Baltic
Dry Index. 1298 -56 Brent Crude 72.10
Spot Gold 2649 US 2 Year Yield 4.17 +0.04
A bank is a confidence trick. If you put up the right signs, the
wizards of finance themselves will come in and ask you to take their money.
House of All Nations (1938) is a novel by Australian writer Christina Stead.
No need for me to comment this morning, on a world rapidly turning upside down.
Look away from that struggling oil price and collapsing Baltic Dry (shipping) Index now.
Asian chip stocks mostly rise, shrugging off new
U.S. semiconductor export curbs on China
Published Mon, Dec 2 2024 11:14 PM EST
Major Asian chip stocks outside of China
rose Tuesday, shrugging off a new round of U.S. semiconductor export
curbs aimed at impairing Beijing’s capability to produce certain
high-end chips.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
Company — the world’s largest contract chip supplier — saw shares rise
2.4%.
Several Japanese chip-related stocks also
gained. Tokyo Electron rose
4.7%, Lasertec climbed 6.7%, Advantest gained
3.9% and Renesas Electron advanced
2.2%.
Japanese technology conglomerate Softbank, which owns a stake
in British chip designer Arm, saw its shares rise 3.6%.
The Biden administration’s latest chip
curbs will also target sales of high-bandwidth memory chips, which could affect
the world’s two largest memory chip makers — South Korea’s SK Hynix and
Samsung.
Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK
Hynix, however, rose 0.9% and 1.8%, respectively.
Derrick Irwin, portfolio manager at
Allspring Global Investments, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia,” on Tuesday that
the high-bandwidth memory controls would impact South Korean players to a
degree.
“Although our belief is that the impact
and sales of high bandwidth memory chips into China are reasonably small from
these players in the scheme of things, and they’ll probably be able to shift
that demand into the U.S. and other markets,” he said.
The Department of Commerce announced on Monday that it was curbing semiconductor
exports to 140 new companies in its latest effort to limit China’s ability to
access cutting edge chip technology that could be used for advancing its
military capabilities.
Naura Technology Group, Piotech and ACM Research
were among the largest Chinese companies to be included in the export controls
list.
Shares of Naura Technology and ACM
Research fell 3% and 1%, respectively, in China while Piotech rose 1%. China’s
largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, fell
1.5% in Hong Kong.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo
said Monday that the new export controls were the “culmination of the
Biden-Harris Administration’s targeted approach to impair the PRC’s ability to
indigenize the production of advanced technologies that pose a risk to our
national security.”
In addition to the entities added, the
latest U.S. restrictions include new controls on 24 types of manufacturing
equipment and three types of software tools used for developing
semiconductors.
Last month, the effectiveness of U.S. chip
restrictions had been thrown into question when it was reported that a chip
made by TSMC had been found
in a Huawei product.
The latest export restrictions include a
new “red flag guidance” to address compliance concerns, and several “critical
regulatory changes” to enhance the effectiveness of existing controls.
Asian
chip stocks mostly rise, shrugging off new U.S. semiconductor export curbs on
China
European markets set for higher open but France’s
political upheaval is in focus
Updated Tue, Dec 3 2024 12:39 AM EST
European markets are expected to open
higher Tuesday, with investors keeping an eye on political upheaval in France
this week.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected
to open 18 points higher at 8,322, Germany’s DAX up 15 points at 19,922,
France’s CAC up 29
points at 7,245 and Italy’s FTSE
MIB up 43 points at 33,601, according to data from IG. Data releases
Tuesday include U.K. retail sales and Spanish unemployment figures.
France’s financial markets will be closely
watched Tuesday after Prime Minister Michel Barnier turned
to special constitutional powers to pass a contested budget bill without
a parliamentary vote. Opposition parties on both the left and right say they
will back a no-confidence vote to bring Barnier’s minority government down. The
vote could take place Wednesday.
The French CAC 40 index recorded a
choppy session on Monday, starting the day lower before turning positive and
then tumbling back into negative territory again.
Overnight, Asia-Pacific
markets traded higher, tracking gains on Wall Street after the S&P 500
and the Nasdaq Composite rose to new records overnight. U.S.
stock futures were near flat Monday night.
