Friday, December 18, 2020

Notes Today: 

  •  Boris Johnson summoned ministers for an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss how to tackle mounting concerns about the new strain of coronavirus identified in parts of south-east England. The variant is thought to be more infectious. 
  •  The U.S. current-account deficit, rose 10.6% in Q3
  • Senator Ron Johnson blocks $1,200 checks for Americans cites the deficit. No deficit problem when he voted for tax cuts for the top 1%

  • Fed allows banks to resume share buybacks
  • Do you think the money Rupert Murdoch paid to get first in line in getting a vaccine came from his Fox profits for the ratings they got telling their viewers COVID is a hoax and that the vaccine is bad? @kurteichenwald asks.
  • The defense bill Trump is threatening to veto contains cyber security to protect against Russian hacks.
  • Germany's  VW falling a bit behind Tesla. Well, perhaps more than a bit.

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught. 

Hackers accessed systems at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.   Trump, along with all the Russia attacked America deniers, are mum.. no-one is in charge.

 

Notes Today:  

  • Republican Bid to End Virus Lending Slows Relief Deal The holdup comes as some 11 million people are unemployed, and applications for U.S. state jobless benefits unexpectedly jumped to the highest level in three months.
  • With a new democratic administration - as predicted, vast deficit Republicans are now “once more” becoming extremely concerned about government spending and the deficit. Rinse and repeat – rinse and repeat.  
  • ATT, after month of procrastination, finally got around to be included in the Roku platform.

  • Boris Johnson has stated that EU talks are in a serious situation. No kidding, who could have thought. BP rally continues..

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

 

We want them infected’: Trump appointee demanded ‘herd immunity’ strategy, emails reveal. 

successful toxic policy- most regrettably

Tuesday, December 15, 2020


Notes Today:  

  • The Dow rallied 337 points today as Nasdaq closes at a record high ahead of one more stimulus meeting

The Port of Los Angeles processed 980,729 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in October, an increase of 27.3% compared to October 2019. Propelled by replenishment of inventories and retailers preparing for upcoming holidays, October marked the busiest month in the Port’s 114-year history.
  • YoY, overall cargo volumes lag by 5.3% compared to 2019. 

  • Japan Exports (YoY) at -4.2%,

Monday, December 14, 2020

Notes Today: 

Forget 100-year bonds. The U.S. should sell 1,000-year bonds to finance infrastructure a Goldman bond expert. 
Can you imagine the volatility on that 1,000-year bond when rates go up? Wow, that really would be something to behold.

  • Barr is out , clearly not subservient enough.


Sunday, December 13, 2020

Notes Today:  

  • Brexit talks extended - beyond..........   The British pound gained a bit against the  dollar and  the euro -  relieved that talks continue. Whiplash - to be continued
  • I suppose, if you want to trade in a marker, you’ll probably have to abide by the rules set by the members of that market. - as Britain "used" to be.


  •  EXCLUSIVE-U.S. Treasury breached by hackers backed by foreign government – sources.
  • Russian government spies are behind a broad hacking campaign that has breached U.S. agencies and a top cyber firm. 
  • Trump fires smart people like Krebs etc. what's to be expected?

 Quick Overview is up to date

Saturday, December 12, 2020

62% of Smarkets bettors do not expect a Brexit deal this weekend. My guess: whiplash - to be continued


Friday, December 11, 2020

China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) 
  • Reuters: But due to China’s lopsided trade balance - exporting three containers for every one imported recently - and delays in containers returning to China due to the pandemic overseas, a severe shortage is now starting to pinch export flows. Roughly 60% of global goods move by container, and according to United Nations trade data there are close to 180 million containers worldwide.


  • Nearly 2,000 containers aboard a ship managed by NYK Shipmanagement of Japan were lost or damaged when it hit by stormy weather in the Pacific Ocean,

Couple of closing charts for the week:

  •  British Pound closing for the week with Brexit on course for a no-deal - or so forth ..











  • Lumber


Notes Today: 

  • In a very real sense, it feels like a third political party has been born. America now has the Republicans, the Democrats and the Seditionists. Glenn Kirschner @glennkirschner

  • (WP) White House “orders” FDA chief to authorize Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Friday or submit his resignation. "ORDERS - will undoubtedly  build lots of confidence.

  • Another 20 House Republicans sign onto to the Texas lawsuit that seeks to overturn the election. The total is now 126  or  64% of the House GOP    Un-Freakin'-Believable  - Now rejected by U.S. Supreme Court. ✅

        And if Mitt Romney had some cajones he’d form a new  party.
  • In the view of the analysts at JP Morgan, the S&P 500 index is set to rally 25% in 2021, as the US banking giant lifts its price target to 4,600.
  • Bloomberg:  Apple Inc. has started building its own cellular modem for future devices, a move that would replace components from Qualcomm Inc., Apple’s top chip executive told staff on Thursday.
  • Qcom is down 7.6% so far on the day.
  • US Baker Hughes US Oil Rig Count climbed from previous 246 to 258  
  • US Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index above forecasts at 81.4 versus forecast of 76.5
  • And Mitch McConnell keeps blowing up relief bill ..😠

Thursday, December 10, 2020

 TIME's 2020 Person of the Year.


