GOLD; down $2.05 to $1808.50

SILVER: $22.98 UP 6 CENTS

ACCESS MARKET:

GOLD $1812.00

SILVER: $23.07

Bitcoin: morning price: 50,726 down $275

Bitcoin: afternoon price: 51,116 up $115

Platinum price: closing down $0.65 to $976.25

Palladium price; closing up $20.65 at 1972.40

END

end

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EXCHANGE: COMEX

CONTRACT: DECEMBER 2021 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 1,811.200000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 12/23/2021 DELIVERY DATE: 12/28/2021
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED

435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 131
624 H BOFA SECURITIES 72
661 C JP MORGAN 83
880 C CITIGROUP 5
905 C ADM 21
991 H CME 2

TOTAL: 157 157
MONTH TO DATE: 35,746

Goldman Sachs stopped: 0

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR DEC. CONTRACT: 157 NOTICE(S) FOR 15700 OZ (0.4883 TONNES)

total notices so far: 35,746 contracts for 3,574,600 oz

SILVER//DEC CONTRACT

171 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 855,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month 8918 : for 45,090,000 oz

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

GLD

WITH GOLD DOWN $2.05 TO $1808.50

NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:

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 973,63 TONNES OF GOLD//

Silver//SLV

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 6 CENTS:

With silver up 6 cents today:

NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV

CLOSING INVENTORY SLV/ TONIGHT: 537.681 MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A TINY 154 CONTRACTS TO 140,834 AND RESTS FURTHER FROM THE NEW RECORD OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020.. DESPITE THE $0.12 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON THURSDAY. OUR BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT ROSE BY $0.12) AND WERE QUITE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OUT ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A SMALL GAIN OF 115 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 315,000 OZ QUEUE. JUMP V) FAIR SIZED COMEX OI GAIN.

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

THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI SILVER TODAY: CONTRACTS -19

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS DEC 27 ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF DEC:

TOTAL CONTACTS for 19 days, total contracts: 17,940 or …average per day: 944 contracts or 4.721 million oz per day.

TOTAL NO OF OZ UNDERGOING EFP TO LONDON 17,940 CONTRACTS X 5,000 PER CONTRACT:

EQUATES TO: 89.700 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 TINY SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 149 DESPITE OUR 12 CENT GAIN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX// THURSDAY THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 250 CONTRACTS( 250 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 110,000 QUEUE JUMP .. WE HAD SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 96 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES FOR 0.480 MILLION OZ//

WE HAD 171 NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR 605.000 OZ

GOLD//OUTLINE

IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A GOOD SIZED 3654 CONTRACTS TO 506,258, AND CLOSER TO 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: 985 CONTRACTS

THE GOOD SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI CAME WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $9.15//COMEX GOLD TRADING/THURSDAY/.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 5980 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 13,500 OZ//, NEW STANDING 111.486 TONNES

YET ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $9.15 WITH RESPECT TO THURSDAY’S TRADING

WE HAD A GOOD SIZED GAIN OF 6965 OI CONTRACTS (21.664 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALLED A SMALL SIZED 2326 CONTRACTS:

FOR FEB 2326 ALL OTHER MONTHS ZERO//TOTAL: 2326

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 506,258.

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A GOOD SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO CONTRACTS OF 58-, WITH 3654 CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX AND 2326 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 5980 CONTRACTS OR 18.600 TONNES.

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A SMALL SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (2326) ACCOMPANYING THE GOOD SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI (3654): TOTAL GAIN IN THE TWO EXCHANGES 5980 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 13,500 OZ TO LONDON////NEW STANDING OF 111.486TONNES//. 3)ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION,4) GOOD SIZED COMEX OI GAIN 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 : 42,350 CONTRACTS OR 4,235,000 oz OR 131.72 TONNES (19 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 2220 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 19 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES: 131.72 TONNES

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

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 131.72/3550 x 100% TONNES 3.71% 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. 131.72 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 TINY SIZED 154 CONTRACTS TO 140,834 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 250 CONTRACTS

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

MAR 250 ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 250 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 135 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 250 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,

WE OBTAIN A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 96 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACT FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 0.480 MILLION OZ,

OCCURRED WITH OUR $0.12 GAIN 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)MONDAY MORNING THURSDAY NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 2.08 PTS OR 006% //Hang Sang CLOSED UP 30.12 PTS OR 0.13% /The Nikkei closed DOWN 106.13 PTS OR 0.37% //Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.48%/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 6.3727 /Oil DOWN TO 72.73 dollars per barrel for WTI and UP TO 76.12 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN // ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN AT 6.3727 AGAINST THE DOLLAR. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP ON THE DOLLAR AT 6.3741: /ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST USA DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST THE DOLLAR /TRADE DEAL NOW DEAD..

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 ROSE BY A GOOD SIZED 3654 CONTRACTS AND CLOSER TO 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 INCREASE OCCURRED WITH OUR GAIN OF $9.15 IN GOLD PRICING THURSDAY’S COMEX TRADING. WE ALSO HAD A SMALL EFP ISSUANCE (2326 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 SMALL SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,

THAT IS 2326 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: ;: , DEC : 0 & FEB. 2326 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 2326 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 GOOD SIZED 5980 TOTAL CONTRACTS IN THAT 2326 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A GOOD GAIN COMEX OI OF 3654 CONTRACTS..

// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR DEC (111.486),

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 UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE //// (IT ROSE $9.15)

AND THEY WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN FLEECING ANY LONGS AS THE TOTAL GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES REGISTERED 18.600 TONNES,ACCOMPANYING OUR HUGE GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR DEC (111.486 TONNES)…

WE HAD – 985 CONTRACTS REMOVED FROM COMEX TRADES. THESE WERE REMOVED AFTER TRADING ENDED LAST NIGHT

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 5980 CONTRACTS OR 598,000 OZ OR 18.600 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: 506,258 TOTAL OI CONTRACTS X 100 OZ PER CONTRACT = 50.62 MILLION OZ/32,150 OZ PER TONNE = 15.74 TONNES

Estimated gold volume today: 82,453 extremely poor

Confirmed volume on Friday: 110,245 contracts extremely poor

INITIAL STANDINGS FOR DEC COMEX GOLD DEC 27

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory in oz*	nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer* Inventory in oz*	nil oz
Deposit to the Dealer* Inventory in oz*	nilOZ
Deposits to the Customer* Inventory, in oz*	nil
No of oz served (contracts) today	157 notice(s)15,700 OZ0.4883 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)	97 contracts 9700 oz 0.8017 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	35,746 notices 3,574,600 OZ111.185 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

Gold

DEC 27 COMEX INVENTORY MOVEMENTS//AMOUNTS STANDING

For today:

No dealer deposit 0

No dealer withdrawal 0

No customer deposit 0

zero customer withdrawal

ADJUSTMENTS 0

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DECEMBER.

For the front month of DECEMBER we have an oi 254 stand for December. for a LOSS of 878 contracts. We had 1013 notices filed on THURSDAY so we GAINED A STRONG 135 contracts or an additional 13,500 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 102 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 1779

FEBRUARY GAINED 3162 CONTRACTS TO 381,570

We had 157 notice(s) filed today for 15,700 oz FOR THE DEC 2021 CONTRACT MONTH

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 0 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equates to 157 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 83 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 (35,746) x 100 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of (DEC: 254 CONTRACTS ) minus the number of notices served upon today 157 x 100 oz per contract equals 3,584,300 OZ OR 111.486 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 (35,746) x 100 oz+ (254) OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (157} x 100 oz} which equals 3,584,300 oz standing OR 111.486 TONNES in this active delivery month of DEC.

This is a huge delivery for December.

We GAINED 135 contracts or an additional 13,500 oz WILL STAND FOR GOLD OVER HERE

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 111.486 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 SERVED UPON: 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 27/2021

INITIAL STANDING FOR SILVER//DEC

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	234,734.763 oz Brinks int.Delaware
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*	nilOZ
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	894,662.950 ozCNT/Loomis
No of oz served today (contracts)	171 CONTRACT(S)855,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	181 contracts (905,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	9018 contracts 45,090,000 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 2 deposit to the customer account:

i) Into CNT: 600,063.600 oz

ii) Into Loomis: 294,599.850 oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 184.663 million oz/356.804 million =51.75% of comex

ii) Comex withdrawals:

a) Brinks 159,035.600 oz

b)Int. Delaware: 75,699.103 oz

total withdrawal 234,734.703 oz

we had one adjustment: customer to dealer HSBC: 4810.35 oz

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 93.140 MILLION OZ

TOTAL REG + ELIG. 357.115 MILLION OZ

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

silver open interest data:

Total oi for the silver complex: 140,853 contracts LOSING 135 contracts on the day

FRONT MONTH OF DEC OI: 352 CONTRACTS LOSING 99 contracts on the day.

TOTAL NO OF CONTRACTS SERVED UPON THIS MONTH: 9018 CONTRACTS FOR 45,090,000 OZ

CALCULATION OF SILVER OZ STANDING FOR DECEMBER

For the front month of DECEMBER we have an amount of silver standing AT 352 CONTRACTS for a LOSS of 99 contracts. We had 121 notices filed on THURSDAY, so we GAINED 22 contracts or an additional 110,000 oz will stand for delivery in this very active delivery month of December. There is surely no silver on either side of the pond.

JANUARY GAINED 315 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 2600

FEBRUARY GAINED 25 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 85

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY: 121 NOTICES OR 605,000 OZ

Comex volumes: 37,624 poor (est. today)

Comex volume: confirmed Monday: 36,506 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 9018 x 5,000 oz =. 45,090,000 oz

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC (352) and the number of notices served upon today 171 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

Thus the standings for silver for the DEC./2021 contract month: 9018 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for front month of DEC (252) – number of notices served upon today (171) x 5000 oz of silver standing for the DEC contract month equates 45,995,000 oz. .

WE GAINED 22 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 110,000 OZ WILL 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

GLD AND SLV INVENTORY LEVELS:

GLD

DEC 27/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.05: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 973.63 TONNES.

DEC 23/WITH GOLD UP $9.85 TODAY//A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.94 TONNES FROM THE GLD/// INVENTORY RESTS AT 973.63 TONNES

DEC 22/WITH GOLD UP $12.85 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 978.57 TONNES

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 27/ GLD INVENTORY 973.63 tonnes

SLV

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

DEC 27/WITH SILVER UP 6 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 537.681

DEC 23/WITH SILVER UP 19 CENTS TODAY:A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.202 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 537.681 MILLION OZ//

DEC 22/WITH SILVER UP 29 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.202 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 538.883 MILLION OZ/

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

CLOSING SILVER INVENTORY //SLV//537.681 MILLION OZ//

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER STORIES

PETER SCHIFF

Peter Schiff: There Is No Ceiling On Inflation

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 09:15 AM

Via SchiffGold.com,

Gold closed out the week before Christmas above $1,800 an ounce, despite rising bond yields. The $1,800 level has been viewed as a ceiling for the price of gold. In his podcast, Peter Schiff said people need to start thinking of $1,800 as a floor. And he said they will once they realize there is no ceiling on inflation.

We got the personal income and spending data for November last week. Incomes grew at a slower pace than projected — 0.4%. Meanwhile, spending was up 0.6%. Obviously, if spending is outpacing income, the difference has to come from somewhere. It appears Americans are dipping into their savings to cope with rising prices. The savings rate declined to 6.9%. That is the lowest level since December 2017.

We also know that consumers are turning to debt to make ends meet, with credit card balances growing at a fast pace.

The savings rate shot up and Americans paid down their credit cards when the government showered them with stimulus. Peter said it appears the stimulus has run out.

Obviously, Americans have now exhausted that windfall. They’ve depleted that savings war-chest that was built up with stimulus money, and now it’s gone. And so, they’re having to go into debt.”

Consumers have a double problem. They’ve run out of savings and consumer prices keep going up. That is robbing people of their purchasing power.

That robber is the government, because it’s the government that’s creating the inflation that is causing the cost of living to go up. But the cost of living is going up, yet consumers have even less savings to afford that increase in the cost of living.”

Given this scenario, one of two things has to happen. Either the government needs to come up with another round of stimulus or we get a recession. Because at some point, consumers will have to cut back on the spending.

Either the government is going to have to supply the money or the spending is not going to happen. So, either we have a recession, or we have even worse inflation. Because if the government has to print more money to fund more stimulus spending so that consumers can afford to keep buying stuff at higher prices, well then we have an even bigger inflation problem on our hands.”

The Fed’s favorite inflation metric is the Personal Consumption Expenditure index (PCE). The central bankers like this metric because it understates inflation the most. The year-over-year PCE number came in at 5.7% in November. That’s the biggest PCE increase since 1982.

The Fed’s target for inflation is 2%. And even if you measure inflation using the most dishonest of all government indexes that sugar-coats it the most, you’re still way over double what the official target is.”

Keep in mind, consumers aren’t buying more stuff. They’re buying less and paying more.

And yet, the Fed is doing nothing about this inflation problem.

Of course, the central bank did announce a taper of asset purchases in November and then committed to speed up that process during the December FOMC meeting. And they are apparently poised to start raising interest rates from zero a few months sooner than initially expected.

But how is that going to make any difference to an inflation problem that is already so big?”

When the PCE was at this level back in 1982, the Fed funds rate was at 14%. Today it is at 0%.

That’s how a Fed fights inflation. You’re at 14%. How can anybody talk about the Fed fighting inflation now when rates are at zero when the last time it was this bad, rates were at 14%?”

At this point in 1982, real interest rates were positive. Today, they’re deeply negative. Back then, Fed was bending the inflation curve with real positive interest rates.

As long as the Federal Reserve is maintaining negative interest rates, it is worsening inflation.”

Nobody is even talking about raising interest rates to the point that real rates become positive.

Of course, it can’t happen because we have so much debt that it is impossible to actually service that debt if the Fed were to raise interest rates to an appropriate level.”

There’s no way out of the predicament.

If the Fed raises rates high enough to actually fight inflation, it won’t just cause a deep recession. It will likely precipitate another financial crisis. Peter said this is why the Fed won’t do it.

They are going to pretend they’re going to do it. And they may in fact raise rates slightly if they can get that far along in the process. But somewhere along the way, the market is going to fall. The economy is going to slip.”

When that happens, the Fed will almost certainly reverse course and go back to its ultra-inflationary policy.

This isn’t even close to peak inflation. If anything, this is trough inflation compared to where it’s going.”

