FEB 7

FEB7

· by harveyorgan · in Uncategorized · Leave a comment ·Edit

GOLD; UP $14.00 to $1821.20

SILVER: $23.04 UP 52 CENTS

ACCESS MARKET: GOLD: 1820.50..

SILVER: $23.03

Bitcoin: morning price: 42,777 UP 2034

Bitcoin: afternoon price: 44,435 UP 3692

Platinum price: closing down $4.00 to $1024.95

Palladium price; closing down $28.75 at $2270.00

END

end

DONATE

Click here if you wish to send a donation. I sincerely appreciate it as this site takes a lot of preparation

comex notices//JPMorgan notices filed COMEX//NOTICES:EXCHANGE: COMEX FILED: 116/285

EXCHANGE: COMEX

CONTRACT: FEBRUARY 2022 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 1,806.600000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 02/04/2022 DELIVERY DATE: 02/08/2022
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED

118 C MACQUARIE FUT 26
332 H STANDARD CHARTE 7
363 H WELLS FARGO SEC 4
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 1
624 C BOFA SECURITIES 10
624 H BOFA SECURITIES 120
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 11
661 C JP MORGAN 250 64
661 H JP MORGAN 52
709 C BARCLAYS 9
732 C RBC CAP MARKETS 1
800 C MAREX SPEC 3 1
905 C ADM 11

TOTAL: 285 285
MONTH TO DATE: 16,528

MONTH TO DATE: 16,243

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR FEB. CONTRACT: 285 NOTICE(S) FOR 28,500 OZ (0.8864 TONNES)

total notices so far: 16,528 contracts for 1,652,800 oz (51.409 tonnes)

SILVER NOTICES:

30 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 150,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month 1238 : for 6,190,000 oz

GLD

WITH GOLD UP $14.00

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

A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.24 TONNES FROM THE GLD

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//

CLOSING INVENTORY: 1011.60 TONNES/

Silver//SLV

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 52 CENTS:/: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/A DEPOSIT OF 2.218 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//

AT THE SLV//

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV

CLOSING INVENTORY SLV/ TONIGHT: 541.430 MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A STRONG 1152 CONTRACTS TO 148,581 AND RESTS FURTHER FROM THE NEW RECORD OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND DESPITE THIS STRONG LOSS IN OI, IT WAS ACCOMPANIED WITH OUR TRONG $0.16 GAIN ADVANCE IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON FRIDAY. OUR BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT ROSE BY $0.16) BUT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OUT SOME SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A STRONG A LOSS OF 732 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 SMALL ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS iiii) A HUGE INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 4.110 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 170,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP//NEW STANDING 6.315 MILLION OZ. V) STRONG SIZED COMEX OI LOSS.

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

THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI SILVER TODAY: CONTRACTS -17

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

TOTAL CONTACTS for 5 days, total contracts: : 2953 contracts or 14.765 million oz OR 2.952 MILLION OZ PER DAY. (591 CONTRACTS PER DAY)

TOTAL NO OF OZ UNDERGOING EFP TO LONDON 2953 CONTRACTS X 5,000 PER CONTRACT:

EQUATES TO: 14.765 MILLION OZ

LAST 10 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

DEC: 100.615 MILLION OZ

JAN 2022// 90.460 MILLION OZ

FEB 2022: 14.765 MILLION OZ//

SPREADING OPERATIONS

(/NOW SWITCHING TO SILVER) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS

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

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 JAN HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB, 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 (MAR), 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.”

RESULT: WE HAD A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 1136 DESPITE OUR $016 GAIN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX// FRIDAY THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMAll SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 420 CONTRACTS( 420 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: /HUGE BANKER SHORT COVERING AS THEY GET OUT OF DODGE//// WE HAVE A GOOD INITIAL SILVER OZ STANDING FOR FEB OF 4.1 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 170,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW STANDING 6.315, MILLION OZ// .. WE HAD A STRONG SIZED loss OF 716 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES FOR 3.580 MILLION OZ//

WE HAD 30 NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR 150,000 OZ

GOLD//OUTLINE

IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A SMALL SIZED 1566 TO 508,423 AND FURTHER FROM OUR NEW RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,541 AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110.

THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY: — 134 CONTRACTS.

THE BIS HAS ABANDONED THE GOLD COMEX TRADING!!!

THE SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI CAME DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $3.40//COMEX GOLD TRADING/FRIDAY/.AS IN SILVER WE MUST HAD HUGE BANKER/ALGO SHORT COVERING ACCOMPANYING OUR FAIR SIZED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE. WE HAD SOME LONG LIQUIDATION AS THE TOTAL LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES TOTALED 851 CONTRACTS…

WE ALSO HAD A HUGE INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR FEB AT 64.3 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 17,800 OZ E.F.P. JUMP TO LONDON //NEW STANDING: 58.765 TONNES

YET ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $3.40 WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY’S TRADING

WE HAD A SMALL SIZED LOSS OF 985 OI CONTRACTS (3.063 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALLED A SMALL SIZED 581 CONTRACTS:

FOR APRIL 581 ALL OTHER MONTHS ZERO//TOTAL:581

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 508,581.

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 985, WITH 1,566 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX AND 581 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 985 CONTRACTS OR 3.063TONNES.

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A SMALL SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (581) ACCOMPANYING THE SMALL SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (1566,): TOTAL LOSS IN THE TWO EXCHANGES 985 CONTRACTS. WE NO DOUBT HAD 1) HUGE BANKER SHORT COVERING ,2.) HUGE INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR FEB. AT 64.30 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS TODAY’S EFP JUMP TO LONDON OF 17,800 OZ//NEW STANDING 58.765 TONNES// 3)SOME LONG LIQUIDATION ,4) SMALL SIZED COMEX OI. LOSS 5) SMALL ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2022 INCLUDING TODAY

FEB

ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF FEB :

6925 CONTRACTS OR 692,500 oz OR 21.39 TONNES 5 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 1385 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 5 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES: 21.39 TONNES

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

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 21.39/3550 x 100% TONNES 0.6653% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2021 TO 2022

JANUARY/2021: 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. 145.12 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//

JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL

FEB: 21.390 TONNES//INITIAL

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

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

1.Today, we had the open interest at the comex, in SILVER, FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 1152 CONTRACTS TO 149,733 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 420 CONTRACTS

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

MAR 420 ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 420 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 1152 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 420 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,

WE OBTAIN A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 732 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACT FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

THUS IN OUNCES, THE LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 3.660 MILLION OZ,

OCCURRED DESPITE OUR $0.16 GAIN IN PRICE.

OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY

1/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT

(report Harvey)

2 ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe,

(Peter Schiff,

3. Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com,

4. Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries

5. Other gold commentaries

6. Commodity commentaries/cryptocurrencies

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)MONDAY MORNING// SUNDAY NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 68.17 PTS OR 2.03% //Hang Sang CLOSED UP 6.26 PTS OR 0.03% /The Nikkei closed UP 191.12 PTS OR 0.70% //Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED DOWN 0.06% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP 6.3320 /Oil UP TO 91.53.16 dollars per barrel for WTI and UP TO 92.89 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MIXED // ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT 6.3320. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED UDOWNON THE DOLLAR AT 6.3637: /ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN AND OFF SHORE TRADING STRONGER/WEAKER AGAINST USA DOLLAR

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

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

GOLD

LET US BEGIN:

THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A SMALL SIZED 1566 CONTRACTS AND FURTHER FROM THE RECORD THAT WAS SET IN JANUARY/2020: {799,541 OI(SET JAN 16/2020)} AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: 797,110 (SET JAN 7/2020). AND THIS COMEX DECREASE OCCURRED DESPITE OUR GAIN OF $3.40 IN GOLD PRICING FRIDAY’S COMEX TRADING. WE ALSO HAD A SMALL SIZED EFP (581 CONTRACTS). . THEY WERE PAID HANDSOMELY NOT TO TAKE DELIVERY AT THE COMEX AND SETTLE FOR CASH.

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 FEB.. THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,

THAT IS 581 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: ;: , & FEB. 0 APRIL: 581 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 581 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 LOST THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A SMALL SIZED 985 TOTAL CONTRACTS IN THAT 581 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A SMALL SIZED COMEX OI LOSS OF 1566 CONTRACTS..

// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR FEB (58.765),

HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 12 MONTHS OF 2021:

DEC 2021: 112.217 TONNES

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 ’21. 113.424 TONNES

JAN ’21: 6.500 TONNES.

TOTAL SO FAR THIS YEAR (JAN- DEC): 601.213 TONNES

FEB 2022: 58.765 TONNES

THE BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE //// (IT ROSE $3.40)BUT THEY WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN FLEECING SOME LONGS AS WE HAVE REGISTERED A LOSS OF 2.6646 TONNES OF TOTAL OI, ACCOMPANYING OUR HUGE GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR FEB (58.765 TONNES)…

WE HAD –134 CONTRACTS REMOVED FROM COMEX TRADES. THESE WERE REMOVED AFTER TRADING ENDED LAST NIGHT

NET LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 985 CONTRACTS OR 98,500 OZ OR 3.063 TONNES

Estimated gold volume today: 135,751 /// awful

Confirmed volume yesterday: 192,881 contracts poor

INITIAL STANDINGS FOR FEB ’22 COMEX GOLD //FEB 7

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	285 notice(s) 28,500 OZ 0.8864 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)	2365 contracts 236,500 oz 7,356 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	16,528 notices 1,652,800 OZ 51.459 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

For today:

No dealer deposit 0

No dealer withdrawal 0

0 customer deposit

total deposit: nil oz

0 customer withdrawals

total withdrawals: nil oz nil kilobars

ADJUSTMENTS: 0.

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR JANUARY.

For the front month of FEBRUARY we have an oi of 2650 stand for LOSING 723 contracts.

We had 545 contracts served upon yesterday, so we lost 178 contracts or an additional 17,800 oz will not stand on this side of the pond and

these guys were E.F.P.’d to London where they received a handsome bonus for their effort. Looks like no gold to be found over here.

The month of March saw a loss of 220 contracts and thus the OI standing is 5034.

April saw a loss of 1782 contracts up to 391,695.

We had 285 notice(s) filed today for 28,500 oz FOR THE FEB 2022 CONTRACT MONTH.

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 250 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equates to 285 contract(s) of which 52 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 64 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 FEB /2021. contract month,

we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (16,528) x 100 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of (FEB: 2650 CONTRACTS ) minus the number of notices served upon today 285 x 100 oz per contract equals 1,889,300 OZ OR 58.765 TONNES the number of TONNES standing in this active month of FEB.

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

No of notices filed so far (16,528) x 100 oz+ (2650) OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (285} x 100 oz} which equals 1,889,300 oz standing OR 58.765 TONNES in this active delivery month of FEB.

We lost 178 contracts or an additional 17,800 oz will not stand over here and were EFP’d. to London

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 58.765 TONNES (HUGE FOR A FEBRUARY DELIVERY MONTH)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION

NEW PLEDGED GOLD:

157,392.690, oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 4.89 TONNES

125,410.592 PLEDGED MANFRA 2.90 TONNES

54,339.114oz PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690

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

898,821.330 oz pledged Brinks/27,96 TONNES

12,249,333 oz International Delaware: 0..3810 tonne

Loomis: 18,615.429 oz

total pledged gold: 1,553,863.297 oz 48.331 tonnes

TOTAL REGISTERED AND ELIZ GOLD AT THE COMEX: 32,751,574.917 OZ (1018.71 TONNES)

TOTAL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 15,435,400.331 OZ (480.10 tonnes)

TOTAL OF ALL REGISTERED GOLD: 17,316,174.586 OZ (538.60 tonnes)

REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 15,762,311.0 OZ (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 490.27 tonnes

END

FEBRUARY 2022 CONTRACT MONTH//SILVER

INITIAL STANDING FOR SILVER//FEB 7

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	188,090.450 oz Loomis Manfra
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*	nilOZ
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	2032.000 oz CNT
No of oz served today (contracts)	30CONTRACT(S) 150,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	25 contracts (125,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	1238 contracts 6,190,,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*

And now for the wild silver comex results

we had 0 deposits into the dealer

total dealer deposits: nil oz

i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal

total dealer withdrawals: nil oz

We have 0 deposits

total deposit: nil oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 184.649 million oz/352.225 million =52.42% of comex

ii) Comex withdrawals: 1

CNT 2032.000

total withdrawal 2032.00 oz

we had 2 adjustments dealer to customer

a)Loomis 88,686.550 oz

b) Manfra: 99,443.920 oz

the silver comex is in stress!

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 81.154 MILLION OZ

TOTAL REG + ELIG. 352.253 MILLION OZ

CALCULATION OF SILVER OZ STANDING FOR FEBRUARY

silver open interest data:

FRONT MONTH OF FEB//2022 OI: 55 CONTRACTS LOSING 35 contracts on the day. We had 69 contracts served upon yesterday.

So we gained 34 contracts or an additional 170,000 oz will stand for silver on this side of the pond.

FOR MARCH WE HAD A loss OF 2824 CONTRACTS UP TO 100,452 CONTRACTS.

APRIL HAD A SMALL GAIN OF 12 CONTRACTS UP TO 63

MAY HAD A GAIN OF 1210 CONTRACTS UP TO 31,019 contracts

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 30 for 150,000 oz

Comex volumes: 72,287// est. volume today//fair to good

Comex volume: confirmed YESTERDAY: 55,122 contracts (weak)

To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in FEB. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 1238 x 5,000 oz =. 6,190,000 oz

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB (55) and the number of notices served upon today 30 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

Thus the standings for silver for the FEB./2021 contract month: 1238 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for front month of FEB (55) – number of notices served upon today (30) x 5000 oz of silver standing for the FEB contract month equates 6,315,000 oz. .

We gained 34 CONTRACTS OR 170,000 ADDITIONAL oz of silver will stand at the comex.

the record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price on 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

FEB 7/WITH GOLD UP $14.00 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.24 TONNES FROM THE GLD/////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1011.60 TONNES//

FEB 4/WITH GOLD UP $3.40 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.75 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1014.84 TONNES

FEB 3/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.55: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.45 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1016.59 TONNES

FEB 2/WITH GOLD UP $7.95//A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.78 TONES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1018.04 TONNES

FEB 1/WITH GOLD UP $5.40: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1014.26 TONNES

JAN 31/WITH GOLD UP $10.10//NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1014.26 TONNES

JAN 28/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.30//NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1014.26 TONNES

JAN 27/WITH GOLD DOWN $36.15//ANOTHER HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.16 TONNES INTO THE GLD.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1014.26 TONNES

JAN 26/WITH GOLD DOWN $21.60 A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4.65 TONNES INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1013.10 TONNES

JAN 25/WITH GOLD UP $10.40 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1008.45 TONNES

JAN 24/WITH GOLD UP $10.10 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: AN UNBELIEVABLE DEPOSIT OF 27.59 TONNES INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1008.45 TONNES

JAN 21/WITH GOLD DOWN $10.80 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 980.86 TONNES

JAN 20/WITH GOLD UP $.20 TODAY: A SMALL CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .58 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 980.86 TONNES

JAN 19/WITH GOLD UP $29.65 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//A DEPOSIT OF 5.27 TONNES INTO THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 981.44 TONNES

JAN 18/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.25//NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 976.21 TONNES

JAN 14/ WITH GOLD DOWN $5.25/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 976.21 TONNES

JAN 13/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.75: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 976.21 TONNES

JAN 12/WITH GOLD UP $8.65//NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 976.21 TONNES

JAN 11/WITH GOLD UP $19.25/A SMALL CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .87 TONNES FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 976.21 TONNES

JAN 10/WITH GOLD UP $2.00/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 977.08 TONNES

JAN 7/WITH GOLD UP $8.15//A SMALL CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWLA OF 1.16 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 978.83 TONNES

JAN 6/WITH GOLD DOWN $35.30//A SMALL CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//A WITHDRAWAL OF .32 TONNES/INVENTORY RESTS AT 979.99 TONNES

JAN 5/WITH GOLD UP $10.30: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 980.31 TONNES

Jan 4/WITH GOLD UP $14.00//A HUGE CHANGE OF 4.65 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 980.31 TONNES

JAN 3/WITH GOLD DOWN $26.70: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 975.66 TONNES

CLOSING INVENTORY: 1011.60 TONNES

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

SLV

FEB 7/WITH SILVER UP 52 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.218 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 541.430 MILLION OZ/

FEB 4/WITH SILVER UP 16 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 539.212 MILION OZ

FEB 3/WITH SILVER DOWN 35 CENTS: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT539.212 MILLION OZ//

FEB 2/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 5.411 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 539.212 MILLION OZ/

FEB 1/WITH SILVER UP 18 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 533.801 MILLION OZ

JAN 31/WITH SILVER UP 7 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.202 MILLION OZ FORM THE SLV.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 533.801 MILLION OZ//

JAN 28/WITH SILVER DOWN 36 CENTS : NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 535.003 MILLION OZ//

JAN 27/WITH SILVER DOWN $1.13 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 535.003 MILLION OZ//

JAN 26/WITH SILVER DOWN 7 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 535.003 MILLION OZ//

JAN 25/WITH SILVER UP 10 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.311 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 535.003 MILLION OZ/

.JAN 24/WITH SILVER DOWN 48 CENTS TODAY: A MASSIVE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 4.8 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 532.692 MILLION OZ//.

JAN 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 41 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 527.792 MILLION OZ

JAN 20/WITH SILVER UP 52 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.998 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 527.792 MILLION OZ

JAN 19/WITH SILVER UP 71 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.942 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 525.804 MILLION OZ

JAN 18/WITH SILVER UP 51 CENTS TODAY: TWO HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: 2 WITHDRAWALS OF 1.11 MILLION OZ AND 1.424 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 527.246 MILLION OZ//

JAN 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 21 CENTS: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 529.780 MILLION OZ//

JAN 13/WITH SILVER DOWN 2 CENTS: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 832,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 529.780 MILLION OZ

JAN 12/WITH SILVER UP 38 CENTS TODAY : NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 530.612 MILLION OZ//

JAN 11/WITH SILVER UP 33 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 530.612 MILLION OZ/.

JAN 10/WITH SILVER UP 9 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 530.612 MILLION OZ//.

JAN 7/WITH SILVER UP 17 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 530.612 MILLION OZ//.

JAN 6/WITH SILVER DOWN 94 CENTS TODAY: A SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL PF 226,000 OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 530.612 MILLION OZ?/

JAN 5/WITH SILVER UP 8 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 530.838 MILLION OZ//

JAN 4/WITH SILVER UP 21 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 530.838 MILLION OZ//

JAN 3/WITH SILVER DOWN 45 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.219 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 530.838 MILLION OZ//

CLOSING INVENTORY: 541.430 MILLION OZ

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER STORIES

1.PETER SCHIFF

Peter Schiff: The Fed Is Going To Lose The Inflation Fight

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 12:51 PM

Via SchiffGold.com,

The markets continue to brace for the Fed’s impending inflation fight. But as Peter explained in his podcast, they’re not bracing for the Fed to lose that fight.

And the Fed is going to lose that fight.

Oil hit 7-year highs last week with the price over $92 a barrel. This is yet another indication that we’ve yet to hit peak inflation. The price of oil is already up 23% on the year.

Oil also got off to a strong start in 2021. It rose 18% through the first week in February. Peter said this seems to support his belief that inflation will be worse in 2022 than it was in 2021.

The Fed is hanging its hat on the fact that it thinks the inflation rate will come down, that the supply shortages are going to dissipate, and that the bottlenecks are going to unclog. And so, there’s not going to be as much inflation in 2022 as there was in 2021. The reality is there’s going to be more.”

Peter said there is nothing but blue skies in front of the price of oil.

