•  Today’s USDA report could  turn out to be interesting. Steve’s comments over here.

Ok, new plan.  Mnuchin tells House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Trump now wants a comprehensive stimulus package -- in a reversal from his position on Tuesday when Trump snappishly ended negotiations.  

Oh, wait! There’s McConnell “Deal unlikely in the next three weeks”

 And now:  The real lessons from Sweden’s approach to covid-19 

Sweden is held up as a champion of liberty. In fact it is the home of pragmatism

•  Brexit strategy risks UK 'dictatorship', says ex-president of supreme court

• The bullion holdings in gold ETF's are hitting records. 

• Facebook (AKA plague on humanity) is a social network monopoly that buys, copies or kills competitors, the House Antitrust Subcommittee determined.

•  AT&T Inc's WarnerMedia is preparing a restructuring that aims to cut costs by as much as 20% and would result in layoffs. 
• And HBO Max is still not on Roku - remarkable. The stock is down 27% for the year. Ok, so the dividend is 7%, but that’s still a 20% loss.

• (do these guys know what they are doing? Seriously, do they?)

•  Current active cases in NZ: 37 

• Current active cases In the White House: 34

 International Business Machines Corp IBM is splitting itself into two public companies. (Monthly Chart)

 Quick Overview is up to date

•  Who made this beautiful art? for the fly with 75,000 followers. 
• https://twitter.com/MikePenceFly___

 And in the Dow Theory department,  Dow Transports are leading to a  new all time high.

• The BDI Baltic Dry Index is making a 1year high. (something positive)

 

 Stock are back up as Trump is once more changing course. 

Britain bans the sale of cryptocurrency derivatives, saying they have no value for investors.

The U.S. trade deficit expanded to $67.1 billion and is now at its widest since 2006.

• Facebook (AKA  the plague on humanity) says it will ban Qanon, full stop - lets see ..

 

(Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday he agreed with President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the plug on negotiations on a new coronavirus relief bill.

• Whereas, in one of his strongest appeals to date, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned of a weak U.S. recovery without sufficient government aid and said providing too much stimulus wouldn’t be a problem.

 

FT 'If you don’t get out in front of the crisis and put forth a plan right away, then you are going to spend the rest of your time responding' - US aviation union president on protecting members as pandemic tears through the industry.

• States are cutting jobs, revenue declines - prospect for fiscal aid fades.

 

 Trump is rejecting Pelosi's 2.4 T  dollars

• US media coverage of climate change - gradually  waking up. ( I remember a "scary" early 1970 Economist article - ahead of its time)

Loos like TD Ameritrade and Schwab are now one. 

To have accounts at separate firms is getting to be a full time job.

•  US Ag. Exports to China

•  U.S. private sector financial assets (without real estate) as % of GDP at the highest in 70 years (via DailyShot & BoA)

 

FT Exclusive: South Korea’s Samsung is under fire after its insurance units financed $14bn of ‘deplorable’ coal projects and investments over the past decade, according to data provided to the FT

•  Someone appears to want the  stuff.

So far in 2020, we've had apocalyptic fires in Australia, California, Siberia, Ukraine, South America’s Pantanal; The warmest Arctic in 3 million years; Hottest Antarctica temperature on record; An insect apocalypse; Deforestation galore and a global pandemic. It's 6 Oct.. Assaad Razzouk @AssaadRazzouk 

•   But then, after centuries of searching, we have found the fountain of youth…

 Wearing a mask appears to make  a positive difference in a number of ways, see US and Japan.

Real Estate (Zillow): The percentage of rental listings featuring concessions rose from 16.2% in February to 30.4% in July.

As U.S. coronavirus death toll hits 214,789, Trump tweets: "Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.  Feeling better than 20 years ago".

The IRS is reportedly investigating longtime National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre for possible criminal tax fraud related to his personal taxes.

