Baltic Dry Index. 1530 -29 Brent Crude 79.57
Spot Gold 1950 US 2 Year Yield 4.93 +0.02
November 9, 1918 Kaiser Bill abdicates and flees into Holland.
In the stock casinos, hopium that a global recession won’t derail the tentative Santa Claus rally.
Hopium too that Fed Chairman Powell will turn dovish in his speech later today. Hopium that China's deflation won't spread.
Look away from that collapsing oil price now.
Asia markets
inch higher; China prices shrink faster than expected
UPDATED THU, NOV 9 2023 12:40 AM
EST
Most
Asia-Pacific markets edged higher Thursday after indexes in the region fell for
two straight days, while data from China showed consumer prices shrank faster
than expected.
South Korea’s main index,
the Kospi, dropped
3.24% in the last two sessions, erasing more than half of what it
gained earlier in the week when the country re-imposed
a ban on short selling.
Government data showed October consumer prices shrank 0.2% year-on-year
in China, more than the 0.1% fall expected by economists polled by Reuters. Producer prices declined 2.6%, slightly
smaller than the expected decline of 2.7%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell
0.25% by afternoon trading. China’s CSI 300 index was flat.
The Kospi rose
0.52%, inching higher after two days of declines. The Kosdaq shed 0.95%, eyeing
its third straight day of declines.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added
1.64%, and the Topix gained 1.36%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended
0.28% higher at 7,014.90.
Overnight, U.S. markets closed higher as
the S&P 500 rose for an eighth consecutive day on Wednesday,
extending its
longest win streak in two years.
The broad market index ended 0.1%
higher to match an eight-day string of gains it notched in November 2021.
The Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.08% at close in a ninth positive day
and its longest string of gains in two years.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average shed 0.12%, and snapped its best win streak since July.
Live
updates: Asia markets higher; China releases inflation data (cnbc.com)
European markets
set to open lower again as negative momentum continues
UPDATED THU, NOV 9 2023 12:23 AM EST
European markets are heading for a negative open
Thursday as momentum continues to decline.
Most Asia-Pacific
markets edged higher overnight, with data from China showing
consumer prices shrank faster than expected in October.
In the United States, S&P
500 futures slid modestly Wednesday night after a session in
which the broad-market index added to its longest winning streak since November
2021. Investors will be keeping an eye out for data on U.S. jobless claims on
Thursday, as well as remarks from a slate of Federal Reserve officials,
including chair Jerome Powell.
European
markets live updates: stocks, news, data and earnings (cnbc.com)
S&P 500
futures inch lower after index posts longest win streak in 2 years: Live
updates
UPDATED THU, NOV 9 2023 12:32 AM EST
S&P 500 futures slid modestly on Thursday
following a session in which the broad-market index added to its longest
winning streak since November 2021.
Futures tied to the S&P 500
and Nasdaq 100 each shed about 0.1%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial
Average were flat.
In after-hours trading, Disney rose
3% after reporting better-than-expected
profit. On the other hand, Lyft dropped
nearly 2% after bookings came in worse than anticipated and the rideshare
platform said it would continue to struggle on the measure in the current
quarter.
The moves follow a muted
but momentous day on Wall Street. While the S&P 500
finished up just 0.1%, it marked the longest winning streak since 2021 at eight
days. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up by 0.08%, eking out a ninth
winning day for its lengthiest stretch of positive sessions in two years. The Dow finished
down by about 0.1%, snapping a seven-day run of gains.
But despite the S&P 500′s
winning streak, the market still has narrow leadership, according to Robert
Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
Technology stocks have also continued to outperform as investors assess the interest
rate environment, he said.
“It’s a market that appears to be
thinking that higher rates are going to be with us for longer,” Haworth said.
“It’s really bifurcated.”
Investors will watch Thursday for
morning data on jobless claims. Traders will also follow remarks from a slate
of Federal Reserve officials — including chair Jerome Powell — expected over
the course of the day.
Stock
market today: Live updates (cnbc.com)
What
oil is telling us about war and recession
The sharp drop in crude despite the war in Gaza is a sign the
global economy is softening. But equity investors aren’t getting that
message.
Nov 8, 2023 – 5.09pm
Oil is
starting to look like the dog that didn’t bark.
While the price of oil jumped about 30 per cent in the wake of Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the price momentum has evaporated quickly.
More, subscription required.
Crude oil: What the oil price is telling us about war
and recession, writes Chanticleer (afr.com)
Finally, poor Europe. President Biden blew up Germany’s business model and with it the EU too?
Poland is still fighting WW2 with Ukraine.
Ursula
Von der Leyen issued stark warning over future of the Euro as German economy
spirals
November 8, 2023
Ursula Von der
Leyen has been issued a stark warning over the future of the Euro as the German
economy continues to suffer a downturn.
The Business
Europe lobby will today urge political leaders to "put competitiveness at
the forefront".
This comes as
the finance ministers of countries that have adopted the euro today meet to
discuss the economic situation in the eurozone.
They are
expected to say: "Europe's declining attractiveness for investment needs
to be addressed", warning that "having a strong economy is necessary
to defend our European way of life and European interests abroad."
