Baltic Dry Index. 928 -29 Brent Crude 79.22
Spot Gold 2755 US 2 Year Yield 4.29 +0.02
US Federal Debt. 36.381 trillion!
Never buy at the bottom, and always sell too soon.
Jesse Lauriston Livermore.
In the stock casinos, hope and fear, depending on which side of the Trump tariff wars a global casino is on.
China stocks fall
after Trump suggests tariffs on Beijing could come into effect by next month
Updated
Wed, Jan 22 2025 12:32 AM EST
Asia-Pacific
markets traded mixed Wednesday, with China stocks declining after President
Donald Trump’s comments on imposing a 10% tariff on China.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.26%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 1.36%, and
the Topix rose 0.87%. South Korea’s Kospi added 3.67% while the
Kosdaq traded 0.93% higher.
Shares in
several Korean tech stocks rallied with SK Hynix and LG Electronics leading
gains by 2.52% and 2.85% respectively. This follows reports on Korean firms considering moving their
production plants from Mexico to the U.S. following Trump’s protectionist
policies.
Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped
1.34%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 0.85%. Trump said that his team
was discussing
a 10% tariff on China and that the duty could take effect as early as
Feb. 1.
India’s Nifty 50 rebounded slightly,
adding 0.28% after falling to its lowest since last June on Tuesday. Similarly,
the BSE Sensex climbed 0.46%.
Investors
will be looking out for Malaysia’s central bank policy meeting today, where the
Bank Negara Malaysia is expected to keep its policy rate steady at 3%.
Overnight
in the U.S., the three major averages advanced as investors viewed Trump’s
comments around international trade as a bit softer than expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added
537.98 points, or 1.24%, to finish at 44,025.81. The S&P 500 gained 0.88% to
end at 6,049.24, while the Nasdaq
Composite rose 0.64% to 19,756.78.
Trump
said he was considering
25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1 because of their border
policies while signing first-day executive orders in the White House Monday
night. He also mentioned China, noting that the U.S. could put tariffs on the
country if it doesn’t approve a TikTok deal.
Asia
markets live: Malaysia central bank, Trump tariff concerns
European markets
expected to maintain positive momentum
Published
Wed, Jan 22 2025 12:29 AM EST
LONDON —
European stocks are expected to open higher Wednesday, continuing positive
sentiment seen in global markets since the start of the week.
The
U.K.’s FTSE index is
expected to open 7 points higher at 8,557, Germany’s DAX up 98 points at 21,140,
France’s CAC 40 up
13 points at 7,786 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 123 points at
36,311, according to data from IG.
Global
stock markets have been trading higher earlier this week as investors digested
the first executive orders that newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump
signed on Monday.
Market
gains were attributed to the fact that, while Trump issued a
broad memorandum directing federal agencies to assess what he sees as unfair
trade policies with foreign countries, he stopped short of authorizing new
levies on his first day back in office. Investors took that as a sign that he
may be less gung-ho about implementing tariffs than previously expected.
Asia-Pacific
markets mostly rose overnight, while S&P
500 futures rose last night after the first trading session
post-Inauguration Day ended with strong gains.
The
impact that Trump’s second term in office might have on the global economy and
geopolitics has been a key talking point at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland.
CNBC’s
coverage of the annual forum continues, with António Guterres,
secretary-general of the United Nations, due to speak at 11:30 a.m. Davos time.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will speak at 3:45 p.m.
CNBC
guest highlights include Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, and Polish President
Andrzej Duda and Sanchez.
Dick
Schoof, the Netherlands’ prime minister, the United Arab Emirates’ economy and
trade ministers, Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan and Finnish
President Alexander Stubb will also be speaking to CNBC at the forum on
Wednesday.
There are
no major data releases in Europe Wednesday, but easyJet will release its latest
earnings report.
European
markets expected to maintain positive momentum
Bank of Japan is
expected to hike rates this week, CNBC survey shows
Published
Tue, Jan 21 2025 5:00 PM EST Updated Tue, Jan 21 2025 6:36 PM EST
The Bank
of Japan is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate this week by 25 basis
points, according to a survey of economists polled by CNBC.
