GOLD CLOSED DOWN $7.65 TO $1788.55/SILVER CLOSED UP 19 CENTS TO $22.51/COVID COMMENTARIES//VACCINE MANDATE UPDATES/VACCINE IMPACT//CENTRAL BANK OF TURKEY COMES TO THE RESCUE TO THE LIRA BUT THAT WILL BE TEMPORARY//CHINA’S REAL ESTATE SECTOR IN SHAMBLES//FRANCE’S ENERGY SECTOR WITH MAJOR PROBLEMS AS 3RD NUCLEAR REACTOR SHOWING CRACKS AND THIS ONE IS ALSO BEING TAKEN OFF LINE//RUSSIA VS NATO CONTINUES UNABATED//SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT//

GOLD PRICE: DOWN $7.65 TO $1788.55

SILVER UP 19 CENTS TO $22.51

ACCESS PRICE CLOSING PRICES FOR GOLD AND SILVER

GOLD: 1788.25

SILVER: 22.51

Bitcoin: morning price: 47,137 up $2244.00

Bitcoin: afternoon price: 47,344 down $1548

Platinum price: closing up $2.05 to $938.20

Palladium price; closing up at $1797.15

END

end

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COMEX DETAILS//NOTICES FILED 608

EXCHANGE: COMEX CONTRACT: DECEMBER 2021 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES SETTLEMENT: 1,793.700000000

USD INTENT DATE: 12/20/2021

DELIVERY DATE: 12/22/2021

FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED ____________________________________________________________________________________________

624 H BOFA SECURITIES 608 657

C MORGAN STANLEY 1 661 C

JP MORGAN 100 709

C BARCLAYS 500 737 C

ADVANTAGE 3 905 C ADM 4 _____

TOTAL: 608 608 MONTH TO DATE: 34,454

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

receiving today 0/608

Goldman Sachs stopped: 0

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR DEC. CONTRACT: 608 NOTICE(S) FOR 60.800 OZ (1.18911 tonnes)

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED SO FAR THIS MONTH: 34,454 FOR 3,445,400 OZ (107.146 TONNES)

SILVER//DEC CONTRACT

0 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR nil OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month 8535 : for 42,675,000 oz

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

WITH GOLD DOWN $7.05

A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.37 TONNES

WITH RESPECT TO GLD WITHDRAWALS: (OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS)

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

ALSO INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (phys) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD//

THIS IS A MASSIVE FRAUD!!

GLD 978,57 TONNES OF GOLD//

Silver//SLV

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 19 CENTS:

With silver up 19 cents today: a huge deposit into the SLV of 2.728 million oz

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV

CLOSING INVENTORY SLV/ TONIGHT: 540.085 MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A VERY SMALL 367 CONTRACTS TO 140,596 AND FURTHER FROM THE NEW RECORD OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020.. WITH THE $0.22 LOSS IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON MONDAY. OUR BANKERS WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT FELL BY $0.22) AND WERE QUITE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OUT SOME SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A SMALL LOSS OF 331 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES .

WE MUST HAVE HAD:
I) HUGE BANKER SHORT COVERING AS THEY ARE VERY ANXIOUS TO GET OUT OF DODGE!!/. II)WE ALSO HAD SOME REDDIT RAPTOR BUYING//. iii) A FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS iiii) A HUGE INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 47.535 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 65,000 OZ QUEUE. JUMP V) STRONG SIZED COMEX OI LOSS.

I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL:

THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI SILVER TODAY: CONTRACTS -46

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS DEC 16 ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF DEC:

TOTAL CONTACTS for 16 days, total contracts: 14,964 or …average per day: 935 contracts or 4.676 million oz per day.

TOTAL NO OF OZ UNDERGOING EFP TO LONDON 14,964 CONTRACTS X 5,000 PER CONTRACT:

74.820 MILLION OZ.

LAST 7 MONTHS TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED IN MILLIONS OF OZ:

MAY 137.83 MILLION

JUNE 149.91 MILLION OZ

JULY 129.445 MILLION OZ

AUGUST: MILLION OZ 140.120

SEPT. 28.230 MILLION OZ//

OCT: 94.595 MILLION OZ

NOV: 131.925 MILLION OZ

RESULT: WE HAD A SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 367 WITH OUR 22 CENT LOSS SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX// MONDAY THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 288 CONTRACTS( 288 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR MAR AND 0 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS) WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX TO LONDON AS FORWARDS THE DOMINANT FEATURE TODAY:/ AS WELL AS TODAY /HUGE BANKER SHORT COVERING AS THEY GET OUT OF DODGE//// WE HAVE A GOOD INITIAL SILVER OZ STANDING FOR DEC OF 47.535 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 95,000 E.F.P. JUMP TO LONDON .. WE HAD SMALL SIZED LOSS OF 79 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD 0 NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR nil OZ

GOLD//OUTLINE

IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A GOOD SIZED 4181 CONTRACTS TO 502,006, 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 DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY. 1187 CONTRACTS.

THE GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI CAME WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $9.65//COMEX GOLD TRADING/MONDAY/.AS IN SILVER WE MUST HAVE HAD HUGE BANKER/ALGO SHORT COVERING ACCOMPANYING OUR FAIR SIZED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE. WE HAD ZERO LIQUIDATION AS THE TOTAL GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES TOTALLED A GOOD SIZED 3831 CONTRACTS…

WE ALSO HAD A HUGE INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR DEC AT 98.000 TONNES, FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S STRONG QUEUE JUMP OF 15,600 OZ//, NEW STANDING 107.807 TONNES

YET ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $9.65 WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY’S TRADING

WE HAD A GOOD SIZED LOSS OF 3831 OI CONTRACTS (11.916 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALLED A SMALL SIZED 350 CONTRACTS:

FOR FEB 230 ALL OTHER MONTHS ZERO//TOTAL: 230

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 502,006.

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 3831 CONTRACTS 4181 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX AND 350 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 3831 CONTRACTS OR 11.916 TONNES.

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A SMALL SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (350) ACCOMPANYING THE FAIR SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (2994): TOTAL LOSS IN THE TWO EXCHANGES 3831 CONTRACTS. WE NO DOUBT HAD 1) HUGE BANKER SHORT COVERING ,2.) HUGE INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR DEC. AT 98.000 TONNES/FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 15,600 OZ TO LONDON////NEW STANDING OF 107.807TONNES//. 3)ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION,4) FAIR SIZED COMEX OI LOSS 5) SMALL ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL

SPREADING OPERATIONS(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS:

SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF NOV.WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF GOLD

HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF OCT HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV, FOR GOLD:

YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (DEC), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2021 INCLUDING TODAY

DEC

ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF DEC : 37,653 CONTRACTS OR 3,765,300 oz OR 117.11 TONNES (16 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 2353 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 16 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES: 117.11 TONNES

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

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 117.11/3550 x 100% TONNES 3.29% 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:. 276.50 TONNES (STRONG AGAIN/

APRIL: 189..44 TONNES ( DRAMATICALLY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN//GOLD IN BACKWARDATION)

MAY: 250.15 TONNES (NOW DRAMATICALLY INCREASING AGAIN)

JUNE: 247.54 TONNES (FINAL)

JULY: 188.73 TONNES FINAL

AUGUST: 217.89 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE.

SEPT 142.12 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE ( LOW ISSUANCE)_

OCT: 141.13 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE (LOW ISSUANCE)

NOV: 312.46 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE//NEW RECORD!! (INCREASING DRAMATICALLY)//SIGN OF REAL STRESS//SURPASSING THE MARCH 2021 RECORD OF 276.50 TONNES OF EFP

DEC. 115,71 TONNES//INITIAL ISSUANCE

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 SMALL SIZED 367 CONTRACTS TO 140,596 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 4 1/2 YEARS AGO.

EFP ISSUANCE 288 CONTRACTS

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

MAR 288 ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 288 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 321 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 288 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,

WE OBTAIN A SMALL SIZED LOSS OF 79 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACT FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

THUS IN OUNCES, THE LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 0.395 MILLION OZ,

OCCURRED WITH OUR $0.22 LOSS IN PRICE.

1/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT

(report Harvey)

2 ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe, Gold

(Peter Schiff, Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com,

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 31.52 PTS OR 0.88% //Hang Sang CLOSED UP 226.47 PTS OR 1.00% /The Nikkei closed UP 579.78 PTS OR 2.08% //Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.85%/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP 6.3715 /Oil UP TO 69.71 dollars per barrel for WTI and UP TO 72.38 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN // ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP AT 6.3715 AGAINST THE DOLLAR. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN ON THE DOLLAR AT 6.3821: /ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST USA DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST THE DOLLAR /TRADE DEAL NOW DEAD..TRUMP RAISED RATES TO 25%

A)NORTH KOREA//USA/OUTLINE

b) REPORT ON JAPAN

OUTLINE

3 C CHINA

OUTLINE

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

OUTLINE

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

OUTLINE

6.Global Issues

OUTLINE

7. OIL ISSUES

OUTLINE

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

OUTLINE

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

GOLD

LET US BEGIN:

THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A GOOD SIZED 4181 CONTRACTS AND 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 COMEX DECREASE OCCURRED WITH OUR LOSS OF $9.65 IN GOLD PRICING MONDAY’S COMEX TRADING. WE ALSO HAD A TINY EFP ISSUANCE (350 CONTRACTS). . THEY WERE PAID HANDSOMELY NOT TO TAKE DELIVERY AT THE COMEX AND SETTLE FOR CASH. LOOKS LIKE OUR BANKERS ARE FINALLY BAILING OUT

WE NORMALLY HAVE 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. IT SEEMS THAT ARE BANKERS FRIENDS ARE EXERCISING EFP’S FROM LONDON AND NOW THEY ARE LOATHE TO ISSUE NEW ONES.

EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE

WE ARE NOW MOVING TO THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF DEC.. THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A TINY SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,

THAT IS 350 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: ;: , DEC : 0 & FEB. 350 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 350 CONTRACTS

WHEN WE HAVE BACKWARDATION, 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. THE LOWER PRICES IN THE FUTURES MARKET IS A MAGNET FOR OUR LONDONERS SEEKING PHYSICAL METAL. BACKWARDATION ALWAYS EQUAL SCARCITY OF METAL!

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A SMALL SIZED 1230 TOTAL CONTRACTS IN THAT 2381 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A SMALL LOSS COMEX OI OF 1151 CONTRACTS..

// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR DEC (107.807),

HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 9 MONTHS OF 2021:

NOV. 8.074 TONNES

OCT. 57.707 TONNES

SEPT: 11.9160 TONNES

AUGUST: 80.489 TONNES

JULY: 7.2814 TONNES

JUNE: 72.289 TONNES

MAY 5.77 TONNES

APRIL 95.331 TONNES

MARCH 30.205 TONNES

FEB. 113.424 TONNES

JAN: 6.500 TONNES.

TOTAL SO FAR THIS YEAR (JAN- NOV): 488.996 TONNES

THE BANKERS WERE SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE //// (IT FELL $9.65)

AND THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL IN FLEECING SOME LONGS AS THE TOTAL LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES REGISTERED 11.916 TONNES,ACCOMPANYING OUR HUGE GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR DEC (107.807 TONNES)…

WE HAD – 1187 CONTRACTS REMOVED FROM COMEX TRADES. THESE WERE REMOVED AFTER TRADING ENDED LAST NIGHT

NET LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 3831 CONTRACTS OR 383,100 OZ OR 11.916 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: 506,187 TOTAL OI CONTRACTS X 100 OZ PER CONTRACT = 50.61 MILLION OZ/32,150 OZ PER TONNE = 15.74 TONNES

Estimated gold volume today: 135,079 extremely poor

Confirmed volume on Friday: 110,922 contracts extremely poor

DEC 21

/2021 INITIAL STANDINGS FOR DEC COMEX GOLD

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory in oz*	nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer* Inventory in oz*	32,151,000, oz JPMORGAN 1000 KILOBARS
Deposit to the Dealer* Inventory in oz*	nilOZ
Deposits to the Customer* Inventory, in oz*	nil
No of oz served (contracts) today	608 notice(s)60800 OZ1.8911 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)	206 contracts 20,600 oz 0.6407 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	34,454 notices 3,445,400 OZ107.146 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

DEC 21 COMEX INVENTORY MOVEMENTS//AMOUNTS STANDING

For today:

No dealer deposit

No dealer withdrawal

No customer deposit

One customer withdrawal:

1 JPMorgan: 32,151.000 oz (1000 kilobars)

ADJUSTMENTS 1/ JPMORGAN 55,517.786 oz (dealer to customer)

kilobar transactions: 1 out of 2.

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DECEMBER.

For the front month of DECEMBER we have an oi 814 stand for December. for a GAIN of 143 contracts. We had 13 notices filed on MONDAY so we GAINED 156 contracts or an additional 15,600 oz will stand for delivery in this very active delivery month of December as our bankers search out for badly needed physical gold over on this side of the pond.

JANUARY LOST 4 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 2498

FEBRUARY LOST 4411 CONTRACTS TO 379,215

We had 13 notice(s) filed today for 1300 oz FOR THE DEC 2021 CONTRACT MONTH

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 100 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equates to 608 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 0 notice(s) was (were) stopped/ Received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account and 0 notice(s) received (stopped) by the squid (Goldman Sachs)

To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the DEC /2021. contract month,

we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (34,454) x 100 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of (DEC: 2994 CONTRACTS ) minus the number of notices served upon today 13 x 100 oz per contract equals 3,466,000, OZ

OR 107.807 TONNES the number of TONNES standing in this active month of DEC.

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

No of notices filed so far (34,454) x 100 oz+ (814) OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (13} x 100 oz} which equals 3,466,000 oz standing OR 107.807 TONNES in this active delivery month of DEC.

This is a huge delivery for December.

We GAINED 156 contracts or an additional 15,600 oz WILL STAND FOR GOLD OVER HERE

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 107.807 TONNES

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION

NEW PLEDGED GOLD:

206,468.649, oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 6.42 TONNES

174,041.813 PLEDGED MANFRA 5.41 TONNES

54,339.114oz PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690

288,481,604, oz JPM No 2 8.97 TONNES

698,821.330 oz pledged June 12/2020 Brinks/27,96 TONNES

12,244.444 oz International Delaware: 0..3808 tonne

Loomis: 18,615.429 oz

total pledged gold: 1,653,017.372oz 51.42 tonnes

TOTAL REGISTERED AND ELIZ GOLD AT THE COMEX: 33,644.673.974 OZ (1046.458 TONNES)

TOTAL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 16,045,346.758 OZ

TOTAL OF ALL REGISTERED GOLD: 17,744,327.216 OZ

REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVEDUPON: 16,091,319 OZ (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD)

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

SILVER COMEX DEC 16/2021

DEC 13/2021

And now for the wild silver comex results

DEC 13/2021

And now for the wild silver comex results

INITIAL STANDING FOR SILVER//DEC

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	147,357.580 OZ oz CNT
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*	nilOZ
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	1,195,502.490 oz CNT//JPMORGAN
No of oz served today (contracts)	0 CONTRACT(S)nil OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	490 contracts (2,450,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	8535 contracts 42,675,000 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*

we had 0 deposits into the dealer

total dealer deposits: nil oz

i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal

total dealer withdrawals: nil oz

We had two deposits to the customer account:

i) Into CNT: 600,834.390 oz

ii) Into JPMorgan: 1195,502.490 oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 184.665 million oz/356.804 million =51.75

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 92.630 MILLION OZ

TOTAL REG + ELIG. 357.804 MILLION OZ

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

silver open interest data:

Total oi for the silver complex: 141,360 contracts losing 995 contracts on the day

FRONT MONTH OF DEC OI: 521 CONTRACTS losing 0 contracts on the day.

TOTAL NO OF CONTRACTS SERVED UPON THIS MONTH: 8535 CONTRACTS FOR 42,675,000 OZ

CALCULATION OF SILVER OZ STANDING FOR DECEMBER

For the front month of DECEMBER we have an amount of silver standing AT 491 CONTRACTS for a LOSS of 30 contracts. We had 12 notices filed on MONDAY, so we LOST 18 contracts or an additional 90,000 oz will NOT stand for delivery in this very active delivery month of December. There is surely no silver on either side of the pond.

JANUARY GAINED 70 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 2146

FEBRUARY LOST 2 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 36

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY: 0 NOTICES OR nil OZ

Comex volumes: 46,769 poor (est. today)

Comex volume: confirmed Monday: 36,516 contracts (poor)

To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in DEC. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 8535 x 5,000 oz =. 42,675,000 oz

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC (490) and the number of notices served upon today 0 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

Thus the standings for silver for the DEC./2021 contract month: 8535 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for front month of DEC (491) – number of notices served upon today (0) x 5000 oz of silver standing for the DEC contract month equates 45,130,000 oz. .

WE LOST 18 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 95,000 OZ WILL NOT STAND FOR DELIVERY

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

DEC 21/WITH GOLD DOWN $7.05 TODAY,

NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 978.57 TONNES

DEC 20/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.65 TODAY; A BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.37 TONNES INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 977.20 TONNES

DEC 17/WITH GOLD UP $7.05 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 977.20 TONNES

DEC 16/WITH GOLD UP $33.05TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.4 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY REST AT: 977.20 TONNES

DEC15/WITH GOLD DOWN $7.80 TODAY/ A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.04 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 980.60 TONNES.

DEC 14/WITH GOLD DOWN $18.00 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 982.64 TONNES

DEC 13/WITH GOLD UP $3.20 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 982.64 TONNES

DEC 10.WITH GOLD UP $7.30 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 982.64 TONNES

DEC 9/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.10 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 982.64.

DEC 8/WITH GOLD UP $5.50 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 984.38 TONNES

DEC 7/WITH GOLD UP $5.15 TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.74 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 984.38 TONNES

DEC 6/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.90 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 986.17 TONNES//

DEC 3/WITH GOLD UP $20.35 TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.85 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 986.17 TONNES

DEC 2/WITH GOLD DOWN $19.80 TODAY; A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.83 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 990.82 TONNES

DEC 1/WITH GOLD UP $7.05 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 992.85 TONNES

NOV 30/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.70 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESS AT 992.85 TONNES.

NOV 29/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.40 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 992.85 TONNES/

NOV 26/WITH GOLD UP $2.70 TODAY/A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.76 TONES INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 992.85 TONNES

NOV 24/WITH GOLD UP $.40 TODAY//NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD..INVENTORY RESTS AT 991.11 TONNES

NOV 23/WITH GOLD DOWN $21.85 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 6.11 TONNES INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 991.11 TONNES.

NOV 22/WITH GOLD DOWN 54.10 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 985.00 TONNES

NOV 19/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.40 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 8.13 TONNES INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 985.00 TONNES.

NOV 18/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.40 TODAY:A SMALL CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .88 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 976.87 TONNES

NOV 17/WITH GOLD UP $14.10 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 975.99 TONNES

NOV 16/WITH GOLD DOWN $10.30 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 975.99 TONNES

NOV 15/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.55 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY AT 975.99 TONNES//

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inventory rests tonight at:

DEC 21/ GLD INVENTORY 978.57 tonnes

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

DEC 21/WITH SILVER UP 19 CENTS: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.728 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///

INVENTORY RESTS AT 540.085 MILLION OZ

DEC 20/WITH SILVER DOWN 22 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 538.282 MILLION OZ

DEC 17/WITH SILVER UP 9 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 538.282 MILLION OZ//

DEC 16/WITH SILVER UP 91 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV// A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.33 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY REST AT 538.282 MILLION OZ

DEC 15WITH SILVER DOWN 38 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.48 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 541.612 MILLION OZ

DEC 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 38 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 543.092 MILLION OZ

DEC 13/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.561 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 543.092 MILLION OZ//

DEC 10.WITH SILVER UP 19 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 546.653 MILLION OZ..

