Dress Up Maundy Thursday. Greed Rules OK!

Baltic Dry Index. 1845 -144            Brent Crude  86.47

Spot Gold 2197                   US 2 Year Yield 4.54 -0.02

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.

John Kenneth Galbraith.

A happy Easter holiday to all celebrating this weekend.

In the stock casinos, it is the last trading day of the month and quarter, time to dress up stocks and stock indexes for the all important money manager bonuses.

Still with the markets closed tomorrow for the Good Friday holiday, but with the Fed’s favourite inflation index to be released, if it surprises to the upside, a nasty Monday awaits the US stock casinos. UK and many other global stock markets will be closed on Monday for the Easter bank holiday.

Prudence would favour some profit taking today, but with greed in full swing with the market pros having the central banks trapped promising several interest rate cuts this year, (iffy at best, given a strong US economy,) prudence be damned, greed rules for now.

Look away from that rising oil price and near record gold price now.

 

Japan stocks and yen weaken; Australia shares rally to record high as miners rise

UPDATED THU, MAR 28 2024 12:21 AM EDT

Japan stocks fell the most among Asian markets Thursday, while Australian stocks hit a record high, helped by a boost from mining shares.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.22%, while the broader Topix shed 1.31%.

The Japanese yen was trading at 151.37 against the dollar after hitting 151.97 on Wednesday — its weakest level against the greenback in 34 years.

The multi-decade lows of the yen fueled market speculation of a potential government intervention to support the currency. Japan’s finance minister Shunichi Suzuki indicated earlier in the week that measures to “respond to disorderly FX moves” will not be ruled out.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.91% after hitting an intraday record high of 7,901.20. The index was higher for a second straight day. Heavyweight miners rose including Rio Tinto up 1.1% and BHP Group up 1.8%.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.13%. The smaller cap Kosdaq edged 0.06% higher.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 1.63%, with the Hang Seng tech index up 3.8%.

China’s CSI 300 rose 1.2%.

The U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index closed at a record higher Wednesday and headed for its best first quarter since 2019. The index gained 0.86% to close at 5,248.49, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.22%.

Both the S&P 500 and the Dow ended three-day losing streaks. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.51%.

Asia markets live updates: Australia shares record high, Japanese yen (cnbc.com)

 

Positive open expected for European stocks as the region’s markets bounce back

UPDATED THU, MAR 28 2024 1:20 AM EDT

European markets are heading for a positive open Thursday, bouncing back from lackluster momentum earlier this week.

Regional stocks closed slightly higher Wednesday, regaining steam after a subdued start to the session. On Thursday, investors will be keeping an eye out for earnings from Lloyd’s of London and JD Sports Fashion will issue a trading update. German unemployment data and Italian consumer confidence data for March are due.

Globally, U.S. stock futures were trading near the flatline overnight as the S&P 500 approached its best first-quarter performance in five years. Investors stateside are awaiting data on jobless claims, gross domestic product and consumer sentiment Thursday.

Overnight in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan stocks fell the most among Asian markets Thursday, while Australian stocks hit a record high, helped by a boost from mining shares.

European markets live updates: stocks, news, data and earnings (cnbc.com)

 

Stock futures are little changed as S&P 500 gets set to close out the first quarter up 10%: Live updates

UPDATED WED, MAR 27 2024 7:49 PM EDT

Stock futures are trading near the flatline overnight as the S&P 500 approached its best first-quarter performance in five years.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 32 points, or 0.08%. S&P 500 futures inched lower by 0.08%, while Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.1%.

In extended trading, shares of luxury home furnishings retailer RH jumped 8% after management indicated that demand trends are expected to accelerate throughout fiscal 2024. Nevertheless, the company missed estimates in its latest quarter and issued a weak outlook for the first quarter.

Stocks rallied across the board on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.86% to close at a record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 477.75 points, or 1.22%, for its best day in 2024. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, added 0.51%.

“You’ve got a combination of things that are happening with a calendar and a slow news week, with the largest piece of data coming out on Friday when the market’s closed, so you’ve got investors that feel invigorated and a more risk-on attitude seems to be driving markets,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.

The major averages are tracking for their second consecutive winning quarter and fifth straight winning month.

