Baltic
Dry Index. 1947 +15 Brent Crude 65.90
Spot Gold 4050 US 2 Year Yield 3.57 -0.03
US Federal Debt. 37.837 trillion
US GDP 30.316 trillion.
"From a strictly economic
point of view, buying gold in a major inflation and holding it probably
presents the least risk of capital loss of any investment or speculation."
Henry Hazlitt
In mid-March the spot gold price in US dollars first reached USD 3,000. Today in Asia it traded at USD 4,000 a troy ounce for the first time. We’ve come a long way from the Great Nixonian Error of fiat money, August 15, 1971 when spot gold was trading about USD 41.00.
There are many suggested reasons for the current gold rally. I think it has to do with the now weaponised dollar reserve standard incentivising many to look for alternatives; President Trump’s global tariffs anarchy, and finally as a hedge against the Great US AI Bubble ending badly.
Will the US central bank and the US Treasury have to monetise the aftermath, which I think highly likely?
Spot gold prices hit $4,000 for the first time as
global uncertainty fuels safe-haven demand
Published Tue, Oct 7 2025 7:51 PM EDT
Spot
gold prices on Wednesday hit $4,000 for the first time as safe‑haven
demand continues to drive the yellow metal’s prices higher.
The latest rise “likely reflects safe‑haven
demand tied to the U.S. government shutdown and the resignation of Sebastien
Lecornu as France’s prime minister,” Vivek Dhar, head of commodities at
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a note.
That comes after a summer that saw U.S.
tariff-led uncertainty rock the global economy.
Asia-Pacific stock markets, meanwhile,
traded flat Wednesday, breaking ranks from Wall Street losses, after the World Bank raised the region’s
growth forecast Tuesday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid
1.01%.
CF PharmTech shares surged over 224% in their Hong Kong trading debut.
CF PharmTech is a specialty pharmaceutical company, focused especially on
respiratory diseases.
CF PharmTech had raised around $78 million, with shares priced at HKD$14.75
apiece. PharmTech’s listing comes amid a resurgence in Hong Kong’s IPO market
this year that has collectively raised about $14.1 billion in the first half of this year.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was little
changed, while the the Topix added 0.66%. The Japanese yen weakened 0.38% to
152.48 against the greenback after sliding to the 150-level Monday.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 fell 0.3%.
Mainland China and South Korean markets
are closed for the holidays.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand trimmed its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points
to 2.5%.
“Economic activity through the middle of
2025 was weak. In part, this reflects domestic constraints on the supply of
goods and services in some industries, and the impact of global economic policy
uncertainty,” the bank said in a media release. The New Zealand dollar weakened
0.9% to 0.5746 per dollar.
The Bank of Thailand is also set to
release its policy decisions later in the day.
Overnight in the U.S., the three major
averages closed lower. The S&P
500 struggled Tuesday, bogged down by a drop in Oracle shares as investors
worry about the profitability of the artificial intelligence trade. Wall Street
also looked for more developments out of Washington with the U.S. government
shutdown in its second week.
The broad market index pulled back 0.38%
to close at 6,714.59, snapping a 7-day winning streak, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.67%
to finish at 22,788.36. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average fell 91.99 points, or 0.2%, to end at
46,602.98.
Asia-Pacific
markets: Nikkei 225, Hang Seng Index
In other news, more trouble for Boeing.
Airbus A320 overtakes Boeing 737 for most
deliveries in history
7 October 2025
Europe’s Airbus broke a major commercial
barrier on Tuesday when its A320 family of planes overtook the Boeing 737 to
become the most-delivered jetliner in history.
Boeing’s decades-old record fell with the
handover of an A320neo model overnight to Saudi carrier Flynas, bringing total
deliveries to 12,260 since the A320 series entered service in 1988, according
to benchmark data from UK-based aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Airbus and Boeing did not immediately
respond to requests for comment on the data, tracked by leading aircraft supply
analyst Rob Morris.
Demand for the industry’s workhorse A320
and 737 jets has surged in recent years, as economic growth led by Asia brought
tens of millions of new middle-class travelers into the skies.
More
Airbus
A320 overtakes Boeing 737 for most deliveries in history - The Globe and Mail
Air India's midair emergency sparks new alarm over
the safety of the Boeing Dreamliner
6 October 2025
India’s leading body of pilots has asked
the civil aviation regulator to inspect all Boeing 787
Dreamliners operating in the country for electrical issues after one of the
planes abruptly deployed an emergency power system midair over the weekend.