DEC 9/WITH SILVER DOWN 43 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV// A DEPOSIT OF 2.96 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 546.653 MILLION OZ/

DEC 8/WITH SILVER DOWN 7 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 543.693 MILLION OZ///

DEC 7/WITH SILVER UP 24 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 543.693 MILLION OZ..

DEC 6/WITH SILVER DOWN 25 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.110 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 543.693 MILLION OZ//

DEC 3/WITH SILVER UP 21 CENTS TODAY; A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.199 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 544.803 MILLION OZ//

DEC 2/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 548.002 MILLION OZ.

DECM 1/WITH SILVER DOWN 44 CENTS TODAY: A SMALL CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 740,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 548.002 MILLION OZ//

NOV 30/WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY; A SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV// A WITHDRAWAL OF .555 MILLION OZ FORM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 548.742 MILLION OZ///

NOV 29/WITH SILVER DOWN 25 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 549.297 MILLION OZ//

NOV 26/WITH SILVER DOWN 36 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.038 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 549.297 MILLION OZ///

NOV 24/WITH SILVER UP 5 CENTS //NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV..INVENTORY RESTS AT 547.261 MILLION OZ

NOV 23.WITH SILVER DOWN 81 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.128 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 547.261 MILLION OZ//

NOV 22/ WITH SILVER DOWN 47 CENTS TODAY; A BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A SURPRISE DEPOSIT OF 1.156 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 549.389 MILLION OZ/

NOV 19/WITH SILVER DOWN 14 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 548.233 MILLION OZ..

NOV 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 27 CENTS TODAY/ NO CHANGES IN SILVER STANDING AT THE SLV.//INVENTORY REST AT 548.233 MILLION OZ//

NOV 17/WITH SILVER UP 24 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER STANDING AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 548.233 MILLION OZ//

NOV 16/WITH SILVER DOWN 17 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER STANDING AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 548.233 MILLION OZ//

NOV 15/WITH SILVER DOWN 25 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV/ INVENTORY RESTS AT 548.233 MILLION OZ

SILVER INVENTORY //SLV//537.357 MILLION OZ//

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER STORIES

PETER SCHIFF

Peter Schiff: The Era Of Low Inflation Is The Only Thing That’s Transitory

MONDAY, DEC 20, 2021 – 05:00 PM

Via SchiffGold.com,

Last week, the Fed sped up its timetable for tapering its asset purchases and raising interest rates. While this represents a slightly tighter monetary policy, it’s far from truly tight. And yet, the central bankers at the Fed and a lot of people in the mainstream seem to think these small steps will tame the inflation dragon. In fact, this slight tightening is a little like taking a pea shooter to a bazooka fight.

Despite finally acknowledging inflation will likely runner hotter and last longer than expected, there is still widespread belief that it is transitory in the long run. After all, we had a couple of decades of tame inflation, and that’s now viewed as the norm. In this podcast, Peter Schiff explains why the only thing that’s transitory is the era of low inflation.

The relief rally after the Federal Reserve FOMC meeting was short-lived, with markets broadly lower on Thursday and Friday.

Keep in mind, despite speeding up the taper and pushing up the timeline for raising interest rates, the Fed wasn’t hawkish. We’re talking about degrees of dovishness. Nevertheless, speculative, momentum stocks and tech stocks were hit particularly hard on Thursday. Some of the tech stocks caught a bid on Friday, despite markets being broadly lower. (The Dow was down over 532 points.) But Peter said he doesn’t think these stocks are out of the woods now that the Fed has pricked the bubble.

The question is how much air is the Fed willing to allow to come out from that bubble before they do something to patch it up?”

Peter said as long as the Fed is moving in the direction of tightening its easy money policy – however slightly – the markets will face strong headwinds. He said what the markets really need is for the Fed to pivot back to looser again.

Right now, the markets are factoring in less loose monetary policy. Because that’s what we have. We don’t have tight money. We have less loose money.”

After all, interest rates are still at zero. And the Fed is still engaged in quantitative easing.

Less loose, while it may still constitute a tightening for the markets is not a tightening for the economy, and it’s not going to do anything about the inflation problem. It’s going to make the inflation problem worse.”

But Peter said the stock market has a different kind of problem. It’s like a drug addict who has built up a tolerance. The drug is easy money. If you cut the drug dose, that’s problematic even if the addict is still getting some of the drug. The stock market needs more and more of this monetary heroin to stay high and maintain its ridiculously inflated valuations.

Even though the Fed is continuing to supply heroin, if they’re going to supply less, it’s not enough to satisfy this addiction. And so, until we actually get a reversal – the Fed has to go from being less loose to being more loose – that’s what the markets need. So, Powell needs to do something like slow down the pace of the taper, or probably more likely, push back the date of “liftoff,” the day the markets expect the first rate hike.”

Peter said the markets will continue to languish until we see some kind of reversal. Of course, the only reason the Fed was able to keep the monetary spigot wide open was the pretext that inflation was below target.

But what happens in an environment where inflation is already too high? How can the Fed then justify saving the stock market if it means making the inflation problem even worse?”

Again, even if the Fed does follow through with a couple of rate hikes next spring, we’re still looking at exceptionally loose monetary policy. And again. it won’t do anything about the inflation problem.

You need tight monetary policy to deal with inflation. And even if the Fed becomes less loose, nobody is looking at tight money — especially the Fed.”

The central bank is projecting interest rates will still be below 2% in 2023.

How can that be, if we really have an inflation problem? How are we going to do something about it by maintaining such historically low interest rates?”

Two percent isn’t even as high as the Fed got in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Interest rates hit 2.5% in 2018 before the stock market went sideways and the Fed had to reverse course.

How can we still be that low that far into the future when inflation is clearly much higher now than it was back then? And the answer is because Jerome Powell is convinced that the low inflation that the US enjoyed over the decade or two prior to COVID — that situation is going to return. And that we can count on this extremely low inflation that we’ve had — that it is the new normal. And because inflation is going to go back to being really low, well, interest rates can stay really low.”

In a nutshell, while Powell has acknowledged that inflation will likely persist longer than initially thought, it is still transitory when you look at the bigger picture. Powell doesn’t think inflation will endure.

Peter said Powell is absolutely wrong.

The fact that consumer prices didn’t rise precipitously with all of the money printing in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis has lulled the mainstream into a false sense of security. Most people now seem to think we can now print trillions of dollars with minimal inflationary effect. So, why didn’t we see an immediate inflationary spiral with three rounds of QE after 2008?

Listen to the entire podcast for an explanation of why we had such a lag between money printing and rising prices.

END

LAWRIE WILLIAM//,//Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com,James RICKARDS

Fauci’s Finished

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 01:25 PM

Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

In a little under an hour, Joe Biden is expected to address the nation about the new Omicron variant of the virus.

An aide claims the administration is “prepared for the rising case levels” and that Biden will explain how it “will respond to this challenge.”

The Omicron variant is highly contagious. Some models, along with data from Europe, suggest the number of cases could potentially double every two days. Of course, you can’t really trust models, but this variant is spreading rapidly.

The good news is that it doesn’t appear to be particularly dangerous. Symptoms are generally described as those of a mild cold. But you can expect Biden to dial up the fear tomorrow.

He’s probably going to try to shame the unvaccinated and warn about a “dark winter” ahead because of their refusal to take the jabs. For the fully vaccinated, he’s going to tell them to get the booster.

We’ll have to see what else he has in store, but you can be sure it won’t involve telling everyone to take hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin if they start showing symptoms.

Changing Goalposts

It’s all about vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate! And when you’re done vaccinating, get ready for another. The goalposts are constantly changing.

It was always expected that the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID vaccines would be two-dose treatments. (That’s not true of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine, which was always a one-dose regimen. Janssen’s is the only vaccine that relies on a more traditional adenovirus rather than mRNA technology to instruct your cells to create the toxic spike protein.)

The vaccines were initially reported to be highly effective at reducing severe symptoms and deaths. This was despite some serious side effects that have not been fully reported and are still being evaluated.

The likely number of vaccine-induced deaths exceeds 20,000, based on the VAERS reporting system. We don’t know the true number because there’s no definitive evidence that the vaccine caused the death, but the spike in reported deaths since the vaccines came out is off the charts. It’s not proof of a fire, but there’s lots of smoke.

Meanwhile, all of the vaccines were falsely presented to the public as preventing infection. But that was untrue. The vaccines do not prevent infection or spread of the virus.

Still, public health officials went on a full-court press to achieve 100% vaccination rates regardless of side effects, religious objections, medical objections based on asthma and other conditions and regardless of the natural immunity already acquired by over 50 million Americans who have had the disease and recovered.

Besides, the vaccines do not appear to be effective at preventing infections from the Omicron variant. The fully vaccinated and the boosted can still get sick.

Lepers

Vaccine mandates were enforced through a large number of drastic outcomes for the unvaccinated. You could lose your job; lose a government contract; be denied international travel; be discharged from the military; and be denied access to restaurants, sports venues and concerts among other activities if you did not get vaccinated.

The unvaccinated were treated like lepers with the result that many got vaccinated against their better judgment solely to avoid the harsh treatment otherwise reserved for them. The only consolation was that once you were vaccinated and had your paperwork in order (and ready to present to the vax enforcers), you could go about your business when it came to work, travel or leisure.

But wait, not so fast. The petty government dictators who invented these rules in the first place are now moving the goalposts. Not only do the vaccines not stop infection, but they don’t even do their job of reducing symptoms after about six months.

Naturally, Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying that it’s just a matter of time before the definition of “fully vaccinated” is changed to require three shots instead of two (or two for Janssen instead of one).

Boosters Forever

The implications of this are enormous. It means that those who thought they had put the vaccination issue behind them will have to get in line for another shot if they want to go about their business without discrimination. The supposedly vaccinated will find themselves back in the leper colony with the unvaccinated if they don’t get the new booster.

Of course, the booster will wear off after six months also. (It’s called a “booster” but it’s the same vaccine as the first shot.) And that means you will have to get boosters for the rest of your life to comply with Dr. Fauci’s dictatorship.

Vaccines should be allowed as a matter of choice but vaccine mandates are mostly illegal (per recent court rulings) and counterproductive in the sense that they encourage resistance, not compliance.

Though it’s not proven, mass vaccination could also be causing new variants because it forces the virus to evolve. A better strategy would likely involve targeted vaccination for the most vulnerable, with therapeutics for everyone else.

That would reduce the pressure on the virus to mutate while giving natural immunity to the people who were treated early and recovered. And studies indicate natural immunity is up to 27 times more powerful than vaccine-induced immunity.

Back to the Same Failed Playbook

In the meantime, expect more damage to the economy as resources are wasted in a vain attempt to achieve Zero COVID. Politicians and the bureaucrats who guide them keep reaching for the same playbook, even though the plays didn’t work the first time.

Mask mandates, lockdowns, school closings, vaccine mandates and other dictates did nothing to help.

The evidence is clear that masks don’t work. Lockdowns turned homes into COVID incubators. The better approach was to encourage people to be outside without masks, getting exercise and fresh air.

School closures deprived children of a year of education and the socialization skills that come with it.

Will this end anytime soon? In some free states like Florida and New Hampshire (where I live), most of the madness has ended already. But in neo-fascist states like Michigan, Oregon and Washington, the madness continues.

“Permanent… Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Permanent”

For example, the state of Oregon already had a mask mandate. However, it was issued under rules that make it temporary. This means that the deadline had to be extended from time to time, which requires public notice and possibly hearings.

In order to avoid these requirements, Oregon began a process to make the mask mandate permanent. When asked to explain the new policy, the medical director for communicable diseases of the Oregon Health Authority, Dr. Paul Cieslak, defended the decision by saying, “Permanent … doesn’t necessarily mean permanent.”

George Orwell must be smiling somewhere at that perfect illustration of Newspeak. It’s amazing how supposedly temporary measures can become permanent.

Meanwhile, Fauci was asked on a weekend talk show if we’re ever going to reach a point where we won’t need to wear masks on airplanes. Fauci replied, “I don’t think so.” So you’re always going to need to wear a mask on a plane regardless of the circumstances if Fauci has his way.

Here’s another bit of madness: Three months ago an FDA advisory committee voted overwhelmingly, 16–2, against booster shots for the general public.

But three months later, colleges are actually mandating boosters for the upcoming spring semester.

What happened to “the science”?

Americans Are Fighting Back

The American people are increasingly fed up with these contradictory, destructive and non-scientific mandates from the neo-fascist bureaucrats who are mainly pursuing their own agendas.

The real solution to the pandemic consists of mutations that attenuate the virus, herd immunity, better treatments, fresh air and exercise. Fauci’s dream of making everyone a vax slave will not last. His failure will require resistance by the general population.

That resistance is already taking place. Fauci is conflicted, incompetent and insecure. Moving the goalposts on vaccination is making that clear to the public. He will be deposed and vaccination will be made voluntary, but not yet.

In the meantime, expect the madness to continue.

END

Important gold commentaries courtesy of GATA/Chris Powell

For your interest….Chris Powell

GATA exposed it all in 2021, but is it making any difference?

Submitted by admin on Mon, 2021-12-20 13:12 Section: Daily Dispatches

1:33p Monday, December 20, 2021

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

For establishing the rigging of the gold market by governments and central banks, 2021 may have been GATA’s best year yet.

We produced an updated comprehensive summary of the history and components of gold price control policy —

https://gata.org/node/20925

— and our consultant Stuart Englert’s book, “Rigged: Exposing the Largest Financial Fraud in History” —

— sold several thousand copies.Our consultant Robert Lambourne reviewed the monthly reports of the Bank for International Settlements and thus kept confirming the bank’s constant surreptitious interventions in the gold market on behalf of its central bank members. No one else in the world does this work:

https://gata.org/node/21616

We highlighted the panic expressed by the London Bullion Market Association and the World Gold Council about the imminent implementation of the “Basel 3” regulations about gold derivatives —

https://www.gata.org/node/21134

— and explained how governments and central banks could get around the new rules so they could keep rigging the gold market:

https://gata.org/node/21171

We repeatedly stressed the critical questions about gold market rigging that governments and central banks refuse to answer, refusals that are essentially confirmations of their market rigging:

https://www.gata.org/node/20089

GATA was ahead of most news organizations in publicizing the ever-growing number of fines imposed and settlements obtained for rigging the monetary metals markets.

Throughout the year GATA Chairman Bill Murphy and your secretary/treasurer gave interviews to keep the gold price suppression issue alive.

The market participants and touts who had been denying gold market manipulation without ever challenging the documentation GATA produced fell almost completely silent.

And after all this effort … the gold price fell 4 1/2% and the silver price fell 13 1/2%, even as inflation exploded around the world.

This signified that governments, central banks, and their agents in the financial markets are still very much in control, even if their interventions are more brazen and obvious than ever.

For while GATA has been very successful in exposing these interventions, we have not had much success in making people care. Indeed, the success of gold market rigging by governments and central banks is essentially a matter of the refusal of 99.9% of the mining industry and mainstream financial news organizations to care.

Of course they have their reasons.

No industry is more vulnerable than the mining industry is to governments and the major banks that are formally government agents. Mining companies can’t operate without all sorts of government permissions, and since mining is the most capital-intensive business, no mining company can operate for long without the support of those major banks.

The gold mining industry’s purported representative, the World Gold Council, is very much opposed to the interest of gold investors, as signified by its partnership with the LBMA this year in opposing the “Basel 3” regulations.

As for the mainstream financial news organizations, they are just as understandably the tools of their biggest advertisers — banks and financial service companies.

And while the gold price is a matter of the greatest geopolitical sensitivity and any nation with a substantial foreign exchange surplus could overthrow the gold price suppression scheme by exchanging government currencies for gold and removing it from the banking system in a big way, no nation has yet undertaken to do so — not even Russia and China, which have admitted their knowledge of the scheme. That is, all governments are cooperating with it, even governments whose central banks have recently announced gold purchases, and even governments of gold-producing countries, developing countries that are rich countries insisting on remaining poor.

From its beginning GATA has presumed that gold price suppression policy could not withstand scrutiny, which should be self-evident, since this policy long has been implemented mostly in secret. That is, even the people and institutions behind gold price suppression policy fear having to account for it. But with their control of both the mining industry and mainstream financial journalism these policy makers have managed to prevent scrutiny.

GATA aims to continue anyway, if not out of faith that, as the Bible says, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” — after all, the Bible doesn’t say when you’ll be made free — then out of spite arising from the cheating, expropriation, and tyranny that gold market rigging represents.

Maybe our cause is futile, but maybe it isn’t, and in any case it occasionally requires some financial support. We have not asked for help in a long time and had not wanted to ask until we had some success to show for our efforts, as reflected in monetary metals prices. But as this is the season of giving, maybe our appeal will not be resented too much.

So if you endorse GATA’s work and have not supported us before, please consider doing it now by visiting the “How to Help” page at our internet site:

https://gata.org/node/16

We’re sorry that we no longer can accept donations by credit card — the service was too expensive.

We mean to acknowledge all donors, so if you send a check, please make another sort of donation by including an e-mail address, which will save us postage in thanking you.

With best wishes for a golden new year.

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

END

UK supreme court thwarts Maduro’s bid to control $1.9 billion of Venezuelan gold. It is a good thing, because England has sold that gold

(London’s Financial Times/GATA)

UK Supreme Court thwarts Maduro’s bid to control $1.9 billion of Venezuelan gold

Submitted by admin on Mon, 2021-12-20 14:15 Section: Daily Dispatches

By Jane Croft
Financial Times, London
Monday, December 20, 2021

The UK’s Supreme Court today dealt a blow to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in his fight to gain control of $1.9 billion of disputed gold reserves after it ruled that opposition leader Juan Guaidó should be recognised as the country’s legitimate head of state

.The UK’s highest court had been asked to determine which of the two men had the authority to appoint board members at the Central Bank of Venezuela who will decide what happens to the gold reserves held on behalf of the Latin American country in the Bank of England’s vaults.

Maduro, who was re-elected as president in May 2018, wants to sell the gold reserves under UN auspices to aid Venezuela’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic. However, Guaidó, recognised by the UK, US, and some Latin American and European countries as Venezuela’s leader, is fighting to keep the reserves at the Bank of England and claims the Maduro-run central bank only wants to appropriate the gold. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.ft.com/content/6b401c73-88c6-4e7e-a064-877e357aa0df

* * *

OTHER GOLD COMMENTARIES:

OTHER COMMODITIES/LUMBER

END CRYPTOCURRENCIES/

END

Your early currency/gold and silver pricing/Asian and European bourse movements/ and interest rate settings TUESDAY morning 7:30 AM

ONSHORE YUAN: 6.3715

OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.3212

HANG SANG CLOSED UP 226.47 PTS OR 1.00%

2. Nikkei closed UP 579.78 PTS OR 2.08%

3. Europe stocks ALL GREEN

USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 96;44/Euro RISES TO 1.1286-

3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +.055/ !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 113.73/ 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//

3c Nikkei now JUST ABOVE 17,000

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

3e WTI:: 69.71 and Brent: 72.38-

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

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 UP for WTI and UP FOR Brent this morning

3i European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund RISES TO -.0.328%/Italian 10 Yr bond yield RISES to 0.99% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD RISES TO 0.42%…ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD/GERMAN BUND: 1.32: DANGEROUS FOR THE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM

3j Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO : 1.25

3k Gold at $1797.75 silver at: 22.76 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00

3l USA vs Russian rouble; (Russian rouble UP 28/100 in roubles/dollar) 73.99

3m oil into the 69 dollar handle for WTI and 72 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 113.93 DESTROYING JAPANESE CITIZENS WITH HIGHER FOOD INFLATION

30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the FRANC. It is not working: USA/SF this morning .9226 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF 1.0413 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.

USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 1.453 UP 3 BASIS PTS

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 1.881 UP 3 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 13.03

Futures, Global Markets Rebound On Booster Shot Of Hope Santa Rally May Arrive Yet

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 07:49 AM

Perhaps catalyzed by Goldman’s persistent bullishness (see “As Markets Slide, Here Is Goldman’s Bull Case: $125 Billion In January Inflows“), or perhaps it was just a booster shot of optimism that vaccines will keep the omicron outbreak in check coupled with hope for a revival of Joe Biden’s $2 trillion economic package (see “Here Is The “Fallback Plan” Manchin Would Support… And Why Goldman Thinks It Wouldn’t Move The Needle“), or maybe the Santa rally decided to make a scheduled appearance (it usually begins on Dec 21) but on Tuesday US futures, Asian markets and European bourses all rebounded after three days of steep selling. Emini S&P futures were up 1% or 44.50 points, Nasdaq futures were up 170 points ot 1.09% and Dow futures were up 314 points or 0.9% as the recent bout of turbulent moves continues. Europe’s Estoxx50 was higher by 1.3% as the mining sector climbed 2.4%. Asia stocks closed higher bolstered by a rebound in Japan (+2.1%) and a rally in Chinese property developers. 10Y yields rose above 1.45%, the dollar was flat and cryptos jumped, with bitcoin trading close to $50,000 again and ether above $4000.

Markets have been whipsawed going into the holiday season as investors assess economic risks from the spread of the omicron virus variant and a hawkish central-bank pivot. While sentiment took a hit after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin rejected President Joe Biden’s tax-and-spending package on Sunday, a call between the two has stoked optimism the deal isn’t dead, prompting speculation that the Fed may have no choice but to delay its tightening campaign as $1.75 trillion in fiscal stimulus won’t be coming.

Reversing a dismal trend, China’s developer stocks jumped the most in a month and traders are not certain of the catalyst. In Europe, electricity prices leaped to a record as a shortage of natural gas put pressure on power grids already struggling with nuclear outages and freezing temperatures.

In the latest Omicron news, Biden will send 500 million free coronavirus tests to homes starting in January and send the military to help overwhelmed hospitals amid a resurgence of omicron cases. In a speech later today, Biden will encourage schools to remain open and is not expected to call for lockdowns.

Looking at the premarket, Micron climbed 7.6% after the largest U.S. maker of memory chips forecast second-quarter sales that beat analyst estimates. Wells Fargo says the guidance and commentary “could provide confidence in fundamental bottom” for fiscal year 2022. Nike rose 3.2% before the bell after the company’s sales beat analysts expectations, despite its business in China plummeting last quarter. Analysts said the company can overcome Covid-related hurdles. Here are some of the other big movers today:

Crypto-exposed stocks rebound in U.S. premarket trading on Tuesday as Bitcoin rises amid a volatile period for the digital currency. Marathon Digital (MARA US) and Riot Blockchain (RIOT US) rise 5.2% and 4.6%, respectively.
Renewable stocks and EV makers rise in premarket trading, set to rebound from the previous session’s losses, amid hopes that talks will revive President Joe Biden’s economic package. Tesla (TSLA US) gains 1.1%, Nikola (NKLA US) adds 1.5%.
DBV Technologies ADRs (DBVT US) fall 16% premarket after the company informed the U.S. FDA it plans to start a pivotal Phase 3 clinical study for a modified Viaskin Peanut patch in children. Kempen says the development is “far from favorable” as it means increased clinical risks and investment.
Aldeyra Therapeutics (ALDX US) shares fell 36% in after-market trading after the biotech company said it did not meet its primary goal for treating ocular redness in the Phase 3 trial of its Tranquility drug.
Braze (BRZE US) climbed 13% in extended trading after giving a revenue forecast for fiscal 2022 that exceeded the average analyst estimate. The software company also provided a narrower-than-projected outlook for full-year adjusted loss.

Meanwhile in Europe, stocks also bounced back from the worst drop in three weeks amid optimism that growth can overcome risks from the omicron variant. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 1.1% as of 730am ET, with miners and energy pacing gains as commodities recovered. The technology sector got a boost from Micron Technology Inc.’s upbeat forecast. The Traditional Year-End Rally Might Be Canceled: Taking Stock Investors are monitoring virus and lockdown news as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held off introducing stricter coronavirus rules in the country, but left open the prospect they’ll be needed soon. The number of Londoners hospitalized with the virus is rising sharply. “Omicron is seen as causing a pause in the recovery but it’s clearer that the variant is more contagious but less lethal,” said Francisco Simon, head of discretionary tactical asset allocation for global multi-asset solutions at Santander Asset Management. “Omicron and hawkishness are the main drivers of the market moves in this year end.” European shares have fallen from record highs in recent weeks amid concern about Covid-19 hurting the economic recovery and as central banks turn more hawkish in response to surging inflation. Also helping sentiment today was optimism that President Joe Biden hasn’t given up on his roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better plan after Senator Joe Manchin rejected it. Among individual moves, Bollore SA jumped after getting an approach for its African transport and logistic business, while Zur Rose Group AG slumped amid further delays in making e-prescriptions mandatory in Germany.

Asian stocks gained as dip-buyers emerged following a two-day selloff that pushed the regional benchmark to a 13-month low amid concerns on the omicron variant’s spread and U.S. monetary and fiscal policy. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced as much as 1.3% Tuesday, driven by gains in the technology and consumer discretionary sectors. Asian semiconductor-related stocks rose after U.S. memory-chip maker Micron gave a strong forecast while property-developer stocks gained in Hong Kong and China amid signs of policy support. There was marked improvement in sentiment after the recent bout of risk-off trading sparked by worries about renewed mobility restrictions, higher U.S. interest rates and prospects for Joe Biden’s economic agenda. U.S. stock futures climbed during Asian trading hours, and there were reports of talks between Biden and Senator Joe Manchin that could draw the latter’s support for the president’s plan.

“With no news of note hitting the wires, it appears that short-covering in U.S. index futures has been enough to attract the fast money back into local markets in a classic follow-the-leader move,” Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda Asia Pacific, wrote in a note. Japan led gains around the region, with the Nikkei 225 closing up 2.1% as the government raised its monthly view of the economy for the first time since the summer of 2020. Shares also rose in Australia, where the central bank presented an upbeat view of the economy. Tencent and Meituan were among the biggest contributors to the MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s gains.

Indian stocks tracked Asian and European peers higher, recovering from a sharp selloff in previous sessions, even as concerns continue to rise over the central bank’s liquidity-withdrawal measures. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.9% to 56,319.01 in Mumbai, after posting its biggest two-day plunge in eight months on Monday. The benchmark gained as much as 1.9% during the session but pared its advance, dragged by financial stocks including Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance. The NSE Nifty 50 Index also advanced by a similar magnitude. All 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. climbed, led by a gauge of basic materials companies. Foreign investors in India have net sold $1.2b of local stocks this month through Dec. 17, ahead of the holiday season on back of rising volatility in global equities. In a surprise move, the Reserve Bank of India removed funds worth 2 trillion rupees ($26.3 billion) using a 3-day reverse repo auction Monday, signaling efforts to take out excess liquidity from the banking system. “The market mood remains negative,” said Prashant Tapse, an analyst with Mehta Equities. Foreign investors will likely remain sellers of Indian stocks for few weeks due to lack triggers, he added. “Immediately we may not see any reversal in FII selling, may be some change in January, ahead of the federal budget presentation.”

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index inched lower as it continued to pare Friday’s gain and the greenback weakened against all of its Group-of-10 peers apart from the franc and the yen; the Treasury curve steepened a second day and yields rose across all tenors. The euro pared gains after rising beyond $1.13 and European bonds underperformed Treasuries. The pound rose, erasing Monday’s losses against the dollar, as risk appetite improved. Domestic focus remains on the likelihood of stricter coronavirus restrictions amid the rapid spread of omicron. Australia’s sovereign curve steepened further as minutes of the RBA’s December meeting saw an end to QE by May 2022. Aussie dollar consolidated with a bounce in iron ore and stocks. The yen eased as U.S. yields extended their climb ahead of a 20-year Treasury auction later in the day. Bonds tracked U.S. debt’s weakness.

Turkey’s lira swung wildly after rallying nearly 50% this week, as investors weighed the sustainability of government measures to shore up the currency. Turkey’s emergency measures to bolster the volatile lira are in effect an interest rate hike in disguise, leaving the government budget more vulnerable to future currency shocks; here’s how it works. Japanese day traders’ affection for the Turkish lira is getting seriously tested, with the currency’s extreme volatility leaving the hardiest speculators hanging in there. China’s central bank fixed the yuan’s daily reference rate at a level weaker than expected by analysts, signaling that the authorities want to slow the pace of currency’s appreciation.

In rates, Treasuries continued their decline, with the 10Y yield rising to 1.45%, led by the long-end of the curve following a wider bear steepening move across bunds and gilts. Risk-on backdrop sees stocks trade higher, unwinding portion of Monday’s losses while U.S. $20b 20-year bond sale may also be weighing on long-end. Treasury yields are cheaper by up to 2bp from 10-year out to 30-year sectors, steepening 2s10s, 5s30s spreads by 0.8bp and 0.5bp; German 10-year bonds lag by 1.5bp vs. Treasuries, while German 5s30s spread is wider by 3.2bp on the day. U.S. auctions resume with $20b 20-year bond reopening at 1pm ET; WI yield around 1.92% is 14.5bp richer than November stop-out, which tailed the WI by 1.4bp.

In commodities, crude futures hold in the green. WTI rallies over a percent, regaining a $69-handle, Brent climbs back above $72. Spot gold pops small higher, stalling just shy of $1,800/oz. Base metals are well bid with LME aluminum and zinc outperforming.

Looking at the day ahead now, data releases include the UK public finances for November, Germany’s GfK consumer confidence reading for January, the US current account balance for Q3, and the Euro Area’s advance consumer confidence reading for December. Central bank speakers include the ECB’s Kazimir, whilst President Biden is set to deliver a speech on Covid.

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures up 0.7% to 4,588.50
STOXX Europe 600 up 0.9% to 471.50
MXAP up 1.1% to 189.85
MXAPJ up 1.0% to 613.11
Nikkei up 2.1% to 28,517.59
Topix up 1.5% to 1,969.79
Hang Seng Index up 1.0% to 22,971.33
Shanghai Composite up 0.9% to 3,625.13
Sensex up 0.8% to 56,266.97
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.9% to 7,355.05
Kospi up 0.4% to 2,975.03
German 10Y yield little changed at -0.35%
Euro up 0.2% to $1.1299
Brent Futures up 0.2% to $71.65/bbl
Gold spot up 0.3% to $1,796.73
U.S. Dollar Index down 0.20% to 96.36

Top Overnight News from Bloomberg

Anyone gearing up for bond yields to surge in 2022 should think again. A global glut of saved cash has the potential to restrain an increase in rates, even as central banks dial back their pandemic stimulus
ECB Governing Council member Peter Kazimir says there’s still a long way to go to reach monetary-policy normalization following last week’s confirmation of an exit from pandemic bond-buying
European electricity prices surged to a fresh record as the region scrambled to keep the lights on in France, the region’s second-biggest market
Boris Johnson’s government suggested there won’t be new coronavirus restrictions imposed before Christmas, as ministers stressed the need to balance public health with protecting the U.K. economy
U.K. debt costs are rising at the fastest pace since the aftermath of the global financial crisis, a potential headache for Chancellor Rishi Sunak as he faces pressure to spend more to help businesses weather the impact of the omicron variant
President Joe Biden will send 500 million free coronavirus tests to Americans’ homes beginning next month and dispatch the military to shore up overwhelmed hospitals as the U.S. confronts a resurgent pandemic
President Joe Biden spent time on Friday with an aide who tested positive for coronavirus infection three days later but has so far tested negative himself, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement
The omicron variant accounted for 73% of all sequenced Covid-19 cases in the U.S., surging from around 3% last week, according to the latest federal estimates
Some of the world’s biggest banks are paring back their Libor transition programs after collectively spending billions of dollars on the seismic shift away from the discredited rate
The number of crypto-tracking investment vehicles worldwide more than doubled to 80 from just 35 at the end of 2020, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. Assets soared to $63 billion, compared to $24 billion at the start of the year

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

Asia-Pac stocks traded with gains across the board following the downbeat lead from Wall Street which saw all the majors post relatively broad-based losses, with some mild underperformance in the Russell 2000. Reopening plays were among the biggest losers, although Micron shares rose over 7% at one point amid blockbuster earnings. US equity futures resumed trade firmer and held onto mild gains overnight, but the upward momentum briefly paused after the US reported its first death attributed to the Omicron variant. Back to APAC, the ASX 200 (+0.9%) was supported by gains in some large-cap miners, although Pilbara Minerals shares slumped over 7% after cutting FY22 production and shipment guidance while announcing average sales price is expected at the higher end of prior guidance. The Nikkei 225 (+2.1%) outperformed as it nursed some of yesterday’s losses and reclaimed the 28k level to the upside. The KOSPI (+0.4%) initially traded between gains and losses before conforming to the mild positive tone. The Hang Seng (+1.0%) and Shanghai Comp (+0.9%) were also firmer in holiday-thinned trade, with major macro newsflow from the region light, although large Chinese tech names were spooked by further crackdown concerns after a Chinese social media influencer was hit with a USD 210mln for tax evasion. In fixed income, US 10yr Futures traded with a mild downside bias as stocks remained in the green, with 10yr JGB futures following suit from its US counterpart.

Top Asia News

China Influencer Crackdown Exposes Loophole Used to Hide Wealth
Thailand Halts Quarantine-Free Entry as Omicron Tops Tourism
Chinese Developer Stocks Jump Most in a Month: Evergrande Update
Pakistan’s Imran Khan Concedes Election Loss in Stronghold Area

European bourses kicked the session off with gains of around 1.0% across the board, in-fitting with the lead from futures and APAC trade. News flow has been exceptionally quiet, and the economic releases docket is thin. Catalysts are also thin, but traders are predominantly keeping an eye on COVID updates and geopolitics. Sectors are all in the green and the breakdown initially had some of yesterday’s laggards – including Travel & Leisure – trading towards the top of the pack; however, since then, the best performing sectors are now Basic Resources as metals prices pick up, and Technology after US chipmaker Micron’s update afterhours on Monday; Micron (+6.6% premarket) beat on top- and bottom-lines, and expects that the chip shortage will moderate throughout 2022. Elsewhere on the earnings front, Nike (+3.4% premarket) also reported after the US close, and its decent report is buoying other industry retailers like JD Sports (+4.5%). Finally, while the majority of European movers are dictated by the above macro action/US earnings, Zur Rose (-9.5%) is the notable laggard after reports that Germany has postponed digital prescriptions.

Top European News

Kazimir: Last Week Started Long Path to ECB Policy Normalization
Kitron Surges 10% After Buying EMS Provider for DKK600m
U.K. Holds Off Pre-Christmas Virus Curbs With Eye on Economy
Turkey to Announce Details of Lira Deposit Support on Tuesday

In FX, the Greenback looks a bit more vulnerable as the broad risk tone improves to set up a turnaround Tuesday of sorts, but US Treasuries trade largely flat in contrast to their EU equivalents, irrespective of looming 20 year issuance that might need a decent concession to ensure a warm reception in restrained pre-Xmas/New Year holiday trade. Moreover, the index appears to be losing momentum around the 96.500 mark after a less pronounced bounce between 96.543-337 parameters, while crude oil, precious metals and even the friendless Turkish Lira have reclaimed lost ground against the Buck. In fact, the TRY staged a very impressive comeback to circa 11.7170 at best from 18.3600+ at one stage yesterday as President Erdogan backed up words with action when he announced multiple measures aimed at curbing volatility (depreciation) in the currency, details of which will be divulged by the Finance Minister from 11.00GMT.

NZD/GBP – Far from zeros to heroes, but the Kiwi and Pound are faring much better than they were at various times during Monday’s bouts of aversion, as Nzd/Usd hover just under 0.6750 and Cable crests 1.3250 near a Fib retracement, regardless of ongoing pandemic issues that are plaguing both nations. On that note, New Zealand has been forced to delay its staged border reopening to February from January, while the UK awaits more data before deciding whether to impose a circuit breaker after Boxing Day.
AUD/EUR – The next best majors, or beneficiaries of their US peer’s pullback as the Aussie regains a firmer footing above 0.7100 and the Euro mounts another attempt to breach 1.1300 convincingly. However, Eur/Usd faces further option expiry-related resistance to augment any psychological reluctance to break beyond the round number as 1.3 bn rolls off from 1.1295 to 1.1300, while Aud/Usd may be hampered by RBA minutes underlining its dovish-leaning stance.
CAD/JPY/CHF – All narrowly mixed vs their US counterpart as the Loonie wanes alongside WTI in the run up to Canadian retail sales and new house prices, while the Yen is back below 113.50 even though media reports suggest that the Japanese Government is mulling an upgrade to its fiscal 2022 real GDP growth forecast to 3.0% or more vs 2.2% previously. Elsewhere, the Franc is eyeing 0.9200 again in wake of Swiss trade data showing a record surplus.
SCANDI/EM/PM – No real reaction to rather conflicting Swedish sentiment indicators or stagflationary NIER forecasts for 2022 CPIF and GDP as Eur/Sek straddles 10.3100, but the Nok is deriving some traction from the aforementioned stabilisation in Brent to test 10.17000 vs lows approaching 10.2200 against the Eur. Meanwhile, the Cnh and Cny have gleaned impetus from a firmer PBoC midpoint fix and the Rub via Brent plus the RIA asserting a possibility of Russia and the US striking an understanding on security guarantees. Conversely, the Zar has not received a fillip from Gold holding at the 100 DMA and inching towards Usd 1800/oz.

In commodities, WTI and Brent are conforming to the broader risk themes, and are directionally in-tune with European equities, though magnitudes are somewhat more contained. Currently, WTI and Brent reside around USD 69.00/bbl and USD 72.00/bbl respectively – note, the complex has become increasingly choppy as the session progresses. News flow for the complex has been limited; US/Russia geopolitics has gained some attention this morning though essentially echoes the constructive sentiment from the US on Monday. Elsewhere, natgas prices are bid on supply-side dynamics: Gascade data initially showed that flows to Germany via the Yamal-Europe pipeline had stopped. Subsequently, the Polish operator confirmed that the pipeline had recommenced activity but in reverse mode from Germany to Poland, which the Kremlin described as ‘commercial’ and unrelated to Nord Stream 2. In metals, spot gold and silver are supported given USD’s (limited) downside, though the yellow metal remains capped by USD 1800/oz at the time of writing. Elsewhere, base metals are bolstered on the firmer risk tone that has continued from APAC hours while Iron Ore prices were bid in China, action that was attributed to demand from the property sector.

US Event Calendar

8:30am: 3Q Current Account Balance, est. -$205b, prior -$190.3b

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

I’m going on my Christmas leave tomorrow so this will be the last edition of the EMR until early January. To echo what Jim said on Friday, thanks for reading over the last 12 months, as well as for all your support and interactions. If you’re looking for some further macro strategy reading over Christmas, feel free to check out the selection of DB Research outlooks for 2022, and you can find all the links for these in a note we put out yesterday (link here).

As we wrap up on 2021, it’s fair to say that it’s been quite the year in financial markets, particularly with inflation proving a much more persistent force than many had expected at the start. But in many ways it’s finishing not too dissimilarly from how it began, with Covid once again dominating the agenda as the Omicron variant continues to spread. Coupled with the news over the weekend that Senator Manchin is now a no vote on the Build Back Better Bill, risk assets sold off across the board yesterday. Indeed, the S&P 500 shed a further -1.14% to bring its losses over the last 3 sessions to more than -3%, marking the first time that’s happened since September.

