Baltic Dry Index. 594 +42 Brent Crude 82.76
Spot Gold 1837 US 2 Year Yield 4.67 +0.07
Coronavirus
Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,103
Coronavirus Cases 22/02/23 World 678,954,049
Deaths 6,792,696
All wars are follies, very expensive and very mischievous ones.
Benjamin Franklin.
With the relentless march to all out war well covered in mainstream media, the BBC World Service radio has gone into full propaganda anti-Russian demonisation, western war justification mode this morning, the LIR fully expects Europe’s senseless war to get very much worse in 2023, before hopefully it ends at some point next year.
Like ill fated 1914, everyone is talking themselves into a much wider war.
Thankfully, few in the stock casinos or commodity markets seem to be aware of the perilous path we are headed down. I suspect this will change over the Spring and Summer as we get a better fix on the Ukraine’s grain and sunflower crops and potential harvests.
Below, news from the Asian stock casinos plus yet another central bank interest rate hike. With another 50 basis point hike coming from the ECB next month, expectations now are for the ECB to end the year at 4 percent, the BOE to end the year at 5 percent and the US Fed to end the year at 6 percent. Just don’t let on to the punters in the over-priced stock casinos.
Look away from that soaring inverted US yield
curve now.
Asia markets fall
as New Zealand hikes rates to 14-year high; Hong Kong releases budget
UPDATED WED, FEB 22 2023 12:40 AM EST
Asia-Pacific markets were lower on Wednesday
after Wall Street’s sharp losses overnight, and New Zealand’s central bank
continued to hike its benchmark interest rate.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand
hiked rates by 50 basis points to 4.75%, the highest in over 14 years, to tame
inflation. The S&P/NZX
50 Index fell 0.6% and the New Zealand dollar gained 0.42% to
stand at 0.6237 against the U.S. dollar.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was
0.45% lower as nation saw its wage price index for the fourth quarter of 2022
come in lower than estimates.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was
1.44% lower as the nation’s producer price index rose 1.6% on an annualized
basis. The Topix dropped 1.28%. In South Korea, the Kospi shed 1.29% and the
Kosdaq was 1.17% lower.
The Hang Seng index opened
fractionally lower, while the Hang Seng Tech index fell 1.05% as investors
digested Hong
Kong’s budget. Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the economy shrank
by 3.5% in 2022.
In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component fell
0.48%, while the Shanghai
Composite dropped 0.44%.
Overnight, on Wall Street,
the Dow Jones Industrial
Average shed 2.06% and the S&P 500 dropped 2%, marking the worst downturn for
both indexes since Dec. 15. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.50%.
Asia
Markets: interest rates, Hong Kong GDP, Japan, Australia (cnbc.com)
Stock futures
inch higher as investors brace for Fed minutes: Live updates
UPDATED TUE, FEB 21 2023 6:59 PM
EST
Stock futures rose slightly in overnight trading
as Wall Street braced for the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes and more
insight on the central bank’s future hiking agenda.
Shares of Palo Alto Networks popped
after the bell as the cybersecurity company lifted
its earnings forecast for the year. Crypto exchange platform Coinbase topped
revenue expectations.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones
Industrial Average added
47 points, or 0.14%. Meanwhile, futures linked to the S&P 500 inched
0.12% higher, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained
0.16%.
Mounting concerns that the
Federal Reserve will continue hiking rates spooked investors during regular
trading Tuesday and pushed stocks to cap off their worst
day of 2023. A slew of earnings reports, including disappointing
results from Home Depot, also sparked concerns about the health
of the consumer.
The Nasdaq Composite led
the session’s losses, falling 2.5%, while the S&P 500 slumped
2%. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average dropped
2.06% and turned negative
for the year. All major S&P sectors finished with losses, led to
the downside by consumer discretionary.
Rising bond yields also kept the
market on edge, with the rate on the 10-year Treasury note hitting its highest
level since November during the day.
“I think there’s a repricing of
the equity market based on the view that the Fed will likely have to be higher
for longer, and because of the rising interest rates,” said Truist’s co-chief
investment officer Keith Lerner.
Attention now shifts toward the
Fed minutes due out Wednesday. Investors will scour the results for insight
into the central bank’s future rate hiking path and its recent 25 basis point
increase.
Where the major
averages stand after Tuesday’s selloff
This is where all
the major averages stand for 2023 and February after posting their worst
session of the year and worst day since Dec. 15.
