Baltic Dry Index. 2125 +48 Brent Crude 63.75
Spot Gold 4064 US 2 Year Yield 3.62 +0.04
US Federal Debt. 38.204 trillion
US GDP 31.580 trillion.
The BBC: the anti-America, anti-British, anti-Christian,
anti-Israel, anti-Trump, multi-media arm of the hate filled, Comrade Starmer
led, New Socialist Labour Party. Time to end the BBC, sell-off most of it, and
pay out a one-off dividend to the long-suffering BBC taxpayers.
As President Trump prepares to sue the BBC for defamation and 5 billion dollars in damages, is the BBC even worth 5 billion dollars, let alone does the BBC even have 1 billion dollars?
In the AI gambling stock casinos, a make or
break week? Is the global economy already rolling over? My guess is yes. From America to Japan, the
real economy is slowing into the next recession.
Asia-Pacific markets trade mixed as investors
assess intensifying China-Japan tensions
Published Sun, Nov 16 2025 6:46 PM EST
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on
Monday as investors assessed rising friction between Japan and China after
Beijing warned its citizens about travel and study plans in
Japan.
Japan’s benchmark slid 0.63%
while the Topix lost 0.44% as tourism-exposed
stocks slumped.
Beauty and cosmetics firm Shiseido, which relies
heavily on Chinese spending, plunged 11%. Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings,
the parent company of the Mitsukoshi and Isetan department-store chains, lost
over 10%. Oriental Land,
operator of Tokyo Disney Resort, declined 4.74%. Shares of airline
operator ANA Holdings fell
3.48%.
Japan’s economy also contracted by a
smaller-than-expected 0.4% in the quarter ended September, compared to the
previous one.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.78% while the
small-cap Kosdaq added 0.68%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost
0.51%, while the mainland CSI 300 was flat.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was
0.26% lower.
Traders were also watching Thailand’s
third-quarter GDP and Singapore’s balance of trade later in the day.
Last Friday in the U.S., the Nasdaq Composite rebounded
as investors bought up shares of key technology stocks a day after the group
led Wall Street to its worst day in more than a month.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.13% to
finish at 22,900.59, snapping a three-day losing streak. The S&P 500 finished near the
flatline, down just 0.05% at 6,734.11, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost
309.74 points, or 0.65%, to settle at 47,147.48.
The three indexes bounced back
significantly from their lows earlier in the day, which had the Nasdaq and
S&P 500 down 1.9% and about 1.4%, respectively. The Dow had fallen almost
600 points, or roughly 1.3%.
Asia-Pacific
markets: Nikkei 225, Kospi, Nifty 50
Wall Street Week Ahead.
Sun 16/11 2025
Wall Street's focus this week will be on
Nvidia (NVDA), with the
world's largest company set to report its latest quarterly results on
Wednesday. Also in focus will be earnings from major retailers and the return
of U.S. economic data after the end of the longest government shutdown in
American history.
Nvidia's (NVDA) financial
results have become market-moving events since the company's surge to the top
of the artificial intelligence space. Its latest report will be closely
scrutinized in light of weakness in the AI trade lately, as investors fret
about overstretched valuations and unsustainable capital spending.
Meanwhile, retail giants Walmart (WMT), Home Depot (HD), and Target (TGT) will also be
reporting results, and their commentary on the strength of the U.S. consumer
will be in the spotlight.
This week will also see a major reprieve for market participants, watchers of
monetary policy, and the Federal Reserve, as economic data will return after
the end of the government shutdown. The highly anticipated, much-delayed
September nonfarm payrolls report is scheduled for Thursday.
Seeking Alpha |
Stock Market Analysis & Tools for Investors
Japan’s economy contracts for the first time in
six quarters as exports, residential investment drag
Published Sun, Nov 16 2025 7:14 PM EST
Japan’s economy contracted by a smaller-than-expected
1.8% in the third quarter on an annualized basis, with growth in private and
government consumption limiting the decline.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP in the
three months to September contracted for the first time in six quarters,
falling 0.4%, government data released Monday showed.
The fall in growth, however, was softer
than Reuters poll estimates of a 2.5% annualized contraction and a 0.6%
sequential drop.
Public demand grew 2.2% annualized,
supported mostly by government consumption, while private demand fell 1.8%,
dragged lower by a more than 32% drop in residential investments.
