions.”

The announcement follows the government releasing its hydrogen strategy in August, calling for low-carbon hydrogen production and use to be ramped up over the coming decade to reach net zero emissions.

It also comes in the lead up to COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, later this month.

Alok Sharma, minister of state at the cabinet office, recently reaffirmed the government’s commitment to limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees in line with the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

https://www.cityam.com/octopus-energy-and-res-commit-3-billion-to-build-new-uk-hydrogen-plants/

Another weekend and buy early for Christmas has never looked more appropriate. Only about 70 days to go! Have a great weekend everyone.

“A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud.”

George Orwell.