Baltic Dry Index. 1407 +05 Brent Crude 77.97
Spot Gold 1963 US 2 Year Yield 4.08 +0.06
Coronavirus
Cases 01/04/20 World 1,000,000
Deaths 53,103
Coronavirus Cases 30/03/23 World 683,644,472
Deaths 6,829,253
“I have come to the
conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the
politicians.”
Charles de Gaulle.
Is 2023 a historic year? America and Europe are mired in inflation with fast rising social unrest in Europe.
Russia’s never ending war in Ukraine just goes on despite endless western predictions of Russian collapse and Ukraine victory.
China’s global influence continues expanding.
Asia markets trade mixed; ASX hits two-week high
as banking fears ease
UPDATED WED, MAR 29 2023 11:54 PM EDT
Asia-Pacific markets were trading mixed on
Thursday, with Australia’s benchmark index hitting a two week high as concerns
on the recent banking turmoil in the U.S. and Europe ease.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose
0.85%, led by miners and bank stocks. Top gainers, BHP and Rio Tinto,
were up 2.37% and 1.61% respectively, as well as the “Big Four” banks, which
posted gains of 0.8% to 1.7%.
The “Big Four” banks refer to the Commonwealth Bank
of Australia, National Australia
Bank, ANZ Group,
and Westpac Banking
Corp.
Japanese markets are trading
lower, the Nikkei 225 fell
0.73%, while the Topix saw a larger loss of 0.87%.
The Hang Seng index dropped
0.68%, while the Hang Seng Tech index also slid 0.69%, reversing some of the
gains made on Wednesday.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was
0.47% lower, with the Shenzhen
Component also 0.44% down.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.21%,
while the Kosdaq index gained 0.83%.
Overnight in the U.S., stocks rose broadly as
strong gains in tech helped the Nasdaq rebound after a losing session.
Sentiment was also lifted by easing concerns around the state of the banking
sector.
All three major indexes were up,
with the Nasdaq Composite leading
gains and climbing 1.8%. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average rose 1% and the S&P 500 gained
1.4%.
Asia
markets trade mixed; ASX hits two-week high as banking fears ease (cnbc.com)
European stocks set to open higher as banking
concerns continue to ease
UPDATED THU, MAR 30 2023 12:26 AM EDT
European markets are heading for a higher open
Thursday as concerns over the banking sector ease.
European stock markets were
higher on Wednesday, as concerns over the health of the sector continued to
wane; UBS shares were up
4.5% mid-afternoon yesterday after the bank
announced Sergio Ermotti would return to his role as group CEO
from April 5, following the recent acquisition
of Credit Suisse. Shares of the bank ended the session 3.7%
higher.
Asia-Pacific
markets were trading mixed on Thursday, with Australia’s
benchmark index hitting a two-week high as concerns on the recent banking
turmoil in the U.S. and Europe ease. U.S.
stock futures were little changed Wednesday night.
European
markets live updates: stocks, data, news and earnings (cnbc.com)
In other news, China’s global influence
grows. Is US influence declining? What does it mean if it is?
Saudi Arabia takes step to join China-led
security bloc, as ties with Beijing strengthen
Saudi Arabia’s cabinet approved a decision to join
a China-led security bloc, strengthening Riyadh’s eastern ties in a further
step away from U.S. interests.
The state-owned Saudi Press Agency said that, in a
session presided by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi cabinet on
Tuesday approved a memorandum awarding Riyadh the status of dialogue partner in
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — a political, security and trade
alliance that lists China, Russia, India, Pakistan
and four other central Asian nations as full members.
The organization further tallies
four observer states — including Iran — and nine dialogue partners, counting in
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. It is headquartered in Beijing and served by
China’s Zhang Ming as secretary-general.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to join the
SCO, while falling short of full membership, takes Riyadh’s interests further
east, at a time when Beijing is testing out its sway in the Middle East in a
potential hit
to U.S. influence. In early March, China brokered a deal for
long-time Mideast rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume
diplomatic relations and reopen embassies in each other’s
countries.
Deeper in Europe, Beijing just as
ambitiously, if so far less successfully, submitted a 12-point plan to achieve
peace between Russia and Ukraine.
The White House did not immediately
respond to a CNBC request to comment on Saudi Arabia’s new dialogue partner
status in the SCO.
Saudi interests have long been
intertwined with those of leading SCO members China and Russia. Beijing is
Riyadh’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth $87.3 billion in
2021, according to Reuters.