Exports shrank 4.5% in the third quarter
on an annualized basis and 1.2% compared to the second quarter when they
had risen by 2.3%.
The yen weakened marginally against the
dollar, while the Nikkei 225 was
down 0.29%. Yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds inched up 3 basis
points to 1.73%.
Japan’s exports had seen contractions for
four straight months since May as U.S. tariffs hurt shipments, although
September saw
a rebound to growth. Tokyo in July clinched a
trade deal with Washington, bringing down tariffs on its exports to the
U.S. to 15% from 25%, effective Aug. 7.
More
Japan's
GDP contracts for the first time in six quarters
What if AI can’t deliver? Disaster! Approx. 20 minutes. Someone, (agency?) is using AI to send out an AI warning. Who and why? But I can’t disagree with the information.
Without change, unlikely, the dollar reserve
standard, AKA The Great Nixonian Error of Fiat Money, communist money, August
15, 1971, is destructing. It doesn’t end well barring a God miracle. I don’t
think God cares about Earth fiat money.
"AI STOCKS DESTROYED"! - Warren Buffet
WARNS!
"AI STOCKS DESTROYED"! - Warren
Buffet WARNS! - YouTube
Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot As Larry Ellison's
$101B AI Gain Evaporates, Accused of 'Ruining' Twitter Algorithm
16 November 2025
The title of 'world's richest person' has
become a revolving door, but for a brief, stunning moment in September, it
swung in a surprising direction. Elon Musk, the perennial name at the top of the list, was
momentarily unseated by Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
The dramatic surge and its rapid collapse
highlight the extraordinary volatility of the tech sector, where fortunes tied
to the future of artificial intelligence can be made and erased in months.
The $300 Billion Deal That Briefly
Dethroned Elon Musk
Ellison's astronomical rise was fuelled by
a wave of market optimism. The foundation for this change was an Oracle
earnings report that featured results exceeding expectations, a significant
rise in bookings, and a confident projection for future growth in cloud
services. This news sparked a 41% stock rally, the largest in Oracle's
operational history.
The true catalyst, however, was a
monumental commitment from OpenAI, which pledged to spend $300 billion with
Oracle over five years. The announcement prompted a sharp one-day stock surge,
the company's strongest since 1992. This event led to Ellison achieving the
largest single-day wealth gain ever recorded in the Bloomberg
Billionaires Index: a staggering $101 billion. At that peak, Ellison's net
worth hit $393 billion, momentarily positioning him above Musk.
Why Ellison's Lead Over Elon Musk
Evaporated
What goes up, must come down. The momentum
that created Ellison's September surge has since faded completely. A CNBC
report claims that Oracle's value has dropped by almost one-third (30%) over
the last two months, 'completely erasing the stock gains from September'.
The company's stock is reportedly on pace
for its most significant monthly decline since 2011. According to a report
by The Financial Times, Oracle shares have dropped 25% from last
month, a decline almost double that of the next weakest hyperscaler, Meta.
This investor caution stems from Oracle's
late arrival to cloud computing. Its current strategy leans heavily on AI,
tying much of its outlook to the performance and stability of major clients
like OpenAI. Investors have reportedly 'gone increasingly cautious' about the
heavy capital spending and high valuations of tech companies, especially if
major AI start-ups such as OpenAI or Anthropic 'struggle to meet expectations
for the technology'.
More
In other news.
Berkshire Hathaway’s surprising new tech stake
Published Sat, Nov 15 2025 7:13 AM EST
A surprising stake
There was a notable surprise in Berkshire
Hathaway’s end-of-Q3
equity portfolio snapshot, released after Friday’s closing bell.
Someone in Omaha purchased more than 17.8
million Class A shares of Google’s parent, Alphabet.
They are currently valued at $4.9 billion,
making them the biggest Q3 addition in dollar terms.
The news sent the stock 3.5% higher in
after-hours trading.
At this point, we don’t know who made the
call.
Buffett has typically made purchases of
this size, but it doesn’t feel like his kind of stock.
It is up 51.3% year-to-date, including a
37% climb in the third quarter.
Also, he has traditionally shied away from
tech stocks. (He considers Apple a consumer products company.)
At the 2019
Berkshire meeting, Buffett
and Charlie Munger lamented that they had “screwed up” by not buying Alphabet
earlier because they “could see in our own operations how well that Google
advertising was working. And we just sat there sucking our thumbs.”
