Baltic Dry Index. 1474 -96 Brent Crude 86.94
Spot Gold 1842
Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,100
Coronavirus Cases 21/01/22 World 343,270,696
Deaths 5,593,457
Lord Rothermere, 1917. Owner of The Daily Mail.
Are the stock casinos merely in a correction or is it the everything bubble over?
If it’s bubble over, an unrepayable corporate debt disaster lies ahead.
Can a new European war save the casinos? Unlikely, it seems to me. More likely in fact to add to casino collapse. But what if Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine and lets bubble over wreck the G-7 economies?
Below, correction or the start of the Biden Bust?
If the Biden Bust, getting out early beats getting carried out last.
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.“
Charles
Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions
and the Madness of Crowds
Asia-Pacific stocks tumble,
tracking Wall Street declines; oil prices down 2%
SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets tumbled on Friday, tracking declines on Wall Street overnight. Meanwhile, oil prices slipped from their 2014 highs earlier in the week, falling about 2%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2%, while the Topix was down 1.54%. Auto and tech stocks fell across the board, but pared some losses. Toyota was down more than 3%, Mazda dropped nearly 5% and Mitsubishi fell more than 4%.
In tech stocks, Sony was down more than 2%, and Softbank declined 2%.
Japan’s inflation data released on Friday showed that core consumer prices rose 0.5% in December compared to a year earlier, as fuel and raw material costs increased, according to Reuters. The increase was for a second month straight at the fastest pace in nearly two years, Reuters said.
Australia’s ASX 200 fell 2.45% as major miners, oil and banks declined.
Mainland stocks declined, with the Shanghai composite dipping 0.84% and the Shenzhen component down 1.13%.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi was down 1.52%. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.57%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.78%. Alibaba was down 5%.
Elsewhere, Singapore’s first SPAC, Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation, made its debut on Thursday afternoon, drawing a keen response from investors with the retail tranche of 600,000 units 36 times subscribed. The stock closed up 1% from its offer price.
Over on Wall Street, stocks fell. The Nasdaq Composite ended the session down 1.3% at 14,154.02 after notching higher by 2.1% earlier in the day. That put the index further in correction territory — or more than 10% below its November record.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 313.26 points to 34,715.39 on Thursday, closing below its 200-day moving average for the first time since December 2021. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 4,482.73 and closing below 4,500 for the first time since October 2021.
Oil prices fell on Thursday after spiking to their highest since 2014 on Wednesday, as supply concerns were soothed.
On Friday morning during Asia hours, oil prices continued to decline, but pared some losses from a 3% decline earlier. U.S. crude fell 2.17% to $83.69 per barrel, while Brent was down 2% to $86.63.
“The rally in crude oil took a breather after US crude stockpiles rose modestly,” wrote ANZ Research analysts Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes in a Friday note.
“Despite this, demand remains strong ... The pause in prices was also driven by reports the US is planning to accelerate the release of strategic reserves. However, this will be overshadowed by ongoing supply constraints globally,” they said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/21/asia-pacific-stocks-nasdaq-declines-japan-inflation-oil-prices.html
Cryptocurrencies tumble, with bitcoin falling 7% and ether down 8% in the last 24 hours
Bitcoin prices fell sharply on Thursday night, while ether prices also dived.
Bitcoin plummeted by more than 7% in the last 24 hours, and was trading at $38,5774 as of 11:19 p.m. ET, according to CoinDesk data.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, dived 8% in the last 24 hours. It was trading at $2,860 as of 11:20 p.m. ET, after falling as low as $2,809.51 in the last 24 hours, according to CoinDesk.
The declines in cryptocurrencies follow Wall Street losses on Thursday. The Nasdaq was down almost 5% this week, and the S&P 500 is into its third straight week of losses.
As the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield spiked earlier this week, rising rates have caused investors to shed their positions in riskier assets. Yields move opposite to prices.
The Federal Reserve have also indicated it plans to begin reducing its balance sheet, as well as tapering of bonds and raising interest rates.
More
Peloton to halt production of its Bikes, treadmills as demand wanes
Peloton is temporarily halting production of its connected fitness products as consumer demand wanes and the company looks to control costs, according to internal documents obtained by CNBC.
Peloton plans to pause Bike production for two months, from February to March, the documents show. It already halted production of its more expensive Bike+ in December and will do so until June. It won’t manufacture its Tread treadmill machine for six weeks, beginning next month. And it doesn’t anticipate producing any Tread+ machines in fiscal 2022, according to the documents. Peloton had previously halted Tread+ production after a safety recall last year.