It is expected
they will demand the EU makes a change from "five years of rising state
intervention in the economy which led to a marked increase in public
expenditure".
The German
economy shrank in the third quarter of 2023, increasing concerns that the EU's
largest economy is heading for a recession.
GDP fell by
0.1 per cent from the previous three months, which is thought to be a result of
a drop in household spending.
While the drop
in GDP is smaller than the 0.2 per cent drop expected, it is still contributing
to concern about the state of the economy.
An economist
at ING, Carsten Brzeski, warned that Germany appears to be "the sick man
of Europe".
He told the
Telegraph: "Cyclical headwinds like the still-unfolding impact of the
European Central Bank’s monetary policy tightening and high inflation – plus
the stuttering Chinese economy – are being met by structural challenges like
the energy transition and shifts in the global economy, alongside a lack of
investment in digitalisation, infrastructure and education.
“To a large
extent, Germany’s issues are homemade.
"Supply
chain frictions in the wake of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the energy
crisis have only exposed these structural weaknesses.
"These
deficiencies are the flipside of fiscal austerity and wrong policy preferences
over the last decade."
European
Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned that the Israel-Hamas conflict
could amplify economic struggles across Europe.
More
Germany outlines two factors for starting Ukraine's
membership talks
November 8, 2023
The decision
of the European Union states on launching accession talks with Ukraine will
depend on two factors. One of them relates to reforms, according to a German
government spokesperson, Sky News reports.
He said the
talks were dependent on Kyiv's success in bringing in reforms and meeting
outstanding criteria for "ascension into the bloc."
He notes
Germany will examine the EU's recommendation for Ukraine membership talks
"thoroughly" before making a decision.
Today,
November 8, the European Commission published a report on the progress of
Ukraine and other candidate countries on their way to the European Union. It
recommended EU countries to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the
bloc.
The President
of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, noted that Ukraine has already completed 90%
of the reforms expected by the European Union. A condition for starting
negotiations is the implementation of unfinished reforms in the future.
The EU state
leaders can make a decision on the start of negotiations with Ukraine as early
as December 14 at the summit.
Germany
outlines two factors for starting Ukraine's membership talks (msn.com)
Poland may block Ukraine's EU membership: This must
be resolved first
November
8, 2023
Paweł
Jabłoński, the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister, has highlighted a significant
condition for Ukraine's European Union accession aspirations: the resolution of
historical disputes concerning the exhumation of Polish nationals' remains in
Ukraine.
This statement came during an
interview with Radio ZET, where Jabłoński emphasized the
necessity of addressing the sensitive issue of the Volyn Tragedy—a series of
massacres in the 1940s where many Polish people were killed in what is now
Ukrainian territory.
Jabłoński
refrained from labeling the exhumation as a direct condition for Poland's
support of Ukraine's EU bid but clarified that any major dispute between
potential allies must be resolved for cooperation to be feasible.
This stance
reflects the complex historical relationship between the two nations, which
continues to influence their political and diplomatic interactions.
In a move
towards reconciliation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in 2019,
pledged to lift the ban on exhumation and search operations for the Polish
victims of the Volyn Tragedy, a ban that was previously implemented by his
predecessors.
This was partly in response to the demolition of a monument
to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Poland. The resumption of search operations
in Lviv in November 2019 marked a step forward, albeit a contentious one, as
further permits were linked to the restoration of a desecrated Ukrainian grave.
Poland
may block Ukraine's EU membership: This must be resolved first (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.
'Sick man of Europe' Germany and Eurozone neighbours
being 'tipped into recession'
Monetary tightening is heightening the risk of recession
across Europe, analysts warn.
12:41, Tue, Nov 7, 2023 | UPDATED: 12:41, Tue, Nov 7, 2023
The health of Germany's construction sector continued to worsen during October,
according to recent research, adding fuel to the growing concerns that analysts
have about the country “tipping into a recession”.
According to the latest HCOB PMI survey compiled by
S&P Global, firms in the sector recorded deepening declines in both total
activity and employment amid rapidly weakening demand.
The HCOB Germany Construction PMI Total Activity
Index, which is a seasonally adjusted indicator monitoring overall industry
activity, remained on a downward trajectory at the start of the fourth quarter.
At 38.3 in October,
down from 39.3 in September, the index recorded its lowest reading for three
and a half years.
The ongoing decline in
total activity was primarily driven by the housing sector. German construction
companies reported one of the sharpest rates of decrease in residential project
work in the series' history since 1999.
Commenting on the PMI data,
Dr Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, said: “Things
continue to go from bad to worse in Germany's construction sector. The housing
sector is the epicentre of the downturn, nosediving at a breakneck speed.
“Meanwhile, civil engineering
and commercial building activity are stuck in a similar rut as last month. As a
result, the total industry activity index for construction has plummeted even
further below 40.
“It looks
like construction companies are not finding much solace in the thought
that interest
rates might be peaking. The
Future Activity Index is sounding the alarm for a big downturn in the next
year, even though it's up slightly from last month.
More
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Today, why is the UK NHS deliberately misleading the UK public, if not actually lying to them? Approx. 13 minutes.
