Baltic
Dry Index. 1516 +80
Brent Crude 78.66
Spot Gold 2034 US 2 Year Yield 4.39 -0.07
“If liberty
means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want
to hear.”
Animal Farm.
In the stock casinos, the Greatest Disconnect from global reality soars on. Two terrible unstoppable wars now challenge global supply lines.
Far from influencing Israel to stop its war
on Gaza’s women and children, President Biden Joe Biden has been accused
of anti-semitism by some od Israel’s cabinet.
As this section’s last article posits, Iran
can have a nuke within a week.
Asia markets rise
as investors assess earnings; Japan’s Nikkei falls
UPDATED TUE, FEB 6 2024 11:18 PM EST
Asia-Pacific
markets were mostly higher Wednesday, with the exception of Japan’s Nikkei, as
investors assessed corporate earnings.
DBS
Group,
Southeast Asia’s largest bank, reported a 2% year-over-year increase in fourth
quarter net profit to $2.39 billion, while maintaining its full-year net
interest income forecast for 2024. Shares of the bank jumped 2%.
China’s biggest chipmaker SMIC
said Wednesday persistent
global macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical tensions could
impact the business in 2024, a day after it posted a 54.7% drop in fourth-quarter
profit.
Shares of SMIC fell nearly 5% in
Hong Kong trading.
Electric vehicles shares listed
in Hong Kong rose after China’s commerce ministry released a
document that laid out its plan for “healthy development of new energy
vehicles” in the country.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped
1.4%, leading gains in Asia, while the Kosdaq gained 1.2%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose
0.61%, a day after the country’s central bank held rates at 4.35%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index extended
gains after surging over 4% on Tuesday, gaining 0.4%, while the mainland
Chinese CSI 300 was 0.3% higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was
the only benchmark in the negative territory, down about 0.11%. The broader
Topix inched 0.3% higher.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes
gained ground after a fresh batch of quarterly earnings, with the S&P 500 up
0.23%.
The Nasdaq Composite inched
up 0.07%, while the Dow Jones
Industrial Average jumped
0.37%.
Asia markets live updates: U.S. earnings, Hong Kong gains (cnbc.com)
Toyota shares hit
record high after earnings upgrade, domestic rivals in focus
February 7, 2024 4:33
AM GMT
TOKYO, Feb 7 (Reuters) -
Toyota Motor (7203.T) shares hit a record high on
Wednesday after its earnings upgrade the prior
day, with rivals Honda and Nissan also posting gains on expectations their
solid hybrid lineups may benefit from cooling interest in electric vehicles.
Weakening momentum for battery-powered vehicles has led many
overseas automakers to scale back roll-out plans for
EVs or cut production targets as lower government subsidies and high interest
rates make EV purchases harder for customers.
Toyota's strong financial
performance in the third quarter was helped by robust demand for
gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, the world's top-selling automaker said on
Tuesday.
Its shares were up 4% on Wednesday afternoon after jumping as
much as 7.3% to a record high in the morning session, outperforming a 0.2%
advance in the broad Topix (.TOPX) index.
Nissan Motor's (7201.T) shares rose 2.9% in
afternoon trade after gaining as much as 4.3% earlier. Those of Honda Motor (7267.T) advanced 1.3% after rising
as much as 2.6% earlier.
"We think the market is now rethinking the
potential of hybrid products, which are a strength of Toyota," analysts at
Goldman Sachs wrote in a note released after Toyota raised its operating profit
guidance by nearly 9% for the 12 months ending March 31.
The company's progress on raising prices that
helped boost its earnings per vehicle was likely the biggest driver for the
higher operating profit forecast, the analysts added.
Toyota's shares have risen 80% since the start of 2023, compared
to a 69% rise in Honda's shares and Nissan's 47% gain over the same period.
More
Toyota
shares hit record high after earnings upgrade, domestic rivals in focus |
Reuters
European markets
head for mixed open amid ongoing uncertainty over rate cut outlook
UPDATED WED, FEB 7 2024 12:23 AM EST
European markets are heading for a mixed open
Wednesday amid ongoing uncertainty over the rate cut outlook.
Doubts over the timetable for
interest rate cuts have crept in after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
signaled last week that investors may have to wait
longer than expected for a central bank pivot.
Powell also reiterated Sunday
that more positive data on inflation was needed before rates could come down.
His comments during an interview
with “60 Minutes” also led many to believe that there may be
fewer cuts this year than some had hoped.