Oil had its last big peak in 2008 at just under $150 a barrel. But at that time, the dollar was extremely weak with the dollar index in the 70s. Today, the dollar index is above 95. Also, the discount rate in 2008 was over 6 percent, at the high point in the cycle. Today, the discount rate is at 0.25 percent – the low of the cycle.

My point is that the dollar has a lot of room to fall and interest rates have a lot of room to rise before we may break the back of the oil bull market.”

The 2008 financial crisis broke oil’s back in 2008. Peter said that’s not going to happen – at least not immediately.

I think that as the Fed starts to raise interest rates, they’re not going to come near 6.25%. We’re not going to get rates nearly high enough to start to impact the demand for oil or bend the inflation curve. And the dollar has a long way to fall. And as it falls, that’s going to put upward pressure on oil prices. So, if the price of oil could peak at $150 a barrel with a six-and-a-quarter percent Fed funds rate, and a 75 DXY, where’s it going to peak this time?”

Peter said we could see oil at $300 a barrel by the time it peaks.

Imagine the US economy if gas went to $10 a gallon.

And of course, they’re going to be paying a lot more money for a lot more things. It’s not just going to be energy prices that are going up. The entire cost of living is going way up. And that is the big problem.”

When the February jobs report came out better than expected, gold initially sold off. As usual, any economic news perceived as good reinforces the idea that the Fed is going to aggressively tighten monetary policy to fight inflation. Peter said the markets still don’t get it.

It doesn’t matter if the Fed raises rates. Because it’s not going to raise them enough. Inflation is going to get worse no matter what the Fed does because the Fed doesn’t have the political will to actually raise rates high enough to fight inflation.”

The Fed will raise rates a little. As Peter put it, the central bank has to pretend it’s going to fight inflation, especially with inflation now widely considered a problem.

So, the markets are bracing for the fight. What they’re not bracing for is that the Fed is going to lose the fight — that inflation is going to win.”

If the markets understood this, gold would be skyrocketing. Bond prices would be tanking even worse than they are today. But at some point, investors will figure out that inflation is going to get worse and that these nominal rate hikes planned by the Fed are not going to do anything to slow down the inflation freight train.

Eventually, the rate hikes that the Fed is delivering, in addition to the pain of higher prices — they are going to slow the economy. They are going to push the economy into recession. And that is going to cause the Fed to do an about-face and ignore the fact that inflation is getting worse and concentrate on the fact that the economy is also getting worse, and may in fact be in recession. And they will pour even more gasoline on the inflation fire because they think the economy needs that gasoline to run faster.”

In this podcast, Peter also talked about the stock market, the February jobs report, the Bitcoin rally, discrimination and the new name for the Washington football team.

end

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

end

3. Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries

‘We’re out of everything,’ Goldman Sachs commodity research chief says

Submitted by admin on Mon, 2022-02-07 10:45 Section: Daily Dispatches

Goldman Commodity Veteran Says He’s Never Seen a Market Like It

Alex Longley and Francine Lacqua
Bloomberg News via Yahoo News
Monday, February 7, 2022

Jeff Currie, the closely-followed head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., says he’s never seen commodity markets pricing in the shortages they are right now.

“I’ve been doing this 30 years and I’ve never seen markets like this,” Currie said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “This is a molecule crisis. We’re out of everything, I don’t care if it’s oil, gas, coal, copper, aluminum — you name it, we’re out of it.”

Futures curves in several markets are trading in super-backwardation — a structure that indicates traders are paying bumper premiums for immediate supply. The downward sloping shape in prices is generally taken to mean commodities are severely undersupplied. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-commodity-veteran-says-never-104223659.html

END

For your interest…

Should Idaho let its reserves be gutted by inflation or should it invest in gold?

Submitted by admin on Mon, 2022-02-07 15:35 Section: Daily Dispatches

By Stefan Gleason
Idaho Statesman, Boise
Monday, February 7, 2022

The recent explosion in inflation rates caused by runaway debt-funded federal spending and Fed money printing has sparked renewed interest in state legislatures, including the Idaho House, in the role gold and silver play in hedging against systemic risks.

With expanding concerns about financial leverage, debt defaults, volatility, and an erosion in purchasing power of the Federal Reserve Note “dollar,” Ohio, Arkansas, West Virginia, Wyoming, Louisiana, and Arizona recently joined dozens of other states in removing tax penalties on buying, selling, and holding gold and silver

Meanwhile, several states are considering a modest allocation of state funds to the monetary metals — a way to hedge their investments in fixed income and other assets vulnerable to inflation.

Ohio recently followed Texas in making a 3-5% gold allocation in its public pensions, and New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Idaho are examining legislation right now to empower state treasurers to hold gold and silver as a reserve asset.

The Idaho state treasurer’s office today has upwards of $10 billion in assets under management — the value of which is rapidly bleeding away through negative real interest rates. …

… For the remainder of the commentary:

https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article258022708.html

END

4.OTHER GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES

Andrew Maguire and Craig Hemke in the vault 60

Maguire and Hemke discuss why price suppression via derivatives may end this year

Submitted by admin on Fri, 2022-02-04 21:02Section: Daily Dispatches

9p ET Friday, February 4, 2022

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Kinesis Money’s “Live from the Vault” report this week consists of a discussion between London metals trader Andrew Maguire and the TF Metals Report’s Craig Hemke in which they review the evidence that this might be the year when the derivatives-based system of suppressing gold and silver prices blows up.

Hemke is sure that the Federal Reserve will chicken out of raising interest rates, as it has chickened out before.

Hemke also asserts that bitcoin has fallen in price because the cryptocurrency has been financialized as gold has been.

Maguire says the “Basel 3” regulations emanating from the Bank for International Settlements have pushed bullion banks into a slow but steady retreat from paper-trading gold and other commodities.

Maguire adds that bullion banks are buying physical gold along with central banks, and he envisions the BIS and the Federal Reserve taking contrary positions on gold, the BIS in favor, the Fed against.

Hemke and Maguire agree that only physical demand for gold can break the derivatives-based price-suppression system and that real metal should be the core of an investor’s portfolio.

The discussion is 54 minutes long and can be viewed at YouTube here:

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

END

5.OTHER COMMODITIES/

They are out of all commodities

(Bloomberg/Longley /Lacqua

special thanks to Doug C for providing this commentary to us:

Goldman Commodity Veteran Says He’s Never Seen a Market Like It

Alex Longley and Francine Lacqua

Mon, February 7, 2022, 5:42 AM·1 min read

Goldman Commodity Veteran Says He’s Never Seen a Market Like It

(Bloomberg) — Jeff Currie, the closely-followed head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., says he’s never seen commodity markets pricing in the shortages they are right now.

Russia Ministry Of Finance Suggests Letting Banks Sell Bitcoin

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 09:40 AM

Two weeks ago we speculated that deep state’s escalating threats to impose draconian sanctions on Russia, and even go so far as to kick it out of SWIFT was the best news for bitcoin in 2022, a year when it desperately needed some good news after plunging more than 50% in two months.

Today, we get further confirmation that this eventuality is now in play after Bitcoin Magazine reported that efforts to welcome bitcoin in Russia with clear regulation keep growing with the Ministry of Finance and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry being the latest two entities voicing their suggestions despite the central bank’s continued hard line.

Russian Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov sent a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Wednesday reiterating the ministry’s inclination to regulate, instead of ban, cryptocurrency trading and mining in the country, per a report by Russian newspaper Kommersant.

The minister proposed to grant some Russian banks a license that would confer upon them the right to facilitate bitcoin trading, supposedly enabling them to function as bitcoin exchanges.

The new regulation would grant cryptocurrencies the status of investment assets, meaning they would be regulated in the same way as cash transactions and transactions with exchange instruments, creating a “white” market, according to the report. Identification of market participants would be mandatory with extensive know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures would be enforced across the regulated cryptocurrency market, removing Bitcoin from the current “gray zone.” Administrative and criminal liabilities would apply to transactions made in the “black” market outside licensed gateways.

The Ministry of Finance, in turn, received a letter by the head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sergey Katyrin, which urged the governmental agency to also move bitcoin mining out of the current “gray zone,” according to a report by Russian news agency TASS.

“It seems necessary to make significant revisions to current legislation and also to hammer out a range of new regulatory acts that will determine in particular the legal status of the mining as a kind of business activity, making it possible to exclude this activity from the ‘gray zone,’ ensuring relevant tax and other compulsory payments,” the letter said.
“In addition, this will make it possible to defuse tension on matters of illegal electricity use.”

President Vladimir Putin backs the Ministry of Finance’s efforts to regulate bitcoin mining and trading despite the central bank’s continued warnings that the industries could pose certain risks to the Russian population.

Putin highlighted last week that the country’s energy surplus and well-trained workforce could bring “advantages” to mining bitcoin, asking the Bank of Russia and the ministry to “come to a consensus.”

The Russian government has since been making quick progress to expedite regulation in an effort to welcome bitcoin and cryptocurrency businesses and investors by establishing a roadmap for legislation.

Steve Brown..

end

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

ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED UP 6.3320

OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.3637

HANG SANG CLOSED UP 6.26 PTS OR 0.03%

2. Nikkei closed UP 191.12 PTS OR 0.70%

3. Europe stocks ALL MIXED

USA dollar INDEX UP TO 95.42/Euro RISES TO 1.1459-

3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +.201/ !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 114.90/ 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 ABOVE 17,000

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

3e WTI:: 91.53 and Brent: 92.89–

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

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

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

3h Oil 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 +.0.235%/Italian 10 Yr bond yield RISES to 1.87% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD RISES TO 1.12%…ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD/GERMAN BUND: 1.64: DANGEROUS FOR THE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM

3j Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO : 2.54

3k Gold at $1814.60 silver at: 22.92 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00

3l USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 31/100 in roubles/dollar AT 75.43

3m oil into the 91 dollar handle for WTI and 92 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 114.95 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 .9240– as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF 1.0576 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: 1.923 UP 1 BASIS PTS

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 2.225 UP 1 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 13.56

Futures Tread Water Amid Peripheral Bond Rout As Key CPI Print Looms

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 07:48 AM

U.S. index futures swung around in a volatile, illiquid overnight session, and at last check were flat despite traders’ concerns about growing fireworks in the European bond market where Italian and Greek bond plunged amid fears of ECB rate hikes as soon as October, while waiting for Thursday’s key CPI data and further corporate earnings. S&P 500 futures were up 2 points or 0.05%, Nasdaq futures were up 26 points or 0.18% and Dow futures were up fractionally as markets now expect more than five quarter-point Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes in 2022 to keep inflation on check following a strong U.S. jobs report. Treasury yields and the dollar were stable, while the euro snapped a six-day strengthening run. WTI crude fell after last week’s rally. Chinese shares climbed on their return from a weeklong holiday. Bitcoin extended its recovery surge.

In the premarket, Peloton was in focus, soaring 27% on reports it’s evaluating interest from potential suitors including Amazon and Nike. That’s a relief for investors in the one-time pandemic darling, which has lost more than 80% since its January 2021 high thanks to easing restrictions and, Mr. Big’s heart attack. But the breather might not last long as sellside analysts warn that regulators will probably crank up the resistance hard on any deal that involves Big Tech. Other notable premarket movers:

Alibaba (BABA US) declined 4% in U.S. premarket trading after Citigroup analysts saw its additional American depositary share registration in the U.S. as a sign that SoftBank Group Corp. may intend to sell part of its stake.
Cryptocurrency-exposed stocks rise in premarket trading Monday as Bitcoin gains for a fifth straight day to climb back above the $42,000 level. Hive Blockchain (HIVE CN) +6.5%, Bit Digital (BTBT US) +6.5%, Hut 8 Mining (HUT CN) +6%.
Snowflake (SNOW US) gains 3.8% in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley upgraded to overweight, citing a pullback in the stock and saying the software solutions provider is executing ahead of plan.
Iveric bio(ISEE US) has a “blockbuster opportunity” in the field of geographic atrophy (GA), Morgan Stanley writes in a note as it initiates coverage with an overweight recommendation and a $25 price target.
Shares of airlines jump in premarket trading after Spirit Airlines and Frontier Group announced a definitive merger agreement whereby Frontier will buy Spirit at an implied value of $25.83 per share

“We continue to be more focused on what growth is going to do rather than rates and believe investors are still too optimistic, particularly as it relates to consumption,” Morgan Stanley strategists led by Michael Wilson write. “Exacerbating that risk is the fact that inventories are now rising rapidly,” they add, keeping a “defensive Posture.”

European equities reverse opening gains, with the Euro Stoxx 50 dipping into the red having initially rallied 0.8%, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed, with basic resources outperforming on stronger iron ore prices. Italy’s FTSE MIB lags, dropping more than 1.5%. Utilities were trading lower, dragged down by Enel, after Fitch cut its debt rating while real estate and energy are the worst performing sectors. Strategists from JPMorgan reiterated upside ahead for the region’s stocks on a positive macro-economic backdrop, strong earnings and cheaper relative valuations. Here are some of the biggest European movers today:

Konecranes shares rise as much as 9% on a Reuters report from late Friday, saying the EU is close to clearing the company’s deal with Cargotec.
Kone shares are up 5%
Adevinta, Rightmove and Schibsted rise after UBS upgraded all three to buy from neutral, saying that the European online classifieds sector is trading at an attractive entry point.
Faurecia gains as much as 3.6% in Paris trading after the French car-parts supplier set out financial targets after taking control of German rival Hella.
H&M rises as much as 3% after local Swedish business daily Dagens Industri named the shares its pick of the week in an article, seeing a buying opportunity for the fashion retailer.
Reckitt climbs as much as 2.4% after Bloomberg reported that the British consumer-goods company is weighing options for its infant nutrition unit, including a potential sale.
Tobii rises as much as 21% after the firm said it is negotiations with Sony to provide its eye-tracking technology in the next PlayStation VR headset.

Asian equities slipped following their best weekly rally in five months, as traders eyed key U.S. inflation data due later this week for more clues on the Federal Reserve’s plan to raise interest rates. Chinese stocks rallied as the market reopened after a week-long holiday. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell as much as 0.5%, dragged by losses in technology shares. Stocks fell in South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, while the mainland’s CSI 300 Index surged 1.5% in catch-up trade after the Lunar New Year break. Read: China Stocks Climb Most in Two Months in Holiday Catch-Up Trade Bonds dropped after a strong U.S. jobs report Friday increased bets of tighter monetary policy, and as traders look ahead this week to U.S. consumer-price figures expected to show the biggest rise since 1982. Decisions are also due from several Asian central banks. “Rising bond yields will remain a key theme into the trading session,” said Jun Rong Yeap, a market strategist at IG Asia. “The week ahead will bring focus to a series of central banks’ decisions in the region in the likes of India, Thailand and Indonesia, all seemingly set to hold their accommodative policies in place for now.” Alibaba Group was the single-largest drag on the regional benchmark Monday, falling 4.5% after registering one billion American depositary shares that hadn’t been registered before. This suggested to Citi that SoftBank may intend to sell some of its Alibaba shares.

Japanese equities fell, slipping after their best weekly gain since mid-October, with electronics and chemical makers the biggest drags on the Topix. Auto makers also weighed on the benchmark, which fell 0.2%. Olympus and Fast Retailing were the largest contributors to a 0.3% loss in the Nikkei 225.

Australia’s equity benchmark recovered from its initial decline to close little changed after the government said it will allow double-vaccinated visa holders to enter the country from Feb. 21, ending about two years of strict border controls. The S&P/ASX 200 Index pared earlier declines as much as 1% to close 0.1% lower with materials stocks contributing the most toward the gauge’s move. GrainCorp was among the top gainers on the gauge after the company forecast underlying profit for the full year of A$235 million to A$280 million, beating analyst estimates. Magellan was the worst performer the company announced founder Hamish Douglass would take a medical leave of absence from the asset manager, which is grappling with fund outflows and a tumbling stock price. In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.5% to 12,279.56

India’s key stock indexes posted their biggest slump in two weeks as investors turned cautious ahead of the central bank’s monetary policy announcement on Thursday and an extended sell off by foreign funds. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.8% to 57,621.19 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped 1.7%. The key gauges fell for the third straight day, posting their biggest drop since Jan. 24. All but three of the 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. slipped, led by finance companies. “We expect that the markets will continue to remain volatile on the back of the recent interest rate movements globally,” according to Naveen Kulkarni, chief investment officer, at Axis Securities. He expects most emerging markets to witness outflows of foreign funds, leading to currency depreciation in the short term. The Reserve Bank of India’s monetary-policy panel will meet Feb. 8-10, starting a day later than initially scheduled. The decision will be announced on Thursday. The change was made as the nation mourns the death of celebrated singer Lata Mangeshkar. Banks in Mumbai bond and currency markets were shut Monday. HDFC Bank contributed the most to the Sensex’s decline, falling 3.7%, its biggest drop since April 30. Out of 30 shares in the Sensex index, five rose and 25 fell. State Bank of India, which reported December quarter earnings ahead of analysts’ expectations over the weekend, rose 0.6%.

Fixed income trades heavy with losses led by peripheral bonds which tumbled on Monday following weakness on Friday. Short-dated Italian bonds snapped almost 10bps wider to Germany, while 10y Greek spreads blow out ~20bps, helped by hawkish comments from ECB’s Knot. iTraxx Crossover widens ~17bps. Bunds bear-steepen, cheaper by 4bps at the back end. Gilts and Treasuries are calm, relatively speaking. Euribor futures drop 4-5 ticks across the red pack, money markets wager on 27bps of hikes in September.

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was a tad higher as the dollar traded mixed versus its Group-of-10 peers; AUD and CAD are the strongest performers in G-10 FX, NOK and EUR underperform. The euro snapped six days of gains while the move in the common currency’s skew has been steep and a retreat for bullish wagers could be due after investors added longs in spot and options markets alike last week, after European peripheral bonds extended their declines and underperformance vs the core as markets bet on more tightening after ECB’s Knot said rate hikes are possible as soon as the fourth quarter. Australia’s dollar and sovereign yields advanced on announcement that the nation will allow double-vaccinated visa holders to enter the country from Feb. 21. A strong ex-inflation retail sales print underpinned the moves. Japan’s benchmark 10-year yield rose to the highest in six years as the Bank of Japan refrained from conducting an unscheduled bond purchase operation to stem the recent rise in yields.

In commodities, crude benchmarks are pressured, perhaps taking impetus from broader sentiment; however, we remain elevated in the broader picture and geopols continue to dominate. Overnight, Brent tested but failed to successfully surpass USD 94.00/bbl with WTI falling ~1.3% before stabilizing close to $91. Focus on Macron/Putin talks today, though the Kremlin has downplayed the chance of a ‘breakthrough’ while Iranian talks are to recommence Tuesday. Spot gold/silver are contained and remain near multiple DMAs while base metals benefit from the return of China. Marathon’s Galveston Bay Refinery (593k bpd) and Valero’s Texas City refinery (225k bpd) were knocked out of production due to a power outage on Friday amid severe cold weather, according to Reuters. Saudi Arabia raised oil prices for customers in Asia, US and Europe, according to Bloomberg. Indian government is to express serious concern over crude oil price volatility; government to take up this topic with oil producing nations/groups, via Reuters. Gazprom says it does not intend to hold spot gas sales sessions on its electronic platform this week, via Reuters. Turkey lifted its ban on importing scrap metals from Lebanon, according to Reuters. Base metals are mixed; LME copper falls 0.6% while LME aluminum gains 0.8%. Spot gold rises roughly $3 to trade near $1,811/oz.

Expected data on Wednesday include consumer credit, while Amgen, Hasbro, Loews and Take-Two are among companies reporting results.

