PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM PRICES BY KITCO

PLATINIUM $1142.00 DOWN $24.00

PALLADIUM: 2536.00 DOWN $13.00. PER OZ

James McShirley on the pricing of gold eagles/and silver eagle33

Even the TV pundits are now asking, without bothering to investigate, “what’s wrong with gold?” Yes indeed, what’s wrong with gold, other than a relentless daily cartel assault on PAPER gold. The physical coin premiums are widening out to spot. Gold Eagles are showing $200+ to spot, Silver Eagles $10+ to spot, if you can even find them. Supply and demand- fuggettaboutit. The more dollars printed the more valuable they become, and the more scarce gold and silver are the lower their prices go, so sayeth the Working Group.

Jim McShirley

Editorial of The New York Sun | February 1, 2021

end

COMEX DATA

JPMorgan has been receiving gold with reckless abandon and sometimes supplying (stopping)

receiving today 3/15

EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: MARCH 2021 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 1,732.900000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 03/24/2021 DELIVERY DATE: 03/26/2021
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
____________________________________________________________________________________________
332 H STANDARD CHARTE 1
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 1
624 H BOFA SECURITIES 3
661 C JP MORGAN 1 3
737 C ADVANTAGE 14
800 C MAREX SPEC 7
____________________________________________________________________________________________

TOTAL: 15 15
MONTH TO DATE: 9,469

ISSUED: 1

Goldman Sachs: stopped: 42

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR MARCH. CONTRACT: 15 NOTICE(S) FOR 1500 OZ (0.04666 tonnes)

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED SO FAR: 9469 NOTICES FOR 946,900 OZ (29.452 tonnes)

SILVER//MAR CONTRACT

3 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 15,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month: 11,144 for 55,720,000 oz

BITCOIN MORNING QUOTE $52,630 DOWN 1770

BITCOIN AFTERNOON QUOTE.: $52,161 DOWN 2239 DOLLARS .

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GLD AND SLV INVENTORIES:

Gold

WITH GOLD DOWN $7.10 AND NO PHYSICAL TO BE FOUND ANYWHERE:

WITH ALL REFINER CLOSED//MEXICO ORDERING ALL MINES SHUT: WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THE “PHYSICAL?STRANGE!

ANOTHER HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.33 TONNES FOF GOLD REMOVED FROM THE GLD

THIS IS GOLD “RETURNED” TO THE BANK OF ENGLAND WHO ARE CALLING IN THEIR LEASES: THE GOLD NEVER LEAVES THE B OF E. IN THE FIRST PLACE. THE BANK IS PROTECTING ITSELF IN CASE OF COMMERCIAL FAILURE

THIS IS A MASSIVE FRAUD!!

GLD: 1,043.03 TONNES OF GOLD//

Silver

AND WITH NO SILVER AROUND TODAY: WITH SILVER DOWN 15 CENTS

A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV// A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.253 MILLION OZ WITHDRAWAL FROM THE SLV/

THIS SILVER IS”RETURNED” TO JPM. THE STORY IS THE SAME AS THE BANK OF ENGLAND FOR GOLD ABOVE. THE SILVER NEVER LEAVES JPMORGAN’S VAULTS. THEY ARE ALSO CALLING IN THEIR LEASES

INVENTORY RESTS AT:

: 582.596 MILLION OZ./SLV

xxxxx

GLD closing price//NYSE 161.79 DOWN $0.58 OR 0.36%

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

SLV closing price NYSE 23.28 UP $0.05 OR 0.19%

We are now entering options expiry week , with the OTC/LBMA expiring on first day notice day March 31. How they let these crooks engage in this criminal activity month after month is beyond me. Comex expired at 1:30 pm est today.

So bear with it. Inflation will run rampant and that will propel gold and silver.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Let us have a look at the data for today

THE COMEX OI IN SILVER FELL BY A VERY STRONG SIZED 1616 CONTRACTS FROM 160,437 DOWN TO 158,821, AND FURTHER FROM THE NEW RECORD OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020. THE LOSS IN OI OCCURRED DESPITE OUR TINY $0.01 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON WEDNESDAY. IT SEEMS THAT THE GAIN IN COMEX OI IS DUE TO A HUMONGOUS BANKER AND ALGO SHORT COVERING !//HUGE REDDIT RAPTOR BUYING//.. COUPLED AGAINST A SMALL EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE. WE ALSO PROABLY HAD ZERO OR MINOR LONG LIQUIDATION AND A STRONG INCREASE STANDING AT THE COMEX FOR MAR. WE HAD A STRONG NET LOSS IN OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 1465 CONTRACTS (SEE CALCULATIONS BELOW).

WE WERE NOTIFIED THAT WE HAD A SMALL NUMBER OF COMEX LONGS TRANSFERRING THEIR CONTRACTS TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE: 151,, AS WE HAD THE FOLLOWING ISSUANCE: MARCH 0 MAY: 151 AND ZERO ALL OTHER MONTHS AND THEREFORE TOTAL ISSUANCE 151 CONTRACTS. THE BANKERS ARE NOW BEING BITTEN BY THOSE SERIAL FORWARDS (EFP’S CIRCULATING IN LONDON)AS THEY ARE NOW BEING EXERCISED AND COMING BACK TO NEW YORK FOR REDEMPTION OF METAL. THE COST TO SERVICE THESE SERIAL FORWARDS IS HIGH TO OUR BANKERS BUT THEY HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO ISSUE A FEW OF THEM!

HISTORY OF SILVER OZ STANDING AT THE COMEX FOR THE PAST 33 MONTHS.

JUNE/2018. (5.420 MILLION OZ);

FOR JULY: 30.370 MILLION OZ

FOR AUG., 6.065 MILLION OZ

FOR SEPT. 39.505 MILLION OZ S

FOR OCT.2.525 MILLION OZ.

FOR NOV: A HUGE 7.440 MILLION OZ STANDING AND

21.925 MILLION OZ FINALLY STAND FOR DECEMBER.

5.845 MILLION OZ STAND IN JANUARY.

2.955 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR FEBRUARY.:

27.120 MILLION OZ STANDING IN MARCH.

3.875 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR SILVER IN APRIL.

18.845 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR SILVER IN MAY.

2.660 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR SILVER IN JUNE//

22.605 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR JULY

10.025 MILLION OZ INITIAL STANDING IN AUGUST.

43.030 MILLION OZ INITIALLY STANDING IN SEPT. (HUGE)

7.32 MILLION OZ INITIALLY STANDING IN OCT

2.630 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR NOV.

20.970 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING IN DEC

2020

5.075 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING IN JAN

1.480 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING IN FEB

23.005 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING FOR MAR**

4.660 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING FOR APRIL****

45.220 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING FOR MAY***

2.205 MILLION OF FINAL STANDING FOR JUNE

86.470 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING IN JULY…RECORD HIGHEST EVER

6.475 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING IN AUGUST

55.400 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING IN SEPT

8.900 MILLION OZ INITIALLY STANDING IN OCT.

3.950 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING IN NOV.

46.685 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING FOR DEC.

2021

6.890 MILLION FINAL STANDING FOR JAN 2021

12.020 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING FOR FEB 2021

56.730 MILLION OZ INITIAL STANDING FOR MARCH 2021//2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED

WEDNESDAY, AGAIN OUR CROOKS USED COPIOUS PAPER TRYING TO LIQUIDATE SILVER’S PRICE …AND THEY WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN ,(IT ROSE BY $0.01) OUR OFFICIAL SECTOR/BANKERS WERE PROBABLY UNSUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO FLEECE ANY SILVER LONGS AS EVEN THOUGH WE HAD A NET LOSS OF 1465 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES, THE MAJOR CAUSE WAS DUE TO i)HUMONGOUS BANKER/ALGO SHORT COVERING// WE ALSO HAD ii)STRONG REDDIT RAPTOR BUYING//. iii) A SMALL ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS 2) A HUGE INCREASE IN STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER // MAR, iv) TINY COMEX OI LOSS AND iv) ZERO//MINOR LONG LIQUIDATION //.YOU CAN BET THE FARM THAT OUR BANKERS ARE DESPERATE TO LIQUIDATE THEIR HUGE SHORT POSITIONS IN SILVER..

NOBODY LEFT THE SILVER ARENA WITH TODAY’S RAID//AND FOR THAT MATTER NOBODY LEFT THE GOLD ARENA

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS

MAR

ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S/SILVER/J.P.MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES, / STARTING FROM FIRST DAY /FOR MONTH OF MAR:

16,072CONTRACTS (FOR 19 TRADING DAY(S) TOTAL 16,072 CONTRACTS) OR 80.360 MILLION OZ: (AVERAGE PER DAY: 8845 CONTRACTS OR 4.229 MILLION OZ/DAY)

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SUPPLY THIS MONTH IN SILVER: SO FAR THIS MONTH OF MAR: 80.360 MILLION PAPER OZ HAVE MORPHED OVER TO LONDON.

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SUPPLY THIS MONTH IN SILVER: SO FAR THIS MONTH OF MAR: 80.360.MILLION PAPER OZ HAVE MORPHED OVER TO LONDON.

JAN EFP ACCUMULATION FINAL: 113.735 MILLION OZ

FEB EFP ACCUMULATION FINAL: 208.18 MILLION OZ (RAPIDLY INCREASING AGAIN)

MAR EFP ACCUMULATION SO FAR: A STRONG: 80.360 MILLION OZ (DRAMATICALLY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN//FEARS OF EFP CONTRACTS BEING EXERCISED FOR METAL)

RESULT: WE HAD A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 1616, DESPITE OUR $0.01 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ///WEDNESDAY .…THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 151 CONTRACTS WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX TO LONDON AS FORWARDS.

TODAY WE HAD A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 1465 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES (DESPITE OUR $0.01 GAIN IN PRICE)//THE DOMINANT FEATURE TODAY WAS THE MASSIVE BANKER SHORTCOVERING.THEY SEE THE TEA LEAVES.

THE TALLY//EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS

i.e 151 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS HEADED FOR LONDON (EFP’s)TOGETHER WITH A STRONG SIZED DECREASE OF 1616 OI COMEX CONTRACTS. AND ALL OF THIS DEMAND HAPPENED WITH OUR $0.01 GAIN IN PRICE OF SILVER/AND A CLOSING PRICE OF $25.17 //WEDNESDAY’S TRADING. YET WE STILL HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING AT THE COMEX FOR DELIVERY.

FOR THE NEW MAR. DELIVERY MONTH/ THEY FILED AT THE COMEX: 3 NOTICE(S) FOR 15,000, OZ OF SILVER.

IN SILVER,PRIOR TO TODAY, WE SET THE NEW COMEX RECORD OF OPEN INTEREST AT 244,196 CONTRACTS ON AUG 22.2018. AND AGAIN THIS HAS BEEN SET WITH A LOW PRICE OF $14.70//TODAY’S RECORD OF 244,705 WAS SET WITH A PRICE OF: 18.91 (FEB 25/2020)

AND YET, WITH THE EXTREMELY HIGH EFP ISSUANCE, WE HAVE A CONTINUAL LOW PRICE OF SILVER DESPITE THE ABOVE HUGE DEMAND. TO ME THE ONLY ANSWER IS THAT WE HAVE SOVEREIGN (CHINA) WHO IS ENDEAVOURING TO GOBBLE UP ALL AVAILABLE PHYSICAL SILVER NO MATTER WHERE, EXACTLY WHAT J.P.MORGAN IS DOING. AND IT IS MY BELIEF THAT J.P.MORGAN IS HOLDING ITS SILVER FOR ITS BENEFICIAL OWNER..THE USA GOVERNMENT WHO IN TURN IS HOLDING THAT SILVER FOR CHINA.(FOR A SILVER LOAN REPAYMENT)

GOLD

IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A FAIR SIZED 3071 CONTRACTS TO 482,386,AND FURTHER FROM OUR NEW RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,541 AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110.

THE DECREASE IN COMEX OI OCCURRED DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $7.75///COMEX GOLD TRADING/WEDNESDAY. AS IN SILVER WE MUST HAVE HAD STRONG BANKER/ALGO SHORT COVERING ACCOMPANYING OUR FAIR SIZED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE. WE HAD ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION.. WE ALSO HAD A STRONG ADVANCE IN GOLD STANDING AT THE COMEX RISING TO 30.127 TONNES FOR MARCH..

YET ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $7.75 WITH RESPECT TO WEDNESDAY’S TRADING

WE HAD A VOLUME OF 0 4 -GC CONTRACTS//OPEN INTEREST 0//

WE HAD A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 1874 CONTRACTS (5.828 TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES..

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 4945 CONTRACTS:

CONTRACT . FEB:0, APRIL: 3700 AND JUNE: 1245 ALL OTHER MONTHS ZERO//TOTAL: 4945. The NEW COMEX OI for the gold complex rests at 482,386. ALSO REMEMBER THAT THERE WILL BE A DELAY IN THE ISSUANCE OF EFP’S. THE BANKERS REMOVE LONG POSITIONS OF COMEX GOLD IMMEDIATELY. THEN THEY ORCHESTRATE THEIR PRIVATE EXCHANGE DEAL WITH THE LONGS AND THAT COULD TAKE AN ADDITIONAL, 48 HRS SO WE GENERALLY DO NOT GET A MATCH WITH RESPECT TO DEPARTING COMEX LONGS AND NEW EFP LONG TRANSFERS. . EVEN THOUGH THE BANKERS ISSUED THESE MONSTROUS EFPS, THE OBLIGATION STILL RESTS WITH THE BANKERS TO SUPPLY METAL BUT IT TRANSFERS THE RISK TO A LONDON BANKER OBLIGATION AND NOT A NEW YORK COMEX OBLIGATION. LONGS RECEIVE A FIAT BONUS TOGETHER WITH A LONG LONDON FORWARD. THUS, BY THESE ACTIONS, THE BANKERS AT THE COMEX HAVE JUST STATED THAT THEY HAVE NO APPRECIABLE METAL!! THIS IS A MASSIVE FRAUD: THEY CANNOT SUPPLY ANY METAL TO OUR COMEX LONGS BUT THEY ARE QUITE WILLING TO SUPPLY MASSIVE NON BACKED GOLD (AND SILVER) PAPER KNOWING THAT THEY HAVE NO METAL TO SATISFY OUR LONGS. LONDON IS NOW SEVERELY BACKWARD IN BOTH GOLD AND SILVER AND WE ARE WITNESSING DELAYS IN ACTUAL DELIVERIES.

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 4457 CONTRACTS: 488 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX AND 4945 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN OF 4457 CONTRACTS OR 13.863 TONNES.

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (4945) ACCOMPANYING THE FAIR SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (3071 OI): TOTAL GAIN IN THE TWO EXCHANGES: 4457 CONTRACTS. WE NO DOUBT HAD 1 ) HUGE BANKER SHORT COVERING AS OUR BANKERS ARE RUNNING FROM DODGE AND CONSIDERABLE ALGO SHORT COVERING ,2.) STRONG ADVANCE STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR THE FRONT MAR. MONTH RISING TO 30.127 TONNES) 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION, /// ;4) SMALL COMEX OI LOSS AND 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ...ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN GOLD PRICE TRADING WEDNESDAY//$7.75!!. WE HAD SPREADER LIQUIDATION WHICH TOOK CARE OF THE ENTIRE LOSS AT THE COMEX.

We have now switched to GOLD for our spreaders!!

FOR DETAILS ON THE SPREADING EXERCISE HERE IS A BRIEF OUTLINE:

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2021 INCLUDING TODAY

MAR

ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF MAR : 75,952, CONTRACTS OR 7,595,200 oz OR 236.24TONNES (19 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3997 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 19 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES: 236.24 TONNES

TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2020, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 236.24/3550 x 100% TONNES =6.64% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2021 TO DATE:

JANUARY: 265.26 TONNES (RAPIDLY INCREASING AGAIN)

FEB : 171.24 TONNES ( DEFINITELY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN)..

MARCH:. 236.24 TONNES (STRONG AGAIN//EQUAL TO OR MAY SURPASS JANUARY)

WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.

First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:

1.Today, we had the open interest at the comex, in SILVER, FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 1616 CONTRACTS FROM 160,437 DOWN TO 158,836 AND FURTHER FROM OUR COMEX RECORD //244,710(SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 2 3/4 YEARS AGO. THE PRICE OF SILVER ON THAT DAY: $17.89.

THE STRONG SIZED LOSS IN OI SILVER COMEX WAS PRIMARILY DUE TO; 1) HUGE BANKER SHORT COVERING//ALGO SHORT COVERING//REDDIT RAPTOR BUYING , 2) A SMALL ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (SEE BELOW), 3) A STRONG INCREASE IN STANDING FOR SILVER AT THE COMEX FOR MARCH., AND 4) ZERO//MINOR LONG LIQUIDATION,

EFP ISSUANCE 151 CONTRACTS

OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:

MARCH: 0 ; MAY: 151 AND ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 151 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI LOSS OF 1601 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 151 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S, WE OBTAIN A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 1465 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES. THUS IN OUNCES, THE LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 7.320 MILLION OZ, OCCURRED DESPITE OUR $0.01 GAIN IN PRICE///

BOTH THE SILVER COMEX AND THE GOLD COMEX ARE IN STRESS AS THE BANKERS SCOUR THE BOWELS OF THE EXCHANGE FOR METAL..THE EVIDENCE IS CLEAR: HUGE AMOUNTS OF PHYSICAL STANDING FOR BOTH SILVER AND GOLD .

(report Harvey)

2 ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe, Goldcore

(Mark O’Byrne/zerohedge

and in NY: Bloomberg

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)THURSDAY MORNING/ WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 3.47 PTS OR .10% //Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 18.53 PTS OR .07% /The Nikkei closed UP 324.36 POINTS OR 1.14%//Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.13%

/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN AT 6.5401 /Oil UP TO 59.95 dollars per barrel for WTI and 63.06 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL RED// ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT 6.5401. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN ON THE DOLLAR AT 6.5419 TRADE TALKS STALL//YUAN LEVELS //TRUMP INITIATES A NEW 25% TARIFFS FRIDAY/MAY 10/MAJOR PROBLEMS AT HUAWEI /CFO ARRESTED//CORONAVIRUS/PANDEMIC/TRUMP TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID 19 : /ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST USA DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING WEALER AGAINST THE DOLLAR /TRADE DEAL NOW DEAD..TRUMP RAISED RATES TO 25%

COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS

GOLD

LET US BEGIN:

THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY FAIR SIZED 3071 CONTRACTS TO 4842,386 MOVING FURTHER FROM THE RECORD THAT WAS SET IN JANUARY/2020: {799,541 OI(SET JAN 16/2020)} AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: 797,110 (SET JAN 7/2020). AND THIS FAIR COMEX DECREASE OCCURRED DESPITE OUR GAIN OF $7.75 IN GOLD PRICING WEDNESDAY’S COMEX TRADING… WE ALSO HAD A GOOD EFP ISSUANCE (4,945 CONTRACTS). . ON WEDNESDAY’S SESSION WE NO DOUBT HAD AGAIN 1) CONSIDERABLE BANKER SHORT COVERING//ALGO SHORT COVERING, CONTRACTS. WE HAVE LATELY WITNESSED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS ISSUED BEING SMALL….. AS IT JUST TOO COSTLY FOR THEM TO CONTINUE SERVICING THE COSTS OF SERIAL FORWARDS CIRCULATING IN LONDON. HOWEVER, MUCH TO THE ANNOYANCE OF OUR BANKERS, THE COMEX IS THE SCENE OF AN ASSAULT ON GOLD AS LONDONERS, NOT BEING ABLE TO FIND ANY PHYSICAL ON THAT SIDE OF THE POND, EXERCISE THESE CIRCULATING EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN LONDON AND FORCING DELIVERY OF REAL METAL OVER HERE AS THE OBLIGATION STILL RESTS WITH NEW YORK BANKERS.

(SEE BELOW)

WE HAD 0 4 -GC VOLUME//open interest REMAINS AT 0

EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE

WE ARE NOW IN THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MAR.. THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS., THAT IS 4945 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: ; FEB// ’21 0 AND APRIL: 3700, JUNE: 1245 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 4945 CONTRACTS.

YOU WILL FIND THAT WHEN WE HAVE A GOOD PREMIUM IN THE FUTURES/SPOT, THEN THE NUMBER OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS DECLINE IN NUMBERS. THE COST IS JUST TOO MUCH FOR THEM TO ISSUE. TODAY THAT PREMIUM WAS SMALL AND THUS A LITTLE MORE THAN USUAL OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS WERE ISSUED.

HOWEVER, WHEN WE HAVE BACKWARDATION, THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE. EFP ISSUANCE IS VERY COSTLY BUT THE REAL PROBLEM IS THE SCARCITY OF METAL AND IT IS FAR BETTER FOR OUR BANKERS TO PAY OFF INDIVIDUALS THAN RISK INVESTORS ESPECIALLY FROM LONDON STANDING FOR DELIVERY. LONDON IS OUT OF METAL.

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A SMALL SIZED 1874 TOTAL CONTRACTS IN THAT 4945 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE LOST A FAIR SIZED COMEX OI OF3071 CONTRACTS.WE HAVE A HUGE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR MARCH (30.127 TONNES) WHICH FOLLOWED FEB (113.424 TONNES) WHICH FOLLOWED OUR STRONG LEVEL OF JAN 2021 GOLD . ((6.500 TONNES).

THE BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE //// (IT ROSE $7.75)., AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN FLEECING ANY LONGS AS THE TOTAL GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES REGISTERED A GOOD 13.863 TONNES, ACCOMPANYING OUR STRONG GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR MAR (30.127 TONNES)..I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT 0UR BANKER FRIENDS ARE GETTING QUITE NERVOUS. THE SMALL LOSS IN COMEX OI IS DUE TO BANKER SHORT COVERING IN A BIG WAY. THEY ARE LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDERS AND WITNESSING MASSIVE SILVER/GOLD SHORTAGES THAT CANNOT BE COVERED. THEY ARE TRYING TO FLEE IN HASTE “FROM DODGE”.

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES :: 1874 CONTRACTS OR 187,400 OZ OR 5.828 TONNES

COMMODITY LAW SUGGESTS THAT COMMODITY FUTURES OPEN INTEREST SHOULD APPROXIMATE 3% OF TOTAL PRODUCTION. IN GOLD THE WORLD PRODUCES AROUND 3500 TONNES PER YEAR BUT ONLY 2200 TONNES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE WEST (THUS EXCLUDING RUSSIA, CHINA ETC..WHO KEEP 100% OF THEIR PRODUCT.

