Baltic
Dry Index. 1808 -07 Brent Crude 77.76
Spot Gold 2349 US 2 Year Yield 4.82 -0.07
In
the run up to the UK General Election on July 4, the LIR will play its part.
The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.
Otto von Bismarck.
In the global stock casinos, a nervous start to June. Not helped by yet another NYSE computer “glitch”. But probably helped by lower US Treasury yields, which also boosted gold.
In better news, crude oil crashed as the
OPEC+ plan underwhelmed as punters focused on the extra oil production coming in
later this year and not next year’s extended production cuts.
European markets set for mixed open as positive
momentum falters
European markets are set to open in mixed
territory Tuesday as positive momentum over the past few days falters.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is
expected to open unchanged at 8,264, Germany’s DAX down 30 points
at 18,577, France’s CAC 10
points lower at 7,989 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 2
points at 34,725, according to data from IG.
Regional markets started the month
higher Monday, extending last week’s rally, with investors looking ahead to the
European Central Bank’s latest interest rate decision later this week.
The ECB is widely expected to cut
interest rates for the first time since 2019 when policymakers meet on
Thursday, but investors will watch closely to see whether a slightly higher-than-expected euro
zone inflation print released Friday will affect the bank’s forthcoming
decision.
On the data front, Germany releases
its latest unemployment figures for May on Tuesday.
Overnight in the
Asia-Pacific region Tuesday, India stocks slumped to lead
regional markets lower as the country started counting votes for its 2024
general election.
The world’s most populous country
started counting votes at 8 a.m. local time, with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi projected to win a rare third
consecutive term as per the exit polls.
U.S.
stock futures were little changed on Monday evening as Wall
Street looked to find its footing after an uneven start to the month.
European
financial markets: stocks, news, data and earnings (cnbc.com)
India’s Nifty plummets 3.5% to lead Asia
markets lower as election vote counting kicks off
UPDATED TUE, JUN 4 2024 12:04 AM EDT
India
stocks slumped to lead Asia markets lower Tuesday, as the country started
counting votes for its 2024 general election.
The world’s most populous country
started counting votes at 8 a.m. local time, with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi projected to win a rare third
consecutive term as per the exit polls.
The Nifty 50 index was
down 3.5% while BSE Sensex fell
1.5%, after the main stocks gauges in India
hit record highs on Monday.
Over the weekend, local
exit polls projected Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party-led
alliance winning a decisive majority in the lower house of the parliament.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell
0.22%, while the broader Topix dipped 0.24%.
South Korea’s Kospi shed
0.47% and the smaller-cap Kosdaq reversed earlier declines to rise 0.8%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged
0.31% higher, while the CSI 300 index added 0.4%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index
was down 0.19%.
Overnight, U.S. stock index futures were
listless as Wall Street looked to find its footing after an uneven start to the
month.
Futures for the Dow Jones
Industrial Average were
roughly flat. S&P 500
futures and Nasdaq 100
futures ticked
up less than 0.1% each.
The Dow fell
more than 115 points, or 0.3%, on the first trading day of June. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both
rose modestly on Monday.
Asia markets live updates: India elections, South Korea CPI (cnbc.com)
Next, that NYSE computer “glitch.” Why abandoning cash for Central Bank Digital
Currencies is a terrible idea. Even worse than dropping internal combustion
engines for battery electric vehicles.
NYSE says technical issue that caused Berkshire
Hathaway to be displayed down 99% is fixed
A technical issue on Monday caused the A-class
shares of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to
appear to be down nearly 100% on the New York Stock Exchange for most of the
morning trading period.
Trading was halted in those shares,
as well as in Barrick Gold and Nuscale Power,
which had also seen dramatic falls. All three stocks have since resumed
trading.
The NYSE said that the problems stemmed from the
price-bands published by the Consolidated Tape Association, the organization
used by major exchanges to jointly provide real-time stock quotes. The NYSE
said at roughly 11:45 a.m. ET that the issues had been resolved and trading was
back to normal.
The CTA said that there was an
issue with limit up and limit down price bands, a mechanism meant to combat
market volatility, between 9:30 a.m. and 10:27 a.m. ET. The issue may have been
caused by a new software release, and the organization will revert back to the
prior software program in its primary data center for Tuesday’s trading
session, the CTA said.
There were 40 stocks affected by
the issue, according to the CTA. Other notable stocks involved include Chipotle Mexican Grill and Bank of Montreal.
The NYSE Group Equities Exchange
announced after market close that it would cancel erroneous trades in several
securities including Berkshire Hathaway’s A-shares.