Notes Today:

  • And Mitch McConnell keeps blocking relieve ..

  • It didn’t take long for the Federal Reserve’s increased attention to climate change to spark pushback from (what climate change)  Republicans.
  • Bloomberg:  Boris Johnson warns Britain should prepare to leave the European Union’s single market without a trade deal as negotiations falter. 
  • Fishing accounts for only 0.1% of British GDP. Yet it could sink the chances of a (very fishy) Brexit deal.

  • US Initial jobless claims rose by 137,000 to 853,000 in the seven days ended Dec. 5, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. More than expected. 
  • Shares of Airbnb IPO valued at just over $100 billion 

  •  USDA cut the 2020 U.S. #cotton crop by 6.7% from November, and that was all on yield. This year's harvest was 20% smaller than in 2019 and is the smallest crop in 5 years. Market participants had a pretty good idea that a cut was likely this month. (Karen Braun  @kannbwx)

  •  USDA leaves the U.S. #corn balance sheet unchanged, but #soybeans fall to 175 mln bu on a 15 mln bu jump in crush. Soy exports unch. #Wheat exports were increased 10 mln bu. (Karen Braun @kannbwx)
  • See market analyst #Steve Freed recap the Dec 10 #USDA S/D crop report. No changes in soybean & corn exports hubs.ly/H0CpdbB0


Wednesday, December 09, 2020

These 18 States want  the Supreme Court to throw out the 2020 Election.   Incredible  - Seditious Abuse

Latest: 106 Republican House members, that evidently do not believe in democracy, are supporting the Texas' bid to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's win.  

Regarding  Covid ( 2560 death today)  No mask Republicans are mum. 

Alabama

Arkansas

Florida

Indiana

Kansas

Missouri

Louisiana

Mississippi

Montana

Nebraska

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

TEXAS  < Started in

Utah

West Virginia

 Notes Today:

  • More firmness on the way! Sunday deadline set for ‘firm decision’ on Brexit talks. Really, this coming Sunday?
  •  Bloomberg: Facebook (AKA as the plague on humanity) uses algorithms to spread its poison. But those algos are designed by human data scientists. 

 BREAKING: For the very first time, the US has surpassed 3,000 COVID deaths in a single day. 3121 Covid deaths today.

  • (Reuters) -YouTube said on Wednesday it would start removing content that falsely allege widespread fraud changed the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, in a change to its more hands-off stance on videos making similar claims. (About Time)

Tuesday, December 08, 2020

Notes Today:

  • Ray Dalio  (smart dude) said he saw no reason that stocks couldn’t trade at 50 times earnings. Plus, according to Investmenttools.com “invaluable”😏 Dow Trend Earnings (AKA FED Model) still inexpensive. 
  • QuantumScape (NYSE:QS) releases performance data demonstrating that its technology addresses fundamental issues holding back widespread adoption of high-energy density solid-state batteries, including charge time, cycle life, safety, and operating temperature. The stock is up 57% today 
  • If you are not risk-averse, it might be worth your while to take a look at QS. In the greater scheme of things, it is only a $1.6 billion Co. (Tesla 613 billion) and has More than a $1 billion in its war chest. If the technology performs as advertised it could improve things substantially.

  •  China Producer Price Index (YoY) out at -1.5%, above expectations (-1.8%)
  •  Pelosi and Schumer say Mnuchin's $916b aid plan unacceptable.
  •  The Supreme Court rejected the Trump lawyers bid to overturn the Pa. election and doesn’t even bother to comment.
  •   Trump's

and Scott Atlas’s
herd immunity at work.  US Coronavirus deaths  at 293,398, surpassing the number of US combat deaths (291,557) in World War II. 


Monday, December 07, 2020

Notes Today:

  • Reuters: Australia to make Facebook (AKA the plague on humanity), Google pay news outlets for content.
  • U.K. officials warn Brexit talks could collapse in hours. 

  • Facebook's (AKA the plague on humanity) renamed cryptocurrency is still 'wolf in sheep's clothing': German Finance Minister

  • US Senate Democratic leader Schumer says McConnell has refused to compromise on covid relief and today we heard the "same old song" from McConnell. 

  • Karen Braun  @kannbwx   Checking in on traffic of #soybeans - or lack thereof. Looks like #Brazil really did run out of beans. It's been a couple years since the activity was this light.
  • QoQ Japans GDP was up 5.0 % 

  • Japan had a current account surplus of 2,144.7 billion yen in October, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday - up 15.7 % YoY.