NHS
... information
Billions of Copies
of Residual DNA in a Single Dose of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine: Preprint
A
new preprint study up for peer review finds billions of residual DNA fragments
in COVID-19 mRNA vaccine vials.
By Marina Zhang 11/7/2023 Updated: 11/7/2023
A new preprint
study up for peer review finds billions of residual DNA fragments in the
COVID-19 mRNA vaccine vials.
The lead author of the study, molecular virologist David Speicher, who has a doctorate
in virology, told The Epoch Times that their study is "the largest
study" on residual DNA in COVID-19 vaccines to date.
"In our
study, we measured DNA copies of spike, ori (origin of replication), and SV40
enhancer genes," he told The Epoch Times. "The loads of SV40
enhancer-promoter, ori, and virus spike in Pfizer are up to 186 billion copies
per dose."
The spike he
refers to is the DNA sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which can be
transcribed to spike mRNA to be used in the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines to be
translated to spike protein. The other two DNAs—SV40 enhancer genes and
ori—help facilitate the replication of spike DNA.
However, the
final mRNA vaccines should only include RNA and not residual DNA instructions
for spike production.
The researchers
sequenced the gene material in 27 mRNA vaccine vials from 12 different lots.
Nineteen vials were from Moderna, and eight were from Pfizer.
"Further
work is needed to investigate if anything in these vaccines is actually
integrating into the human genome and what effect that may have," the lead
author wrote.
Why
Would There Be DNA in mRNA Vaccines?
The mRNA vaccines are made from DNA.
Initially,
Pfizer reported that it would use a PCR machine to produce the DNA for the mRNA
vaccines. The PCR machine would first make many copies of DNA, and then the
same DNA would be sequenced into RNA.
However, because this process would not be
fast enough to meet demands, Pfizer announced it
would use bacteria to mass produce the spike DNA instead. The
DNA produced from the bacteria would then be harvested and sequenced to RNA in
a machine.
Moderna's manufacturing report submitted
to the European Medicine Agency also showed that the company used plasmid DNA
to produce the vaccines. A plasmid is a strand of circular DNA common to
bacteria and certain parasites. Plasmids are circular, while human DNA is
linear.
Using bacteria
to produce genes and proteins is a standard biotechnological process employed
in the production of pharmaceuticals.
To have the
bacteria replicate spike protein DNA, scientists first have to introduce spike
protein DNA into the bacteria. As the bacteria multiply, so do the spike
protein DNA they carry.
However, the
spike DNA cannot be introduced alone; other sequences—such as the ori, which
signals for DNA replication; the SV40 enhancer gene, which encourages more DNA
replication; and an antibiotic resistance gene, which helps scientists identify
the bacteria that have taken up the gene—would all be introduced together in a
circular bacterial DNA.
It should be
noted that the SV40 enhancer gene is a genetic sequence from the polyomavirus
simian virus 40 (SV40), a DNA virus known to cause cancer in laboratory
animals. The gene is not the SV40 virus itself.
Once the mRNA
and DNA are harvested from the bacteria, the DNA is then supposed to be
removed.
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.
IIT Guwahati researchers discover use of modified
graphene oxide in biomedical applications
Graphene is an
exceptionally strong material and possesses outstanding electrical and thermal
conductivity. Its oxidised form, called Graphene Oxide (GO), offers a large
surface area and low cytotoxicity, making it suitable for medical applications.
Last Updated 08 November
2023, 05:53 IST
Guwahati:
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have developed
cost-effective experiments for modifying graphene oxide that can be used by
other academic institutions to train personnel needed for cutting-edge projects
in semiconductors, nanoelectronics, healthcare and quantum technologies.
A team led
by Rajiv K Kar, assistant professor, at the Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of
Health Sciences and Technology in IIT-Guwahati, have made these important
discoveries regarding the use of modified graphene oxide for biomedical
applications, a release said on Tuesday.
Graphene is
an exceptionally strong material and possesses outstanding electrical and
thermal conductivity. Its oxidised form, called Graphene Oxide (GO), offers a
large surface area and low cytotoxicity, making it suitable for medical
applications.
GO can be
further engineered through defects, doping and functional modifications, which
enhance its optical and electrical properties for improved biomedical sensing
applications.
The
IIT-Guwahati researchers are focusing on a specific functional modification of
graphene involving the attachment of an amino acid, Cysteine or simple amine
group, attachment over grapheme, the release said.
---- The research
findings have been published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C and Journal
of Chemical Education, in a paper authored by Kar along with his research
scholars, Rajan Singh, Shweta Tiwari and Jyotirekha Jena.
more
November 9, 1939. The Venlo incident, was a covert
operation carried out by the German Nazi Party's Sicherheitsdienst (SD) on 9 November 1939, which resulted in the capture
of two British Secret
Intelligence Service agents five metres
(16 ft) from the German border, on the outskirts of the Dutch city
of Venlo
The incident was later used by the German government to link Britain to Georg Elser's failed
assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler at
the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, on 8 November
1939, and to help justify Germany's invasion of the Netherlands (then a neutral country) on 10 May 1940.[3]
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