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

END

Important gold commentaries courtesy of GATA/Chris Powell

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 MONDAY morning 7:30 AM

ONSHORE YUAN: 6.3727

OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.3741

HANG SANG CLOSED UP 30.12 PTS OR 0.13%

2. Nikkei closed DOWN 106.13 PTS OR 0.37%

3. Europe stocks ALL GREEN

USA dollar INDEX UP TO 96;20/Euro FALLS TO 1.1309-

3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +.064/ !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 114.23/ 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:: 72.73 and Brent: 76.12-

3f Gold DOWN/JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE YUAN: ON -SHORE CLOSED DOWN// 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 -.0.247%/Italian 10 Yr bond yield FALLS to 1.10% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD RISES TO 0.52%…ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD/GERMAN BUND: 1.35: DANGEROUS FOR THE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM

3j Greek 10 year bond yield FALLS TO : 1.33

3k Gold at $1806.40 silver at: 22.71 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00

3l USA vs Russian rouble; (Russian rouble UP 9/100 in roubles/dollar) 73.57

3m oil into the 72 dollar handle for WTI and 76 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 114.73 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 .9187 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF 1.0392 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: 1.484 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 1.891 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 11.30

US Futures Hit All Time High As Santa Rally Spreads Markets Cheer

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 08:07 AM

The Santa Claus rally is here, and stocks are set to make their 69th all-time high for 2021 when they open in 90 minutes.

US index futures rose to fresh all time highs despite amid thin, holiday-muted trading and a mood of caution as traders evaluated spiking coronavirus cases as investors monitored progress on the Biden administration’s economic stimulus and social spending plan after president-in-waiting Kamala Harris said neither her nor Joe Biden are giving up on the bill. Futures on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 futures both climbed 0.3% at 745 a.m. in New York, the former trading at all time highs of 4,733. The dollar strengthened, 10-year U.S. Treasury yields were little changed while crude oil and gold dipped. A dollar gauge ticked up.

In overnight news, Kamala Harris said the Biden administration is seeking a path forward for its “Build Back Better” economic stimulus. Elsewhere, US holiday sales jumped 8.5% from last year as consumers spent more money on clothes, jewelry and electronics, a report from Mastercard SpendingPulse showed. Still, in U.S. premarket trading, U.S. travel stocks retreated, led by United Airlines Holdings Inc., after hundreds of flights were canceled over Christmas due to a spike in Covid-19 cases. Here are some of the more notable premarket movers:

United Airlines Holdings (UAL US) -2.9%, Delta Air Lines (DAL US) -2% and American Airlines (AAL US) -2.1%.
Velo3D (VLD US) rose in afterhours trading Thursday after announcing delivery of its first Sapphire XC to an aerospace customer.
Surgalign Holdings (SRGA US) dropped in postmarket after filing for the potential sale of equity and debt securities.

In the latest covid developments, Anthony Fauci, one of the top U.S. medical advisers, said Americans should stay vigilant because omicron cases can still overwhelm hospitals even if evidence suggests the strain’s symptoms may be less severe.

That said, the predominant thread was one of lack of trading as most desks have closed for the year: for markets overall, “either the headline reel will spur ugly intraday moves on holiday-thinned liquidity, or volatility will remain so flatline, that if it were an ECG, the doctors and nurses would be yelling code blue,” Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at Oanda, wrote in a note.

In Europe, stocks edged up amid thinner trading volumes as investors monitored the surge in Covid-19 cases.

Over the weekend, China’s central bank pledged greater economic support over the weekend, contrasting with steps by the Federal Reserve and other central banks to fight inflation by cutting stimulus. The outlook for monetary policy, Covid and company earnings are shaping views on whether global stocks can keep rising after nearly doubling from pandemic lows.

Asian stocks slipped in thin trading ahead of the year-end holidays as investors weighed the latest developments in virus cases related to the omicron variant. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index swung between a loss of 0.2% and a gain of less than 0.1%. Hardware technology giants provided the biggest support to the measure as chipmakers advanced, while industrial names and software companies fell. Coronavirus cases surged across the globe, with China reporting over the weekend the highest number of local cases since January. Singapore plans to make vaccination a condition for the approval of new applications for and renewal of existing long-term passes, work passes, and permanent residences starting Feb. 1. “While there is worry that infections will continue to spread, the sense is that it’s not likely to develop into serious cases or trigger another series of lockdowns,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management. “I still see room for share price gains during the few trading days left this year.” The Asian stock benchmark rose 0.4% last week, with sentiment boosted by positive U.S. economic-growth data and a U.K. study suggesting omicron infections are less likely to lead to hospitalization. Benchmarks in South Korea and Japan were among the worst performers in the region for the day, while Malaysian and Philippine stocks outperformed. Markets in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong are shut for the holidays.

India’s benchmark equity index advanced, overcoming a weak start to the session, boosted by gains in Tech Mahindra Ltd. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.5% to 57,420.24 in Mumbai, reversing losses of as much as 1%. The NSE Nifty 50 Index also climbed by a similar measure. Sixteen of the 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. gained, led by a gauge of healthcare companies. Tech Mahindra Ltd. rose 3.6% and was the best performer on both key indexes. Out of 30 shares in the Sensex index, 24 rose and 6 fell. Private sector lender RBL Bank Ltd. dropped 18.5% after a decision by the nation’s central bank to appoint a new director to the board raised concerns about the outlook for the small private-sector lender. India also announced a program to vaccinate teenagers from the ages of 15 to 18 starting next year and booster doses for health-care workers as omicron-fueled Covid-19 cases spike. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the weekend. Still, several states have imposed night curfews and restrictions on public gatherings to keep a check on the spread of the new variant. “Markets are facing pressure on every rise and it would only subside if the cases tally remains under control,” Ajit Mishra, vice president of research at Religare Broking Ltd. wrote in a note. “We recommend keeping a check on leveraged positions amid volatility and letting the markets stabilize.”

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Index rose as much as 0.2%, rebounding from its lowest level in more than a month; the New Zealand dollar and the Norwegian krone led declines among G-10 peers. The pound outperformed peers following a report that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak plans to cut tens of thousands of jobs within the U.K. civil service to save government budgets 5% over the next three years. Turkey’s lira snapped a five-day rally, challenging government assurances that it’s on a more stable footing after measures were introduced a week ago to stem its collapse.

In rates, 10- year Treasury yields dipped 1bp to 1.49% after rising nine basis points last week. Treasuries were mixed with short-maturity yields higher on the day as the final week of the year begins, ahead of $56b 2-year note auction at 1pm ET. Amid expectations that Fed will start raising interest rates next year, last month’s 2-year auction tailed by more than 1bp. Yields are higher by 1bp-2bp in 2- to 5-year sectors with longer-maturity tenors little changed, flattening curve spreads slightly; 10-year at 1.494% is inside last week’s range. WI 2-year yield at ~0.76% exceeds auction stops since February 2020; last month’s drew 0.623%. The auction cycle includes $57b 5-year note Tuesday, $56b 7-year Wednesday.

Expected data include the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Outlook survey. No major earnings or central bank events are scheduled.

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures up 0.2% to 4,724.50
STOXX Europe 600 up 0.3%
German 10Y yield up 2 bps to -0.23%
Euro little changed at $1.1310
MXAP down 0.2% to 191.83
MXAPJ little changed at 624.02
Nikkei down 0.4% to 28,676.46
Topix down 0.4% to 1,977.90
Hang Seng Index up 0.1% to 23,223.76
Shanghai Composite little changed at 3,615.97
Sensex up 0.5% to 57,433.95
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.4% to 7,420.30
Kospi down 0.4% to 2,999.55
Brent futures little changed at $76.06/bbl
Gold spot down 0.3% to $1,805.61
U.S. Dollar Index up 0.2% to 96.22

Top Overnight News from Bloomberg

The Biden administration is seeking a path forward for its “Build Back Better” economic stimulus and social spending plan, Vice President Kamala Harris said Sunday
Coronavirus infections surged across the globe with China reporting the highest number of local cases since January, darkening the year-end holiday period
China’s central bank pledged greater support for the economy on Saturday and said it will make monetary policy more forward-looking and targeted

US Event Calendar

10:30am: U.S. Dallas Fed Manf. Activity, Dec., est. 13.0, prior 11.8

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)MONDAY MORNING THURSDAY NIGHT

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

///NORTH KOREA

3B JAPAN

end

3B CHINA

COVID/OMICRON VARIANT

China locks down 13million people in Xi’an over 200 cases of Omicron(zerohedge)

CCP Locks Down 13 Million People In Xi’an Over 200 Cases As Winter Olympics Approach

THURSDAY, DEC 23, 2021 – 08:35 PM

Chinese health authorities said Thursday they found 91 new confirmed COVID cases in Xi’an, the capital city of Central China’s Shaanxi Province, as of 1300 local time on Thursday, bringing the total cases in the western city to 234, according to Xinhua’s count. The new figures come as authorities have locked down the city as China scrambles to prevent even the hint of an omicron wave as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics.

The lockdown imposed by the CCP left stretches of highway in the city eerily bare on Thursday, according to a Reuters report, as workers set up lockdown enforcement checkpoints. The number of new cases reported in the city has now increased for 7 straight days starting with Dec. 17’s report. The city has a population of 13MM, which is notably larger than NYC’s 9MM.

So far, at least, no cases of omicron have been confirmed, according to the CCP, but there’s always the possibility that health authorities have identified (or are simply just not looking for) the strain since news of new omicron cases might engender more panic.

While practically every other nation has abandoned the “Zero COVID” approach, Beijing has pledged to continue it, surrounding each new outbreak – however mild – with testing resources while enforcing strict and immediate localized lockdowns. Beijing’s official stance is that no COVID can be allowed to spread.

Starting Thursday, each household in the city may only send one person to shop for necessities, once every two days, while others aren’t permitted to leave unless they have essential jobs.

Anybody who wants to leave must test negative before departure and get clearance from employers or community-level authorities.

end

Xi’an Prepares For 4th Round Of Citywide Testing As China Sees Cases Surge To 21-Month High

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 05:00 AM

Much to the chagrin of the CCP, the fourth wave of SARS-CoV-2 has stubbornly refused to subside over in China, the country from which the virus emerged from a laboratory source with eyebrow-raising connections to some of the top public health policy leaders in the US, including Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The city of Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province in northwestern China, has seen its 13M people locked down for roughly a week now. Since Dec. 21, the city has already completed three rounds of city-wide testing. And now, it’s gearing up for a fourth as the CCP signals to its citizens that it expects the outbreak to end some time in January.

The process will use nucleic acid tests.

Of course, it would be impossible for Beijing to cover up the mass testing, lockdowns and other aspects of its “warlike” approach to combating COVID. So it’s forced to offer up at least some information to its people and the world.

Whether the numbers are believable are not, official sources said 155 domestic cases were detected Saturday, the largest daily tally in China in 21 months, all due to the outbreak in Xi’an. That brought the country’s total to 101,077 (if that looks suspiciously low, that’s because it is). No new deaths were reported, leaving the country’s death toll at 4,636.

In Xi’an officials have confirmed 485 local symptomatic cases reported for the Dec. 9 to Dec. 25 period. The city has imposed heavy-handed measures to rein in the outbreak, in line with Beijing’s policy that any flare-up should be contained as soon as possible.

Beijing has reportedly only a few confirmed omicron infections in travelers in southern China. So far, none of the cases in Xi’an have been attributed to omicron.

On top of the additional testing, Reuters reports that the local government also announced it would launch a city-wide disinfection campaign from 1800 local time, urging residents to shut the windows and bring clothes or other items inside from their balconies.

Authorities in Xi’an have banned personal vehicles from the city’s roads starting Monday except for cars used for COVID control and other life-or-death matters. All residents are required to stay indoors due to the COVID outbreak, officially making the lockdown in Xi’an the first to order people back into their homes since the Wuhan lockdown was lifted.

If the outbreak in Xi’an continues for as long as the government expects, it would still be one of the most stubborn outbreaks since Wuhan. Which means the people of Xi’an might be left to suffer through a much longer lockdown than other cities have seen (though Wuhan famously suffered through a 70+-day lockdown that set the tone for lockdown policies in countries like the US, Australia and around the world.

end

Beijing Suspends Flights From NYC, LA Due To COVID Cases

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 11:30 AM

The CCP has barred most foreigners (including Americans) from entering the PRC since March 2020, but the diktat has enough wiggle room to still allow a steady trickle of businessmen and others who have won exemption from the ban to travel to the country, which is why there are still a small number of flights between New York and Shanghai.

However, even that last rickety link is now being severed, as China’s aviation authorities are suspending two China Eastern flights between New York and Shanghai, and two XiamenAir flights from Los Angeles to Xiamen. These routes are among the last flights still flying routes between the US and China.

The suspension will begin Jan. 3; it’s being implemented because of COVID outbreaks among passengers on the flights. Ten passengers in total on Dec. 14 tested positive for COVID upon arrival in China among all four routes, prompting the CAAC to halt two subsequent flights.

The halt is based on guidelines from the Civil Aviation Administration of China that govern international flights. China has maintained among the most restrictive border controls in the world since the advent of COVID. The news was announced in a statement published on the Shanghai city government’s WeChat account

Beijing might be a little more sensitive to COVID spread right now because of the situation in Xi’an, the northwestern regional capital that is currently under strict lockdown as authorities scramble to suppress what might be the worst outbreak in China since Wuhan.

China saw daily cases surge to their highest level in 21 months over the weekend as authorities tightened a lockdown in Xi’an and launched a fourth round of mandatory citywide COVID testing.

Only a handful of cases of the omicron variant have been confirmed in China, primarily in Shanghai.

CHINA VS USA

Sam’s club removes items from Xinjiang and that should set off a firestorm

(zerohedge)

Wal-Mart Faces Backlash From Chinese Consumers As Sams’ Club Removes Items From Xinjiang

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 07:08 AM

As much as American megacorps have tried to balance their economic interests in China with Washington’s exhortations about genocide in Xinjiang, they’re increasingly finding themselves between a rock and a hard place. They can either be denounced at home for using cotton and other items produced in Xinjiang, or face a boycott or potential ban in China if they speak out.

Much to Washington’s delight, it appears Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the US, which also has a thriving operation in China, has chosen the latter.

To wit, Bloomberg reports that Chinese social media platforms like Weibo erupted with criticism aimed at Wal-Mart after the company was accused of blacklisting products from Xinjiang from its Sams’ Club stores in the country. BBG added that the backlash “raises the risk that the world’s biggest retailer will be swept into escalating tensions between China and the US over the western province.”

Posts on Chinese social media showing zero results for the word “Xinjiang” once plugged into Sam’s Club’s Chinese-market app were going viral, with some even making it into the US social media ecosystem.

The issue was the top-trending item on Weibo as of Friday afternoon, with more than 170MM views and over 10K.

Some even claimed that Chinese customers were withdrawing their Sams’ Club membership in droves.

Users claimed they had previously purchased items like apples and dates from Xinjiang that had apparently been de-stocked.

All this is happening one day after President Joe Biden signed a law barring all goods produced in Xinjiang from the US market.

According to BBG, it’s unclear whether goods produced in Xinjiang were ever sold at Sam’s Club, and if so, when they were removed by the retailer.

