Baltic Dry Index. 1652 +09 Brent Crude 73.02
Spot Gold 3019 US 2 Year Yield 4.04 +0.10
US Federal Debt. 36.639 trillion!!
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Albert Einstein
We are nine days away from Trump Tariff Day, but then again maybe not. No one knows apparently, least of all Trump himself seemingly.
Asian markets and Europe’s stock markets are getting more and more edgy as that April 2 T-Day nears.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index drops
nearly 2% as investors assess Trump tariff threats
Updated Tue, Mar 25 2025 1:38 AM EDT
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed
Tuesday as investors assessed U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.79%,
while the Hang Seng Tech index plunged 2.91% (view
post).
Meanwhile, mainland China’s CSI 300 pared losses to trade
flat.
South Korea’s Kospi index lost 0.60% in
choppy trade while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 1.31%.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended the
day flat at 7,942.50. The country’s budget will be tabled by Treasurer Jim
Chalmers later in the day.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.54% in
its final hour, while the broader Topix index increased 0.30%.
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 was up 0.23% (view
post) while the broader BSE Sensex advanced 0.34%.
U.S. futures
edged down marginally after the three key
Wall Street indexes logged gains overnight.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped
597.97 points, or 1.42%, to end at 42,583.32. The S&P 500 added 1.76% and
closed at 5,767.57, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained
2.27% to settle at 18,188.59.
Shares of Tesla, which have fallen for nine
straight weeks, rose nearly 12%, adding to
their Friday gains. Meta
Platforms and Nvidia climbed
more than 3%.
Asia
markets live: Stocks mixed
European markets set for negative
open amid uncertainty over Trump tariffs
Updated Tue, Mar 25 2025 1:35 AM EDT
European markets are expected to
open in negative territory Tuesday amid uncertainty over the scope and breadth
of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected
to open 23 points lower at 8,617, Germany’s DAX down 50 points at
22,804, France’s CAC 11
points lower at 8,009 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 78 points lower at
38,207, according to data from IG.
Earnings come from Kingfisher and
Smiths Group. On the data front, Germany’s Ifo Institute releases its latest
business climate survey.
Asia-Pacific
markets traded mixed overnight as investors assessed Trump’s tariff
threats while U.S. futures
edged down marginally after the three key
Wall Street indexes logged gains on Monday.
Wall Street remains on edge over a
potential uptick in inflation and slowing economic growth as it awaits
reciprocal tariffs from the Trump administration on April 2.
However, during Monday’s session,
traders grew optimistic on news that the White House may narrow the scope of
tariffs going into effect, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News.
Later Monday, Trump told the press
that he “may
give a lot of countries breaks” on reciprocal tariffs. He added that duties
on certain sectors, such as pharmaceuticals and autos, would still be coming in
the “near future.”
European
markets live updates: stocks, news, data and earnings
Trump pledges auto, pharma tariffs
in ‘near future,’ sowing more trade confusion
Published Mon, Mar 24 2025 2:50 PM
EDT Updated Mon, Mar 24 2025 4:57 PM EDT
President Donald Trump on Monday said
he will soon announce tariffs targeting automobiles, pharmaceuticals and other
industries, signaling his plans to pile more sweeping duties on top of his
forthcoming “reciprocal
tariffs.”
“We’ll be announcing cars very
shortly,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting. “We already announced steel, as you
know, and aluminum.”
“We’ll be announcing pharmaceuticals
at some point,” he said, “because we have to have pharmaceuticals.”
“So we’ll be announcing some of
these things in the very near future, not the long future, the very near
future,” Trump said.
Trump at another White House event
later Monday added the lumber and semiconductor industries to his list, saying
tariffs on those two sectors would come “down the road.”
Yet even as he piled on new sectors
for potential tariffs, Trump said at the same event that he “may give a lot of
countries breaks” on the reciprocal tariffs, which are set to take effect April
2.
When pressed for clarification on
whether sectoral tariffs will also start that day, Trump initially said, “Yeah,
it’s going to be everything.”
Then he said, “but not all tariffs
are included that day.”
He also hinted that tariffs on autos
may be announced before the reciprocal tariffs kick off.
“We’ll be announcing that fairly
soon over the next few days, probably, and then April 2 comes, that’ll be
reciprocal tariffs,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the White House was likely to
exclude industry-specific tariffs from the April 2 batch, despite Trump’s
suggestion a week earlier that both types of tariffs would start the same day.
The president’s latest comments came
hours after he vowed to slap 25%
tariffs on all countries that buy oil and gas from Venezuela.
“We’ve been ripped off by every
country in the world,” Trump said in the Cabinet meeting.
“We did something with Venezuela,
which is long in the making,” he said. “And we’ll be announcing cars very
shortly.”
A White House official told CNBC
earlier Monday that the tariffs targeting specific sectors “may happen or may
not.”
“No final decision’s been made as
far as sectoral being tacked onto reciprocal,” said the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
Major
stock indexes shot up Monday following the reports that Trump may be
softening his tariff plans.
