Baltic
Dry Index. 1774+86 Brent Crude 83.86
Spot
Gold 2308 US 2 Year Yield 4.87 -0.09
Good Conservatives always pay their bills. And on time. Not like the Socialists who run up other people's bills.
Margaret Thatcher.
Bubble, bubble toil and (not yet) trouble, in the global, central bankster fuelled, stock casinos. But for how much longer? (I know, that’s not exactly what Shakespeare wrote, but it’s close.)
Later today, the US latest employment numbers,
though no surprises are expected in this latest release from the Bureau of Lying
Labor Statistics.
In the UK and Ireland, a long, mostly wet, weekend
Hong Kong, Taiwan
stocks lead gains in Asia markets after Apple earnings; U.S. jobs data in focus
UPDATED FRI, MAY 3 2024 9:58 PM EDT
Hong Kong
and Taiwan stocks led gains in Asia on Friday as Wall Street rose overnight,
ahead of key U.S. employment data.
Shares of Apple suppliers were in
focus after the company reported higher-than-expected earnings. Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shares
rose 1.8%, while Hon Hai Technology
Group,
also known as Foxconn, jumped 2.6%.
Apple,
whose second-quarter earnings beat market estimates, announced a record
stock buyback program
of $110 billion. Shares of the iPhone maker jumped 7% in extended
trading, with investors now focusing on shares of Apple suppliers in Taiwan and
South Korea.
South Korea’s Kospi rose
0.39%, while the smaller-cap Kosdaq added 0.28%.
The Taiwan Weighted
Index rose
1.41%, while Hong Kong’s Hang
Seng index added 2%.
Stock markets in Japan and
mainland China were shut for public holidays.
The Japanese yen was
still in focus as it strengthened to 152.75 against the U.S. dollar amid
suspected government intervention to support the currency on Monday.
Economists polled by Dow Jones
expect to see 240,000 job gains in the U.S. April nonfarm payrolls report due
Friday at 0830a.m. ET, compared with 303,000 additions
in March.
Investors will be closely
watching the data after the U.S. Federal Reserve held
interest rates steady at the end of its two-day meeting on
Wednesday.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX
200 gained 0.54%.
Stocks in the U.S. closed higher on Thursday as
investors looked ahead to more earnings as well as the nonfarm payrolls report
set to be released on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added
322.37 points, or 0.85%, while the S&P 500 gained
0.91%. The Nasdaq Composite jumped
1.51%.
Asia
markets live updates: U.S. jobs, Japanese yen, Apple earnings (cnbc.com)
Stock futures
rise after Apple reports, traders brace for April payrolls data: Live updates
UPDATED FRI, MAY 3 2024 7:55 PM EDT
Stock
futures rose Thursday night as investors prepared themselves for the upcoming
April jobs report, due Friday morning.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones
Industrial Average gained
232 points, or 0.6%. S&P 500 futures
rose nearly 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures
advanced about 0.6%.
In extended trading, Apple advanced
more than 6% after it announced a $110
billion share repurchase and a top -and bottom-line beat.
Biotech Amgen surged
14% after posting better-than-expected earnings and revenue numbers, while Cloudflare lost
14% after reporting weak guidance on revenue for the full year.
The three major U.S. stock
indexes ended Thursday higher. The S&P 500 popped 0.91%, while the Dow
gained 0.85%. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed and gained 1.51%.
Despite Thursday’s bounce, the
major averages remain on pace to end the week in negative territory. The
S&P 500 is off by 0.7% week to date, while the Nasdaq is down nearly 0.6%.
The Dow is down 0.04% for the period.
At the conclusion of the Federal
Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday, Chair Jerome Powell appeared to rule out a hike
as the central bank’s next move, but that doesn’t necessarily mean traders
should begin hoping for cuts in the near future.
“While rate cuts are unlikely in
the short term because inflation remains elevated, the hurdle for rate hikes is
really high. Continued strength in the labor market also reduces the urgency to
cut, but the potential cap on rates right now combined with a strong economy is
a positive for equities,” said Sonu Varghese, global macro strategist at Carson
Group.
On Friday, the central bank and
all of Wall Street will be eyeing the April nonfarm payrolls report, with close
attention to changes in wages.
Economists polled by Dow Jones
are expecting 240,000 positions to have been added, marking a slowdown from the
303,000 jobs gained in March. They also anticipate that average hourly wages
grew by 4% year over year, and they expect the unemployment rate to hold steady
at 3.8%.