A hike
will put the BOJ’s key rate at 0.5%, its highest level since 2008.
An
overwhelming majority of 18 out of 19 economists agreed on prospects of a rate
hike, with most pointing to a recent change in tone of the BOJ leadership as
driving their expectations. The survey was conducted from Jan. 15 to 20.
Public comments by Governor Kazuo Ueda and a speech by Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino to
business leaders last week have indicated BOJ’s willingness to hike rates.
Ueda said on Jan. 16 that the central bank would raise rates if “improvements
in the economy and prices continue,” according to a report by Reuters.
Himino,
meanwhile, said that the bank would debate raising rates at the upcoming
meeting, adding that it would “not be normal” for real interest rates to remain
negative once Japan had overcome deflationary factors.
The tone
signals that headwinds which had prevented a rate hike last month were
diminishing, according to several economists polled by CNBC.
However,
they also flagged a key risk to this forecast was the uncertainty stemming from
Donald Trump’s presidency and its potential impact on financial markets and
Japan’s economy.
Uichiro
Nozaki, economist at Nomura Securities, described the speech by Himino as a
“major catalyst” for their rate-hike call.
“From
(Himino and Ueda’s) remarks, we judged that BOJ is more confident. In
terms of wage hikes, Himino said that it was the main scenario that wage hikes
as high as in 2024 is realized in 2025.”
More
Bank
of Japan is expected to hike rates this week, CNBC survey shows
Trade war has no
winners, China’s vice premier warns, as Trump threatens tariffs
Published
Tue, Jan 21 2025 5:49 AM EST Updated Tue, Jan 21 2025 6:30 AM EST
BEIJING —
Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang warned there are “no winners” in a trade
war, as the world’s second-largest economy faces the possibility of tariffs
under the freshly-inaugurated administration of Donald Trump.
“Protectionism
leads no where. [A] trade war has no winners,” Ding said Tuesday, according to
an official English translation. He was speaking at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland.
The vice
premier began his address largely by referencing Chinese President Xi
Jinping’s speech at Davos in 2017, which took place just days before
Trump headed to the White House to begin his first term.
At the
time, Xi had said that “pursuing protectionism is just like locking one’s self
in a dark room. Wind and rain might be kept outside but so are light and air.”
After his
second inauguration on Monday, Trump said the U.S. could levy tariffs on Mexico
and Canada as soon as February. As
for China, the returning U.S. president indicated tariffs could be a way to
pressure the country into forcing Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok, whose
future availability in the U.S. is now in question.
“If we
wanted to make a deal with TikTok, and it was a good deal, and China wouldn’t
approve it, then I think ultimately they’d approve it, because we’d put tariffs
on China,” Trump said. “I’m not saying I would, but you certainly could do
that.”
Trump
said he and Xi discussed TikTok and trade during a call
on Friday. The Chinese readout of the exchange did not mention the social
media app. Neither
leader attended Davos this year.
Ding, who
said he was attending Davos for the second time, is one of China’s four vice
premiers. China economy
has struggled with lackluster consumption and a real estate slump.
Despite this, the country’s GDP
officially grew by 5% last year after a flurry of stimulus
announcements starting in late September.
In his
speech on Tuesday, Ding attributed China’s economic challenges to the external
environment and to “temporary pains brought [about] by our own economic
restructuring.” He referenced that the country is trying to move away from real
estate as a pillar of growth and toward new drivers such as high-end
technology.
China’s
technological achievements are the result of “open cooperation,” Ding added in
a subsequent discussion with World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab. The
Chinese official emphasized that Beijing is developing artificial intelligence
for the “intelligent transformation” of its economy, and has institutions
capable of controlling the emerging technology.
Under the
administration of former President Joe Biden, the U.S. had said it was in
competition with China and imposed sweeping restrictions that prevent Chinese
companies from buying high-end semiconductors used for training artificial
intelligence systems.”
More
Trade war has no winners, China's vice premier warns, as Trump threatens tariffs
In other news.
Panama's President responds to Trump's plans to
reclaim control of Panama Canal
January 20 2025
The Panama Canal will continue to belong
to Panama, and no foreign nation can interfere with its management, stated
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino.