The official did not immediately
respond to CNBC’s request for additional comment following Trump’s remarks in
the Cabinet meeting.
Trump says tariffs on autos, pharmaceuticals coming in 'near future'
In other news.
The U.S. is not prepared to win an economic war
against China-built containerships, farmers, ocean carriers warn
Published Mon, Mar 24 2025 1:37 PM EDT Updated
Mon, Mar 24 2025 2:54 PM EDT
Business interests, from U.S. farmers to
global ocean carriers, are warning of severe economic damage from proposals
being considered by the U.S. government to hit
containerships made in China with steep fines when they call on U.S.
ports. The goal of bringing more shipbuilding back to the U.S. is at odds with
reality in the global ocean trade market, they say, where virtually all
container traffic will soon be carried on ships built in China.
An estimated 98% of the global fleet would
be subjected to fees when calling on U.S. ports because the fee applies to both
existing Chinese-built vessels or future vessels in the order book of carriers,
and any carrier with at least one order on the books for a vessel made in
China, according to the World Shipping Council, which represents the
international ocean liner shipping industry. Currently, 90% of the world’s
vessels are subjected to the fee. According to Sea-Intelligence, the total
number of port calls made by deep-sea container liner vessels in the United
States in 2024 was 12,410.
On Monday and Wednesday, hearings are
being held by the U.S. Trade Representative to consider the implementation of
penalties. The investigation, begun under President Joe Biden, culminated in
a report
released in January that concluded China’s shipbuilding and maritime
industry had an unfair advantage. Now, it is being continued by the Trump administration as part
of the president’s widening
global economic and trade war, with Trump saying in his recent speech to
Congress that he will create a new office of shipbuilding in the White House
that would offer special tax incentives to bring more shipbuilding back to the
U.S.
“The nation’s agriculture exporters are
united in concern and opposition to the proposal,” Peter Friedmann, executive
director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, said in prepared
testimony ahead of the hearing. “We are not opposed to the objective, but we
are not willing to sacrifice America’s agriculture and the communities
throughout the country that would be economically distressed or worse, by a
plan such as the present, that would eliminate our ability to sell agriculture
outside our own borders.”
The AgTC says there are no U.S.-built
vessels suitable for international commercial shipping that exist today that
can move agricultural cargo, moved by container ships, bulk ships, and
breakbulk ships, and across products that include corn, wheat, grains, and
soybeans. “If they were available at a reasonable cost, U.S. exporters,
including agriculture, would already be using this option,” Friedmann said in
his testimony.
The razor-thin margins that farmers face
in the world economy, and the increased and intense competition for bulk
commodities, have to be factored into vessel choices for transport of
commodities, he said. Put another way by Friedmann in his testimony on Monday,
“The hogs in China couldn’t give a damn where the soybeans come from. You’ve
essentially told those exporters you’re out of business.”
To penalize ocean carriers using
Chinese-made vessels to move trade, the U.S. government has proposed steep
levies on Chinese-made ships arriving at U.S. ports. For
Chinese-owned operators (such as COSCO), a service fee of up to $1 million
could be charged on each vessel. For non-Chinese-owned ocean carriers with
fleets containing Chinese-built vessels, the service fee would be up to $1.5
million for each U.S. port of call.
More
US not prepared to win economic war against China-built containerships
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.
America’s
rich scramble to open Swiss bank accounts over Trump fears
24
March 2025
America’s
elite are racing to open Swiss bank accounts and move hundreds of millions of
dollars out of the country as they fear being targeted by Donald Trump.
Fears
of potential restrictions on moving money overseas mean ultra-wealthy Democrat
families are moving huge chunks of cash out of the country as an insurance
policy against the Republican administration.
Robert
Paul, co-head of private clients at wealth management firm London and Capital,
said: “These are big chunks of money. We’ve had five cases in the last three or
four weeks, and the sums have been $40m, $30m, $30m, $100m and $50m.
“I
am expecting to have at least this again if not more.”
These
clients are taking money out of US brokerage accounts and opening accounts in
Switzerland, Jersey and Guernsey to put it on cash deposit or in trust
structures abroad, Mr Paul said.
He
added: “It is literally a borders thing, having some money that is not
domestically located inside the US.
“There
has been fear around capital controls and movement of money. Why it’s
heightened in the past four weeks is because the rhetoric is chopping and
changing pretty quickly.
“A
lot of this is discussions around dinner parties of the ultra-wealthy. People
saying I’m worried about this and maybe you should be worried about this.”
While
Mr Trump has not directly discussed imposing capital controls, investors are
fearful over the president’s erratic policy making.
David
Lubin of Chatham House said the Trump administration could feasibly consider
imposing capital controls on money entering the country as part of its agenda
to weaken the dollar and attack the US trade deficit.
Judi
Galst, managing director of private clients at Henley & Partners in New
York, said at least a quarter of her clients are inquiring about moving money
out of the US because of the new administration.