The device, a small propeller that acts as
a backup generator and which is known as the ram air turbine, or RAT, normally
would be activated when an aircraft's engines lose power, its hydraulic systems
register critically low pressure or its electrical systems fail.
However, the RAT engaged unexpectedly on
Saturday aboard Air India flight 117
from the northern Indian city of
Amritsar moments before it landed safely in Birmingham, England.
The Federation of Indian Pilots, which
represents about 6,000 pilots, asked for the investigation Sunday evening.
Air India, owned by business conglomerate
Tata Group, said in a statement that an initial inspection following the
weekend incident found that “all electrical and hydraulic parameters were
normal” and that the aircraft landed safely.
The midair deployment of the emergency
device has reignited concerns in India over the safety of the Dreamliner. In
June, an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London crashed in
the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, killing 260 people including 19 on the
ground, in one of India’s worst aviation disasters.
A preliminary report into the June 12
crash found that the fuel control switches for the engines were moved from the
“run” to the “cutoff” position moments before impact, starving both engines of
fuel. The RAT system activated as it was supposed to have done when the plane
lost power and engine thrust, the report said.
Charanvir Singh Randhawa, president of the
Federation of Indian Pilots, said that he'd never heard of the RAT system being
deployed even when there are no problems in the engines, hydraulics or
electrical systems, as appeared to be the case over the weekend. "It’s a
serious concern that warrants a detailed inquiry,” he said.
Randhawa, whose career spans five decades
in aviation, wrote an email to India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation on
Sunday, apprising it of the incident and urging an investigation into the
electrical systems of all Boeing Dreamliners operating in India.
A spokesman for India’s Civil Aviation
Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment, and a spokeswoman for Boeing
India was not immediately available for comment.
Air India's midair
emergency sparks new alarm over the safety of the Boeing Dreamliner
Approx. 22 minutes.
Air India Crash - Maintenance Before &
After #airindiacrash
Air India Crash - Maintenance Before &
After #airindiacrash
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.
Germany's
industrial orders unexpectedly slip for 4th straight month
7
October 2025
FRANKFURT
(Reuters) -German industrial orders fell for a fourth straight month in August,
dragged lower mainly by a weak car industry and a decline in overseas demand,
the federal statistics office said on Tuesday.
The
office reported that incoming orders in the manufacturing sector were down 0.8%
on the previous month on a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis. Analysts
polled by Reuters had expected a rise of 1.1% on average.
The
statistics office said orders for exports fell by 4.1% in August, with orders
from the eurozone falling by 2.9% and by 5% from outside the eurozone. Domestic
orders rose by 4.7%.
Germany's
industrial orders unexpectedly slip for 4th straight month
Fed
Officials May Shine Some Light on the Economy Amid Lack of Government Data Due
to Shutdown
Without
official data releases, markets and businesses may have to rely on comments
from the Federal Reserve this week.
Oct. 6, 2025, at 9:54 a.m.
As
the government shutdown enters its second week, the closure of some federal
agencies leaves investors and economists in the dark as to where the economy is
or might be headed.
In
the meantime, the dreaded word “stagflation” is back on the table, where a
combination of a stagnant labor
market and persistent inflation creates a vexing problem for the
Federal Reserve. If it eases interest rates to keep the job market afloat, it
runs the risk of bolstering inflation with a spark to consumption.
As
it happens, the Fed is not shuttered and there will be several speeches and
appearances by top officials of the central bank, including Chairman Jerome
Powell, this week. And the minutes of the last Fed monetary policy meeting are
due out on Wednesday.
Friday
will also provide a take on the mind of the consumer, when the University of
Michigan issues its consumer sentiment survey for October. Recent surveys have
shown a sour consumer yet one who
continues to spend money.
“We
are experiencing ‘stagflation,’” economist Hugh Johnson wrote. “The employment
numbers are the ‘stag’ and they do appear to be deteriorating. Nonfarm payroll
employment has declined from average monthly gains of 111,000 in the first
quarter to 55,000 in the second quarter to -17,000 in the third quarter.”
“At
the same time there is the ‘flation’ in ‘stagflation,’” Johnson added. “The
general expectation is that the personal consumption price index will increase
about 2.8% in the third quarter and rise to 3.0% in the fourth quarter (perhaps
in response to tariff-driven price increases).”
Lower
borrowing costs appear to be an answer to the first half of the problem, with
the Fed cutting interest rates by a quarter
point last month and markets predicting two more cuts before the end of the
year.
