Baltic Dry Index. 1142 -03 Brent Crude 86.05
Spot Gold 1931 US 2 Year Yield 4.74 -0.02
A daughter shows her bankster father her work on Bitcoin's lightning network to speed up transactions, in response he ask's her if she would like to hear his opinion on Bitcoin.
She
replies yes. "It's worthless"
her father says
"I know" She replies "But let's hear it anyway."
Bad news from China this morning, deflation is stalking the world’s second largest economy.
How long before China is exporting deflation out to the global economy, although that already seems to be happening in industrial commodities.
Bad news for banksters too. Windfall profits taxes arrive.
Bunker time.
Stocks in China
fall as consumer prices drop for the first time in more than 2 years
UPDATED WED, AUG 9 2023 12:00 AM
EDT
Stocks in
China and Hong Kong fell Wednesday as China’s consumer prices slipped into
negative territory in July, for the first time in 28 months.
The CSI300, which tracks stocks
of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, fell 0.22%. Mainland
Chinese markets were lower, with the Shanghai Composite down 0.36% and the
Shenzhen Component 0.28% lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed
0.1%.
China’s
July CPI declined by 0.3% year-on-year, smaller than the 0.4%
expected by economists polled by Reuters — the last time China recorded a fall
in its inflation rate was in February 2021.
Producer price index fell 4.4% in
July compared to a year ago, more than the 4.1% expected by economists polled
by Reuters.
″These
numbers will deepen worries about both China’s growth prospects and the
effectiveness of traditional stimulus measures,” Mohamed
El-Erian, chief economic advisor of Allianz, said in a post on
X, formerly known as Twitter.
Major markets in Asia-Pacific
were mixed.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid
0.5%, while the Topix fell 0.3%. In contrast, South Korea’s Kospi climbed
1.09%, while the Kosdaq was up nearly 2%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was
also marginally up.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes
saw a selloff after Moody’s downgraded
the credit rating on several regional banks, citing deposit risk, a
potential recession and struggling commercial real estate portfolios.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was
down 0.45%, while the S&P
500 dipped 0.42% and the Nasdaq Composite pulled
back by 0.79%.
Asia
stock market today: Live updates China CPI, PPI, Moody's bank downgrade
(cnbc.com)
China’s consumer
prices fall for the first time in 2 years, as fears of deflation grow
BEIJING — China
reported inflation data for July that pointed to a modest improvement from
June.
The consumer price
index fell by 0.3% in July from a year ago, but was up by 0.2% when compared
with June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics Wednesday.
The year-on-year CPI
print for July was slightly better than expectations for a 0.4% decline,
according to analysts polled by Reuters. It was still the first year-on-year
decline since early 2021, according to official data accessed via Wind
Information.
The producer price
index fell by 4.4% in July from a year ago, better than the 5.4% decline in
June, the data showed.
However, the
year-on-year PPI read was worse than the 4.1% forecast by a Reuters poll.
“Both CPI and PPI are
in deflation territory,” said Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist of
Pinpoint Asset Management, in a note following the data release. “The economic
momentum continues to weaken due to lacklustre domestic demand.”
“The CPI deflation may put more pressure on the
government to consider additional fiscal stimulus to mitigate the challenge,”
he added.
A 26% year-on-year drop in pork prices, a staple
food in China, contributed to the overall decline in the CPI in July. Tourism
prices rose by 13.1% from a year ago.
Core CPI, which
excludes food and energy prices, rose by 0.8% from a year ago — the highest
since January, according to official data accessed via Wind Information.
Producer prices
will likely turn higher on a year-on-year basis before the consumer price index
does, said Bruce Pang, chief economist and head of research for Greater
China at JLL.
He expects consumer
prices will still be dragged down in the coming months by falling pork prices
and a high base effect, while core CPI may gradually rise.
Lackluster domestic demand has persisted since the
pandemic. China’s consumer price index was flat in June from a year ago.
Second-quarter data prompted several economists to warn
of growing risk of deflation — a persistent decrease in prices
over time.
More
China's
CPI falls first time in 2 years, as fears of deflation grow (cnbc.com)
In the stock casinos, more sign of a harsh
reality taking hold.
From $40 billion
to ‘going concern’ — WeWork warns of possible bankruptcy
Four years ago WeWork was
preparing for a blockbuster IPO. Now the company is warning of possible
bankruptcy.
