Baltic
Dry Index. 2200 +28 Brent Crude 67.67
Spot Gold 3771 US 2 Year Yield 3.61 unch.
US Federal Debt. 37.519 trillion
US GDP 30.286 trillion.
“I've heard that hard work never killed anyone, but I say why take the chance?”
Ronald Reagan
Stocks wobbled after Federal Reserve Pouffe
Chair Powell, in a massive English understatement, declared that “equity prices are
fairly highly valued.”
Meanwhile the OECD issued a tariff inflation warning.
Not to worry though, Wells Fargo chief equity strategist Ohsung Kwon is convinced that AI mania is not a bubble.
So buy more AI dreams and bubble on!
Asia markets track Wall Street declines after U.S.
Fed chair suggests stocks are overvalued
Published Tue, Sep 23 2025 7:50 PM ED
Asia-Pacific markets fell Wednesday,
tracking Wall Street declines after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
said that “equity
prices are fairly highly valued.”
Powell also signaled that the rate-cutting
path wasn’t clear and that the central bank faces a “challenging
situation.”
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 lost 0.61%. Japan’s
benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped
0.33%, while the Topix lost 0.35%.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced
Tuesday that Anna Breman would be the new governor of the central bank, marking
the first time a woman has held the role. She will commence her five-year term on December 1.
Christian Hawkesby served as the RBNZ’s
acting governor since March, after the unexpected departure of Adrian Orr. His
interim six-month appointment is set to conclude in October.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.11%, while the
small-cap Kosdaq traded 0.39% lower. However, South Korean defense stocks
defied the weakness, with major players such as Hanwha Aerospace, Korea
Aerospace, and Hyundai Rotem posting gains of between 2% and 4%.
Their rally comes as President Donald
Trump voiced support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, and said that the U.S.
will continue to supply weapons to NATO for the military alliance “to do what
they want with them.” South Korea has emerged as a major supplier of military
equipment and munitions to NATO members.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and mainland
China’s CSI 300 were flat. Super Typhoon Ragasa is bringing hurricane-force winds
to high grounds and southern areas in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Observatory
noted. Conditions remain severe as heavy squally showers and thunderstorms are
expected.
Shares of Alibaba listed in Hong Kong
jumped over 6% after CEO Eddie Wu said Wednesday that the company will boost
its investment in artificial intelligence.
Alibaba is moving forward with the 380
billion yuan ($53 billion) investment in AI infrastructure and intend to
increase it further, Wu said in the company’s annual Apsara Conference in
Hangzhou. The company also unveiled its largest AI language model Qwen3-Max.
Australia’s CPI for August rose 3% year on
year, above the 2.9% estimates by economists in a Reuters poll.
Overnight stateside, the three major
averages ended the trading day lower. The S&P 500 took a pause from
its recent gains as doubts about the sustainability of the artificial
intelligence bull trend worried investors.
The broad market index closed down 0.55%
at 6,656.92 after reaching a new all-time intraday high earlier in the session
and posting a record close on Monday. The Nasdaq Composite fell nearly
1% to settle at 22,573.47, with the losses led by AI names like Nvidia, Oracle and Amazon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished
88.76 points, or 0.19%, lower at 46,292.78.
Asia
markets: Nikkei 225, Nifty 50, Kospi
Stock futures are little changed after S&P 500
pulls back from record highs: Live updates
Updated Wed, Sep 24 2025 7:32 PM EDT
Stock futures were little changed Tuesday
night after the S&P 500 pulled
back from record levels, snapping a three-day winning streak.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones
Industrial Average edged up 18 points, or 0.04%. S&P futures were 0.06%
higher, while Nasdaq 100
futures rose 0.09%.
In after-hours trading, shares of Micron Technology gained more
than 2% on the back of better-than-expected earnings and a strong forecast. The
artificial intelligence boom fueled a 46%
increase in Micron revenue.
The leading memory chipmaker’s results
follow a trading session that was dominated by heightened fears about the
circular nature of the AI industry, sparked by a Nvidia-OpenAI partnership.
Shares of leading AI players Nvidia and Oracle tumbled on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 closed in the red
on Tuesday, down 0.6%, after it had reached a new all-time intraday high
earlier in the session and posted a record close the previous day. The Nasdaq Composite fell nearly
1%, pulled down by a 2.8% loss in Nvidia shares just one day after the
chipmaker announced a massive investment in OpenAI, which prompted questions
about whether there is enough
energy to power planned data centers and if
Nvidia’s partnerships are akin to the risky practice of vendor financing.