There were less than 4,000 recorded
trades on the day for Berkshire’s A-class shares when trading was halted.
Trading continued in the B-class shares, which were down less than 1% Monday
morning. Both share classes ended the day up less than 1%.
----The issues on Monday are another reminder that
the exchanges and data providers that are central to Wall Street are not
completely error free. Other recent examples include an hourlong
freeze for CME index data feeds last week and a Nasdaq system
error in December that led to some orders being canceled.
The NYSE also had a day in January
2023 when the opening
auctions for some stocks did not occur properly.
More
NYSE says issue that showed Berkshire Hathaway down 99% is fixed (cnbc.com)
Finally, buy now for Christmas? This being 2024, that's probably shoplift now for Christmas.
Shops rush for Christmas stock as shipping costs surge
2 June 2024
European retailers
are rushing to place their Christmas orders early as soaring shipping costs and
trade route disruption threaten holiday deliveries, experts say.
For the last few months, vessels belonging to Western firms have been
attacked in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels backing Hamas in its war with Israel,
driving shipping prices up.
Container prices, which peaked in January and briefly declined, have
rebounded sharply in recent weeks.
One business told the BBC that increased costs were likely to feed
through to the price of big-ticket items such as white goods.
Nick Glynn, boss of
the Buy It Direct group, owns several online retailers including Appliances
Direct and Laptops Direct, which are having to plan and book well in advance to
make sure their shipments arrive on time.
Because they are planning ahead, he said he didn't think Black Friday
and Christmas stock would be affected.
But he said: "It impacts cash and warehouse space as suddenly you
have to store the goods for longer. You can't risk ordering later."
Mr Glynn explained that the spot rate - the current price for immediate
delivery of goods - has dramatically increased in recent weeks from $4,500 to
$7,500 (£3,500 to £5,900).
"This makes a massive impact on big bulky items, especially those
that have low margins such as furniture, barbecues, and kitchen
appliances," he said.
There was "no way" most online retailers could absorb those
price increases on big-ticket items, he said.
"So unfortunately for consumers, the next few months will see
significant rises on these big-ticket items," he added.
Shipping costs have
soared as a result. The average cost of shipping a 40ft container now exceeds
$4,000, a 140% increase from 2023, according to freight market tracker Xeneta.
Peter Sand, Xeneta's chief analyst, said that importers have learned
many lessons from the pandemic including that "the most straightforward
way to protect supply chains is to ship as many of your goods as you can as
quickly as possible".
"That is what we are seeing with some businesses telling us they
are already shipping cargo for the Christmas period - in May," he said.
More
Shops rush for Christmas stock as shipping costs surge - BBC News
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.
On
my return from Tesco supermarket yesterday, I ran into this. Approx 15 minutes.
Not my preferred form of coverage, but it’s the message that counts.
At
Tesco’s yesterday, as the self-checkouts section manager was freeing up my
vital liquid supplies, I remarked how we’re all supposed to have gone from “a
nation of shopkeepers”, (Napoleon?) to a
nation of shoplifters (BBC.) He smiled and simply said, “you wouldn’t believe
what happens here each night.”
Walgreens
is Leaving NYC... Because of Theft
Walgreens is Leaving NYC... Because of Theft
(youtube.com)
A "Restaurant
Apocalypse" Is Starting To Sweep Across America, And That Is Really Bad
News For The U.S. Economy
SUNDAY, JUN 02, 2024 - 10:30 PM
You
can get a really good idea how the U.S. economy is doing by watching
restaurants in your area. When the economy is
booming, restaurant parking lots are full and chains are feverishly
establishing new locations. But when the economy is struggling,
restaurants get a lot less traffic and poor performing locations get shut
down. Sadly, in 2024 it appears that a “restaurant apocalypse” has
started to sweep across America. Most people have very little
discretionary income to spend as a result of our cost of living crisis,
and that
is particularly true for our young adults. Americans
under the age of 40 love to eat out, but these days most of them are
experiencing financial stress, and this is having an enormous impact on the
restaurant industry.
In 2023, visits to sit-down restaurants
dropped by about five percent compared
to 2022…
Americans are eating out less as inflation
weakens the dollars in their pocket, which is leading to some harsh
consequences for restaurants across the country.
Visits to sit-down restaurants were down
nearly five percent in 2023 from the year prior, according to location
analytics firm Placer.ai.
So this is a trend that has stretched
on for over a year.
People just aren’t eating out as much as they
once did.