THUS IN GOLD WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING: 482,386 TOTAL OI CONTRACTS X 100 OZ PER CONTRACT = 48.23 MILLION OZ/32,150 OZ PER TONNE = 1500 TONNES

THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST REPRESENTS 1500/2200 OR 68.18% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION OF GOLD.

INITIAL STANDINGS FOR MAR COMEX GOLD

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory in oz*	nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer* Inventory in oz*	oz
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory in oz NIL*
Deposit to the Customer* Inventory, in oz*	nil
No of oz served (contracts) today	15 notice(s) 1500 OZ (0.0466 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)	217 contracts (21700oz) 0.6749 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	9469 notices 946,900 OZ 29.452 TONNES
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers* inventory this month*	NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer* inventory this month*	xxx oz

TOTAL DEPOSITS: NIL

We had no withdrawals

total withdrawals: NIL

We had 0 kilobar transactions (0out of 1 transactions)

ADJUSTMENTS 2: A) dealer to customer

Manfra: 6758.474 oz

Brinks 6,330.925 oz

The front month of MAR registered a total of 232 CONTRACTS FOR A LOSS OF 997 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 1011 NOTICES FILED ON WEDNESDAY SO WE GAINED ANOTHER 14 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 1400 OZ WILL STAND FOR DELIVERY ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND IN THIS VERY ACTIVE MARCH DELIVERY MONTH. THIS IS A RECORD FOR QUEUE JUMPING IN THE MONTH AS OUR BANKERS ARE SHORT OF GOLD AND WILL DO ANYTHING TO JUMP AHEAD OF UNSUSPECTING LONGS TO OBTAIN METAL. MARCH IS GENERALLY A NON ACTIVE MONTH BUT THIS IS SURELY NOT THIS CASE THIS MONTH. SOMEBODY NEEDS AN URGENT SUPPLY OF PHYSICAL GOLD!!!!!!!

APRIL, THE NEXT FRONT MONTH, LOST A NORMAL 28,168 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 124,724 CONTRACTS. WE SHOULD HAVE AN EXTREMELY STRONG APRIL DELIVERY MONTH. WE HAVE 4 MORE READING DAYS BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE( FORGIVE ME /I THOUGHT GOOD FRIDAY WAS THIS WEEK, BUT IT IS NEXT WEEK). TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF THE STRENGTH OF WHAT WILL STAND, WE COMPARE THIS YEAR’S OI 124,724 TO LAST YEARS TOTAL 107,953. WE NOW HAVE THE SAME NUMBER OF DAYS LEFT BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE: 4 IN COMPARING MARCH 2021 TO MARCH 20. LAST YEAR ON THIS DAY 43,986 CONTRACTS ROLLED VS TODAY’S 28,168.

MAY GAINED 59 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 609

JUNE GAINED 27,990 CONTRACTS UP TO 292,277

We had 15 notice(s) filed today for 1500 oz

To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the MAR /2021. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (9469) x 100 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of (MAR /232 CONTRACTS ) minus the number of notices served upon today 15 x 100 oz per contract) equals 968,600 OZ OR 30.127 TONNES) the number of ounces standing in this active month of MAR

thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the MARCH contract month:

No of notices filed so far 9469 x 100 oz + ( 232 OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (15} x 100 oz which equals 968,600 oz standing OR 30.127 TONNES in this NON active delivery month of MARCH. This is a HUGE/ATMOSPHERIC amount standing for GOLD IN MARCH, A GENERALLY POOR NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH.

WE GAINED 14 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 1400 OZ WILL STAND ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND.

WE ARE WITNESSING A FULL FRONTAL ATTACK ON THE COMEX ON ALL SIDES AND MEANS FOR ITS GOLD.!!!!

NOBODY LEFT THE GOLD ARENA TONIGHT.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

NEW PLEDGED GOLD:

464,420.335, oz NOW PLEDGED march 5/2021/HSBC 13.626 TONNES

339,772.427 PLEDGED MANFRA 10.5687 TONNES

312,798.505 oz JPM 9.72 TONNES

1,083,680.877 oz pledged June 12/2020 Brinks/33.706 TONNES

94,500.934 oz Pledged August 21/regular account 2.93 tonnes JPMORGAN

6,308.08 oz International Delaware: .196 tonnes

192.906 oz Malca

total pledged gold: 2,301,674.057 oz 71.59 tonnes

registered gold that can be used to settle upon: 15,807,521.0 (491,68 tonnes)

true registered gold (total registered – pledged tonnes 15,807,521.0 (491.68 tonnes)

total eligible gold: 19,215,641.445 oz (597.68 tonnes)

total 4 GC gold: 126.34 tonnes

total gold net of 4 GC: 1034.61 tonnes

A total of 2.55 tonnes of gold leaves the COMEX today.

end

I have compiled data with respect to registered (or dealer) gold taken on first day notice for each of the past 24 months

The data begins on first day notice for the May month taken on the last day of July 2018. and it continues to present day.

I then took, how many deliveries were recorded by the CME for each and every month. I also included for reference the price of gold on first day notice.

The first graph is a logarithmic graph and the second graph, linear.

You can see the huge explosion of registered gold at the comex along with deliveries.

THE DATA AND GRAPHS:

END

MARCH 25/2021

And now for the wild silver comex results

INITIAL STANDING FOR SILVER/MAR

i) Into CNT: 256,404.920 oz

ii) Into Manfra: 300,224.190 oz

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MARCH saw a GAIN of 91 contracts to stand at 452. We had 156 contracts served on WEDNESDAY, so we GAINED 247 contracts or an additional 1,235,000 oz will stand for delivery in this active delivery month of March. These guys refused to morph into London based forwards as there is no silver metal on their side of the pond so they will try their luck over here.

April GAINED ANOTHER ASTONISHING 25 contracts to stand at 3038. (Many should be rolling to the next month).April numbers refuse to contract (roll). They are standing resolute !!!!Thus it looks like we will have north of 15 million oz of silver standing in a very inactive month.

May LOST A SMALL 2297 contracts to stand at 126,301 contracts. May is the next active month and it seems the cavalry are showing up for physical silver as well. Thus we have April, a non active month remaining high in oi and May as both months refuses to contract.!

To give you an idea of the strength of the May contract, let us compare the open interest remaining today vs last year. At this same time, we had 90,943 oi contracts still outstanding of May 20. This year: 126,301. TODAY’S ROLL 2297 VS LAST YEAR: 3177 CONTRACTS.

IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE OUR WHALE STANDING FOR SILVER METAL. ERIC SPROTT’S FUND HAS NOTIFIED THE SEC THAT THEY ARE DOING A SHELF OFFERING OF $2 BILLION FOR SPROTT SILVER PHYSICAL FUNDS (PSLV). IS ERIC TAKING ON THE CROOKS BY STANDING FOR METAL IN APRIL AND MAY?

TODAY’S ESTIMATED SILVER VOLUME 41,407 CONTRACTS // volume extremely poor// volumes falling off a cliff// very surprisingly small in volume)

FOR YESTERDAY 47,986 ,CONFIRMED VOLUME//extremely poor

COMMODITY LAW SUGGESTS THAT OPEN INTEREST SHOULD NOT BE MORE THAN 3% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION. THE CROOKS ARE SUPPLYING MASSIVE PAPER TRYING TO KEEP SILVER IN CHECK.

The record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price at that day at $18.42. The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44

end

NPV for Sprott

1. Sprott silver fund (PSLV): NAV FALLS TO +0.25% ((MAR 25/2021)

2. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV FALLS TO –1.65% to NAV: (MAR 25/2021 )

Note: /Sprott physical gold trust is back into POSITIVE/0.25%(MAR 25/2021)

(courtesy Sprott/GATA

3. SPROTT CEF .A FUND (FORMERLY CENTRAL FUND OF CANADA):

NAV 18.47 TRADING 17.66//NEGATIVE 4.66

END

And now the Gold inventory at the GLD/(this vehicle is a fraud as there is no gold behind them!)

MARCH//25: WITH GOLD DOWN $7.75 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.33 TONNES//GOLD REST AT 1043.03 TONNES

MARCH 24//WITH GOLD UP $7.75 TODAY://A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 6.42 TONNES OF GOLD: THIS GOLD IS BEING RETURNED TO THE BANK OF ENGLAND ON A PHONY LEASE SCAM//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1045.36 TONNES.

MARCH 23/WITH GOLD DOWN $12.65 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1051.78 TONNES

MARCH 22/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.90 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.5 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1051.78 TONNES

MARCH 19/WITH GOLD UP $8.60 , NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1048.28 TONNES

MARCH 18/WITH GOLD UP $5.40 TODAY, A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.04 TONNES FROM THE GLD.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1048.28 TONNES

MARCH 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.65 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1050.32 TONNES

MARCH 16/WITH GOLD UP $2.00 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.75 MILLION OZ FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1050.32 TONNES

MARCH 15/WITH GOLD UP $8.85 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.25 TONNES OF GOLD FORM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1052.07 TONNES

MARCH 12/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.25 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A REMOVAL OF 4.96 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1055.27 TONNES

MARCH 11/WITH GOLD UP $1.25 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: ANOTHER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.75 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1060.23 TONNES

MARCH 10/WITH GOLD UP $4.70 TODAY: ANOTHER HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.46 TONNES FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1061.98 TONNES

MARCH 9/WITH GOLD UP $37.40 TODAY: ANOTHER HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: ANOTHER WITHDRAWAL OF 5.82 TONNES FORM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1063.44 TONNES

MARCH 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $21.00 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 9.04 TONNES FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1069.26 TONNES

MARCH 5/WITH GOLD DOWN $15.00 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 4.08 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1078.30 TONNES

MARCH 4/WITH GOLD DOWN $7.60 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.74 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1082.38 TONNES

MARCH 3/WITH GOLD DOWN $17.70 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/: A PAPER DEPOSIT OF 2.62 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1087.12 TONNES

MARCH 2/WITH GOLD UP $9.40 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WHOPPING WITHDRAWAL OF 9.04 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1084.50 TONNES

MARCH 1/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.65 DOLLARS; A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 6.7 TONNES FROM THE GLD//.INVENTORY RESTS AT 1093.54 TONNES.

FEB 26/WITH GOLD DOWN $46.00 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 6.08 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1100.24 TONNES//

FEB 25/ WITH GOLD DOWN $20.65 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.08 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY REST AT 1106.36 TONNES

FEB 24/WITH GOLD DOWN $7.30 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.96 TONNES FROM THE GLD// RESTS AT 1110.44 TONNES

FEB 23/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.45 TODAY: A MONSTROUS CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 12.54 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1115.40 TONNES

FEB 22/WITH GOLD UP $30.00 TODAY: STRANGE!! A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 5.25 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1127.64 TONNES

FEB 19/WITH GOLD UP $2.00 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1132.89 TONNES

FEB 18//WITH GOLD UP $2.60 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.79 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1132.89 TONNES

FEB 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $27.35 TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 5.54 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1136.68 TONNES

FEB 16/WITH GOLD DOWN $23.40 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORYRESTS AT 1142.20 TONNES

FEB 12/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.40 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.38 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1142.20 TONNES

FEB 11/WITH GOLD DOWN $15.35 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/I: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.74 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1146.60 TONNES

FEB 10/WITH GOLD UP $5.30 TODAY: ANOTHER HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.09 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1148.34 TONNES

FEB 9/WITH GOLD UP $4.00 TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.08 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1152.43 TONNES.

FEB 8/WITH GOLD UP $20.80 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.33 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1156.51 TONNES

FEB 5/WITH GOLD UP $20.10 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1159.84 TONNES

FEB 4/WITH GOLD DOWN $42.05 TODAY: STRANGE: HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.34 TONNES ADDED INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1159.84 TONNES

FEB 3/WITH GOLD DOWN 20 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1157.50 TONNES

FEB 2/WITH GOLD DOWN $27.60 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD// A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.63 TONNES FROM THE GLD//.INVENTORY RESTS AT 1157.50 TONNES

FEB 1/WITH GOLD UP $12.45 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.5 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1160.13 TONNES

JAN 29/WITH GOLD UP $9.65 TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.37 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1164.80 TONNES

JAN 28/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.90 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.71 TONNES LEAVES THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1169.17 TONNES

JANUARY 27/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.85 TODAY; A SMALL CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF .87 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS 1172.38 TONNES

JAN 26/WITH GOLD DOWN $4.15 TODAY:NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 1173.25 TONNES

end

Now the SLV Inventory/(this vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them!)

MARCH 25/WITH SILVER DOWN 15 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV; A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.253 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 582.596 MILLION OZ

MARCH 24//WITH SILVER UP 1 CENT TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 585.846 MILLION OZ./

MARCH 23/WITH SILVER DOWN 55 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 585.846 MILLION OZ/

MARCH 22/WITH SILVER DOWN 50 CENTS TODAY,TWO HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.486 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLVAT 3 PM AND ANOTHER 2.599 MILLION OZ WITHRAWWAL AT 5:20 ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 585.846 MILLION OZ/ (TOTAL SILVER LEAVING 4.085 MILLION OZ)

MARCH 19/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY REST AT 589.931 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 18/WITH SILVER UP 28 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV; AT 3 PM: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.507 MILLION OZ//INVENTORY RESTS AT 589.931 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 17/WITH SILVER UP 5 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 592.438 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 16/WITH SILVER DOWN 25 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 592.438 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 15/WITH SILVER UP 35 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 592.438 MILLION OZ///

MARCH 12/WITH SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 592.438 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 11/WITH SILVER DOWN ONE CENT TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 592.438 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 10/WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY; ANOTHER HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 928,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 592.438 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 9/WITH SILVER UP 91 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 593.366 MILLION OZ///

MARCH 8/WITH SILVER DOWN ONE CENT TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.25 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 593.366 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 5/WITH SILVER DOWN 31 CENTS TODAY: TWO HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 6.501 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV AT 3 PM AND ANOTHER 3.90 MILION OZ AT 5.20..: TOTAL LOSSS 10.4 MILLLLION OZ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 596.616 MILLION OZ

MARCH 4/WITH SILVER DOWN 76 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.486 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 609.017 MILLION OZ

MARCH 3/WITH SILVER DOWN 58 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.774 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 605.531 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 2//WITH SILVER UP 19 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 609.305 MILLION OZ

MARCH 1.WITH SILVER UP 26 CENTS TODAY:A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 6.593 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV..//INVENTORY RESTS AT 609.305 MILLION OZ.

FEB 26/WITH SILVER DOWN $1.17 TODAY: TWO HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.857 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV AT 3 PM//AND ANOTHER 1.858 MILLION OZ AT 5.20 EST//INVENTORY RESTS AT 615.898 MILLION OZ//

FEB 25/WITH SILVER DOWN 21 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 619.613 MILLION OZ//

FEB 24/WITH SILVER UP 19 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORIES AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 619.613 MILLION OZ

FEB 23/WITH SILVER DOWN 34 CENTS TODAY: TWO ENTRIES I) HUGE CHANGE ISN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 127,000 OZ INTO THE SLV AND THEN A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 7.801 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 619.613 MILLION OZ

FEB 22/WITH SILVER UP 74 CENTS TODAY: 2 HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.322 MILLION OZ AT 3 PM AND 6.873 MILLION OF AT 5 20 PM EST/INVENTORY RESTS AT 611.685 MILLION OZ/

FEB 19//WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 621.007 MILLION OZ//

FEB 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 22 CENTS TODAY : TWO HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV ANOTHER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.858 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV AN ANOTHER WITHDRAWAL 5.758 MILLION OZ// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 621.007 MILLION OZ//

FEB 17/WITH SILVER UP 1 CENT TODAY: A SMALL CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV// A DEPOSIT OF 83,000 OZ INTO THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 628.623 MILLION OZ//

FEB 16/WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:ANOTHER WITHDRAWAL OF 2.044 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 628.530 MILLION OZ//

FEB 12/WITH SILVER UP 31 CENTS//A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.312 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 630.574 MILLION OZ.

FEB 11/WITH SILVER DOWN 4 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.858 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 634.986 MILLION OZ//

FEB 10/WITH SILVER DOWN 44 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 636.844 MILLION OZ//

FEB 9/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.19 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 17.882 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 636.844 MILLION OZ//

FEB 8/WITH SILVER UP $0.53 TODAY: A HUGE PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 4.451 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 654.726 MILLION OZ//

FEB 5/WITH SILVER UP 70 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 659.278 MILLION OZ

FEB 4/WITH SILVER DOWN 0.54 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 10.079 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV..//INVENTORY RESTS AT 659.278 MILLION OZ//

FEB 3/WITH SILVER UP 38 CENTS TODAY: A MIND NUMBING: 56.784 MILION OZ “DEPOSIT” INTO THE SLV at 3 pm AND A WITHDRAWAL OF 7.99 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV AT 5 PM//WITH THESE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 669.357 MILLION OZ//

FEB2//WITH SILVER DOWN $2.81 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: AN UNBELEIVABLE DEPOSIT OF 18.627 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 620.563 MILLION OZ//

FEB 1/WITH SILVER UP $2.56 TODAY: A FAIRY TALE DEPOSIT OF 34.419 MILLION OZ INTO SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 601.936 MILLION OZ//

JAN 29/WITH SILVER UP 58 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.366 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 567.517 MILLION OZ//

JAN 28/WITH SILVER UP 44 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.393 MILLION OZ//INVENTORY RESTS AT 571.883 MILLION OZ/

JAN 27/ WITH SILVER DOWN 10CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV.: A XXXWITHDRAWAL OF 3.022 MILLION OZ OF IMAGINARY SILVER// INVENTORY RESTS AT 573.277 MILLION OZ/

JAN 26/WITH SILVER UP 6 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 576.299 MILLION OZ///

JAN 25/WITH SILVER DOWN 5 CENTS A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY: A DEPOSIT OF 2.044 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV// INVENTORY RESTS AT 576.299 MILLION OZ./

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER STORIES
i) EGON VON GREYERZ//

Von Greyerz: Why Buy Gold When There’s Bitcoin & Tesla

Authored by Egon von Greyerz via GoldSwitzerland.com,

Instant gratification is what drives the world and especially investment markets.

I often hear complaints that gold is a useless investment since it doesn’t go up fast enough.

We have invested heavily into gold for ourselves and our investors since 2002 when the price was $300. Since then gold is up just under 6X.

Sure it has not been a straight line and there have been major corrections on the way.

STOCKS ARE TODAY A GARGANTUAN RISK

But Bitcoin and Tesla are much more exciting so why should an investor hold gold – an incredibly dull investment for the majority of people.

If I tell investors that it is absolutely critical to hold gold for wealth preservation purposes as the world financial system is the biggest bubble in history, most would ignore or ridicule me.

And if I tell them that the dollar and most currencies are down 97-99% since 1971 against gold and down 85% since 2000, they would yawn. They are only interested in their nominal stock market gains not understanding that they have gained nothing in real terms.

But if I proclaim that gold in 2021 could reach $3,000 some will prick their ears. (More about gold reaching that level, and higher, later in the article.)

Still most people prefer to stay in stocks totally unaware that the majority of stock investors are going to ride the stock market all the way to the bottom. And this time it won’t be a V bottom like March 23, 2020 but an L bottom lasting at least a decade or longer.

Both fundamentally and technically a stock market crash of massive proportions is guaranteed. Whether it starts tomorrow or we first see a final meltup is unimportant. Regardlessly, THE RISK IS GARGANTUAN!

CASSANDRA WAS ALWAYS RIGHT BUT ……

I can hear voices calling me a Cassandra and a doom sayer. For the ones who don’t remember Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of king Priam and was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo. But as Cassandra did not respond to Apollo’s approaches, he gave her a curse that although all her “dark” prophecies were accurate, nobody would believe her.

I am not a Cassandra predicting doom and gloom but just someone who has spent his life analysing and understanding risk.

That’s why for example in 1999 I told my partner in an e-commerce business that we must sell the company at the then ridiculous valuation of 10X sales with no profit. The buyer was a Nasdaq company which went bankrupt a few years later after an acquisition spree paying grossly inflated prices.

WHY BUY GOLD WHEN THERE IS BITCOIN AND TESLA

Most of the expert tech investors in the late 1990s rode the market all the way down by 80% with many companies going bust.

Risk analysis is also why I wouldn’t buy Bitcoin. Yes, I am aware that a speculative mania could drive it to $1 million. But I am also aware that governments could ban Bitcoin, making it worthless.

So not a good risk in my view.

An equally terrible risk is Tesla.

To buy Tesla at a P/E of over 1,000 and a pie in the sky market cap of $650 billion is as risky as jumping out of the Empire State Building.

If Tesla doesn’t fall by at least 80% in real terms over the next few years, I will eat my hat. Not that I expect to lose that bet, but to get some enjoyment out of the minuscule chance of being wrong, the hat would of course be made of the finest Swiss chocolate!

Remember that an investment can become more overbought than anyone can imagine just like the Nasdaq in 1999-2000. But the subsequent fall is inevitable.

REAL STOCK MARKET GAINS ARE 85% LOWER

Most people still measure their assets in currencies like dollars, pounds, euros, that are dropping faster than the Niagara Falls.

If you want to know your real stock market gains since 2000, you should deduct 85% since that is the loss of the dollar’s purchasing power in real terms since then.

More than 99% of investors will have lost money on that basis. So maybe they are not so clever after all.

Oh, how wonderful stock market gains are until you realise that it was all an illusion due to governments’ and central banks’ complete screwup of the economy and the currency.

Governments have learnt from master manipulators like Goebbels that you can fool all of the people all of the time. And this is simply because greed and the need for instant gratification stop people looking for the truth.

GOLD – $3,000 NEXT

I have recently received more emails than usual from people that are totally disillusioned with gold. I hasten to add that they are not from our clients who master the art of wealth preservation. This is normally a very good sign that a turn of the gold price is near.

These emails are from investors who are buying gold for instant gratification. Anyone who bought gold in 2000 at $290 is not concerned. But the ones who bought near the top in 2011 around $1,900 have obviously had a long wait.

What makes them more frustrated is seeing stocks going to ridiculous heights whilst they are missing out.