Stock
market today: Live updates (cnbc.com)
Solid US job, wage
growth expected in April
By Lucia Mutikani
May
3, 2024 5:02 AM GMT+1
WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters)
- U.S. job growth probably slowed to a still-solid clip in April, with wages
maintaining their steady rise, which would allay fears that the economy was
stalling after activity pulled back considerably in the first quarter.
The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on
Friday is also expected to show the unemployment rate holding below 4% for the
27th straight month. Labor market endurance, however, leaves the Federal
Reserve in no rush to start cutting interest rates, which could significantly
slow down the economy.
The U.S. central bank on
Wednesday left its benchmark overnight interest
rate unchanged in the current 5.25%-5.50% range, where it has been since July.
"The bloom is off the rose of a strong employment market,
but it's still pretty," said Sung Won Sohn, finance and economics
professor at Loyola Marymount University. "A slow, but healthy job market
will continue well into 2025. The only situation where I see a dramatic decline
will be if the Fed keeps rates high for too long."
More
Solid US job, wage growth expected in April | Reuters
In US real economy news, bad news. Factory gate inflation, up, manufacturing down.
More food price inflation via olive oil or
was that the high? Cocoa?
US manufacturing sector regresses in April; prices
paid near two-year high
May 1, 2024
WASHINGTON(Reuters) - U.S.
manufacturing contracted in April amid a decline in orders after briefly
expanding in the prior month, while a measure of prices paid by factories for
inputs approached a two-year high.
The Institute for Supply Management
(ISM) said on Wednesday that its manufacturing PMI dropped to 49.2 last month
from 50.3 in March, which was the highest and first reading above 50 since
September 2022. A PMI reading above 50 indicates growth in the manufacturing
sector, which accounts for 10.4% of the economy.
Economists polled by Reuters had
forecast the PMI little changed at 50. Manufacturing is being constrained by
higher borrowing costs and spending shifting back to services and away from
goods. Spending on goods fell in the first quarter.
The ISM survey's forward-looking new
orders sub-index decreased to 49.1 from 51.4 in March. Output at factories
slowed, with the production sub-index slipping to 51.3 after jumping to 54.6 in
the prior month.
Despite weakening demand, inflation
at the factory gate continued to heat up, suggesting that goods price
disinflation could be close to running its course. Falling goods prices were
the major driver of the moderation in inflation last year.
The survey's measure of prices paid
by manufacturers shot up to 60.9, the highest reading since June 2022, from
55.8 in March. With price pressures picking up in the first quarter, the surge
in input costs is unlikely to be welcomed by Federal Reserve officials as they
wrap up their two-day policy meeting.
More
US manufacturing sector regresses in April; prices
paid near two-year high (msn.com)
World’s
largest olive oil producer says the industry faces one of its toughest moments
ever
PUBLISHED THU, MAY 2 2024 5:45 AM
EDT
Spain’s Deoleo, the world’s largest olive oil
producer, says the industry needs to undergo a “profound transformation” as it
grapples with one of the most challenging moments in its history.
A perfect storm of climate change, soaring prices, high interest rates and robust inflation
has taken its toll throughout the olive oil value chain in recent months.
Two consecutive years of scorching heat in Spain
have limited olive harvests, culminating in an unprecedented price rally that has stunned consumers and industry veterans
alike.
Spain accounts for more than 40% of the world’s olive oil production, making it a
global reference for prices.
“We are facing one of the most difficult moments
in the history of the sector,” Miguel Angel Guzman, chief sales officer at
Deoleo, told CNBC via email.
“Strong inflation along with high interest rates
and unfavourable olive oil harvest forecasts (in terms of quantity and quality
due to the drought cycle) has caused prices to increase considerably,” Guzman
said.
Extra virgin olive oil prices in Spain’s Andalusia
hit a record high of 9.2 euros ($9.84) per kilogram in January. They were trading
around 7.8 euros as of April 19, according to Mintec’s benchmark index,
down from around 8 euros at the end of March.
Olive oil prices have cooled due in part to an
uptick in production estimates and beneficial rains in March and April.
Deoleo, the maker of
household olive oil brands such as Bertolli and Carbonell, said it was
convinced the current situation was cyclical and expects a return to a “more
reasonable price situation” when future harvest yields return to normal.