China is a major consumer of
hydrocarbon-reliant Saudi Arabia’s oil exports, with the two countries making
significant inroads in each other’s petrochemical sectors — including the recent announcement by Saudi
state-controlled oil giant Aramco of a joint venture that will build a refinery
and petrochemical complex in Panjin in northeast China, alongside partners
Norinco and the Panjin Xincheng Industrial Group.
Separately, Riyadh is a close ally
of Russia in the crude oil production policies of the OPEC+ coalition.
Saudi
Arabia takes step to join China-led security bloc, as ties with Beijing
strengthen (cnbc.com)
China’s growing influence threatens to undermine
global human rights, new research finds
China’s growing global influence poses a serious
threat to international human rights, according to a new report, which suggests
that the United Nations Human Rights Council — the body established to
safeguard such international protections — is failing to counter the risks.
The UNHRC is an inter-governmental
body made up of 47 U.N. member states, which are elected on a
three-year rotational basis with the stated
aim of strengthening the “promotion and protection of human
rights” globally.
Yet research released Thursday by
risk and strategic consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft suggests that it has
instead become a “battleground for competing standards,” with China and allied
member states showing signs of “watering down international action” and pushing
their “own brand of human rights.”
Of particular note,
it said that China was pushing a “statist ‘development first’ view of human
rights” on council members and undermining individual freedoms by “emphasizing
economic development above all other rights.”
China’s ministry of
foreign affairs did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment on
the findings.
The research, part of the firm’s wider annual
Human Rights Outlook, is based on quantitative data from sources including the
U.N., the U.S. State Department and Human Rights Watch, as well as Verisk
Maplecroft’s internal qualitative analysis.
It also found that China is using
its economic power to sway council votes, with grantees of China’s “Belt & Road Initiative” most
susceptible to influence.
At least 35 of the 47 UNHRC member
states belong to the BRI — China’s global infrastructure development project —
many of which are Asian or African countries with similar, or worse, scores on
the company’s human rights indices, the study noted.
More
China's
growing influence threatens to undermine global human rights (cnbc.com)
China’s strong demand for commodities to exceed
post-2008 crisis, mining giant says
BO’AO, China — China’s post-pandemic reopening
will boost demand for commodities more significantly than it did when the
country emerged from the 2008 financial crisis, according to Andrew Forrest,
executive chairman of Fortescue.
The Australian iron ore giant began
business in China with a 180,000-metric ton shipment of iron ore in 2008,
according to the company’s website.
At that time, China managed to
avoid a prolonged recession with a massive stimulus program that supported infrastructure
development — which drove up demand for commodities.
“It’s like that, but
this time it’s only going to be bigger in volume,” Forrest told CNBC on
Wednesday, when asked how China’s post-Covid demand might compare.
“Probably around the
same or a little less in percentage,” he said on the sidelines of the Boao
Forum for Asia. Government leaders and business executives are at the
high-profile conference held annually in Hainan province and sometimes likened
to the Asian version of the World Economic Forum’s annual event in Davos,
Switzerland.
China’s economy is
far larger today than it was during the global financial crisis in 2008. In
2010, China surpassed Japan to become the second largest economy in the world.
Forrest pointed out
the volume represented by a percentage is greater when the “cake” is larger.
“What we’re seeing
now is uniform demand across China,” Forrest said, “and uniform demand but
increasing, thankfully, in the supply chain, the ecosystem which will create
[for the] renewable energy industry.”
Forrest did not
specify which commodities he was referring to. In the six months ended Dec. 31,
Fortescue said it shipped a record 96.9 million metric tons of iron ore — up 4%
from a year ago.
The Australian miner
expects to keep up a similar pace of shipments in the first half of this year,
according to guidance shared in February.
This year’s Boao
Forum is the first since China ended its Covid-era border controls, allowing
more foreign businesses to visit the country.
More
China
reopening: commodities demand to exceed 2008 crisis-Fortescue (cnbc.com)
China
committed to economic opening up, reforms, Premier Li says
March
30, 2023 6:21 AM GMT+1
BOAO, China,
March 30 (Reuters) - China is committed to opening up the world's
second-largest economy and delivering reforms that can help stimulate growth,
Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday, adding that geopolitical tension would only
hold back development worldwide.
Li's
comments at an international business summit in the island province of Hainan,
are his latest calls for Beijing to bolster its economic recovery in the face
of strained relations with the United States and its allies over everything
from Russia's war in Ukraine to technology exports and Taiwan.