TWO DOZEN REASONS WHY OWNING PHYSICAL GOLD IS IMPERATIVE

Let me give people who are frustrated with the gold price the reasons why they shouldn’t be:

Firstly, physical gold is not bought for instant gains but as insurance and protection against a rotten financial system and constantly depreciating currencies.
If you buy gold for the right reason, you are buying ounces or kilos of real wealth that should not be measured on a regular basis in a currency which is being debased on a daily basis with unlimited printing of worthless paper money.
Your best friend when it comes to supporting the value of gold is your central banker. Remember that throughout history he has without fail worked diligently to destroy the currency.
Right now we are in the midst of the biggest global money printing exercise in history. Gold has not even started to reflect the total annihilation of paper money.
In relation to US money supply, gold is today at the same level as in 1970 when the gold price was $35 or in 2000 when gold was $290.
Just reflect on the statement in the chart below. In real times gold is now as cheap as in 1970 just before it started to climb 24X from $35 to $850 !!!
And it is as cheap as it was in 2000 before gold climbed almost 7X from $290 to $1,920.
Like most commodities, gold moves in waves or cycles. It is no use worrying about if gold at certain times is manipulated by the BIS (Bank of International Settlement), central banks and bullion banks.
Yes of course there is intervention, these banks admit it themselves. Even Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman at the time, testifying before the U.S. Congress in 1998 admitted, “central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise.”
We see regular flash crashes in gold at nighttime when the market is dead with the price dropping $30-50 in a few seconds. This is blatant manipulation as nobody would sell big quantities of gold in a market where the buyers are asleep.
As has been reported by many market observers like Alasdair Macleod, there are major shortages of gold and silver on the London market.
To alleviate this the BIS is issuing gold swaps to the bullion banks so that they with paper gold can make up the major physical short falls. I have regularly reported the massive turnover of paper gold on the London market. The daily LBMA trading is 2X the S&P trading.
This frenetic juggling of paper gold by the BIS is clearly a desperate attempt to cover up major shortages in the physical market. Why else would gross trading volumes be 2X greater than the S&P 500 which is a much bigger investment market.
Like all manipulation the chicanery in the paper gold and silver markets will eventually fail spectacularly.
As Matt Piepenburg and I have covered in many articles, inflation is likely to surge in coming years and so will interest rates. But just like in the 1970s, real inflation will be running ahead of interest rates, creating negative real yields which is very beneficial for gold. As I mentioned above, it was in that climate that gold went up 24X.
The correction we have just seen in gold was a natural part of the cyclical move of any commodity. For the last few weeks, I pointed out that gold would go down to the low $1,700s and probably overshoot on the downside as is often the case. Well, that is exactly what happened and the correction is now over. Still, it is important to understand that an unlikely attempt at around $1,670 again would not change the very bullish picture for gold.
The coming upmove in gold will be extremely strong and take everyone by surprise. There will be no reason for a major correction before the $3,000 level.
Whether gold will go to my long standing target of $10,000 IN TODAY’S MONEY or reach Jim Sinclair’s target of $50,000, we will see in the next 5 years. Also likely are probably hyperinflationary levels of $100 million or $100 trillion.
The levels above are neither forecasts nor meant to be sensational projections for attention seeking. No, they are likely consequences of all the factors that I have outlined above.
Exponential deficit and debt growth combined with galloping money printing will inevitably destroy most paper currencies in coming years.
The major structural shortages of physical gold and a failure of the gold paper markets could make physical gold unavailable at any price.
What I say about gold above will be even more relevant for silver which is likely to go up 3-5X as fast as gold. But remember that silver is not for the fainthearted since it is considerably more volatile than gold.
In the coming bear market for currencies and bull market for precious metals, gold and silver will not just maintain purchasing power but massively outperform and become the must have investment.
But above all, do not buy gold and silver for speculative purposes. Gold and silver is your insurance against the coming end of a monetary era when all currencies and bubble assets will implode.

You can today buy this insurance of gold and silver at a ridiculously low price. Don’t wait. Soon this insurance might not be available at any price.

Peter Schiff..

Peter Schiff: When Paul Krugman Talks, Nobody Should Listen

Via SchiffGold.com,

The latest Biden/Democrat stimulus bill is just the beginning. There is more government spending coming down the pike. That means more money printing. But Paul Krugman says not to worry. It didn’t cause a big jump in CPI last time and it won’t this time either. Peter Schiff talked about it in his podcast. He said when Krugman talks – nobody should listen.

With the ink barely dry on a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, reports are circulating that the Biden administration is about to unveil another $3 trillion spending proposal. This round of stimulus will reportedly target the Democratic Party agenda, including infrastructure spending, funding for aspects of the “Green New Deal,” and money to tackle “wealth disparity.”

The spending plan will likely include tax increases. Of course, tax increases on “the rich” have been a Democrat mainstay for decades, but this plan may tax a little further down the income ladder than promised during the campaign. Peter said this shouldn’t come as any surprise.

That’s why when they asked Willie Sutton, ‘Why do you rob banks?’ he said, ‘Well, that’s where the money is.’ Well, if you want to raise a lot of tax revenue, you can’t just target the top-end earners. The money is lower down. It’s the middle class, or the upper-middle class, that has a lot of money that you’re going to need to tap into if you’re planning on funding 3 to 4 trillion dollars worth of spending.”

Peter said he thinks to the extent that that tax increases do target the wealthy, some Republicans will have a hard time voting against infrastructure spending that will supposedly benefit the masses of voters that is all going to be paid for “by the rich.”

So, you lose the votes of the 1% to solidify the votes of the 99%. I mean, politicians can do math, right? That’s the only thing they can add up – votes. And they know there are more votes at the 99%.”

Peter said, he ultimately thinks these bills will pass, even if there is little to no Republican support.

The mantra is that all of this spending will “stimulate the economy.” But Peter said it will only stimulate one thing – inflation.

They’re going to light a fire under consumer prices, which I have been discussing on this podcast are going to be going up in a manner that we have never experienced before in this country.”

Peter said one difference is the way the government measures CPI now won’t even capture the real extent that Americans are suffering.

I think in real terms, if we had a more honest CPI, we’d probably be showing inflation rates above the 1970s by this year if not by next year.”

But there is one person out there assuring us there is nothing to worry about – Paul Krugman.

The New York Times columnist and Keynesian economist is out there taking another victory lap reminding everybody that he was right when inflation didn’t spike after the 2008 financial crisis. He’s saying that people like Peter who have been warning about the consequences of government borrowing, spending and money printing are just the same old doom-and-gloomers, and fear mongers who were wrong before. After all, according to Krugman, the Democrats got us out of the economic hole George W. Bush dug us into with deficit spending and stimulus. Republicans and people like Peter who were saying all of the money printing was going to cause inflation were just using it as a fear tactic.

Of course, I didn’t say that. I said all this money printing is inflation. It will lead to higher prices. And it has and it will. Just not nearly as much as it’s going to. But because we have not seen more substantial increases in a rigged CPI, Krugman is now saying ‘I told you so!’”

Part of the problem is the same Republicans who are now talking about inflation signed onto the stimulus bills when Trump was in office. It’s easy for Krugman to call them out on that hypocrisy.

And in one sense, Krugman was right. CPI never exploded to the levels that many feared. But he was right for the wrong reasons.

It’s just because the world was wrong in their assessment of the efficacy of US fiscal policy and monetary policy, and the ability of the Fed to actually do what it was bluffing it could do, which was normalize interest rates and shrink its balance sheet back down to pre-financial crisis levels. And on anticipation of normalization of interest rates, shrinking the balance sheet, and the fact that then Europe embarked on the same failed QE policy, only later than we did, the idea was we would be tightening while the rest of the world was still easing; we were the first into the crisis but we were going to be the first out, and that created a lot of demand for the dollar. And that helped support the US economy, the US bond market, and it temporarily kept a lid on consumer prices and made it appear the Krugman was right.”

He was not right. He was wrong.

We are going to get all the effects of all that inflation. It’s just going to happen later than people like I believed. It’s going to be happening, I think, now.”

This has emboldened Krugman. He thinks he was right just because he’s a brilliant economist. It doesn’t matter that we’re printing more money than ever before. It doesn’t matter that the US government is running massive deficits. We need more government. We need more spending. This is the Keynesian prescription. We just need to take our medicine and everything will be fine. According to Krugman, these Republicans just need to shut up and let the Democrats fix things.

Peter called this a complete joke.

But the joke is going to be on the rest of the country because this time Krugman is going to be wrong for the wrong reasons instead of right. Or maybe that’s wrong for the right reasons. I’m not even sure. But he’s dead wrong and all of this money printing and all of these deficits are going to result in a big increase in consumer prices. Not just a one-off increase, or a temporary increase, but this is the beginning of a major reset of the price structure in the United States. And it’s going to continue for years and years and it’s going to continue to build and feed on itself mainly because the Fed is going to be so far behind the curve by the time it even acknowledges, if it ever does, that there’s an inflation problem. Because the initial higher reads will be dismissed as transitory, so how long is it going to take before the Fed admits that it’s not transitory?”

And when it does finally realize inflation is out of control, it will be too late. The only way to put out the fire would be a massive increase in interest rates and a severe tightening of monetary policy. As Peter put it, the Fed would have to “go Volker.” The economy would collapse. It can’t raise rates to that extent with all of the debt in the economy. The Fed is between a rock and a hard place, no matter what Krugman thinks.

ii) Important gold commentaries courtesy of GATA/Chris Powell

Russia’s top diplomat visits China with a call to reduce USA dollar use

(Reuters/GATA)

Russia’s top diplomat starts China visit with call to reduce U.S. dollar use

Submitted by admin on Tue, 2021-03-23 11:32 Section: Daily Dispatches

By Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Andrew Osborn
Reuters
Tuesday, March 23, 2021

MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today began a visit to China with a call for Moscow and Beijing to reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar and Western payment systems to push back against what he called the West’s ideological agenda.

Lavrov, on a two-day visit to China, is expected to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart at a time when both countries’ ties with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden are badly strained.

U.S. and Chinese officials on Friday concluded what Washington called “tough and direct” talks in Alaska, while Russia’s ambassador arrived back in Moscow on Sunday for consultations after Biden said he believed President Vladimir Putin was a killer.

Russia is also braced for a new round of U.S. sanctions over what Washington says was its meddling in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which Moscow denies.

Speaking to Chinese media before the start of his visit, Lavrov said Moscow and Beijing were compelled to develop independently of Washington in order to thwart what he said were U.S. attempts to curb their technological development. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-china-usa/russias-top-diplomat…

END

The IMF is now considering issuing $650 billion in reserve assets to fund developing economies

(Bloomberg/GATA)

IMF considers issuing $650 billion in reserves

Submitted by admin on Tue, 2021-03-23 12:22 Section: Daily Dispatches

By Eric Martin and Saleha Mohsin
Bloomberg News
Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The International Monetary Fund is considering a plan to create as much as $650 billion in additional reserve assets to help developing economies cope with the pandemic, with an eye on making a decision next month, according to two people familiar with the plan.

The institution’s executive board is discussing the staff proposal informally today and one of the priorities will be to consider how much to issue in the units known as special drawing rights, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.

Attention is now focused on a $650 billion issuance, according to the people, after previous talk of $500 billion.

The IMF press office declined to comment. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva is expected to release a statement after the meeting, one of the people said.

Momentum has been building for the injection of funds after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen leaned toward supporting the action, reversing opposition last year under President Donald Trump. Her predecessor, Steven Mnuchin, blocked the move in 2020, saying that because reserves are allocated to all 190 members of the IMF in proportion to their quota, some 70% would go to the Group of 20, with just 3% for the poorest developing nations. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-23/imf-considers-plan-to…

END

Craig Hemke is banging on table to let everyone know not to have unallocated accounts

(Craig Hemke/Sprott)

Craig Hemke at Sprott Money: When ‘unallocated’ becomes unavailable

Submitted by admin on Tue, 2021-03-23 13:00 Section: Daily Dispatches

1p ET Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

The TF Metals Report’s Craig Hemke, writing today at Sprott Money, reminds everyone that the worldwide scheme of governments and central banks to suppress monetary metals prices can be beaten only if investors shun derivatives and “unallocated” metal and take delivery of the metal they think they own.

Hemke’s analysis is headlined “When ‘Unallocated’ Becomes Unavailable” and it’s posted at Sprott Money here:

https://www.sprottmoney.com/blog/When-Unallocated-Becomes-Unavailable-Cr…

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

END

Stefan Gleason comments that the Fed’s crypto plans may turn bitcoin bulls into gold bugs

Stefan Gleason/MMN/GATA)

Stefan Gleason: Fed’s crypto plans may turn bitcoin bulls into gold bugs

Submitted by admin on Wed, 2021-03-24 20:30 Section: Daily Dispatches

By Stefan Gleason
Money Metals News Service, Eagle, Idaho
Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The globalist push for central bank digital currency is ramping up.

On Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke at a virtual “Innovation Summit” hosted by the Bank for International Settlements, the central bank for central banks around the world.

…

Powell aimed his remarks specifically at digital currencies. And he made it clear that Bitcoin and other privately circulating crypto coins should not be allowed to supplant government-controlled fiat notes.

Clearly, Bitcoin’s recent surge to a market capitalization of $1 trillion set off alarms within the global central banking cabal. The prospect of cryptocurrencies becoming widely used in commerce and trade poses an existential threat to the world monetary order.

Powell derided cryptocurrencies: “They’re highly volatile and therefore not really useful stores of value, and they’re not backed by anything.”

Some sound money advocates would actually agree with those criticisms. But considering the source — a man who has digitally printed trillions of currency units “not backed by anything” and vowed to make them less valuable over time via inflation — they come off as disingenuous. …

… For the remainder of the commentary:

https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2021/03/23/feds-crypto-plans-may-turn-b…

* * *

iii) Other physical stories:

JOHN ADAMS…

Hi all,

You may be aware that an Australian bullion investor has gone public on reddit with allegations against ABC Bullion – Australia’s largest private sector bullion refiner and retailer – 2nd in the market behind the Perth Mint.

This investor goes by the name of “JulieGSilver”.

I spoke to her this morning by phone. She has been caught in a fractional reserve allocated vaulting system – which is something I wrote to you about yesterday.

I issued a tweet about this issue a few hours ago. See the following link:

https://twitter.com/adamseconomics/status/1374873740127870982?s=20

Rehypothecation of allocated and segregated accounts is definitely an issue in the Australian market. Perhaps legal action may clean this practice up in Australia.

Cheers,

John Adams

On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 11:18 AM John Adams <john@adamseconomics.com> wrote:

Gentlemen,

As you continue to educate retail investors on the importance of holding physical gold and silver (as opposed to synthetic unallocated and pool allocated holdings), I thought it is important that you tell people the risks of “fractional reserve allocated vaulting systems”.

There are some allegations that this is happening in the Australian market at the retail level.

Eric Sprott has accused central banks such as the Bank of England of running a similar scheme in the gold market.

Go to the 4:28 mark of the following video and listen to Eric Sprott talk about ‘official sector supply’.

(2310) Adams/North – Help John Adams Find Australia’s Missing 11 Tonnes Of Gold – YouTube

Happy to engage.

—

yours faithfully,

John Adams

Principal Economic Analyst

Adams Economics

E-mail: john@adamseconomics.com

Website: www.adamseconomics.com

—

yours faithfully,

John Adams

Principal Economic Analyst

Adams Economics

E-mail: john@adamseconomics.com

Website: www.adamseconomics.com

Attachments area

Preview YouTube video Adams/North – Help John Adams Find Australia’s Missing 11 Tonnes Of Gold

Very interesting!

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

Interesting.

ReplyReply allForward

Your early THURSDAY morning currency, Asian stock market results, important USA/Asian currency crosses, gold/silver pricing overnight along with the price of oil Major stories overnight/7 AM EST

i) Chinese yuan vs USA dollar/CLOSED down at 6.5401 / /

//OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.5419 /shanghai bourse CLOSED down 3.47 pts or .10%

HANG SANG CLOSED DOWN 18.53 pts or 0.07%

2. Nikkei closed up 324.36 pts or 1.145%

3. Europe stocks OPENED ALL RED/

USA dollar index UP TO 92.63/Euro FALLS TO 1.1809

3b Japan 10 year bond yield: RISES TO. +.09/ !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 109.06/ THIS IS TROUBLESOME AS BANK OF JAPAN IS RUNNING OUT OF BONDS TO BUY./JAPAN 10 YR YIELD IS NOW TARGETED AT .11%/JAPAN LOSING CONTROL OF THEIR BOND MARKET//CARRY TRADERS GETTING KILLED

3c Nikkei now JUST BELOW 17,000

3d USA/Yen rate now well below the important 120 barrier this morning

3e WTI:: 59.95 and Brent: 63.06

3f Gold DOWN/JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE YUAN: ON -SHORE CLOSED DOWN/OFF- SHORE: DOWN

3g Japan is to buy the equivalent of 108 billion uSA dollars worth of bond per month or $1.3 trillion. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion usa./“HELICOPTER MONEY” OFF THE TABLE FOR NOW /REVERSE OPERATION TWIST ON THE BONDS: PURCHASE OF LONG BONDS AND SELLING THE SHORT END

Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and by 2018 they will have 25% of all Japanese debt. Fifty percent of Japanese budget financed with debt.

3h Oil DOWN for WTI and DOWN FOR Brent this morning

3i European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund FALLS TO -.37%/Italian 10 yr bond yield DOWN to 0.60% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 0.27%…ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD/GERMAN BUND: 0.97: DANGEROUS FOR THE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM

3j Greek 10 year bond yield FALLS TO : 0.85

3k Gold at $1727.60 silver at: 24.60 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00

3l USA vs Russian rouble; (Russian rouble UP 60/100 in roubles/dollar) 76.01

3m oil into the 59 dollar handle for WTI and 63 handle for Brent/

3n Higher foreign deposits out of China sees huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/

JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 INITIATES NIRP. THIS MORNING THEY SIGNAL THEY MAY END NIRP. TODAY THE USA/YEN TRADES TO 109.06 DESTROYING JAPANESE CITIZENS WITH HIGHER FOOD INFLATION

30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the SF. It is not working: USA/SF this morning .9354 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF is 1.1047 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.

3p BRITAIN VOTES AFFIRMATIVE BREXIT/LOWER PARLIAMENT APPROVES BREXIT COMMENCEMENT/ARTICLE 50 COMMENCES MARCH 29/2017

3r the 10 Year German bund now NEGATIVE territory with the 10 year FALLING to –0.37%

The bank withdrawals were causing massive hardship to the Greek bank. the Greek referendum voted overwhelming “NO”. Next step for Greece will be the recapitalization of the banks and that will be difficult.

4. USA 10 year treasury bond at 1.607% early this morning. Thirty year rate at 2.307%

5. Details Ransquawk, Bloomberg, Deutsche bank/Jim Reid.

6. TURKISH LIRA: UP TO 7.98..

Futures, Yields Slide As Month-End Jitters Spread

US equity futures faded a modest overnight rebound on Thursday, ahead of data that is expected to show a small drop in weekly jobless claims after last week’s surprise spike, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq looked set to stabilize after its latest 2% rollercoaster drop in the previous session. The dollar and 10Y yields were unchanged from Thursday’s close, while oil turned lower after a rally spurred by the blockage of the Suez Canal fizzled. It wasn’t clear what was the reason for the persistent late – and as of today, early – selloff, but increasingly many are speculating that the month-end rebalance by pensions is winning the battle, if not the war, against the quant buying we noted in “Month-End Set For Epic Clash Between Forced Pension Selling And Quant Buying.”

At 730 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 27 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 e-minis were flat, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 24 points, or 0.18%.

Among some early movers, shares of Nike fell 3.6% as the company risked a boycott in China over its practice of not sourcing cotton from the contentious Xinjiang region. Carnival Corp. rose from its worst three-day slump since November on prospects for the return of cruise-line operations. U.S.-listed shares of Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.Com Inc were subdued after the U.S. securities regulator adopted measures that would kick foreign companies off stock exchanges if they do not comply with U.S. auditing standards.

Nasdaq 100 futures turned red after rising earlier, after a Wednesday rout which saw investors pile into energy names and dump growth stocks, as investors are mulling which sectors of the stock market are best-placed to benefit from faster growth, while monitoring the risks of higher inflation. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell laid out their positive assessments of the recovery with reminders that it still has a long way to go in a second day of Congressional testimony.

“The reflation trade will have further legs to run,” Lale Akoner, BNY Mellon Investment Management senior market strategist, said on Bloomberg TV. “We do see higher inflationary pressures building, higher interest rates and softer dollar to continue.”

Europe’s Stoxx 600 index rebounded from a sharp drop at the open, and were last trading down -0.2% as concern over lockdown extensions and vaccine hiccups are keeping cyclical stocks on the back foot, with energy firms and banks among the biggest contributors to the slight loss on the Stoxx Europe 600 index. European travel stocks fall, with the Stoxx 600 Travel & Leisure index down as much as 1%, amid news on possible U.K. restrictions, U.S. cruising and an update from tour operator TUI. Carnival slides as much as 5.9% as U.S. regulators dampen hopes of a quicker resumption of cruising; TUI declines 3.7% as company reduces its summer capacity plan. Airlines were also weak as U.K. warns it may need to impose border restrictions on some European countries: British Airways-owner IAG down 2.4% at 10am U.K. time, Easyjet -1.7%, Ryanair -1.5%; Lufthansa -3.2%. Finally, U.K. pub stocks slumped as Prime Minister Boris Johnson says venues may choose to require proof of vaccination from customers: Marston’s -2.2%, Fuller Smith & Turner -1.2%, Wetherspoon -0.7%.

European Union leaders are expected to lay out plans for reopening their economies at a video conference summit later in the day.

Earlier in the session, Asian stocks enjoyed their first advance in five sessions as investors snapped up cyclical stocks, with industrials and financials driving the advance in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Japanese shares were the biggest gainers, as the Topix rose more than 1% for its first gain of the week after Kuroda made some soothing noises on the BOJ buying ETFs. Banks and electronics makers boosted the nation’s shares, with Keyence contributing most to the benchmark’s gain after Goldman gave a bullish view of the factory automation sector. Philippine stocks rallied for a third day, ahead of the nation’s central bank’s decision after market close to keep its policy rates unchanged. India’s Sensex led losses among key regional gauges, amid renewed worries over a resurgence of coronavirus cases in the country. Hong Kong indexes underperformed, weighed down by tech stocks after U.S. regulators revived delisting threats, and Tencent’s earnings were seen as disappointing.

