TIME's 2020 Person of the Year.
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Thursday, December 10, 2020
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?
- Thirty-one countries around the globe have reserved more Covid-19 vaccine per capita than the U.S., according to a Bloomberg analysis of country vaccine agreements.
BREAKING: For the very first time, the US has surpassed 3,000 COVID deaths in a single day.
- (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.
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.
NYT:
Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered in late summer to sell the U.S. government additional doses of its Covid-19 vaccine.Now Pfizer may not be able provide more of its vaccine to the United States until next June because of its commitments to other countries, they said.Trump Admin. performing as expected!
igative outlet has claimed.
Sunday, December 06, 2020
Notes Today:
- The CME is launching a water futures contract linked to the $1.1 billion California spot water market.
- Japan's Leading Economic Index at 93.8 in October from previous 92.5 - highest in 16 month.
- Senate Republicans
have invited a leading anti-vaxxer to be the lead witness at a Homeland Security committee hearing on Tuesday at a time when the US is preparing the largest-ever vaccination campaign to fight Covid.
- YoY China Exports rose 14.9% in November from previous 7.6%
- China Trade Balance rose to 507.1B in November from previous 401.75B
- Bloomberg: Trump said his attorney Rudy Giuliani, who has been leading efforts to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 general election, has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.
- Reuters: A new EU-UK trade agreement will “definitely” not come together on Sunday night, citing an official with the bloc who added that three most contentious issues remained unresolved.
- FT: New US stimulus bill could come as early as Monday
- Economist: Global debt will reach $200trn by the end of this year, predicted S&P Global, which owns a credit-ratings agency. The amount is equivalent to 265% of the world’s GDP. But the firm said that the increase in the global debt-to-GDP ratio was not a crisis, provided interest rates remain low and covid-19 vaccines become widely distributed.
- New Zealand just became one of the only countries in the world to declare Climate Change a global emergency.
Saturday, December 05, 2020
Capitalism, and can you afford it? I certainly hope so!
Friday, December 04, 2020
Wall Street and finance workers could get COVID vaccines before most Americans
The American Bankers Association said it has asked for the CDC to designate financial services industry as “essential workers,” following guidelines issued by the Department of Homeland Security.Some peoples sense of entitlement is just stunning!
Notes Today:
- Bloomberg: U.K. and EU pause Brexit talks after intensive negotiations fail to resolve key issues, as PM Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen schedule crisis call..
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore DACA to its pre-2017 status.
- US Nonfarm Payrolls rose by 245,000 in November vs. 469,000 expected
- US Factory Orders rose by 1% in October vs. 0.8% expected - the sixth straight monthly gain.
- The U.S. trade deficit widened 1.7% to $63.1 billion in October.
- Germany Factory Orders MoM at 2.9%, above forecasts of 1.5%
- Trump is doing his best to jam in the opening of oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The sale of leases is planned for 6 January 2021, just ahead of the inauguration of the US president-elect, Joe Biden, who opposes the move.
- Bloomberg: With a vaccine on the way, congressional failure to pass Covid relief now would put millions of jobs and thousands of small businesses at risk.
A must read article by Nicholas Kristof of the NYT regarding Pornhub.
It’s one of the biggest websites in the world. Every month it attracts more visitors than Netflix, Yahoo or Amazon, and its corporate owners rake in vast sums of money.
Thursday, December 03, 2020
Notes Today:
- The US Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped to 712,000, a decrease of 75,000 from the previous week's revised level of 787,000.
- The British pound continues to outperform its rivals, despite comments that significant disagreements remain in the trade talks, and that the outcome was uncertain.
- Warner
Bros. (T) will send all its 2021 movies to HBO Max the same day they hit
theaters. So, when are they going to get HBO Max onto the Roku platform? This century?
The old HBO at $15 is on Roku, so why not the MAX - that also goes for $15? Probably ATT smugness – at work.
Despite Zuckerberg’s statement that he “does not want to be the arbiter of truth” of what is posted on the site - Facebook (AKA the plague on humanity) said it would remove posts that contain claims about Covid-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts. WOW, if they "really" start removing BS it will be a shadow of its former self.
Wednesday, December 02, 2020
Notes Today:
- Costco (COST) November sales rose 15.1% to 15.67 billion,
the retailer said Wednesday. Online sales rose 71.3% in November and 86.4% in the
quarter. Stock’s down – obviously.
- Australia AiG Performance of Construction Index rose from previous 52.7 to 55.3 in November
- Australia Commonwealth Bank Composite PMI came in at 54.9, above expectations.
- Snowflake Inc.’s (SNOW) Shares were down 9% after-hours Wednesday. The cloud company reported a Q3 net loss of $168.9 million, versus a net loss of $88.1 million, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue more than doubled to $159.6 million from $73 YoY.
- People poured an estimated $81.8 billion into equity ETFs in November.
- The U.K. became the first western country to approve a Covid-19
vaccine, with its regulator clearing the Pfizer-BioNTech shot ahead of
decisions in the U.S. and European Union. Meanwhile, U.S. hospitalizations and
deaths are totally out of control.
Tuesday, December 01, 2020
Notes Today:
- The Dow had its best month since 1987.
- U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether several individuals offered political contributions in exchange for a presidential pardon, according to an unsealed court document.
- US Residential construction rose 2.9% .
- US construction projects rose 1.3% in October.
- Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary nominee and former Fed President Janet Yellen warned that America is battling a historic economic crisis and called for urgent policy action to avert a “self-reinforcing” downturn.
- A new push began in Congress to send federal aid to businesses, state and local governments slammed by the pandemic. So, 10-yearnotes are a bit higher, with 10-year yield last up 7.7 basis points at 0.9194%.
Monday, November 30, 2020
Thanks to the heroic efforts of health workers - a little bit of good news regarding the virus. While the overall US news is grim and getting grimmer daily, the % of people dying from the disease is now under 2%. That is down from over 6% in the spring. A development for which we should be most thankful.
Warren Buffett dismissed bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as worthless in a CNBC interview on Monday. "Cryptocurrencies basically have no value," Buffett said. "They don't produce anything." "You can't do anything with it except sell it to somebody else," he added.Feb 24, 2020
Meanwhile, Bitcoin has shot to a record just as billions of institutional dollars have fled gold. (Gold’s at least good for a filling in someone’s tooth 😉)