For the quarter, the S&P 500 is up about 10%. It is on pace for its best first-quarter gain since 2019, when it rallied 13.1%. The 30-stock Dow, up 5.5% during the period, is tracking for its strongest first-quarter performance since 2021 when it advanced 7.4%. The Nasdaq is up 9.3% in the quarter thus far.

On a monthly basis, the S&P 500 is up 3%. The Nasdaq and the Dow are both pacing for advances of more than 1.9%.

Investors are awaiting data on jobless claims, gross domestic product and consumer sentiment out Thursday.

Although the market will be closed due to Good Friday, economic data tied to personal income, consumer spending and personal consumption expenditures will be released that day.

Stock market today: Live updates (cnbc.com)

In shipping news, the port of Baltimore remains closed indefinitely.

 

Freighter pilot called for tugboat help before plowing into Baltimore bridge

By Gabriella Borter  March 28, 2024 4:20 AM GMT

BALTIMORE, March 27 (Reuters) - The pilot of the cargo freighter that knocked down a highway bridge into Baltimore Harbor had radioed for tugboat help and reported a power loss minutes earlier, federal safety officials said on Wednesday, citing audio from the ship's "black box" data recorder.

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board also said that Francis Scott Key Bridge, a traffic artery over the harbor built in 1976, lacked structural engineering redundancies common to newer spans, making it more vulnerable to a catastrophic collapse.

New insights into the fatal disaster emerged a day after the massive Singapore-flagged container ship Dali sailing out of Baltimore Harbor bound for Sri Lanka reported losing power and the ability to maneuver before plowing into a support pylon of the bridge.

The impact brought most of the bridge tumbling into the mouth of the Patapsco River almost immediately, blocking shipping lanes and forcing the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

Divers on Wednesday recovered the remains of two of the six workers missing since the crumbling bridge tossed them into the water, officials said on Wednesday.

Maryland State Police Colonel Roland Butler said a red pickup truck containing the bodies of the two men was found in about 25 feet (7.62 m) of water near the mid-section of the fallen bridge.

He also said authorities had suspended efforts to retrieve more bodies from the depths due to increasingly treacherous conditions in the wreckage-strewn harbor. Butler said sonar images showed additional submerged vehicles "encased" in sunken bridge debris, making them difficult to reach.

---- The economic fallout could be staggering. The port handles more automobile and farm equipment freight than any other in the country, as well as container freight and bulk goods ranging from sugar to coal.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the 8,000 jobs are "directly associated" with port operations, which generate $2 million a day in wages.

Still, economists and logistics experts doubted the port closure would trigger a major U.S. supply chain crisis or significant spike in the price of goods, due to ample capacity at rival shipping hubs along the East Coast.

The collapse, which occurred at 1:30 a.m., has created a traffic quagmire as well for Baltimore and the surrounding region.

Earlier on Wednesday an NTSB team boarded the idled freighter, still anchored in the harbor channel with part of the mangled bridge splayed over its bow, to begin interviewing the ship's two pilots and 21 regular crew members who remained on the vessel, safety board chief Jennifer Homendy said.

Investigators also began reviewing information collected from the ship's Voyage Data Recorder, including radio traffic between the pilot and shore-based authorities leading up to the disaster.

The pilot was heard calling for tugboat assistance several minutes before the crash, the first indication of distress to harbor officials, followed by a radio report that the ship had lost all power and was approaching the bridge, NTSB officials said at a news briefing on Wednesday night.

Video footage that captured the accident show the ship's lights winking off, then back on briefly before the vessel's lights go out again.

Homendy said recorder data was "consistent with a power outage" but that an actual blackout had yet to be confirmed.

The recorder also picked up commands to the crew to drop anchor, presumably aimed at slowing the vessel.

Safety board investigator Marcel Muise said data showed the Dali, measuring about three football fields in length and piled high with shipping containers, was moving at about 8 miles per hour (12.8 km) when it struck a bridge abutment.

More

Freighter pilot called for tugboat help before plowing into Baltimore bridge | Reuters

Finally, get gold and silver, SWIFT is launching a Central Bank Digital Currency platform, possibly as soon as next year. Whatever else CBDCs are, central bank funny money is certain to be inflationary.

SWIFT embraces central bank digital currencies after sandbox success

Promises it can handle digi-bucks and tokenized assets without new infrastructure, maybe next year

Tue 26 Mar 2024 // 06:30 UTC

One of the many sanctions imposed on Russia after its illegal invasion of Ukraine was exclusion from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) – the messaging network that most of the world's banks use to move money across borders.