Japanese stocks notched their first gain of the week, as electronics makers and banks drove gains in the Topix. All sectors on the benchmark gauge gained on Thursday. Fast Retailing and Fanuc were the biggest contributors to the advance in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average, which ended a four-day losing streak. Equities climbed even after Japan said North Korea fired two ballistic missiles on Thursday, in breach of United Nations resolutions. The rise also defied a tech-driven rout in U.S. stocks Wednesday. Commodities-related stocks were strong after a ship grounded in the Suez Canal, blocking a key oil supply route. Biopharmaceutical company AnGes surged 15% after it confirmed the safety of a Covid-19 treatment candidate in a study. SoftBank Group slumped after reports of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its trading activities, which the company said it had no knowledge of.

The Bank of Japan bought 71.3 billion yen ($655 million) of exchange-traded funds under its market-support program Wednesday, marking an increase from the 51.3 billion yen worth it had purchased in daily actions so far this year. The BOJ has said it will stop buying exchange-traded funds tracking the Nikkei 225 and purchase only Topix-linked funds from April 1. “The BOJ adjusting its ETF purchase program isn’t really a reason to sell-off, because by buying Topix-tracking ETFs, they’re still buying stocks that are on the Nikkei 225 too,” said Naoki Fujiwara, chief fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management. “That said, it’s unclear in what circumstances they will buy. It’s a little too soon to tell.” Summary

Emerging Market equities extended their longest losing streak since September, threatening to wipe out all of this year’s gains. MSCI’s developing-nation stock index dropped for a fifth day, led by declines from India to Brazil and China. Currencies also slid, with the Turkish lira heading for its worst four-day rout since August 2018. Meantime, the risk premium for emerging-market sovereign bonds narrowed to 353 basis points over U.S. Treasuries, according to data compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Traders are taking a cautious approach to developing-nation assets as the dollar rebounds, oil prices weaken and U.S. Treasury yields tick ever higher. The market meltdown in Turkey is only adding to the volatility. “It doesn’t seem emerging markets can catch a break,” said Omotunde Lawal, the head of emerging-market corporate debt at Barings U.K. in London. “I think the direction of travel will be virus data determinant from here. We could see spreads widen a bit more, but not a cataclysmic widening.”

In a notable overnight development, Reuters reported that the SEC started an inquiry into the the blank-check company frenzy that’s gripping Wall Street.

In rates, Treasuries were back to within a basis point of Wednesday’s closing levels after paring losses incurred during Asia session amid choppiness in Chinese stocks. 10-year yield little changed at ~1.61% with bunds and gilts outperforming by 2bp-3bp; bunds are on track for a fifth straight advance, longest streak since October. Bunds led the move off the lows during European morning, outperforming Treasuries, where dealers are braced for 7-year note auction along with more Fedspeak. The $62b 7-year auction at 1pm ET concludes this week’s auction cycle, in which 2- and 5-year sales were well received. WI 7-year yield around 1.285% is above auction stops since January 2020 and ~9bp cheaper than last month’s, which tailed by more than 4bp.

In FX, the dollar drifted in a narrow range as Treasuries snapped a three-day run of gains before a sale of seven-year bonds. Commodity currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars rose as risk appetite improved with gains in regional stocks. USD/JPY climbed as much as 0.4% on demand from Japanese importers amid Gotobi day flows and leveraged buying, traders said.

“Yield- sensitive JPY bears are watching over U.S. data today and the seven-year U.S. Treasury auction as a new rise in yields could see USD/JPY popping the top on new highs and making a run at the critical chart and psychological level of 110,” said Steen Jakobsen, chief investment officer at Saxo Bank

Exporters purchased the Aussie at lower levels for hedging obligations into the month- and quarter-end, according to a trader.

“Both Aussie and the dollar-yen pair are well-bid as risk sentiment improved as regional stocks are broadly higher,” said Takuya Kanda, general manager at Gaitame.com Research Institute Ltd. in Tokyo. “The Aussie has been sold recently and market players are buying it back to adjust their sell positions.”

In commodities, WTI and Brent futures started the session on a softer footing and are hovering just off worst levels, following on from Asia’s overnight lead where oil slid. Fundamental factors for the fragility in prices could be derived down to fresh COVID lockdowns which are restoring concerns over demand for oil products. Adding to the ever-rising European infection rates, is the growing COVID rates in developing economies such as Brazil, and India, where on Wednesday the latter reported its highest one-day tally of new infections and deaths whilst finding a new “double mutant” variant. Despite the ongoing concerns over global demand, over in the supply side, the Suez Canal is still blocked which is potentially blocking 10 tankers carrying 13 million barrels of oil and hence the global supply of the commodity.

Elsewhere, Bitcoin fell as much as 4.7%, to the lowest in about two weeks. The fifth-day decline in the cryptocurrency is its longest stretch this year.

Looking at today’s key events Investors will be looking at the seven-year Treasury note auction today to gauge the direction of bond yields. President Joe Biden will host his first formal news conference Thursday. Expected data include unemployment claims and GDP. Darden Restaurants is among companies reporting earnings

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures up 0.1% to 3,886.00
MXAP up 0.2% to 202.69
MXAPJ down 0.1% to 669.89
Nikkei up 1.1% to 28,729.88
Topix up 1.4% to 1,955.55
Hang Seng Index little changed at 27,899.61
Shanghai Composite down 0.1% to 3,363.59
Sensex down 0.8% to 48,772.06
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.2% to 6,790.56
Kospi up 0.4% to 3,008.33
Brent futures down 1.2% to $63.64/bbl
Gold spot down 0.1% to $1,733.39
U.S. Dollar Index up 0.2% to 92.68
SXXP Index little changed at 423.31
German 10Y yield down 1 bp -0.37%
Euro little changed at $1.1816

Top Overnight News from Bloomberg

AstraZeneca Plc reported a slightly lower efficacy rate for its Covid-19 vaccine after the results of an American clinical trial were criticized as outdated, raising further questions over the embattled shot and potentially delaying its approval in the U.S.
An elite team is tackling the monumental challenge of freeing the massive container vessel that’s blocking the Suez Canal, as a backlog of ships continued to build up for a third day in what is arguably the world’s most important waterway.
The Swiss National Bank softened its language on the need to intervene in currency markets to protect the economy, while insisting the franc is still “highly valued.”
The U.K. economy could see a “rip roaring” recovery even if consumers spend just a bit of the additional savings they accumulated during the Covid crisis, according to Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane.
Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund pulled off one more deal in the closing days before President Recep Tayyip Erdogan jolted investors by ousting the central bank’s governor.

A quick look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

Asian equity markets were choppy as the region attempted to shrug-off the weak handover from Wall St where risk appetite was sapped amid further chatter of tax hikes in which both Treasury Secretary Yellen and Democratic Senator Manchin voiced their support for corporate tax increases. In addition, month- and quarter-end flows were also being touted as a potential factor coming into prominence while the declines were led by underperformance in small caps and tech which escalated to an initial bloodbath among Hong Kong-listed tech giants. Nonetheless, ASX 200 (+0.2%) was kept afloat for most of the session by resilience in defensive sectors and after officials including RBA Deputy Governor Debelle continued to speak highly of the domestic economy. Nikkei 225 (+1.2%) coat tailed on favourable currency flows with exporters cheering USD/JPY’s attempt to reclaim the 109.00 handle and the KOSPI (+0.4%) swung between gains and losses following news that North Korea fired another two missiles which Japan suggested may have been ballistic missiles and would therefore be in violation of UN resolutions, although South Korea later referred to them as short-range projectiles. Hang Seng (-0.1%) and Shanghai Comp. (-0.1%) were pressured at the open with a slump seen in the large tech names including Alibaba, Xiaomi, JD.com and Tencent following the US tech rout and amid delisting fears after the SEC recently adopted measures which could boot foreign companies off US exchanges if they do not comply with auditing standards. This dragged all components of the Hang Seng TECH Index into the red at early trade, while the recent China Q1 Beige Book was also tepid in which it noted that the service sector improved only marginally which is a sign consumption remains weak and a reason to remain cautious, although Chinese markets eventually rebounded from most the earlier losses. Finally, 10yr JGBs were softer amid a pullback in USTs and with demand sapped as Japanese stocks outperformed their regional peers, while the 40yr JGB auction provided some mild support as the results showed a relatively stable b/c and higher accepted prices.

Top Asian News

Philippines Holds Rates as Recovery Concerns Trump Inflation
Turkish Wealth Fund Clinched Loan Deal in Last Days of Agbal Era
Amazon’s Clean Energy Provider in Singapore Said to Weigh IPO
Samsung Unveils Next-Gen Memory for Data-Hungry AI and Computers

European stocks see somewhat of a choppy session within tight ranges (Euro Stoxx 50 -0.3%) after a similar tone was observed in APAC hours, with news flow again on the lighter side ahead of a myriad of central bank speakers and heading into month/quarter-end. On that note, BofA estimates that US private pensions will be needing equity-to-bond flows of some USD 88bbln, whilst JPM estimates balanced mutual funds to sell USD 136bln of equities and drop the money into fixed income. US equity futures have been consolidating following yesterday’s declines, with the tech-led NQ (+0.3%) narrowly outperforming. Sectors in Europe, however, portray more of a defensive bias, with a firmer performance seen across Staples, Healthcare, Telecoms, and Utilities, whilst value/cyclical sectors lag. Oil & Gas reside as the laggard amid the overnight decline in oil prices. Travel & Leisure continues to feel jitters over the worsening COVID situation in Europe. Further for the travel sector, the US CDC yesterday ordered the limit on US cruises to stay in effect until November 1st, thus Carnival (-3.8%) shares are plumbing the depths. In terms of individual movers, Adidas (-3.6%) is lower as its peer Nike (-3.5% pre-mkt) is facing backlash in China after they expressed concern about the alleged use of forced Uighur labour in the production of Xinjiang cotton, with H&M (-3.0%) also caught in the crosshairs. AstraZeneca (+0.5%) opened firmer as its amended Phase 3 results showed vaccine efficacy essentially unchanged. Siemens Healthineers (-1.4%) trades lower but trades off worst levels after announcing a share placement at a discounted price of USD 44.10/shr for some EUR 2.34bln.

Top European News

Commerzbank Leadership Crisis Deepens as Schmitz Resigns
Cineworld Gets New Lending, Eyeing Perilous Path Post- Covid
BOE’s Chief Economist Says ‘Rip Roaring’ Recovery Is Possible
Boohoo Cuts U.K. Suppliers as Part of Cleanup Efforts

In FX, contrasting fortunes for the Aussie, Kiwi and Yen as the Greenback continues to grind higher, with the Antipodeans deriving some traction from a rebound in APAC bond yields, but the latter losing more of its recent bullish momentum to suggest that Japanese buyers may have completed the bulk of their hedging and positioning for the turn of the month, quarter and financial year. Aud/Usd is keeping in touch with 0.7600 and Nzd/Usd is holding above 0.6950, while the Aud/Nzd cross pivots 1.0900 and Usd/Jpy breaches 109.00 eyeing several peaks that stand in the way of the y-t-d high from March 15 around 109.37. However, even if offers that were said to be sitting circa 109.30 have been withdrawn, the Yen could find solace via decent option expiry interest residing between 109.25-30 (1.5 bn) ahead of the NY cut.

USD/EUR/GBP – Notwithstanding the outperformance or resilience noted down under, the Buck remains on a firm footing and in DXY terms building a more solid platform above 92.500 to expose loftier multi-month targets above the 200 DMA, like 92.727, 92.804 and 92.847 dating back to November 19, 23 and 16 respectively. Conversely, the Euro is relying on a combination of option-related bids and sentimentality to maintain 1.1800+ status given 1.5 bn rolling off at the strike, while Sterling seems mainly dependent on chart support below 1.3700 as February 5’s circa 1.3658 low is the only level offering cover into 1.3650 and Fib retracements under the half round number.
CAD/CHF – The Loonie has drifted back down after probing 1.2550 vs its US counterpart yesterday in line with slippage in oil prices and the Franc is broadly flat following the SNB’s latest quarterly policy review that left all key policy settings and stances unchanged, as widely expected, but came with CPI upgrades, a relatively positive economic assessment for the 2nd half of 2021 and a change in the level of currency intervention to a willingness as and when required from ‘more’ strongly last December. Usd/Chf is hovering towards the base of a 0.9376-51 range and Eur/Chf nearer 1.1050 than 1.1070.

In commodities, WTI and Brent front month futures have started the session on a softer footing and are hovering just off worst levels, following on from Asia’s overnight lead where oil slid. On this, fundamental factors for the fragility in prices could be derived down to fresh COVID lockdowns which are restoring concerns over demand for oil products. Furthermore, adding to the ever-rising European infection rates, is the growing COVID rates in developing economies such as Brazil, and India, where on Wednesday the latter reported its highest one-day tally of new infections and deaths whilst finding a new “double mutant” variant. Despite the ongoing concerns over global demand, over in the supply side, the Suez Canal is still blocked which is potentially blocking 10 tankers carrying 13 million barrels of oil and hence the global supply of the commodity. Leading on from this, sources state the tanker may not be removed until Sunday which could create further constraints and filter through into oil prices. WTI May trades just above the USD 60.00/bbl handle (vs high 60.86/bbl) whilst its Brent counterpart trades marginally above USD 63.50/bbl (vs high 64.19/bbl). Looking ahead to notable risk events on the table include possible JMMC & OPEC+ source reports ahead of their meeting next week. As a reminder, yesterday OPEC+ sources that expectations are growing OPEC+ will rollover their current supply curbs into May. Reason for caution includes fresh lockdowns around the world alongside rising Iranian exports. However, this may be easier said than done as unanimity is needed for the final decision. Elsewhere, US GDP Final, US Initial Jobless Claims & US President Biden press conference are events to keep an eye on. Separately, spot gold and silver are both softer on the session which could be in the large part down to the stronger Dollar. However, it is worth noting overnight spot silver slipped to a two-week low, but gold inched higher due to the rising cases across Europe prompting some safe-haven flows, but gains were capped due to the Dollar hitting a fresh four-month high. Spot gold remains just above USD 1,730/oz (vs high USD 1,738/oz) and spot silver is marginally below USD 25/oz (vs high USD 25.16). Moving onto base metals, LME copper follows the softer sentiment and resides in the red and trading around USD 8,770/t. Dalian iron ore has risen for a third consecutive session amid an increase in demand and tight global supply, with the supply constraints linked to flooding in top exporter Australia, and the Suez Canal blockade.

US Event Calendar

8:30am: March Initial Jobless Claims, est. 730,000, prior 770,000; Continuing Claims, est. 4m, prior 4.12m
8:30am: 4Q GDP Price Index, est. 2.1%, prior 2.1%; 4Q PCE Core QoQ, est. 1.4%, prior 1.4%
8:30am: 4Q GDP Annualized QoQ, est. 4.1%, prior 4.1%; Personal Consumption, est. 2.4%, prior 2.4%
9:45am: March Langer Consumer Comfort, prior 48.6
11am: March Kansas City Fed Manf. Activity, est. 26, prior 24

Central Bank Speakers

10:10am: Fed’s Clarida Speaks on Outlook for Economy and Monetary…
12pm: Fed’s Bostic Gives Speech to Economic Club of New York
1pm: Fed’s Evans Discuses the Economic Outlook
1pm: ECB’s Schnabel in Fireside Chat at NY Stern Online Series
7pm: Fed’s Daly Discusses Monetary Policy

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

Risk assets gained ground for most of yesterday following the release of strong flash PMI readings, but a late sell-off in US tech created a weak close with the S&P 500 losing -0.55%. US Energy companies (+2.52%) outperformed on the back of higher oil prices, along with other cyclical sectors including industrials (+0.73%), materials (+0.69%) and financials (+0.44%). However, many of the beneficiaries from the stay-at-home trade suffered, as the NSYE FANG+ index of megacap tech stocks fell -3.17%. Stocks such as Peloton (-10.2%), DocuSign (-4.6%) and Zoom (-7.3%) were among the worst performers in tech. There was no clear catalyst for the selloff, but the strong PMI numbers did seem to restart the rotation trade from growth to cyclicals.

The reopening trade also took a bit of a late hit though on news that the CDC is planning a more phased reopening for the cruise line industry this summer rather than a quick restart. This caused cruise operators such as Carnival (-1.7%), Royal Caribbean (-2.8%) and Norwegian Cruise Line (-4.9%) to fall sharply, but other cyclicals also put in their intraday highs just prior to this announcement.

It was all going well for risk with PMIs providing fresh impetus to the reflation trade. They generally came in much stronger than expected and also showed that inflationary pressures remained strong, with numerous price gauges at their highest in years. Looking at the headline numbers, the Euro Area composite PMI rose to an 8-month high of 52.5 (vs. 49.1 expected), which brought an end to a 4-month run when it had been in contractionary territory. Manufacturing in particular was incredibly strong, with the Euro Area manufacturing PMI climbing to an all-time high of 62.4 (vs. 57.6 expected), while services also outpaced expectations at 48.8 (vs. 46.0 expected). Records were being set in Germany too, with their manufacturing PMI at a record 66.6 (vs. 60.5 expected), and with the services number advancing back into expansionary territory at 50.8 (vs. 46.5 expected). German manufacturing input prices rose another 6.2 points to 84.5, just short of their all-time highs of 88.0 from Feb 2011.

Over in the US the numbers were a little more subdued, but the services PMI still rose to 60.0 (vs. 60.1 expected), its highest in more than 6 years, while the manufacturing PMI matched the second fastest level since 2007 of 59.0 (vs. 59.5 expected). The US composite gauge of prices paid and received rose to new records as supply shortages and supply chain issues lead to inflation worries. Input prices exceeded prices charged by double digits for the second time since the data started being tracked in 2009, which suggests there is pressure on margins.

The release of the European numbers shortly after the open proved strongly supportive for equities on the continent, with the STOXX 600 paring back its initial losses (when it hit an intraday low of -0.70%) to close flat (+0.02%) and just off its highs of the day. This was before the bulk of the US sell-off. Meanwhile, 10yr US Treasury yields also moved higher on the back of the releases, though yields then fell back following the CDC guidance for a slower reopening before ending the day down -1.2bps to 1.608%. The move lower was driven by real yields falling back (-2.5bps) even as inflation expectations rose +1.3bps. The 7 year auction today will be a big focus especially since last month’s equivalent saw poor demand and seemed to help further precipitate the sell-off. Ahead of this European yields also moved slightly lower yesterday, with 10yr bunds (-1.2bps), OATs (-1.6bps) and BTPs (-1.1bps) all seeing declines.

In their second day testifying before Congress, Treasury Secretary Yellen and Federal Reserve Chair Powell reaffirmed that while the economy is healing there is a long way still to go. Chair Powell said that the government had avoided the worst outcomes of the pandemic with the aggressive spending policies and low interest rate environment of the past year. Secretary Yellen acknowledged that while it was “appropriate” to expand deficit spending to deal with the effects of the recession, “longer-run, we do have to raise revenue to support permanent spending that we want to do.” On inflation, Chair Powell continues to push back on the narrative that the Fed could find itself behind the curve saying, “the inflation dynamics that we’ve seen around the world for a quarter-century are essentially intact — we’ve got a world that’s short of demand, with very low inflation… those dynamics haven’t gone away overnight, and won’t.”

Elsewhere in markets, one of the biggest pieces of news over the last 24 hours has been the blockage in the Suez Canal, which has sent oil prices soaring in response, with both Brent Crude (+5.95%) and WTI (+5.92%) seeing their largest daily rises so far this year. That’s still puts them around -7.5% off their peaks from 2 weeks ago. We referenced the blockage briefly yesterday but the issue was caused by the Ever Given container ship running aground, and thus blocking the route through which 12% of global trade passes. For perspective, the ship is 400m long, which puts it somewhere between the height of the Eiffel Tower (324m to the tip) and the Empire State Building (443m to the tip). Work to remove the 200k ton vessel was paused overnight with SMIT Salvage, a Dutch firm that specialises in ship wreckages, being called in to assess the situation. Bloomberg has cited Nick Sloane, the salvage master responsible for refloating the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that capsized on the coast of Italy in 2012, as saying that the best chance for freeing the ship may not come until Sunday or Monday, when the tide will reach a peak. The current low tide is slowing the work to clear the ship.

Overnight in Asia, markets are mostly trading higher with the Nikkei (+1.14%), Hang Seng (+0.26%), Shanghai Comp (+0.21%) and Kospi (+0.33%) all making gains. Futures on the S&P 500 are up +0.30% and those on the Nasdaq are up +0.28% but European ones are pointing to a weaker open as they try to catch up with yesterday’s late selloff in US equities. 10y USTs are up +1.1bps to 1.622% driven by a rise in real yields. New Zealand’s 10y yields are up +5.5bps and Australia’s +2.6bps while those on 10y JGBs are up +1.4bps. Elsewhere, WTI (-1.77%) and Brent (-1.44%) crude oil prices are giving up some of yesterday’s gains.

In other overnight news, Reuters reported that the US SEC has started an inquiry into the SPAC IPO space by asking for voluntary information. The inquiry which is currently not at the level of a formal investigation is focused on how the underwriter banks are managing the risks involved with the SEC asking for information on deal fees, volumes and internal controls to police deals and asking questions on compliance and reporting. Reuters report also added that the SEC concerns may be centred around due diligence and the heightened risk of insider trading when a SPAC goes public and when it announces an acquisition target.

On the pandemic, yesterday saw the EU announce tougher proposals to restrict vaccine exports, with new regulations that would require member states to consider both reciprocity and proportionality when exporting. In other words, they would have to take into account whether the other country were restricting their own exports of vaccines or raw materials, as well as the virus situation in the export destination country and its vaccination rates. The UK could stand to be one of the major losers, since its own vaccination rollout is significantly ahead of the EU’s, yet it’s reliant on the EU for the import of vaccine doses. EU leaders will be meeting via videoconference later today and tomorrow, where the pandemic and the vaccination rollout are at the top of the agenda, and as it happens, US President Biden is due to join in with the gathering tonight for a discussion on transatlantic relations.

Continuing with vaccines, AstraZeneca reported a slight lower efficacy rate for its vaccine overnight after the results of an American clinical trial were criticised as outdated by the DSMB. The company said in a statement that its shot was 76% effective in its US trial based on the latest data as against the previously stated efficacy rate of 79%. Meanwhile, AZ maintained that its vaccine protected all volunteers against developing severe disease or requiring hospitalisation. The company added that they will now file an application for emergency use authorization in the US and are “preparing for the rollout of millions of doses across America.”