“Our losses and negative cash flows
from operating activities raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue
as a going concern,” WeWork said in a filing with the SEC on Tuesday.
The spectacular collapse of a company once valued by SoftBank at $40
billion has been years in the making, but is still surprising
given the number of large commercial buildings around the world that don the
company’s name. The combination of the Covid pandemic, which led many
businesses to exit their leases in favor of remote work, and the subsequent
economic slump, has left WeWork heavy on debt and struggling to generate cash.
“If we are not successful in
improving our liquidity position and the profitability of our operations, we
may need to consider all strategic alternatives, including restructuring or
refinancing our debt, seeking additional debt or equity capital, reducing or
delaying our business activities and strategic initiatives, or selling assets,
other strategic transactions and/or other measures, including obtaining relief
under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code,” the company said.
WeWork’s stock has been trading
below $1 since mid-March. It tumbled 26% to 15 cents in extended trading on
Tuesday and now has a market cap below $500 million.
The company had a net loss in the
first half of the year of $700 million after losing $2.3 billion in 2022. As of
June 30, it had $205 million in cash and equivalents and total liquidity of
$680 million. It has $2.91 billion in long-term debt.
WeWork first sought to
go public in 2019, publishing its initial prospectus in August of that year.
With its full financials available for everyone to see, the business was
roundly criticized due to excessive spending and risks along with founder Adam
Neumann’s complex relationship at the company.
The IPO never made it out the door. SoftBank founder
and CEO Masayoshi Son called his investment in WeWork “foolish” and
his company took majority
control of the business in a $5 billion financing package.
Neumann was forced to step down.
In 2021, WeWork finally became
public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition
company, or SPAC. But the turbulence continued. WeWork said its revenue grew
just 3.6% year over year in the second quarter and declined 4% in the U.S.,
where it gets 41% of its sales.
Economic conditions led more
members to depart, bring down revenue and cash flow, WeWork said. Even SoftBank
is spending less on WeWork.
More
WeWork
warns of remaining 'going concern' and says bankruptcy possible (cnbc.com)
Up next, with banksters unwilling to pass on
higher interest rates to savers, Italy has declared open season on Italian
banksters. How long before everyone else piles in? Not long I suspect.
Italy shocks banks
with 40% windfall tax for 2023
August 8, 2023 10:54 AM GMT+1
ROME, Aug 8
(Reuters) - Italy has approved a one-off 40% tax on profits banks reap from
higher interest rates after reprimanding lenders for failing to reward
deposits, in a surprise move that sent banking shares plunging across Europe.
Sharply higher
official interest rates have yielded record profits for banks, as lenders hike
the cost of loans while holding off paying more on deposits.
Countries such as
Spain and Hungary have already imposed windfall taxes on the sector and others
may now follow suit.
Italian Prime
Minister Giorgia Meloni's government had floated the idea of a windfall tax on
banks earlier in the year but appeared to have cooled on the plan.
A senior banking
executive told Reuters that lenders had been ready for "the chopping
block, but then the axe didn't come down."
Since then,
however, bumper first-half results from banks brought the issue starkly into
focus once again and prompted the government to act on the eve of the summer
political shutdown.
One source said
the plan came as a surprise even to some ministers at Monday night's cabinet
meeting.
Italy's
banking share index plunged 7.4% by 0915 GMT on Tuesday, with top bank Intesa
Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) down 8% and rival heavyweight UniCredit (CRDI.MI) down 6.5%. Italian banks dragged the European
index (.SX7E) down 2.4%, with a
Moody's downgrade of some U.S. banks also weighing on bank shares.
"One has
only to look at banks' first-half profits ... to realise that we are not
talking about a few millions, but ... of billions," Deputy Prime Minister
Matteo Salvini told a news conference in Rome late on Monday.
----Citi analysts
calculated the tax could wipe nearly a fifth off Italian banks' 2023 net
income. Bank of America estimated proceeds of between 2-3 billion euros for the
government.
Sources said the
Treasury expected to collect less than 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) from the
measure.
That
would be similar to the figure of 2.8 billion euros raised by this year's windfall
tax on energy companies.
