Baltic
Dry Index. 1890 -52 Brent Crude 85.44
Spot Gold 2470 US 2 Year Yield 4.42 -0.01
Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.
Mark Twain.
In the stock casinos, are we putting in the top before recession hits? Did the casinos finally meet up with the last greater fool buyer?
It’s getting very unstable in the stock casinos. Is the AI dot.con bubble 2.0 over?
Asia-Pacific markets tumble as chip stocks fall;
Nasdaq records its worst day since 2022
PUBLISHED
WED, JUL 17 20247:50 PM EDT
Asia-Pacific markets plummeted as chip-related stocks dropped following reports of more stringent export restrictions from the U.S. and as comments from former U.S. President Donald Trump raised geopolitical tensions.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined more
than 2%, while the Topix dropped 1.13%.
Shares of Tokyo Electron, which
supplies to Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, plunged more than 10%, while other
chip-related stocks such as Advantest and Organo dropped more than
5% and 2%, respectively.
South Korea’s Kospi dipped 1.27%, while the small-cap Kosdaq lost 1.48%, with Samsung Electronics falling 1.5%.
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — the world’s largest chip maker — fell more than 3%, dragging the Taiwan Weighted Index lower by 1.7%.
The Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 2.8% overnight — posting its worst day since December 2022.
The tech-heavy index slid 2.77% to end at 17,996.92 as investors continued to favor rate-sensitive stocks over big tech names amid optimism on possible rate cuts following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s caution on keeping rates higher for longer.
In Asia, investors weighed Japan’s latest trade data.
Japan’s exports rose 5.4% year on year in June, a steep decline from 13.5% in May. Imports grew 3.2% year on year last month, down from 9.5% in May. Both exports and imports missed Reuters expectations of 6.4% and 9.3% growth, respectively.
Japan’s trade balance reversed from a 1.2 trillion yen ($7.7 billion) deficit in May, to a 224 billion yen surplus.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.2% after data from the statistics bureau showed the country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose 4.1% in June, by less than 0.1 percentage point.
Employment in Australia rose by around 50,000 people and the unemployed increased by 10,000 people, Bjorn Jarvis, head of labor statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, said in a release. The participation rate rose to 66.9%, just 0.1 percentage point below the historical high of 67% in November last year.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.33%, while China’s CSI 300 fell 0.52%.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 243.60
points, or 0.59%, to end at 41,198.08. This is the first time the index closed
beyond 41,000. The broad S&P 500 shed 1.39%, with the information
technology and communication services industries being the weakest performers
in the session.
Asia markets: Nasdaq, chip stocks; tech restrictions, Japan trade, Australia jobs data (cnbc.com)
Stock futures rise slightly after Nasdaq’s worst
day since 2022: Live updates
UPDATED
THU, JUL 18 2024 8:06 PM EDT
U.S. stock futures inched higher Wednesday evening after the Nasdaq Composite’s worst session since 2022 amid investors’ rotation out of big tech high-flyers.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 68 points, or 0.16%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.20% and 0.32%, respectively.
In extended trading, Discover Financial popped 3% after its second-quarter results topped expectations. Beyond Meat tumbled about 16% after The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar, that the meat substitute company is meeting with bondholders to begin discussions about restructuring its balance sheet.
The rotation trade continued Wednesday during the regular trading session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 2.8% in its worst day since December 2022, closing below 18,000 for the first time since July 1. The S&P 500 dropped 1.4%.
However, the blue-chip Dow, which has less exposure to the tech trade than the other two indexes, outperformed. The 30-stock index gained 243.6 points, or 0.6%, closing above 41,000 for the first time ever.
Wall Street has been dumping shares of this year’s artificial intelligence beneficiaries as the growing likelihood of a September rate cut bolstered optimism in the broader market.
The Russell 2000 declined 1% on Wednesday, but the small-cap index has jumped more than 9% in the last five trading days.