Brands from Dolce & Gabbana and fast-fashion retailer H&M have all ignited similar backlash from the Chinese people over what are perceived to be insults to the Chinese nation.

In order to try and avoid facing a similar backlash, Intel has already apologized to Chinese customers after asking suppliers not to use any labor or products sourced from Xinjiang to ensure compliance with the new US law, which bars all products or services from Xinjiang from being sold in the US unless the seller can prove they weren’t made with forced labor.

But Wal-Mart is really stuck here. It’s already struggling to keep up with the competitive supermarket industry in China. Sam’s Club has been a bright spot due to its sales of mostly imported goods (it’s unclear how many products from Xinjiang were even sold by the retailer previously). Wal-Mart plans to have 100 stores in the country by 2028, up from just 33 currently.

END

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

UK/COVID/

Interesting: 70% of all of London’s COVID hospitalizations were diagnosed after the patient has been admitted for other

ailments.

Watson/SummitNews)

70% Of London’s COVID Hospitalisations Diagnosed AFTER Being Admitted For Other Ailments

FRIDAY, DEC 24, 2021 – 07:10 AM

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

70 per cent of London’s COVID hospitalisations were diagnosed after the patient had already been admitted for other ailments, it has been revealed.

The figure is important because a so-called ‘surge’ in London hospitalisations for COVID is being used as a justification to lobby for further lockdown restrictions on the British public.

However, as Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson reveals, much of the panic is being driven by cases being counted as COVID despite the patient being admitted for other reasons.

“Astonishing fact. 70% of London’s so-called ‘COVID hospitalizations’ are diagnosed several days after admission for other ailments,” she tweeted.

“They are NOT COVID patients. A positive test 8 days after admission means the hospital basically gave the patient COVID.”

Pearson is trending on Twitter because she has upset serial bedwetters by asserting that, “It’s time for humanity to prevail over scientists.”

However, her article, based on sources within the NHS, contains several interesting details.

“Let me give you one example of the way that our scientist overlords operate,” writes Pearson.
“On December 10, Professor Neil Ferguson pointed out that Covid hospital admissions were about 700 a day. What he failed to take into account is that such a worrying number would be balanced by around 600 Covid discharges each day. According to my source, the current seven-day average for Covid hospital discharges is 623 per day compared with average admissions of 780. While both metrics have, indeed, increased, hospital bed occupancy has stayed roughly the same.”

The journalist goes on to underscore how only 5 per cent of hospital beds are occupied by COVID patients in England and that “overall hospital occupancy currently stands at 89 per cent,” which is a decent figure for the NHS in winter.

“According to my reliable NHS England source, admissions with Covid have actually been declining for the past week, if you look at the seven-day-rolling average. The number of patients in hospital for other ailments who test positive for Covid – but are sneakily counted as “Covid admissions” – is rising slightly but most of the increase is seen among those who have been in hospital for more than eight days. So – brace yourselves – those poor sick people have been given Covid by the very hospital where they went to get better. Save the NHS, eh?”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson could still be set to impose more lockdown restrictions on the UK next week despite studies confirming that the Omicron variant is milder and causes significantly fewer hospitalisations than Delta.

Pearson also reveals that she spoke to “a senior figure in the food supply chain” who told her that bosses at major supermarkets have already been told more restrictions will be imposed on December 28, despite this decision still supposedly being “in the balance.”

* * *

This is not good: UK mulls door to door vaccination squads

(zerohedge)

UK Mulls Door-To-Door Vaccination Squads

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 05:44 AM

The UK is considering a plan to send door-to-door vaccinations squads to the homes of unvaccinated Britons in an effort to reach an estimated five million people who haven’t taken the jab, according to the Daily Mail.(Gareth Fuller/PA)

The initiative has been discussed by the Department of Health, NHS England and No. 10 over the past week as part of a nationwide drive to send vaccine teams into areas which have the lowest vaccination rates – and are floating it as an alternative to lockdowns and other restrictions, as well as a solution to ‘encourage’ vaccination in rural areas or households where people cannot easily travel to a vax center.

“I think anything that encourages the vaccine-hesitant is sensible,” said one Cabinet Minister, who then warned: “The mood in the country is hardening against people who refuse to be vaccinated.“

In other words, get vaxxed despite the fact that Omicron laughs at the vaccine, and hardly anyone has died of it.

This comes as SAGE warned the UK is about to be hit by a large wave of Covid hospitalisations and the peak could be even higher than last winter despite the reduced severity of Omicron.
In minutes from a meeting on December 23 published last night, the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies warned that the peak on hospital admissions ‘may be comparable to or higher than previous peaks’ – including the second wave in January.
But MPs and hospitality bosses have warned Boris Johnson not to bring in new restrictions before New Year’s Eve or risk ‘devastating’ businesses. -Daily Mail

While Boris Johnson and crew have said there are no plans to close schools in January, there has been pushback at any hint of lockdowns or other restrictions.

“I am all in favour of free choice but there comes a point when you cannot lock up 90 per cent of the country who are vaccinated for the ten per cent who refuse to be.”

NHS England‘s vaccination push continued throughout Christmas day – while over 220,000 first doses of the vaccine administered in the week leading up to Dec. 21, a 46% jump over the previous week. First doses jumped in the 18-24 year-old age bracket by 85%, and 71% in 25 to 30-year-olds – which Health Secretary Sajid Javid called ‘excellent.’

END

EUROPE//

This is a must read: Dr Lacalle explains that the ECB has Japanized Europe. The ECB has bought bonds equal to 81% of Europe’s GDP compared to 37% for the USA.

Europe can not break from this due to the fact that a tiny interest rate hike will blow them up.

(Dr Lacalle)

The ECB Has Launched The Japanization Of Europe… And Now It Cannot Back Down

FRIDAY, DEC 24, 2021 – 08:00 AM

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

The Federal Reserve leaves the ECB alone and defenseless…

Inflation has skyrocketed and aggressive monetary policy is the key factor in understanding it. I already explained it in my article “Persistent inflation, a brake on the recovery.” The Federal Reserve has finally recognized this and has given a 180 degree turn to its policy of keeping buybacks and rates low.

The Federal Reserve now expects core inflation to remain above 2.7% in 2022 (previously it expected 2.3%) and that it will be above 2% in 2023 and 2024. That means the CPI (price index consumption) will probably remain above 4% in that period. Taking into account that it will close the year above 6%, we are talking about an inflation of more than 14% in three years, a great risk for the recovery, real wages, family savings and investment.

The Federal Reserve has at least acted and will reduce its monthly sovereign bond purchase to $ 20 billion and $ 10 billion a month of mortgage-linked assets. In addition, it will accelerate the rate hike to three hikes in 2022, three in 2023 and two in 2024 to reach a 2.1% reference rate in 2024.

It is still a modest reduction for the magnitude and scope of an overly aggressive and even counterproductive stimulus program that has been active for too many years, since no one can understand what the Federal Reserve is doing buying mortgage-linked assets with the real estate market at its highest or raising rates to 2.1% with core inflation above 2% during 2022-2024.

But the Federal Reserve is doing something more important and key: It is generating much greater demand for dollars and absorbing savings from the world to the US, by making the investment safer (the US 10-year bond) more attractive to global investors.

The Federal Reserve takes the reins again and leaves the ECB with the changed pace and the wrong policy. Despite runaway inflation, the highest in three decades in the euro area, the ECB maintains its extremely aggressive monetary policy, negative rates and bond buybacks that account for 100% of the net issuance of the states.

The ECB is between a rock and a hard place

The ECB is between a rock and a hard place because it cannot take decisive action as states have become accustomed to an unprecedented monetization that has led the ECB’s balance sheet to be 81% of eurozone GDP compared to 37% of the Federal Reserve with respect to the US GDP.

If the ECB reduces its so-called expansionary policy, states like Spain, which has shot up debt by 230,000 million in almost two years and continues to increase the structural deficit, will not be able to withstand the slightest rise in rates.

On the other hand, if the ECB maintains its huge buyback program and negative rates, the inflation tax and stagnation may condemn the eurozone to a stagflation that some countries have already experienced in the past.

The ECB has launched into the Japaneseization of Europe and now it cannot back down.

The Federal Reserve can afford a sharp change in policy

The Federal Reserve has once again exposed why the dollar is the world’s reserve currency and why no one should copy Fed policy without the global demand for currency enjoyed by the dollar. The Federal Reserve can afford a sharp change in monetary policy and see how the markets reward it and attract more demand for dollars. The euro does not have that luxury.

The ball is now in the roof of Lagarde and the ECB: will it choose to continue inflating the bubble of debt and waste from deficit and fiscally irresponsible states, or will it choose to regain monetary sanity and avoid stagflation? I hope, for our sake, they choose the latter.

end

EUROPE/ENERGY/NATURAL GAS

Rolling blackouts spread right across Europe as their energy crisis continues unabated.

(zerohedge)

Rolling Blackouts Spread Across Europe Amid Energy Crisis

FRIDAY, DEC 24, 2021 – 09:17 AM

Europe’s energy crisis worsened this week when Kosovo introduced rolling blackouts to most of its two million citizens, according to Bloomberg.

On Thursday, the Kosovo Energy Distribution Services (KEDS) announced rolling two-hour power blackouts for 2 million people due to an “overload” of its electrical grid.

KEDS asked customers to reduce power given “insufficient internal generation to cover consumption and the global energy crisis.”

The Balkan country, Europe’s poorest nation, experienced a technical issue at its largest coal-fired power plant that had to shut down last month, which forced the government to import electricity at high prices.

Simultaneously, Serbia was forced to cut electricity to customers, Britain’s network operator issued a power supply warning, and France’s nuclear plant outage, all culminated into a perfect storm of straining the continent’s grid, resulting in reduced power supplies and exorbitantly high prices.

Last week, Kosovo’s economy minister, Artane Rizvanolli, said the shuttering of the nation’s main coal-fired power plant had worsened the energy crisis. He said power imports were “extremely costly.”

Grid data from Entso-E shows electricity imports from Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia plunged from 750 megawatts on Wednesday to about 469 megawatts on Thursday.

Jeremy Weir, CEO of commodities trader Trafigura Group, warned that more European countries could face rolling blackouts in the event of a severe winter.

Eleven European associations (from steel to fertilizers to cement to paper mills) published a memo Thursday indicating energy-intensive companies are paying “unbearably high energy prices” that may force them to shutter operations.

However, there is good news for the continent as benchmark Dutch front-month gas plunged as much as 43% from a peak of 180 euros per megawatt-hour to around 102 euros in the last several days as a flotilla of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers is headed to the fuel-starved continent.

More good news is that weather forecasts for Germany will turn milder. This will help keep a lid on gas prices.

Europe remains caught in its worst energy crisis ever as some relief is on the way, but the worst may not be over as the Northern Hemisphere winter has just begun.

end

Insanity: Facebook is now censoring the all important British Medical Journal . The British Journal blasts Zuckerberg for inaccuracies and states that these so called platforms should be held responsible.

Special thanks to G for sending this to us

(Huff)

Inbox

Facebook Now Censoring the British Medical Journal Because New Science Goes Against Pfizer’s Lies and Deception

Facebook Now Censoring the British Medical Journal Because New Science Goes Against Pfizer’s Lies and Deception

By Ethan Huff

Fiona Godlee, the editor of The British Medical Journal (BMJ), has written a letter to Facebook (Meta) CEO Mark Zuckerberg blasting him for the social media platform’s “inaccurate, incompetent and irresponsible … fact-check” protocols that we now know are just a censorship tool.

One of the oldest and most highly respected scientific journals in the world, The BMJ recently published a report entitled, “Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer’s vaccine trial” that calls into question the “science” behind Pfizer’s Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) “vaccine.” Because the report does not unquestioningly praise the jabs as “safe and effective,” Facebook “fact checked” it and deemed it as containing “false information.”

Starting on November 10, Facebook users who tried to share the article encountered problems. Many were unable to share it at all while others say the post was flagged with a warning that stated: “Missing context … Independent fact-checkers say this information could mislead people.” Still others were prompted with warnings advising them to not try to share “false information.”

It turns out that Facebook contractor “Lead Stories” was responsible for all this censorship. After learning what had happened, Godlee ripped Zuckerberg a new one, highlighting the following points about the so-called “fact check” in her letter to him:

It did not present any assertions of fact that The BMJ article supposedly got wrong.
It used the following nonsensical title: “Fact Check: The British Medical Journal Did NOT Reveal Disqualifying And Ignored Reports Of Flaws In Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trials.”
The first paragraph inaccurately labeled The BMJ a “news blog.”
A screenshot of The BMJ report that Facebook posted with a “Flaws Reviewed” stamp over the top of it failed to identify anything false or untrue.
It published the story on its website under a URL that contains the phrase “hoax-alert.”
Lead Stories was contacted by The BMJ concerning these and other issues but the company refused to make any changes.
The BMJ also tried to contact Facebook directly about removing the “fact check,” but was refused.

Instagram (owned by Facebook) caught censoring article by Cochrane

If this was just one random incident, one might argue that it was just a mistake or “flaw” in Meta’s fact-checking system. The problem is that this is not an isolated incident at all.

Meta’s other brand, Instagram, has also been caught censoring similar content by plastering “fact-check” warnings over the top of peer-reviewed articles published in reputable journals like The BMJ.

Recently, Instagram censored an article by Cochrane, for instance, which is well-known in the scientific and medical community as providing high-quality reviews of medical evidence.

This is simply unacceptable, and Godlee really made that known to Zuckerberg in her letter. She called on him to “act swiftly” to correct the error related to The BMJ article and to also review the internal processes that continue to allow this type of thing to happen.

“This fully exposes the complete fact that is the ‘fact checkers!’” wrote one commenter at Reclaim the Net. “Most people already know it’s a snow job that is really meant to censor any narrative they don’t want people to know!”

In response to a Natural News piece we published about how Facebook recently admitted in court that its “fact checks” are really just third-party opinions, another commenter wrote that “fact check” simply means “truth that they do not want you to know.”

“Anyone with an ounce of purity in their soul would have the common sense to have already detected and know this,” commented another.

Original source: https://newstarget.com/2021-12-22-facebook-censoring-bmj-science-pfizer-lies-deception.html

END

EUROPE

Energy prices drop with news of a flotilla of LNG ships from the USA and milder weather

(zerohedge)

European Gas And Power Prices Extend Slump As LNG Flotilla From US Set To Arrive

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 10:15 AM

European natural gas futures have been halved in the last several sessions as news of a US flotilla of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is inbound for the fuel-starved continent, and mild temperatures have materialized.

Benchmark Dutch front-month gas plunged as much as 19% to 90 euros per megawatt-hour on Monday, a sharp decline of 50% since last Wednesday when prices topped 180 euros on declining Russia flows to the continent.

For context. European Nat Gas has plummeted from an equivalent crude oil barrels costs of $350 to below $200… and so has plenty of room to fall further.