A so-called blue wave this November led by Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, would lead to a surge in economic growth, according to Goldman Sachs' chief economist, Jan Hatzius.

• One in four voting-age Americans visited a fake news source in the run up to the 2016 election. 
• So, how many are visiting this year?  How reality itself became an election issue.

 Someone is counting the # of Trump Tweets recently  - Interesting

•  Germanies Welt has a very bleak outlook for Spain. They see the threat of a possible banking crisis.

•  There are 2.6 million unplugged onshore wells in the U.S., with another estimated 1.2 million that are undocumented and well on the way of becoming wards of the state. (Is this socialism? Asking for a friend)
  

• The FHA which insures about 8 million higher-risk mortgages reported a record of 17.4% in delinquencies in August. – YoY this is as double.

 

• US Total Corona Virus Cases as of Today  7,592,465, up 45,000 + 1 Trump
  
  
  
  

• Prime Minister of Jordan resigns

• Quick Overview is up to date 

• Since high money velocity is usually associated with a healthy, expanding economy. Low money velocity is usually associated with recessions and contractions – “LOOK” at the below chart...

•  E*TRADE and Morgan Stanley have officially joined forces.
• weekly

• monthly

•  How  government funded R&D relates to Output.

•  University of Notre Dame president tests positive for COVID-19 after attending White House Rose Garden ceremony with Trump.
•  Notre Dame president apologizes for not wearing mask during White House announcement of Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination. 
• ( what are the Intellectual Requirements for the president of Notre Dame ? asking for a friend.)
  

•  Soybean milling in Argentina falls 20.6% YoY in August

 Reuters Exclusive: Russian operation masqueraded as right-wing news site to target U.S. voters - sources

The website predominantly focused on U.S. politics and current events, republishing articles from conservative media and paying real Americans to write about politically-sensitive issues. A network of accounts posing as editors and journalists then promoted the articles on social media sites favoured by right-wing users.

•  The EU has launched legal action against the UK after Boris Johnson failed to respond to Brussels’ demand that he drop legislation that would overwrite the withdrawal agreement and break international law. 

• The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Thursday its index of national factory activity fell to a reading of 55.4 last month from 56 in August, which was the highest level since November 2018. Despite last month’s dip in the index, September marked the fourth straight month of growth. 

• Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 837,000 for the week ended Sept. 26.

 

 

• Hotter………………………………………….

• 
  Bloomberg: October promises not only rising coronavirus infection rates, but a new tsunami of job losses all over the globe. Airlines are preparing to lay off tens of thousands of workers starting Thursday unless they get additional federal aid. Walt Disney said it would slash 28,000 workers from its slumping resort business. Royal Dutch Shell is to cut as many as 9,000 employees while German auto-parts supplier Continental AG may layoff or move 30,000 jobs. In America, talks between Congressional Democrats and the White House on a second bailout that could help preserve airline jobs have resumed, but Wall Street didn’t seem all that optimistic about the prospects for a deal. —David E. Rovella

• USDA On-farm June 1 corn stocks down by 158 million bushels, off-farm down by 47 million bushels.

• USDA For wheat, on-farm stocks fell 3.4 mbu and off-farm stocks fell 12.5 mbu.

• We found it all: Goldcorp's former chairman, Ian Telfer, the once head of a huge multinational miner says “we've found all the gold. There is no more. "Are we not looking for it? Are we bad at finding it? Or have we found it all?"” My answer is we found it all. I don't think there are any more mines out there, or nothing significant. And the exploration records indicate that." 
• Assuming that the guy knows what he is talking about - this would be historic! On the other hand, this could be like the Peak Oil prognostications of the 1980s. So perhaps all gold miners must do is, copy oil drillers, and drill sideways. (joke) Or perhaps he is  just talking his book.

 

• The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® increased in September, after declining in August. The Index now stands at 101.8 (1985=100), up from 86.3 in August.
• As usual they didn’t ask me, but what are these people drinking or smoking?