Saturday, 20 July 2024

Special Update 20/7/2024 A Great Global IT Failure. CrowdStrike Strikes!

Baltic Dry Index. 1902 -10          Brent Crude 82.63

Spot Gold 2401              U S 2 Year Yield 4.49  +0.03

Governments do not govern, but merely control the machinery of government, being themselves controlled by the hidden hand.

Benjamin Disraeli.

The stock casinos generally had a bad week led by Thursday and Friday’s action.

But with friends in the IT sector like CrowdStrike, who needs enemies?

Is this just a long overdue rotation away from overhyped, overpriced, technology stocks, or the start of a long forecast new recession getting underway and with it, the 2024 top in the global stock casinos?

I think the USA entered a new recession back in April, with most of Europe about to follow once the Paris Olympics end.

Dow tumbles more than 370 points, S&P 500 posts worst week since April as investors dump big tech: Live updates

UPDATED FRI, JUL 19 2024 4:23 PM EDT

Stocks retreated Friday, as Wall Street wrapped up the week defined by a rotation out of this year’s megacap winners in favor of smaller names.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.71%, closing at 5,505.00. Nasdaq Composite slid 0.81% to end at 17,726.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 377.49 points, or 0.93%, to 40,287.53.

Friday’s moves marked another day of declines across the board, with the Russell 2000 down 0.63%. But a shift toward names viewed as bigger beneficiaries of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, like small caps, still appears to be theme of the week.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped 1.97% and 3.65%, respectively, marking their biggest weekly losses since April. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also snapped a six-week win streak. On the other hand, the Dow advanced 0.72%, while the small cap-focused Russell 2000 climbed 1.68%.

“The stock market is experiencing a long overdue rotation,” said Glen Smith, chief investment officer at GDS Wealth Management. “Investors are taking money out of big tech stocks which have performed so well and moving that money into other areas of the market.”

That divergence has encouraged some Wall Street pros, who had worried that the market rally was becoming too dependent on a handful of massive tech stocks. Meanwhile, rising optimism around forthcoming interest rate decreases from the Fed have bolstered smaller and more cyclically oriented names.

A shift away from megacap artificial intelligence beneficiaries can explain the Nasdaq’s underperformance this week. Similarly, the information technology sector led the broad S&P 500 lower with a 5.1% drop.

More

Stock market news for July 19, 2024 (cnbc.com)

Unprecedented: The Bloomberg Close, Europe Edition

July 19, 2024 at 4:00 PM GMT+1

Good afternoon. Here's what you need to know to end your day.

  • Massive IT failure halts flights, payments, logins.
  • Russia sentences WSJ reporter to 16 years: Interfax.
  • How Denmark became the Las Vegas of Europe.

An unprecedented global IT failure hit banks, airlines and payment systems across the globe, in what could be the largest outage ever.

  • A botched update of a widely used CrowdStrike cybersecurity program took down Microsoft systems. CrowdStrike said the fault had been identified and a fix deployed, adding that it wasn’t a cyberattack.
  • Some bankers finished early as the issues left many unable to log on to computer systems and others were prevented from making trades.
  • Airlines began slowly resuming some operations as thousands of delayed or canceled flights risk leaving operations bent out of shape for days.
  • Doctors’ visits across the UK were also affected, with GP practices struggling to access scans, blood tests and patient histories.

Unprecedented: The Bloomberg Close, Europe Edition - Bloomberg

Microsoft-CrowdStrike issue causes ‘largest IT outage in history’

UPDATED SAT, JUL 20 2024 9:50 PM EDT

Businesses worldwide grappled with an ongoing major IT outage Friday, as financial services and doctors’ offices were disrupted, while some TV broadcasters went offline. Air travel has been hit particularly hard, with planes grounded, services delayed and airports issuing advice to passengers.

The outage came as cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike experienced a major disruption early Friday following an issue with a recent tech update.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz has since said that the company is “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” stressing that Mac and Linux hosts are not affected.

“This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” he said on social media.

One expert suggested it may be the “largest IT outage in history.”

Separately, Microsoft cloud services were restored after an outage, the company said on Friday, even as many users continued to report issues.

Shares of CrowdStrike closed down 11%.

Global IT outage live updates: Microsoft-CrowdStrike blackout (cnbc.com)

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 suffers worst week since April amid wreck in tech

July 19, 2024

Investing.com -- The S&P 500 slumped to its worst weekly loss since April as the broad rotation out of high-flying tech stocks rattled markets.