“Lower
rates are good for activity, but it will be at least another year before
households and businesses will be able to enjoy the fruits of easy monetary
policy settings,” Doug Peta, chief U.S. investment strategist for BCA Research,
wrote Monday morning.
That
is why markets will be watching the release of the Fed minutes to glean how
much officials are worried about the weakening labor market and how aggressive
they might be in trying to counter it. Stocks have run up sharply in
anticipation of more rate cuts, yet the September Fed meeting’s projections of
where interest rates may be showed a wide disparity of opinion.
For
now, investors will be watching corporate earnings reports for the third
quarter, which begin this week.
“Earnings
season begins this week and we expect most companies to surprise to the upside,
which will likely be the next upward catalyst for stocks,” said Robert Edwards,
chief investment officer at Edwards Asset Management. “Companies have figured
out how to navigate all of the macro uncertainty we have seen this year.”
Meanwhile,
there appears to be little prospect for a quick fix to the standoff on Capitol
Hill, although some say Oct. 15 could be a date to watch as that is when
active-duty military members could lose their first paychecks if the shutdown
is still ongoing. It also happens to be when the consumer price index for
September, the benchmark measure of inflation, would be released if the
government were open.
If a government resorts to inflation, that is, creates money in order to cover its budget deficits or expands credit in order to stimulate business, then no power on earth, no gimmick, device, trick or even indexation can prevent its economic consequences.
Henry Hazlitt
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.
iPhone and Android alert - all battery pack owners issued with
urgent advice after ban
October 4, 2025
Portable battery packs - or so-called
power banks - have become increasingly popular in recent years. Millions of us
now have them tucked in our backpacks just in case that battery light on our
iPhones or Android devices starts flashing red. They are also handy for long
trips on trains and planes, when our smartphones are often used to watch movies
and play games - two tasks that can make a serious dent in the power
percentage.
A battery pack is clearly a good
investment, but owning one does come with a warning. Power banks contain
lithium-ion batteries, which, if damaged, can create aggressive fires that can
release highly toxic fumes - a process known as thermal runaway.
These phone accessories can be a big
risk if not bought from a reputable retailer or aren't looked after properly.
One airline is now so concerned about
these gadgets that it's banning them from being used when in the air. Emirates
states that its customers can still carry battery packs, but they must not
charge their devices during flights.
"Using any kind of power bank is
prohibited onboard Emirates' flights, effective from 1 October 2025,"
Emirates confirmed.
More
iPhone and Android alert - all battery pack owners issued with urgent
advice after ban
13 airlines ban power banks after spike in lithium fires
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates —
Emirates passengers passing through
Dubai can no longer recharge their phones with personal power banks once their
flight takes off. The Gulf carrier has announced that, beginning October 1,
2025, travelers will have to keep the devices switched off and stowed, the
latest move in a widening industry response to lithium battery fires in the
cabin.
Why the new Emirates power-bank rule matters
Lithium batteries have become aviation’s
biggest fire hazard, with incidents ranging from smoking cabin bags to
full-scale cargo fires. Emirates said the spike in occurrences led to a formal
risk assessment covering all of its fleet types. In a prepared statement, the
airline noted the “significant growth in customers using power banks in recent
years,” adding that the new restriction “will significantly reduce risks
associated with power banks by prohibiting their use while onboard the
aircraft.” The prohibition applies to every class of service—First, Business
and Economy—and covers flights across Emirates’ entire route map. Passengers
may still bring power banks on board, but the gadgets must remain disconnected
from other electronics for the duration of the flight and placed in an easily
reachable spot such as the seat-back pocket or personal under-seat bag. Cabin
crew will continue to make the standard pre-departure announcement reminding
travelers to alert staff if a battery overheats.
Thirteen airlines now enforce an in-flight power-bank ban
Before Emirates adopted the measure, 12
carriers—mainly in East and Southeast Asia—had already issued similar policies.
According to reporting by Birmingham Live, the roster includes Singapore
Airlines, EVA Air, Thai Airways, AirAsia, Air Busan, China Airlines, Korean
Air, Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines, Tigerair, Starlux and Asiana. Together
with Emirates, the tally now stands at 13 airlines. Most of those carriers
require passengers to carry spare lithium batteries and power banks in hand
luggage, mirroring International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidance.
However, their policies differ on watt-hour limits and whether power banks can
remain connected during taxi, takeoff and landing. Emirates has opted for the
strictest interpretation: no charging at any time from gate to gate.
More
13 airlines ban power banks after spike in lithium fires
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks (usdebtclock.org)
Henry Hazlitt
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