Baltic Dry Index. 1159 +47 Brent Crude 73.70
Spot Gold 2869 US 2 Year Yield 4.07 +0.02
US Federal Debt. 36.535 trillion!
Credit means that a certain confidence is given, and a certain trust reposed. Is that trust justified? And is that confidence wise? These are the cardinal questions. To put it more simply credit is a set of promises to pay; will those promises be kept?
Walter Bagehot.
It is the last trading day of the month in the stock
casinos and normally a day to dress up stocks and stock futures, but given a losing
month in the stock casinos it might turn into dress down Friday as money
managers seek to dump losing stocks from their month-end statements to
investors.
With tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on Tuesday,
March is likely to be a very troubled month in the stock casinos too as US
inflation and unemployment rise.
Asia-Pacific markets fall as Trump confirms tariffs to proceed next
week
Updated Fri, Feb 28 2025 12:34 AM EST
Asia-Pacific markets fell on Friday after U.S.
President Donald Trump confirmed that tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada
will be going ahead and taking effect next week.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 1.15%
lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 2.81% and
the Topix lost 1.87%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 3.15% while the
small-cap Kosdaq traded 3.20% lower.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.34%,
and mainland China’s CSI 300 was down 0.62%.
Indian stocks were also in negative territory,
with the Nifty 50 down 0.99%.
The price of Bitcoin fell 1.79% to $82,811.12,
marking an
almost 25% decline from its record high in January.
On Thursday, Trump announced that proposed tariffs on
25% on Canada and Mexico will be implemented on March 4 after a month-long
postponement. The president said that these countries had not sufficiently
reduced the flow of drugs across the border.
Additionally, Trump also said that China, which
already faces 10% U.S. tariffs on its products, “will likewise be charged an
additional 10% Tariff on that date.”
Overnight in the U.S., the three major indexes closed
lower. The S&P 500 closed
down 1.59% at 5,861.57. The broad market index remains in the red for the week
and month. The Nasdaq
Composite pulled back 2.78%, to end the day at 18,544.42, with
Nvidia’s 8.5% slide pulling the tech-heavy index lower.
The Dow
Jones Industrial Average lost 193.62 points, or 0.45%, to finish at
43,239.50.
Asia
markets live: Trump tariffs, Japan retail sales
Stocks tumble, deepening February's decline, as Trump affirms
tariffs coming and Nvidia dives 8%
Updated Thu, Feb 27 2025 4:19 PM EST
The S&P
500 fell during a volatile session, after President Donald Trump’s
declaration that tariffs on Canada and Mexico would proceed as planned, as well
as a negative reversal in bellwether stock Nvidia following earnings.
The S&P
500 closed down 1.59% at 5,861.57. The broad market index remains in
the red for the week and month. The Nasdaq Composite pulled back
2.78%, to end the day at 18,544.42, with Nvidia’s 8.5% slide pulling the
tech-heavy index lower. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average lost 193.62 points, or 0.45%, to finish at
43,239.50.
Both the broad market index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq
are on pace for their worst week since September 2024.
In
a post on Truth Social, Trump announced the proposed tariffs of 25% on
Mexico and Canada will take effect on March 4 after the one-month moratorium
ends. Trump claimed that the two countries had yet to curb the flow of drugs
over the border by enough. The president also stated that China, which already
faces 10% tariffs from the U.S., would face an additional 10% levy.
“We’re in a stalled, range-bound, slightly irrational
market as we wait for policy clarity,” said Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure
Capital Advisors.
Shares of Nvidia fell even after the
chip giant exceeded fourth-quarter estimates on the top and bottom
lines. The AI play also issued strong guidance, reflecting continued demand
driven by the artificial intelligence race. However, the company posted a
decline in gross margins for the quarter and its smallest revenue
beat in two years, raising questions about whether the bull market leader
could keep its momentum going.
“Nvidia earnings were outstanding, but they come
during an extremely jittery stock market,” said James Demmert, chief investment
officer at Main Street Research.
Besides Trump’s tariff declaration, a jump
in jobless claims also subdued sentiment, adding to recent concerns of
economic softening. Jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 22 came in at
242,000. This was up 22,000 from the previous week’s revised level and higher
than the Dow Jones estimate for 225,000, according to a Labor Department report
Thursday.
This comes on the back of several other recent
economic reports — including a softer-than-expected consumer confidence
reading, disappointing retail sales numbers and a weak consumer sentiment
reading — which have rattled stocks and raised worries about the health of the
U.S. economy.
Traders are now looking ahead to Friday’s personal
consumption expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve’s preferred
inflation gauge.
