Baltic Dry Index. 2678 +24 Brent Crude 80.20
Spot Gold 1798
Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,100
Coronavirus Cases 26/11/21 World 260,311,551
Deaths 5,199,480
And indeed it could be said that once the faintest stirring of hope became possible, the dominion of plague was ended.
Albert Camus.
The big story today, is the new highly infectious Covid variant spreading in and from southern Africa. It threatens to return the world all the way back to February 2020.
It’s far to soon to say that this new variant will take us all back to early 2020, but scientists think it might and stock gamblers in Asian casinos and US stock futures markets are reacting accordingly.
The big fear is that this new variant might be capable of defeating the existing vaccines.
If it can, what will that mean for the global economy?
More than ever, the world needs far more research into anti-viral drugs as treatment for stopping SARS-CoV-2 which causes Covid-19.
New Coronavirus Variant a ‘Serious Concern’ in South Africa
Prinesha Naidoo and S'thembile Cele – November 25, 2021 8:01 PM
The new discovery, called B.1.1.529 until a Greek letter is assigned to it by the World Health Organization, carries an unusually large number of mutations and is “clearly very different” from previous incarnations, Tulio de Oliveira, a bio-informatics professor who runs gene-sequencing institutions at two South African universities, said at a briefing on Thursday.
“Here is a mutation variant of serious concern,” Health Minister Joe Phaahla said at the same media event. “We were hopeful that we might have a longer break in between waves -- possibly that it would hold off to late December or even next year January.”
Virologists have detected almost 100 cases linked to the variant in the country to date, said Anne von Gottberg, clinical microbiologist & head of respiratory diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. World Health Organization officials have met to discuss the virus, which has also been detected in Botswana, according to a separate statement.
In Botswana -- a neighbor of South Africa -- the new variant has been detected in vaccinated people, Kereng Masupu, coordinator of the Presidential Covid-19 Task Force, said in statement.
B.1.1.529 is likely to have evolved during a chronic infection of an immuno-compromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient, said Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute. With 8.2 million people infected with HIV, the most in the world, South Africa’s efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic has been complicated, as immuno-compromised people can harbor the virus for longer, scientists say. De Oliveira has previously said that the Beta variant, a mutation identified last year in South Africa, may have come from an HIV-infected person.
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UK suspends flights to six African countries as new Covid variant raises alarms
The United Kingdom is temporarily suspending flights from six countries as a new Covid variant with more than 30 mutations spreads in South Africa.
Sajid Javid, the U.K.’s secretary of state for health and social care, made the announcement hours after the World Health Organization gave a briefing on the new variant. The organization called for a special meeting on Friday to further study the variant, which has been detected in small numbers in South Africa.
“More data is needed but we’re taking precautions now. From noon tomorrow six African countries will be added to the red list, flights will be temporarily banned, and UK travellers must quarantine,” Javid wrote on Twitter
In addition to South Africa, the countries of Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana are included in the new restrictions, according to a statement issued by the U.K.’s health, transport and health security agencies.
The WHO is holding a special meeting Friday to discuss what the new variant may mean for vaccines and treatments, officials said Thursday.
The variant, called B.1.1.529, has been detected in South Africa in small numbers, according to the WHO. The variant has spread rapidly through the Gauteng province, which contains the country’s largest city of Johannesburg.
The variant has also been detected in Botswana and Hong Kong, South Africa Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said during the briefing.
“We don’t know very much about this yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations. And the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, said in a Q&A that was livestreamed on the organization’s social media channels.
The newly detected variant arrives as infection levels remain high in countries across the world. In Europe, Austria and Italy announced new restrictions in recent days aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.
South African scientists have detected more than 30 mutations in the new variant, raising concern that it could possibly better evade the antibody protection created by vaccines and prior infections.
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Japan’s Nikkei 225 drops nearly 3% as Asia-Pacific markets slip amid renewed Covid fears
SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific slipped in Friday trade, with Japanese stocks leading losses regionally as fears of a new Covid variant weighed on investor sentiment.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped 2.69% while the Topix index fell 2.09%. Shares of SoftBank Group plummeted around 5% following a Bloomberg report that Chinese regulators have asked Didi, which the Japanese conglomerate holds a sizable stake in, to delist from the U.S.
Those losses came after World Health Organization officials said Thursday they are monitoring a new variant with “a large number of mutations.” A special meeting is scheduled for Friday to discuss its implications for vaccines and treatments.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also saw sharp losses falling 1.98%. The variant has been detected in Hong Kong, according to South Africa’s Minister of Health Joe Phaahla.
In mainland China, the Shanghai composite declined 0.5% while the Shenzhen component slipped 0.207%.
South Korea’s Kospi dipped 1.12%.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia fell 1.45%. Australia’s retail sales in October jumped 4.9% month-on-month, seasonally adjusted, according to official estimates released Friday. That was far higher than the 2.5% increase predicted in a Reuters poll.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 1.45% lower.
----Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 2.01% to $80.57 per barrel. U.S. crude futures slipped 2.54% to $76.40 per barrel.
Travel stocks in Asia-Pacific fell in Friday trade amid the renewed Covid fears.
In Australia, Qantas Airways shares dropped 4.91% while Hong Kong-listed shares of Cathay Pacific slipped 2.98%. Shares of Japan Airlines in Japan plunged 4.91% while Singapore Airlines’ stock in Singapore declined 1.71%.
Markets in the U.S. were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/asia-markets-australia-retail-sales-data-covid-currencies-oil.html
Dow futures plunge 400 points amid fears of new Covid variant found in South Africa
U.S. stock futures dropped in overnight trading on Thursday as investors geared up for a shortened trading day amid renewed Covid fears over a new variant found in South Africa.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 400 points, while those for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were both in negative territory.
The downward move in futures came after WHO officials on Thursday warned of a new Covid-19 variant that’s been detected in South Africa. The United Kingdom temporarily suspended flights from six African countries due to the variant.
Bond yields tumbled amid the flight to safety. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.555%, a sharp reversal after surging above 1.65% earlier this week. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
Asia markets were hit hard in Friday trade, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunging about 3% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell more than 2%.
Oil prices also tumbled during Asia trading hours, with U.S. crude futures down 2.86% to $76.15 per barrel, while the South African rand weakened 1.6% against the greenback to 16.2141 per dollar.
---- There are no major economic releases scheduled for Friday. The stock market will close at 1 p.m. ET on Friday due to the holiday weekend.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/stock-futures-open-to-close-market-news.html
Global Inflation/Stagflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
Supply-Chain Crisis Only Getting Worse With China's 7-Week Port Quarantine
By K Oanh Ha and Jack WittelsUpdated on 25 November 2021, 07:23 GMT
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