And the massive blowout spread between US and EU NatGas has more than halved in the last few days…

Shipping data compiled by Bloomberg shows that ten vessels are headed to the fuel-starved continent while another 20 ships are crossing the Atlantic but have not determined their final destination.

As we’ve noted, commodity traders are taking advantage of massive arbitrage opportunities in Europe and diverting shipments of LNG from Asia to Europe to take advantage of the hefty premium on gas amid an energy crisis stemming from declining flows from Russia.

Mild weather has also been another recent development, pressuring gas prices lower. The average Northwest Europen temperature jumped will above average through Jan. 8.

A combination of new gas supplies and mild weather has sent German power for next month tumbling as much as 36% to 220 euros per megawatt-hour as gas becomes less expensive to produce electricity.

Even though the flotilla of LNG cargo is a temporary relief for the continent, there is no end in sight for Europe’s energy crisis.

Zero pipeline space was booked for Monday on day- ahead auctions to deliver natural gas through Mallnow in Germany, where Russia’s Yamal-Europe pipeline terminates, according to the Regional Booking Platform. Russia Doesn’t Book Any Gas Capacity at Mallnow for Monday Russia’s Gazprom isn’t booking the route because it has no requests from European clients, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Dec. 23. The company doesn’t plan to offer spot gas at its electronic sales platform this week either, it said on Monday. It hasn’t offered spot gas on the platform since the start of November. – Bloomberg

The wild ride for European gas and electricity prices is unlikely over as the Northern Hemisphere winter has just begun.

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

end

TURKEY

Erdogan is secretly pillaging billions of Turkish assets to prop up the sinking lira. He is doing this to protect his rule

(zerohedge)

Erdogan Is Secretly Pillaging Billions In Turkish Assets To Prop Up The Lira, And His Rule

FRIDAY, DEC 24, 2021 – 06:35 AM

Yesterday, we discussed how Erdogan’s shocking “plan” to rescue the Turkieh lira – once it crossed the red line of 18 vs the USD – came into being, and how it will eventually make an already dismal situation even worse, because it really represents a massive stealth “rate hike”, one which will put huge stress on Turkey’s balance sheet and will make the government budget more vulnerable to future currency shocks.

“There has been an epic interest rate hike without calling it one,” according to Refet Gurkaynak, a professor of economics at Bilkent University in Ankara. “There will be a big burden on the budget when there is a sharp increase in the foreign-exchange rate. This kind of burden usually gets monetized, which means even higher foreign-exchange and inflation rates.”

For those who missed our explainers of Erdogan’s cunning plan to stabilize the Turkish lira until the elections, here it is again in a nutshell: the Treasury will underwrite losses in new lira deposits in the case of another run on the currency. That puts a strain on one of the few remaining bright spots in Turkey’s economy — its fiscal position — and highlights a growing trend among policy makers to lean on the public budget to pay for the cost of misguided policies.

“We can say that the budget — the last remaining anchor — has been sacrificed to claim that a rate hike has been avoided,” according to Ibrahim Turhan, a former deputy governor of the Turkish central bank who is now an opposition politician. “In this way, the cost of the lira’s depreciation has been put on the society as a whole.”

The bad news is that Erdogan has taken an already hopeless situation and made it worse. The good news, is that he has managed to kick the can for at least a few weeks (perhaps months) until the big macro funds realize just how much more precarious Turkey’s financial condition has become because for all the posturing, the fundamental driver behind Turkey’s woeful financial condition – Erdogan’s demands to keep rates lower despite soaring inflation – is not going away until Erdogan himself is gone.

Meanwhile, one thing many have ignored, is what was the actual cost now of Erdogan’s panicked intervention.

According to preliminary calculations, the bottom line to keep Turkey’s currency from a terminal collapse this week, is anywhere between $6 and $13.5 billion.

As Bloomberg reports overnight, Turkish net foreign assets fell by nearly $6 billion early this week amid president Erdogan plans to bolster the lira, suggesting Turkey made more unannounced interventions in foreign-exchange markets.

Confirming what many have dreaded for a while – that Erdogan is literally making up healthy economic numbers for international consumption while pillaging the country out of the back door without reporting it, Bloomberg notes that while the government has said it didn’t intervene, it lied and the fall of $5.9 billion probably signals a backdoor intervention similar to operations carried out over two years from October 2018, when state lenders sold dollars – typically those belonging to local private savers – to support the local currency.

What is perhaps even more alarming is that Erdogan actually thinks the international community is so stupid, nobody will notice what is going on.

As Bloomberg shows, net foreign assets dropped by $5,9 billion to minus $5.1 billion on Tuesday compared with $817 million on Friday, a number confirmed independently by the FT.

Others’ estimates are even more stunning. According to Turkey’s Ahval website – which used data provided by a top economist and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) – the Turkish central bank spent upward of $13.5 billion of its foreign currency reserves to help defend the lira against record losses in December and then to help engineer a rally this week, according to data provided by a top economist and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Uğur Gürses, a former central bank official, said the sales totaled $7 billion on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21. The central bank sold the reserves via a backdoor method involving state-run banks, he said in an article on Wednesday for the T24 news website, citing official data.

The CHP, whose management includes former Treasury Undersecretary Faik Öztrak, who helped Turkey successfully run an IMF program in the early 2000’s, said in a report this week that forex sales between Dec. 1 and Dec. 17 totaled $6.5 billion, including $6 billion of direct interventions in the currency markets, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported on Thursday.

That was before Turkey’s central bank intervened – without any success – in the foreign exchange market on at least four prior occasions, all of which failed to halt the lira’s collapse to a fresh record low of 18.36 per dollar on Monday.

That’s when Erdogan’s “whatever it takes” bazooka came out, and the reason why the lira plunged from 18 to 12 is because Erdogan gave the green light to drain billions in Turkish assets to offset the consequences of his catastrophic Erdoganomics, because while Erdogan’s FX intervention to prop up the lira may have been secret, everyone knows that it is Erdogan’s monetary policy and bizarro economic theories that were behind the collapse in the lira in the first place.

To be sure, blowing all those billions worked – for now: The lira appreciated as much as 25% on Monday after Erdogan spoke, its biggest daily jump since 1983, and has now gained more than 40% against the dollar this week.

However, we now know that this move wasn’t the result of Turkish depositors willingly converting their dollars into lira but was the result of emergency actions taken by state banks, with at least one private lender also involved, said no less than four Bloomberg sources. The sales continued Tuesday, said the people.

Meanwhile, the best representation of Erdogan’s historic intervention which first and foremost was meant to keep the authoritarian ruler in power and delay a public revolt from an angry population furious at the collapse of Turkey’s economy, is that net Turkish reserves dropped by a record $9 billion to $12.2 billion as of Friday, the biggest weekly drop in data that goes back at least 2002.

But wait, it gets even worse: according to Goldman Sachs, more than $100 billion of central bank reserves were spent to prevent a disorderly depreciation in the lira last year alone, when the currency came under pressure after a series of large rate cuts to support the pandemic-hit economy.

Earlier this year, Erdogan said authorities used $165 billion of central bank foreign-currency reserves to weather developments in 2019 and 2020, and may use them “again when needed.”

In other words, when the true numbers finally emerge, the world will be “shocked” to learn that Erdogan has pillaged every last hard dollar (and ounce of gold)Turkey had, just to keep himself in power for a few extra months.

end

Mentally challenged Erdogan files a criminal complaint against bankers and economists cirticizing his insane lira rescue plan

(zerohedge)

Erdogan Files Criminal Complaints Against Economists Criticizing His Insane Lira “Rescue” Plan

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 09:35 AM

Last week, when we explained “How Erdogan Launched His Lira “Rescue” Plan, And Why It Spells Doom For Turkey“, we quoted several former Turkish central bank officials spoke in surprisingly critical terms of Erdogan’s ridiculous “lira bailout” plan which merely kicks back the moment of terminal collapse of the Turkish economy, and whose boldness we were afraid would be promptly punished by the increasingly deranged authoritarian ruler and head of NATO’s second largest standing military force (after the US).

We were right, and this morning Turkey’s BDDK banking watchdog filed a criminal complaint against five people, including the former central bank governor, over comments which it said violated banking regulations with their critical commentary on the FX-protected lira deposit tool, in other words, were a simple criticism of Erdogan’s recent hare-brained attempt to delay economic collapse until he is re-elected.

The complaint targets Durmus Yilmaz, a former central bankers, economist Guldem Atabay, opposition lawmaker Burhanettin Bulut and TV commentators Emin Capa and Selcuk Gecer, the regulator said on Monday.

As Reuters adds, the regulation they are accused of violating concerns the spreading via public channels of “unfounded claims that can harm or tarnish the reputation of a bank”.

Speaking on Halk TV on Dec. 20, Yilmaz, who’s now an opposition lawmaker, said the advance of the Turkish currency that night presented a “buying opportunity.” Erdogan slammed the former governor for committing the crime of “manipulation in financial markets” and warned that manipulators “will pay the price.” Speaking on Friday, he said “the banking regulator took the necessary steps.”

Economist Atabay rejected the accusations in comments by phone on Monday. “I don’t think I’ve crossed any lines,” she said. “I will wage a legal fight and meanwhile will continue to do my job.”

Meanwhile, after surging from its record low last week, which as we learned was catalyzed by the central bank secretly spending tens of billions of dollars to halt the plunge with money it doesn’t have (see “Erdogan Is Secretly Pillaging Billions In Turkish Assets To Prop Up The Lira, And His Rule“)…

… overnight Turkey’s lira finally snapped again, challenging government assurances that it’s on a more stable footing after measures were introduced a week ago to stem its collapse.

The currency slipped 6% to 11.32 per dollar after trading as weak as 11.5831 earlier. The decline took the lira’s drop this year to more than 34%, the sharpest depreciation of any emerging-market currency during 2021.

Monday’s retreat came after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that the lira will stabilize “gradually” after measures were brought in to shore up the beleaguered currency, including a new tool to shield lira-deposit holders. Central bank data also suggest authorities have been intervening in foreign-exchange markets. The moves drove the currency to a 54% gain last week, reversing a 15% loss the previous week.

“If the central bank’s possible sales of foreign currency diminish, an upward movement in the dollar-lira exchange rate may occur again,” Ibrahim Aksoy, the chief economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Istanbul, said in a note to investors, clearly terrified that he will be sequestered, arrested and shipped away to some unknown Turkish province never to be heard from again. Bec

IRAN

this will go nowhere

(zerohedge)

Iran Demands The US Allow Crude Exports As Nuclear Talks Resume

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 01:50 PM

Over the weekend the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization vowed that his country wouldn’t enrich uranium over 60 percent, even if talks in Vienna toward a restored nuclear deal in the end fail. At the same time National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said the US is losing its patience in the talks, setting a deadline for when negotiations would end. Sullivan said the deadline will come “within weeks” if there’s no agreement.

With talks in in Vienna resuming Monday, Iran is now spotlighting oil sanctions, insisting that the US and its allies make promises to allow the Islamic Republic to export its crude. New Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian under the conservative regime of President Ebrahim Raisi laid out that lifting sanctions on this crucial sector must reach the “point where Iranian oil is being sold easily and without any barriers and its money arrives in Iran’s bank accounts.”Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, via AFP

He stipulated that he expects this week’s round of talks, which is the eighth, to focus on Iran’s sanctions-hit oil industry. Amirabdollahian said that for any progress to be made, Iran should “be able to enjoy full economic concessions under the nuclear deal.” He added that “Guarantee and verification (of the removal of sanctions) are among topics that we have focused on.” The talks include signatories to the JCPOA including Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and indirectly the United States.

Talks will center around an agreed upon joint draft document negotiated from previously this month:

“We’ve set aside the June 2021 document and have agreed a new joint document and talks will begin today around that document,” state-run IRNA quoted Amirabdollahian as saying in reference to a text that was reached at the end of the sixth round of talks in the Austrian capital.

And separately, a statement from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Monday said Tehran would find it “intolerable” for the West’s demands for compliance to go anything beyond the original 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) brokered under Obama, given it was Washington that unilaterally pulled out under Trump in 2018.

The US side, meanwhile, has continued warning that contingency options are on the table, with days ago Special Envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, saying in an interview that the Biden administration is ready in the near-term future to declare that the JCPOA is “no more”.

“At some point in the not-so-distant future, we will have to conclude that the JCPOA is no more, and we’d have to negotiate a wholly new different deal, and of course we’d go through a period of escalating crisis,” Malley said.

He said that talks were progressing too slowly, if at all: “If they continue at their current pace, we have some weeks left but not much more than that, at which point, I think, the conclusion will be that there’s no deal to be revived,” he stipulated.

END

ISRAEL

Israel to double the number of Jewish settlers in the Golan Heights after Trumps’ decision to recognize Israel sovereignty over the Golan
(zerohedge)

Israel To Double Number Of Jewish Settlers In Golan Heights, Citing Trump Decision

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 02:30 AM

Israel is planning a multi-million dollar settlement expansion in the Golan Heights, which it seized militarily from Syria a half-century ago. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett unveiled the controversial plan on Sunday, which further involves a stated goal of doubling the number of Jewish settlers there within five years, according to Reuters.

The preliminary plan has been approved by Bennett’s cabinet to see some 7,300 housing units built in Israel’s main settlement in the Golan, called Katzrin, as well as in surrounding smaller communities. Recall that this comes after the prior Trump administration for the first time issued formal recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian border region.

Reuters emphasizes that “Prime Minister Naftali Bennett cited then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition in 2019 of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan and no sign that his successor, Joe Biden, intends to reverse the decision, as factors behind a multimillion-dollar housing and infrastructure plan for the area.” So it will be interesting to see if this fresh bold plan will be met with objections from the Biden White House – though surely some corners of Europe are expected to condemn the move.A planned-for community called “Trump Heights” in the Golan, via Israel Hayoum.

“This is our moment. This is the moment of the Golan Heights,” Bennett told a special cabinet meeting. “After long and static years in terms of the scope of settlement, our goal today is to double settlement in the Golan Heights. Interestingly, he’s touting the move as largely a Trump admin achievement due to the historic recognition…

“It goes without saying that the Golan Heights are Israeli,” Bennett told his cabinet in broadcast remarks.
“The fact that the Trump administration recognized that, and the fact that the Biden administration made clear there is no change in that policy, is also important.” he said.

“The aim of the decision is to double the number of (Israeli) residents in the Golan in the coming years, meaning an addition of 23,000 people in the area,” his office said further.

Currently, about 20,000 Syrian Druze still live in the 460-square-mile region, which Israel and Syria are still technically at war over after Tel Aviv declared its formal annexation in 1981. There are semi-frequent clashes between the Druze inhabitants and Israeli military forces, and also protests against continued occupation. Likely the construction of new settlements will trigger more unrest in the coming year.