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures down 0.2% to 4,481.50
STOXX Europe 600 little changed at 462.60
MXAP little changed at 187.71
MXAPJ down 0.1% to 614.38
Nikkei down 0.7% to 27,248.87
Topix down 0.2% to 1,925.99
Hang Seng Index little changed at 24,579.55
Shanghai Composite up 2.0% to 3,429.58
Sensex down 1.7% to 57,660.26
Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 0.1% to 7,110.85
Kospi down 0.2% to 2,745.06
German 10Y yield little changed at 0.22%
Euro down 0.3% to $1.1420
Brent Futures down 1.2% to $92.19/bbl
Gold spot up 0.2% to $1,812.36
U.S. Dollar Index up 0.11% to 95.59

Top Overnight News from Bloomberg

French President Emmanuel Macron meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday as Western leaders continue their push to deter any moves against Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks will be “substantive and quite prolonged,” but he doesn’t expect a breakthrough
Boris Johnson promised his Conservative Party an overhaul of his top team as he strives to keep his job after a series of gaffes and scandals. Two rapid appointments over the weekend may already be too late
Currency analysts downplayed China’s move on Monday to set the yuan reference rate with the biggest weakening bias versus forecasts, saying it was simply a recalibration following the weeklong Lunar New year holiday
The global stockpile of negative-yielding bonds has dropped to the lowest in more than six years after nearly $3 trillion was wiped out in just two days last week
Fidelity International Ltd. and abrdn Plc are among the firms avoiding Asian local debt and favoring bonds elsewhere in the developing world on the view that the region will take longer to start tightening monetary policy. Bond managers are turning lukewarm on Asian debt on speculation the region will be the last in emerging markets to start raising rates

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

Asian stocks were mixed amid recent increases in global yields and after the blowout NFP data stoked bets for a more aggressive Fed rate hike in March, while geopolitical concerns also lingered. ASX 200 (-0.1%) was dragged lower by weakness in real estate, healthcare and financials although finished off its lows amid resilience in the commodity-related sectors and stronger than expected quarterly Retail Trade data. Nikkei 225 (-0.7%) suffered as Japan plans an extension of COVID-19 measures for Tokyo and other areas. Hang Seng (U/C) and Shanghai Comp. (+2.0%) were varied as Hong Kong stocks took a back seat to the outperformance in the mainland which re-opened for the first time since the Lunar New Year, while Chinese Caixin Services and Composite PMIs slowed but remained in expansion territory

Top Asian News

Hong Kong Braces for Curbs as Cases Double Every Three Days
H.K. Sees Record Cases; Australia Reopening: Virus Update
Hysan to Buy 25% Stake in Henderson Land’s Project for HK$3.05b
Taiwan FX Trading Punishment on Deutsche Bank Lifted: Reuters

Core European bourses are choppy and mixed overall, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.1%, though the periphery is pressured on domestic debt downside; FTSE MIB -1.6%. Sectors are mixed overall though Basic Resources outperform on base metals while Energy/Utilities pulls-back given benchmark pricing and Friday’s upside. Stateside, US futures are pressured but have also been choppy/rangebound for the most part, RTY lags.

Top European News

Var Energi Valued at $9.1 Billion in Rare Big Energy Listing
U.K. House Prices Rise at Slowest Pace Since June, Halifax Says
Ajax Shares Fall as Director Overmars Leaves Club Over Messages
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey Promotes Operations Head Daly as CEO

In FX, the dollar retains bulk of its stellar BLS labour report gains, but eases from best levels Loonie gets over Canadian LFS jobs release disappointment with aid from WTI crude holding a firm line. Aussie underpinned by iron ore prices, record retail sales data and plans to reopen international borders from February 21st. Euro hands back some ECB inspired upside, but even higher EGB yields should provide traction. Yuan undermined by PBoC setting a weak onshore fix, soft Chinese Caixin PMIs and more angst with the US over compliance to terms of Phase One trade deal. Turkish President Erdogan tested positive for COVID-19, according to Reuters. South Africa’s Eskom announced that loadshedding was suspended from Sunday evening amid a sufficient recovery in generation capacity, according to Reuters.

In commodities, crude benchmarks are pressured, perhaps taking impetus from broader sentiment; however, we remain elevated in the broader picture and geopols continue to dominate. Overnight, Brent tested but failed to successfully surpass USD 94.00/bbl. Focus on Macron/Putin talks today, though the Kremlin has downplayed the chance of a ‘breakthrough’ while Iranian talks are to recommence Tuesday. Spot gold/silver are contained and remain near multiple DMAs while base metals benefit from the return of China. Marathon’s Galveston Bay Refinery (593k bpd) and Valero’s Texas City refinery (225k bpd) were knocked out of production due to a power outage on Friday amid severe cold weather, according to Reuters. Saudi Arabia raised oil prices for customers in Asia, US and Europe, according to Bloomberg. Indian government is to express serious concern over crude oil price volatility; government to take up this topic with oil producing nations/groups, via Reuters. Gazprom says it does not intend to hold spot gas sales sessions on its electronic platform this week, via Reuters. Turkey lifted its ban on importing scrap metals from Lebanon, according to Reuters.

US Event Calendar

3pm: Dec. Consumer Credit, est. $25b, prior $40b

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

After a week for the ages that we’ll fully review in the second half of this note, this week should be calmer until of course US CPI comes along on Thursday. What made last week so fascinating was the rare interplay between macro and micro. Not only did the rates world shake and reverberate (2yr bunds +35.9bps and the worse week since 2008), but on successive days we saw the biggest market cap fall in history for any company (Meta), followed by the biggest rise ever (Amazon). We have 83 S&P 500 companies reporting this week but no Goliath sized ones, so it’ll be a more normal week for earnings. The macro and micro last week was enough to push the Russian/Ukraine tensions into the background but they are clearly still there so we have to watch out for that as well.

Over the weekend ECB governor Knott (a hawk) became the first ECB official to endorse a 2022 hike by suggesting that he expects a hike around Q4 and another in Spring 2023, and that they are most likely to be in 25bps increments. He also suggests bond purchases should end as soon as possible and that Euro Area inflation will remain above 4% all this year. There will be excitement about the comments in markets today but pricing is already above 50bps before year-end so as the ECB catch up with the market, will the market now go another step further?

When the dust settles we will soon move on to US CPI on Thursday. In terms of what to look out for, note that 8 of the last 10 CPI releases have seen the monthly headline figure come in above the consensus estimate on Bloomberg. Our US economists are projecting that monthly headline CPI growth will slow to +0.36% in January, with core inflation also slowing to +0.36%. However, this would still push YoY readings to 7.2% and 5.8% (consensus at 7.3% and 5.9%) respectively the highest since 1982 for both. There are plenty of wildcards in the release but we’ll be watching rents/OER most as this makes up around 40% of core and around a third of the headline number. Since last summer it’s been clear from our models that this was going to continue going up and up and given its weight it’s very difficult for inflation to mean revert without it also doing so. It’s showing no sign of this at the moment and likely won’t for several months at least.

Otherwise it’s a fairly quiet week on the data front, though it’ll be worth looking out for the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index for February on Friday. January saw the measure fall to its lowest level in a decade, whilst longer-term inflation expectations have been picking up as well, so one to keep an eye on. Elsewhere, we’ve got the UK’s GDP release for Q4 coming out on Friday as well.

Earnings season is past the peak but will continue to be busy, with a further 83 companies in the S&P 500 and 89 in the Stoxx 600 reporting. Among the highlights to look out for will be Pfizer, BP and BNP Paribas tomorrow. Then on Wednesday, we’ll hear from Disney, L’Oréal, GlaxoSmithKline, Uber and Toyota. Finally on Thursday, there’s reports from The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, AstraZeneca, Philip Morris International, Linde, Siemens, Unilever, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, Twitter and Credit Suisse. See the day-by-day calendar for more on the week ahead.

Asian markets are a bit softer to start the week. The Nikkei (-0.84%), Kospi (-0.43%) and Hang Seng (-0.31%) are down. China has reopened after last week’s Lunar NY holiday and both the Shanghai Composite (+1.91%) and the CSI (+1.62%) are catching up. Equity futures in the US point towards a steady start with contracts on the S&P 500 (+0.08%) and Nasdaq (+0.13%) slightly higher.

In terms of economic data, China’s services sector activity dipped to 5-month lows as the Caixin services PMI edged down to +51.4 from 53.1 in December as a rise in local Covid-19 cases coupled with restrictive measures hit consumer sentiment.

Looking back on last week, the main story was the historic sell off in sovereign yields at the end of the week. Hawkish communications from the ECB and BoE, along with much stronger-than-expected employment data in the US, drove advanced economy sovereign bond yields to their highest post-pandemic levels.

Recapping region-by-region. The ECB left policy unchanged, though tilted their communications in a much more hawkish direction. President Lagarde noted that near-term risks to inflation were tilted to the upside and did not repeat her previous remarks that a 2022 hike was unlikely. The week ended with the market fully pricing liftoff in July, with an 86% probability of liftoff happening in June, and 5 full (10bps) hikes through 2022. 2yr bund yields increased +35.9bps (+8.4bps Friday), their largest weekly increase since April 2008, while 10yr bunds increased +25.0bps (+6.2bps Friday), their largest weekly increase since June 2015. Notably, 5yr bunds were the latest tenor to cross into positive territory, closing above 0 for the first time since May 2018 after increasing +35.3bps this week (+9.1bps Friday), the largest weekly increase since January 2011.

In the UK, the BoE raised the Bank Rate +25bps to 0.5% and began the passive unwind of its securities portfolio. Notably, four MPC officials dissented, instead favouring a +50bps hike. The BoE also upgraded their inflation forecasts to have CPI peaking around 7.25% in April. The market has now priced in 5 additional Bank Rate increases (25bps) through 2022. 2yr gilts increased +29.4bps this week (+11.8bps Friday), their largest weekly increase since September 2017 and 10yr gilts increased +16.7bps (+4.3bps Friday).

Treasury yields increased following the hawkish pivots from central banks across the Atlantic, albeit in smaller magnitudes. It took Friday’s employment report to really get Treasuries to join the sell-off. US nonfarm payrolls increased by +467k in January, and the prior two months were revised +709k higher, while average hourly earnings increased +0.7%, month-on-month. There was a big BLS population adjustment but the report was strong adjusting for that. This data came as FOMC officials were warning beforehand that the employment data was more than likely to surprise to the downside but would not impact the path for policy. With employment remaining robust through the worst of the Omicron wave, markets meaningfully increased the probability the FOMC would raise its policy rate by +50bps, rather than 25, at its March meeting. At the end of the week a +140% chance of a +25bp move in March was priced, while 5.3 25bps hikes were priced through the year.

2yr treasury yields climbed +16.7bps (+11.4bps Friday) and 10yr yields increased +13.9bps (+7.8bps Friday). Real 10yr yields increased +18.9bps (+7.5bps Friday) to -0.50%, the highest level since June 2020, while real 30yr yields moved into positive territory for the first time since last May, closing the week at 0.04%, after increasing +20.2bps (+6.1bps Friday).

Onto risk markets, and the S&P 500 impressively gained +1.55% (+0.52% Friday) after a week where ECB liftoff was moved to June, half the BoE wanted to hike +50bps, the Fed pricing moved toward a +50bp liftoff, and the 6th biggest company in the US lost a third of its market value. European stocks underperformed, given the sharper repricing of monetary policy expectations, with the STOXX 600 down -0.73% (-1.38% Friday), the DAX -1.43% (-1.75% Friday), and the CAC -0.21% (-0.77% Friday).

In the S&P 500, all but three sectors were higher on the week. Mega-cap tech earnings were the main focus, with sentiment breaking both ways. Meta decreased -21.42% (-0.28% Friday) following earnings that portended slowing subscriber growth and increasing streaming competition from other social media sites. Supporting sentiment, Alphabet had a strong earnings release and announced a 20-for-1 stock split, seeing their shares +7.46% higher on the week (+0.14% Friday), while Amazon shares climbed +9.49% (+13.54% Friday) on reports that they’d be raising the price of US Prime memberships and that their investment in electric carmaker Rivian was performing well. So a wild ride.

In terms of credit, after holding in well in the sell-off of two weeks ago, the asset class lagged equities last week, especially in Europe after the rates shock. Itraxx Main was +5.5bps wider on the week (+2.7bps Friday), while Xover was +29.2bps wider (+14.2bps Friday). In the US, IG CDX was +2.6bps wider (+1.3bps Friday) while HY widened +12.6bp (+9.5bp Friday). Year-to-date US HY CDX is +63bps wider and IG CDX is +14bps wider, while ITraxx Xover is +73bps wider and Main is +17bps wider. Cash index spreads were more varied last week, given $IG spreads were actually unchanged over the course of the last week, while €IG spreads were +8bps wider (+7bps Friday) and £IG spreads were +14bps (+8bps Friday). High yield spreads were somewhat similar with $HY spreads just 5bps wider on the week, while €HY spreads were +12bps wider and £HY spreads were +16bps wider. Ash indices tend to lag in fast moves.

OPEC+ agreed to a further output increase of +400k barrels per day in March broadly as expected, though production figures are bound by suppliers that are struggling to meet their quotas. All in, crude futures were +3.60% this week (+2.37% Friday).

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)MONDAY MORNING// SUNDAY NIGHT

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

///NORTH KOREA

3B JAPAN

3c CHINA

CHINA/RUSSIA/OLYMPICS

The high level meeting of Xi and Putin at the Olympics was anti USA

(Sansome/EpochTimes)

Xi-Putin Olympics Summit Is Explicitly – And Primarily – Anti-US

SUNDAY, FEB 06, 2022 – 10:00 PM

Authored by Dominick Sansome via The Epoch Times,

The Feb. 4 meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin proceeded with the expected proclamations of “mutual trust” and “the spirit of friendship.”

According to the Kremlin, there were a total of 16 agreements across various spheres of cooperation reached during the meeting. These included economic trade, technology, and energy relations.

Coinciding with the opening day of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, part of the purpose of the high-level meeting was undoubtedly appearance based. Putin additionally wrote an article for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outlet Xinhua in which he celebrated the growing relationship between Moscow and Beijing.

“Our countries play an important stabilizing role in today’s challenging international environment, promoting greater democracy in the system of international relations to make it more equitable and inclusive,” stated Putin. The Russian president went on to explain that one of the primary means for accomplishing this goal is through support for the United Nations Charter.

A joint statement put out by the two countries following the Putin-Xi summit in Beijing went further. It stated that Moscow and Beijing seek to “to protect the United Nations-driven international architecture and the international law-based world order, seek genuine multipolarity with the United Nations and its Security Council playing a central and coordinating role.”

Members of the U.N. Security Council gather for a meeting at the United Nations in New York, on Sept. 27, 2018. (Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images)

These statements together place emphasis on the fact that Putin continues to see the U.N. as the primary body through which Russia is able to uphold its international influence. Citing the importance of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), on which Russia and China both permanently sit, Putin reinforces the primacy of the “democratization of international relations.”

Under the veneer of international stability and world peace, this latter point is what is truly of critical importance for actors such as Putin and Xi. The U.N. ensures that Russia has just as much power as the United States or its Western allies, especially considering its crucial veto on the Security Council. By allying with fellow UNSC member China, the two hold significant sway in influencing international decision-making.

Given Moscow’s current tensions with NATO over Ukraine, it makes sense that Putin would be highlighting the importance of the U.N. A constant refrain from the Kremlin regarding NATO expansion is that no country’s security should be enhanced in a manner that reduces the relative security of a third country. By referring back to the U.N., Putin claims to be relying on a neutral multilateral organization in which every country has equal standing—this, rather than Western-led institutions such as NATO.

Xi and the CCP also gain advantage from promoting this line of thinking. Besides also seeking the type of multipolarity that is referred to in these Russia-China joint statements, the international attention of the Olympics presents a favorable opportunity for the CCP to reference that it is not the United States or NATO that unilaterally set international policy.

It is reported that only about 25 countries have sent official diplomatic delegations to the Beijing Olympics. The United States and most of its Western developed allies have chosen to diplomatically boycott the Games over human rights concerns with the CCP’s internal governance of China. Placing the meeting with Putin on the opening day of the Games ensures that the spotlight cannot be ignored: the China-Russia bilateral relationship is secure and constantly growing. The continued reference to the U.N. and the Security Council additionally remind the West that the two nuclear-armed powers hold just as much institutional legitimacy as the United States and its allies.

Xi called on both countries “to maintain close high-level exchanges, give strong support to each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests.” This includes “deepening back-to-back strategic coordination and upholding international equity and justice.”

Reading between the lines of the frequent calls for international democracy and equality from two of the world’s most authoritarian regimes reveals the true message: We support one another in the right to conduct our domestic policies as we see fit, independent from the judgment of the United States or other democratic nations.

That does not mean that Beijing has irrevocably committed itself to Moscow. Even up until the Feb. 4 meeting, Xi withheld making any definite comment one way or the other regarding the escalating situation in Ukraine. This changed at the opening day of the summit. Following the meeting between Xi and Putin, the two countries released a joint statement on “international relations entering a new era and the global sustainable development.”

A convoy of Russian armored vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea, on Jan. 18, 2022. (AP Photo)

Notably, this included a joint call to halt further NATO enlargement and for the alliance to “abandon its ideologized cold war approaches.” Moscow also reaffirmed its support of Beijing’s stance regarding Taiwan, and both countries voiced their opposition to the AUKUS security alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

This is an important development as, again, Beijing has recently held off from committing itself on the Ukraine issue. The opening up of the Games and the absence of Western delegations may have emphasized the heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. Putin is the most prominent guest at the Games.

As stated by Xi: “We are working together to promote a truly multilateral world. Efforts to uphold the real democratic spirit are a reliable foundation for rallying the world towards overcoming crises and protecting equality.”

A “multilateral world” is essential for Russia and China to uphold the legitimacy of their own internal systems. As the U.S.-led order continues to try and isolate the two regimes and cast international condemnation on them for their foreign and domestic policy choices, the strength of the Sino-Russian bilateral relationship is increasingly important to withstanding Western pressures.

Xi apparently calculated that the advantage of publicly aligning himself closer to Moscow at this period of heightened international tensions outweighed any potential negative cost.

END

China fixes its yuan at the weakest on record (off shore)

China Fixes Yuan At Weakest On Record Relative To Expectations

SUNDAY, FEB 06, 2022 – 10:30 PM

China has returned from its week-long holiday. While it is no secret that Beijing is easing (ever more aggressively, prompting fund managers to allocate capital to China at a time when the country is increasingly viewed as non-grata by both the left and right) to stabilize its slumping economy, just as the rest of the world is tightening, moments ago the PBOC underscored its commitment to keeping the yuan on a downward slope when it fixed the yuan at 6.3580. Compared to expectations of 6.3328, this was the weakest fixing on record!

The weak fixing comes less than two weeks after the yuan hit a near four-year-high against the dollar on Jan. 26 while an index tracking yuan’s value against a basket of currencies (the CFETS RMB basket ) is flirting with the highest level since late 2015.

It follows two months after the PBOC’s previous record low fixing vs expectations which was set on December 9 of 2021, and according to Bloomberg, “signaled a limit to its tolerance for the yuan’s recent advance by setting its reference rate at a weaker-than-expected level” and when Malayan Banking Berhad said that “the weaker-than-expected fix is a reminder to markets that the currency is being watched and the central bank wants to prevent appreciation bets from snowballing.”

Despite China’s ongoing weakness and the PBOC’s recent pivot toward easing, in the past year the yuan has been supported by strong inflows given China’s robust exports and foreign investment in onshore bonds. The currency was more recently aided by bets that Beijing’s monetary stimulus will sustain the nation’s growth and that the new Covid variant will have limited impact on the global recovery.

That said, the unexpectedly weak fixing comes at a time when the increasingly hawkish Fed and ECB should take some appreciation pressure off the yuan: as Bloomberg’s Ye Xie noted earlier today, the trade-weighted yuan fell 0.9% last week, the most since July 2020. And while the yuan is still supported by a lofty trade surplus, but the interest-rate differential is becoming less supportive. Additionally, surging crude oil is another negative for China, a major energy importer.