On that day, the shares were going for
around $59, and they gave no indication there were prepared to rectify their
error.
Incoming CEO Greg Abel isn’t encumbered by
that history, and Buffett has been handing over many of his duties to him.
Or it could be one or both of the
portfolio managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs.
Stay tuned.
Not so surprising selling
Alphabet was by far the biggest Q3
addition at $4.3 billion, based on the September 30 price, well ahead of a $1.2
billion increase for Chubb.
The biggest decreases, Apple and Bank of America, had been
foreshadowed by hints in
Berkshire’s 10-Q almost two weeks ago.
Berkshire’s Apple position was cut by
almost 15%, or $10.6 billion, to around 238 million shares.
It’s down 74% since Berkshire began
selling two years ago.
But Apple remains Berkshire’s largest
equity position at $64.9 billion, which is 21% of the portfolio’s current
value.
The Bank of America reduction was smaller,
just 6.1%, or around $1.9 billion.
The remaining 238 million shares are
currently valued at $29.9 billion, Berkshire’s third largest position, making
up almost 10% of the portfolio’s current value.
It’s been cut by 43% since early last
year.
More
Berkshire
Hathaway's surprising new tech stake
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.
Electric
Florida boomtown is now America's foreclosure ground zero... as four failings
ignite perfect storm
Published: 15:17 GMT,
15 November 2025 | Updated: 15:31 GMT, 15 November 2025
Hurricane
season may be winding down, but Tampa’s housing market is getting battered by
its own perfect storm.
New
foreclosure data shows the Florida city now has the highest foreclosure rate of
any major US metro.
One
in every 1,373 homes received a filing - the first step in the process, when a
lender warns a borrower they're in default - in October, far worse than any
other city with a population above one million.
Foreclosures
in general are up in America. In October alone, there
were 36,766 national foreclosure filings. That's up 19 percent from a year
ago.
Tampa’s
spike is particularly alarming. The city had 1,087 total foreclosure
filings in October. That is significantly more than the 366 in October
2024.
Analysts
at ATTOM say Tampa's increase is partly explained by the addition of backlogged
records from Hillsborough County, but the city's foreclosure numbers have been
high in recent months as well.
And
foreclosures are only one piece of the city's deepening housing slump.
Local
real estate agent Jeff Lichtenstein of Echo Fine Properties told the Daily Mail
that Tampa's troubles come down to four main issues.
The
first is hurricane damage in nearby areas on the coast, which has made buyers
far more cautious about purchasing in neighborhoods viewed as
vulnerable. Even if a particular suburb wasn’t hit, he said the fear
lingers.
Secondly,
there are less Canadians moving to America in general, a major shift that
he said has cut into one of Tampa’s most reliable sources of demand.
Third,
condo assessments have exploded since the Surfside tragedy - and that’s having
a huge impact.
After
the deadly 2021 collapse of a 12-story building in Surfside, Florida introduced
strict new safety rules requiring buildings to undergo expensive structural
inspections and repairs. Many condo owners are now facing massive special
assessments of tens of thousands of dollars.
Experts
have said that has spooked buyers across the state, especially in older or
high-rise buildings, of which Tampa has many. Deals are falling apart because
buyers don’t want to inherit surprise bills or uncertain future costs.
Finally,
Lichtenstein said Tampa simply isn’t as high in demand as warmer areas in the
south of Florida. Buyers chasing the 'Florida sunshine' increasingly favor
Miami, Naples and Fort Myers, which all see smaller seasonal dips in
temperature.
Aside
from his 'big four' reasons, Lichtenstein added that tariffs have driven up the
cost of materials and renovations, leaving consumers with less money to spend
on homes, and making new construction pricier across the region.
For
months now, Tampa has been in buyer's market territory.
A
buyer's market happens when there are more homes for sale than people willing
to buy them. That gives buyers all the power: They can haggle down prices,
demand repairs or incentives, and take their time before making an offer.
While
that might sound like good news for anyone house-hunting, a strong buyer's
market can quickly turn dangerous for the wider economy.
More
Trump
cuts tariffs on goods like coffee, bananas and beef in bid to slash consumer
prices
Published
Fri, Nov 14 2025 4:59 PM EST Updated Sat, Nov 15 2025 6:57 AM ES
President Donald Trump on Friday
exempted key agricultural imports like coffee, cocoa, bananas and certain beef
products from his higher tariff rates.