In terms of the latest on the virus, the indications are pretty much all continuing to point towards tougher restrictions in Europe, while the CDC noted that Omicron now makes up the majority of new cases in the US, which dampened risk appetite. German Chancellor Scholz said yesterday that “We need new restrictions on personal contacts so that we’re well prepared when the new variant of the virus spreads everywhere in Europe”, and he’s set to hold talks with regional leaders today to discuss further measures. Bloomberg reported that a draft seen by them included measures such as closing nightclubs and limiting the number of people at indoor gatherings to 10 from December 28. Here in the UK, there had been speculation earlier in the day that the government were considering imposing further restrictions, but after a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Johnson didn’t announce any new measures for the time being, but instead said that the data should be kept under review. That comes as the UK’s weekly case average now stands at its highest of the entire pandemic, whilst in London (which is the epicentre of the UK’s outbreak right now) the numbers in hospital have risen by a third over the last week.

In terms of some more positive Covid news, Moderna announced that a booster dose of their vaccine led to a 37-fold increase in neutralising antibodies against the Omicron variant, relative to pre-boost levels. Separately, Novavax’s vaccine was granted a conditional market authorisation by the European Commission, making it the 5th Covid vaccine now authorised in the EU. In terms of what to expect today, President Biden is due to deliver a speech on the pandemic later on, in which he’s expected to announce further steps to deal with the new variant, and it’s also been trailed that he’ll be warning about what the winter will be like for unvaccinated Americans.

Against this gloomy backdrop, the major equity indices all lost ground on both sides of the Atlantic. As mentioned at the top, the S&P 500 fell back -1.14%, with the more cyclical sectors underperforming in line with the broader risk-off moves. To be honest though, it wasn’t a great day for many, with just 78 companies in the entire index moving higher on the day, whilst the NASDAQ shed a further -1.24% to hit a 2-month low. Europe saw some reasonable losses as well, albeit after paring back some of the biggest declines shortly after the open with the STOXX 600 recovering from an intraday low of -2.56%, to “only” close down -1.38%.

The prospect of tougher restrictions and weakening economic demand sent oil prices lower again yesterday, with both Brent Crude (-2.86%) and WTI (-3.85%) seeing sharp declines. But one energy commodity that continued its inexorable rise was European natural gas, with the benchmark future up +7.31% yesterday to another record of €146.93 per megawatt-hour. It comes as temperatures have continued to decline heading into the European winter, and we also got the news that Gazprom hadn’t booked any extra capacity in January for gas flowing through Ukraine. That’s an important story heading through the winter with implications for European growth, and one that will have investors closely following the weather forecasts to work out what might happen.

Overnight in Asia equities have begun to recover, with the Nikkei (+1.89%), Hang Seng (+0.53%), KOSPI (+0.49%), Shanghai Composite (+0.41%) and the CSI (+0.17%) all rising on the back of hopes that Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia could back a reformulated Build Back Better plan, saying on a West Virginia radio station the ways in which he would support a package. It was also reported by Bloomberg that Biden and Manchin had a further call Sunday night, some hours following Manchin’s move on Fox News Sunday where he announced his opposition. Bear in mind that the passage of the bill would have implications for 2022 growth, as the child tax credit expansion will expire as it stands, which has bolstered US consumer balance sheets. Oil prices have recovered somewhat too, with Brent crude up +0.77% this morning, whilst US and European equity futures have moved higher as well, with those on the S&P 500 (+0.58%) and the DAX (+0.92%) both advancing.

In other news yesterday, it was announced that Joachim Nagel was set to take over as the next Bundesbank President, succeeding Jens Weidmann who’s leaving after over a decade at the helm. Nagel is currently the Deputy Head of Banking at the Bank for International Settlements, but has also been on the Executive Board at the Bundesbank previously. His appointment is one of the first by the new coalition government in Germany, and Nagel will arrive at the post with German inflation at its highest in years, with annual CPI inflation having climbed to +6.0% on the EU-harmonised measure in November.

Finally in sovereign bond markets, there was a modest move higher in longer-dated European yields, with those on 10yr bunds (+1.0bps), OATs (+1.3bps) and gilts (+1.3bps) all rising. Those on 10yr Treasuries (+2.0bps) were saw a slightly bigger increase, but a decline among shorter-dated yields meant there was a steepening in the yield curve, with the 2s10s slope up +2.6bps.

To the day ahead now, and data releases include the UK public finances for November, Germany’s GfK consumer confidence reading for January, the US current account balance for Q3, and the Euro Area’s advance consumer confidence reading for December. Central bank speakers include the ECB’s Kazimir, whilst President Biden is set to deliver a speech on Covid.

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

///NORTH KOREA

3B JAPAN

Japanese government tells its citizens not to discriminate against the unvaccinated

(Watson/SummitNews)

Japanese Government Tells Citizens: “Don’t Discriminate Against The Unvaccinated”

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 08:06 AM

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

Despite numerous major countries making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory, the Japanese government has told its citizens “do not discriminate against those who have not been vaccinated.”

Germany is set to follow Austria by imposing mandatory jabs, with refuseniks who still resist taking them facing escalating fines and eventually prison sentences.

However, Japan is taking a very different approach, asserting that vaccines should only ever be administered with full consent and that they shouldn’t be used as tools of coercion or intimidation.

The following notice was posted on the website for the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare;

“Although we encourage all citizens to receive the COVID-19 vaccination, it is not compulsory or mandatory. Vaccination will be given only with the consent of the person to be vaccinated after the information provided. Please get vaccinated of your own decision, understanding both the effectiveness in preventing infectious diseases and the risk of side effects. No vaccination will be given without consent. Please do not force anyone in your workplace or those who around you to be vaccinated, and do not discriminate against those who have not been vaccinated.”

The Prime Minister’s website also contains a similar statement.

“Vaccines will never be administered without the recipient’s consent. We urge the public never to coerce vaccinations at the workplace or upon others around them, and never to treat those who have not received the vaccine in a discriminatory manner.”

Meanwhile, in Austria, the government is literally hiring people to ‘hunt down’ those who refuse to take the jab.

“Western countries still claim to be the foremost defenders of civil liberties,” writes Noah Carl. “But in the era of Covid safetyism, it seems that mantle has passed to Japan. Perhaps the country will send a delegation of human rights experts to teach the West about individual freedom.”

end

3B CHINA

Chinese property sector in disarray
(zerohedge)

As China’s Property Sector Continues Disintegrating, Much More Easing Will Be Needed

MONDAY, DEC 20, 2021 – 09:40 PM

Evergrande’s default may not have been a one-time “Lehman” event, but the painful, creeping consequences of China’s property market getting hit – the single biggest asset class in the world…

… will resonate for years in a slow, painful repricing – absent a major kick from the PBOC – and sure enough, Chinese property stocks tumbled close to a new five-year low – levels last seen in 2014 – after a series of asset sales underscored concern that equity investors will bear the brunt of losses as developers offload projects to repay debt (assuming defaults don’t wipe out the equity tranche completely).

As Bloomberg reports overnight, Shimao Group Holdings agreed to sell stakes in a Hong Kong development at a loss while distressed property giant, Sunac China Holdings, unloaded assets in Shanghai as developers rush to raise cash. China regulators meanwhile signaled they will support “quality” real estate firms looking to buy assets from struggling rivals, according to a report.

An index of Chinese developers fell for the sixth day in seven, led by Sunac, which posted a record one-day decline of 18%. Trading in Chinese dollar bonds remained light during the seasonal end-of-year lull.

The plunge in developer shares means the richest bosses behind China’s real estate firms have lost more than $46 billion combined this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan’s wealth alone has plunged by $17.2 billion.

It’s not looking good for a quick and painless rebound in the billionaire’s net worth – here are some of the more notable recent developments, all of which paint a grim picture for China’s developers:

Evergrande Declared in Default by S&P for Failed Payments

Evergrande was labeled a defaulter by S&P Global Ratings, the second credit-risk assessor to do so after Fitch. S&P cut Evergrande to “selective default” Friday over its failure to make coupon payments by the end of a grace period earlier this month, a move that may trigger cross defaults on the developer’s $19.2 billion of dollar debt. S&P also withdrew its ratings on the group at Evergrande’s request.

Fitch Ratings was the first to declare the property developer in default on Dec. 9. Long considered by many investors as too big to fail, Evergrande has become the largest casualty of President Xi Jinping’s campaign to tame the country’s overindebted conglomerates and overheated property market. Concern has since spread to higher-rated firms like Shimao Group as liquidity stress intensifies.

Evergrande Land Seized by Chengdu City on Lack of Development:

The local government in western China’s Chengdu city took two parcels back without repaying the developers, saying that Evergrande failed to start construction on time, according to Dec. 17 statements from a Chengdu land regulator (one could call this a partial nationalization of the now defaulted developer): one site, sized 83,997 square meters, was sold to a firm fully owned by by Evergrande’s onshore subsidiary Hengda Real Estate in 2010, according to a statement and corporate registry search platform Qichacha. Another site, sized 258,667 square meters, was sold to a developer in 2002 and transferred to another Hengda unit in 2011, according to a separate statement and Qichacha.

China Offshore Bond Defaults Hit Record in December

December is poised to be a record month for Chinese offshore corporate defaults after missed payments by indebted companies including China Evergrande and Kaisa Group Holdings Chinese firms have defaulted on a record $3.8 billion in offshore bonds so far this month, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The previous monthly high was in January when Chinese borrowers failed to repay $2.7 billion of such notes.

China Regulators Encourage Property Acquisitions

China is ramping up support of the embattled real estate sector as growing stress in the industry threatens to deepen an economic slowdown (something we first discussed last month in “Beijing Capitulates: Urges Local Govts To Unleash Debt Flood As Cities Begin Backstopping Property Developers”). Authorities are encouraging banks to fund acquisitions of projects of distressed developers and pushing financially healthy property firms to make such purchases, the central bank-backed Financial News reported Monday.

China is also providing credit support to an economy showing strain from the property slump, with domestic banks on Monday lowering borrowing costs for the first time in 20 months. The move follows action by the People’s Bank of China earlier this month to cut the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve, freeing up 1.2 trillion yuan ($188 billion) of cheap long-term funds for lenders.

As Bloomberg notes, the support measures come as some developers such as Kaisa and Evergrande struggle to sell assets to raise cash and service mounting debts amid a crackdown on leverage in the industry. Meanwhile, after a relentless deleveraging property developer campaign which started a year ago with the three red lines, regulators have finally eased up on the clampdown in recent weeks, such as by encouraging stronger real estate firms to tap the onshore interbank bond market for financing.

Kaisa Appoints Advisers; Shares Resume Trading

Kaisa has appointed Houlihan Lokey as its financial adviser and Sidley Austin as legal adviser after missing multiple offshore debt payments. The retention of the bankruptcy-focused financial adviser will evaluate Kaisa’s liquidity and explore all feasible solutions, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Monday. Kaisa said it hasn’t received any notice regarding acceleration of repayment by holders, and has been in talks with holder representatives about a comprehensive debt restructuring plan. That said, the hiring of HLHZ is a clear indication that a default is coming; Kaisa shares tumbled.

Evergrande Backer’s Privatization Collapses

Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd. minority shareholders failed to give sufficient support to the company’s proposed privatization, derailing a plan by the long-time ally of Evergrande to delist next month. The stock plunged 30%. Among the 74 stockholders participating, 64 voted no and made up 10.8% of the shares among the investors, according to a stock exchange filing Friday. The Hong Kong real estate firm, owned by the family of billionaire Joseph Lau, announced plans in October to buy out investors at HK$4 a share. The stock last traded at HK$3.78 before being halted Friday afternoon ahead of the results. Chinese Estates requested a trading resumption and said its listing will be maintained.

Shimao Sells Stake in Hong Kong Development Z

Shimao agreed to sell its 22.5% stake in three entities created for the Grand Victoria property development in Hong Kong for HK$2.1 billion ($270 million), according to an exchange filing. The buyers include entities owned by fellow developers SEA Holdings, Wheelock & Co. and Sino Land. Shimao expects to recognize a loss of about HK$770 million from the sale. Separately, Sunac China Holdings Ltd. sold three projects in Shanghai and Hangzhou for 2.68 billion yuan ($420 million), the 21st Century Business Herald reported, citing unidentified people.

* * *

Will all these adverse developments in mind, it is not only quite easy to understand why China cut its RRR last week, followed by a 5bps cut to its Libor, the Loan Prime Rate, but as Bloomberg notes, much more easing will be needed to revive China’s market.

As a reminder, over the weekend Morgan Stanley predicted that China’s credit impulse is due for a sharp rebound as a result of already implemented policy easing.

But the question is whether this isn’t too little too late – as Bloomberg’s Ye Xie puts it, markets have largely shrugged off the first cut in benchmark borrowing costs in 20 months in China. That in part reflects the fact that policy easing so far has been more measured. Even as the policy mix is becoming more market friendly, the bottom line is that the country needs credit growth to pick up more meaningfully. Here are some more observations from Xie:

The combination of elevated inflation and renewed growth concerns from the spread of the omicron variant of Covid has complicated the job of policy makers around the world. While the Fed and other major central banks have shifted focus to taming inflation, markets are more nervous about the economic outlook. For instance, the market implied rate for the Fed’s benchmark in 2023 has declined since the FOMC meeting last week to about 1.25%, compared with the median forecast of 1.625% on the dot- plot.
In contrast, Beijing, with less inflation pressure, is moving toward policy easing. Chinese banks cut the one-year LPR rate by 5 bps Monday, surprising most economists who had expected them to stay put. But market reactions were largely muted. Ten-year bond yields were little changed, while the CSI 300 declined 1.5%. What gives?
For starters, while few economists had predicted the move, investors have been anticipating some policy easing since the central economic working conference earlier this month, when Beijing signaled that propping up the economy has become its top priority. The RRR cut in early December, plus a similar move in July, saved enough costs for banks to pass them on to borrowers. So the LPR cut did not exactly come out of the blue.
The lenders held the five-year rate, which is tied to mortgage rates, steady. It signaled that Beijing may not intend to change overall control over the housing market, despite some recent policy fine-tuning. What’s more, the seven-day repo, a measure of interbank liquidity, has been stable. All of this suggests that the PBOC isn’t in a full-blown easing mode, yet.
Historically, the stock, bond and currency markets’ performance has been mixed in the month following an LPR cut. As noted by Larry Hu, an economist at Macquarie Securities, cutting the rate is less important in China’s context, “where the monetary policy is more based on quantity than price.” In other words, the supply of money is more important than the price of money.

So as the world waits to see if the Fed will either taper its taper, or hint at far fewer rates hikes (if any) now that Biden’s BBB plan isn’t coming, and with it $1.75 trillion in fiscal stimulus is gone, China is already stepping on the monetary stimulus engine. It won’t be alone, and we are confident that it is only a matter of time before Powell folds again. As for rampant inflation, it will take just one small change in the definition of CPI – one which is already on its way – to fix all that.

end

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

END

GERMANY

German health minister calls for immediate forced vaccination of the entire population

This is awful!

(Watson/SummitNews)

Watch: German Health Minister Calls For Immediate Forced Vaccination Of Entire Population

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 03:30 AM

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has called for making COVID vaccination mandatory immediately for the entire German population.

As reported by Der Spiegel, “Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) fears that the number of infections will rise sharply due to the new Omicron virus variant. “I assume a massive fifth wave,” said Lauterbach when visiting a vaccination center in Hanover.

Lauterbach further declared “We have to assume that the wave of omicrons that we are facing, which in my opinion we cannot prevent, will be a massive challenge for our hospitals, for our intensive care units, but also for society as a whole.”

The health minister further claimed that Omicron cannot be “got under control” with a double vaccination alone.

“We mustn’t be lulled into a false sense of security,” he said, urging that a “massive booster campaign” is needed “boosting several million people a week”.

Lauterbach added that he intends to try “by all means” to make the vaccines compulsory.

The comments come a week after Angela Merkel’s successor in Germany declared that there would be “no red lines” in the battle against the current wave of COVID, which he declared to be fueled by unvaccinated citizens.

New Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that he supports vaccine mandates across Germany, noting that he intends to “vote for compulsory vaccination, because it is legally permissible and morally right.”

Scholz previously said he wants to introduce mandatory coronavirus vaccination for all Germans as early as February, according to sources close to him.

end

GERMANY

Joachim Nagel nominated to become next leader of the German Bundesbank

(zerohedge)

Joachim Nagel Nominated To Become Next Leader Of Germany’s Bundesbank

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 04:15 AM

Nearly three weeks after the first rumors about his impending appointment to lead Germany’s Bundesbank landed, Joachim Nagel has reportedly been confirmed to lead the Germany central bank, a position of critical importance when it comes to setting the course for the EU’s shared monetary policy.

Joachim Nagel

The news comes courtesy of German newspaper Handelsblatt and a tweet from newly installed German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who announced the decision Monday morning in a tweet. Previously, the FT had publicized rumors sourced to high-ranking members within Germany’s new government that the former executive at the Bank for International Settlements would step into the position, long held by the conservative-leaning Jens Weidmann, who led the Bundesbank during Angela Merkel’s 16-year reign.

Lindner added that both he and Chancellor Olaf Scholz believe Nagel is best suited to keep rising inflationary pressures in check with a monetary policy oriented toward “stability”.

Before joining the BIS, Nagel worked in the nineties for a time as a consultant for economic and financial policy at the SPD party executive in Bonn. After positions at the Landeszentralbank in Hanover, the Bundesbank and the KfW banking group, he joined the BIS.

Weidmann’s tenure at the helm of the Bundesbank is expected to end wit the year.

With all this talk of stability, the big question on everyone’s minds right now is exactly how conservative will Nagel be once he’s installed not just atop the Bundesbank, but also as a member of the ECB’s governing council. During his ten years in office, Weidmann earned a reputation as a “hawk” on the ECB’s Governing Council, pushing for tighter monetary policy and fighting tirelessly to defend the Bundesbank’s point of view, which has gone out of fashion in the post-crisis NIRP world.

Many would like to know whether Nagel will continue with his predecessor’s course, or whether a change of direction is to be expected.

END

DENMARK

Brought this to you yesterday but it is well worth repeating. This was picked up by zerohedge

(Alex Berenson)

Stunning COVID Data From Denmark (But Not For The Reason You’ve Been Told)

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 02:00 AM

Authored by Alex Berenson via ‘Unreported Truths’ substack,

The Danes are now publishing extremely detailed daily data about Covid cases and hospitalizations – not just about Omicron, but all Covid variants.

And, in news that will surprise precisely no one who has been alive the last two years, they paint a picture entirely different than what the media claims.

Omicron – which continues to appear significantly less dangerous though more transmissible than earlier variants of Covid – has been used as a cover for vaccine failure.

Most new Covid cases in Denmark occur in people who are vaccinated or boosted – and that is true for both Omicron and earlier variants. More than 76 percent of non-Omicron Covid infections in Denmark are in vaccinated people, along with about 90 percent of Omicron infections.

Further, only 25 of the 561 people currently hospitalized in Denmark for Covid have the Omicron variant. The Danes do not provide an exact number for patients in intensive care with Omicron, saying only that it is fewer than five.

Perhaps the most stunning fact about Omicron and Denmark is that its rise actually parallels a marked slowdown in the growth of Danish hospitalizations and intensive care patients. Those rose roughly fivefold between mid-October and late November, as the Danes left the happy vaccine valley. Since then they have barely budged, rising about 20 percent.

Danish Covid hospitalizations over the last three months: note that the rise predates Omicron.

The Danish data also show that people with Omicron are both less likely to be hospitalized than those with other variants and released from the hospital much more quickly – in line with what South African health authorities have reported.

On Friday, for example, the Danes reported that the total number of hospital patients with Omicron since the epidemic began reached 77, up by 20 patients from Thursday.

But the number of Omicron patients currently hospitalized rose only by eight between Thursday and Friday, from 17 to 25. Thus 12 out of the 17 Omicron patients on Thursday appear to have been released overnight.

Compared to Monday’s report, the trend is even more clear. The number of Omicron cases has roughly tripled, but the number of people hospitalized has barely budged, from 14 to 25.