Investors have been hoping for a broadening market amid concerns that the tech-driven rally is running out of steam. However, some expect the change in leadership may not be enough to protect stocks from challenges ahead, including the possibility of an economic slowdown.
---- On the economic front, jobless claims for the week ending July 13 are due Thursday morning. Economists are expecting to see claims come in at 229,000, per Dow Jones. That’s up from 222,000 the week before.
As for earnings, Domino’s Pizza and Alaska
Air are set to report Thursday before the open. Netflix is expected to post
results after the close.
Stock
market today: Live updates (cnbc.com)
Finally, that Trump shooting gets curiouser and curiouser. Did the deep state want the hit to succeed?
Cops Radioed "Blanket Tactical Channel"
About Shooter After Rooftop Confrontation, Yet Nothing Was Done
WEDNESDAY, JUL 17, 2024 - 10:25 PM
Evidence continues to mount that
Saturday's attempted assassination of Donald Trump by shooter Thomas Matthew
Crooks was allowed to happen, despite ample warning from bystanders, local
PD, and even the shooter's parents.
More
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.
Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.
Mark Twain.
Inflation
at Bank of England's 2% target for second straight month
July 17, 2024
The main measure of inflation is bang on
the Bank of England’s official target for the second consecutive month
according to official data out this morning, keeping the way open for a rate
cut this summer.
The year-on-year reading of consumer price
index (CPI) for June stayed at 2% according to the Office for National
Statistics. That was slightly higher than 1.9% forecast, but it left it at its
lowest in nearly three years.
Members of the Monetary Policy Committee
are expected to cut the benchmark cost of borrowing from its 16-year high of
5.25% this summer, in a move that will make mortgages and loans more affordable
for millions of borrowers. It would be the first such cut since the
pandemic-era’s emergency support measures for the economy.
Rates were hiked for 14 consecutive
meetings to the peak to tackle double-digit inflation stoked by high energy
prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Inflation peaked at over 11% in
October 2022, at its highest level in four decades.
The second month of on-target CPI will add
to hopes that runaway price rises have been tamed, allowing the MPC to cut
rates.
But City experts pointed to sticky-looking
inflation within the dominant services sector of the UK economy, which held
steady at 5.7%.
Sanjay Raja, chief UK economist at
Deutsche Bank, said the numbers “won’t be what the doctor ordered”, adding:
“Markets have pared back expectations of
an August rate cut from near 50% to 25%”, with services CPI “The fly in the
ointment”.
Looking at the detai in the main figuresl,
ONS chief executive Grant Fitzner said: “Hotel prices rose strongly, while
second-hand car costs fell but by less than this time last year.”
The City is on watch for a summer rate
cut, although the chances of action in August looked to be receding. .
But September is seen by many experts as
more likely.
More
Inflation at Bank
of England's 2% target for second straight month (msn.com)
Huge Brexit boost as UK economy 'fastest growing in
Europe' in recession bounce back
July 16, 2024
The UK economy has been named the 'fastest-growing in Europe' as it
bounces back from a recession, in a huge boost to post-Brexit Britain.
The International Monetary Fund has
predicted that economic growth in Britain will outstrip every other major
European economy next year. It said that the GDP will grow by 0.7 percent in 2024.
It is forecast that in 2025,
growth will more than double to 1.5 percent, greater than the 1.3 percent
projected for Germany and France and the measly 0.9 percent anticipated in Italy.
This will
boost the new Labour Government, despite the UK still falling short of Labour's
manifesto pledge "to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7"
with US and Canada still growing faster.
---- Among the G7, Britain
will overtake Japan's anticipated growth of one percent for 2025, coming in
behind the US - at 1.8 percent - and Canada, leading the way with an expansion
of 2.4 percent.
The IMF cautioned that governments,
including the US, are borrowing dangerously heavily which builds up risks for
the future.
The Bank of England and other major
central banks have so far been "very cautious" about cutting interest
rates, according to the IMF.