The company said in a confidential presentation dated Jan. 10 that demand for its connected fitness equipment has faced a “significant reduction” around the world due to shoppers’ price sensitivity and amplified competitor activity.
Peloton has essentially guessed wrong about how many people would be buying its products, after so much demand was pulled forward during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s now left with thousands of cycles and treadmills sitting in warehouses or on cargo ships, and it needs to reset its inventory levels.
The planned production halt comes as close to $40 billion has been shaved off of Peloton’s market cap over the past year. Its market value hit a high of nearly $50 billion last January.
More
In other news, will the US 5G rollout restrict US flights, or worse bring one of them down? Happily, the US tort bar is ready, eager and waiting for either outcome.
The president of Emirates says the 5G rollout that led to flights being canceled is 'one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible' situations he's witnessed
Thu, January 20, 2022, 11:48 AM
· The president of Emirates lashed out at US 5G rollout plans.
· Tim Clark told CNN it was "one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible issues" he'd seen in his career.
· Airlines including Emirates and British Airways canceled flights over 5G safety concerns.
The president of Emirates has slammed a 5G rollout plan in the US that prompted airlines to cancel flights.
"This is one of the most delinquent, utterly irresponsible issues, subjects, call it what you like, I've seen in my aviation career," Emirates President Tim Clark told CNN Wednesday.
His comments came after Dubai-based Emirates and other airlines announced Tuesday they would suspend flights to some US airports over safety concerns linked to a 5G rollout near airports. Verizon and AT&T agreed last-minute on Tuesday that they would delay the launch of 5G service near airports after airlines warned the technology could cause massive flight disruptions.
Despite the pause of the rollout, some airlines – including Emirates – continued to suspend flights.
Clark told CNN that 5G was being deployed differently in the US compared to other countries, and that Emirates wasn't aware until Tuesday morning of "the extent that it was going to compromise the safety of operation of our aircraft and just about every other 777 operator." He added that Emirates decided to suspend the flights "until we had clarity."
Many of the aircraft used on the affected routes are Boeing 777 airplanes. The Federal Aviation Administration Sunday published a list of Boeing and Airbus aircraft whose radio altimeter models were approved for performing low-visibility landings at many of the US airports where the 5G rollouts were due to take place. The 777 aircraft was not included in the January 16 list, although some 777 models have been included on updated lists.
Emirates said Tuesday that from Wednesday it was suspending flights to six of its 12 US passenger destinations and was switching another three routes from Boeing 777 planes to Airbus A380s "due to operational concerns associated with the planned deployment of 5G mobile network services." It said that this was based on Federal Aviation Administration advice and guidance from Boeing.
Emirates said Thursday that the FAA and Boeing had changed their guidance and that it would resume the canceled routes Friday and switch the A380s back to 777s Saturday.
Airlines including Air India, Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, and British Airways also suspended some flights over the 5G rollout.
Ten major US air carriers had warned federal officials in a letter Monday that the scheduled 5G deployment could "potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas" and grind the nation's commerce "to a halt."
More
https://www.yahoo.com/news/president-emirates-says-5g-rollout-114829165.html
Finally, China news. Even without the possibility of a new European war, the global economy is getting more chaotic. Draconian China warns the Olympic athletes to watch what they say and do.
China warns foreign Olympic athletes against speaking out on politics at Winter Games
, Jan. 19, 2022
A member of China's Olympics organizing committee warned that foreign athletes may face punishment for speech that violates Chinese law at the 2022 Winter Games, spotlighting concerns about the country's restrictions on political expression.
"Any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit I'm sure will be protected," Yang Shu, deputy director general of international relations for the Beijing Organizing Committee, said in a news conference Tuesday. "Any behavior or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment."
In broad strokes, China's stance falls in line with the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) established rule against political protest at the Games. The IOC also announced before last year's Summer Games in Tokyo that athletes who staged protests there would be punished, ignoring U.S. calls to allow respectful protest for human rights issues.
But China's formulation of its rule appeared to be a shade stricter than the IOC's, raising questions about how Beijing plans to interpret and enforce it. Rule 50 of the IOC charter forbids "demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda" at Olympic venues. Yang said Tuesday that "speech" could be subject to punishment and cited Chinese law, which is far more restrictive than many countries'.