European
markets live updates: stocks, news, data and earnings
S&P 500 futures are little changed after index
closes at a record: Live updates
Updated Tue, Dec 3 2024 12:54 AM EST
Stock futures were little changed early
Tuesday after the S&P 500 concluded
the first session of December’s trading month at an all-time closing high.
Futures for the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were
all flat after a mixed
session on Wall Street.
While the broad S&P 500 and
technology-heavy Nasdaq
Composite closed at records on Monday after hitting fresh intraday
highs, the Dow ended
more than 100 points, or about 0.3%, lower. That is despite the blue-chip index
at one point topping the closely watched 45,000 level during the day.
Investors will watch for the October job
openings report on Tuesday. It is the first in a salvo of data releases
expected this week that can provide insight into the strength of the labor
market. The main event will be Friday’s November payrolls report.
The data arrives ahead of the Federal
Reserve’s policy meeting on Dec. 17-18. Fed funds futures are currently pricing
in a nearly 75% probability that the central bank lowers interest rates during
its policy gathering, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.
“Labor is very important,” said Sam
Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. But “we should not see
anything that would upend investors’ expectations that the Fed will cut rates
again when they meet in December.”
Traders will also monitor Tuesday speeches
from Fed Governor Adriana Kugler and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee
slated for the afternoon.
On the earnings front, investors will
follow releases from Salesforce and Okta due after the bell.
Stock market today: Live updates
Next, a world moving away from rule of law and back to the Star Chamber.
The extraordinary breadth of Hunter Biden’s pardon
December 2, 2024
It’s one thing for a president to pardon
his son. It’s another to do it like this.
President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, on Sunday is exceptional
not just because of the pardon’s recipient — the closest family member to receive a pardon in history —
but also for its sheer breadth, according to experts on presidential pardons.
Biden didn’t just pardon his son for his
convictions on tax and gun charges, but for any “offenses against the United
States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the
period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024.”
That’s a nearly 11-year period during
which any federal crime Hunter Biden might have committed — and there are none
we are aware of beyond what has already been adjudicated — can’t be prosecuted.
It notably covers when he was appointed to the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2014 all the
way through Sunday, well after the crimes for which he was prosecuted.
Hunter Biden hasn’t been charged for his
activities with regard to Burisma or anything beyond his
convictions, and nothing in the public record suggests criminal charges could
be around the bend. Congressional Republicans have probed the Burisma matter
and Hunter Biden extensively and could seemingly have uncovered chargeable
crimes if they existed, but haven’t done so.
Even still, the scope of the pardon is
remarkable. Experts say there is little to no precedent for a pardon covering
such a wide range of activity over such a long period, with the closest being
Gerald Ford’s 1974 pardon of Richard M. Nixon after Nixon resigned
post-Watergate.
Hunter Biden’s pardon “isn’t tied to any
special counsel investigation or charging document,” Sam Morison, who spent 13
years working for the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, said
via email. “The only pardon grant that comes close is Ford’s pardon of Nixon
for any crimes he may have committed from 1969 to 1974, which on its face would
have included crimes (if any) unrelated to Watergate.”
Experts pointed to several broad,
preemptive and blanket pardons that bear similarities to the one covering
Hunter Biden. But they also feature some key differences.
----And now-President-elect Donald
Trump in 2020 pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn for
“any and all possible offenses” arising from facts or circumstances that were
“in any matter related” to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia
investigation.
The latter went even further than the
former, by pardoning Flynn for conduct even just somehow related to the special
counsel’s investigation. At the time, some experts regarded it as the broadest act of clemency since Nixon’s pardon.
“Flynn’s pardon was broad, to be sure, but
not nearly as broad as Hunter’s,” Morison said.
There is some question about whether such a broad pardon for unspecified crimes is
constitutional, an issue that arose when reports indicated Trump might
preemptively pardon family members at the tail end of his first term.
The Nixon pardon was not tested in court.
But the Supreme Court said amid Johnson’s post-Civil War pardons that a
president’s pardon power “extends to every offence known to the law, and may be
exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are
taken or during their pendency or after conviction and judgment.”
More
The extraordinary breadth of Hunter Biden’s pardon
Trump repeats vow to ‘block’ Nippon Steel’s bid
for U.S. Steel
Published Mon, Dec 2 2024 11:29 PM EST
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has
pledged to block Japanese company Nippon Steel’s planned purchase of U.S.
Steel.