The
move comes as Trump faces political blowback for high
prices at U.S. grocery stores. Some distributors of beef, coffee, chocolate and
other common food items have raised prices as Trump’s
tariffs took hold this year, adding to pressure on household budgets created by
decades-high inflation in recent years.
Trump’s
action Friday also exempts a range of fruits including tomatoes, avocados,
coconuts, oranges and pineapples. Along with coffee, the tariff reductions
extend to black and green tea, and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.
The
move marks a reversal for Trump, who has insisted tariffs are necessary to
protect U.S. businesses and workers. He has contended U.S. consumers will not
ultimately pay for the higher duties.
The
exemptions come just a day after Trump reached trade framework agreements
with four Latin
American countries –
including 10% tariffs on most goods from Argentina, Guatemala, and El Salvador,
and 15% from Ecuador. It also removes duties specifically on products not grown
or produced in the U.S. in sufficient quantities, like bananas and coffee.
Rising
food prices have hampered U.S. households for several years. Consumer Price Index data show
food-at-home prices increased approximately 2.7% year-over-year in September.
(More recent data was delayed because of the government shutdown).
The
tariff exemptions aim to help moderate these grocery price increases, although
experts caution that other factors such as global supply shortages also
influence prices, especially for coffee and beef.
Here’s
more background on how industries like beef, coffee and cocoa have reacted to
tariffs and rising prices.
More
Trump cuts tariffs in bid to slash consumer prices
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.
Shine portable wind turbine review: a smart, compact way to
harness off-grid power
15 November 2025
Shine’s innovative portable wind turbine offers a neat,
lightweight way to harvest clean energy outdoors, giving campers a reliable
off-grid boost.
Outdoor enthusiasts in the UK seem to be developing a bit of an
obsession with solar power. We use it to top up our portable power stations,
it's on our motorhomes and our boats, and many of us even harvest energy for
our houses.
But when it comes to portable power, we can quickly be scuppered
by a lack of sunshine. And while the summer of 2025 brought us plenty of sunny
days, winter has been quite drab, by comparison.
However, we do get a lot of windy days. And wind power is all the
rage in some commercial applications, so why shouldn't we embrace it for our
portable power solutions?
One of the few companies taking this idea by the horns is Shine,
which makes a super
compact portable wind turbine you can take with you on
camping and outdoor adventures.
It folds up into a neat capsule when you're not using it, but if
you set it up and let it flow, it'll top up its internal battery.
Think of it, then, like a meaty USB
power pack that you can recharge on any breezy day.
Cleverly, the stand integrates into the unit itself, and simply
pops out of a hole in the end. It's a very simple affair, a single pole that
drives into the ground a bit, supported by some sturdy ropes.
The blades fold out from the capsule unit, and you've got a
rotating turbine that passively tracks the wind, using the rotating blades to
charge up its 12,000mAh
battery.
And, when you want to harvest the energy you've stored, you just
hook up a
USB cable, and lap up the free electricity.
If it sounds like the perfect gadget, I'm afraid it's not. It
comes close, but there are a few flaws.
While it's surprisingly lightweight, and fully water-resistant, it
can be a bit of a pig to set up. The single-pole stand-and-rope system isn't
easy to peg down tightly, and it's nigh-on impossible on hard surfaces. A more
sturdy tripod design would have been better, but that wouldn't have been so
compact, and you couldn't have stored it in the capsule itself.
Also, while it can top its own battery up at up to 40 watts, the
USB-A output puts out just 13
watts. Five years ago, perhaps, that might have been a reasonable
output, but we're in an era of PD charging, and 100 watt outputs and beyond are
quite common from battery banks. Let’s remember, that even fairly small solar
panels can generate 100 watts nowadays.
That said, 13 watts isn't bad for topping up a smartphone, and
it's a regulated output, but it will take you a long time to charge up a laptop
or tablet, let alone a portable power station.
The other slight issue is that you need a strong wind to generate
a decent amount of power, it's something like a 28mph
wind to reach that full 40 watts. And that's actually quite a
stiff breeze. It will charge up in lighter winds, but only slowly.
More, plus picture.
Shine portable
wind turbine review: a smart, compact way to harness off-grid power
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks
(usdebtclock.org)
“Socialism only works in
two places: Heaven where they don’t need it and hell where they already have
it.”
Ronald Reagan.
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