Italy will apply
the tax only in 2023 with banks paying the sums by June 30, 2024. The measure
applies to the net interest margin (NIM), a measure of income banks derive from
the gap between lending and deposit rates.
More
Italy shocks banks with 40% windfall tax for 2023
| Reuters
Finally, with the Chinese economy clearly slowing
China’s demand for commodities is slowing too.
Silver: More Red
Flags for ‘Solar Metal’ From China Slowdown
August 8, 2023
One of the world’s most valuable
industrial metals, silver, could lose more of its luster as
the economy it heavily relies on slows by the day.
The white
metal, key to renewable energy from its extensive use in solar panels, has lost
8% of its value in four weeks, trading at a crossroads now, with a technical
rebound likely after the triggering of key support levels on its way down.
But it could
also enter a new period of fundamentally-driven bearishness after trade data on
Tuesday showed China’s exports tumbling at its fastest pace in 3-½ years,
adding to concerns about the world’s No. 2 economy.
A China slowdown will slow global industrial progress as many of the world’s jobs and production depend on the Chinese economy due to its vast market and factory floors.
In Monday’s
session, silver for September delivery on New York’s Comex fell to a one-month
low of $23.12 an ounce, extending for a fourth week in a row a decline that
began when the metal traded above $25.
The spot price
of silver, more closely watched than futures by some traders, settled on Monday
at $23.15 per ounce — down 2% on the day and 7% off over the past four weeks.
Those moves in
silver came before data on Tuesday that showed China’s exports fell by 14.5%
last month from a year earlier to $281.76 billion, compared with a 12.4% slump
in June.
The drop in
China’s July exports was way beyond the 4.8% fall projected by Wind, a leading
provider of financial information services in Beijing.
Aside from
exports, imports fell 12.4% in July from a year earlier to $201.16 billion,
versus a fall of 6.8% in June and against Wind’s forecast drop of 11.4%.
The
International Monetary Fund originally forecasted that China would be the top
contributor to global growth over the next five years, with a share expected to
represent 22.6% of total world growth — double that of the United States.
Prices of
metals from iron ore to copper fell this year as demand in the world’s biggest
market didn’t pick up as strongly as traders had expected.
The slump is
hitting exporters of high-tech goods especially, with shipments from South
Korea and Taiwan dropping by double digits each month in the first half of the
year.
After years of
COVID restraints, Chinese travelers have yet to resume traveling en masse
abroad, as their income and job confidence remain weak, hurting
tourism-dependent countries.
With the risk
of further interest rate hikes tipping the US into recession, the prospect has
grown of the world’s two economic powerhouses slumping simultaneously
compounding the pain for everyone.
More
Silver: More Red Flags for ‘Solar Metal’ From China Slowdown (msn.com)
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.
Fed
Gov. Bowman: More rate hikes may be necessary to meet inflationary target rate
AUG. 7, 2023 / 1:07 PM / UPDATED AUG. 7, 2023 AT 1:15 PM
Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Even with some improvement, additional rate hikes may be necessary
to bring inflation closer to the 2% target rate, U.S. Federal
Reserve Gov. Michelle Bowman
said Monday.
Bowman was addressing the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta a few
short weeks after the central bank opted to raise its lending rates by 25 basis
points. Progress has been made in the fight against inflation, she said, but
rates remain above target and may warrant additional action.
"Of
course, monetary policy is not on a pre-set path, and I will be closely
monitoring the incoming data and their implications for the economic
outlook," she said.
Consumer-level
prices in the U.S. economy, an inflation gauge watched
closely by the Federal
Reserve, expanded last month since early 2021, but remained above the 2% target
rate. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index increased by 3% over
the 12-month period to June, a slowdown from the 3.8% reported year-on-year to
May.
So-called core PCE, which strips out volatile food and energy prices,
showed a 4.1% expansion year-on-year to June, lower than the 4.6% annual
reading to May and slightly better than analysts expected.
"I
will be looking for evidence that inflation is on a consistent and meaningful
downward path as I consider whether further increases in the federal funds rate
will be needed, and how long the federal funds rate will need to remain at a
sufficiently restrictive level" Bowman said.
That's
been something of a running theme at the Fed. In a statement released after
the latest rate
increase, the Fed said it will
"continue to assess additional information and its implications for
monetary policy."
