Baltic
Dry Index. 1286 +58
Brent Crude 69.53
Spot Gold 2910 US 2 Year Yield 3.96 -0.03
US Federal Debt. 36.564 trillion!
The people will believe what the media tells them they believe.
George Orwell.
Trump’s tariff flip-flops are bad for stocks priced to perfection in outer space.
But tariff uncertainty, Federal firings, tariff retaliations and a now unpredictable US foreign policy, are all bad for the global economy.
Unless things change, unlikely, a new global recession looms over 2025, only partially to be offset later in 2025 by increased warfare spending in Europe and China.
Below, a nervous opening, as US stock casinos
await the latest US jobs report from the Bureau of Lying Labor
Statistics. (With Trump in the White House rather than Biden will the BLS
report accurately to try to undermine President Trump?)
Japan’s 30-year bond yield hits highest level
since 2008; Nikkei leads Asia losses
Updated Fri, Mar 7 2025 11:06 PM EST
Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell on
Friday, with yields on long-term Japanese government bonds hitting levels not
seen since the 2008 financial crisis.
The moves in Asia markets mirrored losses
on Wall Street after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff concessions failed to
calm investors.
Traders were also worried by economic data
from the U.S., which raised alarm that Trump’s policies could hinder the U.S.
economy. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book and the Institute for Supply
Management’s manufacturing reading both indicated fear of rising input costs
because of the tariffs.
Back in Asia, customs data showed China’s
exports in the January to February period rose 2.3% in U.S. dollar terms from a
year earlier, significantly undershooting expectations of a 5% increase in a
Reuters poll.
That marked the slowest growth since April
last year when exports
increased by just 1.5% on year, according to LSEG data.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 led regional
losses, down 2%, while the broad-based Topix fell 1.51%.
South Korea’s Kospi was 0.44% lower, with
the small-cap Kosdaq down 0.43% in choppy trade.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded down
1.71%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was last seen
up 0.56%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index was down 0.14%.
Indian’s benchmark Nifty 50 began the day 0.12%
higher, while the BSE Sensex index was flat.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major
indexes fell, with the Nasdaq
Composite falling 2.61% to end in correction territory, which is when
an index falls 10% from a recent high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid
0.99%, while the S&P 500 tumbled
1.78%.
Asia
markets live: China trade, JGB yields, tariffs
Trump’s Tariff Flip-Flops Help Send Stocks
Lower
March 6, 2025 at 10:32 PM GMT
On Thursday, Donald Trump signed a few
more executive orders. Among the scores he’s churned out since taking
office, these were unique, since they partially reversed orders from just two
days ago.
It was the latest backpedal by the White
House in the face of furious fallout both at home and abroad to his 25%
sanctions against Canada and Mexico. With markets plummeting, automakers
yowling and Canada pounding its chest, Trump announced he would exempt
some goods from both countries, but only
for a month. If that sounds familiar, it’s because this is the second
month-long delay Trump granted on his own tariffs.
Today’s announcement came after
Trump spoke with Mexican
President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has sought to negotiate with the
78-year-old president while Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau struck a more
strident tone. The Trump administration did take pains to say its other
threatened tariffs would move forward as planned in the coming weeks and
months, but after weeks of threats, little follow through and now reversals,
Wall Street has apparently decided the only safe thing to do is sell. The
S&P 500 fell to a four-month low. —Jordan
Parker Erb and David
E. Rovella
Trump’s
Tariff Flip-Flops Help Send Stocks Down Again - Bloomberg
Stock futures rise after Thursday’s big sell-off;
key jobs report looms: Live updates
Updated Fri, Mar 7 2025 8:51 PM EST
Stock futures were higher on Thursday
evening as traders sought to look past U.S. trade policy worries that have
rattled the market this week. They also anticipated a big payrolls report due
Friday morning.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added
96 points, or 0.2%. S&P
500 futures gained nearly 0.4%, while Nasdaq 100 futures advanced
0.5%.
The action follows a rocky session on
Thursday, with the major averages going back into sell-off mode as the latest
concessions on President Donald
Trump’s tariff policies failed to calm investors. The blue-chip Dow lost more than 400
points, and the Nasdaq
Composite fell into correction
territory, ending the session more than 10% off its high.
Stocks have been on a roller-coaster ride
as Trump’s tariff policies have worried investors over future U.S. growth.