SOURCE: https://www.ssi.dk/-/media/cdn/files/covid19/omikron/statusrapport/rapp…

https://www.ssi.dk/-/media/cdn/files/covid19/omikron/statusrapport/rapp…

About the only reason for concern in any of the Danish data is that Omicron still appears to be preferentially infecting younger people – though not people under 15, who are more likely to be unvaccinated.

Overall, though, the figures out of Denmark largely back those from South Africa – and make clear that the reason that Europe has seen a massive rise in cases and hospitalizations this fall has nothing to do with Omicron and everything to do with vaccine failure.

end

Looks like the Omicron surge in England is due to massively increased testing

(zerohedge)

Is The Omicron Surge Mostly Due To Massively Increased Testing?

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 05:00 AM

Reported infections in the U.K. have suddenly spiked in the last three days, up from 59,610 on Tuesday to 78,610 on Wednesday, 88,376 on Thursday and 93,045 on Friday. Looking at the data regionally, the spike is currently much more pronounced in London, the South East, the East of England, the East Midlands and the North West than it is in the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, the South West and the West Midlands. It’s not clear at this point if it is going to continue to rise, though the last three days’ counts don’t appear to indicate continued sharp growth.

However, as The Daily Sceptic’s Will Jones details, it is also so far largely an artefact of massively increased testing, as the graph below with data for the U.K. up to December 16th shows. Similar is true for Scotland. Positive tests have spiked.

But positivity is up only a little due to the large increase in testing.

How significant is it that the spike began on Monday December 13th, the day after Boris Johnson’s Sunday press conference when he warned everyone about Omicron and told them to get their booster jab? There was a huge surge in demand for booster doses starting that Monday and continuing throughout the week. Could the fact that this surge coincided with a similar surge in both testing and positive tests be more than coincidence? Perhaps people got tested before getting their booster, or just because of the dire warning of a new threat.

People lined up to get a COVID-19 test

MishTalk’s Mike Shedlock has some new rules:

Testing the masses for Covid is worse than useless. Standing in line spreads it.
The number of Omicron asymptomatic cases tells us that isolation is not the answer either. People not realizing they have it now spread Omicron like mad.
We need to accept a fair percentage of the people simply will not get vaccinated.
Given the vast majority of severe complications happen in the unvaccinated group, we should not let them clog up the hospitals.
Hospital priority should go first to those with a booster, second to those with two shots, third to those with one shot, and last to the unvaccinated, with exceptions for those under the age of 12.
If the unvaccinated don’t care, we should not care about them. Nor should insurance cover them.
Finally, at long last, it makes sense to say “No worse than the Flu, at least for the vaccinated.” More accurately, for the vaccinated, it now appears to be “Nowhere near as bad as the flu”.

Tl,dr; The best thing to do now appears to be nothing.

As Raul Ilragi Meijer concludes at The Automatic Earth blog, if and when you’re suffering under yet another lockdown and/or any other restrictions, you should know they are for naught. There is no indication to date that Omicron will fill up hospitals, or ICUs, or that it will kill millions of people.

But that for now refuted scenario is still why those restrictions are being put in place, why you are being told not to hug your intensely lonely grandma for Christmas. Useless. And why everyone is told to get a booster, and soon another. Also useless.

It’s time for all of you to grow a spine and a pair of balls (sorry, ladies, just a manner of speech) and start living your lives again. Time to get rid of Fauci, and of Pfizer, and SAGE, and fill in your local/national bunch of experts. Because as long as they are there, they will hog the limelight, and you will never be able to start to live your life again.

A simple Christmas message.

end

FRANCE

FRANCE is in a mess as another nuclear reactor had to reduce electricity output

(ZEROHEDGE)

From Bad To Worse: Another French Nuclear Reactor Cuts Output Due To Strike

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 05:45 AM

France’s energy crisis worsened overnight when another nuclear power plant had to reduce electricity output. Power prices jumped as the government requested one of the largest utility companies to restart more nuclear reactors amid cold weather.

Following last week’s shuttering of two nuclear power plants by Électricité de France S.A., commonly known as EDF, a French electric utility company primarily owned by the state, after safety inspections found cracks in at least one nuclear reactor, another one was closed Monday due to a worker strike.

EDF said an unplanned outage at the Bugey Nuclear Power Plant in eastern France was due to a strike. Output at reactor four was cut from 800 megawatts to 180 megawatts.

France’s grid remains under pressure due to the recent nuclear power plant loss. The day-ahead power price rose to the highest level since 2009 on Sunday and was priced even higher on Monday.

European natural gas climbed above 143 euros.

At least 25% of the EDF’s 56 atomic reactors are offline for maintenance. For some context, this is highly unusual for this time of year, considering the Northern Hemisphere winter is about to begin. A cold spell has sent much of the country into a deep freeze as power demand soars.

Like everywhere else in Europe, the power crisis in France has worsened Monday as power prices from France to Germany are at elevated levels.

German power prices hit a record on Monday.

France’s Ecology Minister Barbara Pompili has called on EDF to restart some nuclear power plants to avoid blackouts.

“I asked that EDF employees work to reopen them earlier in order face any possible shortages,” Pompili said.

Temperatures are forecasted to hover around zero degrees Celsius in several European countries this week as the power crisis across Europe worsens.

end

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

TURKEY

Erdogan’s “Whatever It Takes” Moment: Comeback Story Of A Lifetime Or A Giant Headfake

BY TYLER DURDEN

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 09:21 AM

By Bas van Geffen of Rabobank

“Race isn’t over until the finish line.
It’s a comeback story of a lifetime” – Kings of Leon

Overnight, USD/TRY has made what has to be one of the sharper turnarounds in recent history. For the currency itself, it certainly is: Bloomberg reported that this is the strongest daily rally for the lira since at least 1983. After the lira slid past the 18 mark yesterday, the currency recovered all the way to around USD/TRY 11, before its current levels of about USD/TRY 13.

This sudden reversal of fortunes came as President Erdogan announced a series of measures to support the lira. Most importantly, the president introduced a scheme that will protect savings from FX fluctuations. Through the program, the government will compensate lira deposit holders if the currency’s value depreciates by more than the interest rate offered by banks on these deposits. The objective of the scheme is to stop retail demand for hard currencies like USD and EUR.

If anything, I would describe the move as a verbal FX intervention. In fact, it could even mean that the central bank does not have to spend one more cent in FX reserves on actual interventions, as long as Erdogan’s pledge manages to support the lira. The closest comparison I can think of is former ECB President Draghi’s “whatever it takes” pledge to keep the Eurozone from falling apart due to the extreme widening of sovereign spread during the debt crisis. Indeed, even though Draghi’s words birthed the OMT facility, the ECB has never had to invoke it.

Of course, there is a crucial difference between the European Central Bank –a (mostly) external party– pledging support to some of its member states and the Turkish president pledging to support its own currency (or rather, depositors). If Erdogan’s pledge is challenged, and the lira loses value, someone will have to pick up the tab. And the recent FX interventions by the CBRT have only worsened Turkey’s already low foreign reserves, potentially eroding the credibility that the president can indeed compensate all losses if the lira were to face new headwinds. It also means that – in classic bank-run mechanics – there is a first mover advantage in case there is any doubt amongst TRY deposit holders. Plus, the government’s finances are now even more linked to the currency’s performance, which could exacerbate shocks if credibility risks materialize.

So, despite the miraculous recovery in after-hours trading, the verdict is still out whether this stops the TRY’s bleeding. Indeed, the country’s CDS spreads remain at elevated levels, and President Erdogan does not seem to have strayed from his fundamental view that interest rates should be lower – the root of the lira’s problems.

In a far less exciting turnaround, equity markets seemed to have changed direction after a few weak days on the back of Covid concerns and the news that Senator Manchin would not back President Biden’s Build Back Better bill. Asian indices are currently in the green, and futures are pointing to better opens for both Europe and the US as it appears that the bill may not be dead and buried yet. Manchin has outlined a number of changes he would like to see to the bill before supporting it, and this paves the way for a new version to make it through Congress – albeit not until the new year.

Staying on the topic of turnarounds, yesterday Reuters reported that “quite a few” ECB policymakers wanted a greater acknowledgement of upside inflation risks, according to sources. It is not surprising that especially the hawks in the Council will have pushed this view, with the ECB being one of the few remaining central banks sticking to its assessment that inflation is still mainly driven by transitory factors. However, interestingly, yesterday these traditional hawks also received some backing from Vice President De Guindos, who acknowledged that inflation is “not as temporary as we expected”. Reuters’ sources suggested that the Council’s debate had ended in an agreement that there are “small upside risks” to the inflation forecast, even though this was not reflected in the press conference afterwards.

This more hawkish tone on inflation is somewhat conflicting with earlier communication, and could even suggest a very gradual change of view. After all, if quite a few Council members wanted to acknowledge such upside risks, it does not rhyme with the ECB’s fundamental views to date.

Firstly, in October, an extensive assessment of Eurozone inflation confirmed their view that key drivers are of temporary nature, and the ECB maintained that there is still little evidence of second round effects. Secondly, Lagarde noted during her latest press conference that the ECB’s new inflation projections actually accounted for quite high rates of wage growth. This suggested that the ECB’s inflation projections are on the high end of the range, and that there needs to be substantially greater wage pressures before the ECB’s new projections would need to be revised up again. In other words, accounting for relatively high wage growth at times when they see limited second round effects should actually imply that risks to the forecasts are skewed to the downside, or at best balanced. Now, the abovementioned consensus support for ‘small upside risks’ to inflation may have of course been a concession to the hawks. We will have to wait for the accounts to see how widespread the Council’s concerns really were, and whether the ECB is also slowly turning towards leaning against inflation.

Meanwhile, we now also know that Joachim Nagel will succeed Bundesbank President Weidmann when he quits at the end of the year. And it appears that Nagel will continue to defend the German approach to monetary policy, although he might be a tad more moderate than his predecessor. Having held a post at the Bundesbank’s board between 2010 and 2017, Nagel has shared some reservations about the ECB’s (then) extraordinary policies, including APP and the abovementioned OMT. Of course, it is unknown how his views have changed since then.

end

RUSSIA/USA/NATO/UKRAINE

This is not good: if NATO continues to rebuff Russia, then the Kremlin will deploy advanced weapons to the Ukraine border.

(zerohedge)

If NATO Rebuffs Russian Security Proposals, Kremlin Will Deploy Advanced Weapons To Ukraine Border

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 02:45 AM

Russia is still awaiting a definitive response after last week it delivered a series of security proposals in the form of two separate draft documents submitted to Brussels and Washington. First floated by Putin amid the growing Ukraine standoff, they are intended to kickstart serious negotiations that would ensure the peaceful co-existence of Russia and NATO, central to which is Moscow’s demand of no more NATO eastward expansion.

An initial response was issued over the weekend on the occasion of German Defense minister Christine Lambrecht’s visit to Lithuania, where she vowed that Russia will not “dictate” NATO’s affairs. Lambrecht said, “We have to talk to each other, which means discussing the proposals that Russia has put forward, but it cannot be that Russia dictates to NATO partners how they position themselves.”

In fresh comments Russia’s deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko at the same time stressed the proposals are urgently aimed at averting a potential major military conflict with NATO as tensions are at a tipping point. Crucially deputy FM Grushko stressed that if Moscow gets rebuffed or ignored in these attempts to hammer out security guarantees, Russia will be forced to prepare “counter-threats” of its own.Image: Sputnik

This also after the European Union has separately prepared a new sanctions package to enforce in the event Russia threatens Ukraine.

Grushko had this message to NATO and the EU over the weekend: “[By proposing the deal] we make it clear that we are ready to talk about how to transform a military or a military-technical scenario into a political process that will strengthen the military security of all states within The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Euro-Atlantic area and Eurasia.”

But should the West shut the door on Moscow’s overtures in the form of this security document, Russia must resort to “creating counter-threats” of its own, he added. Grushko referred to the potential for a greater force build-up near Ukraine and in Crimea, including the deployment of new weapons systems – which has for over the past month already alarmed the West.

Here’s more of what the high-ranking diplomat said, including that time is of the essence, according to a translation in Russian media:

“It will [then] be too late then to ask us why we’ve made such decisions, why we’ve deployed such systems,” he said.
Arguing that increasingly strained Russia-NATO relations have reached “the moment of truth,” which calls for a “fundamental decision,” the minister stressed that the ball is now in NATO’s court.
“We have taken this step and proceed from the fact that it will no longer be possible to somehow brush it [the security proposals] off.”

It bears recalling that according to the draft submission of the Russia-proposed document, the Kremlin laid out that it’s willing to restrict its own military activities if NATO abides by the same.

For example, in one section the document reads:

“The Parties shall refrain from flying heavy bombers equipped for nuclear or non-nuclear armaments or deploying surface warships of any type, including in the framework of international organizations, military alliances or coalitions, in the areas outside national airspace and national territorial waters respectively, from where they can attack targets in the territory of the other Party.”

Meanwhile, below is The Washington Post’s take on the security proposals, which likely reflects the hawkish consensus within the Biden administration…

Last Friday in unveiling the proposals, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying that, “We are ready to immediately, even tomorrow — literally tomorrow, on Saturday, December 18th — to go for talks with the US in a third country.” As this week moves forward without a response, the Russians’ rhetoric expressing frustration and impatience will without doubt only grow.

END

A good one:

Robert H to us on the Russian/NATO USA standoff.

RUSSIA USA NATO

What does it really mean ? Rewritten with updates.

Let’s recap what has happened to understand what is coming.

The recent widespread publication of the demands of Russia for peace in Europe comes amid soaring western tensions over a Russian troop buildup on Russian soil hundreds of kilometers away from any border. Moscow has denied plans to attack its neighbor but demanded the West provide a set of legal guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and the deployment of the alliance’s weapons there, a demand NATO has rejected. They did this within 8 hours. It is safe to say that there is no interest in assuring Russia of a peaceful coexistence. Notwithstanding the foolishness of such a move. Recent reductions in gas flow should be a stark reminder of good and bad relationships can bring with consequences. One would think that with French reactors failing and being shut down logical and prudence would be prevail but it seems to be in short supply as European gas reserves shrink.

Putin is displaying military force which honestly NATO will be unable to match and everyone knows this. Conventional weapons exist in the Russia arsenal to destroy NATO without one Russian soldier leaving Russia. Biden is the perfect president to invite World War III because the cronies constituting his Administration are only focused on the environment and aiding the World Economic Forum’s agenda to create a one-world government under Marxism headed by the United Nations. This clearly is not in the interests of the AMERICAN PEOPLE nor the Russian people. People forget that Russia saved America from the French and the British when the Czar ordered the Russian naval fleets to defend America. It is not in the Russian interest to see America succumb to Marxism. Is Russia being asked to save America again from enemies, External and within ???? Bear with me.

Now some people might say it is the perfect time for Russia to make such demands that the USA and NATO would never agree to thereby justifying the invasion of Europe. Except this is untrue as Russia has zero interest in invading Europe. And zero interest in helping Europe rise from the pit it has created for itself. Nor, is Russia interested in the Baltic states who were drag on her resources and continue to whine to the EU about resources to combat Russia instead of building their economies. Europe’s relationship with Russia is waning and not growing. This has been the case for some time.

Russia understands the threat of the west as NATO has marched to edge to her borders, something that was promised not to occur. Today, America is weak having experienced the departure from Afghanistan which can only be be described as a disaster far greater than Vietnam ever was. Not just in people and equipment left behind but in the lack of Statesmanship on full display for the world to see. And this is not the American people but a crowd that serves other interests.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia’s relations with the USA and its NATO allies have approached a “dangerous point,” noting that alliance deployments and drills near Russia have raised “unacceptable” threats to its security. Russia has used this as justification to publish its draft security pacts, demanding that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other ex-Soviet countries and roll back the deployment of troops and weapons in central and eastern Europe. None of this would have happened under Trump or any other sound politician who is NOT the puppet of Klaus Schwab and his consortium, which includes George Soros.

The documents, published on Friday, also call for a ban on sending the US and Russian warships and aircraft to areas from where they can attack each other’s territory as well as a halt to NATO military drills near Russia’s borders. One would think that this would desired so that efforts could be put forth to building communities. However the War lobby in America will have no part in this parade.

The proposals were submitted to the United States and its allies earlier this week and contain elements – such as an effective Russian veto on future NATO membership for Ukraine – that the West has already ruled out. NATO’s secretary-general emphasized on Friday that any security talks with Moscow would need to take into account the alliance’s concerns and involve Ukraine and other partners. The White House similarly said it’s discussing the proposals with US allies and partners, but noted that all countries have the right to determine their future without outside interference. This is a outright lie as the US has been interfering in nations around the world and has more military bases scattered around the world than anyone else. A 180 + bases at last count.

So let’s ponder what happens now that lines have been drawn and recent tank and aircraft and naval movements by the US confirm all that needs to be seen as actions matter more than words or dialogue. At some point we will see a confrontation that is military in nature. How it will come is not entirely clear nor is it necessary to know at this time. Other than it is coming in the not too distant future. One might expect the result to be a partition of the Ukraine with say the eastern half in Russian hands with missiles pointed westward. No one wants Kiev nor the NAZI mentality citizens who happen to be well armed. Europe will own that problem with a potential migration of millions west. Can’t wait to see how this is dealt with. Because I doubt it will be with open arms.

But what of Europe? Europe has a serious energy problem that America cannot fix contrary to the belief it can. Frankly under the Biden crowd America cannot even provide diesel fuel for the east coast USA depend on a armada of Russian boats providing same for this winter. What happens when they do not? If things continue and push comes to shove, Europe can expect that Russia will not tolerate tanks being sent to the Ukraine for conflict with Russia and will not take well to additional aircraft near her borders. This occurs while escalating gas prices ravage economies already weak from lockdowns and the like. Whether Europeans notice why remains to be seen. Because the march to make people aware through escalating prices is short before people want to know why. And in Eastern Europe people hate Marxism as memories linger. How will Europe react to seeing NUCLEAR MISSILES in KALININGRAD?? This can come shortly after this week. Assuming a continued negative response from America which is expected. We will receive confirmation after placement. This will render the Scramjet missiles posed as defense mute as offensive weapons. Because at the launch of the 1st missile towards Russia, it will be assumed a nuclear one and Russia will respond accordingly across Europe.

It is likely that in addition to a flare up of military action in Ukraine that there will be some additional action in Europe, the existent of which will be occasioned when things break out. In any case if Europe is not careful it risks losing every single NATO base without exception. Russia will not invade Europe as there is nothing there to want. Russia has turned to the east and to Asia and sees Europe as declining sphere of interest or even economic benefit. And i know many people call Russia a gas station and say the economy is smaller than Canada’s but i suggest their economy is bigger than Germany if the truth is known. In any case, I believe. Europe is going to suffer greatly and if things are to be worse it may result in its’ failure and the breakup of the EU.

And it should also be clear to Americans that the real threat Russia perceives will be reciprocated much closer to the American homeland as Nuclear missiles will be placed in both Cuba and Venezuela, as early as next week, assuming a negative response. Thus, bringing another Cuban missile crisis to the forefront with much more deadly missiles than existed in the past. Expect missiles like Iskanders and Zircons in Cuba and Yars type missiles in Venezuela. And to make the this point sharper China is on board with Russia having said it supports Russia’s demands for security guarantees. The fact that this is not being screamed across front pages of newspapers as a lead up to war to inform the public is patent disgrace for mass media who clearly does not serve the public.

This brings us to the upcoming moment of truth for America, in the not too distant future. Because Russia is not afraid of a nuclear exchange. I believe this will be a near death moment for America where a choice will be made. And hopefully the correct one because as it is America is headed for disaster under the Biden crowd. The choice will be to back off and rebuild or face certain attack and it will not be in days or weeks to decide. Until that moment, fools dare.
Cheers

Robert

end

US Issues Advisory Warning Against Travel To Ukraine Due To “Russia Threat”

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 01:47 PM

Despite no new significant exchange of fire in Donbass, and ultimately nothing new actually happening on the ground to make things more dangerous, the State Department has in dramatic fashion issued an urgent travel advisory for all Americans, telling citizens not to travel to Ukraine.