All that suggests that there’s limited upside for the yuan, a conclusion reinforced by Guan Tao, global chief economist at BOC International and a former official at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), who said that the Chinese government could take further measures if needed to keep the yuan stable, potentially putting downward pressure on the currency.

Among the measures mentioned by Guan, he said that policymakers could increase yuan’s flexibility, expand capital outflows, or control capital inflows to rein in the yuan, which could deviate from economic fundamentals in the short term.

Writing in an article published in the Shanghai Securities News on Monday, Guan noted that the yuan also faces downward pressure from several market factors, including further strengthening of the dollar index, the shrinking spread between U.S. and Chinese yields, and the narrowing difference in the growth between the two economies.

The former regulator, who previously headed SAFE’s balance of payments department, said that the yuan is already losing some momentum, citing shrinking trading volumes in the interbank forex market.

Whether it was driven by the sign of force against a strong yuan, or just because they are catching up to the upward move in risk assets observed in the past week, Chinese shares soared on their return from a week-long holiday, with sentiment boosted by Friday’s jump in Hong-Kong listed names and easing concerns about regulatory headwinds for the nation’s battered tech sector.

China’s CSI 300 Index jumped as much as 2.4% before paring its advance to 1.2% as of 10:42 a.m. in Shanghai. Even so, at this level the benchmark is on track for its best post-Lunar New Year holiday performance since 2019. The Shanghai Composite Index also rose.

It could prove challenging for Chinese stocks to maintain their upward bias: traders returning from their long break are having to contend with challenges ranging from weak local manufacturing and housing data to an expanding camp of hawkish foreign central banks. Economic trends during the festive period – typically a boon for spending and travel – have been disappointing, even with the Winter Olympics.

“Fewer red packets of “lucky money” appear to have been exchanged in the WeChat groups, the box office on the first day of the new year plunged, and lending stats for January among the biggest lenders were disappointing,” Hao Hong, chief strategist at Bocom International, wrote in a note.

According to Bloomberg, domestic tourism revenue fell around 4% from a year earlier, while virus flare-ups and pollution curbs during the games are weighing on consumer and industrial activity. Movie ticket sales for the first four days of the break were down 23% from a year earlier to 3.5 billion yuan ($550 million), according to Maoyan data.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slid 0.9% in Hong Kong after adding nearly 3% on Friday in its first session post the break.

One final point: if all else fails and the yuan keeps rising contrary to the wishes of the PBOC and politburo, how long until the market starts whispering that dreaded phrase “devaluation”?

end

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

EU/VACCINE/VACCINE MANDATE

The EU wants to keep the dreaded vaccine passports in place for another year.

(Watson/SummitNews)

EU Wants To Keep Vaccine Passports In Place For Another Entire Year

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 02:00 AM

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

The unelected bureaucrat governors of the EU in the European Commission have proposed keeping the bloc’s COVID vaccine passport system in place for another entire year, despite the fact that many member countries are ramping down restrictions.

In a notice on its website, the Commission states “Today the European Commission is proposing to extend the EU Digital COVID Certificate by a year, until 30 June 2023.”

It continues, “The COVID-19 virus continues to be prevalent in Europe and at this stage it is not possible to determine the impact of a possible increase in infections in the second half of 2022 or of the emergence of new variants.”

“Extending the Regulation will ensure that travellers can continue using their EU Digital COVID Certificate when travelling in the EU where Member States maintain certain public health measures,” the statements adds.

It continues, “The Commission is adopting the proposal today to make sure the European Parliament and the Council can conclude the legislative procedure in time before the current Regulation expires.”

The move comes even as several countries, including Denmark, Norway, Italy, Sweden, France, in addition to non-EU countries such as Switzerland and England move to scrap restrictions including the vaccine passes.

The European Commission admits in its statement that it is up to the individual countries whether they carry on using the EU COVID vaccine passport scheme.

“The domestic use of EU Digital COVID Certificates remains a matter for Member States to decide, the statement notes, adding “The EU legislation on the EU Digital COVID Certificate neither prescribes nor prohibits the domestic use of EU Digital COVID Certificate (such as for access to events or restaurants).”

It also notes that “At the same time, where a Member State establishes a system of COVID-19 certificate for domestic purposes, it should continue to ensure that the EU Digital COVID Certificate is also fully accepted for those purposes. Beyond that, the Commission also encourages Member States to align their domestic validity periods with the validity period set at EU level for the purpose of travel.”

As we reported in November, despite vaccine passport schemes and high vaccination rates in many of the countries affected, COVID cases across Europe continued to surge as winter kicked in.

In addition, a recent investigation by experts in Spain concluded that vaccine passports have no significant impact on reducing COVID-19 infection rates.

The findings are similar to evidence found by the UK government that vaccine passports could actually increase Covid rates in the country.

The Spanish study noted that the only positives of such a scheme are that it “warns people that there is still danger from the pandemic and encourages vaccination uptake among the reticent.”

In other words, although vaccine passports have no discernible impact on their stated goal – reducing the spread of COVID-19 – they do succeed in keeping people fearful and compliant.

That conclusion dovetails with a recent admission by French Minister of Health Olivier Véran that the vaccine passports are “a disguised form of vaccination obligation,” but are “more effective.”

* * *

END

GERMANY

Now the idiots demand a meat tax to fight climate change???

(Watson/SummitNews)

Technocrats Demand Meat Tax To Fight Climate Change

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 05:00 AM

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

A group of environmental economists in Germany is demanding that huge taxes be imposed on meat products to fight climate change, with calls for beef to be 56 per cent more expensive.

Asserting that livestock is responsible for 13 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, researchers from TU Berlin’s Chair of Sustainable Use of Natural Resources are demanding limitations on meat consumption in order to “attain greenhouse gas neutrality.”

“Livestock farming is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, soil and water pollution, and precious forests are being cleared for pastures and food crops,” said the leader of the group, Professor Linus Mattauch.
“Evidence suggests the environmental impacts are so large that the world can’t meet climate goals and keep vital ecosystems intact without reducing the consumption of meat – at least in Western high-income countries,” he added.

Mattauch wants governments to “start thinking about also taxing meat to reduce its consumption,” asserting that this is the “most efficient path to preventing further strain on our planet.”

“According to the group’s model calculations, the direct cost of livestock farming in relation to climate change is as high as $9.21 per kilogram of beef,” reports ReMix News.
“Applying this cost to the price of beef could result in beef products being as much as 56 percent more expensive. Similarly, poultry would cost 25 percent more, and lamb and pork would rise by 19 percent.”

Such taxes will of course primarily impact the poor, who in many western countries are already suffering due to rampant food inflation.

No doubt the solution to that will be amplifying efforts to encourage everyone to start eating bugs as an alternative and “sustainable” source of protein.

As we previously highlighted, the World Economic Forum published two articles on its website which explored how people could be conditioned to get used to the idea of eating weeds, bugs and drinking sewage water in order to reduce CO2 emissions.

In January last year, the EU officially approved the sale of worms as food to be consumed by humans.

Last month, Vanderbilt University Professor Amanda Little argued that everyone in the world needs to start dining on insects and that the EU’s approval of them conferred a form of “dignity” to their consumption.

One group of people who won’t be eating bugs is technocrat globalists.

Despite insisting that everyone else reduce their living standards and ration their meat eating to save the planet, during last year’s Cop 26 summit, attendees enjoyed a menu full of animal-based dishes that were at least double the carbon footprint of the average UK meal.

* * *

end

GERMANY/USA

Biden presses new German Chancellor Scholz on halting Nord Stream ii

(zerohedge)

Biden Presses Reluctant German Chancellor On Halting Nord Stream 2, Imposing Russia Sanctions

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 03:47 PM

Macron was in Moscow in talks with Putin, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Washington meeting with Biden on Monday. Despite Germany lately coming under heavy criticism from the more hawkish corners of the NATO alliance for its less than muscular response to the Ukraine crisis, Biden told reporters while welcoming Scholz that they are “in lockstep” on “confronting Russian aggression” at Ukraine’s border.

Going into the meeting, admin officials said the two leaders would spend time talking about a “robust sanctions package” aimed at Moscow in the event of a military offensive. However, Scholz has not indicated willingness to go along with any level of punitive economic measures, given also Germany’s close trade and energy ties with Russia, not the least of which still looms large in the background is Nord Stream 2.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1490762732261548032&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fbiden-presses-reluctant-german-chancellor-halting-nord-stream-2-imposing-russia&sessionId=ad38fe548810e16dae4e2c3a8decd51aba8efd44&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=0a8eea3%3A1643743420422&width=550px

On this matter, the White House indicated Biden is pressing the German Chancellor on putting in place plans to halt cooperation with Russia on Nord Stream 2 if Ukraine is invaded. But given the pipeline is now complete, and ready to start pumping gas while merely awaiting final German regulatory approval, it’s hard to see how amenable Berlin will in the end be to this option.

CNN described, “Looming over the meeting, however, is the question of Scholz’s resolve to confront Putin. Among the United States’ major European allies, Germany has appeared the most reluctant to commit to lethal aid, sending thousands of helmets instead of weapons and refusing to allow another NATO ally, Estonia, to send German-made howitzers to Ukraine.”

Germany remains among leading European countries which has refused to bolster its forces along NATO’s ‘eastern flank’ – and has gone so far as to ban its weapons from being shipped Ukrainian forces.

Perhaps the more interesting eye-brow raising statements from the day’s flurry of diplomatic activity on the Ukraine crisis came from Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He started with the usual statements of vowing “real and profound consequences should Russia choose to continue aggression” – while also teasing specific courses of action previously floated as options on the table:

“We developed a high-impact, quick-action response that would inflict massive costs on the Russian economy and financial system including sanctions and significant export control,” Blinken said, adding that the EU is preparing “complementary” actions.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1490764940893958152&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fbiden-presses-reluctant-german-chancellor-halting-nord-stream-2-imposing-russia&sessionId=ad38fe548810e16dae4e2c3a8decd51aba8efd44&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=0a8eea3%3A1643743420422&width=550px

He said this while standing beside European Commission Vice-President Josep Borrell at their joint presser in Brussels. Blinken charged that Russia stands ready to disrupt Europe’s gas supplies:

“When Russia halted gas supplies over a dispute with Ukraine in 2009, people died from the cold. And when energy supplies fail, economies falter,” he said. “We’re determined to prevent that from happening and to mitigate the impact on energy supplies and prices should Russia choose to cut natural gas supplies to Europe more than it already has.”

Blinken referenced ongoing measures of the US administration to put in place contingency plans “in the event that Russia turns off the spigot or initiates a conflict that disrupts the flow of gas through Ukraine,” but without confirming much in the way of specifics.

But he also hinted that a diplomatic opening could be focused upon proper implementation of the prior Minsk agreements, which would involve breakaway regions of Donbass moving toward a “special status”…

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1490739716559413255&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fbiden-presses-reluctant-german-chancellor-halting-nord-stream-2-imposing-russia&sessionId=ad38fe548810e16dae4e2c3a8decd51aba8efd44&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=0a8eea3%3A1643743420422&width=550px

“The [Minsk] agreements speak of special status for the Donbas and I believe that with the appropriate sequencing, Ukrainians would be prepared to move forward”, Blinken said.

He emphasized that all sides are in agreement on respecting the Minsk accords, but still faulted Russia for failing to adhere to them, which remains a likely only avenue to ensure peace and find a lasting settlement to the crisis.

EU/BONDS

European bond yields skyrocketing (prices falling) which is causing peripheral Europe to panic.

European Bonds Are Blowing Up As Peripheral Europe Runs “Panic-Pain” Playbook

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 09:00 AM

While last week finally saw the stock panic migrate to US corporate bonds resulting in the first cracks in the previously calm facade credit…

… in Europe, a much more dangerous tidal wave is spreading from risk to peripheral spreads which are always far more susceptible to panic, and then pain. Today is no different.

As Bloomberg’s Michael Read writes, Italian bonds are markedly wider to core this morning with the short end lagging on what is roughly 8bps of widening so far. Then you look at Greece… ouch. So far it’s worth 20bps of widening to core at the 10y point, and it’s a pretty fluid (but probably not very liquid) situation.

Why the collapse? We know several things for sure: peripheral Europe has benefited greatly from ECB emergency measures, and will continue to hurt as long as market is factoring in a faster removal of said measures as the ECB suggested last week and as various trail balloons after the central bank presser confirmed.

That said, Lagarde gets a chance to calm markets later today should she choose to. It was her press conference that slapped the rates space last week (given there was little market reaction to the statement). So, while she stressed that all comments are conditional, the market did what markets do: front-run the potential for a shift in the ECB’s normalization timeline. Today’s appearance before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs might give us an indication of just how hawkish she meant to be.

We’ve got a degree of cognitive dissonance at play (arguably because the market is so used to being precisely guided): Thursday’s statement was basically unchanged, and still included the familiar “present or lower levels” for rates forward guidance and pace of APP run down. For peripheral bonds this isn’t a rates lift-off play (although that’s an inevitable conclusion). This is an ongoing reaction to expectations for an earlier removal of the ECB’s bid — and one that seems to have legs.

end

“If You’re Not Scared Here…” – Lagarde Let Europe’s Genie Out Of The ‘Unintended-Consequence’ Bottle

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 10:15 AM

As we detailed earlier, while most headlines are focused on stock market losses recently, a much more dangerous tidal wave of risk-awareness is spreading to peripheral European sovereign spreads (which are always far more susceptible to panic, and then pain).

We noted previously that there is a degree of cognitive dissonance at play (arguably because the market is so used to being precisely guided): Thursday’s statement was basically unchanged, and still included the familiar “present or lower levels” for rates forward guidance and pace of APP run down. For peripheral bonds this isn’t a rates lift-off play (although that’s an inevitable conclusion). This is an ongoing reaction to expectations for an earlier removal of the ECB’s bid — and one that seems to have legs.

And as those legs grow, something very ominous is back on the radar – EUR redenomination risk (the possibility of an exit from the Euro) is on the rise once again in CDS markets…

But, as Bloomberg’s Ven Ram writes, Lagarde has uncorked the genie from Europe’s bottle of unintended consequences.

Last week two-year German yields rose at a pace not seen in years, corporate spreads widened and rates volatility received a kickstart. In effect financial conditions tightened, contrary to the European Central Bank’s avowed intentions.

[ZH: That is a 9 sigma move compared to the last 6 years. Range past six years: 45bps; Range past six days: 41bps. This means risk-models (VaR) will be blowing out in every bank and fund.]

While the ECB’s statement from its policy first review of the year largely reiterated December guidance, President Christine Lagarde uncorked the genie by refusing to rule out a rate increase in her post-review remarks. It wasn’t as though she didn’t throw in sufficient disclaimers: “Don’t assume…immediacy, don’t assume too much.” Or that the ECB “will be faithful to sequencing.” Or even “we are not seeing wage increases as the market sees, we don’t see inflation spiraling.” And don’t forget, “We are not here to rock the boat.”

While it may feel like the markets’ reaction is overdone, they had every reason to — and it was unquestionably the right direction to walk in. If central banks don’t get why the markets are running away with an idea, they need to understand that standing in the middle of the road isn’t something that markets get.

For traders there are no ifs and buts. You can either buy bund futures or sell them, but I don’t yet know of a button that says “maybe, depending on what the data says and what other central banks do.” Markets have a pretty complicated job in pricing the future, and most of the time they do it with aplomb.

If central banks are going to recant their carefully laid-out stance in a matter of weeks — witness how inflation was pretty much as hot back in December (when Lagarde pretty much ruled out a hike this year) as it was with the latest available data print — then volatility is what they will get, and it will almost always go against what policy makers seek.

The tightening of policy conditions is hardly something the ECB would be willing to swallow, much less what it would have hoped to stoke before this month’s review.

Yet, there we are.

If your policy review uncorks so much volatility it means that either you haven’t articulated your stance well enough or the markets haven’t understood your conditionality.

Or it may be that fickle policy-making doesn’t go down well with traders.

So much for not rocking the boat.

And talking of rocking the boat, another correlation regime imploded last week. Historically speaking, the wider the BTP-Bund spread, the more likely that investors will seek ‘safety’ of Swiss Francs relative to Euros. This last week has seen a dramatic decoupling of that relationship as investors bid for Euros (especially relative to USDs) as EU sovereign spreads exploded. Something’s gotta give there…

While the levels of redenomination risk, or sovereign spreads, remain considerably below the 2011/2012 crisis highs, this significant risk-flare-up puts the central bank saviors back in the spotlight. Simply put, there’s only so much risk re-pricing markets can make before central banks are required to reverse course.

We give the last word to former JPM and Salomon trader Nick Givanovic, who is just old enough to remember why the current market moves should raise the hairs on the back of investors’ necks:

Givanoic goes to suggest “Do yourselves a favour, if you have significant positions, hedge up with some options. Both the left and the right tail could go in very rapid succession here.”

Given the sudden demand for credit protection (sovereign and corporate), we suspect the hedging has begun.

end

Italian bonds in heavy selloff on ECB policy tightening fears

Feb 7 (Reuters) – Italian government bond yields jumped on Monday after the European Central Bank last week opened the door to speculation about a monetary tightening in March.

Peripheral bond prices underperformed their peers as a faster-than-expected monetary tightening would hurt more bonds of the most indebted countries.

“Investors’ focus is shifting to net supply which will be higher in 2022 after the ECB’s hawkish shift, and will need to be absorbed by the private sector,” said Fabio Castaldi, senior investment manager at Pictet Asset Management.

“Such a scenario will increase risk premium mostly for highly indebted countries,” he added.

Italy’s 10-year government bond yield rose 13.5 bps to 1.831%, touching a high since May 2020.

Yields on Italian shorter maturities jumped by around 15 bps, with the 2-year and the 5-year hitting their highest since May 2020, with the latter rising above 1% for the first time since June 2020.

The spread between German and Italian 10-year yield rose to 163 bps, its widest since August 2020.

Spanish and Portuguese 10-year borrowing costs rose around 8.5 bps.

Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) for Southern European countries – a measure of insuring exposure to their debt – rose with Italian CDS gaining 4 basis points from Friday’s close to 100 bps, levels last seen in January 2021.

Money markets are currently pricing an 80% chance of a rate hike in June and a rate hike of more than 50 basis points by December 2022.

Germany’s 10-year government bond yield, the benchmark of the euro zone, rose 3.5 basis point to 0.25%, its highest level since January 2019.

The 5-year yield was in positive territory at 0.04%, up 4 bps. The 2-year yield hit a high since September 2015 at -0.21%.

“It’s a combination of the BoE and ECB,” said Marchel Alexandrovich, European economist at Saltmarsh Economics, explaining the selloff in bond markets. “We had two big central banks with a similar message.”

The Bank of England raised rates to 0.5% last week.

But, according to Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, the European Central Bank is not bracing for a sudden acceleration of tightening and the Fed is still on track to move well ahead of the ECB.

Some investors expect that ECB President Christine Lagarde to try to appease rate hike jitters at her testimony before the European Parliament at 1545 GMT.

“Following the hawkish turn in the press conference on Feb. 3, the focus will be on whether there is any dovish pushback,” Citi analysts said in a note, mentioning Lagarde and a speech of the ECB chief economist Philip Lane due on Thursday.

Klaas Knot, a member of the ECB’s governing council, said on Sunday he expects the European Central Bank to raise interest rates in the fourth quarter of this year.

Lagarde might “reassure that the exit process will follow the sequence and will in all likelihood be gradual, which could argue for some near-term stabilisation,” Commerzbank analysts said in a research note.