“I am totally against the once great and
powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon
Steel of Japan,” Trump said in a post to his social media platform Truth Social on
Monday night E.T.
“As President, I will block this deal from
happening,” he said, adding that he will make U.S. Steel “Strong and Great
Again” through the use of tax incentives and tariffs.
While he made similar statements on the
2024 campaign trail, it was the first time that Trump had spoken about the deal
since he won a second presidential term last month.
Nippon Steel, the fourth largest global
steelmaker, reached
an agreement to acquire U.S. Steel last December. However, the deal
encountered opposition from United Steelworkers, a prominent labor union, as well as U.S.
President Joe Biden, who has vowed that U.S. Steel will remain
American-owned.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment,
which examines possible national security risks of transactions by foreign
entities, has been reviewing the deal.
U.S. Steel has an annual production
capacity of around 20 million metric tons, while Nippon Steel is the
leading steel producer in Japan. Together, the two companies would have a
total capacity
of up to 86 million tons.
Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel did not
immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment on Trump’s latest remarks.
A spokesperson for Nippon Steel previously
said the acquisition would revitalize
the American Rust Belt and enhance U.S. national security “in a way no
alternative can.”
Takahiro Mori, Nippon Steel’s vice
chairman, had told reporters in November that he believes the deal
could be closed before Trump assumes the White House in January. In September,
U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt had also expressed
confidence, defending the planned sale as a deal that would strengthen
national security, as well as economic and job security.
Shares of U.S. Steel have fallen over 15%
year-to-date, while Nippon Steel’s shares slipped more than 4% across the same
period of time, according to data from LSEG.
Trump repeats vow to 'block' Nippon Steel's bid for U.S. Steel
In other news.
Political turmoil in France sends euro tumbling
and borrowing costs soaring as manufacturing crisis deepens
2 December 2024
French borrowing costs spiked and the euro
fell yesterday as the Paris government teetered on the brink of collapse and
bleak figures revealed a further downturn for Europe’s manufacturing sector.
The market turbulence came as Right-wing
and Left-wing parties said they would back a no-confidence motion against prime
minister Michel Barnier in the coming days.
Barnier made a dramatic appeal to French
MPs urging them not to back the move –which would be the first time a French
government has been brought down by a no-confidence vote since 1962.
‘We are at a moment of truth,’ he said.
‘The French will not forgive us for putting the interests of individuals before
the future of the country.’
Yields on French ten-year bonds – the
return demanded by investors for lending to the government – spiked, briefly
overtaking those issued by Greece.
The narrowing of the gap between the two
countries’ borrowing costs illustrates how, while Greece has fought back from
its chaotic debt crisis more than a decade ago, France – Europe’s second
biggest economy – has sunk into the mire.
At the same time, the gap between French
bonds and those issued by Germany has increased.
That ‘spread’ – a gauge of the premium
charged by investors for holding France’s debt – widened to 0.9 percentage
points last week, the highest since 2012, and rose close to that level again
yesterday.
The euro, meanwhile, dipped below $1.05
against the US dollar, closing in on a two-year low.
More
Strikes underway at Volkswagen plants across
Germany as wage conflict escalates
Published Mon, Dec 2 2024 6:04 AM EST
Volkswagen workers
across Germany stopped work on Monday as the conflict between the German
automotive giant and its employees over changes to labor agreements and
potential factory closures escalated.
Nine of Volkswagen’s car and component
factories in Germany were affected by the so-called warning strikes, with work
either being halted temporarily for demonstrations or shifts being cut short by
workers.
Photos on Monday showed workers carrying
banners with messages that read “strike ready,” and “warning strikes — our
right,” according to a CNBC translation.
“If necessary, this will be the harshest
wage dispute ever seen at Volkswagen,” Thorsten Gröger, chief negotiator of key
union IG Metall, warned in a statement on Sunday. How long and intense the
conflict will be is down to the businesses’ negotiations, he said.
In a speech on Monday, Gröger hinted at
potential further escalations of the conflict. “Those who ignore the workforce
are playing with fire — and we know how to turn sparks into flames,” he said.
Daniela Cavallo, head of the Volkswagen
works council, on Monday also called on workers to take a stand. The ongoing
warning strikes aim to stress the demands of workers and to let the board know
that the only way through a crisis is with the workforce, not against it, she
said.