Yet, while the recent
rain in Spain was “undoubtedly positive news,” the company struck a cautious
tone on the outlook for olive oil prices.
More
Spain's Deoleo says olive oil sector faces one of its
toughest moments (cnbc.com)
‘Liquid
gold’: An olive oil shortage is fueling record prices and food insecurity fears
PUBLISHED THU, MAY 2 2024 1:01 AM
EDT
A shortage of olive oil, sometimes referred to as
“liquid gold,” has
driven prices to record highs, fueled a crime surge and pushed the industry
into crisis mode.
The skyrocketing price of the liquid fat, a
superfood staple of the Mediterranean diet, has stunned consumers and
industry veterans alike in recent months.
----Spain,
which supplies more than 40% of the world’s production according to the Centre for
the Promotion of Imports, might typically be expected to produce somewhere
between 1.3 million to 1.5 million metric tons of olive oil each harvest,
Holland said.
However, official figures showed Spain only
cultivated around 666,000 metric tons for the 2022/2023 campaign. Market
players surveyed by Mintec expect a production range of 830,000 to 850,000
metric tons for Spain’s 2023/2024 season, an increase of roughly 40,000 metric
tons from previous estimates.
More
'Liquid gold': A shortage of olive oil has fueled a
record price spike (cnbc.com)
Cocoa Swings Lower in Volatile Market Hit by Thin Trading
Futures fluctuate, but in a smaller range than on Tuesday
Crunch
has led to lack of liquidity, fueling big price moves
By Ilena Peng and Mumbi Gitau
May 1, 2024 at 4:54 PM GMT+1
Cocoa
Swings Lower in Volatile Market Hit by Thin Trading - Bloomberg
Finally in EV fantasyland, another firm collapses. Approx. 5 minutes.
Aussie
EV charging company Tritium COLLAPSES into administration | MGUY Australia
Aussie EV charging company Tritium COLLAPSES into administration | MGUY Australia - YouTube
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.
It’s
official! No Stagflation. Fed Chairman Powell sees no “stag” nor “flation.”
Fed chair Jerome Powell: No sign of stagflation in U.S. economy
Updated Thu, May 2, 2024, 5:11 AM
GMT+1
Federal
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday there was no sign of stagflation in
the economy, even as inflation remains stubbornly high and some signs of
slowing growth have started to emerge.
In
remarks after the release of the Fed's decision Wednesday to leave interest rates unchanged, Powell
said he didn't "really understand where talk of a stagflation scenario is
coming from" given the preponderance of solid economic data.
Historically,
stagflation occurs when high unemployment, slow economic growth and high
inflation all happen at the same time.
Powell
compared today's economy, with both inflation rates and the unemployment rate
below 4%, to that of the 1970s, the decade when most economists consider
stagflation to have taken root.
“I
don’t see the stag, or the ’flation,” he said.
So
far, most economists agree with Powell's assessment. In a note to clients last
week simply titled "No sign of 'stagflation,'" Bank of America
analysts said the lower-than-expected gross domestic product report for the first quarter was mostly a function of
accounting, not of softening underlying demand.
"Consumer
spending ... remains resilient," the analysts said — though it is likely
that the spending is helping keep inflation rights high, they added.
"We
think that view [of growing stagflation] is misguided," they wrote.
Pantheon
Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson likewise said in a recent note
to clients that despite weaker manufacturing data, fears the U.S. could slip
into stagflation should be "ignored" given data points showing a slow
but steady softening in price increases.
"Stagnant
manufacturing output has not stopped the overall US economy from growing at a
very brisk pace on average over the past couple years," Shepherdson wrote.
Today's
U.S. economy does look much better than that of the 1970s, according to most
data. The ’70s were marked by oil-supply shocks that caused gasoline prices to soar,
alongside a confluence of other factors, including the impact of leaving the
gold standard, more powerful unions that could demand higher wages and the
winding down of government price control policies.
More
Fed chair Jerome Powell: No sign of stagflation in
U.S. economy (yahoo.com)
Covid-19 Corner
This
section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
CDC
Found Evidence COVID-19 Vaccines Caused Deaths
May 1, 2024 | 12:48 PM
In an exclusive report by the Epoch Times, U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials found evidence that the
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines caused multiple deaths before
claiming that there was no evidence linking the vaccines to any deaths.
When will those who experienced injuries, diseases
and deaths as a result of the COVID shots be vindicated?