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

RUSSIA/USA/UKRAINE/BELARUS/ETC

Idiotic..The White House claims that Russia might invade the Ukraine as early as tomorrow

(zerohedge)

Russia Might Invade Ukraine “As Soon As Tomorrow”: White House

SUNDAY, FEB 06, 2022 – 05:30 PM

Here we go again… just days after the White House was forced to awkwardly walk back its prior assessment that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was “imminent” – Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said while making the rounds on Sunday news shows that the invasion will come “any day now” – or even as soon as “tomorrow”.

“Fox News Sunday” host Martha MacCallum asked Sullivan about the White House’s assessment of Russia’s troop build-up, to which he began in response: “Well, what I can tell you Martha is that we are in the window. Any day now, Russia could take military action against Ukraine or it could be a couple of weeks from now or Russia could choose to take the diplomatic path instead.”Crimea: AP archived image

“The key thing is that the United States needs to be and is prepared for any of those contingencies in lockstep with our allies and partners,” Sullivan continued. He further explained that the US had already informed allies of the near-term possibility of war breaking out.

“If war breaks out it will come at an enormous human cost to Ukraine, but we believe that based on our preparations and our response, it will come at a strategic cost to Russia as well,” he said.

Elsewhere on Sunday, while speaking to ABC’s This Week, Sullivan got even more alarmist in his predictions. He started by repeating that President Vladimir Putin “has put himself in a position with military deployments to be able to act aggressively against Ukraine at any time now.” And that’s when he said there could be an invasion “tomorrow”…

“We believe that there is a very distinct possibility that Vladimir Putin will order an attack on Ukraine,” Sullivan said. “It could take a number of different forms. It could happen as soon as tomorrow or it could take some weeks yet.”

The Kremlin rejected the fresh statements and media reports from this weekend predicting Russia will invade soon as “madness and scaremongering.”

It was only last Wednesday that the White House walked back its prior consistent assertions that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was “imminent”.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had explained at the time: “I used it once. I think others have used that once, and we stopped using it because I think it sent a message that we weren’t intending to send, which was that we knew that President Putin had made a decision.”

“I would say the vast majority of times I’ve talked about it, I’ve said he could invade ‘at any time,’” she added, trying to obfuscate her own unambiguous prior messaging.

Sullivan’s latest words on the Sunday shows suggests the White House still can’t get its own messaging straight. And certainly it’s not on board with its own allies like Ukraine, which has lately said the situation is not as dire as the US is painting it.

The disinformation of truth is becoming the madness of a failing narrative as control fails

Inbox

Yesterday, ( Friday night) Russian Embassy in the Philippines burned with substantial damage to the entire building. Who dunnit no one wants to say. However if a foreign government did this it is a act of war.

Yes, badass Putin is back in Sochi in his palace( residence) paid for with oligarch money. At least he has the common sense to tale a break from winter in Moscow. And the knives are being drawn in anticipation of western interests going after Russian oligarch capital. Much of it stashed in British controlled tax havens. But today capital moves fast and many banks and countries welcome capital flow, regardless of origin. Places like Singapore could care less. One should give consideration to reading the Russian-Chinese joint statement (5300 words) because it deals with Grand Strategy ( it discusses the “what’s” and not the “how’s”). This statement is a common vision of the future shared between Russia and China and it was written for a world audience and not the west. It is clearly a common goal setting document which has the Anglo western world up in arms as it is direct message that the US and certain related vassal nations want to maintain world hegemony and ignore international law. It furthers expands that such a position is a threat to the peace and security of the planet and they are opposed to this. While this is not new to anyone who has been watching, it is a message to many countries that will be considered.

In essence, these two national actors have highjacked the moral high ground painting the west as Evil being imperialistic. In the past i have written many a time that the opportunity for America and others is to be their brother’ brother and not a brother’s keeper. Regrettably, with the poor state of political and state personnel delusion triumphs over common sense and high ground is thought to be secured by war and blood. It is a fatal error which may easily damage western economies and this hegemony in its’ failure. I suppose if you lost the pot you risk all, is the mentality. I imagine they forgot about the charge of the British light brigade and its’ elimination. It is a time to reflect upon realities and chart new directions. In the west, we so desperately need quality thinking leadership who has an understanding of global realities as opposed to spineless cowards who party and dictate to the masses thinking they will never see. Global rebellion may well serve notice a thinking awaken public is smarter than the fools in power creating a avalanche of change. The west must rebuild itself and stop mindless graft and waste that no longer produces technology and products that are the desired acquisition of consumers everywhere. Because without real change the west will have an awkward time competing for hegemony or even maintaining its’ standard of living. A rising Russia-China alliance like this one has all the makings of becoming a superpower overwhelming western innovation and production. And by default that means living standards and actual hegemony as opposed to perceived delusional thing and 2nd world status. A rethink is most sorely needed but by who as the current slate of characters is not capable? A season of change is most needed before it is too late and society undergoes a unneeded adjustment.

Back to Europe, where western planes of all kinds including numerous US spy aircraft are active every day looking for the event of a possible so called imminent attack on the Ukraine. This is contrary to what the Ukrainians themselves have said this past week. But the play must go on and none should rule out a false flag event. It has been done many a time before. However, during the night (Friday into Saturday) a “red caution flag” came up: Russian Air Force Eastern Military District Su-25SMs aircraft, likely from the 18th Guards ‘ Assault Aviation Regiment, Chernigovka Airbase, Primorsky Krai in Russia’s very far east, were moved to airfields in Belarus. It is very clear that China has Russia’ eastern back just as Russia has their western flank.

These aircraft are crucial to any possible ground attack, now or in the future. Even if such a attack is a defensive one. And Belarus has already declared it will buy all equipment used in the war games being conducted there. So in reality the pain level for the West is actually being turned up without having to invade but by positioning equipment in Belarus.

So as of this morning (Saturday,), Russia now has about seventy percent (70%) of the combat forces it would need to mount a overwhelming, and unstoppable invasion of Ukraine . . . or any other nearby country (Think Lithuania). I have written before that there are 200 B61 bombs ( nuclear) in Europe and in nations who are not nuclear. If you were Russia, you would want to destroy all of them at once in event of hostilities as well as the capacity to deliver them. And should a conflict occur you can expect that event to occur along with missile strikes. That is why the move of systems like the S400 to Belarus which becomes Belarusian property to the chagrin of its’ neighbors. A few thousand soldiers is meaningless in the Baltic states as if a mistake occurs they will leave in body bags. And it is quite clear that Americans and no one in thinking Europe is interested in WAR! Sadly this is not true for those interested in war or its’ profits at the expense of civilians.

We can only wait to see how the realities of chess moves are made and not just in Europe but in the Middle East. Where Israel finds itself cut off from attacking Syria as officially Syria is a no fly zone to Israel and there will be little that can be done to stop Iranian equipment build up or even Syrian developments as Syria is a intricate part of the Chinese

Ukraine & NATO Agree Threat of Russian Invasion ‘Low’ – But US Continues “Apocalyptic” Rhetoric

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 01:09 PM

Ukraine is again trying to give Washington a dose of reality and clamping down on overly alarmist hype surrounding the potential for a Russian invasion of Ukraine. As we detailed earlier, Biden’s national security adviser in Sunday interviews said the invasion could come “any day now” – or possibly even “tomorrow”.

Further, Western and especially US media reports continue to push the idea that Moscow is intent on pursuing military action in Ukraine. For example The Washington Post demonstrated the ongoing contention over just what Russia’s “intent” is…

Over the weekend, senior Russian officials dismissed new U.S. intelligence reports that Russia could take over Kyiv in days as alarmist and as unlikely as an attack by Washington on London.
“Madness and scaremongering continues.… What if we would say that US could seize London in a week and cause 300K civilian deaths?” Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, tweeted Sunday.

Ironically, the latest high-level statements out of both Kiev and Brussels suggest that both Ukraine and NATO headquarters actually side with Russia’s criticisms of Washington’s “apocalyptic” rhetoric.

On Sunday Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged his fellow citizens to ignore “apocalyptic predictions” that a Russian invasion is imminent. Kuleba sought to calm his country by further saying, “Different capitals have different scenarios, but Ukraine is ready for any development.” It reaffirms President Volodymyr Zelensky’s words from a week ago saying there are “no tanks in the streets” and that foreign media must stop stoking unnecessary panic.

And Ukraine’s top military chief, Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov, reacted to White House officials saying this weekend that a Russian invasion could be “days” away by saying this threat remains “low”. Russian media has reported Reznikov’s words issued to Italy’s Repubblica newspaper in a fresh interview as follows:

“It [an alleged aggression] may happen sooner or later, but there are no immediate risks. First, they spoke about January (when the alleged intrusion may begin – TASS), now they speak about February, some say it will be in the spring,” he said, commenting on Western intelligence services’ forecasts. “We won’t be fighting, but when we are attacked, we will get prepared for that,” he added.
According to Reznikov, Kiev is not hatching any plans of attacking Crimea, Lugansk, or Donetsk. “We won’t stage any offensive: Ukrainians are living in Crimea, Lugansk, and Donetsk and it would put them at danger,” he said.

Additionally, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has stated the following on its website: “We have all the information and realistically assess the situation. Many different hypothetical estimates and predictions can now be heard. Especially in foreign media. Some have even announced an invasion of Russia, which, however, took place 8 years ago.

Adding to these much toned-down assessments, the latest out of NATO itself also seems to push back against the White House.

NATO’s most senior military officer said Monday that in his assessment, Russia has yet to place enough of a troop force near Ukraine at this point for any kind of large-scale invasion…

Admiral Rob Bauer, NATO’s most senior military officer, said that Russia will have assembled enough military forces to potentially stage an operation against Ukraine at the end of February. But he added that officials cannot determine Putin’s intention or plans regarding Kyiv and that NATO doesn’t currently envision a direct threat to alliance members.
“Up until now, we don’t see an intent, we don’t expect an attack on NATO soil by Russia -– either directly or via Belarus,” he said Monday at a news conference in Vilnius.

Meanwhile, none of the above important statements seem to be making into American mainstream headlines; instead, US media appears content to continue focusing on prior debunked and walked-back claims of an “imminent” Russian invasion.

6// GLOBAL COVID ISSUES/VACCINE MANDATE ISSUES/

CORONAVIRUS/UPDATE/VACCINE MANDATE

CANADA

GoFundMe seizes 9 million does in funds. They wanted to give to charities of their choosing but that quickly dissipated. They will refund the money

(zerohedge)

GoFundMe Seizes Millions In Trucker Protest Funds, Will Give It To Charities Instead

SATURDAY, FEB 05, 2022 – 07:25 PM

Update (0725ET): After the radical leftists in San Francisco who operate GoFundMe seized millions of dollars from the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” and vowed to refund donations to donors (upon request) or disburse the funds to “credible charities” (like Black Lives Matter, Greenpeace, and Planned Parenthood Matter), the internet went absolutely mental Friday night about the crowd-sourcing platform’s decision.

Rebel News’ Ezra Levant equated GoFundMe’s decision as “stealing the money.” He said the crowd-sourcing platform should have “automatically refunded its donors.”

Hours later, around 0200 ET Saturday, GoFundMe released another statement that said, “due to donor feedback, we are simplifying the process and automatically refunding donations.”

The audacity that leftists at GoFundMe thought they could redistribute the money elsewhere is shocking. It is a wake-up call for freedom-loving people who band together to take their funding operations elsewhere (ever hear of BTC or ETH?). GoFundMe’s poor judgment to only now automatically refund donors has shown their true liberal colors (this blunder has sparked a trust issue with the platform).

All donors received this emailed statement early Saturday morning:

We are automatically refunding your Freedom Convoy 2022 donation.
GoFundMe supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created. However, as a result of multiple discussions with local law enforcement and police reports of violence and other unlawful activity, the Freedom Convoy fundraiser has been removed from the GoFundMe platform.
The update we issued earlier enabled all donors to get a refund and outlined a plan to distribute remaining funds to verified charities selected by the Freedom Convoy organizers. However, due to donor feedback, we are simplifying the process for you. We will automatically refund your contributions directly – you do not need to submit a request. You can expect to see your refund within 7-10 business days.

GoFundMe also tweeted part of the statement. The tweet was immediately ‘ratioed,’ which means replies outnumbered retweets and likes, indicating the tweet was very unpopular.

The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, and a supporter of the truckers tweeted a meme comparing the amateur thieves robbing railcars in Los Angeles to “professional thieves” at GoFundMe. The tweet went out to 72 million of his followers.

Here’s what others are saying:

The damage is already done. It’s only a matter of time before an alternative crowd-sourcing platform is discovered and or created.

* * *

Despite initially refusing to cave to pressure from Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and his allies, GoFundMe announced late Friday evening that it had decided not to disburse any more money to the “Freedom Convoy” and its supporters gathered in Coutts, Alberta, and Ottawa. Users will now need to request a refund of their donation, or risk the possibility that the company will instead reroute it to an “approved” charity.

As Rebel News Editor-in-Chief Ezra Levant reported in a tweet, GoFundMe has decided to take – or some might say steal – the roughly CAD$9 million that was supposed to be used to pay for supplies like gas, food and other necessities for the truckers and instead dole that money out to charities of the company’s choosing, unless donors fill out a request form.

Why the company has decided on this policy, instead of instating automatic refunds for donors, isn’t clear. But as Levant joked, “what a windfall” for Black Lives Matter, Greenpeace and Planned Parenthood.”

GoFundMe claimed that the fundraiser is in violation of “Term 8” of its terms of service clause, and also explained that it often works with local authorities to “make sure we have a detailed understanding…of facts on the ground.”

The decision was made in order to ensure GoFundMe “remains a trusted platform”.

Others wondered how any of this is legal.

The Ottawa police, meanwhile, insist that demonstrators in the city are acting “unlawfully”. Several have been arrested (mostly for charges that may seem serious but actually aren’t) for making threatening statements on social media and for other issues.

Ottawa Police have also warned that they will be collecting as much digital and financial information as they can from both the truckers and anybody who donates to support them. In a threatening statement, the police implied that supporters of the Freedom Convoy could face prosecution just for donating.

At this point, there’s really nothing else for users to do but request their refund (so that GoFundMe doesn’t simply take their money) and never donate to another fundraiser on the platform again.

Readers can find the link below:

After all, there are plenty of other crowd-raising platforms out there.

END

Police threatened arrests for any people giving fuel to the freedom convoy! What is the charge?

Police Threaten Arrests For People Giving Fuel To Freedom Convoy

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 08:03 AM

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

Ottawa police have threatened to arrest anyone providing the Freedom Convoy with gas and diesel cans after they initially blocked trucks with fuel tanks coming to the aid of the protesters.

Authorities announced that anyone providing “material support” to the demonstrators would be subject to arrest from midnight last night.

Asked whether “material support” included necessities like food and water, a police spokesperson told Fox News that the announcement “relates to hazardous materials that represent a public safety or fire hazard.”

Videos soon emerged of people being arrested and police seizing fuel from protesters.

Police had previously barricaded key crossing points throughout the area and closed numerous roads in a bid to halt the delivery of trucks with tanks full of fuel reaching the convoy.

Earlier on Sunday, Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency and claimed that the protesters, whose primary activity is honking their horns, posed a “serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents.”

Authorities and the media have attempted to demonize the truckers as potentially violent extremists, with provocateurs even attempting to pull stupid stunts in an effort to smear their character.

As we highlighted last week, authorities have still refused to rule out using the military against the protesters.

The truckers say they won’t leave until vaccine mandates that dictate truckers returning to Canada from the U.S. quarantine once they arrive at home have been lifted.

Meanwhile, the same leftists who for months have vowed to make life unlivable for the unvaccinated are now crying over horns being honked.

end

Mayor declares that the Freedom Convoy is insurrection and declares a state of emergency

(zerohedge)

“This Is A Nationwide Insurrection” – Ottawa Mayor Declares ‘State Of Emergency’ Amid Trucker Convoy ‘Occupation’

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 06:11 AM

Protesters continued to gather and demonstrate against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions in Canada’s capital on Feb. 6, marking the one week anniversary of the so-called “occupation.”

“We are on day eight of this occupation. Our city is under siege. What we’re seeing is bigger than just a City of Ottawa problem. This is a nationwide insurrection. This is madness. We need a concrete plan to put an end to this,” said the chair of the board, Ottawa City Council member Diane Deans, at the beginning of the nearly two-hour-long virtual discussion.

Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly agreed with her portrayal of the situation, saying that local law enforcement was “never intended to deal with a city under siege,” and decried the lack of resources – and legal authority – to disperse the protest.

At one point, Deans wondered whether the city had legal grounds to declare an unlawful assembly and then a riot, in order to conduct mass arrests, instead of pursuing “one criminal charge at a time.”

“There are so many people out there engaged in a broader act of… mayhem, that we need to be able to bring it all under control,” she said.
“We can’t allow this kind of terrorism in our community to continue this way.”

Yes, in accordance with the narrative laid down from Trudeau’s twitter feed, the establishment is now calling protesting truckers – terrorists!

And as a result of all that hysteria, The Epoch Times reports that Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson has declared a state of emergency due to the trucker protest that continues in the city’s downtown core.

In a brief statement, the city said the decision reflects the “serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government. ”

“It also provides greater flexibility within the municipal administration to enable the City of Ottawa to manage business continuity for essential services for its residents and enables a more flexible procurement process, which could help purchase equipment required by frontline workers and first responders,” the city said in its statement.

Protest organizers say their demonstration is peaceful… apart from this terrible, awful, horrific, terroristic attack on a good, honest, local citizen who was just trying to cross the road…

The protest started as a demonstration by truckers against the federal government’s requirement for cross-border truck drivers to be vaccinated, but has since evolved into a large movement joined by people from across Canada to oppose different COVID-19 mandates and restrictions. Vehicle convoys came to Ottawa on Jan. 29, and many have stayed in the city, with trucks and other vehicles parked by Parliament Hill. Many protesters say they will remain until the mandates are lifted.

Trucks are parked in downtown Ottawa as demonstrators continue to protest COVID-19 mandates and restrictions on Feb. 2, 2022. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)

Sounds of honking horns can be heard throughout the day in the Parliament Hill area, which residents are complaining about.

Protest organizer Benjamin Dichter says people who are unhappy about the honking should be contacting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and ask him to lift COVID-19 mandates.

“To anybody who is annoyed, we apologize. Please call Justin Trudeau, his office, and get these mandates lifted, and we’re out of here,” Dichter said at a press conference in Ottawa on Feb. 6.

Trudeau has refused to meet with the protesters.

Tom Quiggin, who is helping the organizers with “protective intelligence,” said many people across Canada have lost their jobs, homes, and businesses as a result of COVID-19 mandates and restrictions, and they have grievances too, which is why they are protesting in the nation’s capital.

“Let’s remember most of Ottawa is government, huge number of civil servants here. They haven’t missed a paycheque. They’ve got pay raises, some of them have got back pay, most of them are working from home. Some of them who can’t work from home are just doing nothing and still getting paid,” Quiggin said at the press conference.
“So yes, it’s unfortunate that they feel bad about the horns, yes, it’s unfortunate they feel bad about the disruption, but the rest of the country is hurting.”

Daniel Bulford, a former RCMP officer who quit the force because of its vaccine mandate and is now helping the protest organizers, said his children don’t want to play hockey anymore because of the position his family has taken on vaccine issues, as they feel “isolated and alienated.”

“The people dealing with the honking, they’re not the only ones that are dealing with the impact of all these mandates,” Bulford said at the press conference

end

From my bride, Daliah..

Fwd: The song of the Canadian drivers at the protest

Inbox

Daliah Organ/Hedva Zur

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Hedva Zur<hedzur@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Feb 5, 2022 at 6:00 PM
Subject: Fwd: The song of the Canadian drivers at the protest
To:

———- Forwarded message ———
מאת: Hedva Zur<hedzur@gmail.com>
‪Date: יום א׳, 6 בפבר’ 2022, 0:59‬
Subject: The song of the Canadian drivers at the protest
To:

Alberta to Repeal COVID Restrictions | Armstrong Economics

Inbox

This is a major turn as this is exactly what the trucker protest is about. Let’s see what other provincial leader follows. Sometimes listening to public sentiment is smart politics.
If this grows the divide between provinces and Ottawa will grow immensely.