What Trump said
During his inaugural address, Donald Trump
claimed that Panamanian authorities were failing to fulfill their
responsibilities regarding the management of the Panama Canal.
"Above all China is operating the
Panama Canal. We didn't give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we're
taking it back," Trump said.
He also criticized Panama for imposing
high transit fees on American ships, including US Navy vessels.
Panama's President responds
The Panamanian President strongly
condemned Trump's remarks.
"I reiterate what I stated in my
national address on December 22: the canal belongs to and will continue to
belong to Panama, and its management will remain under Panamanian control while
maintaining its permanent neutrality. No nation in the world has the right to
interfere in the management of the Canal," Mulino stated.
He emphasized that Panama has responsibly
managed the canal since 1999, expanding it to serve global trade and the
interests of the international community.
Mulino also affirmed that Panama would
rely on international law to regulate its relations with other nations,
including the US.
"Dialogue is always the best way to
clarify these matters without compromising our rights, full sovereignty, and
ownership of the canal," he concluded.
Trump's scandalous statements
Earlier, Donald Trump did not rule out
that he could use economic and military methods to restore US control over the
Panama Canal and Greenland.
Trump justified the need to reclaim the
Panama Canal by pointing to the excessive fees imposed on the US.
Panama's President
responds to Trump's plans to reclaim control of Panama Canal
EV startup Canoo files for bankruptcy and ceases
operations
5:41 PM PST · January 17, 2025
Seven-year-old electric vehicle startup
Canoo has filed for bankruptcy and will “cease
operations immediately.” The company is liquidating its assets in a Chapter 7
proceeding in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court.
The company said in a press
release published
late Friday that it was “in discussions with foreign sources of capital” that
proved unsuccessful, and also singled out an inability to secure funding from
the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office, which has been on a
lending spree in the waning days of the Biden administration.
Canoo said in its bankruptcy filing (and the
filings for its subsidiaries) that it owes money to hundreds of creditors, and
that it has more than $164 million in total liabilities. It claimed around $126
million in assets.
The bankruptcy filing comes just a few
weeks after Canoo furloughed
the remainder of its workers and idled its factory in Oklahoma.
The company struggled throughout 2024 to get more than a few of its electric
vans into the hands of prospective customers, and suffered numerous
executive departures.
It had just
$700,000 in the bank in mid-November.
Canoo is the latest EV startup to go
bankrupt after merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) as a
shortcut to going public. Electric Last Mile Solutions was the first in June
2022.
But since then, Fisker, Lordstown
Motors, Proterra, Lion Electric, and Arrival all filed
for different levels of bankruptcy protection in their various home countries.
(Canoo bought Arrival’s assets out of insolvency in 2024, though it’s unclear
if it ever put any of it to use.)
Canoo announced plans to
merge with SPAC Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. in August 2020, and went
public that following December, raising around $600 million. In the years since
it went public, the company made a small number of its bubbly electric vans and
handed them over to partners — some paying — willing to trial the vehicles. The
United States Postal Service, Department of Defense, and NASA all have or had
Canoo vehicles.
At one point, the company even courted
Walmart, which agreed to purchase as many as 10,000 EVs from Canoo in
2022.
But the deal was essentially non-binding and bore little risk for the retail
giant.
Canoo was founded in late 2017 by a splinter
group of executives that
were fed up with the drama surrounding the other EV startup where they worked
at the time, Faraday Future. Originally called Evelozcity, those executives
developed a modular electric vehicle platform that could power cabins in
multiple shapes and sizes, and utilized advanced technology like a
steer-by-wire system.
The ideas inside Canoo were attractive
enough that the startup at one point was in
talks with Apple,
which was interested in a potential investment or even acquisition as a way to
boost the tech giant’s own secretive electric car project. Former CTO and at
one point CEO of Canoo, Ulrich Kranz, went on to help run Apple’s car project
before it was disbanded in 2024.
More
EV startup Canoo files for bankruptcy and ceases operations | TechCrunch
Disaster at Moss Landing: The Risk of Battery
Storage Approx. 9 minutes.