Three rounds of negotiations have taken
place between Volkswagen, the union and company’s works council so far without
success. Further talks are set to take place later this month.
Cavallo added that the planned
negotiations on Dec. 9 would likely set the course for either convergence or
escalation.
“Unfortunately the signs sent by the board
in recent times are not really pleasing,” she said according to a CNBC
translation.
More
Strikes at
Volkswagen plants across Germany as wage conflict escalates
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares resigns amid
problems in U.S., falling sales
Published Sun, Dec 1 2024 5:16 PM EST Updated
Sun, Dec 1 2024 6:04 PM EST
DETROIT — Stellantis CEO Carlos
Tavares has unexpectedly resigned from the automaker amid increasingly
“different views” between the executive and the board of directors, the company
said Sunday.
The world’s fourth-largest carmaker said
its board accepted Tavares’ resignation on Sunday. His departure is effective
immediately.
Jeep-maker Stellantis said its process to
appoint a new CEO is “well under way” and that it expects to conclude the
search during the first half of next year. Until then, the company said it will
establish a new interim executive committee led by chairman John Elkann.
“Stellantis’ success since its creation
has been rooted in a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the
Board and the CEO. However, in recent weeks different views have emerged which
have resulted in the Board and the CEO coming to today’s decision,” Henri de
Castries, Stellantis’ senior independent director, said
in a release.
A Stellantis spokesman declined to
disclose any additional information regarding the resignation.
Tavares’ resignation comes less than two
months after the company announced he would retire at the end of his
contract in early 2026. At the time,
Stellantis said it planned to name a a replacement by the fourth quarter of
next year.
Tavares has led Stellantis since its
creation through a 2021 merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA
Groupe, where he had been board chair since 2014.
The longtime automotive veteran — a
prodigy of former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn — was widely heralded in recent
years for spearheading the merger and making Stellantis one of the world’s most
profitable automakers.
But this year, the company’s financial
results have severely underperformed expectations amid mismanagement of the
U.S. market — its prime cash generator — with a lack of investment in new or
updated products, historically high prices and extreme cost-cutting measures.
The company, which also owns brands such
as Dodge, Fiat, Chrysler and Peugeot, lowered its annual guidance targets in
September, a month ahead of the automaker reporting a 27%
decline in third-quarter net revenues.
Stellantis’ sales also have
struggled this year. Most recently, the company reported a roughly
20% decline in
year-over-year global vehicles sold during the third quarter. That included
extending a yearslong free fall during in the U.S. despite Tavares’ attempts to
correct what he has called “arrogant”
mistakes.
More
Stellantis CEO
Carlos Tavares resigns amid problems in U.S.
Iconic Motorcycle Brand on Brink of Bankruptcy
with $2.8 Billion Debt
2 December 2024
The iconic Austrian motorcycle
manufacturer, KTM, has entered a restructuring process to avoid bankruptcy.
The company and two subsidiaries
reportedly owe a combined total of $2.8 billion (€2.5 billion), according
to Motorcyclesports.com.
The financial crisis puts 3,623 jobs at
risk.
Employees are guaranteed their November
salaries through Austria’s insolvency fund, but actual payouts may be delayed
by months. KTM is expected to lay off at least 500 workers before the year
ends, with motorcycle production halted in January and February 2024.
Austria’s Minister of Economy, Martin
Kocher, expressed concern over how KTM’s once-promising financial outlook
deteriorated so rapidly, demanding transparency from the company.
The governor of Upper Austria, Thomas
Stelzer, emphasized efforts to assist KTM, stating, “We are doing everything we
can to save the factory and the jobs.” However, Stelzer acknowledged that EU
state aid rules and insolvency laws limit what support can be provided.
Iconic Motorcycle Brand on Brink of Bankruptcy with $2.8 Billion Debt
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.
UK
manufacturing PMI sinks to 9-month low as orders dry up
2
December 2024
LONDON
(Reuters) - A gauge of British manufacturing activity released on Monday
pointed to the sharpest contraction in nine months, as orders from domestic and
foreign customers fell and ongoing supply chain disruption pushed up costs.
The
S&P Global manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index sank to 48.0 in
November from 49.9 in October - below an earlier estimate of 48.6 and the 50
level that divides growth from contraction.
S&P
cited headwinds from a 25 billion pound ($32 billion) rise in employment taxes
in the new Labour government's Oct. 30 budget, a 7% increase in Britain's
minimum wage, disruption to shipping in the Red Sea and the threat of global
goods tariffs.