As for the Biden admin stance on the matter, it remains ambiguous but there’s been nothing so far to contradict the Trump police on the Golan. Secretary Blinken said earlier in the year that control over Golan is of “real importance to Israel’s security,” also saying, “Legal questions are something else and over time, if the situation were to change in Syria, that’s something we look at, but we are nowhere near that.”

However, Biden’s State Department recently angered Israeli leaders over plans to re-open a consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem. Israel argues that this is a legal violation of the prior US recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, and further that there shouldn’t be two separate American representations in the same “capital”.

end

Russia vs USA

Amid Descent Into Irrelevancy, Kamala Harris Threatens Russia: “Sanctions Like You’ve Never Seen”

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 02:50 PM

Last month amid heightened fear of a “Russian invasion of Ukraine” – Vice President Kamala Harris was asked about the crisis by a journalist, and was subsequently widely mocked when she essentially ran away from the question. She couldn’t so much as offer an opinion or perspective as it was “classified” or something…https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget

But in an interview that aired Sunday, perhaps fearful over her continued descent into irrelevancy on the national stage despite theoretically holding the second most powerful office in the land, Harris finally weighted in with her thoughts in detail on CBS’ “Face the Nation”.

This section of the interview began as one might expect of her flat, non-inspiring answers:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mhmm. There are 100,000 Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.
VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: Yep.

But then she said that among options that President Biden has prepared should Russia violate Ukraine’s sovereignty, the US would hit Russia with sanctions “like you’ve not seen before.”

Harris described that this tough response is being prepared and coordinated with allies:

“We are having direct conversations with Russia. The president, as you know, met recently virtually with Putin, and we are very clear that Russia should not invade the sovereignty of Ukraine, that we must stand up and we are standing up for its territorial integrity,” she said. “We are working with our allies in that regard, and we’ve been very clear that we are prepared to issue sanctions like you’ve not seen before.”

Prior to her comments it was revealed that the Biden White House is mulling a sanctions package which would mark a severe escalation by erecting “extraordinary” export controls that could block Russia from importing smartphones, crucial aircraft and automobile parts, and other materials.Kamala Harris’ CBS interview

But when pressed on further specifics during the CBS interview, VP Harris retreated back to “I’m not going to talk specifics”…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Does that mean sanctioning Vladimir Putin directly?
VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: I’m not going to talk about specific sanctions, but we are making that clear to him, and we are in direct conversations. And we are also working very closely with our allies. And again, let’s use this issue as an example of the importance of the strength of those relationships.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But in the past alongside allies we’ve sanctioned, it’s been punitive. It hasn’t prevented anything. It hasn’t stopped Vladimir Putin to date.
VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: And I’ll repeat that the type of sanctions that we’re talking about are sanctions that we’ve not done before.

Should the US at some near-term date move forward with export controls, it would actually begin to resemble aspects of the all-encompassing US sanctions long in place against Iran. Existing US sanctions related to Russia have merely targeted individual Kremlin officials and entities, for example, that resulted in the aftermath of the Navalny poisoning affair and his subsequent imprisonment, or also companies involved in work on Nord Stream 2.

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

Moscow, for its part, is firing back on Monday, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowing that Russia won’t tolerate entering a “besieged fortress” scenario in the face of Western sanctions. “Will we become a “besieged fortress”? I am sure that this is not part of the plans of the Russian leadership. Absolutely,” the minister said, according to TASS.

There’s little doubt Harris’s “threats” will elicit little more than an apathetic yawn out of Moscow, as they are fully aware how increasingly far from the administration’s internal discussion, and thus irrelevant, she remains.

end

6.Global Issues

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE//

SATURDAY, DEC 25, 2021 – 12:15 PM

Authored by Andrew Chen via The Epoch Times,

The president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business is questioning Canada’s new round of COVID-19 restrictions put in place to stop the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, despite reports that the variant causes less severe illness than its predecessors.

“If #omicron continues to result in very few admissions to hospitals/ICUs, how long will it be before provinces remove their new restrictions and lessen the panic they’ve created. U.S. public health officials say there is no need to close schools or businesses,” Dan Kelly, who is also the chief executive officer and chair of the business advocacy group, wrote on Twitter.

Kelly’s comment comes after Ontario’s top doctor said Dec. 21 that there haven’t been any known intensive care admissions in the province due to Omicron—nearly a month after Canada’s first two cases of the new variant were detected in Ottawa on Nov. 28.

Omicron’s hospitalization rate in Ontario was around 0.15 percent as of Dec. 21—significantly lower than the province’s general COVID-19 hospitalization rate, said Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health.

Similar findings were reported around the world.

The UK Health Security Agency said on Dec. 23 that a person infected with Omicron is 70 percent less likely to be admitted to the hospital compared to one with the Delta variant, and is 45 percent less likely to require a visit to the emergency department.

The risk of hospitalization due to Omicron was estimated to be 80 percent lower than with the Delta variant, according to a recent study conducted by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and major universities in South Africa.

As the latest variant of concern, Omicron was found to be more transmissible than previous COVID-19 variants, probably because it multiplies more rapidly—replicating 70 times faster than the Delta variant—according to a study conducted by the University of Hong Kong.

The study also found that Omicron multiplies more in the respiratory tract, which likely explains why it causes significantly lower infection in the lung than the original SARS-CoV-2.

However, government and public health officials have called for further restrictions and mass vaccinations in response to Omicron.

On Dec. 23, the Quebec government tightened public health restrictions for the third time in less than a week, limiting in-person gatherings to six people starting Dec. 26, while gyms, bars, and schools in the province were abruptly closed following a Dec. 20 announcement.

Other provinces and territories also released tougher COVID-19 restrictions on Dec. 21, including British Columbia, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

In a statement issued Dec. 23, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) urged Canadians to reduce social contacts and receive a vaccine booster shot.

As of Dec. 22, there have been 3,536 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant, reported in 12 provinces and territories, according to PHAC.

While PHAC’s statement said Omicron cases are “expected to add additional strain on the healthcare system” in coming weeks and that the increased hospitalization and critical care admission in Ontario and Quebec are “driving the national trend,” it did not mention the exact numbers of intensive care admissions caused by the variant.https://twitter.com/MikeZaccardi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1473265817894768646%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fenergy%2Fgermanys-https://twitter.com/247dotAg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1472931403176321025%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fenergy%2Fgermanys-surrender-greens-forced-second-surrender-russiasurrender-greens-forced-second-surrender-russia

Germany’s Energy Surrender

Please consider Germany’s Energy Surrender emphasis mine.

Ten years ago 17 nuclear reactors produced about a quarter of Germany’s electricity, but the 2011 Fukushima accident prompted former Chancellor Angela Merkel to phase out nuclear. Six reactors remain: Three will close this month, with the remaining three ceasing operations next year. It’s hard to think of a more self-defeating policy on economic, climate and geopolitical grounds.
The closures have been expected for years, but keeping the reactors open for their previously planned lifetimes could have helped alleviate some of the pain Germans are feeling now as rising global demand drives up the cost of energy. German one-year forward electricity prices have hit €300 per megawatt hour. For comparison, the 2010 to 2020 average was under €50 per megawatt hour.
The antinuclear move has support from many of Germany’s climate-change obsessives, but abandoning carbon-free nuclear power has had predictable results on emissions. Coal was the country’s top energy source in the first half of 2021, generating more than a quarter of Germany’s electricity. Wind and solar produced 22% and 9%, respectively, as nuclear has fallen to around 12%.
Berlin—at the self-made mercy of the sun and wind—is now deepening its reliance on Russian gas to keep the lights on. This is the background explanation for its weak response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Germany’s staunch support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia, despite opposition from allies, undermines the West’s response to Vladimir Putin’s designs to dominate Eastern Europe.
Germany is now pushing to keep nuclear power off the European Union’s list of “environmentally sustainable economic activities,” a designation that could lower the cost of financing nuclear projects. It’s bad enough that the Germans have undermined their own energy security, but they shouldn’t foist their self-destructive policy on the rest of the Continent.

END

Lancet Editor Comes Clean, Admits He Knew Peter Daszak Had ‘Significant, Regrettable’ Conflicts Of Interest

SATURDAY, DEC 25, 2021 – 11:45 AM

The editor of The Lancet – one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals – has admitted that he knew about a controversial researcher’s conflicts of interest when he published a letter denouncing the Covid lab leak theory, and called anyone who questioned it a conspiracy theorist.

“It took us over a year to persuade him to declare his full competing interest, which we eventually did in June of this year,” admitted Lancet editor, Dr. Richard Horton during testimony in front of UK Parliament’s Science and Technology Select Committee, referring to NIH-funded Peter Daszak of Ecohealth Alliance.Richard Horton (pictured), the editor of the Lancet, admitted he knew about the lead author behind a letter denouncing the Covid lab-leak theory Peter Daszak’s Chinese affiliations more than a year before the journal published an amendment (via the Daily Mail)

It took The Lancet 16 months to publish and official conflict of interest statement acknowledging Daszak’s ties to the Wuhan Institute of Technology.

“100%, I completely agree, the information that we published in June as an addendum should definitely have been included in the February letter,” he told the MPs. “In this particular case, regrettably, the authors claim that they have no competing interests, and of course… there were indeed competing interests that were significant, particularly in relation to Peter Daszak.“

Conservative MP Aaron Bell told Horton that he’d done “too little, too late,” and asked whether the original Lancet letter had “served to close down scientific debate,” according to the Daily Mail.Peter Daszak (right) toasts with Wuhan “Bat Lady” Shi Zhengli

Daszak, who had been genetically manipulating bat coronaviruses in a Wuhan lab to make them more transmissible to humans, organized the ‘natural origins’ letter in February 2020 which was signed by 26 other leading researchers who condemned ‘conspiracy theories’ regarding the origins of Covid-19.

Was The Lancet itself conflicted?

The Lancet established an office in Beijing, in addition to its New York office and London headquarters, in 2010.
In 2015, Dr Horton travelled to Beijing to receive the Friendship Award from China – the highest honour awarded to ‘foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s economic and social progress‘.
He claimed China faced a ‘blame game’ over the origins of the pandemic, despite admitting that it had denied the World Health Organisation access to crucial information needed for an investigation into the cause of the outbreak.
Leaked emails earlier this year revealed it was Dr Daszak who drafted the Lancet letter dismissing non-natural causes of the pandemic, such as a lab leak, as conspiracy theories. –Daily Mail

Daszak, meanwhile, has been accused of a ‘bullying’ campaign behind the scenes to ensure that blame for Covid was directed away from his partners at the Chinese lab.

“The Lancet letter was scientific propaganda and a form of thuggery and intimidation,” said Jamie Metzl, who sits on the World Health Organization’s advisory committee on human genome editing and is a former Bill Clinton administration staffer.

During the session, Harvard scientist Dr. Alina Chan said the Wuhan lab leak is now the most likely origin of the Covid-19 pandemic because China tried to cover it up, and because experts still haven’t found a natural reservoir despite extensive searching. She also highlighted several coincidences in the Covid timeline, adding that China’s state-sponsored information suppression campaign in the early stages of the pandemic added to suspicion.

“I think the lab origin is more likely than not,” said Chan, adding: “Right now it’s not safe for people who know about the origin of the pandemic to come forward.“

“But we live in an era where there is so much information being stored that it will eventually come out. We have heard from many top virologists that a genetically engineered origin is reasonable and that includes virologists who made modifications to the first Sars virus.”

Yet, despite all evidence that Daszak has not been acting in good faith, the National Pulse notes that he’s been appointed by New York state to aid in its pandemic response.

END

CANADA

Calgary

How does everybody get this so wrong
(CBC Canada)

1,650 AHS staff put on unpaid leave for breaching vaccine mandate while others offered rapid test option

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175 staff at Alberta healthcare facilities with low vaccine uptake allowed to use rapid test kits

Natalie Valleau · CBC News · Posted: Dec 15, 2021 7:07 AM MT | Last Updated: December 15

Alberta Health Services vaccine mandate went into effect on Monday, after two delays and a last minute directive by the province to introduce rapid testing in places with low compliance. (AHS)

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Alberta Heath Services’ vaccine mandate went into effect Monday and while the vast majority of employees have adhered to the policy, 1,650 full-and part-time AHS staff not fully immunized have been put on unpaid leave.

The mandatory vaccination policy applies to all AHS and Covenant Health staff as well as workers at AHS subsidiaries, including Carewest, Capital Care and Alberta Precision Laboratories.

According to the health authority’s website, AHS and its subsidiaries have a combined workforce of 121,000 people with around 97 per cent of their full- and part-time staff fully immunized.

Despite the hundreds of people put on leave, a total of 175 staff at healthcare facilities where there has been a low vaccine uptake have been offered a rapid test option.

In late-November, the provincial government directed AHS to allow the temporary rapid testing option due to concerns care could be impacted at sites where compliance is low.

AHS won’t say which facilities, for privacy reasons, but did say 19 programs or departments within a number of hospitals and continuing care homes, as well as nine emergency medical service stations, will offer rapid tests.

Most are in the central, north and south health zones.

Lorian Hardcastle, an associate professor in the faculty of law and Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary, says the government’s messaging to have a rapid test option undercuts the the vaccine mandate.

“I do worry that there may be pushback from some of the sites where there isn’t a rapid testing option, and they may argue that there should be an across-the-board policy for all sites.”

She adds that having some employees accommodated and others not may also lead to tensions in the workplace.

“You had some people who were opposed to getting vaccinated, but reluctantly did so, and then others who held out a little bit longer and were rewarded with a rapid testing option.”

Grievances filed against AHS

AHS implementing the rapid test option has led to grievances being filed by both the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).

In a release on Dec. 10, UNA said the initial immunization policy, which required all employees to be fully vaccinated, was appropriate, while the revised one sets different rules for some employees.

AUPE vice-president Bonnie Gostola says their members are quite upset that AHS chose to not apply the mandate to all work sites.

“When they made the shift to accommodate sites that had low vaccination rates, we feel this is very unfair application of their policy.”

She says if the rapid testing option had been applied across the province instead of just select sites, the number of those using it would have been much higher.

“We have members who as of yesterday were basically told not to bother, to go home, or just not to bother coming to work because they haven’t shown the proof of their vaccination status.”

She says some members have filed personal grievances against AHS for denying them the rapid test option.

“It’s going to be an ongoing issue because there was an issue before COVID hit and now we’ve got people being sent home from small rural sites.”

AHS did state in an email that unvaccinated employees on leave will be able to return to work if they provide proof of full immunization.

Medical, religious exemptions

AHS says more than 11,000 employees have requested exemptions to the mandatory immunization policy — with 251 of those being medical accommodations.

However only 40 per cent of those have been granted.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms vs. vaccine mandates — and government inaction on COVID

“We don’t know the exact basis for the medical exemptions, but we do know that generally speaking, there have been efforts put in place to draw those exemptions quite narrowly,” said Hardcastle.