The new travel advisory, updated Monday, warns Americans to avoid all travel to the country due to “increased threats” from Russia amid its military build-up near the border. It warns US citizens to be “aware of reports that Russia is planning for significant military action against Ukraine” – which would lead to a rapidly deteriorated security situation, possibly making it hard to get out.Kiev file, Getty Images

The advisory also spells out that Americans still choosing to visit the country “should be aware that Russian military action anywhere in Ukraine would severely impact the US Embassy’s ability to provide consular services, including assistance to US citizens in departing Ukraine.”

The document further summarizes the nature of the “Russian threat” in the below section:

U.S. citizens should be aware of reports that Russia is planning for significant military action against Ukraine. U.S. citizens are also reminded the security conditions, particularly along Ukraine’s borders, in Russia-occupied Crimea, and in Russia-controlled eastern Ukraine, are unpredictable and can deteriorate with little notice.

US intelligence and media reports have estimated that anywhere from 70,000 to 90,000+ Russian troops are currently mustered along the Russia-Ukraine border and in the Crimea region. Leaders in Kiev have also claimed that a Russian offensive aimed at annexing war-torn Eastern Ukraine is coming by the end of January.

Moscow has over the past month-and-a-half rejected the accusations, saying it should concern no outside country where and when it chooses to maneuver troops within Russia’s own sovereign borders.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-

Interestingly the State Dept.’s travel warning also advises against all travel in Crimea, where “occupation authorities” regularly “abuse and arbitrarily imprison foreigners and the local population, particularly individuals who are seen as opposing Russia’s occupation of the peninsula” – according to the document, though without referencing specific evidence of such actions.

In the meantime, Moscow days ago sent a document proposing rapid de-escalation based on a series of security guarantees to NATO and Washington. Russia on Monday called for an “urgent” response to the proposals, but says it fears the West will only slow-play its call for immediate dialogue and negotiations. Amid no response as of yet, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, “I think they’ll try to turn this into a slow-moving process, but we need it to be urgent, because the situation is very difficult, it is acute, it tends to become more complicated.” Russia is naturally seeking legal guarantees that NATO would not expand further eastward.

end

6.Global Issues

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE//

All customers were double vaxxed and now 48 people aboard the Royal Caribbean ship has tested positive

COVID Outbreak Hits World’s Largest Cruise Ship

MONDAY, DEC 20, 2021 – 11:00 PM

For the second time this month, a cruise ship with fully vaccinated adult passengers and crew detected a COVID-19 outbreak.

Forty-eight people aboard a Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, tested positive for COVID on Saturday after returning from a week-long cruise.

“Everyone who tested positive was asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and we continuously monitored their health,” Royal Caribbean told NBC Miami. “Each person quickly went into quarantine,” the statement said.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-

Royal Caribbean’s health policy requires all adults to be vaxxed with at least two shots of Pfizer or Moderna or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The outbreak represents 0.78% of the 6,091 passengers and crew who left Miami on Dec. 11 and sailed to Caribbean ports St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Royal Caribbean’s private island, CocoCay. The cruise ship returned to homeport on Dec. 18.

Cruise ships have been lauded as one of the safest vacations due to their strict health policies of only allowing vaxxed adults — but as the vaccine efficacy wanes, that appears not to be the case.

Earlier this month, Norwegian Breakaway, owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, detected an outbreak of COVID despite a fully vaxxed ship.

Cruise Industry News reported the cruise ship industry had tightened its mask measures amid surging virus cases in the US.

What’s becoming evident is that efficacy rates for vaccines are dropping. A recent study of the three primary COVID vaccines showed a ‘dramatic‘ drop in efficacy over six months. So as cruise ship operators hit the high seas with only fully vaxxed passengers and crews that have waning defenses against the virus, one would suspect additional outbreaks on ships as new infections surge across the US.

So what are cruise ship operators supposed to do now? Only allow people who’ve had three boosters or more on vessels?

END

Israel Puts US On No-Fly List For 1st Time, Citing Omicron

MONDAY, DEC 20, 2021 – 07:20 PM

On Monday Israeli parliament ministers voted to ban all travel into the United States for its citizens amid the spread of the Omicron variant. It’s expected to take effect Tuesday night, at midnight, and significantly marks the first time ever the US has been placed on Israel’s official no-fly list.

Additional bans placed on the growing list include Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Morocco, Portugal, Canada, Switzerland, and Turkey. The UAE and South Africa also previously red-listed at the start of this month, along with some Scandinavian countries where the virus is believed spreading.

At the beginning of the pandemic Tel Aviv had issued a temporary blanket travel ban, which by definition also included the US, but it’s widely believed this was a tactic to avoid angering the Trump administration at the time by singling out the US where Covid-19 had been exploding.Via Times of Israel, Flash90

Akin to Australia and some other nations seen as implementing some of the strictest global measures, Israel has opened several state-run quarantine hotels for inbound travelers. They must stay until they show a negative Covid test, after which they are required to continue their quarantine at home for at least seven days.

A new “coronavirus hotel” is also expected to open at the country’s main Ben Gurion International Airport, according to Times of Israel, taking the total number of such state hotels to five.

As of this week, Israel now has a total of 10 countries on its “red list” of places to which Israelis are barred from traveling. This also at a time Israeli leaders are pushing to get all children ages 5 and up vaccinated.https://

platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-

Interestingly, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett admitted on Monday that despite the country being among the world’s foremost “ultra-vaxxed” populations, most people are eventually going to get Covid:

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett hinted Monday at future health restrictions and said that while most people may eventually contract COVID-19, being vaccinated would keep their illness from “being a big deal.”
At a meeting with education officials about vaccinating children, Bennett said Israel would race to make sure every eligible kid was immunized in the next two weeks, as Israel girds for what is expected to be a major wave of new cases fueled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

“This is a wave that we cannot stop, but we can delay and slow and diminish its strength,” Bennet added in his remarks.

His comment on hoping the illness would for most people not be a “big deal” is interesting, given we’re clearly far past this point in terms of extreme curbs on individual freedoms and rights in the country, which was among the first to implement a “green pass” – or what’s essentially a vaccine passport required to enter restaurants, bars, and all public venues. We would assume most people have experienced this as the far greater “big deal”.

END

Exactly what we are stating: Omicron is morphing into the common cold and will peak everywhere exactly what is going on in England.

(zerohedge)

Some Good Omicron News: Symptoms Remain Extremely Mild; UK Cases Peaking

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 11:19 AM

With the mainstream media scrambling to keep the fear factor over the Omicron factor pegged to the Max, with much of Europe in the process of locking down amid the 5th covid wave despite cases now clearly declining across most countries…

… while in the US the Biden administration – too scared for now to impose a new round of draconian lockdowns – set to deploy 1,000 military troops to back up hospitals if they face a wave of omicron patients in January and February, Deutsche Bank’s Shreyas Gopal finds some actually good news.

Noting that Omicron has spread like wildfire in London, which in turn has made the UK the country with the most cases per million people (as shown in the chart above), the DB strategist asks how does this compare to what was seen in the South African province of Gauteng? His answer: “plotted on a log scale, and lagging cases by fourteen days gives some hope that the UK’s capital city is on a similar path. The overall impact on hospital capacity in the UK remains to be seen, but nevertheless the relationship suggests a peak in cases soon.”

Just to be safe, Gopal also hedges by noting that if “this doesn’t materialize then the tentative optimism being drawn from the data from SA may prove short-lived.”

Of course, if one ignores the constant drumbeat of panic carried by media headlines around the globe, there is even more reason to be optimistic because no matter how scary the narrative, Omicron – while extremely contagious – remains an “extremely mild” case of covid with virtually no deaths reported as a result.

This brings us to a separate not from DB’s credit strategist Francis Yared who notes that the two key questions on Omicron remain

Does South African data continue to indicate low case severity?
Will DM countries in the Northern hemisphere have a similarly mild experience with Omicron?

While recent data from South Africa shows a small uptick in ICU patients and deaths over the last three days, both metrics remain low compared to previous waves, especially relative to case numbers. Critical cases in London – which as noted above is at the forefront of the Omicron wave in the Northern Hemisphere with record infection numbers – also have had an uptick, but remain extremely low. And while it’s still early days, this data remains crucial in the upcoming period and absent a surge in deaths, should lead to broad relief rally in coming weeks.

Still, before giving the all clear, Yared cautions that there are warnings that the South African experience with Omicron may not be directly comparable to other countries (if only because developed countries have a far more elderly people than South Africa). As a result, DB is also tracking the evolution in London as a leading indicator for the Northern hemisphere. Here there is more good news as the number of ICU patients on mechanical ventilators (MV) remains low.

This is the bank’s preferred metric as it is not distorted by patients being admitted to hospitals/dying with rather than because of covid. That said, given the historical lag between cases and MV, it’s still too early to draw definite conclusions on this.

In short, absent a dramatic (and unlikely) surge in morality late into the Omicron spread, the variant indeed remains “extremely mild” compared to previous waves, and more importantly, despite its far faster spread, it is now peaking across most geographic regions. Perhaps Kolanovic will be right this time with his recent prediction (which echoed what we said one month ago), in that Omicron will actually turn out to be positive for risk and result in an “end of the covid Pandemic.”

END

Vaccine Impact

Trump Attacks His Own Supporters for Not Endorsing His COVID-19 Vaccines – Republicans “Opposing” Vaccine Mandates Own Stock in Pfizer, Moderna, J&J

December 20, 2021 4:27 pm

In an effort to obviously continue the blockbuster sales of COVID-19 shots and get more people to take the booster shots since the original doses no longer work, Anthony Fauci was interviewed on CNBC this weekend and stated that he wanted the definition of “vaccinated” to now mean only those people who have been injected with the original doses, and the current booster shot. This would, of course, swell the number of people in the United States considered “unvaccinated” considerably, just after news reports surfaced over the weekend that the CDC had “underestimated” the number of unvaccinated people in the U.S. by “millions.” President Trump also appeared in public this weekend with Bill O’Reilly to help Big Pharma push their booster shots, declaring, along with Bill O’Reilly, that he was fully vaccinated and had received his booster shot. He pleaded with his supporters to join him in “taking credit” for rolling out the COVID-19 shots in 2020, and stated that those who did not agree with his position on the COVID-19 shots were “playing right into their hands” by letting the Democrats and the Biden Administration take all the credit for them. When Trump asked his audience if they agreed with him, which would be basically asking them to “take credit” for what is now tens of thousands of deaths and nearly 1 million adverse events following the COVID-19 shots, which is more deaths and injuries than following all FDA-approved vaccines for the past 31 years, the crowd cheered. When he announced that he had taken a COVID-19 booster shot, you can hear some boos in the background, which drew the ire of the former President who tried to belittle them by stating that they were just a “tiny group” who did not agree with him. Trump seemingly is able to maintain this cult-like following from even those who consider themselves anti-vaxxers by always throwing in the phrase “but it should be your choice, they should not be mandated,” which then somehow makes his position on the bioweapons killing and maiming people OK with his followers. This is the great deception that is currently being used by the Republican Party to try and make themselves look like they are opposed to Big Pharma: just oppose the vaccine mandates. However, a recent report published by Business Insider reveals that many Republican lawmakers who state they oppose vaccine “mandates” actually own stock in the pharmaceutical companies producing the vaccines, and are profiting from them.Read More…

Michael Every with today’s most important topics

Michael Every.//Jane Foley

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET& AUSTRALIA ISSUES

Australia//// NEW ZEALAND/ SOUTH AFRICA/BRAZIL//COVID/VACCINES/LOCKDOWNS

SOUTH AFRICA

end

Your early currency/gold and silver pricing/Asian and European bourse movements/ and interest rate settings TUESDAY morning 7:30 AM

Euro/USA 1.1286 UP .0009 /EUROPE BOURSES //ALL GREEN

USA/ YEN 113.73 UP 0.066 /NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT .11% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…

GBP/USA 1.3248 UP 0.0039

Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 31.52 PTS OR 0.88%

//Hang Sang CLOSED UP 226.47 PTS OR 1.00%

/AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.85% // EUROPEAN BOURSES OPENED ALL GREEN

Trading from Europe and ASIA

EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL GREEN

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SANG CLOSED UP 226.47 PTS OR 1.00%

/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 31.52 PTS OR 0.88%

Australia BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.85%

Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 579.78 PTS OR 2.08 %

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 1796.40

silver:$22.71-

USA dollar index early TUESDAY morning: 96.44 DOWN 12 CENT(S) from MONDAY’s close.

This ends early morning numbers TUESDAY MORNING

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And now your closing TUESDAY NUMBERS 1: 00 PM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 0.34% UP 8 in basis point(s) yield from YESTERDAY/

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.055% DOWN 1 AND 5/10 BASIS POINTS from YESTERDAY/JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 0.44%// UP 8 in basis points yield from yesterday.

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 1.02 UP 6 points in basis points yield from yesterday./

the Italian 10 yr bond yield is trading 58 points higher than Spain.

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: RISES TO -..305% IN BASIS POINTS ON THE DAY//

THE IMPORTANT SPREAD BETWEEN ITALIAN 10 YR BOND AND GERMAN 10 YEAR BOND IS 1.34% AND NOW ABOVE 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 TUESDAY

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

Euro/USA 1.1265 DOWN .0011 or 11 basis points

USA/Japan: 114.18 UP 0.514 OR YEN DOWN 51 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.3247 UP 4 BASIS POINTS)

Canadian dollar UP 2 pts to 1.2937

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The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE (CLOSED UP)..6.3721

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)..6.3774

TURKISH LIRA: 12.92 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.055

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 6 IN basis points from MONDAY at 1.484% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic USA 30 yr bond yield: 1903 UP 5in basis points

Your closing USA dollar index, 96.59 UP 4 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 TUESDAY: 12:00 PM

London: CLOSED UP 99.38PTS OR 1.07%

German Dax : CLOSED UP 207.57 PTS OR 1.36%

Paris CAC CLOSED UP 94.87 PTS OR 1.38%

Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 145.10 PTS OR 1.76%

Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 475.54 PTS OR 1.02%

WTI Oil price 71.36 12: EST

Brent Oil: 74.05 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN / RUBLE RISES: 74.04 THE CROSS LOWER BY .24 RUBLES/DOLLAR (RUBLE HIGHER BY 24 BASIS PTS)

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; -.305

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

EURO VS USA: 1.1281 UP .0004

BRITISH POUND 1.3266 UP .0057

USA DOLLAR VS JAPANESE YEN: 114.09 UP .432

USA DOLLAR VS CAN DOLLAR: 1.2915 DOWN .0021

WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE OIL: 71.44

BRENT: 74.21

USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 1.475 UP 5 BASIS POINTS

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 1.878 UP 2 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR INDEX: 96.48 DOWN 7 CENTS.

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 560.54 PTS OR 1.60%

NASDAQ 100 UP 358.63 173.82 OR 2.29%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 21.54 DOWN 1.53PTS

GLD/NYSE CLOSING PRICE 167.02 DOWN 7 CENTS OR .04%

SLV/NYSE CLOSINGPRICE: 20.78/ UP 21 CENTS OR 1.02%

USA trading day in Graph Form

Stocks Soar As Santa Claus Rally Hopes Oust Omicron Fears

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 04:01 PM

Goldman’s Chris Hussey summed up today perfectly:

“US stocks are trading definitively higher… for no apparent reason.”

Yesterday’s VIXtermination continued today…

…and that lifted the US equity indices back into the green for the week, almost as if (well completely as if) Manchin never ‘nein’ to BBB. The Dow slipped back to unchanged from Friday late in the day but then a very last minute buying panic lifted everything with Small Caps and Nasdaq outperforming amid their gamma chaos…

Because, hey, everything is fine…

Stocks have oscillated between short-squeeze and unclench for 6 days now…

Source: Bloomberg

All the majors were ramped back above key technical levels…

Just bear in mind, today’s ramp in stocks came against a hawkish background of rising rate-hike odds…

Source: Bloomberg

Interestingly, the market shifted its expectation for a reversal to rate-cuts between 2023 and 2025 hawkishly today…

Source: Bloomberg

Extremely strong 20Y auction coincided with a stop-run on longer-dated yields and sparked a solid bid but overall bonds were clubbed like a baby seal today with yields up 4-7bps across the curve (belly underperformed)…

Source: Bloomberg

The 20Y yield move shows the action best. Amid holiday week liquidity, a stop-run stalled by a mega string auction…

Source: Bloomberg

Notably, 2Y Yields are now higher post-Omicron and 30Y is ramping back towards unchanged…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar trod water again in a narrow range…

Source: Bloomberg

The Turkish Lira extended gains today, though only by around 1 big figure… as opposed to the insane 6 handles yesterday)…

Source: Bloomberg

Cryptos ripped overnight, with Bitcoin back above $49,000, pulling away from its 200DMA…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil prices extended their rip higher with WTI topping $71.50…

European gas prices exploded to record highs today. They now trade at an unprecedented spread to US NatGas…

Source: Bloomberg

And for context are EU NatGas trades at an oil barrel equivalent price of over $350!!!

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, breadth still stinks…

II)USA DATA

Not good:!!

U.S. current account deficit widens sharply in third quarter

Dec. 21, 2021 at 8:45 a.m. ET

MarketWatchInternational trade gap is largest in 15 years

The U.S. current account deficit widened 8.3% to $214.8 billion in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. It is the largest deficit since 2006. The trade gap has widened for seven straight quarters.

The widening of the deficit reflected a reduced surplus on services, which have been hit hard by the coronavirus. The goods deficit widened in the third quarter.

The deficit has been widening as strong U.S. domestic demand for goods continues to outpace foreign consumption.

Mahir Rasheed, economist at Oxford Economics, thinks the deficit will narrow in the fourth quarter as export growth accelerates.

The current account reveals if a country is a net lender or debtor. The current account gap represented 3.7% of gross domestic product last quarter, up from 3.5% in the July-September quarter. That’s the biggest percentage since 2008.

The U.S. dollar DXY, -0.05% is on track for its annual gain since 2015, but analysts say Eurozone inflation may be the key driver in 2022, according to analysts.

end

b) USA COVID/VACCINE UPDATES//VACCINE MANDATES

What a mess! everybody totally confused with Biden’s vaccine mandate chaos

(zerohedge)

“They’re Totally Confused”: Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Chaos Leaves Employers With “Whiplash”

MONDAY, DEC 20, 2021 – 08:00 PM

The Biden Administration’s attempt to force millions of American workers to either get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs has backfired spectacularly. On Monday, the NYT published what to many probably sounded like scathing criticism coming from the notoriously pro-Dem paper: President Biden’s attempt to use OSHA to try and force some 84MM workers to get vaccinated has left said employers with “whiplash”. “They’re totally confused”, a quote in the headline screamed.

Just a few weeks ago, the Administration was charging ahead, but its momentum has been decidedly crippled, especially now that the “very definition of fully vaccinated” has been thrown into question.

The marching orders from the Biden administration in November had seemed clear — large employers were to get their workers fully vaccinated by early next year, or make sure the workers were tested weekly. But a little over a month later, the Labor Department’s vaccine rule has been swept into confusion and uncertainty by legal battles, shifting deadlines and rising Covid case counts that throw the very definition of fully vaccinated into question.
The spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has seemingly bolstered the government’s argument, at the heart of its legal battle over the rule, that the virus remains a grave threat to workers. But the recent surge in cases has raised the issue of whether the government will take its requirements further — even as the original rule remains contentious — and ask employers to mandate booster shots, too. The country’s testing capacity has also been strained, adding to concerns that companies will be unable to meet the rule’s testing requirements.

Even the lawyers don’t know what to do.

“My clients are totally confused as, quite frankly, am I,” Erin McLaughlin, a labor and employment lawyer at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, said on Saturday. “My sense is that there are a lot of employers scrambling to try and put their mandate programs in place.”
With the issue still being viciously contested in the courts, the legal reality of the situation is that the order is still pending, so in effect, the Biden Administration has been stymied.