While Trump said on
Thursday that a swath of goods from Canada and Mexico that are covered
by the North American trade agreement known as USMCA would be exempt from the
announced duties until April 2, that wasn’t enough to spur a recovery rally
similar to the one seen on Wednesday.
“Markets are all over the place trying to
price tariff impacts, which is really hard to do when the goal post moves,
disappears, and morphs by the second,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at
Harris Financial Group.
This latest market rout put the three
major averages on course for their worst week since September 2024. The S&P 500 is off 3.6% week
to date, while the 30-stock Dow is down 2.9%. The Nasdaq is the underperformer
of the period, down 4.1% so far this week.
February’s nonfarm
payrolls report will be the next big catalyst on investors’ radar,
giving markets further insight into the health of the economy. Economists
polled by Dow Jones forecast growth of 170,000 jobs, and expect the
unemployment rate held steady at 4%.
Stock
market today: Live updates
Cryptocurrencies decline as Trump’s U.S. bitcoin
reserve plan falls short of expectations
Published Thu, Mar 6 2025 10:16 PM EST
Cryptocurrencies fell Thursday night after
President Donald Trump signed
an executive order creating a strategic bitcoin reserve for the United
States and, separately, a “digital asset stockpile.”
The price of bitcoin was last lower by
3% at $87,586.86, according to Coin Metrics. Shortly after the news broke, it
fell to as low as $84,688.13.
Earlier losses in other coins –
specifically those that rallied at the beginning of the week after Trump said
they would be included in the strategy – also eased. Ether was down 2%, trading
at $2,184.08. XRP and
Solana’s SOL token
retreated 1% and 3%, respectively. Cardano’s ADA token tumbled 13%.
White House crypto and AI czar David Sacks
detailed in a post
on X that the bitcoin reserve will include bitcoin already owned by
the U.S. government that it seized from past law enforcement actions – a move,
he emphasized, that will “not cost taxpayers a dime.” The U.S. currently owns
more than 198,000 bitcoins worth about $17 billion, according to Arkham.
The stockpile of other coins will include
“digital assets other than bitcoin forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings.”
Sacks said the government will not acquire additional assets for it “beyond
those obtained through forfeiture proceedings.” Arkham data shows the U.S.
government owns about 56 ether tokens worth almost $119 million. It does not
list XRP or the Solana or Cardano tokens.
Investors initially dumped their coins at
the notion of the U.S. having no immediate planned purchases of bitcoin, per
the order, against the backdrop of major weakness in equities.
“It is good news, but not what the market
wanted in the short term,” said Steven Lubka, head of private clients and
family offices at Swan Bitcoin. “People were hoping for near-term buy
pressure.”
More
Cryptocurrencies fall after Trump officially establishes U.S. bitcoin reserve
In other news.
China’s exports miss forecasts as U.S. tariffs
hit, imports record sharpest decline since July 2023
Published Thu, Mar 6 2025 10:10 PM EST
China’s exports growth slowed more than
expected at the start of the year while imports plunged, as lackluster domestic
demand and U.S. tariffs challenge Beijing’s bid to bolster sluggish growth.
Exports in the January to February period
rose 2.3% in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier, data from the customs authority showed Friday,
significantly undershooting expectations of a 5% increase in a Reuters poll.
That marked the slowest growth since April
last year when exports
increased by just 1.5% on year, according to LSEG data.
Imports surprised markets by declining
8.4% year-on-year in the first two months of 2025, the
sharpest fall since July 2023, LESG data showed. Analysts had expected
imports to expand 1% year-on-year.
The sharp contraction in imports showed
the “last quarter’s stimulus-led pick-up in domestic demand has already
partially reversed,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital
Economics, said in a note.
Chinese exporters have been rushing to
front-load outbound shipments since late last year on anticipation of more
tariffs as U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Trump’s first round of 10% tariff hikes on
Chinese goods took effect on Feb 4., followed by another
10% tariff increase kicking in just one month later, taking the
cumulative levies to 20%.
China has retaliated with additional
tariffs on select U.S. goods, including energy and agricultural products,
while restricting exports of certain critical minerals that the U.S. needs.
“As firms expect further mutual tariffs
between the US and China, there is still some demand for front-loading,” said
Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis. Due to a higher base last year, coupled
with rising tariffs, he expects China’s foreign trade to remain under pressure
in the coming months.