Asia-Pacific
markets were mostly higher Wednesday, with the exception of
Japan’s Nikkei, as investors assessed corporate earnings. U.S.
stock futures were little changed on Tuesday evening, as
investors digested another slate of quarterly results halfway through the
corporate earnings season.
European
markets live updates: stocks, news, data and earnings (cnbc.com)
Netanyahu
Pinned in Tough Spot as Key Ministers Attack Biden
February 6, 2024
(Bloomberg) -- As US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken shuttles across the Middle East in the hope of easing
regional tensions and winding down the war in Gaza, far-right Israeli ministers
are pulling in the opposite direction.
In recent days, two of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s most important ministers have attacked US President Joe
Biden.
Itamar Ben Gvir, the national
security minister, said Biden was hindering the offensive against Hamas and too
focused on getting aid to civilians in Gaza. He suggested that, from Israel’s
standpoint, Donald Trump would be a better president.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich then assailed Biden for
imposing sanctions on half a dozen Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Blocking
their access to bank accounts amounts to an “anti-Semitic campaign,” he said.
The two politicians have long been controversial and
outspoken. But their blunt criticism of Biden — who visited Israel soon after
Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 and has consistently defended its right to wage war in
Gaza — underscores the strains between the two countries’ leaderships.
More
Netanyahu Pinned in Tough Spot as Key Ministers Attack Biden (msn.com)
Up next, EV news. Has the EV boom turned into
a fiery bust?
South Korea’s EV Sales Held Back by Drivers’ Fears of
Battery Fires
South
Korea’s electric vehicle (EV) sales fell by 0.1% last year for the first annual
decline since 2017, as drivers cite fears of batteries catching fire and
insufficient number of chargers as key obstacles alongside higher interest
rates and high prices.
South Korean drivers are concerned that their future EVs
could catch fire while charging or in a car crash, according to a November
survey by the Korea Transportation Safety Authority quoted by Bloomberg on
Monday.
In 2020 and 2021, several high-profile cases of EVs
catching fire were reported in South Korea. Three years ago, an electric bus
manufactured by Hyundai Motor caught fire while
in use.
A few months earlier, Hyundai Motor recalled more
than 77,000 Kona EVs sold globally after 13 of the electric crossover vehicles
caught fire. Hyundai and its battery supplier LG Chem were at odds over the
reasons for the recall, with the battery cell maker saying it wasn’t its
battery that was the culprit.
Another
key reason for lower EV sales and increased hesitancy among South Korean
drivers to switch to zero-emission vehicles has been a lack of enough charging
points.
Concerns
about vehicles catching fire during charging in closed-space underground
parking lots of high-rise apartment buildings have deterred Koreans to consider
switching from a gasoline-fueled car to an EV.
So EV
sales declined by 0.1% to 157,823 units in 2023, the first drop in six years,
per data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) cited by
Bloomberg.
More
South Korea’s EV Sales Held Back by Drivers’ Fears of
Battery Fires | OilPrice.com
Third electric London bus catches fire in the space of
two weeks - as operator launches probe and starts urgent check of 380 similar
vehicles in its fleet
|
An electric bus has caught
fire in London just days after two sparked panic in the
capital after they also went up in flames.
Videos posted on social media show flames engulfing a
vehicle inside a bus garage in Putney yesterday.
Firefighters from the London Fire Brigade were called to
the scene at 8:21am and attended the site with two fire engines.
The blaze tore through part of the single-deck bus,
which was unoccupied, before it was 'promptly' extinguished by
9:13am. Around 20 people inside the building were safely evacuated and
there were no reports of any injuries.
The bus, which was used on route 265, had been operated
by bus company Go Ahead London, who has now launched a 'precautionary fleet
check' of around 380 of its electric buses.
This is the third electric
bus to catch fire in the capital in the last 14 days, heaping more pressure on
London Mayor Sadiq Khan to address the problem, which has already
put some passengers' lives in danger.
More
Finally, get ready for World War Three?
Iran Can Build Nuclear Bomb in One Week, Signaling
‘Extreme Danger’ for Western World, Report Says
February 5, 2024
Iran has enough weapons-grade uranium to produce its first
nuclear weapon within a week and a total of six bombs within a month, a
scenario that is increasingly likely to unfold as conflict in the Middle East
reaches critical levels, according to a report from a watchdog group.