His comments were
delivered on a panel alongside the prime ministers of Malaysia, Singapore and
Spain - which all have close trade and diplomatic ties with Beijing.
"No
matter what changes take place in the world, we will always adhere to reform
and opening up," Li, who took office this month, told the panel at the
annual Boao Forum.
"We
will introduce a series of new measures in expanding market access and
optimising the business environment ... Peace is a prerequisite for
development," he said.
COVID curbs
battered China's economy for three years before being dropped in December, and
Li said there were signs a recovery was starting to take hold.
China
has set itself a modest target for gross domestic product growth of about 5%
this year, after significantly missing its target for 2022. That is lower than
what the International Monetary Fund and some private forecasters think it can
achieve.
"Judging
from the situation in March, it's better than in January and February. In
particular, major economic indicators such as consumption and investment
continue to improve, while employment and prices are generally stable," Li
said.
In
veiled comments aimed at the United States, which is working with its allies to
stymie China's access to advanced technologies such as microchips, Li said
Beijing opposed trade protectionism and decoupling.
Relations between
the two superpowers have been tense for years and worsened last month after the
United States shot down a high-altitude balloon off the U.S. East Coast that it
says was a Chinese spying craft.
Another
flashpoint in U.S.-China rivalry has been Taiwan, the democratically ruled
island that China claims as its territory.
In
the latest escalation, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen arrived in New York on Wednesday for the
first of two U.S stopovers that Beijing has called provocative.
In
his speech, Li said "chaos and conflicts" must not happen in Asia and
that China would act as an "anchor" for global peace.
China
committed to economic opening up, reforms, Premier Li says | Reuters
Finally, in cryptoland, Diogenes is still looking for an honest man.
Binance concealed
‘extensive’ ties to China: Financial Times
MARCH 30, 2023 | 2:31 AM HKT
Binance,
the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, reportedly hid ties to China for
years despite claiming to have left the country following Beijing’s regulatory
clampdown in 2017, according to internal documents cited by the Financial
Times on Wednesday.
Fast facts
- Binance
Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao and other senior executives
reportedly directed employees to conceal the company’s presence in China.
The Financial Times reported that the company had a mainland office that
was active until 2019 and a Chinese bank that was used for payrolls.
- Binance
reportedly told employees in 2018 that their salaries would be disbursed
via a bank in Shanghai, and in 2019, they were told to attend a tax
session at an office in China.
- The
Financial Times also reported that employees were cautioned to only
publicly acknowledge offices in Malta, Singapore and Uganda, while
avoiding reference to other locations, including China.
- The
exchange has reportedly concealed its Chinese presence by including
instructions in the onboarding documentation for new employees in China to
install virtual private networks on their devices.
- “It
is unfortunate that anonymous sources are citing ancient history (in
crypto terms) and dramatically mischaracterizing events. This is not an
accurate picture of Binance’s operations,” a Binance spokesperson said in
a statement shared with Forkast.
- “Binance
does not operate in China nor do we have any technology, including servers
or data, based in China. We strongly reject assertions to the contrary,”
the spokesperson said.
- The
Financial Times said in its report that it could not determine whether
Chinese offices cited in the company’s internal communications were still
active. However, according to a former employee cited by the outlet,
“many” of the exchange’s developers were still in the country.
- Zhao said in
a blog post published last September that Binance is not a Chinese company
and has never been registered or incorporated in China. He added that only
a “small number of customer service agents” remained in China by
late-2018.
- China
banned crypto exchanges from providing services in the country in 2017 and outlawed crypto
trading and mining in 2021.
- The
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Binance on Monday over
allegations that it illegally served clients in the U.S.
Binance
concealed ‘extensive’ ties to China: Financial Times (forkast.news)
Have you heard
about McDonald’s new presidential value meal?
You order whatever
you want, and the person after you has to pay for it.
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.
Britain's Next
expects clothing inflation to ease
March
29, 2023
LONDON
(Reuters) -British fashion retailer Next reported a better-than-expected 5.7%
rise in annual profit on Wednesday and said it would not need to increase
prices by as much as previously thought.
Next, which
trades from about 500 stores and online and is often considered a good
barometer of how British consumers are faring, said inflationary pressures were
expected to ease as freight costs drop and the cost of goods improve.
However higher
costs for wages and energy are still expected to reduce its profit this year.
Its shares fell 5% at the open, after it retained its cautious outlook.
Next has shown
more resilience than most to the cost-of living crisis in Britain and is
considered by analysts to be one of the best run retailers in the country. Its
shares had been up 16% this year, prior to Wednesday's update.