Dow Jones
Industrial Average:
- Down
0.05% in 2023
- Down
2.81% in February
- 10.35% off
record high
- 81.89%
off pandemic low
S&P 500:
- Up
4.11% for the year
- Down
1.94% in February
- 17.04%
off record high
- 82.37%
off pandemic low
Nasdaq Composite:
- Up
9.8% for the year
- Down
0.8% this month
- 29.11%
% off record high
- 73.30%
off pandemic low
Stock
market today: Live updates (cnbc.com)
Norway's
oil and gas production was lower than expected in January
FEB. 21, 2023 / 1:18 PM
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The
Norwegian government on Tuesday said production for January was lower than
expected, despite a strong start to 2023 in terms of new oil and natural gas
discoveries.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's energy regulator, published
data Tuesday showing crude oil production averaged 1.75 million
barrels per day and natural gas production averaged 12 billion cubic feet per
day last month.
To put that in context, oil production is close to the
average daily output from North Dakota, home to the Bakken shale formation. Gas
production is relative to the Haynesville reserve, the third-largest shale
natural gas producer in the United States.
Oil production in Norway was 3% below the government's forecast, while
gas production was 3.9% below the NPD's expectations.
The NPD gave no
reason for the deviation. Meanwhile, the lackluster performance came after a
series of new discoveries in Norwegian waters.
Norwegian energy company Equinor made its first commercial natural gas
discovery in its territorial waters for the year in
mid-January. The new find could be connected with the infrastructure
at the Irpa field, which will be tied into the larger Aasta Hansteen complex
and extend its life by seven years.
More
Norway’s
oil and gas production was lower than expected last month - UPI.com
Finally, good old commodities! What would the global commodities sector be, without fraud, lies, double dealing, cheating, over-trading, multiple hypothecations and a large cast of villains and egomaniacs to match.
Below, the great LME nickel scandal number
two.
Column:
The devil's metal strikes again in Trafigura nickel fraud case
February
20, 2023 1:00 AM GMT
LONDON, Feb 17
(Reuters) - Another year, another nickel scandal as the devil's metal lives up
to its reputation.
When German
miners first came across the stuff in fifteenth century Saxony, they dubbed it
"Kupfernickel", or "Devil's Copper" because it looked like
copper but wasn't.
Appearances can
be deceptive when it comes to nickel, as Trafigura has just found out half a
millennium later.
The commodity
trader will take a $577 million charge in the first half of 2023 against
potential losses arising from what it called a "systematic fraud" involving cargoes of nickel that were not nickel.
It's an age-old
scam but this one is big, involving 1,104 containers with up to 25,000 tonnes
of nickel. Or not, as Trafigura is discovering to its cost.
This year's
scandal follows hot on the heels of the market blow-out in March last year,
when the London Metal Exchange (LME) had to suspend nickel trading for fear of
a complete market collapse.
Though unrelated,
the two incidents reinforce a sense of crisis around how nickel is currently
traded.
AN AGE-OLD SCAM
The scam of
delivering metal that isn't what it appears to be is, quite literally, as old
as the hills.
The British
Museum hosts a clay tablet dating from around 1750 BC, in which a Babylonian
merchant called Nanni berates a supplier for trying to cheat him on a shipment
of copper ingots.
More
Column: The
devil's metal strikes again in Trafigura nickel fraud case | Reuters
A partial listing since the 60s. Sorry, if
I’ve inadvertently left anyone out.
The great New Jersey “salad oil” scandal. The
great Maine White Potato default. The great Hunt Brothers silver corner and exchange
rigged collapse. The great Mark Rich and Pincus Green crude oil scandal. The great LME Tin
Buffer Stock price rig and collapse. The great “Mr. Copper” LME copper corner
and collapse. The great Refco Inc., fraud and collapse. The great Madof fraud
and collapse (although it was actually more of a stock scandal.) The great MF
Global collapse with missing customer funds. The great 2020 negative crude oil
price event. The great Nickel LME scandal number one.
Commodities and crooks go together like hand
and glove. What’s not to like? Though lately many, if not most, crooks seemed
to have graduated into cryptocurrency.
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.
Japan's
factory activity shrinks at fastest pace in 2-1/2 years
February
21, 20231 2:35 AM GMT
TOKYO, Feb 21
(Reuters) - Japan's manufacturing activity contracted at the fastest pace in 30
months in February, a business survey showed on Tuesday, in a worrying sign for
the world's third-largest economy, which is facing weakening demand and struggling to
tame cost pressures.