So important is SWIFT to the world economy that Australian authorities have described Russia's removal from the network as "the 'nuclear option' of financial sanctions." It is that debilitating to be cut off from the network.

While SWIFT is critical, it is also clunky. Transfers using the network can take days to complete – an anomaly at a time when realtime payments are commonplace. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) – tokenized versions of fiat currencies – have been touted by numerous governments as a means of speeding cross-border transactions. SWIFT's shortcomings are also the target of many blockchain startups that have developed tech to move cash around the world more … swiftly.

SWIFT is alive to the threat tokenized assets pose to its central place in the global economy, and has therefore conducted its own experiments with CBDCs and similar techs.

On Monday it proclaimed that its most recent sandbox exercise – which tested tech that interlinks SWIFT and CBDCs – proved "institutions can continue to use much of their existing infrastructure alongside new, innovative technologies."

"The experiments found that our interlinking solution has the potential to simplify and speed up trade flows, unlock growth in tokenized securities markets, and enable efficient FX settlement," declares SWIFT's summary of the sandbox exercise.

Long story short, SWIFT thinks it can cope with all the stuff that delights blockchain-based finance disruptors: smart contracts and events-based programming to enable automated trading 24x7, atomic delivery versus payment (a technique that sees delivery of goods or securities noted on a blockchain, triggering payment so that money doesn't change hands before assets have been exchanged), and interoperability between CBDCs and other tokenized assets.

SWIFT's announcement makes repeated mention of all this being possible while institutions use their existing infrastructure.

Which is an important factor, because SWIFT commenced operations in 1980 and has thousands of institutional customers who have probably coded hundreds of thousands of apps to use the platform.

Financial institutions are infamously among the most likely organizations to house legacy apps, and the sheer weight of legacy code makes it hard for them to move on from all such programs. SWIFT appears to be betting that it can deliver enough of the tokenized world to its customers that they won't mind bringing blockchain-based apps into their existing estates.

And according to Reuters, SWIFT will deliver a CBDC platform in the next one or two years.

Doing so successfully would see SWIFT blunt the existential threat tokenized assets represent to its future – and perhaps also make life harder for the likes of Russia and China as they try using blockchain-based instruments to ease their own cross-border cashflows.

SWIFT embraces CBDCs after interoperability sandbox success • The Register

 

The sense of responsibility in the financial community for the community as a whole is not small. It is nearly nil.

John Kenneth Galbraith.

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.

Climate change could turn up the heat on inflation, according to report

Published on 27/03/2024 - 08:00

Rising temperatures and extreme weather events are expected to have a global impact on agriculture.

Increased average temperatures could drive up annual food inflation by up to 3.2% per year and overall inflation by up to 1.18% per year by 2035, according to a fresh study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). 

In the study, the scientists looked at how climate factors such as high temperatures and extreme rainfall have affected inflation in historical data, but they did not take a separate look at which food items were likely to be most affected. 

"Looking at over 27,000 observations of historical data, we found that increases in temperatures can increase food prices, particularly in hot regions and seasons," said Dr Max Kotz, one of the authors of the study. 

"Under future climate conditions, these impacts could become large, approximately 1-3% points per year on food inflation by 2035, threatening the price stability mandates of central banks such as the ECB which aims to keep inflation below 2%."

Meanwhile, headline inflation could be driven up by 0.32-1.18% points every year on average globally, the study found. 

Rising or unstable prices threatened economic and human welfare as well as political stability, the report noted, citing that the 2021-2022 cost of living crisis pushed an additional 71 million people into poverty across the world, according to the UN. 

Food inflation and headline inflation are expected to be affected by global warming in both higher- and lower-income countries. 

Inflation goes up when temperatures rise, and it does so most strongly in summer and in hot regions at lower latitudes, where it will persist all year long. For this reason, the global south, especially Africa and South America, will be more affected, according to the study.

More

Climate change could turn up the heat on inflation, according to report | Euronews

Spain's EU-harmonised 12-month inflation rises to 3.2% in March

March 27, 2024

(Reuters) - Spain's European-Union harmonised inflation rose 3.2% in the 12 months through March, up from 2.9% increase in the period through February, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Wednesday.

The 12-month harmonised inflation was below the 3.3% expected by analysts polled by Reuters.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile fresh food and energy prices, rose 3.3% in the 12 months through February, down from 3.5% in the previous month, INE said.

