Baltic Dry Index. 1065 -21 Brent Crude 88.55
Spot Gold 1940 U S 2 Year Yield 4.87 +0.02
“Until a
Bubble’s death it is all life”
With apologies to Don Quixote.
For coverage of that valuable cargo, scroll down to today’s last YouTube article.
In
the central bankster fuelled stock casinos, another blow out week. What’s not
to like?
Dow
closes more than 100 points higher to kick off September, notches best week
since July: Live updates
UPDATED FRI, SEP 1 20235:41 PM EDT
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose
on Friday as traders weighed the latest U.S. jobs report to conclude a winning
week.
The 30-stock Dow ticked up 115.80
points, or 0.33%, to close at 34,837.71 The S&P 500 added
roughly 0.18% to finish the session at 4,515.77, and the Nasdaq Composite inched
down 0.02% to end the day at 14,031.81.
The major averages were up
sharply earlier in the day. The Dow briefly traded more than 250 points higher,
while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbed about 0.8% each before easing.
The Dow and the Nasdaq added 1.4% and about 3.3%
for the week, respectively, notching their best performances since July. The
S&P 500 gained 2.5% to register its best week since June.
Unemployment rate jumps
The
latest U.S. nonfarm payrolls report showed the unemployment
rate ticked higher to 3.8% in August, reaching its highest level in more than a
year. Economists had expected it to remain at 3.5%.
In another sign of a slowing
economy and easing pricing pressures, average hourly earnings increased 4.3% on
a year-over-year basis, less than the 4.4% increase expected by economists
polled by Dow Jones.
August payrolls grew at a
faster-than-expected pace, with 187,000 being added. However, job numbers first
reported for June and July were revised down by a combined 110,000.
“It would be a mistake to look at
today’s employment report, along with recent data, and say the Fed is done,”
said Steve Wyett, chief investment strategist at BOK Financial. “Even though
trends in inflation are moving the right direction and a broader view of the
employment market would indicate wage pressures should abate, overall economic
growth is above trend and inflation remains well above the Fed’s recently
confirmed 2% target.”
Following the release, the CME
Group’s FedWatch tool showed traders have priced
in a 93% chance of the central bank holding rates at current levels at its
policy meeting later this month.
Investors also pored over fresh
earnings reports. Database software maker MongoDB and Dell Technologies advanced
3% and 21%, respectively, on the back of stronger-than-expected earnings
reports. Shares of athletic apparel retailer Lululemon Athletica added
6% after crushing Wall
Street’s estimates.
Stock
market today: Live updates (cnbc.com)
But back in the real world economy, far from the central bankster fuelled gambling casinos, a general recession is coming to join the already deepening manufacturing recession.
A commercial real estate collapse/US banking collapse then follows.
Abandon
hope all ye who read on from here?
Asia's factory activity weakens, China's rebound offers some
hope
By Leika Kihara September
1, 20237:15 AM GMT+1
TOKYO, Sept 1
(Reuters) - Asia's factory activity weakened in August as manufacturers felt
the pinch from rising input costs and slowing global demand, but an unexpected
rebound in China offered some hope for the region's export-reliant economies,
private surveys showed.
China's
private Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers' index
(PMI) rose to 51.0 in August from 49.2 in July, a survey showed on Friday,
beating analysts' forecasts and exceeding the 50.0 threshold that separates
growth from contraction.
The
reading came a day after an official
survey showed manufacturing activity
contracted for a fifth straight month, offering a mixed picture on business
conditions in the world's second-largest economy.
While the rebound
in China's factory conditions say be a sign official efforts to revive growth
is starting to have some effect, manufacturing activity in most of Asia
remained stagnant in August.
Japan's factory
activity shrank for a third straight month in August, while that for South
Korea extended its longest-ever slump on wage pressures and soft exports, the
surveys showed.
"Stubborn
food inflation is also hurting consumption in some Asian countries. The
region's economy could be at a standstill."
Asia has been
among the few bright spots in the global economy, though persistent weakness in
China cloud the outlook.
In revised
forecasts issued in July, the International Monetary Fund projects emerging
Asia's economic growth will accelerate to 5.3% this year from 4.5% in 2022. It
expects China's economy to expand 5.2% this year after a 3.0% increase in 2022.