Some
are looking at investment migration strategies, such as New Zealand’s investor
visa scheme, but others “really just want to open bank accounts in
Switzerland,” Ms Galst said.
“I
hear a lot about Switzerland and Liechtenstein. I talked to somebody at one
Swiss bank who told me that they’d opened 12 accounts like this for Americans
in the past two weeks,” she added.
It
is the latest sign that the
US economy may prove to be Mr Trump’s undoing.
After
he campaigned with an agenda for tax cuts and deregulation, markets had assumed
Mr Trump’s second term would be pro-business. His policy agenda since taking
office has taken investors by surprise after he launched a string of
protectionist measures, including a 25pc tariff on all steel and aluminium
imports from around the world.
The
Federal Reserve last week followed Goldman Sachs and Fitch Ratings in slashing
its forecasts for economic growth in the US this year from 2.1pc before Mr
Trump took office to 1.7pc.
Ms
Galst said: “They’re concerned that it is not in their best interests to hold
all of their assets in the United States. They want to diversify any risk and
that involves them potentially moving some part of their portfolios to other
countries.”
Ollie
Marshall, director of buying agency Prime Purchase, said: “I think it’s mainly
Democratic Party sponsors worried about some form of financial retribution.
“Of
course, there’s no proof the administration is actively targeting them yet, but
the government’s policies are so extreme they could be right to be worried
about it.”
James
Knightley, chief international economist at ING bank, said wealthy investors
have big incentives to diversify away from US assets considering the likely
negative impact of Mr Trump’s trade policies and federal cuts on growth,
corporate profits and asset prices.
However,
economists said it is highly unlikely that Mr Trump would go as far as
introducing capital controls on money leaving the country because it would not
be in line with his economic agenda.
America’s rich scramble to open Swiss bank accounts over Trump fears
Covid-19
Corner
This section will continue only occasionally when something of interest occurs.
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.
50 Years
Later, Scientists Just Found a Quantum “Butterfly” Hiding in Graphene
23
March 2025
In a
discovery that brings a legendary quantum theory to life, physicists at Princeton
University have directly observed Hofstadter’s butterfly —
a fractal pattern in electron energy levels that was first predicted in 1976
but had never before been seen in a real material.
The
breakthrough, which occurred during an experiment on graphene superconductivity,
offers a rare look at a self-repeating quantum energy spectrum and opens the
door to new insights in fundamental physics.
A
50-Year Theory Meets Reality
According
to the research team of the study
published in Nature, was not searching for Hofstadter’s
butterfly when they stumbled upon it. Their goal was to investigate how
electrons behave in twisted bilayer graphene, a form of carbon that
becomes superconductive under certain conditions.
An
unexpected twist in their experimental setup changed everything. A slight
misalignment during the sample preparation created the ideal geometry to reveal
the elusive fractal pattern. Under a magnetic field, the material displayed an
intricate, repeating energy structure —just like the one physicist Douglas
Hofstadter described nearly fifty years ago.
Uncovering
A Quantum Pattern In Graphene
To
observe this rare behavior, the scientists used a scanning tunneling
microscope (STM) — a tool that detects electron energies at the atomic
level. It allowed them to image the moiré
superlattice, a pattern formed by overlapping graphene
layers at specific angles.
What
emerged from this setup were clusters of electron energy levels arranged into
repeating bands. These patterns mirrored the Hofstadter model and, when
plotted, took on the butterfly-like shape that has captivated theorists for
decades.
Nature’s
Fractal Signature, In Quantum Form
Fractals
are common in the natural world, from branching trees to jagged coastlines. But
in the quantum world,
self-repeating patterns like these are rare.
The Hofstadter
spectrum stands out as a unique example of a fractal predicted by
quantum mechanics. Seeing it directly confirms not only the math, but also the
power of engineered materials to bring abstract theories into the lab.
Deeper
Interactions Revealed
Beyond
confirming the original prediction, the experiment exposed new layers of
complexity. The electron energy levels aligned better with models that
included electron-electron interactions, something Hofstadter’s
early equations didn’t account for.
This
adjustment helped the team understand the many-body behavior of electrons in
moiré structures. Their results hint at deeper phenomena, including the
emergence of topological quantum states — a subject of growing
interest in condensed matter physics.
A
Butterfly Born Of Chance
The
project brought together experimental and theoretical physicists at Princeton,
including Ali Yazdani, Biao Lian, and several graduate researchers.
According
to co-lead author Kevin Nuckolls, the discovery was born from a combination of
precision and luck. “Hofstadter’s butterfly is also a rare example of a problem
that is solved exactly in quantum mechanics, without any approximations,” he
explained.
“Since
Hofstadter’s original work, there have been many experiments and wonderful
papers on the subject but, before our work, no one had ever actually visualized
this beautiful energy spectrum.”
50 Years Later,
Scientists Just Found a Quantum “Butterfly” Hiding in Graphene
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt
Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
The
people will believe what the media tells them they believe.
George
Orwell
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