Spanish 12-month national consumer prices rose 3.2% through March, up from a 2.8% increase in February and in line with expectation of analysts polled by Reuters.

Spain's EU-harmonised 12-month inflation rises to 3.2% in March (msn.com)

Covid-19 Corner

This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.

Covid vaccine to be sold at Boots for £99

March 27, 2024

Boots will begin selling Covid-19 vaccines in select stores next week, marking the first time the vaccine is available on the UK high street.

The retail and pharmacy chain will offer single-dose vaccines across the UK, charging people £99 for a Pfizer jab.

According to initial reports, the vaccines will be available across 50 Boots stores for people over the age of 12.

This means that people who may otherwise be ineligible to receive the Covid vaccine or booster via the NHS can receive their dose privately.

Boots is reportedly releasing slots this week for people to register and book their Covid vaccination.

A spokesperson told The Times, “We are launching a private Covid-19 vaccination service for people who are not eligible for an NHS vaccination but still want the option to protect themselves from the virus.”

“Our private service builds on our existing delivery of Covid-19 vaccinations for the NHS and we are pleased we can now offer Covid-19 vaccinations both on behalf of the NHS and privately, as we have done with flu vaccinations for many years.”

Current UK guidelines specify that people over 75, those who live in care homes, or those who are over 6 months old and have a weakened immune system are eligible for the next round of NHS vaccines free of charge.

However, this means that millions of Brits no longer qualify for the free Covid service and will need to seek alternative ways to get the jab.

The virus continues to evolve and mutate, and records show it claimed 233,791 lives in the UK so far. While no longer considered a global health emergency, people who contract Covid may still develop debilitating conditions like long Covid.

Privately sold Covid-19 vaccines means people can take Covid protection into their own hands, even if it comes with a hefty price tag.

This year will mark the first time private Covid vaccines will be available across various independent pharmacies in the UK.

Last month, Pharmadoctor, an organisation that works with a network of UK pharmacies, similarly revealed that they would be rolling out private Covid jabs starting in April as long as people qualify following a face-to-face consultation.

According to the announcement, Covid vaccinations would retail for around £45 through their service.

More

Covid vaccine to be sold at Boots for £99 (msn.com)

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.

Levidian rolls out graphene-enhanced tyre prototype for HGVs

26 Mar, 2024

Cambridge-based climate tech leader Levidian has unveiled its first prototype truck tyre – combining net zero graphene with carbon black in a new tread formulation that could unlock a future of greener, higher performance tyres.

Launched at the Tire Technology Expo in Hannover, the graphene-enhanced natural rubber and butadiene rubber tyre tread compound, typically used in commercial vehicle tyres, has been shown to deliver significant improvements in the mechanical and dynamic properties of the tyre.

Independent testing by the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) has shown that the addition of Levidian’s net zero graphene can deliver a reduction in rolling resistance of around 23 per cent. Initial results have also indicated potential for reduced compound density that could allow for lighter tyres overall. Overall, this could deliver substantial improvements in fuel efficiency of 3-4 per cent.

Levidian’s graphene is produced as part of a unique decarbonisation solution called LOOP that allows tyre producers to drive down the emissions of their manufacturing processes and products through the production of clean hydrogen and high-quality graphene, which can be used as a reinforcing, tread grade carbon filler.

Ellie Galanis, Director of Commercial Development for Levidian said: “We’re on a mission to help industry to decarbonise and are excited to be sharing this prototype tyre alongside the results of testing with our partners at TARRC.

“By deploying our technology, HGV operators could achieve improvements in fuel economy of at least 3 per cent – that’s an annual saving of over £300 million on fuel and a reduction in emissions of almost half a million tonnes of CO2 equivalent for UK operators alone.”

Levidian’s solution offers tyre manufacturers the opportunity to not only drive down the emissions associated with production but secure their supply chains by producing their own graphene on site for direct application into their tyres.

Levidian rolls out graphene-enhanced tyre prototype for HGVs (businessweekly.co.uk)

Finally, our latest new section, the world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.

World Debt Clocks (usdebtclock.org)

Mr. David Stockman has said that supply-side economics was merely a cover for the trickle-down approach to economic policy — what an older and less elegant generation called the horse-and-sparrow theory: If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.

John Kenneth Galbraith.