With so much likely riding on a decision from the nation’s highest court, how much longer until this becomes another cudgel used by the progressive left to push their court packing agenda, which is not dead, since President Biden and VP Kamala Harris mostly refuse to talk about it publicly.

No company has been spared the whirlwind of changes in the last week, set off by the spike in Covid cases that have, in some instances, cut into their work forces. Then on Friday, an appeals court lifted the legal block on the vaccine rule, though appeals to the ruling were immediately filed, leaving the rule’s legal status up in the air. On Saturday, hours after the appeals court ruling, the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration urged employers to start working to get in compliance. But OSHA also gave employers some leeway, pushing back full enforcement of the rule until February, recognizing that for all its best intentions the rollout of the rule has been muddled.
For companies struggling to meet OSHA’s standards because of testing shortages, the Labor Department said Sunday that it would “consider refraining from enforcement” if the employer has shown a good-faith effort to comply.

The fact that many states have cities (most notably NYC) have rolled out their own rules for enforcement adds another layer of complexity to the whole mess.

Adding a layer of confusion, many states and cities have created their own vaccine rules — some more stringent than the federal government’s, as in New York City, where an option to test out of vaccine requirements isn’t allowed, while some, like Florida, have sought to undermine OSHA’s rule. There’s also the question of whether companies will eventually be required to mandate boosters, which would require accommodating the six-month delay between the second and third shots.

And as far as Wall Street is concerned, their current state of vaccine enforcement is “we’re not going to talk about it.”

JPMorgan Chase, whose decision to require vaccines is complicated by its sprawling retail operations across the United States, declined to comment on how the court’s most recent decision, along with the recent spike in cases, affects any plans to mandate vaccines. But the bank on Friday told its American employees who do not work in bank branches that “each group should assess who needs to come into the office, work priorities and who should revert to working from home on a more regular basis over the next few weeks.”

At this point, opponents of the rule, which includes the National Retail Federation, a trade group, haven’t changed their positions despite the “rise” of omicron (which, keep in mind, has only been confirmed in a tiny fraction of overall new cases).

Even the spread of Omicron hasn’t changed the position of some of the vaccine rule’s most ardent opponents. The National Retail Federation, one of the trade groups challenging the administration’s vaccine rule, is among those that have filed a petition with the Supreme Court. The group is in favor of vaccinations but has pushed for companies to get more time to carry out mandates. Still, even as it fights the administration’s rule, the federation is also holding twice weekly calls with members to compare notes on how to carry it out.
“There’s no question that the increased number of variants like Omicron certainly don’t make it less dangerous,” said Stephanie Martz, the group’s chief administrative officer and general counsel. “The legitimate, remaining question is, is this inherent to the workplace?”

Then of course there’s the booster question.

And employers face yet another uncertainty: Should they mandate boosters? And will they be required to?

When will all of this insanity and confusion end?

end

1.5 million parents could drop out of the workforce if Biden stimulus passes

(Moran/EpochTimes)

1.5 Million Parents Could Drop Out Of Workforce If Biden Stimulus Passes; Analysis

MONDAY, DEC 20, 2021 – 08:40 PM

Submitted by Andrew Moran of The Epoch Times,

As many as 1.5 million working parents could exit the labor market as more U.S. households receive the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) benefit, a new study predicts. A child in Brooklyn, New York, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

According to a recent analysis (pdf) from University of Chicago economist Bruce Meyer, approximately 2.6 percent of parents could drop out of the workforce after being given monthly entitlement checks based on family income.

Under the American Rescue Plan that was passed in March, lawmakers expanded the CTC from $2,000 to as much as 3,600 per child. Half of the CTC funds were sent to households or deposited into bank accounts in the form of monthly checks from July to December. Parents are not required to work to receive the CTC and its monthly payments.

Meyer explained that some parents could choose to quit working because of the payments and if they can gather enough money from public assistance and family and friends.

“The proposed expansion would get rid of the strong work incentives under the prior CTC; it would essentially eliminate a tax credit that encouraged work and replace it with something that discourages work,” Meyer told CBS MoneyWatch.
“In the end, those at the bottom may not be better off.”

He added that it would be “a good idea” to insert a work requirement. The economist endorsed Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) proposal of requiring an employment prerequisite. Parents pick up their children in Chicago, Ill., on March 1, 2021. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

As part of the previous CTC, beneficiaries needed to work to receive the full credit.

Still, Meyer anticipates that the tax credit, even if 1.5 million parents were to quit their jobs, would alleviate child poverty. He projected that child poverty could decline by 22 percent because of the payments.

Others dispute his suggestion that more than one million working parents would be submitting their letters of resignation.

Researchers at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy argued in a recent paper (pdf) that the data show that CTC payments have not led to a noticeable impact on payrolls or the labor force participation rate.

“Real-world data in the immediate wake of the CTC expansion do not support claims that the elimination of the phase-in portion of the CTC has discouraged work among parents in any meaningful way,” the researchers stated.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Dec. 17, White House press secretary Jen Psaki stated that President Joe Biden could double the CTC payments in February if the $1.75 trillion social-spending and climate change plan is enacted in January.

“If we get it done in January, we’ve talked to Treasury officials and others about doing double payments in February as an option,” she told the press. “The president wants to see this move forward. It’s a priority for him as soon as Congress returns.”

While the administration and Democrats want to extend the payments as part of the legislative push, the bill is not guaranteed to pass amid hesitancy from Manchin. In addition, many congressional Democrats have conceded that they do not have a considerable backup plan to maintain the monthly payments prior to their expiration.

Ultimately, experts concede that the United States has, for many decades, refrained from offering variations of basic income similar to the CTC payments. Therefore, they aver, there are still many unknowns and uncertainties.

Child Care Costs a Financial Burden

For many parents, it might be economically beneficial to resign from their positions since daycare is costly.

It is no secret that the cost of child care is expensive. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the price of daycare and pre-school advanced by 2.7 percent year-over-year in November.

Families nationwide spend an average of $8,355 per child for year-round child care, with some estimates going as high as $16,000.

“Monthly child-care costs can feel like an extra mortgage payment, especially if you live in an expensive area or have more than one kid,” said Ted Rossman, Bankrate’s senior industry analyst, in a news release.

Biden’s American Families Plan possesses proposals to diminish child-care prices. For households earning less than 1.5 times their state median income levels, they would not pay for child care. Others earning above that level would pay no more than 7 percent of their income on child care.

The Latest from The Great Resignation

Employers are coming across a myriad of challenges in this economy, and labor has been one of the chief obstacles in this market.

According to the BLS, about 4.2 million Americans quit their jobs in October, bringing the total number of people leaving employment to nearly 39 million in the first 10 months of 2021.

It is expected that 2021 will set a new record if workers leave their jobs at comparable levels in November and December.

The so-called quit rate for public- and private-sector workers is high for many reasons. Many people are quitting because of concerns over contracting the coronavirus, being unable to find or afford care for their children or aging parents, or they have located employment opportunities with better compensation. A ‘now hiring’ sign outside of a business in Miami, Fla., on Oct. 08, 2021. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Indeed, the number of job openings in the United States increased to almost 11 million in October, with the figure concentrated in education, hotels, manufacturing, and restaurants.

Experts contend that the labor market pendulum has swung in the direction of the workers. As a result, companies have been raising wages, expanding their perks and benefits, and introducing a wide range of bonuses to attract talent.

“As companies face labor shortages, employers are making a serious effort to recruit workers by offering signing bonuses, additional benefits, and—most importantly—higher compensation across the income distribution,” Morgan Stanley recently purported in a research note.

When businesses cannot find applicants, employers are doing everything they can to retain their current staff members. This, market analysts note, is part of the reason why initial jobless claims have hovered around a five-decade low. Businesses are too frightened to terminate their employees in this environment.

According to a study from the Conference Board think tank, private firms are allocating 3.9 percent of their payroll budgets to wage hikes in 2022, the biggest increase since 2008.

The report noted a unique trend as companies try to limit record turnover rates. Many of the salary hikes will be given to present employees.

Meanwhile, the Conference Board survey reported that 39 percent of businesses revealed they are hiking incomes to keep up with surging inflation.

“The rapid increase in wages and inflation are forcing businesses to make important decisions regarding their approach to salaries, recruiting, and retention,” said Conference Board chief economist Gad Levanon in the report. “In particular, companies are likely to raise wages aggressively for their current employees or they will risk even lower retention rates. After being a non-issue in wage determination for several decades, sizable cost of living adjustments may be making a comeback.”

“At the same time, business leaders will have to decide how much they will pass the additional labor costs to consumers through price increases. That decision, relative to competitors’ strategies, could impact companies’ market shares.”

This development could persist heading into the next calendar year. A recent CareerArc/Harris Poll survey discovered that 23 percent of employed Americans intend to quit their jobs over the next 12 months as a considerable number desire better working conditions and want higher pay.

JPMorgan Chase recently warned that this labor shortage could persist for years, citing a diverse array of factors. JPMorgan’s chief global strategist David Kelly alluded to Baby Boomers retiring, falling immigration numbers, and skills mismatch as partially to blame for the lack of workers.

“All of these forces should gradually resolve the current excess demand for labor,” Kelly stated in a research note. “However, barring a recession, this process could take years.”

Fed Worried About Wage Threat in 2022

This month, many experts, from Wall Street analysts to top economic policymakers, have sounded the alarm about one of the biggest threats in the economy next year: A “wages push” by workers in 2022 that could contribute to higher inflationary pressures. While he conceded his concerns over 39-year high inflation, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell explained that ballooning wages are “both larger in [their] effect on inflation and more persistent.”

He revealed that one of the notable factors determining a rate hike was the Employment Cost Index (ECI) that was published in October. The report discovered that hourly labor costs climbed at a “very high” pace of 5.7 percent over the last three months.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks after President Joe Biden nominated him to continue as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Systems during an event at the White House in Washington on Nov. 22, 2021. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have climbed by 4.8 percent to $31.03.

“If you had something where real wages were persistently above productivity growth, that puts upward pressure on firms, and they raise prices,” Powell said. “We don’t see that yet. But with the kind of hot labor market readings—wages we’re seeing, it’s something that we’re watching… You know, usually, in every other expansion, it’s that there aren’t enough jobs and people can’t find jobs,” he added. “What we need is another long expansion, like the ones we have been having over the last 40 years.”

The head of the U.S. central bank acknowledged that many Americans do not want to return to the workforce because of medical concerns, the paucity of child care, and nobody to look after seniors. “The ratio of job openings, for example, to vacancies is at all-time highs, quits—the wages, all those things are even hotter,” Powell said.

end

Supreme Court asks Biden administration to respond to the many challenges to the OSHA mandate.

(Stieber/EpochTimes)

Supreme Court Asks Biden Admin To Respond To Flurry Of Challenges To OSHA Mandate

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 07:30 AM

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Joe Biden’s administration was directed on Monday to reply to a flurry of fresh challenges to its private employer COVID-19 vaccine mandate.Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is seen at his confirmation hearing to serve as associate justice on the Supreme Court at the Capitol in Washington, on Sept. 4, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee, told administration officials to file responses to applications from faith groups, companies, and attorneys general from over half the states in the country by 4 p.m. on Dec. 30.

That’s just days before the mandate’s deadline.

“This case is finally where it belongs: the Supreme Court. OSHA has threatened to start punishing employers like our clients starting on January 10, and we’re grateful the court has ordered a briefing schedule that will allow for resolution of our petition before that deadline,” Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“We’re very pleased with Justice Kavanaugh’s quick response and are confident that the court will act quickly to ensure legal predictability before the deadline,” John Bursch, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, added.

Kavanaugh is dealing with the matter because the appeals court that issued the ruling that prompted the challenges is under his jurisdiction.

The mandate in question was promulgated by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). If allowed to take effect next month, it will force every business with 100 or more employees to get proof of a negative COVID-19 test on at least a weekly basis or proof of vaccination from each worker. Companies that don’t comply would face escalating fines.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in November entered a preliminary injunction against the mandate, questioning its constitutionality. But the case was redirected by lottery to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which on Friday dissolved the stay.

OSHA said it was “gratified” by the ruling and would begin imposing the mandate on Jan. 10, 2022. The official deadline, though, is Jan. 4.

The rule could be paused anew by the Supreme Court, which quickly received appeals from the Word of God Fellowship, The Heritage Foundation, Ohio’s attorney general, BST Holdings, and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Absent a new stay, parties would be irreparably harmed, they argued in the filings.

Institutions fear losing workers who don’t want to get a vaccine and also don’t want to get tested regularly, possibly at their own cost.

“South Dakota and Florida public schools are not subject to the mandate and could attract teachers away from religious private schools,” lawyers for Alliance Defending Freedom wrote in one of the documents.

Challengers say the administration is violating the state authority outlined in the U.S. Constitution and going beyond the powers Congress gave OSHA to regulate businesses.

OSHA says the mandate “will protect the health of workers by mitigating the spread of the unprecedented virus in the workplace.”

The agency was referring to Covid-19.

end

the states with the highest vaccination rates are witnessing the higher number of cases

(zerohedge)

Biden Plans To Distribute 500 Million Tests As Omicron Variant Overwhelms Most Vaccinated States

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 07:00 AM

Last night, with the number of new COVID cases surging across the US, the CDC revealed that the number of new COVID cases caused by the omicron variant has already grown to 73% during the last week, up from the low teens a week ago, and less than 1% the week of the Thanksgiving holiday, when evidence of the new variant with some 50 mutations to help it avoid vaccine and natural immunity was first shared with the WHO.

But in the US, at least, one of the most surprising aspects of this new wave is the fact that the states with the highest vaccination rates are seeing the biggest surge in new cases. This includes – but isn’t limited to – New York, New Jersey and the six New England states, CT, MA, NH, VT, MA and RI. A few days ago, the RI chapter of the American College of Emergency Medicine warned in a letter to the governor and the top public health official that the hospital system in the state is “currently collapsing”. In Maine, and a handful of other more populous states, the National Guard has been called in to help with hospital staffing shortages.

And just last night, the NHL became the first US pro sports league to delay all play across all its teams due to the rising COVID numbers, although game cancellations have afflicted the NFL and NBA.

President Biden is set to address the public Tuesday and lay out his plans to respond to the latest COVID “emergency” not with lockdowns and new restrictions, but with plans to get more COVID tests into the hands of the public.

Instead, he will announce a sweeping plan to deploy 1,000 military medical professionals to help at overburdened hospitals, setting up new federal testing sites, deploying hundreds of federal vaccinators and buying 500MM rapid tests to distribute free to the public.

According to the NYT, which published the news promptly at 0500ET, the measures were outlined to reporters Monday night by two senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, likely under the conditions of an embargo – news business jargon for when a story is leaked with the explicit agreement that reporters will wait until a given time to publish.

The 500MM tests that the administration intends to purchase will not be available until January, adding that the federal government intends to create a website where people can request that tests be sent to their homes, free of charge. It was not immediately clear where the tests would come from.

If this sounds like a repeat, or a do-over, of the president’s unveiling of his big winter plan to fight the pandemic a few weeks ago, that’s largely because it is. Albeit with a different set of more popular (and more costly) measures that doesn’t rely so much on the OSHA vaccination mandate that has been held up in the courts.

In addition to the tests, here’s a breakdown of the other measures being ordered by Biden (text courtesy of the NYT):

Biden intends to direct his defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, to “ready an additional 1,000 service members — military doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical personnel — to deploy to hospitals during January and February, as needed,” according to a fact sheet prepared by the White House.
At the same time, Biden will announce that six federal emergency response teams, with more than 100 health professionals and paramedics, will deploy immediately to six states: Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire and Vermont. Already, 300 federal medical workers have been deployed since Omicron was discovered in late November.
Biden will also direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to work with hospitals across the country to make plans to expand capacity. FEMA will also stand up new pop-up vaccination clinics, the officials said, to handle hundreds of additional vaccinations per week.
The government is also sending ventilators to the states – last week, officials said, it sent 330 – and will have hundreds of ambulances and emergency medical teams, overseen by FEMA, at the ready “so that if one hospital fills up, they can transport patients to open beds in other facilities,” according to the fact sheet. It was not clear who would staff those teams, but the fact sheet said that even now, “30 paramedics are heading to New Hampshire, 30 to Vermont and 20 to Arizona, and 30 ambulances are headed to New York and eight to Maine.”

Per the NYT, the new Biden plan “has a more urgent tone than the winter pandemic strategy that Mr. Biden announced three weeks ago at the National Institutes of Health, just days after the new variant was discovered in South Africa.” At the time, Biden promised that the 150MM Americans with private health insurance would be able to get reimbursed for at-home COVID tests starting in mid-January, and that his administration would improve access to booster shots and impose new testing requirements for international travelers.

Unfortunately for the president, even the NYT is criticizing Biden’s last plan for relying too heavily on vaccination as its “central strategy.”

But that plan — and Mr. Biden’s broader response to the Omicron variant — has drawn criticism from public health experts, who say the president has focused too heavily on vaccination as his central strategy. Many have called on him to be more aggressive about testing as a means of slowing the variant’s spread — including possibly sending rapid tests to the homes of every American, free of charge.

Yesterday, the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki insisted that lockdowns are no longer being considered as part of the federal response to the pandemic, and the Administration has stopped short of asking Americans to cancel holiday travel plans, which has elicited another round of warnings from the ‘experts’. Some have warned that Biden is facing a “viral blizzard” that could be a major test for his presidency in the coming weeks.

The US also reported its first confirmed omicron related death overnight, identified only as an unvaccinated man in Texas.

But there’s one issue the media hasn’t really addressed: how come all the most heavily vaccinated states are also the ones seeing the biggest surge in cases and hospitalizations (which, also, have been less severe than the peak of last year’s winter surge).

end

NY Governor intends to redefine “fully vaccinated” to include boosters

(Bill Pan/EpochTimes)

NY Governor Intends To Redefine “Fully Vaccinated” To Include Boosters

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 02:40 PM

Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state may sooner or later change the definition of “full vaccinated” to include a booster dose.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at an event in New York on Dec. 10, 2021. (Mary Altaffer/AP Photo)

Hochul, whose broad mask mandate for New York businesses just came into effect, was asked during a Dec. 16 press briefing what’s next on the list of things she seeks to implement. She replied that her office would ask businesses to only admit people who are fully vaccinated inside.

“I have said all along I have two missions. One is to protect the health of the people of New York. The second is to protect the health of the economy. Right now we can do both, to the extent that businesses follow what we ask them, only allowing people who are vaccinated,” Hochul said.

“At some point we may have to determine that ‘fully vaccinated’ means boosted as well, and we’ll give people a sufficient time frame to make that happen,” she continued. “I’m just sending out the message now: Prepare for that.”

The Democratic governor also advised vaccinated people to get booster shots and wear masks, citing “cases of reinfections.”

“People who have been vaccinated are getting it again and again,” she said. “They may not be in the hospital, but they could also be in contact with someone who ends up being in the hospital.”

The call for a new standard comes as the Biden administration signals a possible redefinition of what it means to be “fully vaccinated.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading member of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 response team, said the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is open to changing the definition to include a booster shot for the two-dose vaccines.

“It is a bit of semantics in that fully vaccinated for the purpose of the regulations and requirements that people have is to be what are you considered as being fully vaccinated,” Fauci said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “But there’s no doubt that optimum vaccination is with a booster.”

“Whether or not the CDC is going to change that, it certainly is on the table and open for discussion,” he said.

The Biden administration’s push for boosters is unlikely to change the minds of those who remain unvaccinated, according to research group Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). In September, when booster shots received federal approval, the KFF found that the conversations about boosters to be a “net positive for people who are already vaccinated, but a net negative for the unvaccinated.”

