Baltic Dry Index. 1182 -41 Brent Crude 100.99
Spot Gold 1738 U S 2 Year Yield 3.37 +0.02
Powell comments fuel 1,000-point market rout Friday as
stocks slide for a second week
UPDATED FRI, AUG 26 2022 5:21 PM
EDT
Stocks
plummeted Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in his Jackson
Hole speech the central bank won’t back off in its fight against rapid
inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,008.38
points, or 3.03%, to 32,283.40, with losses accelerating into the close. The
S&P 500 fell 3.37% to 4,057.66, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 3.94% to
12,141.71.
The major averages declined for a second week. The
Dow tumbled 4.2%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite lost roughly 4% and
4.4%, respectively.
Powell reiterated a tough stance against inflation,
spurring investors to weigh the implications of higher interest rates kept in
place for a longer time.
“Restoring price stability will likely require
maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record
cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy,” Powell said.
“We do believe the Fed,” said Zach Hill, head of
portfolio management at Horizon Investments. “We believe what they say that
rates are going to be higher for longer and we’ve seen some repricing of the
cuts in 2023. We think there’s more to go on that front and it’s likely to
continue to fuel equity volatility from here.”
The sell-off on Wall Street was broad-based, with
just five stocks in the S&P 500 posting gains on Friday.
Ford hikes price of electric Mustang Mach-E by as much
as $8,475 due to ‘significant’ battery cost increases
DETROIT – is hiking
the starting prices of its electric Mustang Mach-E crossover by more than
$8,000 for some models, as it reopens order banks for the 2023 model year.
The company on Thursday said the markups – ranging
between $3,000 and $8,475, depending on the model and battery – are due to
“significant material cost increases, continued strain on key supply chains,
and rapidly evolving market conditions.”
The Mach-E is the latest electric vehicle to experience a price increase,
as raw material costs for batteries for electric
vehicles more than doubled during the coronavirus pandemic.
The starting prices for the 2023
Mustang Mach-E will now range from about $47,000 to $70,000, up from roughly
$44,000 to $62,000 for the 2022 model year. Prices exclude taxes and
shipping/delivery costs.
Ford earlier this month also raised
the starting prices of its electric F-150
Lightning pickup by between $6,000 and $8,500, depending on the
model. The automaker cited similar reasons for those increases, specifically
related to raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel that are used in
batteries for the vehicles.
Others automakers including , , and also significantly
raised prices on their newest electric vehicles.
In addition to the new pricing,
Ford said it changed options and increased capabilities for some Mach-E models.
It also is increasing shipping charges on the Mach-E by $200 to $1,300 on all
models.
Ford said the higher prices will go into effect for new orders placed
starting Tuesday, when order banks reopen.
Customers who have existing,
unscheduled 2022 model year orders will receive a “private offer” to convert to
a 2023 model year vehicle, the company said. It’s not immediately clear what
price those customers would be offered.
Ford
Mustang Mach-E price hiked by as much as $8,475 due to battery costs (cnbc.com)
Continued inflation inevitably leads to catastrophe.
Global
Inflation/Stagflation/Recession Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians, inflation now needs an entire section of its
own.
Price cap in need of urgent reform
following energy bill hike
FRIDAY 26 AUGUST 2022 9:41 AM
Energy specialist Cornwall Insight has reignited
calls for the energy price cap to be reformed, following the latest hike in
household energy bills this winter.
Ofgem has announced the cap will rise from £1,971 per year to £3,549 per year in October,
an 80 per cent increase which could drag tens of millions of Brits into fuel poverty.
Dr Craig Lowrey, senior consultant at Cornwall
Insight highlighted that the cap was never intended to contain wholesale costs
for energy users, and was created in different market conditions to ensure
long-term customers weren’t overcharged to fund low deals for switchers.
Instead of a cap, he called for targeted
protections for vulnerable energy users.
He said: “We urge, as we have done previously, for
the cap to be reviewed and mechanisms for protecting the most vulnerable, such
as social tariffs, to be considered as viable alternatives.”
Cornwall Insight is not alone in criticising the
price cap.
Tory MP John Penrose – who first proposed the cap in Parliament – has confirmed on social media he no longer considers it fit for purpose either.