Japan's final au
Jibun Bank manufacturing PMI came in at 49.6 in August, unchanged from July and
staying below the 50.0 threshold for a third straight month, as input costs
rose, a private survey showed.
South Korea's PMI
fell to 48.9 in August from 49.4 in July, marking the 14th straight month of
contraction on weak export orders.
Factory
activity also contracted in Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines last
month. India, by contrast, saw factory growth accelerate at the
fastest pace in three months in August, driven by strong growth in new orders
and output.
Asia's factory activity weakens, China's rebound
offers some hope | Reuters
Manufacturing downturn ‘deepens’ as
production drop among fastest on record
FRIDAY 01 SEPTEMBER 2023 10:35 AM
UK manufacturing hit a steep slump this month,
figures revealed, as production dropped by a rate “one of the fastest in survey
history”.
According to the Chartered Institute of
Procurement & Supply (CIPS) the UK manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI)
recorded 43.0 in August, down from 45.3 in July.
This
marked its lowest level since May 2020, with experts citing “rising interest
rates, the cost-of-living crisis, export losses and concerns about the market
outlook” as underlying it.
It comes despite
August also reporting purchasing costs fall for the fourth month in a row and
drop at the steepest rate since January 2016, including on energy, fuel and
metals.
And manufacturers
reported an optimistic outlook, with 56 per cent of firms saying they expect to
grow in the next year – linked to new products launching and plans for
acquisitions.
Rob Dobson, from S&P Global Market Intelligence,
said: “August saw a further deepening of the UK manufacturing downturn.
“The PMI sank to a
39-month low as output and new orders contracted at rates rarely seen outside
of major periods of economic stress such as the global financial crisis and the
pandemic lockdowns.”
A weakening economic
backdrop is emerging, as demand continues to suffer. While firms cited slower
market conditions, declining new orders and efforts to reduce inventory as
being behind the latest contraction, amid “deteriorating market conditions” at
home and overseas.
Dr. John Glen, CIPS chief economist, said: “Another substantial fall in
manufacturing activity, contracting for the sixth month in a row and the
fastest rate since May 2020, showed that these are tough times for
manufacturers.”
He added: “The constant pressures on business costs from inflation and
the systemic weaknesses in the UK and global economies were also driving the
fastest fall in new orders since the financial crisis, outside the pandemic
years.
More
Manufacturing downturn ‘deepens’ as production drop
among fastest on record (cityam.com)
In other economic reality news, nothing good.
Hollywood
sheds 17,000 jobs in August amid ongoing strikes
Hollywood’s labor pool is taking a hit as the dual
strikes by actors and writers drag on.
The film, TV and music sectors shed
a combined 17,000 jobs in August, “reflecting strike activity,” the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics said Friday morning.
In contrast, the U.S. economy added
187,000 jobs during the month, spurred by growth in the health
care, leisure and construction industries. It topped the 170,000 jobs forecast,
according to Dow Jones.
The job losses for the motion picture and sound
recording industries underscore one effect of the Writers Guild of America and
SAG-AFTRA strikes, which began in May and mid-July, respectively. In the
months since, several notable films and shows halted
or wrapped production early.
Hollywood’s massive work stoppage
has also had a widespread effect on other sectors such as hospitality and real
estate, costing California’s overall economy an estimated
$3 billion so far. Hollywood’s striking writers and actors are
negotiating with legacy studios for better pay as streaming and the threat of
artificial intelligence affect their compensation.
Last month, writers’ union WGA said
it received a new proposal from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television
Producers, the body representing major studios such as Netflix, Disney and
Amazon, to resume talks.
It came after weeks of stalemate
and slow progress.
Jobs
report: Hollywood sheds 17,000 jobs in August amid strikes (cnbc.com)
US auto workers could strike after contract expires September
14
August 31, 2023
DETROIT, Michigan: The United Auto Workers (UAW)
union said this week that its members voted to authorize a strike at the
Detroit Three automakers if agreement is not reached before the current
four-year contract expires on 14th September.
UAW President Shawn Fain, who leads the union that
represents about 150,000 workers, said the authorization was approved by 97
percent of voting members at General Motors (GM), Ford and Stellantis.