According to the KFF survey conducted among 1,519 adults living in the United States, 71 percent of the unvaccinated say news about boosters is a sign that the vaccines aren’t working, compared to 22 percent who say that scientists are continuing to find ways to make vaccines more effective. Meanwhile, 78 percent of vaccinated people say talk of boosters shows that the science is improving.

“Most unvaccinated adults see the booster discussion as a sign that the vaccines are not working as well as promised, while most vaccinated adults see it as a sign that scientists are continuing to find ways to make vaccines more effective,” the KFF report reads.

end

Biden: all the breakthrough cases are the fault of the unvaccinated.

Give me a break! How does he explain the Royal Caribbean breakthrough with the ship and crew at 100% vaccinated

Watch Live: President Biden Explains Why Vaxx’d Breakthroughs Are All The Unvaxx’d Fault

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 02:25 PM

With cases surging and his agenda collapsing, it’s time for President Biden to face the public.

Of coourse, the president and his team have already leaked all the important details of what he’s prepared to say this afternoon to the press, and we reported on them this morning. As we said, the administration is preparing to roll out a new federal plan to swiftly get 500M tests into the hands of Americans, and place army-trained medical personnel into vulnerable hospitals across the country, among other measures.

But what’s been especially notable about recent developments (especially for anybody who saw the tripled-vaxxed Jim Cramer’s rant on CNBC Tuesday morning) is that the White House appears to finally be backing away from its strategy of blaming all the nation’s troubles on the unvaccinated, and instead acknowledging that everybody will likely get sick in the end anyway – but we have plenty of vaccines and drugs that can be taken to try and deal with that, for those who are at risk.

The announcement notably comes as the FDA prepares to approve new pills from Merck and Pfizer that treat patients already sickened with COVID, patients who are specifically deemed to be high risk.

But we wonder: will this narrative shift provoke the press into pressing Biden to explain whether all these breakthrough infections are still somehow the unvaccinated population’s fault?

He will finally address the public Tuesday, after yet another White House press briefing, where his chief spokeswoman Jen Psaki has absorbed all of the blows from the press about the collapse of Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ Agenda.

In addition to the tests, here’s a breakdown of the other measures being ordered by Biden (text courtesy of the New York Times):

Biden intends to direct his defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, to “ready an additional 1,000 service members — military doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical personnel — to deploy to hospitals during January and February, as needed,” according to a fact sheet prepared by the White House.
At the same time, Biden will announce that six federal emergency response teams, with more than 100 health professionals and paramedics, will deploy immediately to six states: Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire and Vermont. Already, 300 federal medical workers have been deployed since Omicron was discovered in late November.
Biden will also direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to work with hospitals across the country to make plans to expand capacity. FEMA will also stand up new pop-up vaccination clinics, the officials said, to handle hundreds of additional vaccinations per week.
The government is also sending ventilators to the states – last week, officials said, it sent 330 – and will have hundreds of ambulances and emergency medical teams, overseen by FEMA, at the ready “so that if one hospital fills up, they can transport patients to open beds in other facilities,” according to the fact sheet. It was not clear who would staff those teams, but the fact sheet said that even now, “30 paramedics are heading to New Hampshire, 30 to Vermont and 20 to Arizona, and 30 ambulances are headed to New York and eight to Maine.”

Readers can watch live below: (due to start at 1430ET)

Meanwhile, Democrats are reportedly freaking out over Sen. Joe Manchin’s decision to nuke Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda. So we expect reporters to ask a few more questions about that, despite the administration’s attempts to wait out the press and letting reporters confront Psaki with all the hard questions.

end

A must read..

Ron Paul….

Omicron: The Lockdowners’ Last Stand

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 02:07 PM

Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute,

Just as President Biden’s unconstitutional vaccination mandates were being ripped up by the courts, authoritarian politicians, public health bureaucrats, and the mainstream media, announced a new Covid variant to justify another round of lockdowns and restrictions. The things that didn’t work last time would be a good idea to do again this time, they claim.

For these authoritarians, the timing of omicron’s emergence was perfect.

The variant was first discovered in South Africa, with the US and European media running endless scare stories. Authoritarian politicians used the manufactured fear to justify another attack on liberty. Europe shut down and became a virtual prison camp. In Austria, Germany, and elsewhere, citizens became non-persons without a vaccine passport.

South African health officials reported that the variant seemed to be more contagious but far milder than previous variants, as usually happens with such viruses. But the lockdowners would not hear of it. From Boris Johnson in the UK to DeBlasio in New York City, the variant was perfect cover for them to put their boots back on the necks of terrorized citizens.

As to be expected, Fauci reveled in the emergence of the new variant, warning of “record deaths” for the unvaccinated. Similarly, President Biden warned that this would be a “winter of death” for the unvaccinated.

But here’s something the media isn’t reporting about the omicron outbreaks: they are taking place among the fully vaccinated. Cornell University, with 97 percent of the campus fully vaccinated and a mask mandate, has announced that it would return to online only instruction after a massive Covid outbreak. Likewise, the National Football League has postponed several games this weekend due to Covid outbreaks, even though the League is virtually 100 percent vaccinated. And the National Basketball Association, which is above 95 percent fully vaccinated, has just announced that due to a surge in Covid cases it too will postpone games.

The vaccine is not working to prevent infection or transmission of the virus: cases are raging in states with the highest vaccine levels. Yet the “experts” continue to maintain that the only thing that can stop the spread of omicron is vaccines! More people are catching on that this makes no sense. If vaccines don’t stop the spread, how can vaccines stop the spread?

Meanwhile, South Africa, with one of the lowest rates of vaccination, has just announced that they are only seeing a tiny fraction of hospitalizations with omicron compared to previous variants. South Africa’s Covid response authority has written to the health minister recommending an end to containment efforts, contact tracing, and quarantines.

Unvaccinated South Africa is ending Covid restrictions while the hyper-vaccinated North is locking down. Something doesn’t add up.

Fauci loves to say that to question him is to question science, but this has nothing to do with science. It’s about power. Fauci, the political authoritarians, and the corrupt Big Pharma billionaires are trying to make a last stand, desperate to push omicron as a justification for further tyranny and profits. But actual science is not cooperating.

Omicron is spreading and vaccines are not stopping it. Thus far nearly half of omicron infections are asymptomatic. Some experts are predicting that omicron will spell the end of Covid-19. But we know that as long as people like Fauci are around, Covid-19 will never end. Unless, of course, we repudiate the charlatans and profiteers and reclaim our liberty!

end

Ben Garrison explains everything!

(Ben Garrison)

Ben Garrison Exposes The Elephant In The Room
MONDAY, DEC 20, 2021 – 11:20 PM

Authored by Ben Garrison via GrrrGraphics.com,

IGNORING THE OBVIOUS

In America we are all entitled to an opinion.

The First Amendment guarantees our free speech. Unfortunately, many are now censored for having an opinion that does not align with the ‘official’ one pushed by the globalist ‘authorities.’ In particular, any opinion that contradicts the current and ongoing medical tyranny is banned. We at GrrrGraphics recently endured a one-week suspension on Twitter merely because one of our cartoons questioned the abuse of vaccines. It’s my opinion, based on copious evidence, that the so-called vaccines for COVID-19 aren’t working. That said, we at GrrrGraphics are not dispensing medical advice. If you insist on getting jabbed with experimental gene therapy drugs, then that’s your decision.

Back in February Anthony Fauci pronounced the Covid injections to be “100 percent safe and effective” at preventing death by the Chinese bioweapon he helped fund. This was ridiculous if one considers that it usually takes a new vaccine nearly a decade of trials and testing before given to mass populations. In this case, billions around the world have been subjected to a giant lab experiment.

By April, Fauci downgraded his glowing scientific analysis and said no vaccine is 100 percent effective. No kidding. Everyone’s body chemistry is different. A one-size fits all inoculation is crazy. Some are allergic, some have already had vaccine damage and can’t take more. Due to the lack of testing, who knows what dangers lie ahead for the vaccinated.

Then we found out the vaccines did not stop the jabbed from transmitting the virus. Then we found out the vaccinated could still contract COVID-19, but Fauci said if that happened the symptoms would be less severe. Then we started hearing about people who were fully vaccinated yet still died from the virus, and along the way we read many stories of people dying from the vaccinations themselves.

Fauci has been promoted as the very embodiment of science, but he’s often wrong. He was wrong about the treatment of AIDS sufferers about three decades ago. Many died from him recommending the drug, AZT until it was pulled from the market. Israel recently awarded Fauci a one million dollar prize for ‘speaking truth to power’ amid the so-called pandemic. That was a howler. Fauci is the sadistic face of power that has corrupted science. Let’s not forget he funded the torture of beagles. A man who is cruel to animals has no problem being cruel to human beings.

Now we’re seeing increased Covid cases and deaths among the fully vaccinated. The lying corporate media won’t talk about it, but, you can find plenty of evidence presented by real journalists.

We will have continue to hear about one variant after another. Coronavirus tends to mutate. That’s why it’s tough to cure the common cold. I’m sure Fauci and Gates will recommend endless boosters and new vaccines. Gates, Fauci, and Big Pharma, will all continue to rake in even more taxpayer money. More people will die, but that’s the New World Order’s plan. Fear will continue to be fanned because it’s necessary for the globalists’ Great Reset plan. That plan includes far less humans on a planet owned by the oligarchs at the top of the pyramid

iii) important USA economic stories for you tonight

END

iii)b USA inflation commentaries//LOG JAMS//

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

iv) Swamp commentaries/

“I Probably Won’t Be Elected”: Democrats Panic After Manchin Nukes BBB

TUESDAY, DEC 21, 2021 – 09:55 AM

Congressional Democrats are absolutely freaking out after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) killed their $2 trillion Build Back Better agenda.

Two narratives have emerged; first, that Democrats are about to ‘play hardball‘ with Manchin – with ‘tough treatment’ from Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and President Biden. And second, that Democrats in swing states are scrambling to do damage control ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Manchin appears unfazed by any of it.

As far as ‘hardball’ is concerned, The Hill reports that Democrats are “threatening to drive a wedge between Manchin and his many lower-income constituents” who would benefit from federal benefits contained in BBB, including the enhanced child tax credit, lower prescription drug prices via Mecdicare, and childcare subsidies.

More ‘hardball’ could come from Schumer, who said Manchin was trying to dictate national policy, and other Democratic lawmakers “who are now under new pressure from the party’s base for failing to deliver on the “big, bold” agenda they promised earlier this year.”

“He has had absolutely no pressure,” said one frustrated Democratic aide, citing Manchin’s friendly meetings with Biden that failed to produce results.

“Biden’s got to grab him by the lapels and say, ‘Listen, this ends now,’” the aide continued, warning that there’s virtually no chance that another major piece of legislation will pass before midterms.

Democratic senators have said for months they were reluctant to apply too much pressure on Manchin for fear that it might backfire and only goad him to dig in his heels more firmly against progressive priorities such as major new investments for renewable energy and expanded Medicare benefits.
There was also the looming threat that Manchin might leave the caucus and declare himself an independent. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters before the break that he would love to have Manchin join his caucus, though he acknowledged it wasn’t a likely possibility.
But now Biden, Schumer and other Democrats risk looking ineffective after Manchin flatly spurned their many entreaties with his bluntly stated opposition to Build Back Better on Fox News. -The Hill

“He’s going to blow up the president’s agenda so I think you have to play hardball but there are different ways to play hardball,” said Democratic strategist Steve Jarding.

Democrats scrambling

As CNN‘s Manu Raju notes, Democrats in swing states are panicking over Manchin’s ‘effective veto’ over President Biden’s agenda.

Democrats in difficult races are calling on Manchin to return to the negotiating table and for their party’s leaders to recalibrate their strategy to find some way to pass individual pieces of the $1.75 trillion proposal, even though doing that would require sign off from Manchin and would force them to replay the party infighting that has dogged Biden in his first year in office.

“I’m obviously upset — pissed off about what happened,” said Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), adding “We certainly are not going to win an election spending the next year bemoaning the fact that Joe Manchin didn’t do Build Back Better in December. We win by sprinting out of the starting gate in January.”

“I think it’s imperative that Democrats pass a measure to support children and families and the economic wellbeing of the American middle class and to take steps to address climate change,” said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), adding “If we do nothing, it would be a terrible reflection on Democrats.”

According to Phillips, Democrats need to stop the infighting and find common ground.

“If we continue to point fingers at one another, and not recalibrate, that’s a recipe for absolute destruction,” he said.

Yet, Democrats are still fuming over Manchin

“He simply can’t be trusted to be a man of his word,” said Rep. Madeline Dean (D-PA).There are clear signs that the party is hardly on the same page about how to move ahead. In a phone call Monday, Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she conveyed her frustration directly to the senator — and she’s now calling on Biden to act administratively instead.But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he will still put the $1.75 trillion bill on the floor in January, forcing Manchin to officially vote no to block the measure. It will take weeks to even get to that point to hold the first procedural vote, which is bound to fail, as Senate Democrats prepare to discuss the matter at a Tuesday night virtual meeting. -CNN

That said, Manchin has shown virtually no interest in a narrower bill that gets expedited, and has instead advocated for a slower process that involves committees – something which could take months and would ultimately require the support of 10 Republican Senators, vs. the reconciliation process Manchin opposes.

“After months of negotiations, one Democratic US senator has now summarily walked away from productive negotiations,” said Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), who faces a difficult midterm race. “That is unacceptable.”

Where do they go from here?

Let us close out today with this offering from Greg Hunter

Well that is all for today

I will see you WEDNESDAY


The King Report December 21, 2021 Issue 6661	Independent View of the News
China’s central bank cuts a benchmark rate for the first time since the pandemic The People’s Bank of China lowered the one-year loan prime rate to 3.8%, down from 3.85%… https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/20/chinas-central-bank-cuts-1-year-loan-prime-rate.html ESHs opened higher on Sunday night but quickly commenced a plunge that bottomed at 4:19 ET. ESHs hit a low of 4526.25, -83.75. They rallied to 4568.00 at 7:07 ET, seven minutes after the US repo market open. ESHs then rolled over until the rally for the NYSE open began at 8:55 ET. It ended at 9:20 ET. ESHs and stocks then sank until the end of the first hour of NYSE trading. The rebound rally was modest and lasted only 15 minutes. ESHs and stocks declined until new lows were hit just after Europe closed. An abbreviated Noon Balloon developed. It produced a 11-handle ESH rebound but it ended at 12:19 ET. After a retreat that lasted until 13:00 ET, ESHs and stocks stair stepped higher into the close. It was yet another session in which ESHs and stocks tumbled in foreign markets, and after an early decline in the US, someone forced them higher for most of the remaining session Omicron variant accounts for 73% of U.S. infections -CDC (3% last week) – Reuters @TheLastRefuge2: A sniffling, sneezing, coughing, stuffy-head and sore throat symptom inducing variant called Omicron has surfaced. Will the FDA move to add Nyquil to the list of banned treatments? Manchin blasts WH staff for leaking ‘absolutely inexcusable’ things about him after rejecting BBB https://www.foxnews.com/politics/manchin-blasts-wh-staff-leak-bbb White House incivility is what ‘lost’ Joe Manchin Joe and Joe were pulling in the same direction. There would be no BBB gifts under the Christmas tree — but no one would get coal in their stockings, either. Both sides were congenial, and both agreed not to trash each other… My sources on this come from both Manchin’s people and the White House. But then – bang! – the White House released a statement blaming Manchin for the delay. It tried to strike a positive tone about the future, but it targeted Manchin specifically and alone… https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/586538-white-house-incivility-is-what-lost-joe-manchin Bloomberg: A day after the White House accused him of reneging on commitments to the president and other Democrats by opposing the legislation, Manchin blamed White House staff for continually pushing provisions of the bill that he’d been opposed to for months despite Biden’s promise to negotiate. “It’s not the president, it’s the staff,” he said on WV MetroNews radio’s “Talkline” program… https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-20/manchin-outlines-tax-policy-changes-he-d-want-in-biden-bill @Techno_Fog: *Steele source Igor Danchenko is now represented by lawyers who worked for the Hillary Campaign. Special Counsel John Durham is asking the court if that’s an improper conflict.* Notable: trial inquiry may include whether the Clinton Campaign directed Danchenko’s activities… According to Durham’s latest filing, Stuart Sears is a partner at the law firm Schertler Onorato Mead & Sears. Notably, the firm is currently representing the 2016 “Hillary for America” presidential campaign (the “Clinton Campaign”), as well as multiple former employees of that campaign, in matters before the Special Counsel.”… The Hillary Clinton Campaign and its employees are subject to “matters before the Special Counsel.”… Durham even raises the potential that members of the Clinton Campaign may be called to testify at Danchenko’s trial… https://technofog.substack.com/p/its-official-durham-is-investigating?r=2seug&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

DEC 21/B GOLD CLOSED DOWN XXX

DONATE

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR DEC. CONTRACT: 608 NOTICE(S) FOR 60.800 OZ (1.18911 tonnes)

0 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR nil OZ/

1/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

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

Peter Schiff: The Era Of Low Inflation Is The Only Thing That’s Transitory

Fauci’s Finished

Changing Goalposts

Lepers

Boosters Forever

Back to the Same Failed Playbook

“Permanent… Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Permanent”

Americans Are Fighting Back

GATA exposed it all in 2021, but is it making any difference?

UK Supreme Court thwarts Maduro’s bid to control $1.9 billion of Venezuelan gold

Your early currency/gold and silver pricing/Asian and European bourse movements/ and interest rate settings TUESDAY morning 7:30 AM

Futures, Global Markets Rebound On Booster Shot Of Hope Santa Rally May Arrive Yet

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

Japanese Government Tells Citizens: “Don’t Discriminate Against The Unvaccinated”

3B CHINA

As China’s Property Sector Continues Disintegrating, Much More Easing Will Be Needed

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

Watch: German Health Minister Calls For Immediate Forced Vaccination Of Entire Population

Joachim Nagel Nominated To Become Next Leader Of Germany’s Bundesbank

Stunning COVID Data From Denmark (But Not For The Reason You’ve Been Told)

Is The Omicron Surge Mostly Due To Massively Increased Testing?

From Bad To Worse: Another French Nuclear Reactor Cuts Output Due To Strike

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

Erdogan’s “Whatever It Takes” Moment: Comeback Story Of A Lifetime Or A Giant Headfake

If NATO Rebuffs Russian Security Proposals, Kremlin Will Deploy Advanced Weapons To Ukraine Border

What does it really mean ? Rewritten with updates.

US Issues Advisory Warning Against Travel To Ukraine Due To “Russia Threat”

6.Global Issues

COVID Outbreak Hits World’s Largest Cruise Ship

Israel Puts US On No-Fly List For 1st Time, Citing Omicron

Some Good Omicron News: Symptoms Remain Extremely Mild; UK Cases Peaking

Vaccine Impact

Trump Attacks His Own Supporters for Not Endorsing His COVID-19 Vaccines – Republicans “Opposing” Vaccine Mandates Own Stock in Pfizer, Moderna, J&J

December 20, 2021 4:27 pm

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET& AUSTRALIA ISSUES

Your early currency/gold and silver pricing/Asian and European bourse movements/ and interest rate settings TUESDAY morning 7:30 AM

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

USA trading day in Graph Form

Stocks Soar As Santa Claus Rally Hopes Oust Omicron Fears

“They’re Totally Confused”: Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Chaos Leaves Employers With “Whiplash”

1.5 Million Parents Could Drop Out Of Workforce If Biden Stimulus Passes; Analysis

Supreme Court Asks Biden Admin To Respond To Flurry Of Challenges To OSHA Mandate

Biden Plans To Distribute 500 Million Tests As Omicron Variant Overwhelms Most Vaccinated States

NY Governor Intends To Redefine “Fully Vaccinated” To Include Boosters

Watch Live: President Biden Explains Why Vaxx’d Breakthroughs Are All The Unvaxx’d Fault

Omicron: The Lockdowners’ Last Stand

IGNORING THE OBVIOUS

“I Probably Won’t Be Elected”: Democrats Panic After Manchin Nukes BBB

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