The other big news on the pandemic was that Germany dropped a plan for a 5-day lockdown over Easter, with Chancellor Merkel describing the move as a “mistake”. However, the numbers continued to rise in multiple European countries, with Poland reporting a record number of cases yesterday, whilst Belgium announced schools would shut a week early, and that the limit on outdoor gatherings would go down to 4, from 10 at present. Iceland, viewed as a nation that has handled the pandemic well, also tightened restrictions for the next three weeks as infections rose linked to the UK variant. In the US, three more states (Utah, Idaho and Louisiana) have expanded vaccine eligibility to all adults in the coming weeks in an effort to ensure that all those who want the jab can get it as quickly as possible. Restrictions were relaxed in Colorado, one of the largest states where many curbs on dining and personal gatherings remained in place.

As well as the PMIs, yesterday’s data included the preliminary release of February’s durable goods orders in the US, which unexpectedly fell by -1.1% (vs. +0.5% expected), marking the first monthly decline since April last year. Meanwhile the UK’s CPI inflation reading also fell unexpectedly to +0.4% (vs. +0.8% expected), as core inflation also fell back to +0.9% (vs. +1.4% expected).

To the day ahead now and there are an array of central bank speakers, including ECB President Lagarde and BoE Governor Bailey, along with the ECB’s de Guindos, Weidmann, Villeroy and Schnabel, and the Fed’s Williams, Clarida, Bostic, Evans and Daly. On top of that, the ECB will be releasing their latest Economic Bulletin. The data highlights include the weekly initial jobless claims from the US, along with the third estimate of Q4’s GDP, while in Europe we’ve got the Euro Area’s M3 money supply for February and France’s business confidence for March. Finally, EU leaders will be meeting via videoconference later today.

3A/ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)THURSDAY MORNING/ WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 3.47 PTS OR .10% //Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 18.53 PTS OR .07% /The Nikkei closed UP 324.36 POINTS OR 1.14%//Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.13%

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

NORTH KOREA

North Korea fires two ballistic missiles to get under the skin of Biden

(zerohedge)

North Korea Fires Two Ballistic Missiles

Update 730pm: Japanese defense have confirmed that the missile launch by North Korea was ballistic, while the Japan’s government said North Korea’s missile launches are a serious problem for the Japan and the international community, adding it will “gather and analyze information, and maintain alertness.”

Shortly after, Japan’s PM Suga said that North Korea had fired 2 ballistic missiles, calling the launch a threat to regional security and strongly condemning the launch.

* * *

Just days after North Korea was confirmed to have resumed test missile launches, when last weekend it fired two short-range missiles off its west coast, Kim Jong Un appears ready to test the resolve of Joe Biden.

Earlier today we reported that it was – belatedly – revealed late Tuesday that North Korea had fired two short-range cruise missiles off its west coast into the sea on Sunday morning, according to confirmation by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The details were as follows: “Sunday morning, the 21st, [authorities] spotted two suspected cruise missiles in the Onchon, South Pyongan area,” the military said, underscoring that it knew about the test in real-time. Though it’s the first such missile test during the Biden administration, all sides appeared to downplay it, including the White House which dubbed it “normal activity”. A senior administration official told the press, “We see this action in the category of normal activity.”

Describing the unusual scenario of the information not being made public about the ‘mysterious test’ ABC News writes:

Curiously, neither North Korea nor South Korea had acknowledged the firing of the two missiles immediately on Sunday as is routinely done by both countries. North Korea typically discloses launches to promote its technological advances, while South Korea provides quick updates to highlight their provocative nature.

It also could be that given the White House is busy ratcheting tensions with China and Russia via a series of sanctions – and even pre-announced cyberattacks – the US administration is content to look the other way for now and not open up yet another foreign policy row. Downplaying is precisely what the above-cited admin official sought to do, saying further, “North Korea has a familiar menu of provocations when it wants to send a message to a U.S. administration,” but that “Experts rightly recognized what took place last weekend as falling on the low end of that spectrum,” according to ABC.

President Biden himself appeared to laugh it off when asked by a reporter Wednesday: “Do you consider that to be a real provocation by North Korea?”

“No, according to the Defense Department, it’s business as usual.”

“There’s no new wrinkle in what they did”

When asked if it impacts diplomacy, Biden simply laughed at the question and walked away.

Incidentally, it was only a little over a week ago that Pyongyang had also issued its first direct threat against Washington since Biden entered office. The powerful sister of Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, warned the United States it must “refrain from causing a stink” if it desires to “sleep in peace” over the next four years.

“If it wants to sleep in peace for coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step,” she was cited as saying in state media.

Well, just a few hours after he laughed about it, North Korea appears to have escalated once again it what is a clear test of Biden’s willingness to engage with the communist regime, when Bloomberg and Reuters quoted the Japanese Coast Guard which said that a ballistic missile may have been fired from North Korea, and added that it had warned ships against “coming close to falling objects.”

JAPAN COAST GUARD SAYS N.KOREA MAY HAVE FIRED BALLISTIC MISSILE
JAPANESE COAST GUARD WARNS SHIPS AGAINST COMING CLOSE TO FALLING OBJECTS AND CALLS ON THEM TO PROVIDE INFORMATION.

Korea’s Yonhap confirmed, reporting that an unknown projectile had been fired into the East Sea (off the coast of the Korean penninsula), and adding that the missile did not enter Japanese territory.

It is not immediately clear if Joe Biden was woken up from his nap in response to the latest geopolitical development.

Bloomberg adds its own two cents, writing that Asian defense-related stocks may move after news that North Korea fired a missile.

Japanese stocks including: Howa Machinery, Ishikawa Seisakusho, Hosoya Pyro-Engineering
South Korean stocks including: LIG Nex1, Hanwha Aerospace, Firstec
Also watch South Korea’s so-called “peace stocks,” or stocks that would benefit from better relations with the North: Hyundai Rotem, Hyundai Engineering, Hyundai Elevator

b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3 C CHINA

CHINA/USA/GLOBE

The danger for doing business with China!

(zerohedge)

Why Corporations Are Terrified Of China: Nike, H&M Tumble After Boycott Begins Over Xinjiang Criticism

China may be a closed, authoritarian, militant, “reverse-engineering” society. But even more importantly, China has the world’s largest consumer army, and that – more than anything else – is why China is feared by countless corporations around the globe, all of whom desperately seek access to this army of rabid buyers.

For the latest example of that look no further than the plunge in H&M shares, which fell as much as 3.1% in Stockholm, while Nike dropped 3.6% in U.S. premarket trading, with the brands facing possible boycotts in China over their stance on using cotton sourced from the contentious Xinjiang region.

As Reuters reports, Nike and Adidas came under fire on Chinese social media on Thursday after Beijing’s propaganda offensive against Swedish fashion brand H&M sparked by the company’s expression of concern about labor conditions in Xinjiang. The sportswear companies were the latest to be caught up in a backlash prompted by a government call to stop foreign brands from tainting China’s name as internet users found statements they had made in the past on Xinjiang.

Chinese state media had singled out H&M on Wednesday over a statement that was reported last year in which the Swedish retailer said it was deeply concerned by reports of accusations of forced labor in Xinjiang, and that it did not source products from the Chinese region. The company was then blasted by the influential Communist Youth League as well as Chin’s real army, the People’s Liberation Army although as Reuters notes, it was unclear why the H&M statement was back in the public eye but diplomatic tensions between China and the West have been rising.

A post on the official Weibo page of Beijing Youth Daily dated Thursday noted foreign apparel brands including Adidas and Inditex-owned Zara have previously made remarks about boycotting Xinjiang cotton, while The Global Times, a communist-party tabloid, also mentioned Burberry while noting that Spain’s Inditex, owner of Zara, had “quietly removed” a statement on Xinjiang from its English and Spanish-language websites. Shortly after, calls to boycott the Swedish retailer spread to include Nike, which has previously said it won’t source products from the region due to labor concerns.

The threat of boycotts comes after China denied allegations of human rights abuses by its officials in the western region of Xinjiang after the European Union, United States, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on the officials earlier this week. Beijing hit back with retaliatory sanctions on European lawmakers, scholars and institutions.

In response to the campaign to single out foreign companies who criticize China’s actions in Xinjiang, many internet users said they would stop buying Nike and will support local brands such as Li Ning and Anta, while others told Adidas to leave China.

Internet users also targeted the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), a group that promotes sustainable cotton production which said in October it was suspending its approval of cotton sourced from Xinjiang for the 2020-2021 season, citing human rights concerns. BCI members include Nike, Adidas, H&M and Japan’s Fast Retailing.

“If you boycott Xinjiang cotton, we’ll boycott you. Either Adidas quits BCI, or get out of China,” one internet user wrote. Nike, Adidas and the BCI did not respond to requests for comment.

H&M said on Wednesday it respected Chinese consumers and that it was committed to long-term investment and development in China. But by Thursday morning, H&M did not exist on some Chinese store locator maps. Searches for H&M stores on Baidu Maps yielded no results. The retailer’s official store on Alibaba’s Tmall, an e-commerce platform, was inaccessible.

At a daily media briefing at China’s foreign ministry, spokeswoman Hua Chunying, when asked about H&M, held up a photograph of Black Americans picking cotton. “This was in the U.S. when Black slaves were forced to pick cotton in the fields,” she said.

Hua then held up a second photograph of cotton fields in Xinjiang, noting that cotton production has been highly mechanized in Xinjiang, with much of the cotton harvested by machines (and supposedly, not by black slaves):

“More than 40% of the cotton in Xinjiang is harvested by machinery, so the alleged forced labor is non-existent.”

People’s Daily, the main newspaper of the Communist Party, rolled out a social media campaign in support of cotton sourced from Xinjiang. The graphic “I support Xinjiang cotton” posted by the newspaper on the Twitter-like microblog Weibo has since attracted about 2.2 million likes. Japanese retailer Muji, owned by Ryohin Keikaku, told the Global Times that it uses Xinjiang cotton, winning praise from Chinese internet users, who lauded the firm’s “survival instincts”.

Ryohin Keikaku recently conducted due diligence for Xinjiang factories, with which it has an indirect relationship via its supply chain, and also commissioned an independent audit group to make onsite audits, but found no “significant” issues, the company told Reuters on Thursday.

As it emerged that China is serious in following through on its threats of boycotting western clothing makers, shares of China’s Anta Sports Products and Li Ning surged, while shares in Adidas, Inditex and H&M fell when European markets opened on Thursday: Burberry shares fell as much as 6.3%, Adidas was down as much as 6%, Inditex slipped as much as 1.9%; Nike was down 4% in premarket trading.

Stating the obvious, Bernstein analyst Aneesha Sherman told Bloomberg that the market reaction is due to concern about topline impact and possible market share loss to Chinese apparel and sportswear brands: “It’s a fast-growing region and the discretionary spend levels are going up, so it is an important region not to lose market share in.”

The question is what happens next: will the threat of boycotts, and an even sharper drop in prices, be sufficient to silence any criticism of Chinese human rights violations, exposing the entire global virtue signaling sham as nothing but hollow platitudes where money talks and bullshit virtues walk, or will companies such as Nike actually put their money where their mouth is.

We’re joking: of course, the Nikes of the world will quickly fold when faced with the threat of losing the world’s biggest purchasing power.

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

UK//LOCKDOWNS

Why lockdowns fail

(Kit Nightly/Off Guardian.org)

UK Lockdown One Year On: It Doesn’t Work, It Never Worked, & It Wasn’t Supposed To Work

Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

And so we come to March 23rd, and lockdown’s first birthday. Or, as we call it here, the longest two weeks in history.

1 year. 12 calendar months. 365 increasingly gruelling days.

It’s a long time since “2 weeks to flatten the curve”, became an obvious lie. Sometime in July it turned into a sick joke. The curve was flattened, the NHS protected and the clapping was hearty and meaningful.

…and none of it made any difference.

This was not a sacrifice for the “greater good”. It was not a hard decision with arguments on both sides. It was not a risk-benefit scenario. The “risks” were in fact certainties, and the “benefits” entirely fictional.

Because Lockdowns don’t work. It’s really important to remember that.

Even if you subscribe to the belief that “Sars-Cov-2” is a unique discrete entity (which is far from proven), or that it is incredibly dangerous (which is demonstrably untrue), the lockdown has not worked to, in any way, limit this supposed threat.

Lockdowns. Don’t. Work.

They don’t make any difference, the curves don’t flatten and the R0 number doesn’t drop and the lives aren’t saved (quite the opposite, as we’ve all seen).

Just look at the graphs.

This one, comparing “Covid deaths” in the UK (lockdown) and Sweden (no lockdown):

Or this one, comparing “Covid deaths” in California (lockdown) and Florida (no lockdown):

From Belarus to Sweden to Florida to Nicaragua to Tanzania, the evidence is clear. “Covid”, whatever that means in real terms, is not impacted by lockdowns.

Putting the entire population under house arrest doesn’t benefit public health. In fact, it’s (rather predictably) incredibly counter-productive.

The damage done by shuttering businesses, limiting access to healthcare, postponing treatments and diagnoses, postponed surgeries, increasing depression, soaring unemployment and mass poverty has been discussed to death. The scale of the impact cannot be overstated.

Dr David Nabarro, World Health Organization special envoy for Covid-19, said this of lockdowns back in October:

We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of the virus… just look at what’s happened to the tourism industry… look what’s happening to small-holding farmers… it seems we may have a doubling of world poverty by next year. We may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition… This is a terrible, ghastly global catastrophe.”

A terrible, global catastrophe. A doubling of childhood malnutrition.

The “pandemic” didn’t do that, lockdowns did that. They were never going to achieve their stated aims. And what’s more, they were never intended to achieve those aims.

Too often soft language in the media talks about “misjudgments” or “mistakes” or “incompetence”. Supposed critics claim the government “panicked” or “over-reacted”. That is nonsense. The easiest, cheesiest excuse that has ever existed.

“Whoops”, they say, with an emphatic shrug and shit-eating grin “I guess we done messed up!”. Unflattering, but better than the truth.

Because the truth is that the government isn’t mistaken or scared or stupid…they are malign. And dishonest. And cruel.

All the suffering of lockdown was entirely predictable and deliberately imposed. For reasons that have nothing to do with helping people and everything to do controlling them.

It’s been more than apparent for most of the last fifty-two weeks that the agenda of lockdown was not public health, but laying the groundwork for the “new normal” and “the great reset”.

A series of programmes designed to completely undercut civil liberties all across the world, reversing decades (if not centuries) of social progress. A re-feudalisation of society, with the 99% cheerfully taking up their peasant smocks “to protect the vulnerable”, whilst the elite proselytise about the worth of rules they happily admit do not apply to them.

And we’ve all had lives ruined and a year of precious time wasted. For nothing. You’ve been locked up for two weeks that lasted 365 days. For nothing.

…or rather, for everything. Because that’s what they are trying to take from us. Everything. And the only way to stop them is not to let them. To simply refuse consent.

Let’s not let lockdown get a second birthday.

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

UKRAINE/RUSSIA

email Robert H to me: War looks imminent

Μπαρούτι”: Ο Ουκρανός πρόεδρος υπέγραψε διάταγμα ανακατάληψης Κριμαίας – Σεβαστούπολης! – Πρώτος στόχος η γέφυρα του Κερτς – Συμβούλιο πολέμου στην Τουρκία! – WarNews247

Sometimes I think the Ukraine is a ghost ship carried on the waves of a storm with no rudder only an engine that steers it on a path of natural destruction.

NATO seemly is a bunch of desk bound jockeys who lack the guts to get on the front lines of a conflict themselves and are about to find out what a modern front line looks like and what fighting is really all about. When it gets close and personal. As for the Ukies, may God have mercy on their souls. Not only will they lose their country but as a people they will cease to exist and their current leadership will go down in history as having destroyed the country and people.

1/ Gunpowder”: The Ukrainian president signed a decree on the recapture of Crimea – 2/ Sevastopol! – The first target is the Kerch Bridge – War Council in Turkey!
3/ Transfer of forces and artillery to the border with Crimea (video at source)
3/24/21

By Vassilis Kapoulas

The Ukrainian President, Zelensky, activated the strategy of recapture and unification of Ukraine with Crimea and Sevastopol by signing Decree No. 117/2021 today, March 24, following a decision of the National Security and Defense Council.

The decree will be a milestone in developments. There are specific actions against Crimea that have taken place for a long time. Just now and formally get approval.

The goal is one: Crimea and Sevastopol will be hit by hybrid warfare to openly war Russia.

Expect NATO involvement.

The Kerch Bridge is now a target and we will certainly see additional Russian moves to protect it.

It is a 19-kilometer bridge across the Cimmerian Bosphorus (known in antiquity as the straits separating the Sea of Azov from the rest of the Black Sea) and serves the geopolitical goal of uniting Russia with Crimea. The first attempt at this will be the last of those parties who dare to determine the timing of their own demise.

Ukrainian President signs decree on recapture of Crimea and Sevastopol

“The Strategy for the reintegration of the temporarily Occupied Territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol is approved,” the document reads.This document includes a number of diplomatic, military, economic, intelligence, humanitarian and other strategies aimed at restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty to its internationally recognized borders through the reintegration of Crimea into the “national body”.

It is also a signal to the international community that Ukraine is consistent in its words and deeds for its territorial reconstruction.

As WarNews247 had long ago revealed, this strategy was proposed by the National Defense and Security Council on March 11th. Approved today.

War Council in Turkey
Ukraine-Turkey war council takes place in Ankara. Turkish Foreign Ministry officials and Ukrainian officials are discussing the situation in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk.

According to information, the deepening of the defense cooperation and security between the two countries, the restoration of stability and security in the Black Sea region as well as the further industrial cooperation were discussed.

What Turkey is doing is pushing Kiev towards war.

(Turkey wants a piece of the Ukraine for itself for free of course. And is pissed off that Russia will not allow it a free hand in stealing Syrian oil with its’ proxies. Erdogan is at best a thief and likely much worse. I suggest to you that while Russia in the last saw him as a partner or sorts, he is not a strategic partner and will never be one. What is also likely the Russians will not save him the next time he gets into trouble opening up Turkey for regime change in the future. And I expect Russian planes and missiles will get more visible in the skies over Syria in destroying Turkish proxies and their ability to cause problems with a deaf ear to Turkish protests. As it is Turkey itself is quickly on its’ way to being a failed state much like the Ukraine. And part of the reason Turkey is removing proxies from Libya is they need them in Syria and have stretched ability to even pay them. A plus for Libya and its’ inhabitants and for Egypt who will wield more influence.)

Russia: Ukraine puts artillery on border with Crimea

The Ukrainian Armed Forces are conducting exercises along the southern border with Russia. According to Ukrainian General Serhiy Naev, the Ukrainian soldiers were trained in “repelling offensive forces”. ( balderdash they are being prepared for sacrifice )

According to the scenario of the exercise, UAVs were launched from the territory of Crimea to Ukraine and Kiev using anti-aircraft systems to destroy them. Enemy UAVs were shot down by Osa-AKM.

Also, Kiev transported and deployed at the border with the Crimea WF MLRS BM-30 Smerch.

Their purpose was based on the exercise scenario, the destruction of enemy forces and the further reorganization of espionage efforts.

Last week, Kiev announced plans for large-scale exercises near the border with Russia, while Ukrainian Navy ships cooperated with NATO ships in Black Sea mine-clearing exercises.(Stupid is stupid as in any real conflict there will be no enemy floating ships within 3 minutes of hostilities commencing.)

Watch videos with new tank transports

Russia is sending new aid to the border with Ukraine
According to information, in the Rostov region there is a significant increase in armor. Donetsk spokesman Andrei Marochko spoke of transfers of powerful forces. While tanks no doubt have been moved already Russia will make this area a no fly zone from Russian soil as it can easily cast a air curtain over the area.

He talks about “Tiger” armor, KamAZ trucks, TOMA, TOMP and artillery.

Watch the video with the Ukrainian exercises on the border with Crimea

https://warnews247.gr/tybana-polemou-o-oukranos-proedros-ypegrapse-to-diatagma-anakatalipsis-krimaias-kai-sevastoupolis-protos-stochos-i-gefyra-tou-kerts-symvoulio-polemou-stin-tourkia-vinteo/

end

Late in the afternoon:

Robert H to me

Ukraine has now massed slightly more than ninety thousands (90,000) troops, 450 tanks, 800 pieces of artillery and other weapons, along the Borders of Luhansk, Donetsk, and Crimea. It looks like they’re going to attack on several different fronts. What is unknown is the timing timing of a potential attack. What is clear is that there is a cost to maintaining both manpower equipment and such concentrations. April showers are bound to bring mud which will hamper any sort of tank movements. As I wrote earlier in the week NATO ADVISORS HAVE BEEN SENT TO THE UKRAINE.

Not to be all done Russia has moved forward by train Mass amounts of equipment into the Donbas . It’s not clear whether this equipment is meant to be used by Russian forces or by those forces defending the Donbas. What I can say it is not old equipment but very much up to date hardware. It can be easily integrated with Russian air support which is very much in place and ready.

Whatever happens, it seems both sides are ready for a fight.

Given the lack of coverage in the press I really wonder how ready the eastern part of Europe is ready for what may occur? Because if hostilities break out it will not be same as before with a localized conflict. And if it does the Ukraine is finished in its present form.

The only question is who will go first.

SYRIA/USA//RUSSIA/TURKEY

USA still smuggling Syrian oil Turkey complains to Russia that it cannot get oil out due to Russia bombing.

(zerohedge)

The US Continues To Smuggle Oil While Turkey Complains To Russia It Can’t

Submitted by SouthFront,

The intensity of the conflict in Syria’s northeast refuses to die down, as more and more strikes are carried out targeting each involved party’s interests. For its part, MSM reports on all of these, but many of them are presented in a light, much different from reality.

On March 23rd, a video emerged showing the Damascus government forces conduct a strike on Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

The shelling targeted the terrorist fortifications and depots. MSM, in conjunction with various Western-backed organizations such as the “International Rescue Committee”, shifted the story and claimed that a civilian hospital had been struck.

As such, the narrative is this – the “Bloody Assad Regime” is back at it, targeting civilians and killing its own people. As might be expected this media campaign is part of the attempts by the US to rebrand HTS as a “former terrorist” and now reformed organization, in order to have another ally, in a different part of Syria.

The Damascus government’s recent punishment of HTS and the Turkish-backed militants in northeastern Syria is happening with Russian support and is part of a wider push to liberate more areas of Syria.

Ankara is dissatisfied with this, even summoning the Russian Ambassador to complain about the severe strikes that Moscow had carried out on terrorist targets. The Turkish side insists that artillery and air strikes on positions and infrastructure of Turkish-funded terrorists in Greater Idlib violated the ‘de-escalation agreement’. No mentions were made of the violations that are frequently carried out by these same terrorists.