Traders could also be profit-taking amid
elevated market valuations, which Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell called
out at a Tuesday press conference.
Wells Fargo chief equity strategist Ohsung
Kwon remains bullish on the AI trade, anticipating that spending will continue
to be robust. “I think this is a AI-led bull market, and I think this is likely
to continue,” he said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”
“First of all, it’s not a bubble,” Kwon
continued. “The entire outperformance of the Nasdaq since the end of tech
bubble has been driven by better fundamentals in the Nasdaq versus the S&P
500, and I think that’s likely to continue. Second, we still think we are in
the early innings of the AI investment cycle. ... I think the way this plays
out is, as long as the equity market continues to reward companies’ capex
outlook and the growth outlook, this is likely to continue.”
Stock
market today: Live updates
Fed Chief Powell says stock prices appear ‘fairly
highly valued’
Published Tue, Sep 23 2025 1:05 PM EDT Updated
Tue, Sep 23 2025 2:12 PM EDT
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on
Tuesday noted that asset prices, a category that typically includes stocks and
other risk instruments, are at elevated levels.
During a speech in Providence, Rhode
Island, the central bank leader was asked how much emphasis he and his
colleagues place on market prices and whether they have a higher tolerance for
higher values.
“We do look at overall financial
conditions, and we ask ourselves whether our policies are affecting financial
conditions in a way that is what we’re trying to achieve,” Powell said. “But
you’re right, by many measures, for example, equity prices are fairly highly
valued.”
In the run-up to last week’s policy
meetings, stocks and other assets rallied strongly as conviction grew that that
the Federal Open Market Committee would be lowering its benchmark overnight
borrowing rate. Stocks have continued to climb, setting a succession of record
highs for major averages, since the decision Wednesday to cut by a quarter
percentage point.
“Markets listen to us and follow and they
make an estimation of where they think rates are going. And so they’ll price
things in,” Powell said in part of the conversation dealing with mortgage
rates.
Though Powell noted the lofty equity
values, he said this is “not a time of elevated financial stability risks.”
Stocks took
a turn lower after Powell’s comments, with major averages all trading in
the red.
Fed
Chief Powell says stock prices appear 'fairly highly valued'
OECD says full brunt of U.S. tariff shock yet to
come as growth holds up
23 September 2025
PARIS (Reuters) -Global growth is holding
up better than expected, but the full brunt of the U.S. import tariff shock is
still to be felt as AI investment props up U.S. activity for now and fiscal
support cushions China's slowdown, the OECD said on Tuesday.
In its latest Economic Outlook Interim
Report, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said the full
impact of U.S. tariff hikes was still unfolding, with firms so far absorbing
much of the shock through narrower margins and inventory buffers.
Many firms stockpiled goods ahead of the
Trump administration's tariff hikes, which lifted the effective U.S. rate on
merchandise imports to an estimated 19.5% by end-August — the highest since
1933, in the depths of the Great Depression.
OECD'S 2025 GROWTH FORECASTS UPGRADED
The global economy is now expected to slow
only slightly — to 3.2% in 2025 from 3.3% last year — compared to the 2.9% the
OECD had forecast in June.
However, the Paris-based organisation kept
its 2026 forecast at 2.9%, with the boost from inventory building already
fading and higher tariffs expected to weigh on investment and trade growth.
The OECD forecast U.S. economic growth
would slow to 1.8% in 2025 — up from the 1.6% it forecast in June — from 2.8%
last year before easing to 1.5% in 2026, unchanged from the previous forecast.
An AI investment boom, fiscal support and
interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve are expected to help offset the
impact of the higher tariffs, a drop in net immigration and federal job cuts,
the OECD said.
In China, growth was also seen slowing in
the second half of the year as the rush to ship exports before the U.S. tariffs
recedes and fiscal support wanes.
Nonetheless, China's economy is expected
to grow 4.9% this year - up from 4.7% in June - before slowing to 4.4% in 2026
- revised up from 4.3%.
In the euro zone, trade and geopolitical
tensions were seen offsetting the boost from lower interest rates, the OECD
said.
The bloc's economy was seen growing 1.2%
this year - revised up from 1.0% previously - and 1.0% in 2026 - down from 1.2%
- as increased public spending in Germany lifts growth while belt-tightening
weighs on France and Italy.