It now expects like-for-like price inflation in spring/summer of 7% and 3% in autumn/winter - down from its previous forecast of 8% and 6% respectively.
That reflected
a significant reduction in container freight costs and improving factory gate
prices - the price at which it purchases goods - due to increased factory
capacity and efforts to move production to more cost effective areas.
The improved
price outlook fits with a Bank of England forecast for inflation to fall from
its 10.4% annual rate in February to below 4% by the end of 2023.
Next made a
pretax profit of 870.4 million pounds ($1.07 billion) in the year to January
2023 - versus guidance of 860 million pounds and up from 823.1 million pounds
in 2021-22.
Sales of items
sold at full price rose 6.9% in 2022-23, with total sales up 8.4% to 5.15
billion pounds.
For 2023-24,
Next kept it kept its guidance for a 1.5% decline in full-price sales and
profit of 795 million pounds.
In the first
eight weeks of its new financial year full-price sales were down 2.0%, in line
with its expectations.
Britain's Next expects clothing inflation to ease (msn.com)
Global Economy’s “Speed Limit” Set to Fall to
Three-Decade Low
MARCH 27, 2023
WASHINGTON,
March 27, 2023—The global economy’s “speed limit”—the maximum long-term
rate at which it can grow without sparking inflation—is set to slump to a
three-decade low by 2030. An ambitious policy push is needed to boost
productivity and the labor supply, ramp up investment and trade, and harness
the potential of the services sector, a new World Bank report shows.
The report, Falling Long-Term Growth
Prospects: Trends, Expectations, and Policies, offers the first
comprehensive assessment of long-term potential output growth rates in the
aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These
rates can be thought of as the global economy’s “speed limit.”
The
report documents a worrisome trend: nearly all the economic forces that
powered progress and prosperity over the last three decades are fading. As a
result, between 2022 and 2030 average global potential GDP growth is expected
to decline by roughly a third from the rate that prevailed in the first decade
of this century—to 2.2% a year. For developing economies, the decline will be
equally steep: from 6% a year between 2000 and 2010 to 4% a year over the
remainder of this decade. These declines would be much steeper in the event of
a global financial crisis or a recession.
“A
lost decade could be in the making for the global economy,” said Indermit
Gill, the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice
President for Development Economics. “The ongoing decline in
potential growth has serious implications for the world’s ability to tackle the
expanding array of challenges unique to our times—stubborn poverty, diverging
incomes, and climate change. But this decline is reversible. The global
economy’s speed limit can be raised—through policies that incentivize work,
increase productivity, and accelerate investment.”
The analysis shows that potential GDP growth can be boosted
by as much as 0.7 percentage points—to an annual average rate of 2.9%—if
countries adopt sustainable, growth-oriented policies. That would convert an expected
slowdown into an acceleration of global potential GDP growth.
“We
owe it to future generations to formulate policies that can deliver robust,
sustainable, and inclusive growth,” said Ayhan Kose, a lead author
of the report and Director of the World Bank’s Prospects Group. “A
bold and collective policy push must be made now to rejuvenate growth. At the
national level, each developing economy will need to repeat its best 10-year
record across a range of policies. At the international level, the policy
response requires stronger global cooperation and a reenergized push to
mobilize private capital.”
The
report lays out an extensive menu of achievable policy options, breaking new
ground in several areas. It introduces the world’s first comprehensive public database of multiple measures of
potential GDP growth—covering 173 economies from 1981 through 2021. It is also
the first to assess how a range of short-term economic disruptions—such as
recessions and systemic banking crises—reduce potential growth over the medium
term.
“Recessions
tend to lower potential growth,” said Franziska Ohnsorge, a lead author
of the report and Manager of the World Bank’s Prospects Group.
“Systemic banking crises do greater immediate harm than recessions, but their
impact tends to ease over time.”
The
report highlights specific policy actions at the national level that can make
an important difference in promoting long-term growth prospects:
More
Global Economy’s “Speed Limit” Set to Fall to
Three-Decade Low (worldbank.org)
As a Russian
citizen, I am confused about why it takes America so long to get a definitive
result from their election—we know our results months in advance!
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
EXCLUSIVE: CDC Found COVID-19
Vaccine Safety Signals Months Earlier Than Previously Known, Files Show
Mar 28 2023
The top U.S. public health agency
identified hundreds of safety signals for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19
vaccines months earlier than previously known, according to files obtained by
The Epoch Times.