It has also been
criticised by a range of energy bosses including Greg Jackson, chief executive
at Octopus Energy, who favours a relative price cap.
More
Price
cap in need of urgent reform following energy bill hike (cityam.com)
Bank of England may launch biggest rate
hike since 1989 if energy bill support fuels inflation
THURSDAY 25 AUGUST 2022 5:45 PM
The Bank
of England may have to launch the biggest rate hike since 1989 if the
government injects huge sums of money into the economy to cope with the cost of
living crisis, a Wall Street bank said today.
Borrowing
costs could rise 75 basis points in November to deal with a historic inflation
peak caused by cash transfers stimulating spending by shielding household
finances from sky-high energy bills, according to Bank of America.
The
warning illustrates the tough trade offs either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will
face when shaping a cost of living support package after one of them enters
Number 10 on 5 September.
“Providing
stimulus mainly via transfers to households would leave in place a very high
inflation peak” of 15 per cent, Bank of America said.
Governor
Andrew Bailey and the rest of the monetary policy committee have already lifted
rates six times in a row, including a 50 basis point hike, the biggest rise in
over 25 years, earlier this month.
Inflation
is running at 40-year high of 10.1 per cent.
Households
are bracing for the energy watchdog to announce a potential 80 per cent upgrade
to the bill cap tomorrow, sending the average annual bill to over £3,500.
Rising
bills will tip millions of Brits into fuel poverty, prompting a string of
economists today to warn the government is running out of time to save
households and businesses from the cost of living crunch.
Some
experts have argued sending people money to offset their high energy bills will
push inflation higher by keeping demand in the economy high.
However,
failing to offer more support could deal long-term damage to the economy by
letting high energy prices erode Brits’ finances.
Calls to
cap bills at their current level have gained momentum due to the huge surge in
wholesale energy prices now likely meaning most households will struggle to pay
bills without cutting back elsewhere.Gas prices climbed a fifth in just a week
at the beginning of August, the Office for National Statistics said today.
Bank of
America said if the government intervened in the market and held bills at their
present level of around £1,900 for two years, “support would run to £125bn,”
around double the cost of the furlough scheme.
Even
under that scenario, the UK would still suffer “a modest recession,” the bank
added.
More
Bank of England may have to hike rates 75 basis points in November (cityam.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.
Moderna sues Pfizer/BioNTech over
COVID vaccine
26
August, 2022
Moderna is suing Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for
alleged patent infringement in the development of the first COVID-19 vaccine approved
in the US.
The lawsuit, which seeks undetermined monetary damages, alleges they
copied technology that Moderna had developed years before the pandemic.
Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel said: "We are filing these
lawsuits to protect the innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered,
invested billions of dollars in creating, and patented during the decade
preceding the COVID-19 pandemic."
Mr Bancel said the company is continuing to use the technology to
develop treatments for influenza and HIV, as well as autoimmune and
cardiovascular diseases and rare forms of cancer.
"We believe that Pfizer and BioNTech unlawfully copied Moderna's
inventions, and they have continued to use them without permission,"
Moderna's chief legal officer Shannon Thyme Klinger added.
Moderna Inc and the partnership of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech were two of
the first groups to develop a vaccine for COVID.
Just a decade old, Moderna had been an innovator in the messenger RNA
(mRNA) vaccine technology, which works by teaching human cells how to make a
protein that will trigger an immune response.
The technology helped to speed up the approval process for the jabs -
which usually takes years to complete - and enabled the vaccine to be developed
so quickly.
Germany-based BioNTech had also been working in
this field when it partnered with the US pharma giant Pfizer.
Moderna alleges Pfizer/BioNTech, without permission, copied mRNA
technology that it had patented between 2010 and 2016, well before COVID-19
emerged in 2019.
Early in the pandemic, Moderna said it would not enforce its COVID
patents to help others develop their own vaccines, but in March this year it
told companies, such as Pfizer and BioNTech, that it expected them to respect
its intellectual property rights.
In revenue, Moderna's vaccine has brought in $10.4 billion (£8.8bn) this
year, while Pfizer's has raised about $22 billion (£18.6bn).
More
Moderna
sues Pfizer/BioNTech over COVID vaccine (msn.com)
Covid-19 infections continue to fall in all areas of UK
Rates
remain lowest among school-aged children.