Japan's economy is expected to benefit
this year from strong corporate earnings and a rebound in investment, lifting
growth to 1.1% - up from 0.7% - before momentum fades and the expansion slows
to 0.5% in 2026, revised up from 0.4%.
The OECD revised its growth forecast for
Britain up to 1.4% this year from 1.3%, and kept its 2026 forecast unchanged at
1.0%.
MONETARY POLICY EXPECTED TO BE LOOSE
With growth slowing, the OECD said it
expects most major central banks to lower borrowing costs or keep policy loose
over the coming year, as long as inflation pressures continue to ease.
It projected the U.S. Federal Reserve
would cut rates further as the labour market weakens — unless higher tariffs
trigger broader inflation.
Australia, Britain and Canada are expected
to see gradual rate cuts, while the European Central Bank is seen holding
steady with inflation near its 2% target.
Japan, however, is expected to raise rates
as it continues its slow withdrawal from ultra-loose monetary policy.
OECD
says full brunt of U.S. tariff shock yet to come as growth holds up
Top Wall Street exec warns of 1929-style crash -
but only after massive gains in the short term
September 22, 2023
A top Wall Street executive is warning of
a 1929-style crash, where the stock market will go up
significantly before crashing catastrophically, just as it had at the start of
the Great
Depression.
Mark Spitznagel, the hedge fund manager
behind Universa Investments who made $1 billion in a single day for his clients
during the 2015 “Flash Crash,” says he is seeing similarities to 1929, the year
of the Wall Street crash, he told the
Wall Street Journal.
Spitznagel, a protege of “Black Swan” author Nassim
Nicholas Taleb, is known for hedging tail risks, or strategies that lose
some money most of the
time but earn big when the market collapses.
“I’m the crash guy — I remain the crash
guy,” Spitznagel told the Journal.
Spitznagel is warning individual investors against
making hasty changes to their portfolios, noting those who can’t buy tail-risk
protection will still make positive returns in the long run if they don’t sell.
“The biggest risk to investors isn’t the
market – it’s themselves,” he said.
Spitznagel sees a strong rally ahead, with
short-term gains potentially pushing the S&P stock index up to as high as
8,000 points, a 20 percent gain from today’s level, according to the report.
However, he expects the rally to
eventually lead to a big, 1929-style crash, meaning there would be a large and
potentially catastrophic downturn following the gains.
Spitznagel believes this, in part, because
every time the market or economy runs into
trouble, the Federal Reserve steps in to save it with moves such as low
interest rates or bailouts.
He compared it to how firefighters quickly
put out forest fires only to have too much dry tinder accumulate, leading to
“firebombs.” Because of today’s near-record stock valuations, the eventual
“firebomb” could be explosive, according to the report.
If a major sellout is looming, as
Spitznagel says, large gains now would not be out of the norm, according to the
report. Since 1980, the S&P 500 has returned 26 percent annualized in the
12 months preceding the start of a bear market, or a sustained market downturn.
The last 12 months’ rally has been twice
as high as that average ahead of the 1929 peak, according to the report.
Both individual and professional investors
typically increase their stocks during times like today, according to the
report. Strategists at State Street said that institutional investors’ exposure
to equities has reached its highest since November 2007, just before a vicious
bear market.
“The markets are perverse,” Spitznagel
told the outlet. “They exist to screw people.”
Top Wall Street
exec warns of 1929-style crash - but only after massive gains in the short term
‘Maybe We Should Hold Off on US Investments’ —
Battery Industry Reacts to Georgia Plant Raid
September 22, 2025
The September 4, 2025,
immigration raid at the Hyundai-LG battery plant near Savannah, Georgia, has evolved into
a multifaceted crisis with significant implications for the US electric vehicle
and battery manufacturing sectors. What began as a routine enforcement
operation has escalated into an international incident that threatens to
disrupt domestic battery production timelines, strain the EV supply chain, and
potentially reshape foreign investment in America's clean energy transition.
The raid's impact on US battery production
The Georgia facility—a cornerstone of US
efforts to secure domestic EV supply chains—now faces significant delays. LG
Energy Solution has announced that construction at the plant will remain on
hold until the first half of 2026, setting back production by several months
and potentially impacting automakers counting on battery deliveries to meet
their EV production targets.
