Baltic Dry Index. 2150 +140 Brent Crude 101.16
Spot Gold 1708 US 2 Year Yield 3.13 -0.02
I do not think it is an exaggeration to say history is largely a history of inflation, usually inflations engineered by governments for the gain of governments.
Friedrich August
von Hayek
In the stock casinos on Friday, a relief rally based more on hopium than reality. The “better” bank stock earnings that supposedly triggered the relief rally reflect past history, not the future of higher global interest rates, a new recession, a debt crisis, continuing food and energy inflation and rising social unrest just about everywhere.
Stocks are trading on extreme hopium according to commodities led by Dr. Copper.
Adding to the relief rally hopium that the Fed is getting ready to wimp out on fighting inflation.
Well maybe, but if they do, get ready for some serious social unhappiness from the 99 percent.
Dow pops more than 600 points in relief rally Friday but closes with weekly losses
Stocks rallied on Friday in response to a new round of bank earnings and promising economic data as fears of a 100 basis point rate hike from the Federal Reserve to subdue rising inflation subsided.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 658.09 points, or 2.15%, to settle at 31,288.26. The S&P 500 jumped 1.92% to 3,863.16, and the Nasdaq Composite bounced 1.79% to 11,452.42.
Despite Friday’s rally, all the major averages closed out the week with losses. The Dow slipped close to 0.2% while the S&P and Nasdaq fell 0.9% and nearly 1.6%, respectively. The session’s moves left the S&P 500 roughly 19% off its highs.
“The market is getting a little bit more convinced that the Fed is probably not going to be delivering a full point rate increase at the end of the month and that we’re getting close to seeing peak Fed tightening get priced into the market,” said Edward Moya, a senior analyst at OANDA. That’s “giving some relief for investors to scale back into equities.”
A new round of bank results from Wells Fargo and Citigroup offered further insight into the state of the economy. Wells Fargo popped about 6.2% even as quarterly profits declined 48% and the bank set aside funds for bad loans. Citigroup soared 13.2% as it beat estimates and benefited from a rising rate environment.
----Along with fresh bank earnings, traders digested strong preliminary consumer sentiment data and retail sales that beat expectations. Those numbers appeared to soothe concerns that the Fed will hike by 100 basis points at upcoming policy meetings and indicated that consumers are bolstering retail spending even as inflation hits record highs.
Meanwhile, comments from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic on Friday indicated that he likely would not support a potential higher rate move. He cautioned that swiftly increasing rates could “undermine a lot of those things that are working well.”
More
Stocks rose as Wall Street weighed fresh earnings and economic data (cnbc.com)
Copper Suffers Its Worst Week in a Year on Recession Fears
· ‘The dominoes are falling,’ Blue Line Futures’ Streible says
· A rock and hard place between war, zero-covid rules, inflation
15 July 2022 at 07:37 BSTUpdated on15 July 2022 at 20:10 BST
Global Inflation/Stagflation Watch.
Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
Rents in US Rise at Fastest Pace Since 1986, Buoying Inflation
Wed, July 13, 2022 at 5:19 PM
(Bloomberg) -- Rents rose in the US last month at the fastest pace since 1986, helping to propel overall inflation to a fresh four-decade high.
An index measuring rent of a primary residence was 0.8% higher in June than the month before, an acceleration from the 0.6% increase recorded in May, according to the Labor Department’s report on consumer prices published Wednesday. In the 12 months through June, rents were up 5.8%.
Those costs are soaring across the country as would-be homebuyers get priced out by the fastest-rising mortgage rates in decades and slide back into the overcrowded rental market. But rent growth may be peaking as affordability concerns mount, and a surge in construction of new units is poised to start adding to the available inventory.
The Labor Department measure tends to lag behind other estimates, so it is likely that rent increases will contribute to rising inflation in the consumer price index through the rest of this year, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.
“The big increase in CPI rents is catch-up with the consistent double-digit growth in market rents,” Zandi said. “The good news is that market rents appear to be topping out, as renters are not able to afford the higher rents and are balking. More rental supply is also coming, although this will take a year or two to have a meaningful impact on market rents.”