More
https://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/China-warns-foreign-Olympic-athletes-against-16786929.php
Beijing city raises vigilance as local COVID cases tick higher before Olympics
January 20, 2022 4:44 AM GMT
BEIJING, Jan 20 (Reuters) - China's capital Beijing ramped up efforts to curb COVID-19 infections, ordering checks among cold-chain firms and urging residents to cut unnecessary gatherings, as the city reported an uptick in local cases weeks before the Winter Olympics.
Beijing had three domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms on Wednesday, including one previously reported as a local asymptomatic carrier for Jan. 18, according to local health authority data on Thursday.
That compared with one local confirmed infection for Jan. 18.
The city has reported less than ten local COVID infections since Jan. 15, with both the Delta and Omicron variants detected, a tiny case count compared with the rest of the world.
However, the city and China are still working under guidelines of getting any virus flare-up under control as soon as possible. The strategy takes on extra urgency as Beijing and neighbouring Hebei province will host the Winter Olympics from Feb. 4, while the ongoing Lunar New Year travel season raises the risk of virus transmission nationwide.
The city of Beijing should immediately launch full inspections over its cold-chain industry and make the testing of staffers and goods more frequent, the city government said in a statement late on Wednesday, after some infections were found to be cold storage workers.
More
China's international flight suspensions leave travellers stranded, hurt businesses
Thu, January 20, 2022, 3:53 AM
BEIJING/SYDNEY (Reuters) - When Dwight Law's father died in November, the Shanghai-based U.S. expat flew back to Kansas, leaving his wife and dog behind in China while he attended to matters relating to his father's death.
Law, who runs an architecture and design firm, has lived in Shanghai for 20 years and had expected to return last week.
But with dozens of flights between China and the United States suspended by Chinese authorities because of passengers testing positive for COVID-19 on arrival, finding a flight back even in February is proving near-impossible and posing a threat to Law's company.
"Now with no flights scheduled, I am currently locked out of China, away from my wife and family and not able to attend to business," Law said. "I have 50 employees in China. Without my presence, the business will suffer and so will the livelihoods of each employee."
Even before the latest flight cancellations, international capacity to and from China was running at just 2% of pre-COVID levels as the country sticks to a strict zero-COVID policy of stamping out all cases while other parts of world open up.
The zero-COVID mentality is likely to stay for most of 2022, Bank of America Securities analysts said in a note on Tuesday, in bad news for the 845,000 foreign passport holders in China, a number already reduced since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
China's aviation regulator in January alone cancelled 143 return flights as the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads across the globe, according to a report from Chinese aviation data provider flight master last Friday.
That was the most in a month since it introduced a policy of suspending flights when positive cases were found in June 2020.
More
https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinas-international-flight-suspensions-leave-035335270.html
Evergrande's offshore bondholders say to consider enforcement action
January 20, 2022 10:17 AM GMT
HONG KONG, Jan 20 (Reuters) - An ad hoc offshore creditors group of China Evergrande (3333.HK) said on Thursday it has had no substantive engagement with the firm over its restructuring plans despite the firm's repeated assurances.
The group, represented by law firm Kirkland & Ellis and investment bank Moelis & Company, said in a statement it has no option but to seriously consider enforcement actions and it is prepared to take all necessary actions to defend its legal rights.
The world's most indebted property company Evergrande has nearly $20 billion of offshore bonds deemed in cross-default last month after it missed payments.
Struggling with more than $300 billion in liabilities, the property giant has however so far met payments or reached repayment arrangements on onshore bonds that make up the vast majority of its debt, avoiding a technical default that would have complicated its restructuring.
A risk management committee was set up in early December that included officials from state entities and the company has repeatedly reassured that the committee and itself would actively engage with creditors and protect the legitimate interest of the parties involved. read more
"Actions speak considerably louder than words," the shareholder group said in a statement on Thursday.
Despite its efforts to engage in substantive dialogue with Evergrande, the group said, it has "received little more than vague assurances of intent, lacking in both detail and substance", and the impression is the firm has disregarded its offshore creditors and their legal rights.
Evergrande declined to comment.
The group said it has retained offshore law firm Harneys for any enforcement actions, and urged Evergrande to provide full transparency on its financial position and liabilities, and refrain from making any further asset disposals without consulting the group.
More
Rudyard Kipling, 1915.
