Baltic
Dry Index. 1628 -41
Brent Crude 89.81
Spot Gold 2344 US 2 Year Yield 4.73 +0.08
Today, across much of the USA a total eclipse of the sun.
LIVE:
Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024. Courtesy of our friends at TimeandDate.com
LIVE: Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024. Courtesy of our friends at TimeandDate.com - YouTube
In the stock casinos, nervous trading ahead of the week’s US inflation figures and several Asian central bank meetings and the ECB meeting.
Any US CPI surprise to the upside on Friday will likely delay any US interest rate cut from June until later in the year. A surprise to the downside is unlikely and probably lead many to question the data.
With oil and many food commodities rising again, two wars raging and a wider Middle East war just one mistake away, will today’s USA total solar eclipse bring good luck or bad luck to the stock casinos?
In slightly better news this morning, the Brent
crude oil price has fallen back below 90 dollars but only by a few cents.
Asia markets mixed ahead of central bank
decisions, U.S. and China inflation data this week
UPDATED MON, APR 8 2024 12:33 AM EDT
Asia-Pacific
markets were mixed ahead of central bank decisions this week, with investors
also awaiting inflation numbers from the U.S. and China.
The Bank of Korea, the Reserve
Bank of New Zealand, the Bank of Thailand and the central bank of the
Philippines have their monetary policy meetings scheduled this week.
S&P Global expects all four
banks to hold their rates steady, but also added in its note that “the Bank of Korea may
be amongst [banks] which [are] close to lowering rates and the rhetoric will be
in focus.” The BOK was among one of the earliest Asian banks to halt its rate
tightening cycle in 2023.
Later in the week, U.S. and China
inflation numbers will be in focus, with China also releasing trade data for
March on Friday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rebounded
to cross the 39,000 mark, gaining 1.54%, while the broad-based Topix rose
1.33%.
South Korea’s Kospi gained
0.12%, while the small-cap Kosdaq saw a loss of 1.28%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was
up 0.19%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell
0.71%, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 was down 0.77% after coming back from
a public holiday.
On Friday in the U.S., all three major indexes
regained ground after a stronger than expected jobs report, with the Labor
Department’s report showing that job growth totaled
303,000 in March.
Nonfarm payrolls were expected to
increase by 200,000, according to Dow Jones estimates. Wages rose 0.3% for the
month and 4.1% from a year earlier, both in line with estimates.
The 30-stock Dow climbed
0.8%, while the S&P 500 gained
1.11%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced
1.24%.
Asia
markets live updates: Central banks; U.S., China inflation data (cnbc.com)
Stock futures rise slightly in overnight trading
following the market’s losing week: Live updates
UPDATED MON, APR 8 2024 7:00 PM EDT
Stock
futures rose slightly in overnight trading Sunday after the market suffered a
down week as 2024′s rally took a breather.
Futures on the Dow Jones
Industrial Average climbed 55 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100
futures both inched up 0.1%.
The 30-stock Dow fell 2.3% last
week, posting its worst weekly performance March 2023. The S&P 500 declined
nearly 1% during the period, its biggest weekly loss since early January. The
tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.8%, suffering its fourth negative
week in five.
The market did end last week on a
positive note, however, after a stronger-than-expected
jobs report Friday. The surprising gain in payrolls gave
investors hope that a strong economy could continue to support corporate
earnings growth, even if it means higher interest rates for longer.
“Jobs and wages are rising
solidly and aggregate payrolls are outpacing inflation, which will keep
Americans spending in 2024 and powering the economy forward,” said Bill Adams,
chief economist at Comerica Bank.
For further clarity on how
successful the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation has been, investors
are eagerly waiting for readings for March consumer and producer price indexes
later this week.
Economists polled by Dow Jones
expect the CPI number, to be released Wednesday morning, to increase 0.3% last
month and 3.5% year over year.