She adds there are very few medical conditions for which the COVID 19 vaccination is contraindicated.

“For many serious health conditions, you’re better off with the vaccine than with the chance of getting COVID,” she said.

AHS has also received 883 religious accommodation requests, but only a few of those have been granted.

END

A MUST MUST V IEW

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Steve Organ <stephen.organ@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 24, 2021 at 6:10 PM
Subject: Link to Bhakdi video
To: Harvey Organ <harveyorgan@gmail.com>

Top epidemiologist, Sucharirt Bhakdi explains what we are up against:

https://www.bitchute.com/video/fHIT55iM4Zv9/
end
a must viewspecial thanks to Milan S for sending this to us:

Dr. Vernon Coleman – We Are Winning The War! His Prediction For 2022! – best news here

Inbox

Dr. Vernon Coleman – We Are Winning The War! His Prediction For 2022! – best news here

https://bestnewshere.com/dr-vernon-coleman-we-are-winning-the-war-his-prediction-for

end

Criminal probe initated in the UK because of vaccine deaths.

(special thanks to Milan S for sending this to us.)

UK Criminal Probe

Inbox

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/fripolice-open-criminal-probe-uk-vaccine-rollout-after-medical

Pfizer’s own data on deaths due to the vaccine

special thanks to Milan for sending this to us

Breaking News

Inbox

https://strongandfreecanada.org/vlog/breaking-news-pfizers-own-stats-1200-40000-trial-participants-dead-interview-with-dr-nagase/

Marines Have Now Booted 169 For Vaccine Refusal – All Religious Exemptions Denied

SATURDAY, DEC 25, 2021 – 09:30 PM

As of end of this week the US Marine Corps has kicked out at least 169 Marines over their refusal to get the coronavirus vaccine by the mandated deadline. This after the past week alone has seen 66 additional Marines discharged on top of the initial service members booted.

Amid the new Omicron fears, of which there may be a mere handful of cases across the US military, the Marine Corps said in a new statement that “The speed with which the disease transmits among individuals has increased risk to our Marines and the Marine Corps’ mission.”File image: AP

The Marine Corps lags behind other branches in overall vaccination rates, with 95% of all personnel having received at least one shot. This is compared with the other branches, including the Army, Air Force, and Navy which are all at 98%.

Crucially, the Marines have been at the forefront among the branches of kicking out troops, while also denying all vaccine exemptions based on religions reasons.

“The Marine Corps has been the most aggressive in discharging troops who refuse the vaccine,” The Associated Press reports. “And it also has denied all religious requests for vaccine exemptions that have been processed. As of Thursday, 3,080 of the 3,192 requests received — or more than 96% — have been processed and rejected.”

Meanwhile, the big Covid and military headlining story this week was that seven staffers traveling with the Pentagon’s #2 highest overseer tested positive for Covid-19, with extensive contact tracing now underway given they visited multiple major military installations. Much of the delegation that traveled with Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks is now quarantining. Of course, all the infected were vaccinated.

In other branches, there are continuing threats from commanders over the vax mandate. “The Army said it has reprimanded more than 2,700 soldiers and will begin discharge proceedings in January, while the Air Force has discharged at least 27 members,” NBC recently reported.

end

A must view..

latest from geert vanden bossche

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if you haven’t seen it:

https://www.voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org/videos-and-interviews/second-call-to-who-please-dont-vaccinate-against-omicron

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Vaccine Impact

Michael Every with today’s most important topics

Michael Every.//Jane Foley

GLOBAL ISSUES

end

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET& AUSTRALIA ISSUES

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

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa Eases COVID Restrictions After Omicron Peaks

FRIDAY, DEC 24, 2021 – 02:40 PM

South Africa is dialing back COVID-19 restrictions after the Omicron variant – which is far more mild than other strains – has peaked sooner than expected.

On Friday, the government announced that contacts of Covid-positive cases that they will no longer need to test or self-isolate if they aren’t showing symptoms. Those who develop mild symptoms will be required to isolate for eight days, while anyone with severe symptoms will need to isolate for 10 days, according to the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is ending quarantine at specialized facilities outside the home, and will be scrapping contact tracing efforts with the exception of cluster outbreaks, according to DW.

The changes were “based on advice from our scientists that it [isolation] is not really having an impact anymore,” per Deputy Health Minister Sibongiseni Dhlomo in a statement to local broadcaster SABC.

The decision comes as some researchers believe cases of the highly-transmissible omicron variant may have peaked in South Africa, where it first emerged last month.
Also on Friday, South Africa began offering booster shots to the general public for the first time.
Both Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer shots have been authorized as boosters by the country’s health regulator.
So far, only J&J booster shots have been available for health workers. Pfizer booster shots will be available in early January. -DW

As Summit News noted last week, South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said that only 1.7% of COVID cases in the current Omicron wave are being hospitalized, compared to 19% in the previous wave and that the vast majority of cases are “fairly mild.”

Meanwhile residents across ‘developed’ nations can look forward to another round of ‘one-virus-fits-all’ lockdowns.

end

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

Euro/USA 1.1309 UP .0009 /EUROPE BOURSES //ALL GREEN

USA/ YEN 114.73 UP 0.519 /NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT .11% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…

GBP/USA 1.3412 UP 0.0045

Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 2.08 PTS OR 0.06%

//Hang Sang CLOSED UP 30.12 PTS OR 0.13%

/AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.48% // EUROPEAN BOURSES OPENED ALL GREEN

Trading from Europe and ASIA

EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL GREEN

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SANG CLOSED UP 30.12 PTS OR 0.13%

/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 2.08 PTS OR 0.06%

Australia BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.48%

Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 106.13 PTS OR 0.37 %

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 1805,50

silver:$22.70-

USA dollar index early MONDAY morning: 96.20 UP 18 CENT(S) from THURSDAY’s close.

This ends early morning numbers MONDAY MORNING

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And now your closing MONDAY NUMBERS 1: 00 PM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 0.41% UP 0 in basis point(s) yield from YESTERDAY/

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.064% DOWN 0 AND 3/10 BASIS POINTS from YESTERDAY/JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 0.51%// DOWN 1 in basis points yield from yesterday.

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 1.10 UP 0 points in basis points yield from yesterday./

the Italian 10 yr bond yield is trading 59 points higher than Spain.

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: RISES TO -0.247% IN BASIS POINTS ON THE DAY//

THE IMPORTANT SPREAD BETWEEN ITALIAN 10 YR BOND AND GERMAN 10 YEAR BOND IS 1.35% 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 MONDAY

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

Euro/USA 1.1328 UP .0027 or 27 basis points

USA/Japan: 114.84 UP 0.625 OR YEN DOWN 63 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.3434 UP 67 BASIS POINTS)

Canadian dollar UP 4 pts to 1.2789

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The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE (CLOSED DOWN)..6.3713

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)..6.3741

TURKISH LIRA: 11.50 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.064

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 2 IN basis points from WEDNESDAY at 1.480% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic

USA 30 yr bond yield: 1.882 DOWN 3 in basis points

Your closing USA dollar index, 96.11 DOWN 9 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 MONDAY: 12:00 PM

London: CLOSED DOWN 1.24 PTS OR 0.02%

German Dax : CLOSED UP 93.63 PTS OR 0.59%

Paris CAC CLOSED UP 59.70 PTS OR 0.84%

Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 64.00 PTS OR 0.75%

Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 217.72 PTS OR 0.81%

WTI Oil price 75.79 12: EST

Brent Oil: 78.78 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN / RUBLE RISES: 73.49 THE CROSS LOWER BY .17 RUBLES/DOLLAR (RUBLE HIGHER BY 17 BASIS PTS)

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; -.247

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

Euro vs USA: 1.1328 up .0029

British Pound: 1.3445 up .0077

USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 114.88 up .665

USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.2791 up .0003

West Texas intermediate oil: 75.72

Brent: 78.69

USA 10 yr bond yield: 1.484 down 1 pt

USA 30 yr bond yield: 1.887 down 2 pts.

USA dollar vs Turkish lira: 11.55

usa dollar vs Russian rouble: 73.41 down 25 basis pts.

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 351.82 PTS OR 0.98%

NASDAQ 100 UP 259.29 OR 1.59%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 17.63 DOWN 0.33PTS

GLD/NYSE CLOSING PRICE $169.37 UP $0.40 OR .24

SLV/NYSE CLOSING PRICE: $21.32// UP $.16 OR .76%

USA trading day in Graph Form

Stocks, Bonds, Crude, & Crypto Bid As Markets Shrug Off Boxing Day Hangover

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 04:00 PM

Momentum from last week’s rally in the S&P 500 carried into today as markets shrugged off any Boxing Day hangover and continued to trace the path of least resistance higher during a quiet holiday week, and as we contemplate what ‘normal’ will look like as the post-pandemic era continues to mature.

The moment the cash markets opened, Nasdaq was ultra-bid and Small Caps were slammed. But that reversed quickly as everything then drifted ever higher all afternoon. Nasdaq was the big winner followed by S&P while Small Caps and The Dow brought up the rear (but still with a respectable gain on the day)…

Goldman’s Chris Hussey notes that against a backdrop of rising covid cases and record inflation, the market’s move higher is notable, especially as it is happening in a week where more people are sinking into their couches than focusing on the market. The move could also be the result of seasonally low liquidity, the ‘Santa Claus Rally,’ or the ongoing ‘normalization’ of the post-pandemic era.

Does this look like a ‘return to normal’?

Source: Bloomberg

Just to put things into perspective: The S&P 500 may close today at another ATH, it would be the 69th ATH this year, 2nd most ever only behind 77 ATHs in 1995, but, as Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) notes, the average S&P 500 comp is down 18% from its ATH, suggesting a massive amount of weakness underneath the surface.

Source: Bloomberg

Everything was elevated today but growth was favored over value…

Source: Bloomberg

Interestingly, ‘recovery’ stocks modestly underperformed ‘stay at home’ stocks today…

Source: Bloomberg

Bonds were mixed today with the long-end outperforming…

Source: Bloomberg

Which flattened the yield curve to the lower of its recent sideways channel…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar trod water at key support levels…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin rallied back above $52k…

Source: Bloomberg

WTI Crude spiked above $76 today as it pushes ever closer to erasing any demand fears over Omicron…

And as oil rallies, European natgas prices continue to plunge back to normality as the US LNG armada arrives…

Source: Bloomberg

Gold was slightly lower on the day but held above $1800…

Finally, we note that, for the first time, the market is now fully pricing in one rate-hike by May 2022….

Source: Bloomberg

Does anyone really believe stocks are pricing that in?

i) Early morning//afternoon trading

II)USA DATA

IIb) USA COVID/VACCINE MANDATE STORIES

Another case of a fully vaccinated crew witnesses a COVID 19 outbreak

Ly (EpochTimes)

US Warship Stuck In Port After COVID-19 Outbreak Among “100 Percent Immunized” Crew

SATURDAY, DEC 25, 2021 – 05:45 PM

Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,

A U.S. Navy warship has paused its deployment to South America due to a Covid outbreak among its “100 percent immunized” crew, the Navy announced on Christmas Eve. The USS Milwaukee, a litorral combat ship, is staying in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, where it had stopped for a scheduled port visit. It began its deployment from Mayport, Fla., on December 14 and was heading into the U.S. Southern Command region, the AP reported.

“USS Milwaukee (LCS 5), a Freedom variant littoral combat ship, remains in port as some Sailors test positive for COVID-19,” the U.S. 4th Fleet said in a statement.
“The crew is 100 percent immunized and all COVID-19 positive Sailors are isolated on board and away from other crew members. A portion of those infected have exhibited mild symptoms. The vaccine continues to demonstrate effectiveness against serious illness.”

It had departed Dec. 14 from Mayport, Florida, and was heading into the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations to support Joint Interagency Task Force South’s mission, which includes counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

The U.S. 4th Fleet’s statement did not quantify the number of those infected, nor how many among them are exhibiting mild symptoms.

The specific COVID-19 variant has yet to be determined. The ship is following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for contact tracing and testing.

COVID-19 cases have recently increased drastically across the United States amid the spread of the contagious Omicron variant.

The ship is also “following an aggressive mitigation strategy” in accordance with Navy and CDC guidelines.

In early 2020, a separate Navy warship, the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt that was operating in the Pacific region, was sidelined for about 10 weeks in Guam owing to an outbreak of COVID-19. About 1,000 of the 4,800 sailors on the ship got infected, and a 41-year-old sailor died from COVID-19.

About 4,000 sailors were moved ashore for quarantine and treatment while about 800 remained aboard to protect and run the high-tech systems, including the nuclear reactors that run the vessel.

More than 98 percent of all active-duty sailors have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest data from the Navy.

end

Now 169 more Marines have been booted out for vaccine refusal and all religious exmpetions denied

(zerohedge)

Marines Have Now Booted 169 For Vaccine Refusal – All Religious Exemptions Denied

SATURDAY, DEC 25, 2021 – 09:30 PM

Crucially, the Marines have been at the forefront among the branches of kicking out troops, while also denying all vaccine exemptions based on religions reasons.

end

Two distinct problems here:

1. the fired many workers for not taking the vaccine

2 the vaccine has caused the proliferation of variants and now the Omicron is breaking through many of the vacianted.

(zerohedge)

2,400 Flights Canceled Since Christmas Eve On Crew Shortage

SUNDAY, DEC 26, 2021 – 01:01 PM

As the holiday weekend draws to a close, it has been anything but merry for tens of thousands of stranded airline passengers who had their flight canceled due to a flare-up of the omicron variant that resulted in staffing shortages of pilots and crew for several major airline carriers. Data tracker FlightAware.com shows US flight cancellations exceeded 2,400 in just the past 48 hours.

The situation has yet to ease on Sunday as total cancellations within, into, or out of the U.S. topped 754 flights as of 1300 ET. On Christmas day, U.S. cancellations topped nearly 1,000.

Henry Harteveldt, president of travel consulting firm Atmosphere Research Group, told Bloomberg that air travel disruptions might extend into the next week.

Flight cancellations are a “concern at a time when people are traveling to spend time with family and friends for the holidays,” Harteveldt said. “No airline wants to be viewed as the Grinch who stole Christmas.”

In our reporting of the travel chaos that began on Christmas Eve and continued through the weekend (read: here & here), we noted Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. were the carriers most affected by labor shortages. Both airlines acknowledged cancellations were due to an outbreak of the omicron variant.

Flight cancellations due to staffing shortages have been nothing new for airlines.

Many travelers who had their flights canceled or delayed vented on social media this weekend.

Let’s hope Harteveldt isn’t right that travel disruptions could persist through New Year’s Eve because that would officially make this holiday travel season one of the worst in years

end

Looks to me that we have quite a few deaths in the USA and this has created a worker shortage.

A must read…..