With just two trading sessions left in February, all
three major averages are on pace to finish lower. The broad market index has
dropped almost 3%, while the Dow and the Nasdaq have are down 2.9% and 5.5%,
respectively.
Stock
market updates Feb. 27, 2025
S&P 500 futures are little changed ahead of key inflation
report: Live updates
Updated Fri, Feb 28 2025 12:39 AM EST
Stock futures are little changed early Friday as
investors looked to the end of a losing week and month and awaited key
inflation data.
Dow
Jones Industrial Average futures lost 18 points, or less than
0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures rose
0.04% and 0.07% respectively.
Those moves come as investors ready for the final
trading day of the week and month on Friday. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite has led the
way down, sliding around 5.5% in February due largely to a 5% drop this week.
The S&P
500 has slid 2.5% week to date, while the Dow has seen more modest
losses with a retreat of just 0.4% Both are down nearly 3% on the month.
Traders have been rattled by President Donald
Trump’s promise
of tariffs and recent
economic reports flashing warning signs. A decline of
8.5% in megacap tech titan Nvidia in
Thursday’s session the back of earnings threw more cold water on investor
sentiment.
“February is seasonally a volatile period of time for
stocks, and that historical trend is playing out right now,” said Michael
Landsberg, chief investment officer at Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth
Management. “Investors are in search of more clarity on tariffs, elevated
inflation and the state of the consumer.”
Investors on Friday will closely monitor January data
for the personal consumption expenditures price index. Economists polled by Dow
Jones expect the measure of price changes for consumers to rise 0.3% from
December for an annualized gain of 2.5%. Excluding volatile food and energy
prices, so-called core PCE is expect to increase by 0.3% month over month and
2.6% year over year.
Economic data on personal income and consumer
spending is also expected in the morning.
Stock
market today: Live updates
Trump’s Tariffs Will Reignite Inflation, New Poll Says
February 27, 2025 at 10:21 PM GMT
As President Donald Trump rolls out new tariff
threats on an almost daily basis, most recently promising that delayed levies
against Canada and Mexico will go
ahead on March 4, Americans are increasingly worried. While Wall Street
sees the constant threats (and the predictable headlines and chyrons that
follow) as a simple
negotiating ploy, a survey of everyday taxpayers shows deep concern over
what will happen if Trump actually follows through.
According to a Harris Poll conducted for Bloomberg
News, almost 60%
of US adults expect Trump’s tariffs, if enacted, will lead to even
higher prices. Some 44% say the levies are likely to be bad for the US
economy compared with 31% who say they’d be a boost. With more signs every day
that inflation has
ceased a bumpy, almost three-year decline, economists have said the “toxic”
uncertainty created by Trump is
already damaging the US economy.
Even within his own party, whose leaders
have generally maintained lockstep fealty in the face of Trump’s expansive
and sometimes
facially illegal orders, many aren’t sold on his trade agenda. Only half of
Republican respondents to the poll said tariffs, likely to bring swift
retaliation from targeted nations, would be an economic boon.
Citizens of America’s northern neighbor aren’t
thrilled about Trump’s promises of tariff tribulations, either. Canadians
are increasingly seeking
out alternatives to US goods, looking to strike back at Americans and their
industries. The Republican’s ongoing tariff threats against Canada—along
with the 78-year-old’s musings about annexing the sovereign nation—has created
a historic break with Canadians.
A new poll shows that 85% of Canadians plan to
replace US products with alternatives. That’s a significant shift for a country
that purchases almost as much in US goods each year as the entire European
Union—a
total of $349.4 billion in 2024, according to the US Department of
Commerce. This too is unlikely to help the American economy maintain what up
until now has been a historic streak of low unemployment.
Applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest this year amid an increase in
company firings across the country. Initial claims increased by 22,000 to 242,000 last
week, matching the highest level since October. The pickup in new applications
coincides with a number of mass terminations at companies like Starbucks, Meta and Southwest Airlines. Economists have also been
on the lookout for ripple effects from the Trump administration’s attempts to
fire thousands of workers across federal agencies, though many of those efforts
are potentially unlawful and the subject of litigation.
Trump’s
Tariffs Will Reignite Inflation, New Poll Says - Bloomberg
Trump plans tariffs on Mexico and Canada for Tuesday, while
doubling existing 10% tariffs on China
Updated 9:53 PM GMT, February 27, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to
impose tariffs
on Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday, in addition to doubling the 10%
universal tariff charged on imports from China.