Medical professionals are treating thousands and
thousands of patients all over the world who have been injured.
In his practice today, Dr. Pierre Kory, a critical care and pulmonology physician dedicated to the
Hippocratic Oath and advocate for the use of Ivermectin as
an effective treatment for COVID-19, treats thousands of patients who have been
injured and adversely affected by the COVID shots.
President and co-founder of the Front Line COVID-19
Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), Dr. Kory has testified twice before the US
Senate regarding COVID-19, and has been a vocal critic of the medical
establishment’s response to the pandemic. He recently shared a poem on his
Substack written by one of his vaccine-injured patients.
He writes:
“We’re Not Invisible” poignantly details the plight of the Covid
mRNA vaccine injured in these dark times of rigid censorship, medical
gaslighting, and anti-vaxxer/un-vaxxed demonizing.”
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.
This salt battery harvests
osmotic energy where the river meets the sea
Date: April 24, 2024
Source: American Chemical Society
Summary: Estuaries -- where
freshwater rivers meet the salty sea -- are great locations for birdwatching
and kayaking. In these areas, waters containing different salt concentrations
mix and may be sources of sustainable, 'blue' osmotic energy. Researchers
report creating a semipermeable membrane that harvests osmotic energy from salt
gradients and converts it to electricity. The new design had an output power
density more than two times higher than commercial membranes in lab
demonstrations.
Estuaries -- where freshwater rivers meet the salty sea --
are great locations for birdwatching and kayaking. In these areas, waters
containing different salt concentrations mix and may be sources of sustainable,
"blue" osmotic energy. Researchers in ACS Energy Letters report
creating a semipermeable membrane that harvests osmotic energy from salt
gradients and converts it to electricity. The new design had an output power
density more than two times higher than commercial membranes in lab
demonstrations.
Osmotic
energy can be generated anywhere salt gradients are found, but the available
technologies to capture this renewable energy have room for improvement. One
method uses an array of reverse electrodialysis (RED) membranes that act as a
sort of "salt battery," generating electricity from pressure
differences caused by the salt gradient. To even out that gradient, positively
charged ions from seawater, such as sodium, flow through the system to the
freshwater, increasing the pressure on the membrane. To further increase its
harvesting power, the membrane also needs to keep a low internal electrical
resistance by allowing electrons to easily flow in the opposite direction of
the ions. Previous research suggests that improving both the flow of ions
across the RED membrane and the efficiency of electron transport would likely
increase the amount of electricity captured from osmotic energy. So, Dongdong
Ye, Xingzhen Qin and colleagues designed a semipermeable membrane from
environmentally friendly materials that would theoretically minimize internal
resistance and maximize output power.
The
researchers' RED membrane prototype contained separate (i.e., decoupled)
channels for ion transport and electron transport. They created this by
sandwiching a negatively charged cellulose hydrogel (for ion transport) between
layers of an organic, electrically conductive polymer called polyaniline (for
electron transport). Initial tests confirmed their theory that decoupled
transport channels resulted in higher ion conductivity and lower resistivity
compared to homogenous membranes made from the same materials. In a water tank
that simulated an estuary environment, their prototype achieved an output power
density 2.34 times higher than a commercial RED membrane and maintained
performance during 16 days of non-stop operation, demonstrating its long-term,
stable performance underwater. In a final test, the team created a salt battery
array from 20 of their RED membranes and generated enough electricity to
individually power a calculator, LED light and stopwatch.
Ye,
Qin and their team members say their findings expand the range of ecological
materials that could be used to make RED membranes and improve osmotic
energy-harvesting performance, making these systems more feasible for
real-world use.
This salt battery harvests osmotic energy where the
river meets the sea | ScienceDaily
Finally,
our latest new section, the world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP
compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
Another
weekend and no end in sight to two unnecessary murderous wars. In Ukraine, Russia
is now knocking the stuffing out of NATO’s patsy Kiev’s forces. In the Gaza
Ghetto, Israel is repeating the Warsaw Ghetto result of 1943.
In the
wider world, great damage is being done to the image of the west and Israel,
but no one in the west or Israel cares, something I suspect will be a great
error over time in the decades ahead.
In the
UK, a swing to the left in yesterday’s UK local elections. In the upcoming
EUSSR elections, a predicted swing to the right.
Have a
great weekend everyone.
If voting made any difference, they wouldn't let us di it.
Mark Twain, Attributed.
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