The paused
rate hikes in June, but made it known that more were likely later this year.
The federal funds rate range is at a 22-year high of 5.25% to 5.5%.
Another
batch of data on U.S. inflation are out Thursday.
Fed Gov. Bowman: More rate hikes may be necessary to
meet inflationary target rate - UPI.com
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Trust
me, I’m not a doctor. Your health at risk from quacks.
Biden Admin Concedes No Evidence Behind Recommendation for 6 COVID Booster Shots a Year
8/7/2023 Updated: 8/7/2023
After Health Secretary
Xavier Becerra, a Biden appointee, wrote in a social media post on Nov. 29,
2022, that people should get vaccinated “if it’s been over 2 months since
your last dose,” the Functional Government Initiative (FGI) filed
a Freedom of Information Act request for documents supporting the
statements.
The watchdog
organization then sued after the administration didn't comply with
timelines laid out in the law.
FGI asked for, among other
documents: "Any scientific support relied on by Secretary Becerra when
approving or issuing the tweet recommending that all Americans receive a
booster shot every two months" and "any study, synopsis, or similar
statement or document of scientific, academic, or government research on
whether a bi-monthly booster shot will effectively prevent the transmission or
susceptibility to COVID-19 and known active variants as of November 2022."
It also asked for internal
communications regarding Mr. Becerra's statements.
In a new response, the
government said it had no evidence to support Mr. Becerra's recommendation.
----"The lack of a
single of a single record supporting Secretary Becerra’s bold public
health recommendation for six COVID boosters a year is a startling
development," Pete McGinnis, a spokesman for FGI, said in a statement.
"It is tremendously
irresponsible for the government’s chief health official to fire off tweets
recommending frequent injections of a new vaccine booster apparently based on
no academic or scientific support," Mr. McGinnis added.
"How can the public be
assured that the agency is ‘following the science’ on other important
public health matters when it demonstrates such clear disregard for basic scientific
integrity standards on an issue as important as COVID vaccine shots?"
The group noted that Mr.
Becerra, a lawyer by training, lacks a background in health. Doctors
typically lead that department.
More
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.
Graphene foam is the
future of IoT power, maybe
August 7, 2023
A group of
Scottish engineers claim to have come up with a new way to harvest the
electricity wasted by everyday human movement: electrically conductive foam.…
The team from
the University of West Scotland reported their findings in a recently published
paper detailing the addition of three-dimensional graphene (3DG) foam to
triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) that researchers have traditionally been
trying their best to miniaturize in order to add it to things like clothing and
smartphones.
By moving away
from wearability and pocketable miniaturization, the team was able to create a
floor sensor that could detect and draw enough electricity from a human step to
power an Arduino computer. The sensor was also connected to software able to
determine if someone was entering or leaving a room and who they were
"based on measuring their unique temporal pressure profile," the team
said in their paper.
3DG-TENG floor sensors
could be used to manage energy usage in smart buildings by, for example,
adjusting heating and cooling systems based on room occupancy, turning lights
and other systems off and on when the first/last person enters/leaves, and the
like.
"We have
proven that using … 3DG foam as an active layer in TENGs can work as a reliable
and cost-effective energy harvesting power source for autonomous sensors and
electronics," said Dr Carlos Garcia Nuñez, a lecturer in engineering and
physical sciences at UWS and one of the authors on the research paper.
"This discovery has enormous potential for the booming global IoT
industry."
Research into TENGs
has been fairly constant in the decade since they were discovered, but a number
of drawbacks and shortcomings have limited the technology. According to the
team behind the 3DG-TENGs, low durability, high internal impedance, limited
short-circuit current, and structural problems are all stumbling blocks.
More
Graphene foam is the future of IoT power, maybe
(msn.com)
A local
charity had never received a donation from the town’s leading bankster, so the
director made a phone-call. Our records show you make over $500,000 a year, yet
you haven’t given a penny to charity,” the director began. “Wouldn’t you like to
help the community?”
The banker
replied, “Did your research show that my mother
is ill, with extremely expensive medical bills?”
“Um, no,” mumbled the director.
“Or that my brother is blind and unemployed? Or that my
sister’s husband died, leaving her broke with four kids?”
“I … I … I had no idea.”
“So,” said the bankster, “if I don’t give them any money, why
would I give any money to you?”
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