"I wish everything else in America was working as well as Costco does," So said Charlie Munger.

“I believe Costco does more for civilization than the Rockefeller Foundation,” Munger said. “I think it's a better place. You get a bunch of very intelligent people sitting around trying to do good, I immediately get kind of suspicious and squirm in my seat.” 

• I’m a card-carrying member of a cult: Costco

 

The latest regarding weight-loss drugs: 

• Eli Lilly's experimental medication mimicking 3 hormones  yielded a 24% weight loss on the highest dose over 48 weeks in a phase 2 trial, the most seen yet.

• Wall Street’s obsession with next-generation obesity and diabetes treatments intensified over the weekend as drugmakers presented new clinical-trial data on the drugs 

Notes Today:

• Low water levels in Panama Canal expected to impact U.S. grains
• New 2023 World highest temperature was set yesterday in Iran: 51.8C (125.24F) at Shahdad ,Kerman Province, in the Dash-el-Lut desert. 

• Ford got a $9.2 billion loan to build three EV battery factories in Tennessee and Kentucky.

• So far Midwest rain does not seem that impressive to me. But what do I know? Market will let me know in 6 hrs.

• 

•  Evidently better than expected rainfall across the "I" states this weekend.

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

 

Quick Overview is up to date

Corn & Beans:

The rain that’s in the current forecast better show up, as a further deterioration in crop conditions could result in a historic bull market..

Notes Today: 

• Almost 770,000 CalPERS members hit by cyber attack. Largest US pension fund says dates of birth and social security numbers compromised. FT

• 3 people have acquired malaria in the US (Florida & Texas). They’re the first in 20 years.

• A Ukrainian source I trust says Wagner is headed to Moscow. (Looks like the wagner dude is having second thoughts).
  
  
  
• Russia possesses a total of 5,889 nuclear warheads as of 2023. 

• Morgues full and hospitals overwhelmed as India’s heatwave death toll hits 170. 

• Beijing issues highest heat alert as north China swelters. 

 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that

Economists warn that recession could be the price that central bankers have to pay as they continue their battle against inflation

• Japan’s consumer prices rose at a faster pace than expected in May. Prices excluding those for fresh food gained 3.2% YoY

This is a boon for the US economy and overall jobs.

Notes Today:

 

The big question that will be asked about us and this period is just exactly how everything got so fucking stupid and so fu so fast. Of course, someone will have to be around to ask the question.

• (perhaps Jim Stewartson has an answer?)

• Harvard dishonesty expert accused of dishonest..

• Public approval of the Supreme Court has fallen to an all-time low of 30% 

• Sonia Sotomayor: “Samuel Alito is the most corrupt Supreme Court Justice in history.”

Clarence Thomas: “Hold my beer!”

Brett Kavanaugh: “Did someone say beer?”

From Captain Obvious @TheFungi669 

• Fed’s Powell Says US May Need One or Two More Rate Hikes in 2023.. 

• Britain’s annual inflation rate did not fall as economists had expected in May, remaining stuck at 8.7%.

• Canadian wildfires, burning for weeks, continue to burn and spread, while news of a lost submersible, and sad loss of 5 lives, has been covered incessantly.

• Musk, Tesla / Twitter boss, said that his electric-vehicle company will be in India “as soon as humanly possible”.

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

 

The Economist list of most liveable cities: 

They are overlooking weather.

Include weather, and San Diego beats Vienna – easily! 

Price and volume break out (today in S&P 500)

Instrument Name	Close	% change	Volume	% above	Symbol
Generac Holdings Ord Shs	128.87	7.9132	2141091	103.1145	GNRC.K

 

 

Will US corn Yield come in at the  estimated 181.5 this year?

US & World Corn stock to use ratio

Corn

USDA Corn % Excellent + Good Ratings

Notes Today: 

• 40 million Americans will have to pay an average of $350 a month in student loans after a 3 year pause.

• More Americans Are Getting Auto Loans That Exceed the Worth of Their Cars. Loans hit 125% of vehicle value in first quarter. The trend may foreshadow higher delinquencies. (Bloomberg)

• Qualcomm cuts 415 jobs at San Diego headquarters amid lingering smartphone slump 

• New home construction surges by most in 30 years, suggesting recovery from Fed hikes.
  