Alberta to Repeal COVID Restrictions

end

Canada in protest .. all alternative media around these world is on this story

Inbox

What happens in Canada over the next 10 days or so will serve as a barometer of what comes elsewhere.
Ottawa has declared a state of emergency and what happens now is unknown. Except even Canada is unlikely to condone police force upon a peaceful protest. And Trudeau hiding in Quebec is well known and he is being mangled in the international press as being unfit for service. Today even saw a truck convoy in Mexico headed to Canada as this becomes a real grass movement of ordinary people rebelling against the establishment.
We may well see a interim government beginning of March as we head for elections in June.

end

Unacceptable HonkHonk Chicken Gate on Twitter: “This is the Canada I know and love! https://t.co/XufSo3YjdA” / Twitter

Inbox

Worth watching .
https://twitter.com/chickengate/status/1489334216672305152

Dr. David Martin and the 5th circuit court final order AWESOME LANGUAGE FROM THE COURT – Vaccine Liberation Army

Inbox

This is huge
https://vaccineliberationarmy.com/covid/dr-david-martin-and-the-5th-circuit-court-final-order-awesome-language-from-the-court/

Cheers
RobertFrom Milan SEND

from Robert H.

Startling New Data From Germany Shows Cases of Serious Injury From The Vax Have Increased Over 2000% – enVolve

Inbox

Crazy stuff, does anyone really understand what has been done to society as we have known it?

Startling New Data From Germany Shows Cases of Serious Injury From The Vax Have Increased Over 2000%

CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WaPo completely avoid Johns Hopkins study finding COVID lockdowns ineffective | Fox News

Inbox

Truckers are spot on
https://www.foxnews.com/media/johns-hopkins-university-study-lockdowns-media-blackout

Dr. Reiner Fuellmick’s case to the Nuremberg Jury.

Inbox

—

yours faithfully,

John Adams

Principal Economic Analyst

Adams Economics

E-mail: john@adamseconomics.com

Website: www.adamseconomics.com

end

Must see

Inbox

Media will not show you this

FDA

Inbox

Malone: The Mass Formation Madness Must Stop

FRIDAY, FEB 04, 2022 – 10:20 PM

Authored by Dr. Robert Malone,

My wife, Jill used to work at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park for the research unit called CRES (The Center for Research on Endangered Species) in the late 1980s. She did primary behavior research on mother-infant dyads, both as an intern and later as an employee. In particular, she was involved in behavioral studies involving Lion-tailed macaques, which are an endangered species of monkey from India. The purpose of the research was to find ways to increase the emotional well being of the animals, as some of these monkeys have significant issues breeding in captivity.

There was one mother named Polly and her infant daughter Dewa which were particularly interesting. Polly would let her infant girl nurse for a while and when she was tired of it, she would pull her off her nipple and literally hold Dewa’s head to the concrete floor for about 30 seconds. Dewa would scream and chitter – with her little arms and legs flaying around. Then Polly would suddenly let her go and the infant would run screaming away from her. It was horrifying to watch.

Jill observed this pair through infancy. She continued to observe as Dewa grew up and had an infant son of her own. One day, when the little boy monkey was quite small, Dewa got tired of the baby nursing. She literally pulled him off and held him firmly to the ground as he squirmed and screamed- just as her mother had done to her.

The effects of abuse, neglect and harms done to children can and will pass through generations. Often, these long-term effects on the person are unknown until the person is grown up and has children of their own.

Our children are our future. They must be protected from heavy handed, ineffective policies that marginally protect adults over the well being of our more precious asset. Our children. Let me write it again for emphasis… our children are our future.

I have written and spoken out about vaccine mandates for children and why they are wrong. Children are rarely at risk of severe disease from COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 and almost all deaths of children have been those with co-morbidities. The vaccines have a high adverse event profile in children that has not been fully analyzed. This is reason enough to not allow mandates, even State government or regional school board mandates. But I have not written as much about masks, school closures, and the selfishness of teacher’s unions, who are more interested in protecting themselves than children.

Children are at very little risk from COVID-19 severe disease. Most kids in the USA now have natural immunity, many have been vaccinated, and Omicron is nothing more than a cold for the vast majority of children and adults. Even during Delta, children rarely develop severe COVID-19 disease. They have strong, healthy immune systems. This disease is stratified by age and co-morbidities. We all know this by now. Furthermore, neither masks nor vaccines prevent infection, replication or transmission of the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2.

There is no reason to mask children in schools. There is no reason to mask children in shops, restaurants, parks, after school program, etc. There is no reason for children to have plexiglass shields around them in the class room. There is no reason why we need to deny children exercise programs, sports, after school care and physical education. It is time to end social distancing programs and let kids be kids. Children are social beings. Having normal social interactions with other people, with other children is critical to growing up in a healthy environment. Social isolation of children is not ok. Sports, after school program, childcare, recreational activities and extracurricular activities need to return to normalcy.

One important way children learn is by mimicry. Facial expressions of friends, teachers, mentors, parents not only are important for speech development, they are important for children to learn emotional norms and behaviors. We do not know what damage we are doing by masking. At this point, long term effects are unknown.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 unvaccinated children must be treated no differently than any other child. It is not anyone’s business other than the parent’s whether a child is vaccinated for COVID-19 or not. American’s have a fundamental right to privacy and there is no exclusionary clause for people younger than a certain age. Unvaccinated children or unmasked children should not be segregated, shamed or put in special rooms. They should not be excluded from the playground or sports activities. Society, our government, is doing an unprecedented and known amount of damage to the healthy development of our children. This has to stop.

COVID-19 testing of our school children needs to end. Not only is it a medical procedure that is being forced upon children, often without their permission, it is not needed. It is uncomfortable and more than that, it is a violation of their bodies. This is particularly true when schools and other social institutions are forcing this test upon children because of their vaccination status.

As the Biden administration doubles down on masks, testing and vaccines for children, people are waking up. The democrats are creating an army of new republicans and independent families, who are currently and will be voting in the future at the midterms.

That’s a 14-percentage point swing from a nine-point Democratic advantage to a five-point GOP edge, and among the largest advantages the GOP has ever held in Gallup polling.

As we travel around the country, speaking a conferences, churches, summits and rallies, we hear from parents over and over again phrases like this.

“I used to be a democrat, but now I don’t think I will ever be able to vote for a democrat again.”
“ I don’t know what I am anymore.”
“I am questioning everything I use to believe about the democratic party”

The science is very clear on our children. The data is clear. Children need to be allowed to have normal childhoods. Our parents who are paying attention know this.

Our children are our most precious assets.

If you doubt what I am saying, then Listen to their stories.

And then listen to what a pediatric cardiologist and a pediatric psychiatrist have to say about this.

What we are doing is wrong. It must stop. Now. The damage already done will last for decades.

end

GLOBAL ISSUES/INFLATION

World food prices accelerate in January and are set for record highs

(zerohedge)

World Food Prices Accelerate In January, Set For Record High

FRIDAY, FEB 04, 2022 – 10:00 PM

In the last two years, the price of agricultural products has risen sharply. This is reminiscent of 2007 and 2011, and new highs in food prices could be reached later this year.

Food prices continued to accelerate in January. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) Food Price Index (FFPI), a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 135.7 points last month, up 1.5 points (1.1%) higher than in December. FFPI nears the 2011’s all-time high and could hit soon hit a record high

Rome-based FAO said the meat index had the most significant monthly jump, up 17.3%. Next was a 4.2% increase in the vegetable oils index (marking an all-time high), the dairy index rose 2.4%, cereals were flat, and sugar was down 3.1%.

What’s noteworthy is that inflation isn’t hitting everyone equally. Lowest income folks “feel the pinch the most,” Josef Schmidhuber, deputy director for markets and trade at the FAO, told Bloomberg. “High energy costs and high food costs and high necessities — they account for a large part of their overall expenditures.”

Rising prices of goods and services have rocketed inflation to its highest level in 40 years. The Biden administration has vowed to tackle the inflation monster, but it appears prices for food, energy, and shelter continue to rise ahead of midterms. Inflation is widespread, and it’s hitting the poorest the hardest.

Once thought of as “transitory,” persistence inflation raises alarm bells as soaring prices dent household budgets due to a slump in nominal wage growth. Even though supply chain-produced inflation is temporary, it will have long-lasting impacts on households and could even influence the vote in the upcoming midterms.

The negative correlation of soaring food prices and slumping polling figures for President Biden does not imply causation. Still, one could argue that four-decade high inflation, squeezing most Americans’ pocketbooks, could indicate widespread discontent for one of the most unpopular presidents in a generation.

end

Record prices for beef, chicken and pork by double digits

(zerohedge)

Tyson Foods Soars To Record After Hiking Beef, Chicken And Pork Prices By Double Digits

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 10:03 AM

Stock of Tyson Foods, the world’s second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after Brazil’s JBS S.A., is soaring 9%, hitting an all time high and is one of the S&P’s best companies this morning…

… after the company reported blowout earnings (thanks to passing on surging food prices) and announced that it is raising prices even more as it grapples with a tight labor market and smaller livestock herds. According to the report, beef prices jumped by 32% in the quarter, with chicken up ~20% and pork 13%.

This helped Tyson’s operating margin grow to 11.3%, up from 6.7%, a year earlier. The higher meat prices has, however, had the Biden administration scrambling as profits continue to mount at meatpackers, while runaway inflation continues to crush Biden’s collapsing approval rating.

This is what the company reported:

Beef: Sales volume decreased due to the impacts associated with a challenging labor environment and increased supply chain constraints, partially offset by strong global demand Average sales price increased as input costs such as live cattle, labor, freight and transportation costs increased and demand for our beef products remained strong
Pork: Sales volume was up slightly as strong global demand was offset by the impacts associated with a challenging labor environment. Average sales price increased as input costs such as live hogs, labor freight and transportation costs increased and demand for our pork products remained strong partially offset by unfavorable mix associated with labor shortages
Chicken: Sales volume increased primarily due to increased live production and a strong demand environment. Average sales price increased due to the effects of an inflationary cost environment
Prepared Foods: Sales volume decreased due to the divestiture of our pet treats business in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 as well as lower production throughput primarily associated with a challenging labor and supply environment Average sales price increased primarily due to the effects of revenue management in an inflationary cost environment

Overall sales for beef rose about 25% to $5 billion, helping Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson’s sales rise 23.6% to $12.93 billion in the first quarter ended Jan. 1. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $12.18 billion; net income attributable jumped to $1.12 billion and excluding items, Tyson earned $2.87 per share, also beating estimates of $1.95 per share.

As Bloomberg’s Felice Maranz notes, consumer goods companies keep showing they can boost how much they charge customers, who bizarrely don’t seem too stretched to pay up despite complaining about inflation at every possible opportunity (and hammering both Joe Biden and the Democrats’ approval ratings). That’s easing margin worries and lifting share prices for some of the biggest U.S. companies.

And speaking of food inflation, brace for more, much more: recent data showed the American cattle herd shrank more than expected, signaling consumers faced more sticker shock. Amazon’s stock jump last week was a notable example. The rally came with an increase in the price of Prime membership.

The sustainability of such gains, according to Maranz, is an open question. Consumer goods maker Kimberly-Clark raised prices too, but faces soaring costs of its own, along with supply-chain problems – leading to a plunge in its stock price. And, while Friday’s jobs report showed average hourly earnings rose, wages have failed to keep pace with inflation. That’s likely to weigh on how far companies can keep raising prices… and will eventually weigh on risk assets.

Meanwhile, an even bigger risk for stocks is that yields are climbing, too, with U.S. Treasuries lower from belly to long-end, steepening key yield-curve spreads from lowest levels in months. Yields on 10-year Treasuries are topping 1.93% with inflation jitters spurring bets on the Fed, while European peripheral bonds are getting taken to the woodshed as discussed earlier.

Ford shutters 8 factories in Canada, USA and Mexico due to persistent chip and other supply chain disruptions

(zerohedge)

Ford Shutters 8 Factories Due To “Persistent Supply Chain Disruptions”

SUNDAY, FEB 06, 2022 – 03:30 PM

Ford Motor Co. tumbled into a bear market after a fourth-quarter profit and sales missed Wall Street expectations. Chief Executive Jim Farley warned of “persistent supply-chain disruptions” limiting its ability to meet strong demand.

Reuters reports the Detroit automaker will shutter eight factories in the US, Mexico, and Canada, beginning on Monday as it copes with chip shortages.

Production at factories in Michigan, Chicago and in Cuautitlan, Mexico will be suspended. In Kansas City, production of its F-150 pickup trucks will be idled while one shift will run for production of its Transit vans.
The Detroit automaker will also run a single shift or a reduced schedule at its factories in Dearborn, Kentucky, and Louisville while removing overtime at its Oakville factory in Canada.
All changes will be in place for the week beginning Feb. 7. -Reuters

On Friday, Ford shares plunged 10% after the automaker reported fourth-quarter profit and sales that fell short of expectations. Shares of the company have already plunged into a bear market. Shares closed under the 100DMA on Friday and may find support on the 200DMA around $16.15 level if downward pressure on the stock is maintained.

Ford’s earnings miss “was a combination of lower volumes (chip shortage/supply chain disruption), higher raw material costs, and higher mobility spending,” BofA Securities’ John Murphy told clients in a note Friday.

Reuters’ report paints a challenging 2022 backdrop for the company as it continues having trouble sourcing chips, an ongoing issue for well over a year, and still not yet resolved.

The good news is Ford’s turnaround is underway with the launch of electric vehicles. However, it has to reduce the complexity of its supply chain, a transition that won’t be easy.

end

US Heating Oil, Diesel Stocks Dwindle As Demand Rises

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 10:50 AM

By Bryan Jung of The Epoch Times

Supplies of diesel and heating oil in the United States have dwindled as refiners are having trouble replenishing the domestic fuel supply this winter, which may keep oil prices elevated for months.

Heating oil futures reached $2.83 per gallon at the market’s close on Feb. 4, the highest price in seven years. U.S. and global benchmarks for crude-oil futures hit above $90 a barrel, as a harsh winter storm affected large portions of the country, adding to existing supply concerns.

The latest national average price for diesel was at $3.78 per gallon, the highest since September 2014. Fuel production in the United States has not kept up with demand for months with East Coast stockpiles at their lowest levels since April 2020.

When inventories are low, refiners generally respond by ramping up output, but several key U.S. refineries have been out of action since the start of the pandemic, while others are under maintenance.

Many of the operational refineries are currently producing less output to avoid producing too much jet fuel, where demand still lags below 2019 levels. Global refining capacity shrank by more than 2 million barrels per day during the pandemic, while U.S. refining capacity last year fell 4.5 percent to 18.1 million barrels per day (bpd).

Demand for diesel, heating oil, and other related products has been running 5 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels, putting inventories at 15 percent less than the five-year moving average, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Stronger than expected demand is a key reason why fuel prices are expected to reach pre-2020 levels by mid-year at the latest. Increased fuel costs may remain an ongoing theme for the time being, as oil companies are finding it difficult to react to tightened supply situations.

The weather has boosted demand for natural gas, as fuel stocks are being tested by frigid temperatures throughout much of the United States, which is expected to persist through next week.

“The latest upswing was triggered by a cold snap in Texas, which is fueling concerns about production outages in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale play,” said Carsten Fritsch, a commodity analyst at Commerzbank.
“A year ago, a period of extreme cold weather had caused massive disruptions to oil production there,” said Fritsch, referring to a crippling storm last year that left 4 million in Texas without power.

About 350,000 homes and businesses in states such as Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas were without power as of Feb. 4, due to a winter storm that brought freezing rain and snow.

Some power companies in states facing severe weather are preparing to use more distillate oil to meet demand.

In New England, oil-fired generation is expected to surge temporarily in the coming days, which could raise prices more.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies on Feb. 2, stuck with its plan to boost global production by another 400,000 barrels a day in March.

However, OPEC member states have been unable to produce oil at their assigned quota levels, which will not alleviate the global supply-demand deficit.

Prices should ease as winter subsidies and demand for heating fuel drops off, allowing inventories to restock, but if the cost of crude oil used to make distillates remains high, fuel prices might remain elevated.

Backwardation

Low distillate inventories have pushed the market into backwardation, as current prices have been pushed higher than expected future prices. This has led several major oil traders to see little financial incentive to store extra diesel and many are choosing not to renew their long-term storage contracts.

Record-high natural gas prices have led European refiners to reduce production in Europe to save on cost, leading to tightened inventories. European diesel last week was boosted with a six-month spread to its widest backwardation since March 2008.

U.S. exports of distillates to the European Union have strengthened as a result of the high demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery climbed by $2.42, or 2.7 percent, to $92.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with prices trading roughly 6.8 percent higher for the week.

Global benchmark, Brent crude for April, gained $2.21, or 2.4 percent, to $93.32 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange, while prices are poised for a weekly rise of 5.4 percent. The positive U.S. monthly jobs report was mostly supportive and upbeat in terms of the outlook for energy demand, as the nation added a robust 467,000 jobs in January.

VACCINE IMPACT

END

Michael Every

on the major topics of the day

Michael Every…

Rabobank: You Just Saw History Being Made

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 09:22 AM

By Michael Every of Rabobank

I have repeatedly stressed how ridiculous it is to look at US jobs data when they are just estimates of the small monthly delta of a very large number strained through an algorithm and seasonal adjustments. The ADP report saw a shock fall in jobs, then non-farm payrolls –whose methodology the ADP uses!– saw a shock surge. Yet the adjustment was far larger than normal despite more unadjusted jobs lost as the Great Resignation continues and the working week shrinking. Worse, there were vast backward revisions for years. The million jobs created last summer now happened this winter. Economic history was just rewritten – and we are supposed to take it seriously.

Regardless, a Fed policy error is now baked in…unless what went up in January comes down equally stupidly in February right before the FOMC has to pull the trigger pointed at its own head. Yet how can they not when ultra-easy fiscal and monetary policy, against a backdrop of supply chains now offshore (because “it’s cheaper”), or dominated by oligopolies or monopolies (because “it’s cheaper”), ends up with everything being more expensive? The market response, based on the yield surge we are seeing so far, is going to be very messy.

Bloomberg jumped the gun(s) Friday with a headline saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had started. Not yet. However, we still have an escalating military build-up. The US variously claims war could start as soon as today(!) and would see up to 50,000 Ukrainian casualties vs. just 4,000 soldiers for Russia, and 5 million refugees fleeing to the EU: Kyiv would fall in 72 hours. The US also believes Russia will hold a nuclear drill to coincide with an invasion to warn the world not to intervene: but some, like the Ukrainian government, are more upbeat; and some believe the US is only saying this to pressure Ukraine into surrendering – as more US troops arrive in the EU.

Germany’s Bild has even wilder claims that Russia plans to invade, rig a referendum, and absorb Ukraine – with internment camps for any resistance. This is hard for markets to believe: camps in eastern Europe – when has that ever happened? Yet China’s Olympics, where a Dutch journalist was dragged off air on live TV, had a Uyghur light its Olympic flame, which as the NBC anchor stated live is “quite provocative. It is a statement from the Chinese president, Xi Jinping… It is an in-your-face response to Western nations, including the US, who have called the Chinese treatment of that group genocide.” It also demonstrates Western markets and businesses don’t respond to such allegations after the fact, let alone before. And when they do get involved, it is to point fingers at the West. Ben & Jerrys tweeted: “You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war. We call on President Biden to de-escalate tensions and work for peace rather than prepare for war. Sending thousands more US troops to Europe in response to Russia’s threats against Ukraine only fans the flame of war.” There are no Vegetius fats in their products, and on-line responses are that their newest flavour is “appease-mint”, now with “added Neville Chamberlain”. In short, don’t look to the hobby horse cavalry of Western businesses/markets to react unilaterally even if we were to see internment camps. ‘Market forces’ don’t work when morality costs money rather than making it. Realpolitik rules.