At 16:00 (20:00 GMT), the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and NASDAQ Composite fell 0.8%, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 377 points, or 0.9%. Small-cap index iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) ended the week in the positive, however, underpinned by rotation into small caps as investors price in sooner rate cuts that are expected boost performance.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell 1.5% after reporting weaker-than-expected revenue guidance that overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly results. The streaming giant, however, also touted further efforts to boost its ad-tier streaming tier after phasing out the basic ad-free version in the U.S. and France. 

----The tech sector will remain in focus next week, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google-owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are all set to report on Tuesday.

More

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 suffers worst week since April amid wreck in tech (msn.com)

Uncertainty grips world markets, stocks head lower

July 19, 2024

A tech sell-off sparked by deepening Sino-U.S. trade tensions, uncertainty over U.S. President Joe Biden's fate in the presidential race, disappointing Chinese economic data and a lacklustre third plenum outcome has cast a shadow over the global mood. Tokyo's recent bouts of yen intervention meanwhile have kept currency traders on edge.

European shares slipped, Asia shares fell following an overnight selloff on Wall Street, and U.S. stock futures pointed to a weaker open later in the day.

Major U.S. airlines grounded flights on Friday citing communications issues, while other carriers, media companies, banks and telecoms firms around the world also reported system outages were disrupting their operations.

LSEG Group's Workspace news and data platform also suffered an outage on Friday that affected user access worldwide, causing disruption across financial markets.

"Investors are already on edge for this tech rotation and this global outage adds a further dose of uncertainty," said Ben Laidler, head of equity strategy at Bradesco BBI.

UNCERTAINTY HIGH

European stocks fell 0.5%, while London stocks slipped 0.4%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 1.7% and was headed for its worst week in three months with a nearly 3% loss.

Technology stocks continued to struggle in Asia, with South Korea's tech-heavy KOSPI index and Taiwan stocks both falling 1% and 2.26%, respectively.

Michael Metcalfe, head of global macro strategy at State Street Global Markets, said politics, interest rate expectations and corporate earnings were having a strong impact on world markets.

"The changing probability of a potential Trump presidency and what that might mean for different markets, whether it be his view of the dollar or tech regulation, has clearly created some market rotations this week," he said, referring to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

On top of that investors are looking closely at the Federal Reserve's response to improving inflation data and the U.S. earnings season which is now in full swing.

"Tech has been where all the earnings growth has been (in recent years) so those will be the crucial thing for risk sentiment overall," said Metcalfe.

In China, investors were left disappointed over the lack of details provided on the implementation steps for achieving economic policy goals at the conclusion of its closely watched plenum on Thursday.

Chinese officials on Friday acknowledged that the sweeping list of economic goals contained "many complex contradictions", pointing to a bumpy road ahead for policy implementation.

Chinese blue-chips rose 0.5%, though the CSI300 Real Estate index slid about 2%, as an anaemic property sector continued to weigh on China's growth outlook.

More

Uncertainty grips world markets, stocks head lower (msn.com)

Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession Watch. 

Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,  inflation/recession now needs an entire section of its own.

Fund managers see geopolitical conflict as biggest tail risk — BofA survey

July 17, 2024 12:07 PM

Fund managers see geopolitical conflict as the biggest tail risk, supplanting inflation, and while overall pessimism has grown in July, the majority still foresee a soft landing, according to the results of Bank of America's latest Global Fund Manager Survey.

In the survey of 242 fund managers, who oversee a total of $632 billion in assets, the broadest measurement of sentiment — which is based on cash levels, economic growth expectations and equity allocations — fell to 4.9 in July from 6.0 in June. It is the first decline following three straight months of increases and the lowest since 4.6 in March. The broad measure of sentiment had bottomed out at 0.3 in October 2022.

Geopolitical conflict has replaced higher inflation as the No. 1 tail risk for global fund managers, while the number of managers concerned about an artificial intelligence bubble more than doubled.

When asked what the biggest tail risk is, 26% said geopolitical conflict (up from 22% in June), 22% said higher inflation (down from 32%), 18% said a U.S. recession/hard landing (up from 14%); 12%, an AI bubble (up from 5%); and 7%, a systemic credit event (down from 9%).

Reflecting higher pessimism, fund managers said equity allocations dropped to a net 33% overweight from a net 39% overweight in June. Despite the drop for the second month in a row, the number still represents a dramatic turnaround in sentiment during the past year. In June 2023, managers reported their equity allocations were a net 32% underweight.

Further reflecting the more pessimistic July, fund managers reported increasing cash levels to a net 1% underweight, up from a net 6% underweight in June.

Fund managers also expressed more pessimism regarding expectations of global growth over the next 12 months. A net 27% said in July they expect a weaker economy, up from a net 6% in June.

When asked when or if will be a recession in the U.S., 46% said there will be no recession within the next 18 months (down from 53% in June), while 24% said a recession will begin in the first half of 2025 (up from 16%), 16% say the second half of 2025 (up from 14%) and only 8% predict a recession before year-end 2024 (the same as in June).