"Manufacturers
are left facing an environment of high costs, low demand and raised uncertainty
for the foreseeable future," S&P director Rob Dobson said.
"While
companies of all sizes are experiencing a downturn, small companies are the
hardest hit, reporting especially marked drops in output, new orders and new
export business," he added.
Last
week U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he planned to impose a 25% tariff
on all goods the United States imports from Canada and Mexico and he has
floated blanket tariffs of 10% to 20% on virtually all imports.
Some
businesses said clients were delaying or cancelling investment projects due to
increased costs following the budget and broader global uncertainty, S&P
said.
Orders,
output and employment all fell at the fastest pace in nine months.
Official
data showed British manufacturing output volumes in September were 0.7% lower
than their level a year earlier.
UK manufacturing
PMI sinks to 9-month low as orders dry up
UK
annual house prices rise by most in two years, Nationwide says
Published
Mon, Dec 2 2024 2:34 AM EST
British
house prices rose in November at the fastest annual pace since November 2022,
according to data from mortgage lender Nationwide on Monday that added to signs
of resilience in the property sector despite higher borrowing costs.
Annual
prices rose 3.7% in November, and rose 1.2% on a monthly basis, Nationwide
said. Both the annual and monthly increases were greater than economists had
forecasts in a Reuters poll.
“Housing
market activity has remained relatively resilient in recent months, with the
number of mortgage approvals approaching the levels seen pre-pandemic, despite
the higher interest rate environment,” Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief
economist, said.
Other
measures of Britain’s housing market have also shown momentum picking up.
Figures from the Bank of England last week showed lenders approved the most
mortgages for house purchases since August 2022.
The
BOE reduced borrowing costs last month for only the second time in four years
and said future rate cuts were likely to be gradual.
Gardener
expects the housing market to continue to strengthen in the coming months.
“Providing
the economy continues to recover steadily, as we expect, the underlying pace of
housing market activity is likely to continue to strengthen gradually as
affordability constraints ease through a combination of modestly lower interest
rates and earnings outpacing house price growth,” he said.
More
UK annual house prices rise by most in two years, Nationwide says
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Zoo
Experiment Finds 1 in 5 Animals Test Positive For COVID-19 Virus
1
December 2024
A
new paper provides a stark reminder that the virus responsible
for COVID-19 is still
spreading, with 9 animals out of 47 testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 at a zoo in
Brazil.
It's
likely that the animals caught the virus from humans.
"Zoos
are unique in terms of the epidemiology of human-animal interactions," the
team led by researchers from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil
writes in their
paper.
"They
shelter multiple species of wildlife from a wide range of taxonomic groups in
relative proximity, and interactions between animals and humans are frequent,
especially for animal caregivers."
Testing
for the virus was conducted at the Belo Horizonte Zoo between November 2021 and
March 2023. The researchers were able to sequence three of the viral genomes
found in the nine animals.
A
maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus)
and a fallow deer (Dama dama) were found to be
harboring the infamous Alpha variant, and a western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla
gorilla)
had the Omicron strain.
The
SARS-CoV-2 RNA collected from the animals clustered close to human samples from
the same region.
"Close
contact between zoo animals and their caretakers is a likely route of
infection," the authors note.
This
certainly applies to infections in the November 2021–January 2022 period, but
more animals became infected after the zoo reopened to the public in February
2022, which may be due to increased infections between the public and the
keepers, and subsequently the animals.
Interestingly,
a map of the zoo shows the infected species are somewhat close neighbors in the
overall layout.
Of
the animals that tested positive at the zoo, there were three western lowland
gorillas and two maned wolves in total, as well as a pampas cat (Leopardus
braccatus),
a brown brocket deer (Subulo gouazoubira), a red deer (Cervus elaphus), and one fallow
deer.
Since
SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in December 2019, scientists have been concerned
about its ability to jump between species, especially from humans to previously
uninfected animal species.
Not
only does this potentially threaten newly infected species, but it also offers
the virus a chance to form natural reservoirs from which to evolve and spark
future outbreaks.
Disease
control in zoo animals is imperative, in part because of the animals' contact
with humans and their close quarters with other animals, but also because many
are involved in important conservation programs aimed at helping to save their
species.