Global Inflation/Stagflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
DHL expects freight rates to stay high in 2022
January 20, 2022 11:49 AM GMT
DUESSELDORF, Jan 20 (Reuters) - German logistics company Deutsche Post DHL does not expect freight costs to ease this year and is advising customers to agree longer-term contracts as a hedge, the head of the DHL freight business said in an interview.
"The short-term rate will rise a little in air and ocean freight, the long-term rate will probably remain at the 2021 level," Tim Scharwarth told Reuters.
"In air freight, the rate might even go up a little bit more in the short term, there is even tighter capacity there."
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted global supply chains, slowing flows of raw materials, parts and consumer goods.
Shortages of freight capacity - both ocean and air - have pushed up shipping costs globally, with the pandemic also extending port waiting times due to labour shortages and traffic disruptions.
U.S. rival FedEx Corp (FDX.N) warned this month that rising cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant has caused staff shortages and delays in shipments transported on aircraft. read more
"In sea freight, we will not return to the rates we had before the coronavirus crisis," Scharwarth said.
"If you want to sell a stool for 10 euros from China, then this can become a problem due to the transport costs," he said. "This will also force a review of some business models."
More
https://www.reuters.com/business/dhl-expects-freight-rates-stay-high-2022-2022-01-20/
U.S. mortgage interest rates climb for 4th straight week
Wed, January 19, 2022, 12:04 PM
(Reuters) - The interest rate on the most popular U.S. home loan rose for a fourth straight week last week, with residential real estate borrowing costs now the highest in nearly two years as financial markets anticipate that the Federal Reserve will raise rates sooner and faster than previously expected to combat inflation.
The Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday said its weekly measure of the average contract rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage climbed to 3.64% in the week ended Jan. 14 from 3.52% a week earlier. That was the highest since March 2020 when the pandemic triggered a recession and drove borrowing costs to historic lows as the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate to near zero.
With inflation running at the highest rate in a generation and the job market near full employment, the Fed is now seen rapidly reining in the accommodation it put in place in the spring of 2020, and financial markets are frantically repricing for an initial rate hike by the central bank by mid-March.
That reset has driven up the yields on the Treasury securities that influence mortgage rates, and home financing costs have followed suit: MBA's 30-year contract rate has climbed from 3.27% in mid-December.
The rate rise is crimping application volumes for mortgage refinancings, but appears to be helping to lift applications for home-purchase loans, which saw the largest increase in six months last week as prospective buyers looked to lock in rates that, while rising, are still historically low.
Overall loan application volumes rose 2.3% last week on the back of a 7.9% increase in loans to buy a home, while refinancing applications dropped 3.1% to their lowest level in more than two years.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-mortgage-interest-rates-climb-120400776.html
Finally,
more “funny money,” ahead. The Fed to issue “Disney dollars” Digital
Dollars. But why? What’s gone wrong in the trillions of fiat dollars already
issued?
Federal Reserve is taking the next step toward possibly launching a digital dollar
Tory Newmyer
The Federal Reserve is taking the next step in weighing whether to launch a U.S. digital currency, issuing a report Thursday that explores the potential benefits and drawbacks of such a move without indicating where it will land.
The central bank is asking the public to provide feedback on the question over the next 120 days. And it said that in any event, it would only seek to create a digital currency with “clear support” from both the executive branch and Congress.
“We look forward to engaging with the public, elected representatives, and a broad range of stakeholders as we examine the positives and negatives of a central bank digital currency in the United States,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell said in a statement accompanying the report.
Top Fed officials themselves so far have appeared divided on the matter. Powell last year said the project would need to demonstrate “clear and tangible benefits that outweigh any costs and risks.”
Lael Brainard, a member of the central bank’s Board of Governors who was recently nominated by President Biden to become the Fed’s No. 2 official, has signaled more interest. She has framed the issue both as a competitive imperative for the U.S. internationally — China adopted its own central bank digital currency last year — and an opportunity to extend benefits to lower-income Americans who struggle to access the financial system.
Other liberal advocates of a digital dollar have focused on its potential to get cash quickly to Americans in financial straits who lack bank accounts, a need highlighted by the challenge the federal government faced distributing relief money during the pandemic.
The specter that a government-issued digital dollar would open the door to the Fed offering banking services to consumers has drawn objections from the banking industry. Commercial banks have raised alarms that the move could drain their deposits and destabilize financial markets.