Hyundai Motor Chief Executive José Muñoz
confirmed the disruption would delay the battery plant's opening by at least
two to three months. The facility was set to be a key component of Hyundai's
$12.6 billion investment in Georgia, with plans to produce batteries for up to
500,000 hybrid and electric vehicles across the company's portfolio of brands.
"The South Korean workers that were
deported were specialized workers in the joint venture battery plant,"
Muñoz told reporters on September 18. "The company has had to move workers
from other plants to make up for the lost labor."
The raid: Emerging details
On September 4, approximately 400 state
and federal law enforcement personnel descended on the Hyundai-LG battery plant
under construction in Georgia. The operation resulted in the detention of 475
workers, including more than 300 South Korean nationals. According to the
search warrant obtained by the Savannah Morning News, the
raid initially targeted just four Mexican nationals as "targeted
persons," as
reported by Forbes.
Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney
representing 11 individuals arrested in the raid, noted that ICE agents did not
bring Korean language interpreters—suggesting the South Koreans were not the
intended targets. Nevertheless, agents decided on-site to arrest all South
Korean workers after determining they had entered on B-1 visas or through the
Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).
"One of Kuck's South Korean clients
had just arrived the night before and was sitting in a conference room in a
business suit, attending a meeting, when arrested by ICE," Stuart Anderson
wrote in Forbes.The Miller quota connection
Multiple sources point to a White
House-imposed arrest quota as the driving force behind the mass detention.
Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy chief of staff and homeland security
adviser, had publicly stated a goal of 3,000 immigrant arrests per day—a
dramatic increase from the previous average of about 660 arrests daily.
"The arrest of the South Koreans was
entirely driven by Stephen Miller's arrest quota," Kuck told Forbes.
"ICE agents screwed up by arresting people who did not abuse the visa,
were eligible to engage in the type of work for which they were admitted, but
ICE considered it a successful operation because they met Miller's quota."
NBC News confirmed that "The raid
was part
of a broader deportation drive by the Trump administration, which the White
House has described as central to fulfilling U.S. President Donald Trump's
election campaign promises. Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy chief of
staff and homeland security adviser, has pushed for 3,000 arrests a day."
More
Georgia EV Battery
Plant Raid Fallout Impacts Industry
In other news, the world’s biggest debtor by
far, promises to bailout Argentina.
US ready to bail out Milei’s Argentina, says White
House
September 22, 2025
America stands ready to bail out Javier
Milei’s Argentina, the White House has said.
Following a bout of severe market
volatility in Argentina, Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, said “all
options are on the table” to support the country.
The offer of an economic lifeline comes
after Mr Milei, the Argentine president and ally of Donald Trump, has spent
$1.1bn (£820m) of the country’s $20bn reserves to prop up the peso.
Mr Bessent and the US president will meet
Mr Milei in New York on Tuesday as they seek to ease fears over the plunging
peso and prevent Argentina from tipping into a debt-repayment meltdown.
This will prove crucial to
maintaining the
Argentine president’s reform agenda, boosting markets and averting a
political crisis.
“We remain confident that President
Milei’s support for fiscal discipline and pro-growth reforms are necessary to
break Argentina’s long history of decline,” Mr Bessent said on Monday.
“Opportunities for private investment
remain expansive, and Argentina will be great again.”
He said the US could use Treasury funds to
buy up the peso or Argentine government bonds, or the Federal Reserve could
strike a currency-swap deal with Argentina’s central bank.
Argentina already has a $5bn swap
arrangement with China. This deal was renewed in April, fuelling concern in
Washington that Mr Milei, a vocal admirer of Mr Trump, was
now playing both sides of the geopolitical fence.
But Mr Milei’s recent stinging election
loss and a corruption scandal involving his sister have handed the US an
opening to gain more influence over his administration.
Mr Milei on Friday said negotiations with
the US were “very advanced, and it’s a matter of time”.
The president’s political fortunes have
worsened following an election in Buenos Aires Province earlier this
month, when
parties backing him won only 34pc of the vote. Support for the big-state
Peronist party Fuerza Patria and its allies surged to 47pc, prompting a sharp
drop in markets.
Mr Milei has already signalled he may
increase welfare spending this year, partially reversing a swingeing austerity
drive that has dominated his agenda so far.
Last week, tens of thousands of protesters
marched through Buenos Aires demanding higher health and education spending.
Mr Milei needs to keep voters and
financial markets onside, but faces the challenge of making $9.5bn in debt
repayments next year.