Which is why Russia and China announced an historic “no limits” alliance: politics, military, economics, trade (with a new 30-year deal for gas delivery, and Russia allowing all its regions to export grain to China for the first time), tech, space, and finance (to work around US sanctions) aimed at a new world order. China hence backs Russia’s security demands that NATO must be rolled back, and Russia is supporting China over Taiwan. The US now faces a two-front military challenge from an economic alliance loaded with arms and resources across two claimed ‘spheres of influence’: Europe/the Caucuses, and Asia-Pacific. It will need far more support in both, e.g., Russia is already now able to send troops from the Chinese border to Ukraine. Pointedly, the US National Security Advisor has already said that China would “end up owning some of the costs” if Russia invades Ukraine.

For those who like to ignore guns to others’ heads, also note the official Russian statement deliberately subverts the West in saying: “…democracy is a universal human value, rather than a privilege of a limited number of States, and…its promotion and protection is a common responsibility of the entire world community… A nation can choose such forms and methods of implementing democracy that would best suit its particular state, based on its social and political system, its historical background, traditions and unique cultural characteristics. It is only up to the people of the country to decide whether their State is a democratic one…Russia and China as world powers with rich cultural and historical heritage have long-standing traditions of democracy, which rely on 1,000 years of experience of development, broad popular support and consideration of the needs and interests of citizens.” So, both are now democracies, while the elitist West says it needs multiparty elections, the rule of law, press freedom, and not poisoning the opposition.

That new claim –and Mother-Russia-and-apple-pie stuff about peace, cooperation, growth, and the UN– is to sell the alliance to the world and to Western markets/businesses. Indeed, Wall Street’s logical thought progression is likely to be:

20 years ago: Keep investing there and they will become like us!
5 years ago: Keep investing there though they haven’t because we don’t believe Cold Wars!
This year: Keep investing there because if we don’t we might see a hot war!

And, given the relative scale of the two camps and the single-minded determination of one’s state-business nexus vs. the vacillation of the other’s, one could also add:

5 years from now: Keep investing there because we have become more like them!

As I warned back in 2017, we are in a Cold War: this time between liberal(ish) democratic oligarchic financial capitalism with asset bubbles, and authoritarian “democratic” oligarchic state-capitalism with asset bubbles. Perhaps that lowest common denominator is why Wall Street does not see this will bite them. Yet bite them it will – or the concept and geography of ‘Western’ will not mean much long term/in as many places.

The US is already trying to decouple in fits and start, and this will only speed up; Sweden is reopening a Cold War anti-Russian fake news unit; and Der Spiegel reports Germany will now designate China as a “systemic rival” rather than competitor.

Yes, Western firms will say: “We need a foot in both camps.” But that was where they needed to be five years ago when all we had was a trade war. In a Cold War, playing both sides won’t play well with politicians if firms’ profits/vulnerabilities mean losses for ‘The West’. In a hot war, things will be far worse. And if we see the camps Bild is talking about, even more so and even faster.

Yes, Wall Street will say: “Yummy, appease-mint!” Yet a Cold War means some capital controls will come in, and capital won’t. In a hot war, things will be far worse. And if we see the camps Bild is talking about, even more so and even faster.

Or maybe the West will see the rift instead. French President Macron goes to Moscow to talk to Putin again today, saying in advance that: he is optimistic he can secure a de-escalation; Russia has no intention of invading Ukraine, but wants to “reforge” relations with NATO; and while “The security and sovereignty of Ukraine or any other European state cannot be a subject for compromise, it also legitimate for Russia to pose the question of its own security… We must protect our European brothers by proposing a new balance capable of preserving their sovereignty and peace. This must be done while respecting Russia and understanding the contemporary traumas of this great people and nation.”

What new balance? Does Macron think he can somehow flip Russia’s geostrategy (despite valid questions over how the two new friends really trust each other)? How much of Europe’s current security framework is he offering to de-escalate to try? As Romania asks for US F-35s, which NATO members will have to disarm? Munich, Yalta, and Potsdam will spring to said NATO members’ minds as they watch their security debated over their heads, just as the EU recently saw its debated just between Russia and the US.

We are in the crazy position now where, even against the backdrop of currently volatile markets, and flapping central banks, it may be easier to predict what the long-run cost of borrowing and key FX rates in Europe will be than which political geographies will be party to them!

Years ago, I argued history showed the unsustainable nature of Western capital funding a rival bloc’s military development while China and Russia sell their output to the West for dollars that are recycled to finance the US military. The unhappy breakdown of that contemporary echo of the pre-1914 UK-German dynamic should now be abundantly clear, even to the most somnolent and solipsistic.

Future historians will look back at the recent announcement of a Russian-Chinese alliance as a 21st century turning point. Markets would be wise to do the same, even as they focus on what is likely to be an historic policy error by central banks.

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET& AUSTRALIA ISSUES

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

AUSTRALIA

Australia finally ready to reopen to tourists after 2 years of covid lockdowns

(zerohedge)

Australia Finally Ready To Reopen To Tourists After 2 Years Of COVID Lockdowns

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 04:15 AM

After two years of keeping its “drawbridge” with the rest of the world in the closed position, Australia and its government, which has imposed some of the most draconian COVID lockdown policies outside of China, is apparently finally ready to let some tourists back in.

Australian PM Scott Morrison said as much on Sunday, when he revealed that Australia’s parliament would debate a reopening to tourists as soon as this week. The country shut its borders in March of 2020, and has been going through a staggered reopening in recent months, allowing in only its citizens and residents, along with skilled migrants, international students and seasonal workers. Morrison said last month that he hoped international borders would open before Easter.

According to Reuters, Morrison’s sudden eagerness to reopen the country’s borders comes as his popularity has been sliding in recent months as a growing number of Australians have become disillusioned with the country’s strict lockdowns and other anti-COVID measures.

Across Australia, case numbers have finally come down, as have hospitalizations and deaths. But despite the government’s best efforts, they weren’t able to stop uncontrolled spread of the virus in the end.

Now that the omicron wave appears to finally be waning, it’s time to start repairing all this damage to the Australian economy.

“We are looking forward to be able to make that decision to open up our borders and welcome visitors back to Australia again as soon as we safely and possibly can,” Morrison said on Sunday. “But I really do not believe that that is far away.”

The first 2022 sitting of the Australian parliament is scheduled for Monday, and Morrison has said that reopening the country to tourists will be discussed “very early on”. But he’s not the only senior government official to tease about the impending reopening.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said in a TV interview on Sunday that the government is “very close” to making a decision.

Roughly 95% of Australian citizens over the age of 16 have been double-vaccinated. As of midday Sunday, the country reported 43 COVID-related deaths across the country over the prior day.

END

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

Euro/USA 1.1459 UP .0016 /EUROPE BOURSES //ALL MIXED

USA/ YEN 114.95 DOWN 0.193 /NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT .11% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…

GBP/USA 1.3515 UP 0.0008

Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 68.17 PTS OR 2.03%

Hang Sang CLOSED//UP 6,26.03 PTS OR 0.03%

AUSTRALIA CLOSED DOWN 0.06% // EUROPEAN BOURSES OPENED ALL MIXED

Trading from Europe and ASIA

I) EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL MIXED

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SANG CLOSED UP 6.26 PTS OR 0.03%

/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 68.17 PTS OR 2.03%

Australia BOURSE CLOSED DOWN 0.06%

(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 191.12 PTS OR 0.70%

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE RED

Gold very early morning trading: 1814.00

silver:$22.88-

USA dollar index early MONDAY morning: 95.42 DOWN 7 CENT(S) from FRIDAY’s close.

THIS ENDS MONDAY MORNING NUMBERS

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And now your closing MONDAY NUMBERS 1: 00 PM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 1.02% UP 5 in basis point(s) yield from YESTERDAY/

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.201% up 0 AND 1/10 BASIS POINTS from YESTERDAY/JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 1.10%// UP 5 in basis points yield from yesterday.

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 1.84 UP 10 points in basis points yield from yesterday./

the Italian 10 yr bond yield is trading 74 points higher than Spain.

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: RISES TO +0.230% IN BASIS POINTS ON THE DAY//

THE IMPORTANT SPREAD BETWEEN ITALIAN 10 YR BOND AND GERMAN 10 YEAR BOND IS 1.54% 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 1.1442 DOWN .0004 or 04 basis points

USA/Japan: 115.05 DOWN 0.094 OR YEN UP 9 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.3534 UP 26 BASIS POINTS

Canadian dollar UP 62 pts to 1.2683

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE (CLOSED )..UP 6.3327

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)..6.3642

TURKISH LIRA: 13.60 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.201

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 1 IN basis points from THURSDAY at 1.933% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic

USA 30 yr bond yield: 2.550 UP 24 in basis points

Your closing USA dollar index, 95.43 DOWN 6 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 UP 67.16 PTS OR 0.89%

German Dax : CLOSED UP 128.15 points or 0.85%

Paris CAC CLOSED UP 63.32PTS OR 0.91%

Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 13.90PTS OR 0.06%

Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 251.48 PTS OR 0.94%

WTI Oil price 91.93 12: EST

Brent Oil: 92.75 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN / RUBLE RISES: 75.60 THE CROSS LOWER BY 18 RUBLES/DOLLAR (RUBLE HIGHER BY 18 BASIS PTS)

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +.230

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

Euro vs USA: 1.1439 DOWN .0004 OR 4 BASIS POINTS

British Pound: 1.3534 UP .0027 or 27 basis pts

USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 115.06 DOWN .086

USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.2659 DOWN .0086 (cdn dollar UP 86 basis pts)

West Texas intermediate oil: 91.39

Brent: 92.71

USA 10 yr bond yield: 1.919 UP 1/2 points

USA 30 yr bond yield: 2.222 UP 1/2 pts

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 1.39 PTS OR 0.00%

NASDAQ 100 DOWN 123.10 OR 0.84%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 22.86 DOWN 0.36 PTS (DOWN 1.55.%

GLD/NYSE CLOSING PRICE $170.11 UP $1.25 OR 0.74%

SLV/NYSE CLOSING PRICE: $21.27// UP $.48 OR 2.31%

end)

USA trading day in Graph Form

Bitcoin & Bullion Surge, Stocks Purge, As EU Credit Crisis Risk Re-Emerges

BY TYLER DURDEN

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 04:00 PM

The biggest headlines of the day – apart from Joe-Rogan-related ones – came out of Europe as sovereign yield spreads starting act a lot like 2011 as the market fears facing reality of an ECB that is about to turn off the free-money spigot.

Source: Bloomberg

As the yield-spreads blow out wider, so the risk of an ‘exit’ of one of the peripheral nations grows, and today saw the market start betting on ‘Italeave’…

Source: Bloomberg

While Bund yields have blown out, European investors can still find yield advantage (FX-hedged) by swapping to USTs (but as the chart shows, the premium for USTs over Bunds is at its lowest since July 2020…

Source: Bloomberg

Still, while European bond market participants had a bad day, it was likely not as bad as this poor American skier…

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=true&id=1490593292731490304&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fbitcoin-bullion-surge-eu-credit-crisis-risk-re-emerges&sessionId=b60925dcc9545e0de795dfc3c64b11815b9c99ef&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=0a8eea3%3A1643743420422&width=550px

European stocks limped higher into their close (thanks to some cooing from Lagarde) and US equities all went bid after Europe closed, lifting everything green for the day. That lasted until the last 30 minutes, where, much like Friday, a wave of selling hit and all the US majors puked hard. Only Small Caps ended green on the day with Nasdaq down 1%…

The Dow found support (again) at its 200-DMA, and the S&P oscillates between its 100- and 200-DMA

Amid all the Rogan drama, the Rumble CEO stirred the pot in a major way and the SPAC it is set to merge with exploded higher…

Spotify got no bounce from the CEO’s comments…

And then there’s Peloton which surged Friday on rumors of ‘suitors’ but slipped all day long today (still ending notably higher)…

European corporate credit risk is also getting hit, and is now in with US HY spreads…

Source: Bloomberg

US credit risk is decidedly blowing out – with High Yield Corporate Bond yields back at their highest since April 2020…

Source: Bloomberg

As Bloomberg notes, after the worst January slump since 1980 and elevated risk for better-rated debt, given their higher-duration, some investors may be looking to cut their losses. All eyes are on fund flows, which have been mostly negative since December and vulnerable to steeper declines.

And credit and equity in the US remains notably decoupled…

Source: Bloomberg

Treasury yields ended the day almost unchanged, trading in a narrow range on the day, going nowhere since the payrolls spike…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar was weaker today, erasing all the post-payrolls spike gains…

Source: Bloomberg

Cryptos extended their recent rally with Bitcoin back above $44k, its highest in a month…

Source: Bloomberg

And broke above its 50DMA on the KPMG news…

Source: Bloomberg

Notably Bitcoin has decoupled from tech stocks recently after trading tick for tick with an extremely high correlation in January…

Source: Bloomberg

The other non-fiat alternative currency safe-haven – goooolddddd – also surged higher, back above $1820…

Oil prices slipped modestly lower on the day…

Finally, in case you wondered just how much time you have to liquidate your exposures in this entirely illiquid market, the answer is not much. In aggregate G10 Central Bank holdings are set to peak during summer 2022…

Just in time for the midterm elections in the US!

I) MORNING/AFTERNOON TRADING/

II) USA DATA

Consumer Debt Growth Tumbles 50% Amid Sharp Slowdown In Credit Card Usage, Decline In Student Loans

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 03:23 PM

One month after a shocking consumer credit report, which saw the biggest increase in history driven by a mind-blowing surge in revolving credit (i.e., credit card usage), moments ago the Fed released the latest consumer credit report for the month of December which saw a dramatic drop in growth rate, with total credit rising just $18.9BN, well below the consensus estimate of $25 billion, and a 50% plunge from the November increase of $38.8 billion.

Some details:

In the last month of the year, consumer credit rose at a 5.1% annual rate to $4.431trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. The total increase was $18.898BN from the previous month.

Looking at the components, the big highlight was the collapse in credit card growth, which one month after surging at a record monthly pace of $19.3 billion, collapsed to just $2.11 billion, the lowest monthly increase since April when it was a negative print. One possible reason: not only are consumers tapped out – as even Morgan Stanley now warns – but they suddenly find themselves nursing a prodigious credit card bill which they will have to pay back for the next several months, leading to continued slow down in spending in 2022, just as we have cautioned would happen.

There were few surprises on the non-revolving credit front, which grew $16.79 billion, slightly below November’s $19.5 billion and in line with the monthly increase in this series which compiles growth in auto and college debt.

But while there were no surprises at the aggregate level, drilling into the two main components, we find that while car loans rose at their usual gingerly pace of $11.2 billion in the quarter, hitting a record $1.312 trillion, student loan unexpectedly saw a decline in Q4, dropping by $1.9 billion to $1.749 trillion, only the second quarterly drop in the series (the first taking place during the peak of the post-covid crisis period when the amount declined by $2.3 billion in Q4 2020).

The question, of course, is why the sharp decline in credit card growth, and while some will suggest that it has to do with the Omicron wave that hit in December we believe that it is more than just this, and has to do with the overall slowdown in spending which Morgan Stanley discussed earlier today, and which – if confirmed in the next month’s data – bodes poorly for any expectations that the current soft patch in the economy will prove to be merely “transitory.”

end

IIb) USA COVID/VACCINE MANDATE STORIES

He is mystified by the lagging booster shots?

(Phillips/EpochTimes)

Fauci Says He’s Mystified By Lagging Vaccine Booster Rates

FRIDAY, FEB 04, 2022 – 08:20 PM

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

White House COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci said he is confused as to why booster rates are lagging and said he doesn’t “have an easy explanation” for the phenomenon.Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director at the National Institute Of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during a hearing, with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, on the COVID-19 response, on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 18, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker-Pool/Getty Images)

When asked by a reporter on Wednesday about why fully vaccinated individuals aren’t getting as many boosters, Fauci noted that “about half” of all eligible Americans have received booster doses so far. Fauci made the remarks alongside COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients at a White House briefing.

“Why would people who had enough understanding of the risk to go ahead and get the primary series—why we don’t have more getting the booster,” Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, said in response. “I don’t have an easy explanation for that.”

Fauci said that he believes that federal health data suggests that it is “stunningly obvious” that vaccinated people should get a booster dose.

“So, the only thing that we can do is to continue to come out with the data and to make sure the American public appreciates why it is so important for optimal protection to get boosted,” he said.

Fauci’s comments come as several recent studies have shown that natural immunity, or the immunity achieved by prior COVID-19 infection, provides effective and lasting protection. One preprint study published in Italy in late January suggested that natural immunity lasts about 18 months.

“At 18 months, 97 percent participants tested positive for anti-NCP, hinting towards the persistence of infection-induced immunity even for the vaccinated individuals,” researchers wrote in a study posted to the Medrxiv website, referring to nucleocapsid, a type of protein within Covid-19.

Meanwhile, other studies have suggested that the Omicron variant may spread more quickly among fully vaccinated populations. In early January, Danish researchers, in a survey of some 12,000 households, found that unvaccinated people are as susceptible as those who are vaccinated.

At the same time, some U.S. cities have indicated they may start to end certain COVID-19 restrictions such as vaccine passports or indoor mask mandates. Some countries are planning—or have already done—the same.

“No one can know what will happen next December. But we promised the citizens of Denmark that we will only have restrictions if they are truly necessary and we’ll lift them as soon as we can,” Denmark Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told CNN Monday. “That’s what’s happening right now.”

Several weeks ago, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that COVID-19-related restrictions like masking and vaccine mandates would end in England.

And this week, officials in Israel, one of the first countries to implement a COVID-19 pass, said the country’s “green pass” would expire this week.

“To continue the green pass in the same way can create false assurances,” Nadav Davidovitch, who serves as an expert in the prime minister’s government, told reporters, according to the AFP news agency.

Passports and other mandates are “not reducing infections in closed spaces like theatres. It needs to be used mainly for high-risk places like hospitals, elderly care homes, or events when you are eating and singing and dancing,” he added.

END

Pretty soon it will be everybody removing school masking

(zerohedge)

NJ Governor To End School Masking Mandate In Hopes Of Returning To “Normalcy”

MONDAY, FEB 07, 2022 – 11:57 AM

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is planning to announce on Monday afternoon plans to end statewide masking requirements for teachers and students in the state’s schools, according to a NY Times report.

Over the past two years, Murphy has instituted some of the most cumbersome restrictions on businesses and individual freedoms, inspiring backlash from some in the state who felt some of the requirements made no or little sense. Among them were a pair of gym co-owners who were eventually arrested and charged for opening their business in defiance of government lockdown measures.

But as the COVID wave subsides and the number of hospitalizations and fatalities falls, pressure is growing on governments to start rolling back COVID restrictions. Murphy told the NYT yesterday that he plans to formally announce the rollback of the school masking requirements on Monday afternoon. The requirements won’t be rolled back until March, which will coincide with the two-year anniversary of “two weeks to stop the spread” lockdowns.

All teachers in the state’s schools are required to be fully vaxxed.

Given Murphy’s position as vice chairman of the National Governors Association, it’s likely that many other Democrat-controlled states will follow suit.

Murphy isn’t the first governor to roll back masking rules: last month, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf announced plans to rescind his state’s school mask mandate. The Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut said last week that they were “reevaluating” school masking mandates which were soon set to expire.

Even after the statewide requirement ends, NJ school districts will have the power to reinstate the masking requirements if COVID cases spike. But as Murphy acknowledged during a recent meeting with President Biden at the White House, “the overwhelming sentiment on both sides of the aisle” is that “we want to get to a place where we can live with this thing in as normal a fashion as possible.”