Covid-19 infections in the UK are continuing to
fall and are now at their lowest level for more than two months, figures show.
A total of 1.4 million people in private
households are estimated to have had the coronavirus in the week to August 16,
according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is a drop of 16% from 1.7 million the previous
week.
Infections hit 3.8 million in early July during the
spread of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the virus, but have fallen
in recent weeks.
Health experts have warned levels are likely to
rise again in the autumn and winter, however.
A new booster jab will be offered to everyone in
the UK aged 50 and over from next month, as well as those with underlying
health conditions, to increase protection ahead of future waves.
Sarah Crofts, head of analytical outputs for the
Covid-19 infection survey, said: “Infections continue to head in the right
direction across all of the UK and are now at levels similar to those last seen
in mid-June.
“Rates remain lowest in school-aged children and we
will closely monitor the data to see how the return of schools in September may
affect this.”
Total UK infections are now at their lowest level
since the week ending June 11, when the BA.4/BA.5 wave of the virus was
beginning to grow.
Some 1.2 million people in England were likely to
have tested positive for Covid-19 in the week to August 16, the equivalent of
around one in 45, the ONS said.
This is down from 1.4 million, or one in 40, in the
previous survey in early August.
In Wales, infections stood at 65,500 in the latest
week, or one in 45 people, compared with 72,600, or one in 40, in the previous
survey.
The latest estimate for people testing positive in
Scotland is 135,000, or around one in 40, down from 164,100, or one in 30.
In Northern Ireland, infections were estimated to
be 26,400, or one in 70 people, down from 36,600, or one in 50.
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.
Battery
made of aluminum, sulfur and salt proves fast, safe and low-cost
Michael Irving August 24, 2022
Engineers
at MIT have developed a new battery design using common materials – aluminum, sulfur and salt. Not only is the battery low-cost, but it’s
resistant to fire and failures, and can be charged very fast, which could make
it useful for powering a home or charging electric vehicles.
Lithium-ion
batteries have dominated the field for the last few decades, thanks to their
reliability and high energy density. However, lithium is becoming scarcer and
more expensive, and the cells can be hazardous, exploding or bursting into
flames if damaged or improperly used. Cheaper, safer alternatives are needed,
especially as the world transitions towards renewable energy and electric
vehicles.
So the MIT team set out to design a new type of
battery out of readily available, inexpensive materials. After a search and
some trial and error, they settled on aluminum for one electrode and sulfur for
the other, topped off with an electrolyte of molten chloro-aluminate salt. Not
only are all of these ingredients cheap and common, but they’re not flammable,
so there’s no risk of fire or explosion.
In tests, the team demonstrated that the new
battery cells can withstand hundreds of charge cycles, and charge very quickly
– in some experiments, less than a minute. The cells would cost just one sixth
of the price of a similar-sized lithium-ion cell.
They can not only operate at high temperatures of
up to 200 °C (392 °F) but they actually work better when hotter – at 110 °C
(230 °F), the batteries charged 25 times faster than they did at 25 °C (77 °F).
Importantly, the researchers say the battery doesn’t need any external energy
to reach this elevated temperature – its usual cycle of charging and
discharging is enough to keep it that warm.
Although the type of salt in the electrolyte was
chosen because it has a low melting point, it coincidentally has another
benefit – it naturally prevents the formation of dendrites. These metal
tendrils, which gradually grow between the two electrodes until they cause a
short circuit, are a major hurdle for batteries, particularly lithium-ion
cells.
More
Battery made of aluminum, sulfur and salt proves fast, safe and low-cost (newatlas.com)
This
weekend’s music diversion. Germany’s
very underrated Johann F. Fasch, greatly respected by one J. S. Bach. Approx. 9
minutes.
Johann
Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) - Concerto D-Dur in drei Chören
Johann
Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) - Concerto D-Dur in drei Chören - YouTube
This
weekend’s chess update. Approx. 14 minutes.
This
is Why Evans Gambit is the Greatest Opening Ever!
This
is Why Evans Gambit is the Greatest Opening Ever! - YouTube
This
week’s maths update. Complex numbers. Complex numbers come just before
imaginary numbers in most government accounts.
Approx.
4 minutes. Some great comments too.
Complex
Numbers are Awesome
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