More
China’s exports grew 2.3% on year in Jan-Feb, well short of estimates
European Central Bank cuts rates again, says
policy is becoming ‘meaningfully less restrictive’
Published Thu, Mar 6 2025 8:15 AM EST
The European Central Bank on Thursday cut
interest rates by 25 basis points and updated the language in its decision to
say monetary policy was becoming “meaningfully less restrictive.”
The cut brings the ECB’s deposit facility
rate, its key rate, to 2.5% — a move that markets had widely priced in before
the announcement.
The central bank’s six rate cuts over the
past nine months have come amid lackluster economic growth in the region, and
as the specter of tariffs on EU imports to the U.S. looms large.
“Monetary policy is becoming meaningfully
less restrictive, as the interest rate cuts are making new borrowing less
expensive for firms and households and loan growth is picking up,” the central
bank said in a statement Thursday.
Euro zone headline inflation remains below
the 3% mark, despite picking up in the last few months of 2024.
Data published earlier this week showed
that inflation in the
region eased to 2.4% in February, down from January’s reading but coming in
slightly higher than expected. So-called core inflation — which strips out
food, energy, alcohol and tobacco costs — as well as services inflation also
dipped after proving sticky for several months.
The euro area’s seasonally adjusted gross
domestic product, meanwhile, eked out a 0.1% increase in the fourth quarter,
the latest reading from statistics agency Eurostat showed.
More
European Central
Bank interest rate decision, March 2025
Walmart asks China suppliers for price cuts on
Trump tariffs, Bloomberg News reports
March 6, 2025 10:14 AM GMT
March 6 (Reuters) - Walmart (WMT.N), opens new
tab has
asked some Chinese suppliers for major price cuts, with the U.S. retail giant's
efforts to shift the burden of President Donald Trump's tariffs facing strong
push back from firms in the Asian nation, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
Certain suppliers, including makers of
kitchenware and clothing, have been asked to lower their prices by as much as
10% per round of tariffs, likely shouldering the full cost of Trump's duties,
the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the report, few have
accepted. Suppliers' margins are already razor thin due to Walmart procuring
goods cheaply in order to maintain its competitive advantage.
The retailer initially requested price
reductions from manufacturers when Trump's first round of tariffs on China took
effect in early February, with the request for additional cuts coming later the
same month when he threatened to double duties, the report said.
Walmart did not immediately respond to a
Reuters' request for comment.
Last month, the U.S. retailer forecast sales and
profit for the current year below expectations, citing the need
for caution in navigating an uncertain geopolitical landscape cast by high
interest rates and Trump's tariffs.
Walmart asks China
suppliers for price cuts on Trump tariffs, Bloomberg News reports | Reuters
Tesla sales in Germany slump in February, in line
with European markets
5 March 2025
(Reuters) - Tesla car sales in Germany
fell by 76% in February, data showed on Wednesday, adding to the collapse in
sales of Elon Musk's EV brand across Europe in what could be a loyalty test for
the close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Tesla sales were down 24% in the
Netherlands, 42% in Sweden, 48% in both Norway and Denmark, 45% in France, 55%
in Italy, 10% in Spain and 53% in Portugal, official data showed this week.
Outside Europe, Australia reported a 66%
drop in Tesla registrations in the month, while the brand's worldwide sales of
cars produced in China were down 49% due to intense pressure from Chinese
rivals.
Britain bucked the trend, reporting a 21%
jump in Tesla sales last month but that lagged a 42% overall rise in battery
electric vehicles sales.
According to Germany's road traffic
agency, Tesla sold 1,429 cars in Germany, a decline of 76%, an even bigger
decline than the 60% drop in January. Overall, sales of electric vehicles rose
30.8% to 35,949 in Germany.
Musk's support of far-right parties in
Europe, including for Germany's AfD that came second in last month's national
elections, appears to have hurt Tesla's sales on the continent, which were down
45% in January from a year earlier.
Industry data showed new car sales in
Britain fell 1% in February, despite growing demand for EVs which now account
for one in four new cars sold.
Chinese automakers extended gains in the
UK, with newcomer Chery selling 1,244 cars, more than BYD's 1,177.
Tesla sales in Germany slump in February, in line with European markets
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.