In a Truth Social post Thursday, Trump said illicit
drugs such as fentanyl are being smuggled into the United States at
“unacceptable levels” and that import taxes would force other countries to
crack down on the trafficking.
“We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the
USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed
TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into
effect, as scheduled,” the Republican president wrote. “China will likewise be
charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date.”
The prospect of escalating tariffs has already
thrown the
global economy into turmoil, with consumers expressing fears
about inflation
worsening and the auto sector and other domestic manufacturers
suffering if Trump raises import taxes. But Trump has also at times engaged in
aggressive posturing only to give last-minute reprieves, previously agreeing
to a
30-day suspension of the Canada and Mexico tariffs that were initially
supposed to start in February.
The threat of tariffs frightened the stock market
with the S&P 500 index falling 1.6% on Thursday. The S&P 500 is now
just 1.4% higher than it was after Trump won the election in November, giving
up almost all of the gains that the president once cited as evidence of an
economic revival.
Asked Thursday about the fact that tariffs are
largely paid for consumers and importing companies, Trump dismissed any
concerns by saying: “It’s a myth.” It’s possible for a stronger U.S. dollar to
offset some of the costs of tariffs, but Trump’s statement goes against most
economic modeling given the breadth of his planned taxes.
More
Trump plans tariffs on Mexico and Canada for Tuesday, doubles levy on China | AP 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.
If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it.
J. P. Morgan.
Stock
analyst delivers blunt words on recession risk
27
February 2027
---- These
times have undeniably been good. The S&P 500 has notched back-to-back years
of 20% plus returns, trouncing the average 10% annual return over the past
thirty years. However, anyone around the markets long enough knows that good
times can beget bad times (and vice versa), and average returns only tell part
of the story. There have been plenty of hair-pulling moments and lost sleep
over the last three decades.
Just
ask long-time Wall Street analyst Stephen Guilfoyle. Guilfoyle's career
stretches back to 1987 on the New York Stock Exchange floor. 1987 certainly
caused many sleepless nights. He also survived the Internet bust, the Great
Recession, the Covid meltdown, and 2022's inflation-caused bear market. Yes,
he's seen a thing or two.
The
good news is that the economy is still doing well. The bad news is that there's
reason to wonder if that trend will continue.
---- Cracks in the armor appear, increasing
recession risk
Lurking
under the surface of this raging bull market has been a growing disparity
between those with money and those without it. While unemployment remains very
low (near 4%), many remain cash-strapped.
Inflation
may have slowed, but prices are still rising. Those increases are on top of the
steep increases recently endured, meaning more money is flowing from budgets to
living costs.
Worse,
while interest rates have recently fallen, the burden of variable-rate debt,
including credit cards, is heavy. Credit cards were never cheap, but it wasn't
that long ago that they were easy to find with rates nearer 10% and 0%
introductory offers for extended periods were common.
Nowadays,
according to WalletHub, the average interest rate on newly issued and existing
credit cards was 22.6% and 21.47% in February. For perspective, it was about
17% for new cards in 2011 and about 12% for existing cards in 2013.
Cheap
no. Better than now? Yes.
The
price of homes is higher, and car payments sound like mortgage payments of days
gone by.
With
so much pressure, it's unsurprising that consumers feel a bit uneasy, something
Stephen Guilfoyle thinks is worrisome.
The
Conference Board recently released its Consumer Confidence survey for February,
and the results weren't great.
"At
the headline level, the reading for consumer confidence dropped to 98.3 in
February from 104.1 for January and well below the more than 102 that
economists were looking for," said Guilfoyle in a post on TheStreet Pro.
The
Conference Board's data "was the steepest one-month drop for this series
since August of 2021, "said Guilfoyle. "Within the report, the
Present Situation Index fell to 136.5 from 139.9, while the Expectations Index
fell all the way to 72.9 from 82.2. All the while, median inflation
expectations increased from 4.2% to 4.8%."
The
data followed the previously reported University of Michigan's Consumer
Sentiment Survey results that Guilfoyle says were "awful."
So,
while the economy continues to appear to be humming along, investors may not
want to become overly complacent.
"There's
no way to make last week's Consumer Sentiment survey and this week's Consumer
Confidence survey smell sweet," said Guilfoyle. "If these results are
accurate, and they very well may be as they agree with one another (Often these
two surveys do not agree), the US consumer is preparing for an outright
economic recession. This put more pressure on Treasury yields on Tuesday as
investors continued to seek safe haven assets while exiting positions in risk
assets."