The union did not plan to extend the deadline to
negotiate a new labor contract, he added, stating, "The deadline is 14th
September. We have a lot of options that we are looking at but extension on the
contract is not one of them," as quoted by Reuters.
President Joe Biden, who met with Fain last month,
told reporters in Nevada he is concerned about a potential UAW strike.
"I think that there should be a circumstance
where jobs that are being displaced are replaced with new jobs for UAW members
and the salaries should be commensurate," he said.
National UAW agreements should also cover jobs at
battery joint ventures that currently pay less, some US Senators have said.
Union officials said that workers made numerous
concessions over the last two decades, including giving up wage hikes, defined
benefit pensions and post-retirement health care benefits.
"We are fed up. We have sat back for decades
while these companies continue to just take and take and take from us,"
Fain said.
Fain's demands include wage hikes of 46 percent and an end to
the tiered wage system that pays new hires less than veterans.
More
US
auto workers could strike after contract expires September 14 (msn.com)
From war bunker to penthouse to market flop: how Germany's
property boom ended
September 1, 20236:06 AM GMT+1
MUNICH, Sept
1 (Reuters) - It has been a tumultuous year for one prominent German property developer:
his efforts to sell his penthouse atop a Nazi-era air raid shelter have
stalled, and just weeks ago his firm filed for insolvency.
The one-two
punch for the developer, Stefan Hoeglmaier, and his company, Euroboden, mirror
the travails of the broader property sector across Europe's largest economy as
it suffers its worst slump in decades.
For years, low
interest rates fuelled a global boom, igniting interest in German property,
seen as safe and stable as the country.
A
sharp rise in rates, and soaring energy and building costs, put
an end to the run. That has tipped a
string of developers into insolvency, frozen deals and pushed prices down,
prompting the industry to
appeal to Chancellor Olaf Scholz for help.
"We're
heading for the wall at breakneck speed. The first developers have fallen and
more will follow," said Tillmann Peeters, an insolvency lawyer with
FalkenSteg.
Developers'
fortunes, including Euroboden, changed in 2022 when the European Central Bank
began to increase rates, making it harder for to borrow and to find buyers for
projects.
A statement from
Euroboden management said the market environment for the company had
"deteriorated quite considerably".
The
health of Germany's property sector - Europe's biggest property investment
market outside of Britain - is critical, making up roughly a fifth of output
and providing one in 10 jobs. New building during the first half of the
year nearly
halved from the past two years.
More
From war bunker to penthouse to market flop: how
Germany's property boom ended | Reuters
UK house prices drop by 0.8 per cent as
‘softening’ of growth at weakest since 2009
FRIDAY 01 SEPTEMBER 2023 7:24 AM
The
average UK house price fell by 0.8 per cent month-on-month in August, according
to Nationwide Building Society.
It said
house prices are now 5.3 per cent below their August 2022 peak, while the
average property value is now £259,153.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief
economist, said: “August saw a further softening in the annual rate of house
price growth to minus 5.3 per cent, from minus 3.8 per cent in July, the
weakest rate since July 2009.”
Gardner
also warned that “in the first half of 2023, the number of completed housing
transactions was nearly 20 per cent below pre-pandemic (2019) levels and
c.40per cent lower than in the first half of 2021 – though the latter reflects
the boost to activity from pandemic-related shifts in housing preferences, the
stamp duty holiday and ultra-low borrowing costs.
“An
examination of the composition of transactions reveals that cash purchases,
though down from the 2021 highs, have been remarkably resilient, while
purchases involving a mortgage have slowed much more sharply, as shown in the
chart below.
More
UK house prices drop by 0.8 per cent as 'softening' of
growth at weakest since 2009 (cityam.com)
“Thou hast seen nothing yet.”
Don Quixote.
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.
This weekend, more on the
growing crash of the Chinese economy. How long before China is exporting
deflation out to the global economy? Approx. 19 minutes.
Zhongrong International Trust crash!
The economic bombs set a chain reaction and No one escape
Why is China's economy slowing down and could it get worse?
September 1, 20235:41 AM GMT+1
HONG
KONG, Sept 1 (Reuters) - China's economic growth is slowing down as policymakers
try to fix a property market downturn, with troubles at major developer Country
Garden in focus. Concerns are mounting
over whether the world's second-largest economy is coming closer to a crunch
point:
WHAT IS CAUSING CHINA’S ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN?