The U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) found more than 700 signals that the vaccines
could cause adverse events—including acute heart failure and death—in May 2022,
the files show.
The CDC detected many of the same signals
in July 2022, The Epoch Times previously reported. The new files show that the first time
the CDC calculated a proportional reporting ratio (PRR) on vaccine injury
reports, signals were identified.
The analysis went over reports
lodged between Dec. 14, 2020, and May 6, 2022.
The CDC initially claimed that it didn’t run the PRR, a data mining method, on the injury reports made to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. The CDC later claimed that it started the method in February 2021, shortly after the vaccines were rolled out. Both of those claims were false, the CDC ultimately said, adding that it didn’t start until March 2022.
When the first analyses were done that month, CDC employees identified more than 200 signals for Pfizer’s shot and 93 signals for Moderna’s vaccine, the files show. Those analyses compare the events lodged after receiving one vaccine with events lodged after receiving another, or several others.
The Epoch Times obtained the files through Freedom of Information Act requests.
The strongest analysis involves comparing the reports lodged after vaccination with the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines with the reports lodged after vaccination with all non-COVID-19 vaccines. The analysis is contained in files labeled “Table 5.”
According to the files provided by the CDC, the agency didn’t start that analysis until May 2022.
“The program staff advises that ‘Table 5 was only created from May 6, 2022, to July 31, 2022,'” a CDC Freedom of Information Act processer told The Epoch Times via email.
The CDC didn’t respond to a request for more information.
“Federal health agencies have ignored the flashing alarms of their own safety surveillance systems since early 2021. They have ignored my oversight letters and lied about what analyses they have performed. It is well past time for the American public to be told the truth,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the top Republican on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, told The Epoch Times via email.
Operating Procedures
The CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) co-manage the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System,
which accepts reports from anybody but is primarily used by health care
workers. Reports to the system are analyzed and verified by health officials
and contractors.
In operating procedure documents, the agencies said that officials would
monitor the system to identify “potential new safety concerns for COVID-19
vaccines.” The FDA would perform one type of analysis, called Empirical Bayesian
data mining, while the CDC would perform PRR data mining.
More
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.
Next-generation solar power: How it would change the world
Why
solar power is the future of energy: know the key developments
Published: March 29, 2023 09:23
Anywhere the sun
shines, solar power can run your house or city. It’s already happening. The
system keeps improving, while costs are falling.
Small improvements,
yes. But these eventually could lead to exponential, game-changing leaps over
time.
Top scientists
believe the world can reach a 100 per cent renewables by or before 2050. They
cite a number of reasons: big drop in cost, tech improvements.
Advances in
batteries, improvements in materials science — the development of perovskite
cells panels or more efficient wind turbine designs — are making it possible to
create more efficient and durable renewable power solutions.
But it’s
solar that’s a low-hanging fruit especially in arid regions. It just needs
a little push, from manufacturers, industry, policymakers, everyone.
In
recent years, solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has seen a dramatic drop in
cost. Projects in the UAE have demonstrated why solar is one of
the most cost-competitive sources of electricity in many parts of the world.
The
International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), based in Abu Dhabi, reported
that solar energy has the potential to meet a significant portion of the world's
energy demand.
Enter perovskite solar cells (PSC)
Current
calculations are based on existing PV technology, with efficiencies of NO more
than 20 per cent. It doesn’t factor in new developments, involving perovskite
solar cells (PSC), with theoretical efficiencies of up to 40 per cent, and
next-generation batteries.
The word
"perovskite" solar cells derives from the nickname for its crystal
structure.
A family of
materials known as “halide perovskites” has demonstrated potential for solar
cells with a huge performance boost and low production costs. There’s been a
major developments in this area, according to the US Department of Energy
(DOE):
- The efficiency of perovskite
solar cells has increased dramatically over the past few years.
- Efficiency has risen from
reports of around 3 per cent in 2009 to over 25 per cent today, a lab in
LA reports more than 30 per cent efficiency.
- The DOE's SunShot Initiative
aims to make solar energy cost-competitive with traditional energy sources
by 2030.
- In small-area lab devices,
perovskite PV cells have exceeded almost all thin-film technologies
(except III-V technologies) in power conversion efficiency — the rate at
which light is turned into electricity — showing rapid improvements over
the past five years.
More
Next-generation
solar power: How it would change the world | Special-reports – Gulf News
Q: Why do thieves never target
politicians’ homes?
A: Professional courtesy.
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