Besides lithium, batteries evidently also need copper.  

 Soybean Oil - worth a look?

Amazon has added 427,300 employees in 10 months, bringing its global work force to more than 1.2 million.

WP: Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit against mail ballots with prejudice in another defeat for Trump

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed with prejudice a Republican lawsuit seeking to invalidate more than 2.5 million votes cast by mail in the general election, the latest in a string of legal defeats for the GOP as President Trump fails to undo his losses in key battleground states.

Notes Today:

• Sydney CBD surpassed 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) on Saturday while swathes of western New South Wales, South Australia and northern Victoria baked through even higher temperatures nearing 45 degrees. 

• Reuters: With just five weeks left until the United Kingdom finally exits the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, both sides are calling on the other to compromise on the three main issues of contention - fishing, state aid and how to resolve any future disputes. 

• Mexico’s GDP rose 12.1% QoQ - the best going back to 1990

• Profits at Chinese industrial firms surged 28.2% YoY in October to 642.91 billion-yuan ($97.79 billion), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Friday, after rising 10.1% in September versus the previous year.

• China's unofficial restrictions on coal imports from Australia are having more than just an impact on miners down under, it's hurting steel producers in China and helping those elsewhere.
  

• An Iranian scientist was killed in an ambush near Tehran on Friday that could provoke confrontation between Iran and its foes in the last weeks of  Trump's presidency.

The euro was the most used currency for global payments last month, the first time it has outpaced the dollar since February 2013.

The US is losing its $ dominance.

And while the China Containerized Freight Index is chugging right along and making new highs -            the Baltic Dry Index continues to struggle.

 Quick Overview is up to date

Solar Flux Hits New High & Big Flares Possible Now | Space Weather News 11.26.2020

Tamitha  Skov: For all my Forecast Shortie Patrons, here is my full Space Weather News forecast a full 12 hours before anyone else gets access! This week we see a fundamental change in our star as solar flux skyrockets and surpasses 100 for the first time in several years! If any of you have seen my lectures on how Solar Cycle 25 will ramp up then you know this is exactly what we expect when we cross the terminator into the new cycle. Expect solar flux to continue to climb and activity to increase over the coming months. If anyone has been doubting the arrival of Cycle 25, doubt no more! On top of the solar flux increase, we also have multiple solar storms, including the first full-halo eruption of this new cycle. Although this is a far-sided eruption and not earth-directed, it does signal that the Sun is launching powerful solar storms again! we will keep our eye on this region as it rotates into view. Add to this the fast solar wind that brought us to G1-storm levels and might still cause aurora to dip into mid-latitudes this week, and it feels like we are definitely climbing out of solar minimum and on our way to a more vibrant Sun! 

As always, I am including the You Tube description and 5-day outlooks below. 

Sugar (USDA): Global production for Marketing Year (MY) 2020/21 is estimated up 16 million metric tons raw value (tons) to 182 million, with Brazil expected to account for three-fourths of the surge. Consumption is expected to rise due to growth in markets such as India, China, Indonesia, and Iran and is estimated to draw stocks lower despite a rebound in output. Exports are expected to be up sharply with rising supplies (particularly in Brazil).

Bloomberg: China is set to impose anti-dumping duties of more than 100% on Australian wine from this weekend, following a series of sweeping trade reprisals this year and further escalating tensions with Canberra.

AORD,  Australian Dollar and Treasury Wines below.

Originalism,  "promoting the general welfare" - at work. With Barrett's help, the US Supreme Court has blocked coronavirus restrictions imposed on religious services in New York state, backing Christian and Jewish houses of worship in infection hot spots. And Barrett said that her faith would not enter into her decisions - well, so much for that statement!

Average NY New Cases Yesterday 3,755

Average NY New Cases 1 Months Ago 1,397

Doubling in less than a month - looks like an exponential increase to me..

 

Trump, who once predicted that markets would crash if Joe Biden were elected president. Well,  it seems the exact opposite is happening.

A Trump era first. Democrats rather than Republican's holding a more optimistic economic outlook.

Notes Today:

• (FT) Facebook allowed ads in the UK that tried to sell cures for Covid-19 including vitamin shots and intravenous drips.

• (Reuters) - Failure by Britain and the European Union to agree a free trade deal would wipe an extra 2% off the United Kingdom’s economic output while driving up inflation, unemployment and public borrowing, official forecasts showed on Wednesday.

• Flynn  pardoned.

• Initial jobless claims rose by 30,000 to 778,000 in the week ended Nov. 21, according to Labor Department data. Not seasonal adjusted it rose by 78,000.

• LONDON (Reuters) - Banks in the European Union will have to use platforms inside the EU to trade derivatives from January, the bloc’s securities watchdog said on Wednesday, in a move that could cut off the City of London, the world’s biggest derivatives trading hub.

 The wonderous  effects of  "historic" low rates on RE

 Notes Today:

• There’s little evidence that herd immunity is helping Sweden combat the coronavirus, according to the country’s top epidemiologist. (642 deaths per 1M Pop.)

• Reuters: The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index dropped to a reading of 96.1 this month from 101.4 in October. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index falling to a reading of 98 in November. The index was at 132.6 in February.

  

• Reuters: Despite consumer trepidation about the future, the housing market continues to boom. The pandemic has fueled a migration from city centers to suburbs and other lower-density areas as Americans seek more space for home offices and schooling.

• A separate report on Tuesday showed the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-metro-area house price index jumped 6.6% from a year ago in September after rising 5.3% in August.

• (Reuters) - Germany’s gross domestic product grew by a record 8.5% in the third quarter as Europe’s largest economy partly recovered from an unprecedented plunge caused by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring, the statistics office said on Tuesday.

And what's the strongest stock on NASDAQ today? Well its (FCEL) Fuel Cell Energy up 76.9%

Hydrogen bubble, short squeeze, climate motivation, or the next greatest thing in transportation? Perhaps all of the above?

The wealth gap persists: As seen in the figure below, Black and Hispanic family wealth has fluctuated relative to white family wealth from 1989 to 2020. Despite the ups and downs, the sizable gaps (represented by low ratios) have changed very little.

 Roku, perhaps also worth a graph today.