Stock analyst
delivers blunt words on recession risk
Covid-19
Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
"Wish I Hadn't": US Anchor Megyn Kelly's Big Claim On Pfizer
Covid Vaccine
Megyn
Kelly has claimed that she developed an "autoimmune condition" after
taking two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and a follow-up booster in 2021
Feb 27, 2025 12:13 pm IST
New Delhi:
American journalist Megyn
Kelly has claimed that she developed an "autoimmune condition" after
taking two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and a follow-up booster in
2021.
In her podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show, the
54-year-old spoke with Dr Aseem Malhotra and shared her COVID-19 vaccine
experience. "I wish I hadn't done it, but I did," she said.
Speaking to Dr Malhotra,
the former Fox News host said doctors couldn't identify the exact cause of the
disease or what exactly she was suffering from but they suggested it could be
linked to the Pfizer vaccine and booster.
"You're not the only
patient I have who's had this sequence of events," said Ms Kelly's
rheumatologist.
Ms Kelly's comments came
days after a group of Yale researchers approved long-held claims by people who
believed they developed chronic illnesses months or years after receiving
vaccinations.
The scientists named the
study "post-vaccination syndrome". They found that patients suffering
from it have reduced amounts of white blood cells and lower levels of naturally
produced antibodies that combat the virus.
"I've never been
more wrong about anything. That is the No. 1 thing I've been wrong about,"
said Ms Kelly of her decision to take the vaccine and booster.
Dr Malhotra, a COVID-19
vaccine sceptic with ties to Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., called for the suspension of vaccine rollouts
in 2023, claiming they led to excess deaths in the UK.
According to the reports,
Dr Malhotra, after an interview with Ms Kelly, said that a prominent public
figure in the US only recently spoke about being vaccine-injured, feeling safe
to discuss it with a doctor who understands, suggesting that many, possibly
millions of Americans, are suffering in silence.
He claimed that he also
suffers from an autoimmune disease, which he believes is due to the Pfizer
vaccine.
"Wish I Hadn't": US Anchor Megyn Kelly's Big Claim On Pfizer
Covid Vaccine
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.
Chinese
scientists develop controllable chiral graphene rolls for spintronics
Xinhua
| Updated: 2025-02-27 15:22
TIANJIN
-- A research team from Tianjin University has introduced a new technique, the
wax-aided immersion method, which could produce controllable chiral graphene
rolls.
This
advancement provides a novel approach to chirality modulation in
two-dimensional materials and their potential applications in spintronics,
laying a solid foundation for future developments in quantum computing and
spintronic devices, according to the team.
The
study was recently published in Nature Materials.
Chirality
refers to the property of objects whose mirror images cannot be perfectly
superimposed, much like the relationship between our left and right hands. In
materials science, the development of chiral materials is crucial for advancing
frontier technologies such as optical devices, spintronics, and quantum
computing.
Graphene,
a classic two-dimensional material known for its high electrical conductivity,
excellent mechanical strength, and chemical stability, has long been a focal
point of material science research. However, graphene itself is achiral.
In
recent years, scientists have attempted to introduce chirality into graphene
and other two-dimensional materials by rolling them up, and exploring their
potential new characteristics and applications. Currently, few two-dimensional
materials possess chirality-based spintronics functionality, and there is a
lack of universal methods for fabrication.
The
team's research allows for the controlled rolling of graphene at specific
angles to create chiral graphene rolls.
Experimental
results demonstrated that the left-handed and right-handed graphene rolls
exhibited significant optical activity and remarkable spin-selectivity effects.
Through precise control of the chiral angle, the team also achieved control on
chiral-induced spin-selectivity, which holds unique application potential for
spintronics.
Furthermore,
the researchers observed that electrons primarily moved along one side of the
graphene roll, leading to preferential spin polarization. This chiral-induced
spin-selectivity effect opens new possibilities for developing efficient spin
filters and spintronic devices.
"This
research not only offers a universal method for chirality control in non-chiral
two-dimensional materials, but also paves new avenues for exploring quantum
behavior and developing room-temperature spintronic technologies," said
Lei Shengbin, a team member.
In the
future, this technique is expected to enable unique functionalities that
surpass traditional carbon materials in fields such as spintronics, quantum
computing, optical devices, and material science, injecting new vitality into
the development of spintronics and quantum technologies, Lei added.
Chinese scientists
develop controllable chiral graphene rolls for spintronics - Chinadaily.com.cn
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
Another weekend and Trump tariff week directly ahead.
Of course, the highly unpredictable President Trump might just change his mind
over the weekend. Have a great weekend everyone.
Gold is
money. Everything else is credit.
J. P.
Morgan.