Turkey would like to continue to enjoy the smuggled oil it used to receive from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. The United States, still benefits from that smuggled oil. On March 23rd, a convoy of more than 300 tankers left Syria’s Hasaka region and entered Iraq.

Washington’s oil repatriation is not proceeding without a hitch either. On March 23rd, several rockets hit a US military base near the Conico oil field in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor. Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV reported that the US suffered casualties. Little else is known.

Being subject to rocket strikes, and having convoys hit by IEDs was commonplace in Iraq, but it appears that it has now also come to plague Washington’s forces in Syria.

The profits from that smuggled oil could potentially be used to cover a recent loss by the US – an MQ-9 Reaper was downed in Yemen, by Ansar Allah.

Despite officially not supporting the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, the Biden Administration appears to still be up to Washington’s old activities. The Houthis, as Ansar Allah is commonly known, are riding high due to their recent successes and continue their regular drone strikes on various Saudi positions and infrastructure behind enemy lines.

The Abha Airport, alongside other locations in the south of the Kingdom, is subject to frequent attacks.

Riyadh is providing ample opposition, carrying out approximately 30 or more airstrikes each day. Still, it would seem that the Saudi-led coalition is being steadily pushed back.

end

AFGHANISTAN/USA

What a doorknob: USA has been 18 years in Afghanistan and they have accomplished nothing

Dave DeCamp/Antiwar.com

Biden To Stay In Afghanistan Beyond May 1st Agreement Despite Pentagon Saying “We’re Ready”

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that the Biden administration plans to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond the May 1st deadline set by the US-Taliban peace deal that was signed last year.

“It’s a general feeling that May 1 is too soon, just logistically,” Smith said at a panel on Wednesday, according to Responsible Statecraft. Smith cited conversations he had with administration officials. “You cannot pull out ten thousand plus troops in any sort of reasonable way in just six weeks,” he said.

Smith said the Biden administration wants to “negotiate past May 1” with the Taliban. “Job one is to try to get back in to talk to the Taliban about at least giving us more time,” he said. Smith said the argument for staying is “purely logistical.”

While Smith claims May 1st is “too soon,” the Pentagon said on Tuesday that they are ready to meet the deadline if President Biden orders the withdrawal.

When asked by reporters on Tuesday if it is “logistically” possible to meet the May 1st deadline, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is confident that General Scott Miller, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, could get it done.

“I would point you back to what Secretary Austin said when we were in Kabul, which is that — that he’s confident that Generals McKenzie and General Miller, if a decision is made, to completely withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, that they will get it done in a safe, orderly, and effective way,” Kirby said.

February 8th marked the first full year since the war started in 2001 that no US troops died in combat in Afghanistan.

However, the Taliban are expected to start targeting US soldiers again if President Biden chooses to stay beyond May 1st.

END

IRAN//ISRAEL

“Iranian Missile” Fired On Israeli Cargo Ship In Arabian Sea: Report

A massive potential escalation in the Arabian Sea just outside the Persian Gulf has potentially catapulted the region to a war-footing: Israeli media is widely reporting that “an Iranian missile was fired at an Israeli ship,” according to a breaking report in Israel’s N12 news.

It’s said to be an Israeli-owned cargo ship named the “Lori”. Based on initial reports it sustained damage, but it doesn’t appear to have been severe enough to disable it, give the vessel has continued on its planned route.

Here are the early details as presented in The Jerusalem Post:

As the ship sailed between Indian and Oman, it was hit by a missile that damaged it, according to N12.The incident was reported to Israeli security officials and to the company’s owners. The ship will continue on its path to India, where the damage will be assessed.

Israeli security officials are examining the possible implications of the incident and estimate that it could mean Iran intends to attack more Israeli ships, according to N12.

Coming fresh off this month’s Israeli-owned Helios Ray incident in the Red Sea, which was subject of a ‘mystery’ explosion that was subsequently blamed on Iran by Tel Aviv officials, Israel has been quick to point the finger at Iran for this latest developing incident.

“We will need to keep investigating, but we can say for sure that Iran is attempting to damage Israeli infrastructure and to hurt Israeli citizens,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz told KAN news in a statement.

But like with prior recent incidents quickly and immediately blamed on Iran, Israel has not shown any evidence for the widespread reports it was an “Iranian missile” – as its media is now saying.

If a missile attack on the “Lori” is indeed confirmed, there’s also the likely possibility that Yemen’s Houthis could be behind it, given the spate attacks targeting the area recently – as well as on Saudi soil.

6.Global Issues

AUSTRALIA

Horrific swarms of spiders and snakes invade Australian homes amid devastating flood

(Marat/MindUnleashed.com)

“Horrific” Swarms Of Spiders, Snakes Invade Australian Homes Amid Devastating Floods

Authored by Elias Marat via TheMindUnleashed.com,

In recent years, Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales (NSW) has faced everything from drought to brushfires, a pandemic, a recent all-consuming plague of mice and now, devastating floods and massive hordes of spiders.

In videos shared across social media, hundreds if not thousands of spiders can be seen scrambling through people’s homes and garages prior to an evacuation order being issued on early Saturday in expectation of the floods.

In one video posted to Facebook by Melanie Williams, the arachnids of all sizes can be seen scrambling about in search of shelter from the coming deluge.

“Check these spiders out, oh my god, oh my god! Look at them all,”Williams said in the video. “No! No! Oh my god.”

The Guardianreports that Kinchela resident Matt Lovenfosse was pulling up to his home on Monday morning when he witnessed what appeared to be a sea of “millions” of spiders climbing about to escape the floodwaters.

“So I went out to have a look and it was millions of spiders,” Lovenfosse said.

“It’s amazing. It’s crazy,” he continued.

“The spiders all crawled up on to the house, on to fences and whatever they can get on to.”

The flooding has resulted in some 18,000 residents fleeing their homes since last week, with authorities warning that the cleanup could last until April.

The floods have also seen thousands of snakes and insects of every kind scrambling to flee from the floods, with some snakes even leaping into rescue boats to avoid being drowned.

“There were also skinks, ants, basically every insect, crickets – all just trying to get away from the flood waters,”vistor Shenae Varley told Guardian Australia.

It’s just the latest reminder that Australia isn’t just another country – it may be its own entirely different world.

END

AUTO PLANTS/WORLDWIDE

Shortage of chips is causing auto plants ot idle

(zerohedge)

“Crisis Mode” – Auto Plants Worldwide Idled As Chip Shortage Worsens

The global semiconductor shortage appears to be reaching a new ‘crisis point’ as automakers worldwide are shuttering production facilities due to the lack of chips. Even though global manufacturing is humming along, fueled by new demand, unprecedented fiscal and monetary support continues to exacerbate shortages.

The shortage initially began in early 2020 because of the virus-related downturn in the economy. Chip demand was diverted away from autos to household electronics due to heavy demand from people working at home during lockdowns. Further, winter storms in the US last month, plus a fire last week at Renesas Electronics Corp., one of the biggest makers of auto chips, had been compounding factors in the worsening shortage for car companies.

Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG, and Honda Motor Co are some of the manufacturers that have recently announced their inability to source semiconductors components for vehicles has resulted in plant idles.

Bloomberg Intelligence auto-industry analyst Tatsuo Yoshida warned that “production is really vulnerable right now,” adding that “any kind of abnormal occurrence causes parts to run out,” such as a major fire at a semi plant operated by Renesas last week.

Analysts at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. said the shortage of semis would drag on global auto production. They estimated in January, the shortage would reduce global vehicle production by 1.5 million units, with at least a third of the reduction coming from Japanese automakers.

China and European carmakers are set to be the biggest losers this year due to chip shortages.

Bloomberg provides an in-depth list of major automakers who have adjusted vehicle production because of the shortage:

1. Hyundai Motor Co. is suspending extra work on the weekend to adjust production of brands including Kona, Avante, Grandeur and Sonata, the Seoul Economic Daily reported.

2. Honda is suspending production at six factories in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, citing the chip shortage as well as congestion at ports and cold weather.

3. Volvo AB is implementing stop days across global truck manufacturing operations, saying it sees a “substantial impact” from the global semiconductor shortage.

4. Ford has halted production at a factory in Ohio and dropped one shift at another in Kentucky, both until March 29. It said F-150 trucks and Edge SUVs will be assembled in North America without certain parts and shipped to dealers once electronic modules that contain chips are available.

5. Nissan Motor Co. is adjusting production across its operations in the USUS and Mexico.

6. Operations at Toyota’s Kolin plant in the Czech Republic, which makes the compact car Aygo for the European market, have been suspended for two weeks from March 22 after cold weather in the USUS disrupted chip production.

7. Volkswagen is halting production at a plant in Portugal from March 22-28.

8. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is reducing domestic output of vehicles by 4,000-5,000 units in March and reviewing production plans for April.

One striking feature of the global supply chain turmoil is how widespread the issues are. The semiconductor shortage and its drag on auto production have garnered significant attention. Goldman economist Jan Hatzius notes the shortage and many others – from headphones to sofas to roller skates.

The role of unprecedented fiscal stimulus boosting demand for products is very much to blame for the chaos. The various stimulus checks have already more than offset all the lost income from the virus pandemic. With the increasingly broader acceptance of Universal Basic Income in the form of weekly and monthly stimulus checks from the government makes handouts from the government, which now accounts for 27% of all consumer income…

So with the most significant and most ruinous fiscal and monetary experiments ever conducted by the US, artificial demand from consumers will continue to pressure global supply chains as they consume overseas products. Goldman concludes that logistical challenges won’t decrease until 2022.

… and by the way, a global plastic shortage is developing.

END

SUEZ CANAL

Might take weeks to clear our beached vessel as it remains stuck

(zerohedge)

“Might Take Weeks” – Suez Canal Still Closed As “Enormous Beached Whale” Ship Remains Stuck

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reported Thursday it had suspended traffic along the 120-mile long canal while eight tugboats worked to free a massive containership, according to Reuters.

SCA’s statement said thirteen vessels had sailed south along the canal on Wednesday and were waiting in the canal’s lakes until the containership was refloated. On either side of the canal’s entrances, dozens of ships are piling up as the world’s most crucial shipping lane grinds to a halt.

The container ship called the Ever Given, owned by Evergreen Marine Corp., “could be stuck in the canal for weeks,” according to the firm working to dislodge the vessel.

Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch company Boskalis which has been tasked to dislodge Ever Given, was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying:

“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation. It’s an enormous weight on the sand. We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tug boats, and dredging of sand.”

Berdowski compared the 1,312ft-long, 175ft-wide, 200,000-ton vessel to an “enormous beached whale” as he suggested offloading cargo might be one solution to refloat the ship.

A source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Ever Given is “lodged approximately 5 meters into the canal’s bank, hindering efforts to re-float it fully.”

As many as 50 vessels pass through the canal on a given day, which means upwards of 150 vessels could be waiting to transit the canal. By now, some vessels have opted for alternative routes.

NYMEX WTI crude oil futures are down 2% in the overnight session and don’t seem to care about the canal’s continued shuttering. Perhaps, oil traders are refocusing on virus troubles in Europe, hindering demand.

But as we must note, if the SCA were to release a statement indicating a prolonged shutdown of the canal, crude prices would likely continue to rise. This is because 12% of global trade and 8% of liquefied natgas traverse the canal and nearly one million oil barrels each day.

On top of global supply chains already stretched thin due to the virus pandemic, the world’s most important shipping lane is paralyzed.

end

Global Shippers Scramble To Reroute Ships Around Africa As Suez Crisis Worsens

As shipping companies grapple with the possibility that the Suez canal might be blocked to all traffic for a week or more, Maersk, the world’s biggest and most important shipping and supply-chain management company, is reportedly planning to divert ships around the southern tip of Africa.

Taking the long way around could add thousands of miles to some of the world’s most important shipping routes – those that carry goods and commodities from Asia to the West – which could force shippers to shoulder enormous additional costs – costs that must at some point be passed along to the end-consumer. To be sure, the company is also reportedly considering air routes as a potential for substitution, Bloomberg reports.

And Maersk isn’t alone: Hapag-Lloyd, the major German international shipper, is also considering rerouting ships around the Cape of Good Hope (the southern tip of the African Continent).

Earlier, the Maersk Denver, one of the ships stuck behind the “Ever Given” (the ship that’s stuck in the canal), managed to back out of the canal. It’s now back in the Red Sea.

Five Hapag-Lloyd ships have also been affected by the Suez Canal blockage.

In an emailed newsletter to employees, management advised “we are presently looking into possible vessel diversions around Cape of Good Hope.” As far as the Ever Given’s situation goes, the firm said it had no special insight into the situation, and must plan accordingly. “We don´t have any clear indication when the vessel will be refloated again,” the firm said, referring to the Ever Given, the container ship blocking the Suez Canal

The five Hapag-Lloyd ships affected are:

Tsingtao Express, waiting in outer anchorage in Port Said
Salahuddin, waiting in outer anchorage in Port Said
Athenian, waiting in outer anchorage in Port Said
Al Rawdah, scheduled to reach Suez Canal tonight
New York Express, locked in at Great Bitter Lake

Meanwhile, the queue of ships waiting at the Suez Canal now stands at 237. Such a backlog could take days to clear on its own, even if the shipping lanes reopened immediately.

Shares of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd tumbled Thursday as the crisis entered its third day, moving lower on reports of re-routing traffic. Maersk shares slide as much as 3.3% after Wednesday’s 1.6% fall, while Hapag-Lloyd was down as much as 5.4%, adding to Wednesday’s 3.8% drop.

As exporters scramble to implement contingency plans, economists and market strategists are trying to suss out how this blockage might impact inflationary pressures, and market prices. While others are contemplating worst-case scenarios, as well as why the world wasn’t better prepared for something like this. After all, while there isn’t a known political dimension to this dispute, the Suez isn’t the only major chokepoint for global trade. In a note entitled “Central Banks Are Going To Need A Bigger Boat,” Rabobank’s Michael Every contemplates all this, and more.

“It seems an appropriate title today given one wonders who said that about the vessel still blocking the Suez Canal: was it trying to do a U-turn? If one ever wanted to imagine what blockading the Suez Canal looked like physically, and what it would deliver to already-strained global supply chains economically, well, enjoy. This obviously risks exacerbating the cost-push inflation pressures we are already seeing in many sectors. It may also briefly refocus analysts’ attention on just how vulnerable global trade is to blockages in key logistical bottlenecks, such as the South China Sea. Just imagine if it, or the Straits of Malacca, or the Straits of Hormuz were to be subject to geopolitical disruption. It’s a good job nobody is talking about any of these things ever happening, isn’t it?”

As Maersk and others order ships to re-route around Africa, the world will be watching to see how global supply chains are impacted.

Michael Every on today’s big stories

(zerohedge)

Rabo: “Central Banks Are Gonna Need A Bigger Boat”

By Michael Every of Rabobank

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat” is still a classic movie scene that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Clearly not just me: the meme still resonates with my generation, and John Williams’ instrumental sound of the shark still gets people my age straight out of the water.

It seems an appropriate title today given one wonders who said that about the vessel still blocking the Suez Canal: was it trying to do a U-turn? If one ever wanted to imagine what blockading the Suez Canal looked like physically, and what it would deliver to already-strained global supply chains economically, well, enjoy. This obviously risks exacerbating the cost-push inflation pressures we are already seeing in many sectors. It may also briefly refocus analysts’ attention on just how vulnerable global trade is to blockages in key logistical bottlenecks, such as the South China Sea. Just imagine if it, or the Straits of Malacca, or the Straits of Hormuz were to be subject to geopolitical disruption. It’s a good job nobody is talking about any of these things ever happening, isn’t it?

Yet back to ‘Jaws’. As a younger generation dives gleefully into the still, dark markets like the young swimmer at the start of the movie, one can hear that fateful daaa dum; daaaa dum.

Consider, for example, the picture presented by Bloomberg this morning –“This Sounds Like a Bubble Bursting”– underlining that “the most frothy part of tech stocks continues to bleed.” For goodness’ sakes, don’t get any blood in the water!

Apparently US tech firms that haven’t made any profits dropped around 7% yesterday, extending a decline from their February peak to 29%. Do you know what the graph of that particular market segment is starting to look like to me? A shark’s fin: and if that is indeed the case, we would soon see happy young traders suddenly pulled underwater and tossed around like rag dolls.

Yes: we know the central banks are watching, presenting themselves like the wizened mariner Quint who keeps the seas safe: “Y’all know me. Know how I earn a livin’,” he says to the concerned Amity Chamber of Commerce after scratching his nails down the chalkboard to get their attention. Central banks can certainly scratch their nails on chalkboards when needed as far as markets are concerned. Look at some of the swings seen in New Zealand’s markets of late.

However, aren’t the same central banks more like the sleazy Mayor Vaughn, who refuses to close the beach despite knowing the killer shark is out there (“because markets”), and who argues the police should say “Barracuda” instead of “Shark” so as not to worry the economy? Indeed, are central banks not providing the ultra-cheap liquidity that encourages college students to get drunk and go swimming at night in shark-infested waters in the first place? (“What’s your name again?” “Chrissie!” “Where are you going?” “To buy stocks of tech firms who don’t make any money!”)

Older analysts are currently sitting around Zoom meetings (though not on Fridays) and rolling up their trouser legs and shirt sleeves to share their scars of previous market attacks: the more senior talk about the GFC, which for the young is already just legend; the most senior sit back quietly before talking about really big Fischer and World War Two.

So, yes, central banks are playing Quint to markets, politicians, and the public: “I’ll catch this bird for you, but it ain’t gonna be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down to the pond and chasing bluegills and tommycocks. This shark, swallow you whole. No shakin’, no tenderizin’, down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that’ll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin’ basis. But it’s not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I’ll find him for three, but I’ll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you’ve gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter.”

Yet recall that Quint is the one who ends up being eaten.

Central banks in general, and the Fed in particular, are gonna need a bigger boat. And we know what that boat is: the ability to say USD3,000 is now USD10,000 with the stroke of script-writer’s pen without yields rising in tandem.

Yet look at that huge great boat now blocking the Suez Canal; and consider what a world with truly Megalodon liquidity would look like for global trade and capital flows, and who and what would end up getting bitten or swallowed. Bloomberg today has another story explaining how the USD1.9 trillion Biden stimulus is expected to flow to China, with one businessman expecting sales up 30%. A global feeding-frenzy of production everywhere except in the US is not what the Biden White House wants to see: and there will be calls for a shark cage to be put in place (e.g., “Buy American”) Yet it’s handy timing for China given Bloomberg again explains: “Chinese Stocks’ 15% Plunge Shows What Happens When Stimulus Ends”. Quite, Quint.

Meanwhile, it was fair sailing for a time, but I’d long argued that if the US outperformed the rest of the world, expectations would build of Fed hikes, US yields would rise, and the USD would go up; and that if someone yelled “Shark!” as markets showed their teeth, then a risk off move would also see USD rise. It doesn’t seem that long ago that markets were bullish EM FX: some of them are looking like graphs of shark fins too.

“You go inside the trade. Trade goes in the water. You go in the water. Shark’s in the water. Our shark.

Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies; Farewell and adieu, you ladies of Spain; For we’ve received orders for to sail back to Boston; and so never more shall we see you again.”

ASTRAZENECA/VACCINE

AstraZeneca Re-Releases COVID Jab Trial Data After Rebuke From US Regulator

Earlier this week, AstraZeneca managed to destroy the last remaining shreds of its credibility by prematurely releasing an analysis of its COVID vaccine Phase 3 trial data, drawing an uncomfortably public rebuke from an American oversight board tasked with regulating the trials. In response, the company acknowledged that the data it had just released was based on an interim analysis, and promised to re-release its final results later in the week.

The company made good on its promise early Thursday morning, when it re-published the trial data with one notable tweak: the jab, which was initially touted as 79% effective, is now 76% effective. Although the company’s claim that the jab is “100% effective” against serious disease was unaltered (scientists counted eight severe cases during the trial, all among trial participants who received the placebo). The data included 190 confirmed cases of COVID among the trial participants – 49 new cases that weren’t included in the data released Monday. On top of this, the company said there are 14 “possible or probable cases to be adjudicated so the total number of cases and the point estimate may fluctuate slightly.”

The 76% number results from including newer infections among the 30K+ trial participants (trials were conducted in the US, as well as Chile and Peru). AZ also said the vaccine was 85% effective in preventing sickness among adults aged 65+, which is 5 percentage points higher than the 80% number it reported Monday.

While the revision is the latest reminder that the efficacy numbers touted by vaccine-makers are effectively meaningless, Reuters reported that the restatement of the AZ trial results will “go a long way to putting the vaccine back on track for gaining U.S. emergency use authorization.”

“The vaccine efficacy against severe disease, including death, puts the AZ vaccine in the same ballpark as the other vaccines,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, adding that he expects the shot to gain US approval.

AstraZeneca said the latest data has been presented to the independent trial oversight committee, the Data Safety Monitoring Board, and it plans to submit the analysis for peer-reviewed publication in the coming weeks.

“The primary analysis is consistent with our previously released interim analysis, and confirms that our COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective in adults,” Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca, said in a quote included with the press release.

One top AZ executive said during an appearance on CNBC earlier this week that the company intends to apply for approval in the US during the first half of April. Europe, meanwhile, the nation of Denmark extended its suspension of the AstraZeneca jabs as local public health officials take a closer look at rare blood clots that appeared in a small handful of patients. The clots led to notable illnesses and a death among a trio of Norwegian health-care workers, and cases have also been reported in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and elsewhere. Canada’s health department on Wednesday became the latest western government to reiterate that it believes the vaccine is “safe” – though it also updated its label to warn about the risk of potentially deadly blood clots in patients with low blood-platelet counts.

end

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE//GLOBE

With the uSA getting vaccinated at a high clip, USA Covid cases should not be rising. It looks like the Mike Whitney

commentary of last month is holding true: the vaccinated are spilling out mutated viruses to the unvaccinated.

USA data…..please review. The uSA has vaccinated almost 46 million people so something is going on!

(zerohedge)

US COVID Cases Rising At Fastest Pace Since January As “Third Wave” Goes Global

The COVID “third wave” that first drew attention in Europe has moved beyond the Continent’s borders, and is officially afflicting India, South America and many fear that soon it will come for the US.

And it’s not just new cases (which some have pointed out might be due to overly sensitive PCR testing picking up bits of viral RNA from the vaccine); deaths are rising, too. Earlier this week, the WHO warned that newly confirmed deaths are climbing for the first time after six weeks of decline.