  
  
• The 14th Amendment Section 3. bars anyone from holding office who has engaged in insurrection against the United States.

• 
       Nicole Wallace (MSNBC) has the trump lies count since 2016 at 30,000 plus.

 

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

 

 

Notes Today:

• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRK announced Monday that it has increased its stakes in Japan's top five trading houses. This move is believed to have contributed to the robust momentum driving the nation's stock market to reach multiyear highs.
• The company holds stakes in Itochu Corp. ITOCF, Marubeni corp. MARUF, Mitsubishi Corp. MSBHF, Mitsui & Co. Ltd MITSY, and Sumitomo Corp. SSUMF. Berkshire said its stakes in these companies now average more than 8.5%.

• Intel will spend more than $33 billion to develop two chip-making plants in Magdeburg as part of its expansion push in Europe, a deal Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed as Germany's biggest ever foreign investment 

• At least 9 dead, dozens injured from mass shootings and violence across the US this weekend. 

• An extreme, prolonged heat wave from Texas to Louisiana is helping fuel deadly southern storms that have resulted in the deaths of at least six people and left hundreds of thousands without power.
• Cities across parts of northern China are bracing for further hot weather this weekend as high-pressure ridges persist across a swathe of the country.The heatwave has engulfed much of the north this week, sending temperatures soaring in an area stretching from Inner Mongolia, across northern Hebei province to western Liaoning.
• India’s government issued several severe heat advisories on Sunday, as many states continue to grapple with sweltering heat and high humidity. On Saturday, temperatures reached 45.4-degrees C (113.72 degrees F) in the Indian state of Odisha, and temperatures hovered around 42 and 44 degrees C (107.6 and 111.2 degrees F) in other states.  
• With five months completed, 2023 is on pace to challenge for the warmest year ever directly measured.
  
  
  
  
  
• YouTube says it has removed a video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaking with podcast host Jordan Peterson for spreading what the company says is vaccine misinformation.👍

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

 

  

Unexpected Recovery Sweeps World’s Riskiest Sovereign Bonds

The world’s riskiest sovereign bonds are having a moment as Wall Street investors seek out high yields from countries showing early signs of market-friendly pivots.

• Even serial defaulter Argentina has seen its dollar bonds advance in June as investors position for the nation’s upcoming presidential elections. President Alberto Fernandez has ruled out running for reelection with inflation running above 100% and government coffers running dry, opening the door for a new administration with market-friendly priorities. 

Shipping:

Breakwave Dry Bulk shipping

BDI Baltic Exchange Dry Index

China Container Index

 VIX

 Nikkei P&F

 DJIA P&F

 NASDAQ new highs versus new lows

Notes Today: 

• Massive new investment is pouring into US heavy industry, shaping the economic landscape for years to come.

• 
  
  

• Putin said Russia had stationed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

• Economist: Binance, the largest global cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.US, an affiliate, and America’s Securities and Exchange Commission announced a proposed agreement to guarantee that only Binance.US employees have access to funds owned by American customers. The deal, which still requires approval from a judge, is intended to avert a proposed SEC motion to freeze Binance.US’s assets while it sues Binance on securities-related charges.

• The last Indian journalist in China has been asked to leave, as Beijing and New Delhi eject each other’s reporters in a tit-for-tat row deepening a rift between the Asian economic powerhouses. 

• A stretch of dry weather following planting season has stressed crops across the U.S. Midwest, raising doubts about a government forecast projecting record corn and soybean crops. 

• Some scientists predict that 2023 could be the warmest year on record, as a developing El Niño exacerbates the impacts of the climate crisis. 

• Reminder: Democratic states are subsidizing Republican states. 7 of the top 10 dependent states are red states. 

• Jamal Khashoggi's wife sues NSO Group, maker of Pegasus spyware in US. Alleges spyware was used to track Jamal before murder.

Problem with these notes: some tend to run up against a deeply rooted feature of human cognition - the desire not to think about anything unpleasant…Sorry about that.

 

 

Quick Overview is up to date

Looking at this chart of Intel, it appears to me (could be wrong), that the advertised continued overpowering by Nvidia etc. and therefore its demise, could be a tad premature.

Antarctic sea ice anomalies

 Earth as seen by Cassini from  Saturn. 

Just to keep things in perspective