French economist Pierre-Olivier
Gourinchas said: "Are we concerned that central banks are cutting and this
might lead to a resurgence of inflation?
"Right now what we are seeing is
very cautious action on the part of central banks. [They are] very careful in
starting their cutting cycle.
"The ECB has started its cutting
cycle last month, in June. Others have waited: The Bank of England, for
instance, and certainly the Federal Reserve.
"And
so, I think they are, appropriately, taking in all the data and making sure the
disinflation path is sold, is secure and it's safe to actually start cutting interest
rates."
Huge Brexit boost as UK economy 'fastest growing in Europe' in recession bounce back (msn.com)
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
COVID-19
Accelerates Onset Of Type1 Diabetes In Children, Says Study; Know How
July 17, 2024
COVID-19 infection in high-risk youngsters and
children has almost doubled the rate of progression to type-1 diabetes, a
recent study has said. The research, led by Helmholtz Munich in Germany showed
blood sugar levels among kids shot up during the pandemic compared with those
not infected with the virus.
The review said the risk of
developing type 1 diabetes was 48 per cent higher and type 2 diabetes 70 per
cent higher after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the link between SARS-CoV-2
infection and progression to type 1 diabetes in people already at high risk for
the disease, defined as positive results for two or more autoantibodies linked
to the condition, was less clear.
The results of a study of 509
children aged one to sixteen years at high risk of developing type 1 diabetes,
were published in the medical journal JAMA by Dr. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, a
professor at Helmholtz Munich. According to the study, which started assessing
the kids on March 01, 2020, 57 of the participants developed type 1 diabetes
before the pandemic and 113 during the pandemic period. This translated to a
pre-pandemic incidence rate of type 1 diabetes of 6.4 per 100 person-years vs
12.1 in the pandemic period.
In children with a known SARS-CoV-2 infection
during the pandemic, the incidence rate of type 1 diabetes was 14 per 100
person-years versus 8.6 per 100 person-years in those who tested negative for
infection.
“The findings are consistent with previously
reported acceleration of progression in children with presymptomatic type 1
diabetes by viral infection,” Dr. Ziegler wrote. “Further studies are required
to determine whether COVID-19 also accelerates progression to type 1 diabetes
in adults and whether vaccination and monitoring for COVID-19 symptoms should
be considered for individuals with presymptomatic type 1 diabetes.”
More
COVID-19 Accelerates Onset Of Type1 Diabetes In
Children, Says Study; Know How (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.
New SA
battery storage project approved near Mount Gambier will be three times the
size of 'Tesla battery'
July 17, 2024
The South Australian
government has granted planning approval for the largest battery storage
project in the state.
Pacific Green says the Limestone Coast Energy Park,
which will have a capacity of 1,500 megawatt hours, will significantly
strengthen the region’s grid stability, reduce power prices and cut greenhouse
gas emissions.
If successful, the battery
will eclipse the high-profile Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia's Mid
North that was built by Elon Musk's company, Tesla, in 2017.
The latter battery,
colloquially known as the "Tesla battery", can store up to 193
megawatt hours (MWh) and was once the world's biggest.
Seven
years after it made international news, it's not even the state's biggest.
As of August 2023, that title
has belonged to AGL's battery at Torrens Island outside
Adelaide, which has a capacity of 250MWh.
The new 'mega'
battery?
The new park will be located
just north of Mount Gambier, at Mingbool, and will store power to discharge
during periods of high demand.
The company expects to begin
construction in the fourth quarter of the year, with the first phase of the
project to be operational in 2026.
Managing director Joel
Alexander said the batteries would store energy for when power prices and
demand were high.
"We all know cost of
energy is going up," he said.
"This energy park will
directly reduce wholesale prices and also offset a significant amount of carbon
dioxide."
The site is located near the
electricity interconnector between South Australia and Victoria.
It will be able to provide
power to the South East if the line goes down.
More
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
Of all the animals, man is the only one that lies.
Mark Twain.
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