For
instance, western lowland gorillas are critically endangered, and the World
Organization for Animal Health records show they are highly susceptible
to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Early
detection of infections in zoo animals could help researchers better understand
how to prevent the virus from spreading and evolving in – or worse, decimating
– wild populations.
"The
detection of different variants suggests ongoing viral evolution and adaptation
in new hosts," the authors write.
"These
findings underscore the need for integrated public health strategies that
include wildlife monitoring to mitigate the risks posed by emerging infectious
diseases."
This
research was published in Virology
Journal.
Zoo Experiment Finds 1 in 5 Animals Test Positive For COVID-19 Virus
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.
The
world is watching as Levidian launches first global auction of graphene
27 Nov, 2024
Cambridge
climate tech firm Levidian has launched its first global auction – opening up a
new route for buyers to access tonnes of high-quality graphene and unlock a
future of more sustainable products.
The exercise is being run as
a sealed-bid auction so there are likely to be multiple bidding rounds and an
opportunity to submit revised offers.
There is no reserve price as
such and the amount Levidian could raise from the exercise depends hugely on
volumes and use cases.
The total figure Levidian is
keen to raise remains under wraps but the auction is guaranteed to supercharge
graphene commercialisation – and this process offers bidders priority access to
the highest-quality, most sustainable graphene on the market.
Delivered from a global
network of LOOP devices, the company will initially auction 15 tonnes of
graphene in 2025 that will be functionalised to the specific needs of each
buyer. Bidders will also be given the opportunity to secure additional volumes
in 2026 and beyond.
Levidian is one of just five
companies in the world to be designated by The Graphene Council as a Verified
Graphene Producer – the only credential that includes independent third party
in-person inspections of graphene production facilities, verification of
production methods, volumes, and quality control processes.
Backed by a team of advanced
materials scientists, Levidian works closely with its customers to integrate
graphene into their existing processes and products.
The company offers a variety
of functionalised graphene formats including graphene dispersions,
masterbatches and graphene pellets to suit applications including batteries,
polymers and rubbers.
Chief Commercial Officer, Ian
Hopkins, said: “Not only does our graphene deliver performance improvements on
just about every product it touches, it’s also less carbon intensive, more
affordable, more scalable and a higher quality than anything else on the market
today.
“By participating in this
auction, we’re giving customers the opportunity to secure a first-mover price
advantage and to build their graphene inventory. Graphene has been highly
coveted since its discovery but has suffered from low adoption due to a lack of
high-volume availability. We’re now at a tipping point for widespread graphene
adoption – this auction demonstrates that the supply problem has been solved.”
Unlike other graphene firms,
Levidian produces its graphene from the ‘bottom up’, cracking methane into
hydrogen and carbon using a patented plasma process. The low temperature, low
pressure LOOP process is highly efficient, requires neither catalysts nor water
and produces no additional carbon dioxide.
Principal Scientist, Jeremiah
Marcellino said: “The graphene we produce is exceptional in the market as a
consistently high-quality, high-purity product that has been proven to improve
the performance and carbon footprint of products as wide-ranging as thermoplastics,
batteries and solar panels.
“Our LOOP device delivers
outstanding continuous production and LOOP-to-LOOP consistency of graphene
thanks to the tight constraints that it places on the material during
formation, which ensures uniform graphene flake properties.
“The omission of catalysts or
substrates in the process also leads to a very high purity material that is
resistant to degradation – both key requirements in graphene applications
across batteries and thermoplastics.”
Only last week Levidian
announced the launch of its second-generation LOOP technology which will unlock
industrial levels of graphene production from a global network of devices.
The company is targeting
annual production of over 50,000 tonnes of graphene by 2030, which will make
Levidian one of the largest producers of graphene in the world, while driving
down the emission of around three million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a
year.
• To find out more about the
auction and express your interest in participating, visit www.levidian.com/auction.
The world is watching as Levidian launches first global auction of
graphene
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
House of All Nations
The novel portrays the inner workings of the
financial world of a bank in Paris in the early 1930s. The bank is populated by
a cast of shady characters who are manipulative, unsavory schemers. The owner
of the Bertillon Brothers bank, Jules Bertillon, exemplifies all that is bad
about the bank and will stop at nothing to achieve his sole aim of making as
much money as he can.
House of All Nations -
Wikipedia
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