Michael Snyder

The Great Worker Shortage Is Causing Basic Services To Really Break Down All Across America

Authored by Michael Snyder viaTheMostImportantNews.com,

Where did all the workers go? That is a great mystery that continues to be unsolved. All over America, businesses are literally hiring anyone with a pulse and there are “help wanted” signs all over the place. But the number of people that are actually working is still close to four million below the pre-pandemic peak.

What happened to all of those extra workers? They certainly aren’t on unemployment, because claims for unemployment benefits are the lowest that we have seen “in decades”. So where are they? It is almost as if millions upon millions of people have disappeared from the system completely over the past couple of years.

Needless to say, this lack of workers is having a dramatic impact on the delivery of basic services all over the country.

For example, some of the biggest banks in the U.S. are “temporarily” closing lots of branches due to a lack of staff…

Big banks are temporarily closing branches across the nation as they cope with labor shortages and ongoing complications from Covid-19, including the arrival of the more contagious Omicron variant.
It mirrors widespread branch closures at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 when many thought the economic lockdown would be measured in weeks. The new round of temporary closures — sometimes occurring sporadically — are sparking anger, confusion and angst among customers.

If your local bank branch is now closed, it may be quite a while before it opens again.

In fact, Bank of America is telling their customers that some branches may be shut down “for an extended period of time”…

“Many of our locations may have reduced hours, alternate days of operations or may have been temporarily closed,” Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) tells customers on its website. “We are doing everything we can to reopen as soon as possible, though some locations may remain closed for an extended period of time.”

Even more alarming is what staffing shortages are doing to hospitals all across the nation.

Without enough qualified personnel, many hospitals are having a really difficult time delivering basic services right in the middle of this pandemic, and the cost of hiring replacements has even pushed some facilities into bankruptcy…

The U.S. health-care profession is suffering its own Great Resignation, pushing more hospitals into financial distress just as a winter surge of the coronavirus hits.
Across the country, hospitals are buckling under the strain of nursing shortfalls and the spiraling cost of hiring replacements. For Watsonville Community Hospital on California’s Central Coast, those costs became too much to bear, and contributed to the facility’s bankruptcy this month, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Because there is such a lack of nurses, any that become available are often the subject of bidding wars, and those with the biggest checkbooks end up winning…

“This is like survival stakes,” said Steven Shill, head of the health-care practice at advisory firm BDO USA. Winners are “whoever’s highest on the food chain and who has the biggest checkbook.” The staffing companies — agencies that provide nurses and other staff on a temporary basis — are “really, really, really gouging hospitals.”

I specifically warned that a lot of these hospitals in blue states were going to be facing severe personnel shortages as a result of the absurd mandates that were being imposed.

Now these institutions have been put in an untenable situation right in the middle of a raging pandemic, and the ones that instituted the mandates are the ones that are responsible for this state of affairs.

Meanwhile, patients just continue to pour into our hospitals at an alarming rate. At one hospital in Ventura County, large numbers of people are coming in complaining of “unexplained heart problems, strokes and blood clotting”, and this has pushed the patient census at that hospital to the highest level ever…

Dana, another ICU nurse, says the number of sick, critically ill people in her Ventura County hospital has become “overwhelming,” pushing her facility’s patient census to the highest levels she has ever seen.
“It has never been this busy, and none of it is Covid-19,” Dana says. “We don’t normally see this amount of strokes, aneurysms and heart attacks all happening at once. … Normally we’ll see six to ten aortic dissections a year. We’ve seen six in the last month. It’s crazy. Those have very high rates of mortality.”

Similar scenarios are playing out at countless other hospitals all across America.

And staffing shortages are likely to continue to intensify, because one recent survey found that a lot more nurses plan to leave their posts in the months ahead…

Two-thirds of nurses surveyed by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses said their experiences during the pandemic have prompted them to consider leaving the field. And 21% of those polled in a study for the American Nurses Foundation said they planned to resign within the next six months. Another 29% said they might.

Air travel is another industry that is experiencing unprecedented nightmares due to severe staffing shortages.

Over the past week, we have literally seen thousands upon thousands of flights either canceled or delayed due to a lack of workers…

Although Christmas might be over, holiday travelers won’t be able to escape the airport chaos on Sunday as 913 US flights have been canceled and 2,975 more are delayed due to staffing shortages caused by the COVID Omicron surge.
The new wave of interruptions comes after nearly 1,000 flights into, out of or within the US were cancelled on Christmas and more than 3,000 were delayed.

What a mess.

Sadly, this is a crisis that is not going to be cleared up any time soon.

People are dropping dead all around us, and so worker shortages are likely to be a major league headache throughout 2022 and beyond.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the United States grew at the slowest pace ever recorded during the 12 months ending on July 1st…

America’s population grew 0.1% this year, the lowest rate on record, according to Census Bureau figures released Tuesday that show how the pandemic is changing the country’s demographic contours.
The U.S. added just 393,000 people in the year that ended July 1 for a total population of 331.9 million.

When the final numbers come out for the full year of 2021, I believe that they will show a significant population decline for the nation as a whole.

So many have already died, and countless more will die in 2022.

And of course what we have witnessed so far is just the beginning.

Our society is in the process of collapsing all around us, and now we have gotten to a point where even our most basic services are starting to fail.

I wish that I could tell you that 2022 is going to be better, but I can’t do that, because it wouldn’t be the truth.

* * *

Dr Mengele speaks…

Fauci Says ‘Masks Forever’ On Airplanes

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 08:55 AM

Anthony Fauci now says American travelers should expect masks forever on commercial air travel. Apparently getting triple vaxxed – or even a fourth jab (discussions are already underway) – is not enough. So when it comes to masks and air travel, Fauci is clearly signaling there will be no end.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, who has come to be hailed as a national hero by Liberals who simplistically like to repeat the mantra “trust the science” told ABC’s This Week in a recent interview that removing masks on an airplane is “not something we should even be considering.”File image: AP

Dr. Fauci was responding to a question from show host Jonathan Karl who asked whether there should be a vaccine mandate in place for all domestic air travel.

“We want to make sure people keep their masks on. I think the idea of taking masks off, in my mind, is really not something we should even be considering,” Fauci said.

That’s when Karl responded: “And of course, the airline CEOs were suggesting that — you know, that we may not — may no longer need a mask. I hear you loud and clearly, you disagree with that on an — on the airplane.” The ABC anchor was referencing the following:

During a U.S. Senate panel hearing on Dec. 15, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said that masks “don’t add much, if anything” to fight the spread of COVID-19 on airplanes.

As to the original question, Fauci suggested that a vaccine mandate for air travel is something that should be looked at and considered:

“A vaccine requirement for a person getting on the plane is just another level of getting people to have a mechanism that would spur them to get vaccinated; namely, you can’t get on a plane unless you’re vaccinated, which is just another one of the ways of getting requirements, whatever that might be,” Fauci said.

Interestingly, he doesn’t actually directly address that the vaccine would actually prevent infection if there’s contact with a Covid-19 positive person in an airport on an aircraft; instead, he touts the possibility as but another “mechanism” that would “spur” people to get vaccinated.

Or to translate: Fauci wants to use the removal of individual freedoms to put people in a position to have to “accept” the mandate before getting their prior freedoms back.

In the segment Fauci had also followed up with, “So I mean, anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome. But with regard to the spread of virus in the country, I mean, I think if you look at wearing a mask and the filtration on planes, things are reasonably safe,” he added, again emphasizing that he sees mask-wearing aboard flights as fundamentally a tool of coercion, and not a matter of “safety” per se.

Fauci’s recent comments went viral online, at a moment nearly 1,000 Christmas flights were canceled across the nation as the Omicron variant took many airline crews out of commission, resulting in miserable holidays for people stranded at the airport. Given that flight crews are likely mostly vaccinated, it’s also most likely that many of the attendants that called in sick were already fully vaccinated, with the jab doing little to actually prevent infection, which is what a vaccine is supposed to do by definition

end

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

The King Report December 27, 2021Independent View of the NewsThe PCE Core Deflator, supposedly one of the Fed’s preferred inflation metrics, increased 0.5% m/m and 4.7% in November. 0.4% m/m and 4.5% y/y were expected.

November Durable Goods Orders jumped 2.5% m/m; 1.8% was expected. However, Nondefense, Ex-Air Orders declined 0.1% m/m; +0.7% was expected. Shipments were only 0.3%; 0.6% was expected.

November New Homes Sales increased 744k; 770k was consensus. More importantly, October was revised sharply lower, to 662k from 745k (-8.4% m/m from +0.4% m/m)
The Biden Administration Rejected an October Proposal for “Free Rapid Tests for the Holidays”
On October 22, a group of COVID-19 testing experts joined a Zoom call with officials from the Biden administration and presented a strategy for overhauling America’s approach to testing.
    The 10-page plan, which Vanity Fair has obtained, would enable the U.S. to finally do what many other countries had already done: Put rapid at-home COVID-19 testing into the hands of average citizens, allowing them to screen themselves in real time and thereby help reduce transmission. The plan called for an estimated 732 million tests per month, a number that would require a major ramp-up of manufacturing capacity. It also recommended, right on the first page, a nationwide “Testing Surge to Prevent Holiday COVID Surge.”… Three days after the meeting, on October 25, the COVID-19 testing experts…received a back channel communication from a White House official. Their big, bold idea for free home tests for all Americans to avoid a holiday surge, they were told, was dead… the administration instead announced an initiative to move rapid home tests more swiftly through the FDA’s regulatory approval process…
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/12/the-biden-administration-rejected-an-october-proposal-for-free-rapid-tests-for-the-holidays

70% of London’s COVID Hospitalizations Diagnosed after Being Admitted for Other Ailments
https://summit.news/2021/12/23/70-per-cent-of-londons-covid-hospitalisations-diagnosed-after-being-admitted-for-other-ailments/

@MichaelPSenger: They went from “these vaccines are 100% effective against infection, and we’ll give you free donuts if you get one” to “these vaccines were only meant to reduce symptoms, but get one whenever we tell you to or lose your job” in under a year with shockingly little resistance.

US Warship Stuck in Port After COVID-19 Outbreak Among “100 Percent Immunized” Crew
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/us-navy-warship-pauses-deployment-after-covid-outbreak-among-100-percent-immunized-crew

@FaceTheNation: “They will be paying for our generation’s decisions the rest of their lives”:@JanCBS
explains why she thinks 2021’s biggest underreported story was the devastating impact of COVID policies on children.  https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1475209878415323140

A Myth is Born: How CDC, FDA, and Media Wove a Web of Ivermectin Lies That Outlives the Truth – New Mexico officials admit they were wrong: Two people died from covid. NOT from ivermectin. Yet the CDC generated the nation’s highest health alert and a thousand fake headlines on false cases… Two deaths were not caused by ivermectin, a long-used generic drug that was emerging as a covid treatment. Instead, he said that the pair died because they “actually just delayed their care with covid.” That is a big difference… Doctors, scientists, and toxicologists worldwide were puzzled by the assertions, because ivermectin is an extraordinarily safe, FDA-approved drug…
    We asked Dr. Paul Marik, a founder of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, his thoughts on the effort to vilify ivermectin as dangerous. “Ivermectin is one of the safest medications on this planet; far safer than aspirin or acetaminophen,” he said. “This is a fairy tale. Disney could not come up with a better fairy tale.”… So where do we stand as vaccines fail and cases rise?…
https://rescue.substack.com/p/a-myth-is-born-how-cdc-fda-and-medi

Judgment day: Sweden vindicated – Swiss Policy Research
Sweden has widely been regarded, or indeed criticized, as the least repressive Western country during the coronavirus pandemic, having imposed no lockdowns, no elementary school closures, no mask mandates, no “vaccine passport” (yet), and very limited testing and contact tracing compared to Austria and most other Western countries…he comparison of Austria and Sweden conclusively shows that a calm, low-intervention, almost business-as-usual approach to the pandemic has been best. In contrast, highly irrational strategies, such as “zero covid” and “no covid”, have caused unprecedented social, political and economic damage at an almost civilizational scale.  https://swprs.org/judgment-day-sweden-vindicated/

@EricMMatheny: We are living through the most elaborate pharmaceutical marketing campaign in history.

@charliebilello: The average family health insurance premium in the US has more than tripled since the “affordable” care act was signed into law back in 2010. The biggest beneficiaries: health insurers. United Health Group (the largest US insurer) is up 1,690% vs. a 408% gain for the S&P 500.
    Most of the non-employer health insurance premiums are now subsidized (in part or full) by taxpayers, which is why there is little incentive to find efficiencies and lower costs. But for those who still pay the full premiums it has become equivalent to a second mortgage payment.
https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1474119623020847106

The ECB Has Launched the Japanization of Europe… and Now It Cannot Back Down
The ECB is between a rock and a hard place because it cannot take decisive action as states have become accustomed to an unprecedented monetization that has led the ECB’s balance sheet to be 81% of eurozone GDP compared to 37% of the Federal Reserve with respect to the US GDP…
       If the ECB reduces its so-called expansionary policy, states like Spain, which has shot up debt by 230,000 million in almost two years and continues to increase the structural deficit, will not be able to withstand the slightest rise in rates…if the ECB maintains its huge buyback program and negative rates, the inflation tax and stagnation may condemn the eurozone to a stagflation that some countries have already experienced in the past…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ecb-has-launched-japanization-europe-and-now-it-cannot-back-down

Sorry, Wall Street. You’re Going to Have to Work New Year’s Eve (Greedy NYSE bastards!)
Thanks to whoever created an obscure piece of New York Stock Exchange red tape — officially known as Rule 7.2 — U.S. equity markets won’t commemorate the start of 2022 with a holiday. The rule stipulates that when a holiday falls on a Saturday, the market will close on the preceding Friday — unless, that is, “unusual business conditions exist, such as the ending of a monthly or yearly accounting period.” Since Dec. 31 marks the end of the month, quarter and year, that means a full session on New Year’s Eve and no day off on the following Monday…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-10/you-won-t-get-a-day-off-for-new-year-s-thanks-to-wonky-nyse-rule

Christmas Travel Chaos Deepens as Airlines Scrap 800 U.S. Trips – BBG
The global tally exceeded 3,500 trips for Friday and Saturday, according to data tracker FlightAware.com… United said in an email Thursday that a jump in omicron was limiting the availability of flight crews and ground personnel. Delta attributed its disruptions to a combination of reasons…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-24/united-cancels-100-flights-due-to-omicron-linked-crew-shortage

The FT: T Rowe Price chief warns of ‘free-form risk-taking’ in buoyant markets
Bill Stromberg, head of $1.6tn fund group, sees increased speculation as stocks hit new records

  Over 10,000 Russian troops leaving Ukraine border region after month of drills https://trib.al/2LnnyuS

@FaceTheNation: CBS News national security correspondent David Martin warns that one of the biggest dangers of 2022 is America’s adversaries looking at what happened in Afghanistan and deciding the US is a “spent force.” @margbrennan adds, “what’s scary is he’s usually right.”
https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1474092506895859727