“The Fed seems unbothered by
robust employment gains ... Inflation though is a bigger issue, and
it’s imperative that the Mar price data (CPI, PPI, PCE) show
the disinflationary process getting back on track,” Adam Crisafulli,
founder of Vital Knowledge, said in a note.
Investors are also grappling with
rising bond yields and oil prices. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield surged
nearly 20 basis points to last week to about 4.4%. U.S. crude oil touched $87
amid geopolitical tensions.
Wall St Week Ahead US
stocks' lofty valuations in spotlight as earnings season nears
By David Randall and Lewis Krauskopf April 5,
2024 7:47 PM GMT+1
NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters)
- The U.S. stock market is the most expensive it has been in around two years.
Its valuation could be put to the test as companies report earnings in coming
weeks.
The S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab is up more than 9%
year-to-date, following its strongest first-quarter performance since 2019. But
the bar may be rising for stocks to keep advancing at that pace, increasing
pressure on companies to deliver strong results.
The benchmark index trades
at 20.7 times its estimated earnings for the next 12 months, near a more than
two-year high of 21.2 hit in late March, according to LSEG Datastream.
Unremarkable earnings growth could give investors less reason to hold onto stocks,
at a time when elevated yields on
Treasuries bolster the attractiveness of bonds.
Investors will also listen for companies’ views on the economy
and inflation, to gauge whether the so-called Goldilocks environment of
resilient growth and cooling consumer prices can continue.
Signs of stubborn inflation
have diminished expectations in recent weeks for how deeply the Federal Reserve
will cut rates this year. Stocks rose after another
stronger-than-expected employment report on
Friday.
“If we're going to continue to make significant gains in the
stock market, we have to not just meet, but probably exceed ... what those
estimates are for earnings,” said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO
Wealth Management.
Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), opens new tab, BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab, and JPMorgan Chase &
Co (JPM.N), opens new tab are among the
companies scheduled to release their first quarter results next week. Investors
will also be watching for March U.S. consumer price data, expected on April 10.
Analysts expect to see earnings growth of 5% in the first
quarter, according to LSEG data. That would be the lowest since the second
quarter of 2023. They expect margins to be squeezed by high interest rates,
rising commodity costs, and falling corporate pricing power due to slowing
inflation. Earnings grew by 10.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
More
Wall St Week Ahead US stocks' lofty valuations in spotlight as earnings season nears | Reuters
Capitalism
means free enterprise, sovereignty of the consumers in economic matters, and
sovereignty of the voters in political matters. Socialism means full government
control of every sphere of the individuals life and the unrestricted supremacy
of the government in its capacity as central board of production management.
Ludwig von Mises.
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.
INVESTING
EXPLAINED: What you need to know about second-wave inflation
April 5, 2024
----Chancellor Jeremy Hunt assured us in last month's Budget that
inflation will fall below the Bank of England's 2 per cent target. But
pessimistic economists argue that inflation has not been tamed, either in the
UK or in the US. And they claim it could stage a comeback – in a second wave.
Why are economists so gloomy?
They
point to the experience of the 1970s which shows that tackling sky-rocketing
inflation takes a long time.
They
also argue that reducing interest rates in the near future – on the basis that
inflation is no longer a threat – would be dangerous for the Bank of England
and the US Federal Reserve.
Some
of these doomsters even warn of the possibility of 1970s style stagflation
(soaring inflation combined with a slump).
They say that the American stock market boom,
which has largely been fuelled by artificial intelligence (AI) excitement, is
the kind of asset price inflation that could rekindle wider inflation.
Do they have other concerns?
Yes.
They say that the spread of conflict in the Middle East raises the possibility
of more energy price shocks. The US may be a net energy exporter, but the UK,
like the rest of Europe, is more reliant on imported oil and gas.
They
also point to rising housing costs in the UK and the US. More expensive rents
add to the pressure for generous pay settlements. In the longer term, the
ageing of the population means that fewer people are working, meaning wage
demands will remain elevated, thus ensuring inflation remains stubbornly high.