The news came as the UN health agency’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus blasted the “grotesque” growing gap between the number of coronavirus vaccines administered in rich and poor countries, branding the inequity a global “moral outrage.”

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on Covid-19, said the increase in deaths followed a fifth straight week of confirmed cases increasing worldwide. She said the number of reported cases went up in four of the WHO’s six regions, though there were significant variations within each region.

And just last night, the number of confirmed cases in the US topped 30MM, the latest milestone, as a growing number of states see cases rising, the result of restrictions being rolled back in most states (with some, like Texas, dropping all restrictions on business and movement), the growing spread of “variant” (ie mutant) strains of COVID, or both. Local health officials in NYC fear that these variants are responsible for faster-than-expected rates of spread in recent weeks.

Globally, deaths have reached 2.746MM, and although the 7-day average for daily deaths (roughly 10K) remains below its highs from late January, it’s pretty clear that the decline has stalled, and has even started to reverse.

The US is seeing daily cases stall out. The seven-day average of new cases jumped to 57,695 Wednesday, 9.5% above the prior week, marking the biggest increase since Jan. 12.

Source: mSightly

A chart showing changes in weekly average case numbers illustrates the rise in greater detail.

Source: Bloomberg

Meanwhile, total cases have topped 30MM, while total deaths have topped 541K.

Source: mSightly

The number of people hospitalized with COVID in the US has continued to decline, albeit at the slowest pace since mid-January. Currently hospitalized patients have fallen to 39,287, down 72% from the early January peak. Meanwhile, the seven-day PCR test positivity rate has edged higher to 4.6% from 4.1% recently.

In India, where cases have been rising for a month now, fears about another wave of the virus rattled markets on Thursday.

The Sensex, India’s benchmark index, tumbled amid what Bloomberg described as “worries over a resurgence in coronavirus cases in the country.” The reported noted that “some areas in India, including the financial capital Mumbai, have seen a surge in new virus cases, raising concerns that fresh lockdowns could be imposed.” Just yesterday, we reported that scientists at a leading government institute had identified “double mutations” that they fear could supercharge the next wave of the virus (especially if India’s Serum Institute can’t produce enough jabs in time). Cases are hitting a five-month high in India, which has also prompted the country to limit exports.

As the EU and UK reach an uneasy truce while Brussels threatens to withhold vaccines produced on the Continent from their promised destinations, Bloomberg’s global vaccine tracker showed Thursday morning that vaccinations had reached 458MM.

Of that, the EU has administered only 61MM doses, compared with 130.5MM in the US. The UK has administered more than 31MM, as more than half of the country’s adult population have received at least one jab.

Despite Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warnings, more cities, including NYC and LA, are reopening schools, and continuing with some planned rollbacks, even after NJ Gov. Phil Murphy said he would halt the Garden State’s reopening trajectory.

An almost 10% uptick should have US states reconsidering reopening plans and trying to accelerate vaccinations, said Isaac Weisfuse, a medical epidemiologist and adjunct professor at Cornell University.

Now is not the time to let up. We have the goal in sight, we need more vaccines and we need more effective ways to get it out,” Weisfuse said. “It’s really nothing short of a tragedy for somebody to get infected and die at this stage.”

Speaking at a White House briefing Thursday, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said she’s keeping a close eye on an uptick in COVID cases. “What concerns me is the footage of what’s happening in spring breakers, in people who are not continuing to implement prevention strategies while we get fully scaled up.”

Earlier Thursday morning, NYC Mayor de Blasio announced that Broadway would reopen in September. Meanwhile, following a flood of spring breakers in Miami that drew national and international media attention, the CDC has just announced that it will be monitoring for any sign of a spike in COVID cases in the areas where spring breakers congregated (though locals were responsible for plenty of the chaos). Meanwhile, President Biden is announcing a new vaccination goal, while Florida on Thursday became the latest US state to lower the vaccination age to 18 (children are net yet approved to receive the vaccine).

7. OIL ISSUES

end

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

INDIA/CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

A double mutant found?

(zerohedge)

India Discovers First “Double-Mutant” COVID Strain As New Cases Surge

Time to crank the fear gauge up to ’11’.

Following a series of reports warning about mutated COVID strains first identified in Brazil, the US and elsewhere spreading across Latin America, the US and Europe, scientists in India are one-upping them by identifying what they described as “a double-mutant” strain of the ubiquitous virus.

The ‘double-mutant’ was identified, along with 770 other strains, gleaned from samples collected across 18 Indian states. Of the 10,787 samples collected, 736 tested positive for the UK variant, 34 for the South African variant and one for the Brazilian variant. The report comes as COVID cases in India are climbing once again after the nation managed to bring numbers close to zero. The country has reported a total of 11.7MM cases, and 160.4K deaths.

While the Indian government insists there’s no link between the variants and the surge in cases (India rolled back most of its virus-inspired restrictions on business and movement months ago). India became the fifth country in the world to sequence the COVID virus’s genome last January.

Still, a consortium of 10 national laboratories working with India’s government said this week they would monitor the new double-variant, which was traced to Mahahrashtra state. Although scientists said none of the variants appeared to be circulating widely enough yet to be causing the surge in cases, they called on authorities to ramp up testing and ensure new cases caused by the variant are swiftly isolated. In response, the government is ramping up certain restrictions, along with its vaccination drive.

As far as the remaining COVID restrictions are concerned, hundreds of thousands of Indians ignored them last week when they came out to celebrate Holi, a week-long affair commemorating the advent of spring.

But what, exactly, is a “double-mutant”? A scientist who spoke with the BBC explained why the double-mutation could make the strain more infectious, and more virulent.

A double mutation, virologist Shahid Jameel explains, is “two mutations coming together in the same virus”

“A double mutation in the key areas of the virus’s spike protein may increase these risks and allow the virus to escape the immune system and make it more infectious,” he adds.

Spike protein is the part of the virus that it uses to penetrate human cells.

The government said that an analysis of the samples collected from India’s western Maharashtra state shows “an increase in the fraction of samples with the E484Q and L452R mutations” compared with December last year.

“Such [double] mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Dr Jameel added that “there may be a separate lineage developing in India with the L452R and E484Q mutations coming together”.

But the government denied that the rise in case numbers was linked to the mutations.

“Though VOCs [variants of concern] and a new double mutant variant have been found in India, these have not been detected in numbers sufficient to either establish a direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some states.”

India’s Serum Institute is expected to play a major role in supplying the world with enough COVID jabs to vaccinate the entire population of the planet. But given the speed of the worrying surge in cases, Indian states have already begun re-introducing restrictions, including curfews and intermittent lockdowns, to control the spread of the virus. At least two major cities, capital Delhi and financial center Mumbai, have ordered randomized rapid testing at airports, train stations, shopping malls and other crowded areas. India’s fe is also expanding

Your early morning currency/gold and silver pricing/Asian and European bourse movements/ and interest rate settings THURSDAY morning 7:00 AM….

Euro/USA 1.1809 DOWN .0003 REACTING TO MERKEL’S FAILED COALITION/ REACTING TO +GERMAN ELECTION WHERE ALT RIGHT PARTY ENTERS THE BUNDESTAG/ huge Deutsche bank problems ///ITALIAN CHAOS//CORONAVIRUS/PANDEMIC/TRUMP POSITIVE WITH VIRUS /AND NOW ECB TAPERING BOND PURCHASES/JAPAN TAPERING BOND PURCHASES /USA RISING INTEREST RATES /FLOODING/EUROPE BOURSES /RED

USA/JAPAN YEN 109.06 UP 0.274 (Abe’s new negative interest rate (NIRP), a total DISASTER/NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT .11% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…

GBP/USA 1.2571 DOWN 0.0008 (Brexit March 29/ 2019/ARTICLE 50 SIGNED/BREXIT FEES WILL BE CAPPED/

USA/CAN 1.2571 DOWN .0008 CANADA WORRIED ABOUT TRADE WITH THE USA WITH TRUMP ELECTION/ITALIAN EXIT AND GREXIT FROM EU/(TRUMP INITIATES LUMBER TARIFFS ON CANADA/CANADA HAS A HUGE HOUSEHOLD DEBT/GDP PROBLEM)

Early THIS THURSDAY morning in Europe, the Euro FELL BY 3 basis points, trading now ABOVE the important 1.08 level FALLING to 1.1809 Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE DOWN 3.47 PTS OR .10%

//Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 18.53 PTS OR .07%

/AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.13%// EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL RED

Trading from Europe and Asia

EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL RED

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN

/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN

Australia BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.13%

Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 324.36 POINTS OR 1.14%

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE RED

Gold very early morning trading: 1729.35

silver:$24.79-

Early THURSDAY morning USA 10 year bond yield: 1.607% !!! DOWN 1 IN POINTS from WEDNESDAY’S night in basis points and it is trading WELL BELOW resistance at 2.27-2.32%.

The 30 yr bond yield 2.307 DOWN 1 IN BASIS POINTS from WEDNESDAY night.

USA dollar index early THURSDAY morning: 92.63 UP 10 CENT(S) from WEDNESDAY’s close.

This ends early morning numbers THURSDAY MORNING

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx6

And now your closing THURSDAY NUMBERS \1: 00 PM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 0.16% DOWN 1 in basis point(s) yield from YESTERDAY/

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +.09.% UP 1 BASIS POINTS from YESTERDAY/JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/56

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 0.27%//DOWN 1 in basis point yield from yesterday.

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD:0.60 UP 1 points in basis points yield from yesterday./

the Italian 10 yr bond yield is trading 33 points higher than Spain.

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: FALLS TO –.37% IN BASIS POINTS ON THE DAY//

THE IMPORTANT SPREAD BETWEEN ITALIAN 10 YR BOND AND GERMAN 10 YEAR BOND IS 0.97% AND NOW ABOVE THE THE 3.00% LEVEL WHICH WILL IMPLODE THE ENTIRE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM. AT 4% SPREAD THERE WILL BE A HUGE BANK RUN…

END

IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR THURSDAY

Closing currency crosses for THURSDAY night/USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM

Euro/USA 1.1789 DOWN .0023 or 23 basis points

USA/Japan: 109.15 UP .365 OR YEN DOWN 37 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.3728 UP .0039 POUND UP 39 BASIS POINTS)

Canadian dollar DOWN 30 basis points to 1.2609

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The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE (DOWN).. 6.5463

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: 6.750 (YUAN DOWN)..65488

TURKISH LIRA: 7.77 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH.

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.09%

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 1 IN basis points from WEDNESDAY at 1.610 % //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic USA 30 yr bond yield: 1.489 UP 3 in basis points on the day

Your closing USA dollar index, 92.77 UP 25 CENT(S) ON THE DAY/1.00 PM/

Your closing bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates for THURSDAY: 12:00 PM

London: CLOSED DOWN 65.17 0.97%

German Dax : CLOSED DOWN 37.75 POINTS OR .26%

Paris Cac CLOSED DOWN 19.10 POINTS 0.32%

Spain IBEX CLOSED DOWN 76.10 POINTS or 0.90%

Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 68.69 POINTS OR 0.28%

WTI Oil price; 37.40 12:00 PM EST

Brent Oil: 39.75 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN / RUBLE RISES: 76.42 THE CROSS LOWER BY 0.16 RUBLES/DOLLAR (RUBLE HIGHER BY 16 BASIS PTS)

TODAY THE GERMAN YIELD FALLS TO –.37 FOR THE 10 YR BOND 1.00 PM EST EST

END

This ends the stock indices, oil price, currency crosses and interest rate closes for today 4:30 PM

Closing Price for Oil, 4:00 pm/and 10 year USA interest rate:

WTI CRUDE OILPRICE 4:30 PM : 58.39//

BRENT : 61.75

USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: … 1.628..up 1 basis points…

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 2.343 up 3 basis points..

EURO/USA 1.1771 ( DOWN 42 BASIS POINTS)

USA/JAPANESE YEN:109.12 UP .334 (YEN DOWN 33 BASIS POINTS/..

USA DOLLAR INDEX: 92.83 UP 30 cent(s)/

The British pound at 4 pm Britain Pound/USA:1.3739 UP 50 POINTS

the Turkish lira close: 7.963

the Russian rouble 76.17 up 0.40 Roubles against the uSA dollar. (up 40 BASIS POINTS)

Canadian dollar: 1.2619 DOWN 41 BASIS pts

German 10 yr bond yield at 5 pm: ,-0.37%

The Dow closed UP 199.95 POINTS OR 0.62%

NASDAQ closed DOWN 18.37 POINTS OR 0.14%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 27.20 CLOSED UP .50

LIBOR 3 MONTH DURATION: 0.195%//libor dropping like a stone

USA trading today in Graph Form

Stocks Dump’n’Pump; Dollar Gains Amid Bitcoin, Bond Pain

Thanks to yet another big short-squeeze that began shortly ahead of the EU close. This was the biggest short-squeeze since late January.

Source: Bloomberg

Small Caps went from down over 1.5% ahead of the EU close to up over 2.5%. Nasdaq ended lower as late day selling pressure hit…

Before today, the last six days have seen the market has dropped in the last hour.

S&P and Dow are back to unch on the week, Nasdaq remains red and Small Caps still down over 4.3%.

Value outperformed Growth today but both ripped off the EU close…

Source: Bloomberg

Many of the major indices found support at key technical levels.

The S&P broke its 50DMA and ripped back above it…

Nasdaq found support off its 100DMA…

GME exploded higher today, up a shocking 50% plus and erasing all of yesterday’s losses…

The VIX term structure remains unusually steep…

A really ugly 7Y auction today (with a huge tail) sent yields spiking higher…

Source: Bloomberg

…and that was after an early flash crash – in prices – for the ultra bond futs contract…

Source: Bloomberg

…but by the close the curve was very mixed with the short-end lower (2Y -1bps) and long-end up over 3bps…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar continued to surge from the post-FOMC plunge lows, now back near early March highs…

Source: Bloomberg

The Polish Zloty fell to its weakest against the Euro since early 2009…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin plunged back near $50k today…

Source: Bloomberg

Precious metals were flat today despite dollar gains as crude and copper pushed lower…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil erased all of yesterday’s supposed Suez blockage spike with WTI back below $58…

Silver saw a big tumble intraday and ripped back around the same time as the ultra bond flash crashed…

Gold and the Ultra bond both fell at exactly the same time…

Finally we note that the massive divergence between bond and stock performance this quarter will likely mean some notable rebalance flows in the next few trading days, as we have detailed previously.

Source: Bloomberg

a)Market trading/LAST NIGHT/USA

b)MARKET TRADING/USA//Non farm payrolls

ii)Market data/USA

Jobless claims rising not dropping although initial claims drop

(zerohedge)

The Number Of Americans On Jobless Benefits Rose Last Week, Despite Initial Claims Drop

The number of Americans filing for first-time jobless benefits last week fell to 684k – the first drop below 700k since the start of the pandemic as Texas chaos filters out of the data.

Source: Bloomberg

However, some context shows we are still dramatically above pre-COVID norms…

Source: Bloomberg

Pandemic emergency claims rose to a new record, even as the ‘normal’ continuing claims dropped back below 4mm…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, we note the total number of Americans claiming some form of unemployment benefit disappointingly rose last week, back above 19 million…

Source: Bloomberg

Get back to work Mr. Powell.

end

Minor changes in 4th Q GDP

Q4 GDP Grow More Than Expected In Final Revision; Finance Was Biggest Contributor To Q4 Real GDP-

While it’s very much meaningless by now, with the US economy almost in the 2nd quarter, the 3rd and final Q4 GDP estimate was published moments ago by the BEA and it came in at 4.3%, higher than the 4.1% expected, and higher than the 2nd estimate of 4.1%.

Some more details:

Personal consumption rose 2.3% in 4Q after rising 41% prior quarter; this number was below the consensus exp of 2.4% and down by 0.1% from the 2nd estimate.
The GDP price index rose 2% in 4Q after rising 3.5% prior quarter; this also missed consensus of 2.1%.
Core PCE q/q also missed estimates, rising by 1.3% in the final revision, missing the 1.4% estimate.

In the final GDP revision, the number primarily primarily reflected an upward revision to inventory investment that was partly offset by a downward revision to business investment.

A quick look at final GDP component shows the following:

Personal consumption contributed 1.58% of the final number, down from the 1.61% second estimate
Fixed Investment was 3.04% of the 4.32% GDP print, down from 3.12% in the previous estimate
Change in Private Inventories jumped, from the 1.11% estimate in February to 1.37% currently
Net Exports was virtually unchanged at -1.53%, vs -1.55% previously
Finally, Government detracted 0.14% from the GDP print, vs -0.19% in the second estimate

Profits decreased 1.4% Q/Q after increasing 27.4% in the third quarter. Corporate profits decreased 0.7% in the fourth quarter from one year ago.

Profits of domestic nonfinancial corporations decreased 3.4% after increasing 44.3%. Profits of domestic financial corporations increased 3.7 percent after increasing 2.6 percent. Profits from the rest of the world decreased 0.2%after increasing 13.4%.

Today’s release also includes estimates of GDP by industry, or value added—a measure of an industry’s contribution to GDP. Private goods-producing industries increased 6.1%, private services producing industries increased 4.9 percent, and government decreased 1.1 percent. Overall, 17 of 22 industry groups contributed to the fourth-quarter increase in real GDP.

The increase in private goods-producing industries reflected increases in construction as well as durable goods manufacturing (led by computer and electronic products as well as fabricated metal products).
The increase in private services-producing industries reflected increases in finance and insurance (led by Federal Reserve banks, credit intermediation, and related activities); health care and social assistance (led by ambulatory health care services); administrative and waste management services (led by administrative and support services); and professional, scientific and technical services. These increases were partly offset by decreases in accommodation and food services (led by food services and drinking places); utilities; and educational services.
The decrease in government reflected decreases in state and local as well as federal.

END

Another awful tailing 7 year auction with a tail of 2.5 baiss points. The auction now has largely been digested.

(zerohedge)

Another Ugly, Tailing 7Y Treasury Auction Spikes Yields

It wasn’t nearly last month’s catastrophic 7Y auction but it wasn’t all that much better either.

Moments ago the Treasury sold $62BN in a closely watched 7Y auction (previewed here), which matched the record size for the tenor.

And while sentiment was far more positive heading into the 1pm deadline, traders were surprised to learn that the high yield on the auction was a rather dismal 1.30%, which tailed the When Issued 1.275% by a sizable 2.5bps and was the highest yield since Jan 2020.

Besides the unexpectedly large tail, the metrics were also ugly, if not nearly as bad as last month, with the bit to cover rebounding from last month’s disastrous 2.045 to 2.23, which nonetheless was rather low and well below the six-auction average of 2.28. Indeed, besides last month’s outlier BTC, this would have been the lowest print since August 2019.

The internals were also better than February, but not nearly good enough. The Indirects took down 57.3%, up from last month’s record low 38.1% and in line with the recent average of 58.6%. And with Directs dipping to 18.0% from 22.1%, Dealers were left holding 24.7%, high but not nearly as high as last month’s 39.8%

Big picture: the market was expecting a poor auction but one that was an improvement to February. It got just that, yet judging by the immediate back up in yields, the market was clearly disappointed by what it got, although now that the kneejerk move has stabilized, the 7Y is now just 1bp wider on the day so it appears that the early nervous jitters will be digested efficiently.

iii) Important USA Economic Stories

Buchanan comments that it is Biden himself who his creating his own crises

(Buchanan/Buchanan.org)

Why Is Biden Creating His Own Crises?

Authored by Pat Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

Our mainstream media largely ignored it, the world media did not.

Ascending the stairs of Air Force One on Friday, to fly to Georgia, President Joe Biden slipped and stumbled. Getting up, he slipped again and then fell. The scene was jolting and disquieting.

Adversaries abroad will use it as a metaphor for the decline of the last superpower to emerge from the Cold War.

And while our major media may scoff at it, there is talk all over this town about what appears to be the visibly declining physical and mental capacity of this oldest of American presidents at 78.

Biden’s press conference tomorrow – after the longest delay before a first full presidential press conference since Cal Coolidge – will be as closely monitored as Ronald Reagan’s second debate in 1984, after he seemed to suffer a mental lapse in his first debate with Fritz Mondale.

But now, after his legislative triumph with the enactment of his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, Joe Biden has some new problems, all of his own making.

The COVID-19 pandemic he inherited, as Nixon inherited Vietnam in 1969. But Biden and the nation were fortunate in that, by the time he took the oath, two vaccines had been approved and the shots were being given to Americans at a rate of a million doses a day.

The new crisis on America’s border, however, with record numbers of children, teenagers and families arriving and asking for asylum, is almost entirely Biden’s doing.

By trashing Donald Trump’s border controls as inhumane and promising a more compassionate policy, Biden sent word to Central and South America and the world that the U.S. borders were open again.

The result is what we see nightly on TV: Migrants crossing over into the USA in record numbers, with no end in sight.

What Gov. Andrew Cuomo did to the nursing homes of New York — send COVID-positive patients back into them — Biden is doing to the USA.

Of the thousands of illegal immigrants entering our country daily, few are tested for COVID-19 before being moved into the American heartland, carrying the infection with them.

How do you control a pandemic when our 2,000-mile southern border is a crossing corridor for thousands of infected every single day?

Biden’s people call this a “challenge.” But for the country, which seemed to be pulling out of the pandemic, it is a medical and security emergency and a national crisis.

Yet, it is not only on the domestic front that Biden and his people have created for themselves new and unnecessary crises.

Biden is only two months into his presidency but already has brought U.S.-China relations to the lowest level since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. And he has brought U.S.-Russian relations to the lowest level since Nikita Khrushchev blew up the Paris summit of May 1960 over President Eisenhower’s refusal to apologize for the U-2 spy flight over Russia that the Soviets had shot down.

Biden is himself responsible for the poisoned relations with Russia, after telling ABC that, yes, Vladimir Putin is “a killer” whom he once told to his face that he had no “soul.”

In chilling relations with China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has played the lead role.

Before taking office, Blinken publicly charged the Chinese government with “genocide” in its treatment of the Uighurs. He then opened the two-day Anchorage meeting with a two-minute indictment of China for its actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan — and got back a blistering 20-minute Chinese counterattack. The thrust of Beijing’s response:

Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong are Chinese national territories, and how we rule there is none of America’s business. Nor do you Americans have any superior moral claim or right to sit in judgment on us, given your own record with indigenous peoples and Black Americans.

Nor do you have any right to impose your democracy or values on us, when we prefer our system and our values. As for your claim to define for the world the so-called rules-based international order, we reject that, too, and intend to erect an order based upon our interests and our values.