Nearly 836,000 multifamily units are under construction, the most since 1973, according to Jay Parsons, chief economist at RealPage. But most new construction targets higher-income tenants and not the lower end, where supply shortages are most extreme, he said.
More
Rents in US Rise at Fastest Pace Since 1986, Buoying Inflation (yahoo.com)
Below, why a “green energy” economy may not be possible, 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.
COVID-19: Sore throat now the most common coronavirus symptom, data suggests
Symptoms such as a fever or loss of smell - considered among the most characteristic signs of the virus at the start of the pandemic - are among the least reported now.
Friday 15 July 2022 05:56, UK
A sore throat might be the main symptom that suggests someone has developed COVID-19, according to new data.
The next most prevalent symptoms are headache and blocked nose, according to the Zoe COVID study.
At the start of the pandemic, symptoms such as a fever or loss of smell were considered among the most characteristic signs of the virus.
But now they are among the least reported symptoms.
The study also mentions cough, hoarse voice, sneezing, fatigue and muscle aches as common symptoms.
Professor Tim Spector, Zoe scientific co-founder and lead scientist on the Zoe Health Study, said the virus is "still rampant" in the population.
He said: "So much so that if you have any cold-like symptoms at the moment it's nearly twice as likely to be COVID as a cold."
Because there are various COVID variants co-existing, such as Omicron variants BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5, even people with a past infections or who are fully jabbed can catch it, Prof Spector said.
However, he added, "we're already seeing a slight drop in numbers day to day".
Virus becoming 'too clever'
COVID-related deaths have exceeded 200,000 in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Dr David Nabarro, WHO's special envoy on the virus, has said the it is constantly evolving and becoming "too clever".
He told Sky News' Kay Burley: "This virus is capable of constantly evolving and changing.
"The reason why we've got an increase is it's changed yet again and it's become too clever for us.
More
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 more useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.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.
Research team accelerates imaging techniques for capturing small molecules' structures
Date: July 12, 2022
Source: University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering
Summary: A new research effort is accelerating imaging techniques to visualize structures of small molecules clearly -- a process once thought impossible. Their discovery unleashes endless potential in improving everyday life applications -- from plastics to pharmaceuticals.
----Additional co-authors include graduate student Sang hyun Bae and undergraduates Patrick Carmichael and Amanda Loutris. Their peer-reviewed research has recently been published in Nano Letters.
The team's efforts expose the molecule's atomic structure, allowing researchers to understand how it reacts, learn its chemical processes and see how to synthesize its chemical compounds.
"The structure of a molecule is so fundamental to its function," Huang said. "What we've done in our work is make it possible to see that structure directly."
The ability to see a small molecule's structure is vital. Kharel shares just how vital by giving the example of a medication known as thalidomide.
Discovered in the '60s, thalidomide was prescribed to pregnant women to treat morning sickness and was later found to cause severe birth defects or, in some cases, even death.
What went wrong? The drug had mixed molecular structures, one responsible for treating morning sickness and the other unfortunately causing devastating, adverse effects to the fetus.
The need for proactive, not reactive science has urged Huang and her students to pursue this research effort that originally began with sheer curiosity.
More
This weekend’s music diversion. Norwich’s long forgotten child prodigy. Approx. 15 minutes.
James Hook (1746-1827) - Concerto (in D) for the Organ (1771)
James Hook (1746-1827) - Concerto (in D) for the Organ (1771) - YouTube
This weekend’s chess update. Approx. 13 minutes.
Today is A Very Special Day for Chess!
Today is A Very Special Day for Chess! - YouTube
This week’s maths update. Approx. 10 minutes.
Math is Illuminati confirmed (PART 2): Morley's Miracle
Math is Illuminati confirmed (PART 2): Morley's Miracle - YouTube
This week’s food update Lemons. Approx. 15 minutes long.
The Remarkable History of Lemons
The Remarkable History of Lemons - YouTube
Even the striving for equality by means of a directed economy can result only in an officially enforced inequality - an authoritarian determination of the status of each individual in the new hierarchical order.
Friedrich August
von Hayek
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