Disaster at Moss Landing: The Risk of Battery Storage - YouTube
No one ever went broke by taking a profit.
Jesse Lauriston Livermore.
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 unemployment hits 4.4 per cent in blow for Reeves
21
January 2025
The
rate of UK unemployment rose to 4.4 per cent in the three months to November,
official figures have shown.
This
is up from 4.3 per cent in the three months to October.
The
UK's average regular earnings growth increased to 5.6 per cent in the three
months leading up to November.
After
adjusting for inflation, this growth was 3.4 per cent, according to the Office
for National Statistics.
The
employment rate was 74.8 per cent, which is lower than the previous three
months and economic inactivity dropped slightly to 21.6 per cent, down by 0.1
per cent from the previous quarter.
From
October to December 2024, there were an estimated 812,000 job vacancies, a
decrease of 24,000 (or 2.9 per cent) compared to July to September.
In
November, the average weekly earnings were £705 for total earnings and £660 for
regular earnings.
Following
Chancellor Rachel Reeves buget, and change to to National Insurance, some
businesses have already scaled back on pay rises and hiring in 2025.
Alice
Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest said: "Wage growth was
robust in November, but it may dip in December when some employers chose to
scrap or reduce Christmas bonuses in reaction to the Chancellor’s new tax
measures.
"[They
will] batten down the hatches in preparation for the hit coming in April from
the increased rate of employer National Insurance and lowering of the wage
threshold at which it applies, along with increases to the minimum wage."
UK unemployment
hits 4.4 per cent in blow for Reeves
AI
mania takes over Davos as the world’s biggest firms tout their offerings
Published
Tue, Jan 21 2025 1:11 AM EST
The
Davos Promenade in Switzerland is the focal point of the World Economic Forum’s
annual meeting in the Swiss ski town.
Some
of the world’s biggest companies take over cafes, shops and restaurants and
build temporary meeting and event spaces for the week — and their branding
often gives away what’s top of mind for business leaders.
It’s
no surprise, then, that artificial intelligence dominated the space this year,
given the boom in the technology, which has propelled firms to capitalize on AI
interest — especially from businesses.
A
poll from consultancy Accenture out on Monday revealed that 58% of execs expect
generative AI solutions to be adopted at scale within the organization in 2025,
up from just 37% in 2024. Generative AI is the technology that underpins
applications like ChatGPT.
Several
companies from Intel to Salesforce and Workday displayed AI-linked branding on
the front of their spaces.
Showing
on the promenade can often follow what’s happening in markets, with crypto
companies have been out in force in the past. The explosion of AI
branding kicked
off at Davos in 2024, pushing aside crypto, at a time when ChatGPT was
still gaining in popularity, while Nvidia’s stock continued to rally. Nvidia, whose chip systems are
used to train huge AI models, is seen as a benchmark for investor appetite in
artificial intelligence.
Advances
in AI, as well as the dangers of rapidly-advancing systems, will be discussed
during this year’s WEF. Artificial general intelligence — or AGI, describing AI
systems that are smarter than humans — will be in focus, as well as current
advances with AI agents.
Davos 2025: AI mania takes as the biggest firms tout their offerings
Covid-19 Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
On This Day, Jan. 21: CDC confirms first U.S. case of COVID-19
January 21, 2025
Jan. 21 (UPI) -- On
this date in history:
In 1793, French King
Louis XVI was executed in Paris, ending more than a thousand years of
continuous French monarchy.
In 1861, Mississippi Sen.
Jefferson Davis resigned from the U.S. Senate 12 days before Mississippi
seceded from the Union. He later became president of the Confederate States of
America.
In 1915, the English
steamer Durward, traveling from Leith to Rotterdam, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine near the mouth of the Meuse. The
crew was rescued by a Dutch pilot boat and landed at the Hook.
In 1924, Vladimir Lenin,
architect of the Bolshevik Revolution and the first leader of the Soviet
Union, died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 54.
In 1949, Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek headed for exile, resigned his position as president of Nationalist China to clear the
way for negotiations with the Chinese Communists to end China's three-year
civil war.