Reeves’s
jobs tax becomes ‘ticking time bomb’
6
March 2025
Rachel
Reeves has one month to scrap her “ticking time bomb” jobs tax or risk a
slowdown in economic growth, the shadow chancellor has warned.
Labour’s
plans to increase national
insurance contributions (NICs) for employers will take effect on April
6, the first day of the new tax year.
Writing
for The Telegraph, Mel Stride urged her to cancel the tax increase, which he
said would “further
decimate jobs,
stunt economic growth, and escalate inflation” for the rest of the year.
Businesses
are concerned the planned 1.2 per cent increase in employers’ NICs will impose
hundreds of thousands of pounds in additional costs each year, driving up
prices and causing job losses.
Under
the plans, employers will pay a rate of 15 per cent of their employees’ wage in
national insurance, up from 13.8 per cent.
At
the same time, the threshold at which businesses must pay the tax will be
lowered to £5,000, from £9,100, dragging many low-paid employees into the NICs
bracket for the first time.
Hospitality
bosses warned the policy will affect bar
staff and waiters among
the hardest of any sector and may lead to the closure of pubs.
The
Office for Budget Responsibility has suggested the policy change will lead to a
2 per cent increase in payroll costs for businesses.
Mr
Stride wrote: “This is not just another tax increase.
“It’s
a ticking
time bomb that
threatens to further decimate jobs, stunt economic growth, and escalate
inflation – making an already difficult economic situation far worse.”
He
added: “A 1.2 per cent increase to employers’ National Insurance contributions
might not sound a lot, but as an entrepreneur I can tell you it’s a significant
sum that will see jobs cut, wages stagnate, investment plans shelved, prices
rise and businesses fold.”
The
Conservatives have offered to support the Government in cancelling the NICs
increase if they bring it to a vote in the House of Commons.
The
tax increase is expected to raise between £23.8 billion and £25.7 billion a
year for the Treasury, financing many of Labour’s biggest spending pledges
since taking office last year.
But
Mr Stride said the money raised will be swallowed up by increased government
borrowing costs.
“Thanks
to the Chancellor’s decision to also ramp up borrowing, the money raised by her
Jobs Tax will be swallowed up by higher spending on debt interest – not spent
on the public’s priorities but poured down the drain,” he said.
More
Reeves’s jobs tax becomes ‘ticking time bomb’
Covid-19
Corner
This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Today, something different but promising.
Scientists
discover new part of the immune system
6
March 2025
A
new part of the immune system has been discovered and it is a goldmine of
potential antibiotics, scientists have said.
They've
shown a part of the body known to recycle proteins has a secret mode that can
spew out an arsenal of bacteria-killing chemicals.
The
researchers in Israel say it transforms our understanding of how we are
protected against infection.
And
gives a new place to look for antibiotics to tackle the growing problem of
superbugs that resist our current drugs.
The
discovery centres on the proteasome – a tiny structure that is found in every
cell of the body.
Its
main role is to chop up old proteins into smaller chunks so they can be
recycled to make new ones.
But
a series of experiments, detailed in the
journal Nature, external, shows the proteasome detects when a cell
has been infected by bacteria.
It
then changes structure and role. It starts transforming old proteins into
weapons that can rip open the outer layer of bacteria to kill them.
Prof
Yifat Merbl, from the Weizmann Institute of Science, told me: "This is
really exciting, because we never knew that this was happening.
"We
discovered a novel mechanism of immunity that is allowing us to have a defense
against bacterial infection.
"It's
happening throughout our body in all the cells, and generates a whole new class
of potential natural antibiotics."
The
research team went through a process they called "dumpster diving" to
find these natural antibiotics.
They
were tested on bacteria growing in the laboratory and on mice with pneumonia
and sepsis. The researchers said they were getting results comparable to some
established antibiotics.
And
when the researchers took cells in the laboratory and disabled the proteasome
they were far easier to infect with bacteria like Salmonella.
Prof
Daniel Davis, the head of life sciences and an immunologist at Imperial College
London, said the findings were "extremely provocative and very
interesting" as they changed our understanding of how our body fights
infection.
"What's
really exciting about this, is it's a totally undiscovered process by which
anti-germ molecules are made inside our cells, it feels profoundly important
and surprising."
But
he cautioned that turning this into a new source of antibiotics is an idea that
"still needs to be tested" and that will take time.
More
than a million people a year are estimated to die from infections that are
resistant to drugs like antibiotics.