The au Jibun Bank
flash Japan manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to a seasonally
adjusted 47.4 in February, from a final 48.9 in the previous month.
The index stayed
below the 50-level that separates contraction from expansion for a fourth
consecutive month and marked the largest decline since August 2020's 47.2.
Factory output
and new orders decreased for an eighth straight month and at faster rates
than January, the sub-index
data showed.
Export orders
logged the biggest decrease since July 2020 on relentlessly weak global demand
as seen in recent indicators such as the slower-than-expected gross domestic product growth
in October-December and January's record trade deficit.
By contrast,
service-sector activity grew for a six month with further relaxation of
domestic COVID-19 countermeasures. The government last month said it
would downgrade the
coronavirus's public health classification in May.
The au Jibun Bank
flash services PMI rose to an eight-month-high of 53.6 seasonally adjusted in
February from the previous month's 52.3 final.
"Service
providers posted sharper rises in activity and new business as the latest wave
of the COVID-19 pandemic faded, providing a boost to demand," said Andrew
Harker, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, which
compiles the survey.
By contrast,
service-sector activity grew for a six month with further relaxation of
domestic COVID-19 countermeasures. The government last month said it
would downgrade the
coronavirus's public health classification in May.
The au Jibun Bank
flash services PMI rose to an eight-month-high of 53.6 seasonally adjusted in
February from the previous month's 52.3 final.
"Service
providers posted sharper rises in activity and new business as the latest wave
of the COVID-19 pandemic faded, providing a boost to demand," said Andrew
Harker, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, which
compiles the survey.
More
Japan's factory activity shrinks at fastest pace in 2-1/2 years | Reuters
Italy
faces new drought alert as Venice canals run dry
February
20, 2023 5:02 PM GMT
MILAN, Feb 20
(Reuters) - Weeks of dry winter weather have raised concerns that Italy could
face another drought after last summer's emergency, with the Alps having
received less than half of their normal snowfall, according to scientists and
environmental groups.
The warning comes
as Venice, where flooding is normally the primary concern, faces unusually low
tides that are making it impossible for gondolas, water taxis and ambulances to
navigate some of its famous canals.
---- Italian rivers and lakes are suffering from severe lack
of water, the Legambiente environmental group said on Monday, with attention
focused on the north of the country.
The Po, Italy's
longest river which runs from the Alps in the northwest to the Adriatic has 61%
less water than normal at this time of year, it added in a statement.
Last July Italy declared a state of emergency for areas surrounding the Po, which accounts for
roughly a third of the country's agricultural production and suffered its worst
drought for 70 years.
"We are in a
water deficit situation that has been building up since the winter of
2020-2021," climate expert Massimiliano Pasqui from Italian scientific
research institute CNR was quoted as saying by daily Corriere della Sera.
"We need to
recover 500 millimetres in the north-western regions: we need 50 days of
rain," he added.
Water levels on
Lake Garda in northern Italy have fallen to record lows, making it possible to
reach the small island of San Biagio on the lake via an exposed pathway.
An anticyclone
has been dominating the weather in western Europe for 15 days, bringing mild
temperatures more normally seen in late spring.
Latest weather
forecasts do however signal the arrival of much-needed precipitation and snow
in the Alps in coming days.
Italy faces new
drought alert as Venice canals run dry | Reuters
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
With Covid-19 starting to become only endemic,
this section is close to coming to its end.
Pfizer Knowingly Allowed
Dangerous Components in its Vaccines (Part 1)
An investigation
into mRNA quality issues
Feb 19 2023
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine contains
mRNA fragments called “truncated mRNA.” This is a serious issue on top of the
vaccine’s life-threatening safety events. Stunningly, Pfizer
submitted falsified mRNA analytical reports to multiple health
authorities.
The issue of truncated mRNA led
the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to raise a “major objection” before
its December 2020 conditional approval of the vaccine. What has happened? How
have these issues been considered resolved? This two-part series article will
address the matter in depth and examine its potential consequences for human
health.
Summary of Key Facts
·
Pfizer’s
COVID-19 vaccine contains truncated mRNA, which the EMA flagged as a
reason for its “major objection,” indicating a preclusion of their
approval.
·
Pfizer
has not investigated the detrimental outcomes of truncated mRNA in its
vaccines.
·
Pfizer
submitted Western blot figures to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and
the EMA that were digitally generated—not from actual experiments.