In 1954, in odd news, a
Connecticut man obtained a divorce on grounds of desertion after concluding his
wife wasn't coming back. She left 45 years before.
In 1954, the world's
first atomic-powered submarine, the Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn.
In 1976, the supersonic
Concorde airplane was put into service by Britain and France.
In 1977, U.S. President
Jimmy Carter pardoned American Vietnam War-era draft
evaders and ordered a
case-by-case study of deserters.
In 1990, U.S. tennis star
John McEnroe became the first player to be disqualified from the Australian Open after an outburst in
which he broke his racquet, yelled at a linesman and erupted into a string of
curses.
In 1996, an overloaded
ferry, the Gurita, capsized during a storm off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, killing
340 people.
In 1997, the full U.S.
House of Representatives voted 395-28 to reprimand Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., for violating
House rules and misleading congressional investigators looking into his
possible misuse of tax-exempt donations for political purposes.
In 2003, the U.S. Census
Bureau said Hispanics had moved past African Americans as the largest minority group in the United States.
In 2009, Sen. Hillary
Clinton, D-N.Y., won near-unanimous Senate confirmation as U.S. secretary of state. She took the oath
of office later that day.
In 2010, the U.S. Supreme
Court, in a far-reaching and controversial 5-4 decision, ruled that the government cannot restrict the spending of corporations and unions for
political campaigns.
In 2014, a report from
three former war-crimes prosecutors said they found evidence of widespread killings and torture by forces of the government of Syria. The
report, which included thousands of photographs apparently smuggled out of the
war-torn country, told of killings that were "systematic, ordered and
directed from above."
In 2017, millions of people gathered worldwide for the Women's March protesting the
election of President Donald Trump, who was inaugurated the day before. Up to
500,000 attended the Washington, D.C., event.
In 2019, a private airplane carrying Argentine soccer star Emiliano Sala
disappeared near the Channel Islands. Searchers recovered his body from the wreckage of the plane at the bottom
of the English Channel in February.
In
2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the United
States' first known case of novel coronavirus -- what
would later come to be known as COVID-19.
On This Day, Jan. 21: CDC confirms first U.S. case of COVID-19
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.
SLINTEC signs
graphene-based technology transfer agreement with Inovartic of Abu Dhabi
January,
21, 2025
The
Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) recently unveiled a
revolutionary development and delivery of a groundbreaking oil-absorbing
material based on graphene, designed to tackle large-scale oil spills with
unprecedented efficiency. Developed in Sri Lanka and now set to be deployed in
collaboration with Inovartic of UAE and a major oil services company in the
UAE, this innovation marks a significant milestone in sustainable marine
environmental protection.
The
global ocean cleaning industry is valued at a staggering US$ 172 billion,
driven by the increasing need to address large-scale oil spills and their
devastating environmental impact. Traditional oil spill cleaning technologies
primarily rely on materials such as polyurethane - a synthetic polymer. While
somewhat effective, these materials pose significant environmental risks.
Graphene, renowned for its extraordinary properties, such as high surface area
and exceptional strength, has been tailored by SLINTEC scientists to create a
material that not only absorbs oil efficiently but also addresses the
shortcomings of current solutions.
This
pioneering technology by SLINTEC is reusable, non-toxic, and environmentally
friendly, ensuring no negative impact on marine life. With its superior oil
absorption capabilities, this breakthrough solution is a highly effective tool
to address the severe consequences of oil spills, establishing a new benchmark
for environmental protection and safety.
SLINTEC’s
innovation stems from the utilisation of Sri Lanka’s premium graphite
resources, renowned for their high quality. Commenting on SLINTEC’s latest
innovation, CEO, SLINTEC - Dr. Thushara Perera stated: “We are proud to see our
innovation recognised and embraced on a global scale. This agreement signifies
the transformative power of partnerships in creating impactful solutions. This
partnership with Inovartic Investments will help SLINTEC to support
grassroots-level innovators in Sri Lanka, supporting the new Government’s plan
to foster innovation into productive outcomes and partnerships to enter global
markets.”
More
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
The
stock market is never obvious. It is designed to fool most of the people, most
of the time.
Jesse
Lauriston Livermore.
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