"The volatile situation in the region is providing Iran with a unique opportunity and increased internal justification for building nuclear weapons while the United States and Israel’s resources to detect and deter Iran from succeeding are stretched thin," the Institute for Science and International Security, a watchdog group that monitors Tehran’s atomic program, warned in a report published Monday. "Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities are more dangerous than they have ever been, while its relations with the West are at a low point."
The findings signal "extreme danger" for the international community and marks the "first time" the institute has issued such a determination since it began reporting on the Iranian nuclear program’s threat level in October 2022. In May 2023, when the last report was published, Iran’s total threat score was calculated at 140 out of 180. This year the score reached 151.
Hamas’s war against Israel, which is being supported by Iran, has
significantly increased the likelihood that Tehran races to build a functional
nuclear weapon, according to the report. The United States is now in its third
day of airstrikes against Iranian targets across the Middle East, threatening
to ignite a broader conflict with Iran that could consume the region and
increase Tehran’s rush to become a nuclear-armed power.
The Islamic Republic continues to make "progress on developing sensitive nuclear capabilities, ... increasing its nuclear weaponization efforts beyond breakout."
Iran has the ability to "break out and produce enough weapon-grade enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in a week, using only a fraction of its 60 percent enriched uranium," according to the report. "This breakout could be difficult for inspectors to detect promptly, if Iran took steps to delay inspectors’ access."
Using its stock of 60 percent enriched uranium, which has grown under
the Biden administration, and a remaining allotment of around 20 percent
enriched uranium, Iran "could have in total enough weapon-grade uranium
for six weapons in one month, and after five months of producing weapon-grade
uranium, it could have enough for twelve."
More
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.
Falling US
inflation opens door to rate cuts within months, says OECD
Price
pressures in UK forecast to be highest among G7 nations over next two years
February
5, 2023
A
rapid fall in US inflation has opened the way for interest rate cuts within
months, the OECD said, but it warned that Britain would suffer from the G7’s
fastest price growth.
The
OECD’s interim outlook, published on Monday, predicted US inflation of just 2.2
per cent in 2024 and 2 per cent in 2025 — among the lowest rates in the G7. The
Paris-based organisation said that only in Italy would price growth be less
this year.
But
it forecast the UK would be burdened by the G7’s highest inflation rate, at 2.8
per cent this year and 2.4 per cent in 2025, underscoring the battle faced by
the Bank of England in reining in price growth.
Although
inflation is falling across the world in the wake of interest rate rises, the
threat has not subsided, with a US jobs report last Friday rekindling fears
that the country’s labour market remains too hot for rapid rate cuts.
----The
OECD said inflation would fall to most G20 countries’ target rates by the end
of 2025. It predicted that central banks would be able to start reducing
interest rates sooner than it said in its previous economic outlook in
November.
The
club of the world’s rich economies added that central banks could begin cutting
rates in the US by the second quarter and in the euro area and the UK in the
third quarter.
More
Falling US inflation opens door to rate cuts within
months, says OECD (ft.com)
Turkey's January inflation piles pressure on central
bank
February
5, 2024
Turkey's annual inflation rate stayed
stable in January at nearly 65 percent, but month-on-month consumer price
increases jumped sharply following a huge minimum wage hike, official data
showed Monday.
The year-on-year inflation rate moved
to 64.86 percent -- up a notch from 64.77 percent in December, the TUIK
statistics agency reported.
Turkey's finance minister, Mehmet
Simsek, attributed the monthly inflation jump to "temporary
effects".
"We predict that, starting from
February, monthly inflation will decrease significantly and remain in line with
our forecast," Simsek said on social media.
"We will see a significant
decline in annual inflation in the second half of the year."
Inflation remains a pressing issue
for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government ahead of local elections in
March.
His ruling AKP party is trying to win
back control of major cities, including Istanbul and the capital Ankara,
currently held by the main opposition party.
Turkey's central bank, which has
raised its key rate from 8.5 percent to 45 percent since June, said last month
that the level was sufficient to start easing the cost of living crisis.
The bank's governor Hafize Gaye Erkan
resigned on Friday, less than a year into her tenure, after a scandal involving
her family.
She was replaced by Fatih Karahan, a
former economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the US online
retail giant Amazon, who may be under pressure to again start raising the
interest rate, analysts said.
"The arguments in favour of
restarting the tightening cycle with another interest rate hike later this
month are compelling and would underline the central bank's commitment to
tackle inflation -– and help to build Governor Karaham's credibility,"
Capital Economics analyst Liam Peach said.