So, stop trying to impose your democracy on us or the rest of the world which may not want it. The U.S. delegation can speak for the United States. It does not speak for the world, much of which openly rejects it.

By calling Vladimir Putin a “killer,” Biden seems to have aborted the kind of summitry with Moscow in which Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan and Bush I engaged during the Cold War when the Soviet Union was a far more menacing and hostile power than Putin’s Russia is today.

From Biden’s behavior in his first 60 days, we already seem fated to endure years more of deepening Cold War with Russia and China.

To what end this Biden-Blinken in-your-face diplomacy?

END

Hamilton Mall under distress as it cannot pay its electric bill. The whole mall may lose power

(Tom Davis/Patch.com)

NJ Mall Didn’t Pay Electric Bill, May Lose Power

By Tom Davis, at Patch.com

A New Jersey mall reportedly could lose power because it didn’t pay its electric bill. Atlantic City Electric posted a notice to the entrance of Hamilton Mall in Mays Landing this week notifying the owners that electric service will be disconnected April 7 unless overdue bills are paid, according to NJ Advance Media and The Press of Atlantic City.

The notice also circulated on social media:

The Press of Atlantic City reported that some shop owners were concerned that they may lose business, but they said their concerns were quelled when mall management sent a notice to vendors assuring them “things were under control.”

Frank Tedesco, a spokesman for Atlantic City Electric, said the company has tried to work with the mall owners and “we make every attempt to keep our customers connected,” according to NJ Advance Media.

The publication noted that Hamilton Mall was already under financial distress amid the coronavirus pandemic, and the shopping center has lost three anchor stores over the last several years.

END

SEC opens probe into SPAC mania

(zerohedge)

“What’s Going On?” – SEC Opens Probe Into Wall Street’s SPAC Mania

The SPAC bubble sweeping across U.S. capital markets continues to catch the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Reuters reports the SEC has sent letters to top Wall Street banks about blank check acquisition schemes. The agency is inquiring how underwriters control the risks associated with taking a company public via a SPAC. The letters are requesting information voluntarily.

Sources told Reuters the letters could be a precursor to a formal investigation into SPAC mania. If one needs to be reminded amount of SPAC volumes over the last 16 months, take a look at the chart below. And the average deal size has increased since the start of the year…

…as SPACs increasingly seek to merge with larger and larger targets.

Sources also said the SEC requested information on SPAC deal fees, volumes, and internal controls banks have in place on the deals. Additionally, the agency had questions on compliance and reporting.

The SPAC structure allows startups with an easier pathway to go public with less regulatory scrutiny than the traditional IPO route. Just look at the declining number of IPO deal announcements.

Goldman’s chief equity strategist David Kostin recently told clients the “blistering pace of SPAC issuances is likely unsustainable.”

The SEC inquiry comes as the SPAC bubble has reversed, with the SPAC Index entering a bear market.

In an already saturated SPAC space, out of all companies, that being WeWork, who already failed at going public a few years back via a botched IPO, this walking zombie of a company is attempting to go public via a Shaquille O’Neal-backed SPAC.

Given that WeWork is a money-losing business, there are concerns about the limited due diligence SPACs perform before acquiring business.

… and as celebrities plaster their names all over SPAC deals, the SEC warned in early March against investors buying SPACs based on celebrity endorsements or ownership.

Another concern among the agency is the heightened risk of insider trading in SPAC deals:

“Wall Street’s biggest banks are being asked: what’s going on?” the source said.

When the SPAC bubble implodes, there’s no one else to blame but the Federal Reserve, who fueled financial markets with easy money. Maybe it’s only then when the SEC will open a formal investigation.

iv) Swamp commentaries

Cuomo Ordered Health Dept To Prioritize COVID Testing For Family Members & Political Allies

As he brazenly clings to power in Albany, the last thing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo needs right now is another scandal. And yet, here we are.

The New York Times and the Albany Times-Union published another shocking report about abuses committed under the guise of Cuomo’s crisis-era “leadership”: both the governor and the state’s top public health official, Dr. Howard Zucker, directed high-level officials in the state Department of Health to provide priority COVID testing to Cuomo’s relatives, and other politically-connected individuals.

According to the Times Union, “[m]embers of Cuomo’s family including his brother, his mother and at least one of his sisters were also tested by top health department officials — some several times, the sources said.”

Cuomo is already facing a flurry of investigations being overseen by lawmakers in the state assembly, the Department of Justice and AG Letitia James, a political rival and top contender to succeed Cuomo as governor of the Empire State. Recent media reports revealed that some of Cuomo’s top staffers, along with top public health officials in the state, have been interviewed by the FBI.

But the fallout from this latest revelation could expand beyond the governor to harm another member of his family: His brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. In a statement released shortly after the younger Cuomo sibling was identified as having received preferred access to COVID testing thanks to his brother, CNN apparently confirmed some of the details from the story. The younger Cuomo received testing from one of the state’s top epidemiologists at his home, a revelation that millions of New Yorkers – particularly the “essential” workers in poorer communities in the Bronx, where infection rates are highest – will probably find galling.

The younger Cuomo contracted COVID in the spring, and his battle with the disease was closely covered by his employer, CNN.

Dr. Eleanor Adams, an epidemiologist who graduated from Harvard Medical School, was identified as the official who conducted the testing. Notably, after making traveling all the way to Long Island for an ethically questionable house call at Chris Cuomo’s place, Adams was promoted in August to the position of special adviser to Zucker.

“If their job was to go test an old lady down in New Rochelle, that’s one thing – that’s actually good,” one of the people with knowledge of the matter said. “This was not that.”

Outside Cuomo’s family members, other politically-connected individuals who were given priority testing included Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and his wife, as well as Pat Foye, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Some of the Times-Union’s sources, identified as senior employees in the Department of Health, said they were chagrined when Dr. Adams was routinely pulled away from her primary duties, which included helping to lead the effort to contain NYS’s first confirmed outbreak in New Rochelle. One described it as “a major time suck.”

They also objected to State Police being used to ferry the test samples to the Wadsworth Center laboratory in Albany, where most early samples were tested. A spokesman for the State Police insisted that hundreds of state police officers helped drive early test samples to the laboratory during the early weeks of the state’s COVID response. While this might be true, other sources claimed that samples from Cuomo relatives were moved to the front of the testing line due to the governor’s influence. These samples were reportedly referred to as “critical samples.”

“It’s being a little bit distorted with like a devious intent…We made sure to test people they believed were exposed,” an official in Cuomo’s office said on background. “All of this was being done in good faith in an effort to trace the virus.”

Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, characterized the allegations of preferential treatment as “insincere efforts to rewrite the past.”

“In the early days of this pandemic, when there was a heavy emphasis on contact tracing, we were absolutely going above and beyond to get people testing – including in some instances going to people’s homes, and door-to-door in places like New Rochelle – to take samples from those believed to have been exposed to COVID in order to identify cases and prevent additional ones,” Azzopardi said. “Among those we assisted were members of the general public, including legislators, reporters, state workers and their families who feared they had contracted the virus and had the capability to further spread it.”

Given the governor’s reputation for bullying and favor-trading, it’s hardly a surprise that state workers simply acquiesced when he demanded they pay house calls to his relatives during work hours. By our count, this is the third scandal to rock the embattled Cuomo administration this year. How many more will it take to finally convince President Joe Biden to turn on the governor? Even if Biden did call on Cuomo to resign, it’s not clear that he would.

END

(COURTESY jOHNATHAN TURLEY)

Michigan AG Unleashes Political Diatribe Against Defiant Restaurant Owner (After Tucker Carlson Hit)

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

We previously discussed the controversial threats of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) against those who were raising electoral fraud allegations.

She is currently in another controversy involving the arrest of restaurant owner Marlena Pavlos-Hackney. Fox Host Tucker Carlson has alleged that the owner was arrested due to her appearance on his show. (For full disclosure, I am a contributor to Fox News).

Nessel can certainly point to a long history of noncompliance to justify the arrest but her statement issued in response to the allegations is, in my view, highly inappropriate and shows raw political bias.

Pavlos-Hackney became a national hero for some in defying the Michigan health orders and what followed were a series of citations and contempt orders.

Those orders were sufficient to secure a bench warrant of arrest, but the timing following her appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show led many to object that Nessel was retaliating against a national critic.

Putting aside the retaliatory accusation, there is ample reason to condemn Nessel’s response to the criticism. Here is the statement:

Marlena Pavlos-Hackney had countless opportunities to comply with even the most basic health and safety protocols to protect her community from the spread of Covid.

She defied her local health department and the court at every turn, instead choosing to taunt health inspectors, law enforcement and the courts at every turn- going on Tucker Carlson and setting up a lucrative Go Fund Me account instead of making even the slightest effort to protect her customers, her workers and community. She is no martyr and no hero.

One cannot repeat the mantra of “Law & Order” and support the activities of Ms Pavlos-Hackney.

But if you cheered Donald Trump when he bragged about the many ways he avoided military service while others complied with their legal obligations, it’s no wonder you revere this woman.

Making personal sacrifice for the greater good of our state and nation was once considered admirable. Not anymore.

Michigan AG Dana Nessel

My objections to the statement are two-fold.

First, Nessel goes out of her way to taunt Pavlos-Hackney and her supporters. She also makes specific reference to her going on the Tucker Carlson show. Given the free speech issues in such appearances, the reference to a national show (in which Nessel was criticized) shows, at a minimum, terrible judgment by Nessel. This is particularly concerning given Nessel prior threats against people who raised electoral fraud claims.
Second, Nessel uses the statement to confirm raw political bias in striking out at Trump and his supporters. She mockingly notes “if you cheered Donald Trump when he bragged about the many ways he avoided military service while others complied with their legal obligations, it’s no wonder you revere this woman.” Ironically, it is the type of gratuitous attack that many of us criticized Trump for using against political opponents. However, this is the Michigan Attorney General engaging in petty digs against Republican critics.

The entire statement reads like a political screed rather than a prosecutorial statement. It is both unprofessional and unwarranted in addressing the arrest of a citizen. What is bizarre is that most officials in such a controversy would strive to maintain an absolutely legally objective and politically neutral position. Nessel could have left the matter by detailing the history of noncompliance as sufficient justification for the arrest. Nessel did precisely the opposite to pander to a political base. She seems to struggle to fulfill every stereotype of a biased political operative exercising criminal enforcement authority.

v) King report/Courtesy of Chris Powell of GATA which includes the major swamp stories.

COVID: Angela Merkel backtracks on Easter lockdown after uproar – In a turnabout move, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told state premiers in a video call that there would not be a strict lockdown over Easter after all. This follows a day of criticism and confusion in Germany.
https://www.dw.com/en/covid-angela-merkel-backtracks-on-easter-lockdown-after-uproar/a-56969820

Merkel generated a robust rally when she rescinded her Easter lockdown edict.

Fed’s Williams doesn’t expect inflation pressures building over next couple of years
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-williams-doesnt-expect-inflation-pressures-building-over-next-couple-of-years-2021-03-24

Williams: Sees No Signs of Stress or Disruptions in Financial Markets – BBG

Stagflation Strikes as PMIs Signal Slowing Production, Soaring Costs
The Services PMI registered 60.0 in March, up from 59.8 in February to signal the strongest service sector output expansion since July 2014. The Manufacturing PMI printed 59 in March, up from 58.6 in February, just below January’s cycle high… Service Costs Soaring: Reports of ongoing supply chain issues led to marked hikes in input costs across the service sector during March. The rate of input price inflation was the sharpest since data collection began in late-2009. Firms were able to partially pass higher costs through to clients, however, as selling prices rose at the fastest pace on record.
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/stagflation-strikes-pmis-signal-slowing-production-soaring-costs

US Durable Goods Orders unexpectedly tumbled 1.1% in February; +0.5% was expected. Ex-transport orders declined 0.9%; +0.5% was consensus. Nondefense, Ex-air orders sank 0.8%; +0.5% was expected. Shipments fell the expected 1.0%.

Oil surged 5% and gasoline jumped 4.6% due to: Massive cargo ship becomes wedged, blocks Egypt’s Suez Canal https://apnews.com/article/cargo-ship-blocks-egypt-suez-canal-5957543bb555ab31c14d56ad09f98810

ECB Pushes for Deeper Analysis of Inequality in Gauging Policy
The European Central Bank says further efforts must be made to understand what the unequal distribution of income and wealth across the euro area means for the impact of its monetary policy…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-24/ecb-pushes-for-deeper-analysis-of-inequality-in-gauging-policy

If central banks’ ZIRP, NZRIP and NIRP policies are working so well, why are central banks virtue signaling like crazy and professing so much concern about ‘inequality’? Yeah, we all know why. Central banks know that the serial asset bubbles that they have blown are the prime reason for ‘inequality’.

Most investors now say the stock market is “rigged”
Nearly 50% of Americans now say the stock market is “rigged against individual investors,” a new survey from Bankrate.com and YouGov shows — and surprisingly a solid majority of those investing in the stock market (56%) believe the market is rigged as well…
Why it matters: Underlying the results is “widening wealth inequality where young people in particular just may not have a sense of hope or fairness in the markets,” Greg McBride, Bankrate.com’s chief financial analyst, told Axios…
https://www.axios.com/most-investors-say-stock-market-rigged-2713838b-1d29-43c5-9dc9-37dd4e466702.html
While Fauci Was Giving Bad Advice to Trump, He & His Family Were Donating to Joe Biden.
https://thenationalpulse.com/exclusive/fauci-fam-dem-donations/

@WSJopinion: The Chinese leadership understands that the greatest ideological weapon it holds in its struggle with America is U.S. elites’ gleeful enthusiasm for self-destruction, writes @gerardtbaker

Western Culture Elites Are Giving Away Lenin’s Rope – How can a nation prevail in an ideological struggle when its leaders believe its values are evil?
An emboldened Chinese leadership understands that the greatest ideological weapon it now holds in its increasingly existential struggle with America is the gleeful enthusiasm for self-destruction that characterizes so much of elite opinion in the U.S.
When Yang Jiechi, the Communist Party’s foreign-affairs chief, lectured Secretary of State Antony Blinken about America’s human-rights record, its treatment of minorities and its system’s innate inequity, everything he said could have been lifted straight from the pages of the Democratic Party’s presidential election platform, culled from Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper stories, or jotted down in a student’s notes from lectures delivered daily at America’s top universities… https://t.co/tPZMqp9h1L

@FinancialTimes: Facebook has uncovered a sophisticated Chinese espionage campaign that tried to trick pro-Uyghur activists and dissidents around the world into downloading malicious software that would allow surveillance of their devices. https://www.ft.com/content/70b94c78-474a-475a-b242-924f6b11929f

@XNewsAlerts: Japanese Ministry of Defense says at around 7:06 am, two projectiles that appear to be ballistic missiles were launched from North Korea and into the Sea of Japan…

White House Memo: This Is No Longer the ‘Biden Administration’
A top communications person in the White House has instructed federal agencies to refer to the “Biden administration” as the “Biden-Harris administration,” a leaked memo confirmed. “Please be sure to reference the current administration as the ‘Biden-Harris Administration’ in official public communications,” the email stated, with the “Biden-Harris Administration” in bold letters…
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2021/03/23/talk-about-insightful-leaked-memo-reveals-an-internal-policy-change-at-the-white-house-n2586776

@MillennialOther: This is just sad – watch until the end. [Joe looks confused; media ushered out]
https://twitter.com/MillennialOther/status/1374794152194494468

Biden taps Harris to stem migration flow from Central America
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-taps-harris-stem-migration-flow-central-america/story

@John_Kass: Biden owns #BorderCrisis. Now he puts @VP in charge? Who’s the president, Biden or #HarrisBorderCrisis? My column @chicagotribune

Biden called for the border surge. And now he owns it.
Biden answered by criticizing Donald Trump’s handling of migrants at the border, defending Obama’s, and adding: “I would in fact make sure that there is, that we immediately surge to the border — all those people are seeking asylum. They deserve to be heard,” Biden said…Flee they did. And come they did, surging. Some came wearing Biden T-shirts reading, “Biden, please let us in.” “They see him as the migrant president, and so many feel they’re going to reach the United States,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said of Biden…
It just might be that what Biden wrought on the border is not a crisis or a challenge but a planned disaster. When it comes to porous borders and a surge of the desperate, it’s all policy, not coincidence.
There are no coincidences in politics.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/john-kass/ct-prem-biden-border-crisis-john-kass-20210324-s6nxh76uofgs3n53xtxcmdpjty-story.html

Biden’s top coronavirus adviser Jeff Zients has up to $5 million in gold bars https://t.co/4i2Mn7VnYt

@emilymiller: Reminder: The US had a national “assault weapon ban” from 1994 to 2004. Biden helped write that law. Congress let the ban expire because it had no impact. But gun crime went down AFTER the AWB ended.

NYT: Suspect Charged With 10 Counts of Murder in Boulder, Colo., Shooting – The suspect’s identity was previously known to the F.B.I. because he was linked to another individual under investigation by the bureau, according to law enforcement officials… https://t.co/oI6hJVN1cs

@unscriptedmike: The FBI knew in advance the identity of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa. And the Pulse Nightclub shooter. San Bernardino terrorists. Boston Marathon Bombers. Garland Texas shooters. Parkland High School shooter. Fort Hood shooter. Never has one entity known so much and done so little.

Ex-CIA operative @BryanDeanWright: The FBI is fantastic at lying to FISA judges but not so much on stopping mass murder.

Ex-CBS top reporter @laralogan: Will anyone in authority stand up for FBI agents who’re ignored/pressured into corrupt investigations for political reasons? Is this why no one’s been charged with sedition for Jan 6 yet? Case agents don’t want to be complicit in political persecutions?

The U.S. Intelligence Community, Flouting Laws, is Increasingly Involving Itself in Domestic Politics – A letter from House Intelligence Committee members demands answers from the DNI about illegal breaches of the wall guarding against CIA and NSA domestic activity.
Haines claims that these dubious assertions about various threats faced by Americans are the findings of the intelligence community when that is not true: just like the originally false claim widely spread by the media that “all seventeen intelligence agencies” endorsed the 2016 election findings about Russian interference when, in fact, it was only a few which had done so. Haines’ claims have support only from a few agencies as well. But the more substantive danger is the role played by the CIA and other intelligence agencies in the domestic politics of the U.S., all in the name of fighting “domestic terrorism” (similar dangers were previously created by the Bush and Obama administrations in the name of fighting “international terrorism”)…
Two NSA whistleblowers — William Binney and Edward Snowden — both cited their horror over the turning of the surveillance machinery against American citizens as the reason for their decision to denounce their agency… Shortly before Trump’s inauguration, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) went on The Rachel Maddow Show to warn — or more accurately: threaten — Trump that the CIA would destroy his presidency if he continued to criticize or otherwise oppose them…
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-us-intelligence-community-flouting

Vindman, Not Whistleblower, Was Driving Force Behind Impeachment
New book shows how Lt. Col. Alex Vindman was the real instigator of the Ukraine investigation that formed the pretext for Democrats’ impeachment of President Trump.
“Vindman was the person on the call who went to the whistleblower after the call, to give the whistleblower the information he needed to file his complaint,” said Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. “For all intents and purposes, Vindman is the whistleblower here, but he was able to get somebody else to do his dirty work for him,” explained one senior congressional aide… https://t.co/K1CCYDR2gm

@charliekirk11: Colorado already has the strict gun control Joe Biden is pushing for:
—Universal Background Checks
—Red Flag Laws
—Gun Show Loophole closed
—Gun-Free Zones everywhere
—State Database for Background Checks
—Ban on High Capacity Magazines Turns out, criminals don’t follow the law

@johncardillo: And just like that, the Boulder shooting has disappeared from the news cycle thanks to Ahmad Al-Issa.

‘Unexplained irregularities’ found in large percentage of ballots [More vote fraud/irregularities]
4,592 out of the 72,491 mail-in ballots lacked envelopes— 6.33% of all votes…more than 5,000 of Missoula County’s [Montana] votes — roughly 7% — with unexplained irregularities…The 2020 local House District 94 race was determined by 435 votes; that of local House District 96, a mere 190. In 2012, Bullock won his gubernatorial race by just 7,571 votes…
https://www.wnd.com/2021/03/unexplained-irregularities-found-large-percentage-ballots/

Well that is all for today

TO OUR JEWISH FRIENDS OUT THERE: A HAPPY PASSOVER

I will see you FRIDAY night.

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	55,015.179 oz CNT Delaware
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*	nil
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	556,629.110 oz CNT Manfra
No of oz served today (contracts)	3 CONTRACT(S) (15,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	449 contracts 2,245,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	11,144 contracts 55,720,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers* inventory this month*	NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer* inventory this month*

PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM PRICES BY KITCO

PLATINIUM $1142.00 DOWN $24.00

PALLADIUM: 2536.00 DOWN $13.00. PER OZ

DONATE

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR MARCH. CONTRACT: 15 NOTICE(S) FOR 1500 OZ (0.04666 tonnes)

3 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 15,000 OZ/

Let us have a look at the data for today

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

Trading Volumes on the COMEX GOLD TODAY:

106,604 contracts// volume extremely poor //

CONFIRMED COMEX VOL. FOR YESTERDAY: 267,455 contracts// volume: poor// //most of our traders have left for London

STOCKS ARE TODAY A GARGANTUAN RISK

CASSANDRA WAS ALWAYS RIGHT BUT ……

WHY BUY GOLD WHEN THERE IS BITCOIN AND TESLA

REAL STOCK MARKET GAINS ARE 85% LOWER

GOLD – $3,000 NEXT

TWO DOZEN REASONS WHY OWNING PHYSICAL GOLD IS IMPERATIVE

ii) Important gold commentaries courtesy of GATA/Chris Powell

Russia’s top diplomat starts China visit with call to reduce U.S. dollar use

IMF considers issuing $650 billion in reserves

Craig Hemke at Sprott Money: When ‘unallocated’ becomes unavailable

Stefan Gleason: Fed’s crypto plans may turn bitcoin bulls into gold bugs

iii) Other physical stories:

Your early THURSDAY morning currency, Asian stock market results, important USA/Asian currency crosses, gold/silver pricing overnight along with the price of oil Major stories overnight/7 AM EST

3A/ASIAN AFFAIRS

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3 C CHINA

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

6.Global Issues

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

Your early morning currency/gold and silver pricing/Asian and European bourse movements/ and interest rate settings THURSDAY morning 7:00 AM….

Your closing bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates for THURSDAY: 12:00 PM

Closing Price for Oil, 4:00 pm/and 10 year USA interest rate:

USA trading today in Graph Form

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