More
Disney Dollars were the official currency at Disney theme parks from 1987 to 2016. During that time, over 140 limited editions were created and sold at face value. Disney Dollars were popular as soon as they were introduced. Parents gave them to children to spend. Other Disney fans collected and preserved them.
https://www.kathsdisneydollars.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html
They only lasted 29 years.
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Today, when is a “vaccine” not a vaccine? Does getting omicron trump getting vaccinated?
Sputnik V shows higher Omicron-antibody levels than Pfizer in preliminary study
January 20, 2022 5:36 PM GMT
MOSCOW, Jan 20 (Reuters) - A small preliminary laboratory study has shown that levels of Omicron-neutralising antibodies of people vaccinated with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine did not decline as much as of those who had Pfizer shots.
The joint Russian-Italian study - funded by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which markets Sputnik V abroad - compared the blood serum of people who had received the different vaccines.
Thepreliminary study was conducted by scientists from the Spallanzani Institute in Italy and Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, the developer of Sputnik V vaccine.
Researchers said samples taken three to six months after the second dose of a vaccine have shown that the levels of antibodies in recipients of two doses of Sputnik V were more resistant to Omicron than in those vaccinated with Pfizer.
It included 51 people vaccinated with Sputnik V and 17 after two shots of the Pfizer vaccine.
----The study, that will seek certification by peer review, showed that Omicron-specific neutralizing antibodies were detected in the blood serum of 74.2% of the people vaccinated with Sputnik and in 56.9% of those vaccinated with Pfizer/BioNtech.
An earlier preliminary study by the Gamaleya Institute, the developer of Sputnik V, showed that a booster shot of Sputnik Light vaccine provided a stronger antibody response against Omicron than the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine alone. read more
More
New data show those who recovered from Covid-19 were less likely than vaccinated to get infected during Delta wave
Jan. 19, 2022
New data released Wednesday showed that both vaccination and prior infection offered strong protection against infection and hospitalization from Covid-19 during the Delta wave — and that case and hospitalization rates were actually lower among people who had recovered from Covid-19 than among those who had been vaccinated.
The data, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health agencies in California and New York, are sure to inflame arguments from those who insist they don’t need to be vaccinated if they can show they’ve recovered from Covid-19. But the data contain many caveats that health officials stressed pointed to the value of vaccination, even on top of prior infection.
For one, the new report was based on data only through November, before the U.S. booster campaign really took off. It also looked at data during the Delta wave and does not account for the surging Omicron variant.
More
Early Omicron Breakthroughs Show MRNA Vaccines’ Weakness Early Omicron Breakthroughs Show MRNA Vaccines’ Weakness
Antony Sguazzin 06:01 PM IST, 19 Jan 2022 07:41 AM IST, 20 Jan 2022
(Bloomberg)
-- Booster shots with messenger RNA vaccines such as those made by Pfizer Inc.
and BioNTech SE failed to block omicron in a study of some of the first
documented breakthrough cases caused by the highly contagious variant.
Seven German visitors to Cape Town experienced symptomatic Covid-19 infections
between late November and early December despite being boosted, the
researchers, whose investigation was authorized by the University of Cape Town
and Stellenbosch University, said in findings published Tuesday in The Lancet.
All the cases were mild or moderate, providing support for the extra shots’
ability to fend off severe disease, death and hospitalizations.
Still, the findings demonstrate omicron’s ability to evade immunity generated
by even the most powerful Covid-19 vaccine boosters. That underscores the need
to continue fighting the pandemic with measures besides vaccination, such as
social distancing and masking, the authors said.
---- The rapid global spread of omicron, first identified in Botswana and South
Africa in late November, has spurred the U.K., the U.S., South Africa and other
countries to step up or introduce booster programs. However, the latest
research shows the limits of such plans.
more
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/mrna-boosters-don-t-block-omicron-south-african-study-shows
Czechs scrap mandatory COVID-19 jabs, daily cases hit record
by Reuters Wednesday, 19 January 2022 15:18 GMT
PRAGUE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The Czech government scrapped a decree on Wednesday making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for key professionals and over 60s to avoid "deepening fissures" in society, while the daily tally of new cases hit a record high.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said his new centre-right government did not see reasons for compulsory inoculation https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/czech-minister-confirms-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-some-professions-older-people-2021-12-06 as the previous administration had planned in some sectors.
"This does not change our stance on vaccination. It is still undoubtedly the best way to fight COVID-19 ... however, we do not want to deepen fissures in society," Fiala told a news conference.