Top Democrat Marc Elias Proposes Chinese-Style Censorship – Only Approved Republicans Will Be Allowed to Run for Future Office – Far-left Attorney Marc Elias was involved in the Steele dossier which was the garbage report created to slander candidate and then President Trump and tie him to Russia… “My prediction for 2022: Before the midterm election, we will have a serious discussion about whether individual Republican House Members are disqualified by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment from serving in Congress. We may even see litigation.”…
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/12/fascist-usa-top-democrat-marc-elias-proposes-chinese-style-censorship-allow-approved-republicans-run-future-office/

Jen Psaki roasted for saying Biden administration ‘saved Christmas’
“Psaki said that Joe Biden saved Christmas. Sounds like someone broke out the eggnog a bit early,” Rep. Lauren Boebert said.  https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/jen-psaki-roasted-saying-biden-administration-saved-christmas

White House Has to Fix Another Biden Lie, President Misquoted Manchin
BIDEN: “…and Joe (Manchin) went on TV today, uh, (I don’t know) whether it’s TV or not, I’m told he was speaking to the Liberal Caucus in the House and said, ‘Joe Biden didn’t mislead you, I misled you.'”
    But then a White House aide said to CNN that “the President wanted to clarify that Senator Manchin did not characterize himself as having been ‘misleading.’”…
https://conservativebrief.com/president-manchin-56907/?utm_source=CB&utm_medium=DJD

CNN Correspondent Comments on Biden Appearing “Confused” after Yet Another Slip Up
“Repeatedly throughout this interview – President Biden seems confused and was confusing the half a billion tests that they’ve ordered with a half a billion pills,” said Jeff Zeleny, CNN’s chief national affairs correspondent… https://summit.news/2021/12/24/cnn-correspondent-comments-on-biden-appearing-confused-after-yet-another-slip-up/

W Bush Press Sec @AriFleischer: Time to be blunt. There is something wrong with Joe Biden’s memory. He doesn’t remember his generals telling him to leave 2500 troops in Afghanistan. They did. He must not remember saying in September he would provide 300million Covid test kits. Now he says no one thought of it. These are matters of enormous consequence. But our president does not or cannot remember what he was told, what he said, or what he did. We’re in big trouble.

@bennyjohnson: Joe Biden was taking calls from the NORAD Santa tracking program and a dad ended the call with “Merry Christmas, and Let’s Go Brandon.” Biden replied with: “Let’s Go Brandon, I agree”
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1474447807524319235

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” — Mark Twain

Biden aides catch the holiday blues
In the first year of the Biden White House, comradery has been fleeting and many teams are suffering from low morale, according to several White House officials. The result: many White House aides are feeling gloomy this holiday season, so much so that they anonymously fumed to West Wing Playbook in the hope it may alert senior leaders to the problem. Many are also currently eyeing the exits, creating the potential for higher-than-usual turnover at the beginning of the year, when aides feel they’ve been in the job long enough that it won’t look odd to depart…
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2021/12/22/biden-aides-catch-the-holiday-blues-495541

Biden’s ‘broken promises’ outlined in RNC memo rebutting White House accomplishment claims
RNC said Biden broke promises to shut down virus, leave no Americans behind in Afghanistan
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-broken-promises-rnc-memo

Global Times, a mouthpiece for the CCP, assailed and mocked The Big Guy.

Biden reveals ‘placebo-like’ Omicron plans ahead of bleak Christmas with soaring prices and fears of new variant – Chinese observers say US president’s first year in office indicates failure
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202112/1243153.shtml

Two Dems who support police reform carjacked less than 24 hours apart https://trib.al/p8Dh7O4

Democratic congresswoman who sponsored police ‘reform’ bill carjacked in crime-surging Philadelphia – Scanlon was the second elected Democrat to be carjacked in a major city in 24 hours
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democratic-congresswoman-defund-police-carjacked-in-crime-surging-philadelphia.amp

Chicago violent crime is spilling into toney suburbs.

Four shot at busy suburban Chicago mall: ‘It was scary’
Two gunmen opened fire on each other at about 5:45 p.m. Thursday in a corridor at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook…One of the suspects, who was not immediately identified, was wounded and taken into custody, while cops were still searching for the second shooter, the Chicago Tribune reported.
    Three women at the outdoor mall about 15 miles west of Chicago were also shot and were expected to survive…  https://trib.al/CcMASZM

Texas teen, 18, who was bailed the day after ‘shooting and injuring three people at his school’ is re-arrested ‘after testing positive for illicit substance’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10345363/Texas-teen-18-shot-three-people-school-arrested.html

NY Times: Kamala Harris gripes her media coverage would be better if she was White man
https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-york-times-kamala-harris-gripes-media-coverage-better-white-man

Lawyers Ask Why Just Four Epstein Accusers Were Called During Maxwell Trial
“They had a mountain of evidence that they could have brought,”… the prosecution “had a very difficult burden and didn’t seem to put on as much evidence forward as I thought they would have.”…
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/acquittal-wouldnt-surprise-me-lawyers-ask-why-just-four-epstein-accusers-were-called

Democrats resisting anti-voter fraud probes, reforms nationwide (Dems greatly benefit from it!)
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/officials-dismissing-anti-voter-fraud-initiatives-nationwide

“No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.” — Plato

SWAMP STORIES //

‘Biden Seems Confused’: CNN Openly Questions President’s Cognitive Health After Yet Another Slip Up

FRIDAY, DEC 24, 2021 – 12:30 PM

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

A CNN correspondent noted how Joe Biden appeared “confused” throughout an entire interview as he repeatedly mistook COVID home tests for anti-viral pills.

The comment was made in reference to Biden’s 20 minute interview with ABC’s David Muir, during which the president attempted to defend his response to the pandemic and complaints that people in New York were waiting in line for five hours to receive a COVID test.

Biden repeatedly referred to the 500 million at-home tests that had been ordered as “pills,” confusing them with a new Pfizer drug, which was federally approved on the same day.

“Repeatedly throughout this interview – President Biden seems confused and was confusing the half a billion tests that they’ve ordered with a half a billion pills,” said Jeff Zeleny, CNN’s chief national affairs correspondent.

“Of course, pills were in the news today with the Pfizer approval of the anti-viral, so he corrected himself, but that was one thing that stuck out to me,” he added.

In the interview on Wednesday, Biden was asked how the administration had failed to see Omicron coming, and laughed.

“How did we get it wrong?” the president responded.
“Nobody saw it coming. Nobody in the whole world. Who saw it coming?”

In a rare instance of CNN criticizing Biden, Zeleny accused the president of “not accepting any responsibility” for the lack of testing.

“We’ve seen these images across the country, long lines, just the inability to get tests,” said the reporter.
“And yes, Omicron came on very quickly here, but it has been almost a month since Thanksgiving where they knew this was coming.”
“So he said he wishes he could have acted faster, and then explains why he didn’t.”

Many people have questioned whether Biden is in any fit mental state to run for president again in 2024, never mind remain in office until 2028, at which point he will be 86-years-old.

Last month we highlighted the comments of Congressman Ronny Jackson, who was the former White House physician under President Obama and President Trump, regarding Biden’s cognitive state.

“Over 50% of this country does not believe he’s cognitively fit to be our Commander in Chief and our head of state,” said Jackson, adding, “If anyone needs a cognitive test, it’s this president.”

* * *

end

“Sit Down Karen!” Woman On Delta Flight Filmed Punching Elderly Man For Briefly Removing Mask

MONDAY, DEC 27, 2021 – 04:40 PM

Just as Anthony Fauci has indicated that there won’t really ever be an end to wearing masks on US domestic flights, a viral video has emerged of a deranged woman going ballistic on an elderly man, whose “crime” consisted in briefly taking down his mask to eat an in-flight meal aboard a Delta trip from Tampa to Atlanta.

“TMZ obtained video that was purportedly from the incident that showed a woman confronting a man for not wearing a mask,” Fox reports Monday of the incident which happened just before Christmas. “The man told the woman, who was also not wearing a mask, that he was eating. The woman in the video could be seen striking the man at least once, the report said.

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

While unfortunately throughout the pandemic such instances of crazed individuals taking it upon themselves to be the “mask police” or perhaps Fauci’s “mandate enforcers” have now become commonplace, this video is especially disturbing and brutal.

By the end of the ordeal a streak of blood could be seen coming down the man’s cheek, as he was injured after being punched by the woman. At one point the attacker, later identified by police and the airline as Patricia Cornwall, is seen scratching the man’s face.

The elderly victim kept on shouting “Sit down, Karen!” throughout the vicious assault while it took no less than three flight attendants to begin to restrain her. One attendant then uses the food cart as a barrier as the out of control woman is ushered to the back. The flight crew’s response seemed overly slow and belated given the woman takes full swings with a closed fist before anyone actually tries to restrain her.

“Tell him to put his fucking mask on!” she kept screaming at the flight crew. “Tell him to put his mask on!”
“Put yours on bitch!” the man quickly yelled back during the chaotic scene.

In the video that went viral over the weekend the footage briefly showed FBI vehicles meeting the airplane on the tarmac after it touched down at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. She was arrested on the spot and taken into FBI custody. No doubt her defense was likely some variety of “but I was merely enforcing the mask mandate!”

The timing is interesting, given it was only within the past days that Dr. Fauci said in a TV interview, “We want to make sure people keep their masks on. I think the idea of taking masks off, in my mind, is really not something we should even be considering.”

As TMZ pointed out of the insane video, ironically it remains that “the woman was unmasked during this whole ordeal — leaving it under her chin.”

At one point the woman actually spits on the man… all in the name of “safety”…

Later it was revealed by the airline that multiple people suffered injuries during the woman’s pro-masking rampage, including at least one among the flight attendants that tried to restrain her.

Let us close out tonight’s commentary with this offering courtesy of Greg Hunter

We will see you on Tuesday night

Trump Triples Down on Vax & Greg’s Christmas Message

Trump Triples Down on Vax & Greg’s Christmas Message

By Greg Hunter On December 24, 2021 In Weekly News Wrap-Ups 6 Comments

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (WNW 509 12.24.21)

President Trump is tripling down on pushing the vax, as he tells the public he has had his CV19 booster shot. Trump is still taking full credit for “Operation Warp Speed” that he says “saved millions of lives.” Who cares if there are more vaccine deaths and injuries by orders of magnitude for the CV19 experimental jabs than all vaccines combined in the past 30 years. Does it work? Not if you consider, just this week, that Senators Warren and Booker got their CV19 booster (third shot) and both are now sick with Covid. Triple vaxed Jim Cramer, who wants forced vaccinations on all Americans, also just came down with Covid. It does not stop Covid, but it certainly works for profits for the vaccine makers. That much is for sure.

My Christmas message is bittersweet. It’s been a heavy year for reporting the real news. What is coming at us is going to be rough even if people like data analyst Clif high are only half right. The CV19 injections cause permanent damage, and almost everyone has a family member who got vaxed. The sad realization is there is no reversing this experimental jab. The main reason is the graphene stays in your system forever and acts like razorblades throughout your body until you die. The mainstream media intentionally misinformed people, and the psyop was intense. Many have been scared into taking it or simply think if they comply and get injected, they will get their life back. Of course, it is just the opposite.

So, the Christmas message is simply enjoy the birth of our Lord and Savior, live in the now and do not fear. Jesus is real and he loves us dearly.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he talks about these topics, gives a Christmas message and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up 12.24.21.

(To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here)

Trump Triples Down on Vax & Greg’s Christmas Message

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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: There Is No Ceiling On Inflation

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

US Futures Hit All Time High As Santa Rally Spreads Markets Cheer

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

3B CHINA

CCP Locks Down 13 Million People In Xi’an Over 200 Cases As Winter Olympics Approach

Xi’an Prepares For 4th Round Of Citywide Testing As China Sees Cases Surge To 21-Month High

Beijing Suspends Flights From NYC, LA Due To COVID Cases

Wal-Mart Faces Backlash From Chinese Consumers As Sams’ Club Removes Items From Xinjiang

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

70% Of London’s COVID Hospitalisations Diagnosed AFTER Being Admitted For Other Ailments

UK Mulls Door-To-Door Vaccination Squads

The ECB Has Launched The Japanization Of Europe… And Now It Cannot Back Down

Rolling Blackouts Spread Across Europe Amid Energy Crisis

Facebook Now Censoring the British Medical Journal Because New Science Goes Against Pfizer’s Lies and Deception

Instagram (owned by Facebook) caught censoring article by Cochrane

European Gas And Power Prices Extend Slump As LNG Flotilla From US Set To Arrive

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

Erdogan Is Secretly Pillaging Billions In Turkish Assets To Prop Up The Lira, And His Rule

Erdogan Files Criminal Complaints Against Economists Criticizing His Insane Lira “Rescue” Plan

Iran Demands The US Allow Crude Exports As Nuclear Talks Resume

ISRAEL

Israel To Double Number Of Jewish Settlers In Golan Heights, Citing Trump Decision

Amid Descent Into Irrelevancy, Kamala Harris Threatens Russia: “Sanctions Like You’ve Never Seen”

6.Global Issues

COVID-19 Restrictions Questioned As Omicron-Related Hospitalizations Remain Low

Germany’s Energy Surrender

Lancet Editor Comes Clean, Admits He Knew Peter Daszak Had ‘Significant, Regrettable’ Conflicts Of Interest

1,650 AHS staff put on unpaid leave for breaching vaccine mandate while others offered rapid test option

Social Sharing

175 staff at Alberta healthcare facilities with low vaccine uptake allowed to use rapid test kits

Grievances filed against AHS

Medical, religious exemptions

Dr. Vernon Coleman – We Are Winning The War! His Prediction For 2022! – best news here

UK Criminal Probe

Breaking News

Marines Have Now Booted 169 For Vaccine Refusal – All Religious Exemptions Denied

latest from geert vanden bossche

Vaccine Impact

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET& AUSTRALIA ISSUES

South Africa Eases COVID Restrictions After Omicron Peaks

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

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

USA trading day in Graph Form

Stocks, Bonds, Crude, & Crypto Bid As Markets Shrug Off Boxing Day Hangover

US Warship Stuck In Port After COVID-19 Outbreak Among “100 Percent Immunized” Crew

Marines Have Now Booted 169 For Vaccine Refusal – All Religious Exemptions Denied

2,400 Flights Canceled Since Christmas Eve On Crew Shortage

The Great Worker Shortage Is Causing Basic Services To Really Break Down All Across America

Fauci Says ‘Masks Forever’ On Airplanes

‘Biden Seems Confused’: CNN Openly Questions President’s Cognitive Health After Yet Another Slip Up

“Sit Down Karen!” Woman On Delta Flight Filmed Punching Elderly Man For Briefly Removing Mask

Trump Triples Down on Vax & Greg’s Christmas Message

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