Managers were surveyed between July 5 and July 11.

BofA: Fund managers still bullish but see geopolitical conflict as biggest tail risk | Pensions & Investments (pionline.com)

Covid-19 Corner       

This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.

New Covid alert from WHO with advice for all holidaymakers

The World Health Organisation says hundreds of people are still dying from Covid every day - so you need to protect yourself and others when you travel

By NEIL SHAW, Assistant Editor

11:53, Wed, Jul 17, 2024 | UPDATED: 12:54, Wed, Jul 17, 2024

The World Health Organisation has warned that anyone planning on going on a summer holiday this year should take Covid precautions - including a vaccine, mask and testing. The WHO has issued a fresh warning over Covid, telling people not to forget that the disease is still widespread and deadly, killing 1,700 people every week across the globe.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that vaccine coverage is dangerously declining among the over-60s and health workers, two of the groups most at risk of dying from Covid.

Some hospitals in the UK have brought back mandatory mask wearing and some are asking people with Covid symptoms, who do not need medical care, to stay away. In France, the Tour de France has made masks mandatory for anyone coming into contact with competitors or teams after a number of Covid cases.

The WHO is still recommending that travellers wear a well-fitting mask, clean their hands regularly, get tested prior to travelling if they show Covid-19 symptoms and, if sick, consider staying home. While being vaccinated is no longer required by most countries or airlines, the WHO says their top piece of advice is to make sure your vaccine is up to date before you travel.

More

New Covid alert from WHO with advice for all holidaymakers | Europe | Travel | Express.co.uk

Technology Update.

With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section.

Researchers find cheaper way to mass produce large transparent screens

By Paul Ridden  July 18, 2024

Transparent OLED technology has come a long way since early prototypes more than a decade ago, but screens are still a pricey proposition. Korean researchers have developed a 100-inch NTS display for mass production at a tenth of the cost.

The technology has been developed and commercialized by a team from the Nano-lithography and Manufacturing Research Center of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials. The Nano Transparent Screen involves evenly distributing titanium dioxide nanoparticles – with a diameter of 100 nanometers – throughout a film that's reckoned "as thin as a human hair."

A high-resolution beam projector is used to throw widescreen images onto the film, producing quality visuals with a 170-degree viewing angle and which can be seen on either side of the display. A Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal film can be added to the mix to adjust background opacity in super bright venues for improved image clarity.

The technology is reported to perform well in high/low temperature environments, and is designed to withstand weather extremes. Suggested applications include department store displays, smart windows and for promotional purposes inside or outdoors – in fact, the team demonstrated one such installation at the outdoor space of the "Youth Mall" in Gungju last month. And though televisions haven't been mentioned, the large NTS panels can show video content so that would seem to be a possibility.

The team notes that a conventional 100-inch transparent OLED screen can be priced at more than KRW 100 million (which converts to over US$72k), while less expensive transparent LED technology has not been widely adopted due to low resolution output.

The researchers claim that mass-produced NTS displays "can be supplied to the market at around 10% of the price of transparent OLED screens." Relatively lightweight transparent screens measuring more than 100 diagonal inches should also be possible, along with flexible films for custom installations. The technology is now being commercialized through a spin-off company.

"The technology for manufacturing Nano Transparent Screens is a cutting-edge, innovative technology created through the combination of nanomaterials and nanomanufacturing technology with existing IT technologies." said principal researcher on the project, Jun-Ho Jeong. "Going forward, we will focus on research and development to continuously improve the quality of NTSs and lead the popularization of transparent screens."

Source: KIMM

Researchers find cheaper way to mass produce large transparent screens (newatlas.com)

Next, the world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.

World Debt Clocks (usdebtclock.org)


This weekend’s music diversion. Beethoven’s Tempest again, but as he actually composed it.   Approx. 7 minutes.

Beethoven – Sonata No.17 Tempest 3rd Movement

Beethoven – Sonata No.17 Tempest 3rd Movement - YouTube

This weekend’s chess update. Approx. 10 minutes.

Deadly Attack Out Of Nowhere! || Vaishali vs Donchenko || Biel Chess Festival (2024)

Deadly Attack Out Of Nowhere! || Vaishali vs Donchenko || Biel Chess Festival (2024) - YouTube

This weekend’s final diversion.   Batteries again.  Approx. 7 minutes.

New Batteries: It’s Not All Hype

New Batteries: It’s Not All Hype - YouTube

The tone and tendency of liberalism...is to attack the institutions of the country under the name of reform and to make war on the manners and customs of the people under the pretext of progress.

Benjamin Disraeli.

 

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