Turkey's January inflation piles pressure on central
bank (msn.com)
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Today,
Big Brother, Dr. President Biden Joe Biden knows best. We can’t have you
thinking for yourself after all.
Amazon ‘censored’ COVID-19 vaccine books after
‘feeling pressure’ from Biden White House: docs
February 6, 2024
The Biden
administration pressured Amazon to censor books related to COVID-19 vaccines in
early 2021 citing concerns that the material contained “propaganda” and
“misinformation,” internal company emails released by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)
appear to show.
The documents
were obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on the
Weaponization of the Federal Government via subpoena, Jordan said in a X thread
Monday, which he dubbed, “THE AMAZON FILES.”
“Who can we
talk to about the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and
disinformation of [sic] Amazon?” Andrew Slavitt, a former White House senior
advisor for COVID-19 response, wrote to the online retailer in a March 2, 2021,
email, released by Jordan.
“If you search
for ‘vaccines’ under books, I see what comes up,” Slavitt wrote in a follow up
message that same day. “I haven’t looked beyond that but if that’s what’s on
the surface, it’s concerning.”
The Biden administration
has previously come under fire for encouraging social media companies to
suppress anti-COVID-19 vaccine content.
Amazon was “feeling pressure” from the Biden White House on how it promoted certain book titles, company emails show.
Amazon
officials initially balked at performing “a manual intervention” to remove
certain book titles from appearing, arguing that it would be “too visible” and
lead to further scrutiny.
“We will not
be doing a manual intervention today,” an email between Amazon executives
reads. “The team/PR feels very strongly that it is too visible, and will
further compound the Harry/Sally narrative (which is getting the Fox News
treatment today apparently), and won’t fix the problem long-term … because of
customer behavior associates.”
The Amazon
officials, whose name is redacted from the email, then notes that another
individual at the company, whose name is also redacted, “gave very direct
guidance to the teams to be boring and not do anything that is visible and will
draw more attention.”
The email
states that a tweak to the bookseller’s website that would redirect more
customers searching certain keywords to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention website was in the works and that a screenshot of that change should
be sent to the White House, but it warned employees to play coy with the Biden
administration about potential further actions.
More
“No one believes more firmly than Comrade President Biden
that all persons are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your
decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions,
comrades, and then where should we be?”
With apologies to Animal Farm.
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.
iPhone 16 Pro Series Specs Leak: Will Graphene
Cooling Boost Performance and Battery Life?
February 6, 2024
The newest generation of iPhones,
the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, may fix the
overheating issues that plagued their predecessors. According to
reports, Apple is considering putting a graphene layer into its following
models to improve heat dissipation. Unlike the current titanium frame, which
has lesser thermal conductivity than stainless steel, graphene integration
could provide a more effective solution to overheating issues, expanding
on improvements made in the iOS 17 update for existing flagship models.
Apple
might change things up on the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Instead of the conventional graphite pads, they
consider utilising graphene to cool the phone's chip. This fancy material would
help carry away the heat generated by the chip, allowing the phone to run
cooler.
Apple has been
rumoured to be exploring graphene
Oh, and this isn't the first
time Apple has been rumoured to be exploring
graphene. In November, a leaker revealed that Apple planned to
outfit the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max with a functional
graphene thermal system. There's even talk of a metal bracket that will house
the phone's battery. Apple appears to have some
exciting things in the works!
Before that rumour entered
the Twitter scene, Apple responded. They released
the iOS 17.0.3 update, which addressed the overheating
issues plaguing the iPhone 15 Pro models. Apple
admitted that their newest phones were experiencing heat, which
they blamed on app optimisation and software problems. So they rushed to patch
it with that slick upgrade.
The rumoured iPhone 16 Pro and 16
Pro Max may be released in the third quarter of 2024. Take all
these rumours and leaks with a grain of salt for now. Apple is
experimenting with ideas like graphene or a fancy vapour cooling chamber
similar to those found in high-end Android phones.
iPhone 16 Pro Series Specs Leak: Will Graphene Cooling
Boost Performance and Battery Life? (msn.com)
“Comrades!' he cried. 'You do not imagine, I
hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege?
Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole
object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this
has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary
to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and
organisation of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your
welfare. It is for your sake that we drink the milk and eat those apples.”
Animal Farm.
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