As a result, we are seeing a wave of closures
all over the country. Even in the Big Apple, large numbers of
restaurants are being shut down…
More
Covid-19 Corner
This
section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
New
COVID-19 sub-variant unlikely to cause infection peak in China: experts
03 JUNE 2024, MONDAY, 05:28 174
This was reported
by The
Xinhua News Agency.
KP.2-sequenced cases
accounted for 0.05 percent to 0.30 percent of all locally sequenced cases
reported each week in China, which is at an "extremely low" level,
according to experts from the administration.
KP.2, a descendant of the currently prevalent
JN.1 variant, has rapidly increased in proportion among globally prevalent
COVID-19 strains reported since February this year.
However, experts
have noted that KP.2 shows no notable changes in terms of its pathogenicity and
immune escape capabilities.
They have advised
the public to maintain good personal hygiene, wear face masks when necessary,
and follow healthy diets.
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.
Facing a UK Government directive to
stop using diesel and diesel electric train engines by 2040 at the latest, the
UK train operators huff and puff slowly into action.
With only about 2900 engines to
replace, at the same time most European countries are replacing diesel engines
too, what could possibly go wrong?
Diesel trains head
the way of steam as railways buy into battery power
Railway operators plan to order hundreds in the next few years,
saving up to £11 billion on electrification
Saturday June 01 2024, 6.00pm
Railway operators are planning to put
battery-operated trains on British tracks in order to end the use of diesel.
The trains will be able to travel 50
miles — and potentially much further — without stopping to recharge.
Operators are to start ordering the
new trains in the new year, with the first expected to go into service on
regional and local routes shortly after 2030.
GWR, the operator for the West
Country, announced this weekend that it would lead the way with plans to order
100 battery trains to serve local services in Bristol, Devon and Cornwall, as
well as routes including Cardiff to Portsmouth and Exeter to Penzance.
Simon Green, its engineering
director, said he and the Department for Transport planned to
issue tenders for battery trains by the end of the year.
“I would expect every major manufacturer to be interested
in bidding to supply a fleet of battery electric trains,” Green said. “I cannot
currently conceive of any circumstances under which we would seek to procure
pure diesel trains.”
The head of another major operator said: “I told my teams
they cannot order any more diesel trains.”
Diesel replaced steam locomotives on our railways from
the 1950s, with electrification beginning in earnest in the 1960s. The last
steam-hauled trains ran on the network in 1968.
Electrification continued apace until the early 1990s
then tailed off, before the programme was reinvigorated in 2016.
While the busiest inter-city routes have already been
electrified, with power lines along 3,769 miles of track — almost 40 per cent
of the network — until now there has been considerable uncertainty about the
timetable for completing the rest of the network.
It costs £6.5 million to electrify a mile of double-track
railway with overhead power lines, because it often entails expensive work on
bridges, tunnels and other structures, according to the Railway Industry
Association. It estimates a potential saving of £11 billion if one-third of the
rail network does not need to be electrified and battery trains are used
instead.
The ability to switch back and forth between overhead
cables and batteries dramatically reduces costs.
One senior rail industry source said: “There are sections
of open countryside where it’s easy to rig up overhead cables, but it becomes a
major civil engineering project in tunnels and bridges.”
Using battery trains also avoids the need to build
unsightly power lines above national parks and areas of outstanding natural
beauty.
One supplier of the battery trains, the German
engineering giant and train manufacturer Siemens, shared its plans with Rishi
Sunak, the prime minister, when the cabinet met in February at its factory in
Goole Rail Village in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Siemens is in talks with GWR and six other operators —
Chiltern, East West, Northern, ScotRail, Transport for Wales and TransPennine
Express — who between them need to replace 1,650 ageing diesel trains.
The tech company is confident they will switch to
electric propulsion, and points out that because the lifespan of rolling stock
is about 35 years, failing to do so will condemn the railways to using diesel
into the 2060s. It claims a switch to electricity will save them a total of 12
million tons of CO₂ and £3.5 billion.
Siemens wants to supply a modified version of a
battery-electric train called the Desiro Verve, which went into service in the
Black Forest, Germany, in April.
When travelling along routes that are already electrified,
the train takes power from the overhead lines but switches to battery when
there are no wires. It can draw power from the domestic grid using dedicated
converters, rather than rely on high-voltage lines, and can be fully charged in
20 minutes.
More
Diesel trains head the way of steam as railways buy
into battery power (thetimes.co.uk)
Next, our
latest new section, the world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it.
President George W. Bush.
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