To get Argentina into a position to repay
debt and quash double-digit inflation, he has been trying to keep the peso
strong.
Luis Caputo, the economy minister, said
last week that the government would “sell to the very last dollar” to support
the currency, which has fallen almost 10pc since the recent election result.
Inflation has been reined into the single
digits, but nervous traders have pushed up yields on Argentina’s
dollar-denominated government bonds, and sold off shares in some of the
country’s biggest companies.
US ready to bail out Milei’s Argentina, says White House
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.
Below,
Trump’s man on the Fed says he’s his own man. Well, if he says so.
Fed
governor installed by Trump outlines bold case to slash interest rates to 2.5%
in months
September
22, 2025
Donald
Trump's pick to join the US Federal Reserve said on Friday that he disagreed
with other bankers over the decision to slowly cut interest
rates.
Instead,
Stephen Miran, the recently appointed and Trump-backed governor, said rates
should be cut as much as 2.5 percent this year.
'I
must stake out a position, and this is my best ballpark estimation,' he said
during a speech at the Economic Club of New York.
Miran
said high rates risk 'unnecessary layoffs and higher unemployment.'
Last
Wednesday, America's central bank decided to slash
a quarter of a percentage point off its interest rates.
The 12-person
board voted to lower rates to between 4 percent and 4.25 percent. It's the
first cut since December 2024.
The
Fed, led by chair Jerome Powell, has consistently pushed the rate higher to
cool down inflation. America's inflation rate peaked above nine percent in the
summer of 2022 and has since cooled significantly.
But,
according to an August reading, the inflation rate is ticking up again, with
consumers spending 2.9 percent more at grocery stores, clothing retailers,
mechanic shops, and cafes.
The
Fed has a dual mandate to lower inflation and increase job growth through the
government's borrowing rates.
Rates
are used as a blunt tool, swinging higher when prices climb, and plunging when
unemployment accelerates.
Powell
said America's economy was experiencing increased risk, including a
'low-firing, low-hiring environment' and an uptick in inflation.
'There
are no risk-free paths now,' Powell said. 'It's not incredibly obvious what to
do.'
Still,
the Fed was able to come to a near-unanimous consensus, with 11 members of the
12-person committee agreeing on the quarter-percentage-point cut.
Earlier
in the day, Miran said he did not speak to the president about how to vote on
interest rates ahead of the central bank's meeting this week.
In
an interview with CNBC, Miran said that 'the president called me to say
"congratulations." He didn't ask me to do any particular actions. I
didn't commit to doing any particular actions.'
He
said that he would carry out 'independent analysis' based on his interpretation
of the economy.
Miran
was the sole dissenter to the Fed's decision this week to cut interest rates by
a quarter point, instead favoring a bigger half-point reduction -- more in line
with Trump's frequent demands for slashing rates.
He
said he would give a 'full accounting' for his economic views on Monday.
Asked
Friday about his decision, he said: 'I don't see any material inflation from
tariffs. I see no evidence that it's occurred.'
The
Fed typically holds rates at a higher level to rein in inflation, and
policymakers had kept rates unchanged for most of the year as they monitored
the effects of Trump's tariffs on prices.
Miran's
swift arrival to the Fed came as Trump ramped up pressure on the independent
central bank with repeated calls for large rate cuts.
Miran
had been chairing the White House Council of Economic Advisers prior to joining
the bank, and was confirmed by the US Senate on Monday night. He was sworn in
just before the rate-setting meeting started early Tuesday.
More
Fed governor
installed by Trump outlines bold case to slash interest rates to 2.5% in months
Blow
for Reeves as business output slows sharply in September
23
September 2025
The
UK’s economic growth prospects took a hit today as a key survey showed a sharp
slow down in business output in September.
The
latest S&P Global Flash UK PMI - a measure closely watched in the City -
showed a reading of just 51 this month, down sharply from 53.5 in August. It
was a much bigger fall than expected and points to faltering privater sector
confidence at the start of the Autumn amid “a litany of worrying news.”
Readings
above 50 point to growth while below that mark means contraction. Although it
was the fifth consecutive month above 50, it was also the lowest reading since
May.
Any
indication of a slowing economy will make
grim reading for Rachel Reeves as she
prepares a likely tax raising Budget in November.