More
INVESTING EXPLAINED: What you need to know about second-wave inflation (msn.com)
Covid-19
Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Earliest
COVID-19 vaccine recipients wrote in tens of thousands of injuries left off CDC
surveys
Agency
unsuccessfully fought to keep "free text" entries hidden after
turning over the checkbox survey data in a different lawsuit. "Persistent
immune imprinting," from taking same vaccine repeatedly, confirmed again.
Published: April 4, 2024 11:00pm
The earliest recipients of newly authorized COVID-19
vaccines, including healthcare workers, wrote in tens of thousands of adverse
events related to the heart, ears, reproductive system and other conditions not
listed as checkboxes in a federal active monitoring smartphone app.
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in the past two months turned over 780,000 "free
text" entries from V-safe, the agency's vaccine-safety monitoring
system, under a January
order by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Freedom
Coalition of Doctors for Choice.
It kept holding out for more
than a year after turning over the checkbox
answers in a different FOIA lawsuit by
the Informed Consent Action Network, which revealed nearly 8% of V-safe users
said they required medical care, another 12% couldn't perform normal daily
activities and yet another 13% said they missed work or school.
Kacsmaryk scolded the agency
for drastically overstating how difficult it would be to redact free-text
entries — 93% of which the CDC admitted had no personally identifying
information — that were limited to 250 characters, which the judge compared to
tweets.
ICAN, which shares lawyer Aaron Siri with FCDC, made
the first
two productions of free-text entries available over the past month. The group said they show
"remarkable consistency" between each other in adverse events
reported, specifically highlighting the frequency of symptoms associated with
myocarditis – inflammation of the the heart muscle myocardium.
The CDC has until mid-January
2025 to turn over all 7.8 million free-text entries from V-safe, which
registered 8.5 million users from December 2020 to April 2021, when the
vaccines became generally available to adults.
More
than 10 million participants have submitted 151
million health surveys through the app as of January, according to the agency.
They answer questions at daily, then weekly and finally quarterly intervals,
making it a more reliable gauge of vaccine injury than the passively monitored
Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System.
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.
Well if they say so.
World
first UK prototype could pave the way for constant energy all the time - from
space
April
4, 2024
A company hoping to launch the first solar farm into space has passed a
critical milestone with a prototype on Earth.
Oxfordshire-based Space Solar plans to power more than a
million homes by the 2030s with mile-wide complex of mirrors and solar panels
orbiting 22,000 miles above the planet.
But its super-efficient design for harvesting constant
sunlight - called CASSIOPeiA - requires the system to rotate towards the sun,
whatever its position, while still sending power to a fixed receiver on the
ground.
That's now been shown to work
for the first time at Queen's University Belfast, with a wireless beam
successfully "steered" across a lab to turn on a light.
Martin
Soltau, the company's founder, told Sky News in an exclusive interview:
"This is a world first. You can get constant energy all the time.
"This is really going to
have a substantial impact on our future energy systems."
Solar panels capture 13 times
more energy in space than they do on the ground because the light
intensity is higher and there's no atmosphere, clouds or night.
Even though some energy would be lost
by the time it is beamed back to Earth and connected to the electricity grid,
it would still far outstrip solar generation on the ground.
But it's the production of power
around the clock that makes space-based solar energy so attractive for
providing a "baseload" to back up ground-based renewables.
Currently, nuclear energy and gas
turbines provide the baseload for the grid but produce radioactive waste or
carbon dioxide respectively.
"This is this is why the
government is so excited by the prospect of space-based solar power," said
Mr Soltau.
"Not only is it very, capable in
that it's helping to make the whole energy system work more effectively.
"But the cost (of electricity)
is about quarter of that from nuclear."
World first UK prototype could pave the way for
constant energy all the time - from space (msn.com)
Finally,
our latest new section, the world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP
compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
Liberty
is meaningless if it is only the liberty to agree with those in power.
Ludwig von Mises.
No comments:
Post a Comment