But
despite the need, there has been a lack of research into developing new
antibiotics to keep up with demand.
Against
that bleak background, having somewhere new to look is a source of optimism for
some scientists.
Dr
Lindsey Edwards, a senior lecturer in microbiology at King's College London,
told the BBC: "It's a potential goldmine for new antibiotics, that's quite
exciting.
"In
previous years it's been digging up soil [to find new antibiotics], it is wild
that it's something we have within us, but comes down to having the technology
to be able to detect these things."
She
also says there could be fewer issues with developing them into drugs because
they are already products of the human body so the "safety side of it
might be a lot easier".
Scientists discover new part of the immune system - BBC News
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.
Scalable Production of Graphene Oxide from Carbon Fibers
5 March 2025
Researchers at KTH Royal Institute of
Technology claim to have significantly advanced
sustainable nanomaterial synthesis by creating a scalable and repeatable
process for creating graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets from commercial carbon
fibers, as published in the scientific journal Small.
Exfoliating carbon fibers
with nitric acid produces high yields of one-atom-thick graphene oxide sheets
with properties similar to commercial GO derived from mined graphite.
When its thin sheets
stack together to form layers resembling graphite, graphene oxide—an
extensively researched nanomaterial—can be utilized in automobile batteries. It
is also helpful in electronic devices, water purification, and
high-performance composites. However, because graphite varies in purity,
synthesis from mined graphite necessitates harsh chemicals and frequently
produces inconsistent materials.
Biomass is a Possible Source
According to Richard
Olsson, a Professor of Polymeric Materials at KTH, carbon fibers made from
polyacrylonitrile (PAN), a common polymer that oxidizes and graphitizes at high
temperatures, were used to prove the concept. According to him, the process could
be repeated using different raw materials, like biomass or forest industry
byproducts.
Olsson points to the
electric vehicle battery market as one that can benefit from the new
technology.
The core of graphite
battery functionality can be found in the layered graphene inside, which can be
harvested from commercial carbon fibers using this method. The future of auto
manufacturing will build on battery-based power, and the question is where the
graphite will be sourced? They are going to need alternatives.
Richard Olsson,
Professor, Polymeric Materials, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Related Stories
The method transforms
carbon fibers through electrochemical oxidation in a water and nitric acid
bath. Similar to how oxidation manifests as rust on an automobile, the bath
functions as a conductor, and when an electric current passes through carbon
fiber, the material starts to lose electrons, changing the surface. In this
instance, the transformation results in the removal of layers of nanoscale
graphene oxide from the surface of the carbon fibers.
The researchers found
that a mere 5 % nitric acid was ideal for forming these minuscule nanosheets,
which had a uniform thickness of roughly 0.9 nm and ranged in size from 0.1 to
1 µm. Interestingly, unlike GO synthesized from natural, mined graphite, which
typically takes the form of polygons, the GO nanosheets created in this manner
emerged in circular and elliptical shapes.
High Yield and Quality
The new method yields 200
mg of GO per gram of carbon fiber, which is higher than the current synthetic
methods. Because of its effective conversion rate, it can be produced on a
large scale, solving a significant problem in the synthesis of nanomaterials.
The researchers used
various sophisticated techniques to analyze and measure the material's
structure and properties to ensure the nanosheets fulfilled quality standards.
The study also
investigated two effective methods for removing protective polymer coatings
from commercial carbon fibers prior to oxidation: heating at 580 °C for two
hours and shock-heating to 1200 °C for three seconds. The study showed that an
important factor in the electrochemical exfoliation process is the electrical
conduction within the fibers.
Investigating biobased
sources for carbon fibers and learning more about the process are among the
researchers' next steps, according to Olsson.
Journal Reference:
Español, A., et
al. (2025) Making Synthetic 2D Graphene Oxide Nanosheets by Electrochemical
Oxidation of Commercial Carbon Fibres. Small. doi.org/10.1002/smll.202408972
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Scalable Production of Graphene Oxide from Carbon Fibers
.Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
Another weekend and what mischief can
Team Trump/Musk think up this weekend?
In tomorrow’s music section, a 1920s
style jazz band that I last heard when living in the 1980s in Manhattan. A real
treat to be 40+ years younger again.
Have a great weekend everyone.
The more I learn about
people, the more I like my dog.
Mark Twain.
No comments:
Post a Comment