Manufacturing
output was particularly weak with the fastest decline since March. Survey
respondents cited weak order books from both domestic and export markets. There
were also some specific mentions of lower manufacturing output across the
automotive supply chain as a result of plant stoppages at Jaguar Land Rover.
Chris
Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence:
“September’s flash UK PMI survey brought a litany of worrying news including
weakening growth, slumping overseas trade, worsening business confidence and
further steep job losses.
"The
only good news is perhaps that, just as the Bank of England grows
increasingly worried about persistently elevated inflation, the PMI indicated
that price pressures have moderated in September. Companies reported one of the
smallest increases in prices charged for goods and services seen since the
pandemic.
"With
the weakening of business activity growth to a rate consistent with the economy
almost stalling, and around 50,000 job losses being signalled by the PMI again
in the three months to September, alarm bells should be ringing that the
economy is faltering, which could help shift the policy debate at the Bank of
England back towards a more dovish stance.
"However,
amid talk of further tax rises being needed in the Budget later this year, it’s
not surprising to see that business expectations have worsened again in
September, and in the absence of an improvement in confidence, it’s unlikely
that the economy will make any strong gains in the months ahead irrespective of
the outlook for interest rates.”
Blow for Reeves as
business output slows sharply in September
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.
Fire chiefs reveal suspected cause of major blaze at Greenock
recycling centre
Sat 20 September 2025 at 6:30 am BST
FIRE chiefs and council officials
suspect a massive blaze which badly damaged a building at Inverclyde’s Pottery Street recycling centre was
caused by a lithium-ion vape battery that had been improperly disposed of.
Fire fighters had to contend with
compromised concrete, huge smoke plumes and two 100-litre diesel tanks when
they battled the fire in a stand-alone waste transfer building at the site on
May 24.
And while the cause of the blaze will
likely never be established, officials suspect a small lithium-ion battery
‘relating to a vape’ may have been the cause.
Edward Kenna, the SFRS area commander
for East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde, outlined the difficulties
his firefighters had faced at a recent meeting of Inverclyde Council’s police
and fire scrutiny panel.
He said: “There was a large warehouse
refuse shed fully engulfed in fire with approximately 70 tonnes of general
waste, 50 tonnes of timber.
“The high reach was on scene, but we did
encounter difficulties in regards to our water supply.
“Scottish Water were unable to boost the supply
and all personnel were accounted for in the early stages of the incident.
“Notable hazards that crews came across
was the building’s construction, this was a steel framed building with
integrity concerns due to compromised concrete… a JCB that was stored within
the vicinity, two 100 litre diesel tanks contained within the warehouse itself
and the smoke plume which caused significant challenges due to the wind
direction.
The senior fire officer told councillors
that the fire service was restricted to ‘external firefighting only’ on the day
of the blaze due to the ‘serious risk of structural collapse’.
Black smoke was seen billowing out of
the building for hours after firefighters arrived on the scene, with the nearby
road closed while SFRS (Scottish Fire and Rescue Service) personnel fought to bring the flames
under control.
By the following morning the site was
declared structurally safe the following morning, which allowed council workers
to remove the remaining waste and bring the incident to the close.
---- Mr
Kenna replied: “CCTV imagery captured from the scene would indicate there was a
potential that the fire was actually started with a mobile device in relation
to a vape, in regards to a small lithium battery. That’s what they were looking
at just now.
“I think it’d be really difficult in
investigation afterwards to try and identify a cause, it is really difficult
due to the amount of waste that’s involved, the removal and trying to preserve
that scene at the same time.
“We’re looking at that information and
that would be the best determination of the cause of the fire itself.”
SNP councillor
Chris Curley asked fire service staff what work was being done to raise
awareness about the importance of disposing of vapes in the right way.
He said: “We will never know exactly
what caused that, but the thinking is it might have been a small lithium-ion
battery relating to a vape.
“Obviously that sort of material
shouldn’t be making its way into the general refuse because it should be
controlled elsewhere.”
In response, a Scottish Fire and Rescue
Service officer in attendance at the meeting said: “They are probably the most
likely cause of most fires we get in recycling centres, it’s some form of
lithium-ion battery powered device that’s been disposed of in the general
waste.
“That seems to be becoming a more common
trend across the UK and Europe-wide.
“Our education is around not just safe
use and charging of the vapes but also the safe disposal of them.”
Fire chiefs reveal suspected cause of major blaze at Greenock recycling
centre
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
“As government expands, liberty contracts.”
Ronald Reagan
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