In December, the previous government ordered COVID-19 vaccinations from March 2022 for hospital and nursing home staff, police, soldiers and some other professions, as well as those aged over 60.
That brought protests.
The policy turn comes as a wave of the Omicron variant hits the central European country of 10.7 million people.
The Health Ministry said 28,469 new COVID-19 cases were reported for Tuesday, a record daily number since the start of the pandemic and more than double the 12,371 reported the same day last week.
Like other central European nations, the government expects about 50,000 daily cases by the end of the month.
In preparation, asymptomatic essential healthcare workers and social service personnel who test positive may be allowed to continue working. Businesses want the list extended.
More
https://news.trust.org/item/20220119151524-ly020
Swiss researchers launch trial for COVID "patch" vaccine
by Reuters Wednesday, 19 January 2022 16:49 GMT
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Swiss medical researchers said on Wednesday they have launched an early-stage study to test a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidate which would be administered via an arm patch, the latest to look at alternative methods of giving injections.
Unlike conventional vaccines that stimulate antibody production, the new PepGNP-Covid19 vaccine candidate focuses on T-cells, which are responsible for cellular immunity, to eliminate cells infected by the virus and prevent it from replicating.
British company Emergex Vaccines Holding Ltd developed the potential vaccine, while Unisanté medical research centre in Lausanne in collaboration with the city's CHUV hospital will run the trial, which started on Jan. 10.
Professor Blaise Genton, head of the study, said this cellular immunity generates so-called "memory cells", which could make the vaccine more durable and could be better than others at protecting against potential variants of the virus.
The possible vaccine will be administered via micro-needles in the patch that are less than one millimetre deep that they hope will provide long-term immunity from COVID-19 and do away with the need for seasonal booster shots.
"With this new vaccine that generates this cellular immunity we hope to have a longer period of protection ... we don't know yet, but it could be one year, two years, three years," Genton told Reuters.
To administer the vaccine, the patch will be pressed against the skin briefly and then removed.
The study is the first in the world with the new candidate and follows the start last year of another study in Lausanne to assess the safety of a new-generation dengue vaccine that uses the same technology.
More
https://news.trust.org/item/20220119164630-7ji73
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
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.
Silicon quantum computing surpasses 99% accuracy in three studies
Michael Irving January 19, 2022
Three teams of scientists from around the world have achieved a major milestone in quantum computing. All three groups demonstrated better than 99 percent accuracy in silicon-based quantum devices, paving the way for practical, scalable quantum computers that are error-free.
Classical computers store and process information in bits, which are represented as either a one or a zero. Quantum computers, however, use qubits that can be either a one, a zero, or both at the same time, thanks to the quantum quirk of superposition. This should allow quantum computers to become exponentially more powerful than classical ones. However, the quantum states are sensitive to outside interference, which can cause errors that severely limit the practicality of these machines.
But now, the three new studies have demonstrated quantum computer systems with error rates of less than one percent. Better yet, these devices were all based on silicon, which should make them easier to fabricate using existing commercial semiconductor infrastructure.
A team led by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia achieved a fidelity of 99.95 percent in a one-qubit system, and 99.37 percent with two operating qubits. A second team, at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, achieved 99.87 percent with one qubit and 99.65 with two. And finally, a team at RIKEN in Japan reached 99.84 percent fidelity in a one-qubit system and 99.51 percent with two qubits.
“When the errors are so rare, it becomes possible to detect them and correct them when they occur,” said Professor Andrea Morello, lead author of the UNSW study. “This shows that it is possible to build quantum computers that have enough scale, and enough power, to handle meaningful computation. This piece of research is an important milestone on the journey that will get us there.”
The UNSW system encodes information in the nuclear spins of phosphorus atoms, implanted in a silicon chip. The nuclei of these atoms are the core processor, performing quantum operations, and they’re connected to each other by way of an electron that’s quantum entangled with each atom.
---- The Delft and RIKEN experiments were conducted using the spins of two electrons as qubits, with each confined to a quantum dot made of silicon and a silicon-germanium alloy.
With all three teams surpassing 99 percent accuracy, the researchers say that the next steps are to design practical silicon quantum processors that can be scaled up for commercial quantum computers.
The three studies were all published in the journal Nature [1],[2],[3]. The UNSW team describes the work in the video below.
More
Another weekend and a last weekend before a new European war? I certainly hope not. Have a great weekend everyone.
This war, like the next war, is a war to end all wars.
David Lloyd George, 1916.
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