·
There
has been an alarming lack of action taken by health authorities on this issue.
·
Truncated
mRNA potentially contributes to multiple vaccine-related injuries, including
misfolded spike protein-induced fibrous blood clots, autoimmune disorders,
and cancer.
·
These problems
with the Pfizer vaccine could have resulted in drastic product quality
variations from batch to batch. This could explain the difference in adverse
events experienced by vaccine recipients.
·
The
root cause of such irresponsible conduct by pharma and health authorities is a
lack of ethics.
More
Pfizer Knowingly
Allowed Dangerous Components in its Vaccines (Part 1) (theepochtimes.com)
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
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, among other things, I’ve added this
section. Updates as they get reported.
Energy company
announces world first as its tidal power project hits major milestone
PUBLISHED TUE, FEB 21 2023 6:46
AM EST
The emerging tidal power sector seems to have
taken another step forward — an Edinburgh-headquartered firm said Monday that
its project had achieved a world first by producing 50 gigawatt hours of
electricity.
“During the early hours of this morning … our
tidal stream array off the coast of the Pentland Firth became the first tidal
stream array in the world to generate 50GWh of electricity,” Graham Reid, the
CEO of SAE Renewables, said
in a statement.
Reid described the news as a “significant
milestone in delivering tidal stream power at scale.”
“Total global generation from all other tidal
devices and sites is less than 50% of that amount,” he added.
Located in waters north of mainland Scotland, SAE
Renewables’ MeyGen array is made up of four 1.5 megawatt turbines and has a
total capacity of 6 MW when fully operational. Currently, three turbines are in
operation.
“The MeyGen site has been operational since 2017,
we have overcome many challenges, with reliability being an issue in the early
days, but we have learned an immense amount along the way,” Reid said.
Scotland has a long association with North Sea oil
and gas production, but in recent years it’s become a hub for companies and
projects focused on tidal power and marine energy in general.
These businesses include Nova Innovation, which
has developed the 600 kilowatt Shetland Tidal Array, and Orbital Marine Power,
which is working on what it says is the “most powerful tidal turbine in the world.”
North of the Scottish mainland, the archipelago of
Orkney is home to the European Marine Energy Centre, where wave and tidal
energy developers can test and assess their technology in the open sea.
More
Firm announces world first as tidal power project
passes milestone (cnbc.com)
Long-range, box-wing eVTOL prototype begins flight
testing down under
Loz Blain February 20, 2023
Australia's
AMSL Aero has celebrated the first tethered test flight of its ultra-efficient
Vertiia eVTOL aircraft. With its unique box wing formation, eight tilting
propellers and five seats, it promises a 1,000 km (620-mile) range and speeds
up to 300 km/h (180 mph).
The
eVTOL space as a whole is definitely starting to look distinctly grown-up in
2023, transitioning from the crazy rush of concepts and ideas a few years ago
into a broadly careful, measured and sensible sort of sector that's going
through the exhaustive process of getting these machines ready for
certification and manufacture.
Still, AMSL
Aero is a unique and interesting company in
this space – not only for the fact that it's working on this machine in
Australia, on the opposite side of the globe from where most of the action is
in China, Europe and the USA, but because the Vertiia is a very different
airframe to the rest.
Its box wing formation should make it one of
the most compact eVTOLs on the market, carrying up to five people with a
footprint that might fit in a couple of car park spaces. And the Vertiia
has been designed from the outset to run on hydrogen fuel cells – hence it boasts a ludicrous range figure,
three to four times what most of the competition are claiming on batteries
alone.
But Australia is
enormous, bigger than the contiguous 48 states of the USA, with around
one-thirteenth the population; if you want to build a useful air ambulance or
regional commuter aircraft down under, you need to be able to handle some
distance. And that could serve this company well in overseas markets too.
"If you can solve the long range problem," co-founder Andrew Moore
tells us over a video call, "short range is easy. If you only build a
short range aircraft, then long range is impossible."
Moore believes the
decision to design the Vertiia for a hydrogen powertrain from the ground up is
a critical advantage, and that it'll be no easy task for competitors to
redesign their aircraft to run on hydrogen, even once a powertrain is certified
and ready for use. "It's almost a complete redesign if you haven't thought
about it from the outset," he says.
More
Long-range,
box-wing eVTOL prototype begins flight testing down under (newatlas.com)
At the beginning of this War [WW1] megalomania was the only form of sanity.
Winston Churchill.
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