Unlike consumers
in the West, Chinese people were left largely to fend for themselves during the
COVID-19 pandemic and the revenge spending spree that some economists expected
after China re-opened never took place.
Moreover, demand
for Chinese exports has been softening as key trading partners have been
grappling with rising living costs.
And with 70% of
Chinese household wealth tied up in real estate, a big slowdown in the sector
is trickling through to other parts of the economy.
THERE HAVE BEEN MAJOR CONCERNS OVER CHINA'S ECONOMY BEFORE. IS
THIS TIME DIFFERENT?
Alarm bells over
the economy rang during the global financial crisis in 2008-09 and during a
capital outflow scare in 2015. China revived confidence then with a shock boost
to infrastructure investment and by encouraging property market speculation,
among other measures.
But
the infrastructure upgrades have created too much debt, and the property
bubble has burst, posing risks to
financial stability today.
Given China's
debt-fuelled investment in infrastructure and property has peaked and exports
are slowing in line with the global economy, China only has one other source of
demand to tinker with: household consumption.
In that sense,
this slowdown is different.
More
Why is China's economy slowing down and could it get
worse? | Reuters
Chinese E-Bikes are Exploding like Crazy
- Self Destructing Spectacularly
Chinese E-Bikes are Exploding like Crazy - Self Destructing Spectacularly - YouTube
Covid-19
Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Approx.
16 minutes.
Natural
immunity wins
Natural
immunity wins - YouTube
Technology Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section.
'Countercation
engineering' for thermoresponsive graphene-oxide nanosheets
AUGUST
31, 2023
Graphene-based two-dimensional materials
have recently emerged as a focus of scientific exploration due to their
exceptional structural, mechanical, electrical, optical, and thermal
properties. Among them, nanosheets based on graphene-oxide (GO), an oxidized
derivative of graphene, with ultrathin and extra wide dimensions and
oxygen-rich surfaces are quite promising.
Functional
groups containing oxygen, such as carboxy and acidic hydroxy groups, generate
dense negative charges, making GO nanosheets colloidally stable in water. As a
result, they are valuable building blocks for next-generation functional soft
materials.
In
particular, thermoresponsive GO nanosheets have garnered much attention for
their wide-ranging applications, from smart membranes and surfaces and
recyclable systems to hydrogel actuators and biomedical platforms. However, the
prevailing synthetic strategies for generating thermoresponsive behaviors
entail modifying GO nanosheet surfaces with thermoresponsive polymers such as
poly (N-isopropylacrylamide). This process is complex and has potential
limitations in subsequent functionalization efforts.
To
address this challenge, researchers led by Assistant Professor Koki Sano and
Mr. Shoma Kondo from the Department of Chemistry and Materials at Shinshu
University in Japan has recently presented an innovative approach called
"countercation engineering" to impart the desired thermoresponsive
ability to GO nanosheets themselves. Their work was published in ACS
Applied Materials & Interfaces.
More
'Countercation engineering' for thermoresponsive
graphene-oxide nanosheets (phys.org)
This weekend’s music
diversion. Four Grand Pianos play Bach’s
violin concerto as skilfully adapted. Great fun. Approx. 11 minutes.
Bach
Concerto for 4 Pianos. Multipiano/Tel-Aviv Soloists/Barak Tal
Bach Concerto for 4 Pianos. Multipiano/Tel-Aviv
Soloists/Barak Tal - YouTube
This weekend’s chess
update. Approx. 12 minutes.
You
Shall Not Pass! || Svidler vs Dubov || World Rapid Team Championship (2023)
You
Shall Not Pass! || Svidler vs Dubov || World Rapid Team Championship (2023) -
YouTube
This
weekend the maths update. Approx. 15
minutes.
Finger
multiplication on steroids
Finger multiplication on steroids - YouTube
Finally,
as a bonus for the USA holiday weekend, the most valuable cargo ever brought to
US shores. Approx. 18 minutes.
The
Device that Won WW2 - The Cavity Magnetron
The Device that Won WW2 - The Cavity Magnetron -
YouTube
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows
where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams
— this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to
see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
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