School masking requirements have elicited some of the most acrimonious backlash from members of the public during the pandemic. Battles during school board meetings have led to arrests and pandemonium, while angry parents have organized protests. In response to the outbursts, the National School Boards Association last year requested that members of school boards receive FBI protection.

Meanwhile, many GOP-controlled states like Florida and Texas have outlawed mask mandates in schools, triggering court fights in some cases. The mask requirements in NJ schools have been in place since September 2020, when schools reopened after a four-month COVID hiatus.

Mask rules in schools around the world have varied widely, with some countries requiring pupils to wear them despite very low infection rates and others mandating masks only for older students, or only when cases are surging.

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

Gas prices are at its highest since 2013 with Bidenlosing the war against inflation

(zerohedge)

Gas Prices At Pump Highest Since 2013; Biden Losing War Against Inflation

SATURDAY, FEB 05, 2022 – 03:00 PM

President Biden is about to have yet another major problem as the average price of gasoline surged to the highest level in seven years, according to new AAA fuel data. For this time of year, seasonal trends show prices are the highest since 2013.

Despite Biden’s attempt to squash surging fuel costs (as his war chest runs thin), AAA reported regular gasoline at the pump rose to $3.423 a gallon, a high most Americans haven’t seen since September 2014.

Crude prices increase amid signs of backwardation in futures contracts as demand exceeds supplies in some markets. Factor in Biden’s warmongering with Russia over Ukraine, the geopolitical risk premium rises and has lifted Brent prices to over $92 a barrel.

“Having drawn a line in the sand at $80 crude and about $3.30 gasoline, $3.40-plus gasoline will raise the pressure” on Biden, Paul Horsnell, head of commodities research at Standard Chartered, told Bloomberg. He said the administration could be holding back on another SPR release if tensions heat up with Russia.

The problem for Biden now is that SPR stocks are at their lowest since Oct 2002…

But maybe another SPR release won’t work this time around as crude futures point to significantly higher gas prices at the pump in the months ahead.

Retail gas prices at the pump for this time of year have only been higher in 2012 and 2013… and even then, it was only marginally higher. Given the chart above, we are well on our way to recording seasonal prices…

It’s becoming a fact that Biden’s ability to impact fuel prices is rapidly diminishing. OPEC+ has snubbed Biden’s request to rapidly increase supply.

And without being able to do anything about it (except maybe incentivize domestic production and blow the minds of his progressive wing), we suspect the crossover in the chart below will continue to grow…

The transition to a summer grade versus winter fuel grade will increase prices further, possibly exceeding $3.50 nationally in the coming months.

Also, inflation is widespread as consumers are plagued with some of the highest food prices in a decade and could soon pay record-high prices by spring.

Biden is losing the war on inflation as the growing discontent for this administration will force households to vote with their depleted pocketbooks during the midterms this fall.

end

iv)swamp stories

KING REPORT/SWAMP STORIES

The Jan Employment Report is so unfathomable, the usual cheerleaders question the report’s validity!

@zerohedge: Even CNBC can’t believe these numbers

The BLS admitted that without the seasonal adjustment revisions, the Household Survey ‘Employed’ would have DELCINED 272k instead of showing a gain of 1.2m jobs!

BBG: Number of Retail Workers Now Higher (15.6584m SA) Than Pre-Pandemic (15.2613m SA in Dec 2020) [Does this make sense?]  You would think that during the Omicron hit, there were fewer people shopping in -person and so lower need for workers…but retail trade actually saw its biggest monthly increased in payrolls cine June. The number of workers in retail is now higher than in the pre-pandemic period.  https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm    https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_01082021.pdf

Retail added 61.4k workers in January. Usually there is a big decline as holiday workers are dismissed. Leisure & Hospitality soared by 151k!  https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.b.htm

Analysts and pundits strained credulity proffering explanations and rationalizations for the dubious report.

January NFP grew 467k; 150k was consensus; 100k was the whisper number; Goldman expected -250k.

The BLS revised December NFP from 199k to 510k. As part of its annual revisions, BLS revised November NFP from 249k to 647k.   January NFP ex-seasonal adjusting is -2.824 million! The BLS’s Birth/Death Model projected that small businesses cut 114k jobs in January.
https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbd.htm

As noted above, the big delta with the expectations was the seasonal adjustment, and as Pierpont says the omicron impact can be seen if you take out the benchmark revisions from the household survey data: “If we exclude the impact of the annual revision, the January readings would have been -137K for labor force and -272K for household employment.”…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/january-payrolls-huge-beat-soaring-467k-december-revised-massively-higher-earnings

‘Crazy Mess’ of Jobs Data Has Economists Getting It Wrong Again
After some estimates called for U.S. payrolls to decline by as much as 400,000, the labor market shockingly added that many jobs in January… Other indicators leading up to Friday also pointed to an impending doomsday. Jobless claims recorded during the employment report’s reference week surged the most in nearly 10 months, while ADP Research Institute data showed companies shed 301,000 employees in January, the most since April 2020…
    “January is by far the biggest month for layoffs as seasonal work ends and schools close for winter break,” Wells Fargo & Co. economists Sarah House and Michael Pugliese said in a note. They had forecast a payrolls decline of 100,000. “However, with many businesses already understaffed, employers let go fewer workers than usual.”…
     Another quirk in January’s report was revisions to reflect updated population estimates used in the household survey. Had it not been for those controls, the number of employed Americans would have dropped by 272,000, according to the Labor Department…
    There were 3.6 million employed Americans not at work due to illness, more than double that in December. At the same time, 6 million people were unable to work in the month because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic, roughly twice that in December…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-04/-crazy-mess-of-jobs-data-has-economists-getting-it-wrong-again

The Household survey shows a 1.2m increase in ‘Employed’. The labor force soared by 1.3m; ‘not in the labor force’ tumbled by 300k to 99.516m. The Unemployment Rate rose 0.1 to 4%. The labor force participation rate increased 0.3 to 62.2%. ‘Unemployed’ increased 194k – a huge discrepancy in trend with the 1.2m increase in ‘Employed’!  https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm

Average hourly earnings jumped to 0.7% m/m (0.5% exp.) and 5.7% y/y (5.2% exp.). The wage inflation especially spooked bonds. The workweek declined to 34.5 hours from 34.7 hours.

BLS Job Revisions Show Every Job Report in 2021 Was Total Garbage
The BLS made huge revisions in the number of monthly job dating all the way back to 2017

The BLS underestimated jobs for the first 5 months of 2021 plus December.
The BLS overestimated jobs every month between June and November, 6 consecutive months.
The sum of overestimates totals 2,507,000
The sum of underestimates total 1,890,000
The final revision in December was up by 211,000…
The first 5 months of 2021 were hugely understated, followed by 6 months of overstatements…
The jobs market was weaker than reported every month between June and November…

Just got off the phone with Lacy Hunt (ex-Fed official/venerable economist) who said “The BLS household numbers are now poisoned. I have never seen such huge revisions.”…
https://mishtalk.com/economics/bls-job-revisions-show-every-job-report-in-2021-was-total-garbage

@zerohedge: Insane revisions: the BLS is now saying covid never happened
https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1489594504181125120

@McClellanOsc: The @washingtonpost had a good chart today, showing how much the new seasonal adjustment factors have adjusted the recent jobs data. The past 3 months’ data seem to have just shaved jobs off of last summer and relocated them.   https://twitter.com/McClellanOsc/status/1489791011282829312

BLS: Changes to The Employment Situation Data
Establishment survey data have been revised as a result of the annual benchmarking process and the updating of seasonal adjustment factors. Also, household survey data for January 2022 reflect updated population estimates. See the notes at the end of this news release for more information.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

U.S. Black Jobless Rate Improves, With More Entering Workforce
Black workers in the U.S. saw an improvement in their jobs situation last month, as more men and women returned to the workforce and got hired. The unemployment rate for Black workers fell to 6.9% in January, according to Labor Department figures…
https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/u-s-black-jobless-rate-improves-with-more-entering-workforce

If someone did rig the January Employment Report for political expediency, they were too clever by half.

After the conditioned rally into and for the NYSE open, ESHs, stocks, and bonds sank. WTI oil hit 93.17 (+3%) at 10:13 ET. Gasoline was +2%. Bonds were -1.5 points. Natgas sank 5%; the storm has passed.

Bank of England calls for wage restraint to keep grip on inflation http://reut.rs/3soLipI

Clorox Tumbles After “Inflationary Headwinds” Compress Margins
Soaring manufacturing, shipping, and commodity costs were to blame as gross margins plunged 1240 basis points to 33% from 45% in the fourth quarter versus a year ago. CEO Linda Rendle said additional costs are expected around $500 million…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/clorox-tumbles-after-inflationary-headwinds-compress-margins

Biden Order to Be Aimed at Raising Wages on Infrastructure Jobs
Biden, who has long touted his support for unions, will sign an executive order on Friday implementing the rule for all federally procured construction projects above $35 million in value…
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/biden-order-to-be-aimed-at-raising-wages-on-infrastructure-jobs

The Big Guy was 65 minutes late for his scheduled speech on the January Employment Report. Team Joe spent most of last week preemptively making excuses for an expected poor jobs report. Someone had to reconstruct The Big Guy’s Teleprompter script.

President Biden: “Look, average people are getting clobbered by the cost of everything today. Gas prices at the pump are up. We’re working to bring them down, but they’re up. Food prices are up. We’re going to bring them down as well.”  http://hill.cm/N4Aa44v

@joelpollak: Biden’s talking about capping the price of insulin again, after he suspended a Trump executive order that did just that. He’s effectively holding insulin hostage to his insane spending proposals.

@townhallcom: Biden scurries from the podium without taking any questions. Reporters can be heard shouting questions about record gas prices, Putin’s meeting with President Xi, and genocide against Uyghurs.  https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1489647101525082113

@JackPosobiec: Psaki refuses to provide any evidence to reporter asking for proof the civilians in the Syria raid were killed by a suicide vest and not another US mishap. Psaki responded by attacking reporter’s patriotism for not immediately believing the Pentagon

Vast DOJ Probe Looks at Almost 30 Short-Selling Firms and Allies… for potential trading abuses.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/securities-law/vast-doj-probe-looks-at-almost-30-short-selling-firms-and-allies

Yet the almost daily blatant upward manipulation is ignored, and apparently encouraged.

ESHs rallied sharply during Asian trading on Friday due to Amazon. ESHs hit a peak of 4528.00 at 14:10 ET. They then tumbled to a session low of 4338.50, a 90-handle decline, at 9:03 ET. The rally for the NYSE opening then commenced. The usual suspects manipulated ESHs to 4488.50 by 10:13 ET.

ESHs and stocks then declined sharply. When they got near the daily lows, the real manipulation commenced. By 15:14 ET, ESHs were manipulated to a new session high of 4532.50, a 94-handle rally.

When Fed officials speak of financial stability, they are full of Schiff. They are absent during the recent spate of manipulations and disturbing volatility. Meanwhile, regulators are trying to intimidate short seller with dubious investigations that reportedly have no probable cause of wrongdoing.

@miltimore79: The White House throws Dr. Fauci under the bus. Asked about Johns Hopkins study that shows lockdowns failed, Psaki disavows them. “We’ve not been pro-lockdown — most of the lockdowns actually happened under the previous President.” https://twitter.com/miltimore79/status/1489674251535745028

@RNCResearch: Biden: “When the federal government spends taxpayer dollars, we buy American products.” Biden just paid China $1.2 billion for COVID tests. https://t.co/KA2SUHKpvO

@michaeljknowles: FDR: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself!” Reagan: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Biden: “You know all what I’m about to, what I’ve said, and you know what I’ve done, and you know what we’re doing, and I know what you’re doing.” https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1489704773595107333

China suspected in hack of journalists at News Corp http://reut.rs/3GmCIMY

Stacey Abrams receives backlash for posing maskless with room full of young masked children
‘Mask hypocrisy is practically a status symbol now,’ National Review’s Rich Lowry tweeted
    The picture that went viral was Abrams sitting on the floor with her legs crossed and smiling without a mask on while the dozens of children and adults behind her were all wearing masks…
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/stacey-abrams-receives-backlash-for-posing-maskless-with-room-full-of-young-masked-children

@JerryDunleavy: These tweets — with a photo showing Stacey Abrams maskless surrounded by masked children & showing Abrams promoting it from her own account — have now both been removed. (Abrams deleted her own tweet and it appears that the original account has been deactivated or something). https://t.co/qzzAPolsE2

Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman caught maskless in New York high school with masked students
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., was pictured at a New York high school without wearing a mask, while students pictured around him were all masked-up…
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democratic-rep-jamaal-bowman-caught-maskless-in-new-york-high-school-with-masked-students

@Robber_Baron_: An Illinois judge sums up the entire Covid response with one quote: “Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.”  Judge blocks schools from enforcing Pritzker’s mask, vaccine mandates, refers to policies as ‘type of evil’
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/judge-blocks-schools-from-enforcing-pritzkers-mask-vaccine-mandates-refers-to-policies-as-type-of/article_96d16738-8615-11ec-b3ca-47c4e1dae2a3.html

@MichaelPSenger: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki calls on Spotify, a Swedish company, to do more to censor Joe Rogan, an American citizen, with regard to COVID. Totally normal. Nothing to see here.   https://twitter.com/MichaelPSenger/status/1489017140002713600

@WIONews: Chinese communist workers drag journalist away on live TV at Beijing Winter Olympics. Watch video  https://t.co/kiMn7BTGPh

State Department Spokesman Ned Price Absent After He Got Shredded by AP Reporter
LEE: I would like to see some proof that you – that you can show that — PRICE: Matt, you have been — LEE: — that shows that the Russians are doing this…
https://conservativebrief.com/price-59288/?utm_source=CB&utm_medium=JessieJaneDuff

NYC Mayor Adams apologizes for video boasting about being a better cop than ‘cracker’ colleagues https://trib.al/EELXIjy

Hate crimes in US skyrocketed 46% in 2021: New York City saw 96% spike, LA had 71% increase and Asian Americans experienced 339% rise in the worst numbers for 100 years…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10480861/New-York-City-reported-96-spike-LA-saw-71-increase-attacks-Asian-Americans-hit-record.html

Biden’s first year in office saw 73 police officers killed — most deaths since 1995 https://nypost.com/2022/02/06/bidens-first-year-in-office-saw-73-police-officers-killed-most-deaths-since-1995/

The Dog That Didn’t Bark: Three Words Biden Would Not, Could Not Say in NY Crime Speech
The important part was nowhere in his blah-blah-blah about “ghost guns” and the need for the feds to cooperate with locals on gun trafficking between states. Democrats have a crime mantra, “gun violence” to avoid mentioning street gang violence. There are many guns in the suburbs, especially now, and suburbanites aren’t slaughtering each other.
    Like an old dry cork, President Biden bobs along on currents formed by the left wing of the Democratic Party. The hard left calls the shots on policy… For far too long, Biden was silent on the growing chaos in cities, hiding in his basement, as public order came under political and physical attack by Democrat thought leaders. And cities were torn apart, businesses were looted and burned in those “mostly peaceful” Black Lives Matter riots..
    So, what was missing from the president’s speech? Local prosecutors. If he had talked in any detail of the work done by local prosecutors, he’d have had to remind Americans about all those George Soros backed Democrat prosecutors, from New York to Chicago to San Francisco and elsewhere. The woke among them reject criminal law as written by state legislatures. They make their own law, their Social Justice Warrior law, which feeds the anarchy in the big cities…
    What are those three words? Woke Rogue Prosecutors.
https://johnkassnews.com/three-dangerous-words-missing-from-bidens-ny-crime-speech/

Memphis BLM founder Pamela Moses sentenced to 6 years for illegally voting https://t.co/tKtmUNfuqN
    @MrAndyNgo: It wasn’t a voting error. She committed voter fraud on top of having 16 felony convictions. Some of her more recent felony convictions include tampering with evidence and forgery.

Judge lets convicted Hunter Biden business partner freely roam globe while awaiting sentencing
Federal judge’s lenient treatment for Devon Archer renews debate about a dual system of justice, as Jan. 6 and Russia defendants faced travel restrictions.
https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/judge-lets-convicted-hunter-biden-business-partner

Man who tried to burn Minneapolis school during BLM riots gets probation https://trib.al/fn6Niyo

GOP Rep @Lancegooden: Barack Obama is building a beachfront mansion in Hawaii.  For someone who constantly spews climate-change hysteria, he likes buying property right on the water.

Scowling Obama inspects his new multi-million-dollar Hawaii mansion and controversial sea wall
Construction has been mired in controversy as the project used a planning loophole to retain a sea wall that is almost certainly causing beach erosion… (Laws & rules are for thee, but not for me!)
https://dailyuspost.com/us-news/scowling-obama-inspects-his-new-multi-million-dollar-hawaii-mansion-and-controversial-sea-wall/

@AFP: US waives sanctions on Iran’s civil nuclear program (This is insane! Gives Israel no choice)

end

Let us close out the week with this offering courtesy of Greg Hunter interviewing Dr Betsy Eads

a good one to watch!!

White Coat Mafia Tyranny – Dr. Betsy Eads | Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog

White Coat Mafia Tyranny – Dr. Betsy Eads

By Greg Hunter On February 5, 2022 In Political Analysis97 Comments

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (Saturday Night Post)

Dr. Elizabeth Eads is on the frontline of medicine, treating patients who have been injected with the experimental CV19 so-called “vaccines.” Dr. Eads is back to update us on what she calls a “genocide.” Dr. Eads continues to say the CV19 injections are not vaccines. They are “bioweapons” being administered by evil medical professionals. Dr. Eads explains, “We are in a complete ‘White Coat Mafia’ tyranny right now. This is a depopulation agenda. Whether people want to believe it or not, this is the New World Order. This is the 13 bloodline families. This is Vanguard and Black Rock, who own everything, including all of Big Pharma and all of the companies that own the CDC. They own everything. This is their agenda to depopulate and control people with these vaccines. We know we are being injected with nano and AI, and they want to turn us into trans-human figures that they can control.”

Did we need the vax in the first place when HCQ and Ivermectin were withheld and would have cured Covid? Dr. Eads says, “No, we did not need the vax. This is an evil agenda to harm as many people as possible. . . . There are 5% to 7% lethal batches being distributed around the world. After the first shot, your immune system is depreciated by 30%. After the second shot, it’s depressed by 50%. After the third shot, it’s anywhere from 60% to 80% depressed. After the 4th shot, your immune system is 80% plus depreciated. Every few weeks after that, you lose another 5% of your immune function. . . . We also know that HIV has been spliced into some of these lethal vials. That is causing an AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) like complete immune collapse. . . . We have absolute proof of what ingredients are in these vaccines, and HIV is one of them.”

Dr. Eads talks about the recent bizarre FDA approval of the Moderna CV19 vax. There are many questions as to how it got so-called “approval.” One of the big things the FDA overlooked, according to Dr. Eads, is data showing a “400% increase” of heart problems after the Moderna vax.

In closing, Dr. Eads says what we are seeing today with the vax bioweapon is nothing short of a modern day version of “marching people to the gas chambers.”

Eads also says hospitals and doctors are getting “bonuses” for practicing medicine that is murdering patients. Eads says, “You cannot tell me, at this juncture, that hospitals and doctors do not know what they are doing. The pharmacists, doctors and nurses have made a choice to keep their jobs. They have chosen money over wellness and health and saving people. It is disgusting.”

Join Greg Hunter as he talks to 25-year veteran Dr. Elizabeth Eads, DO, exposing the lies that Big Pharma, CDC, FDA and NIH are telling the public. Dr. Eads continues to highlight the real unreported effects of the CV19 bioweapons.

(There is much more cutting edge, frontline medical information in the nearly 45 min interview.)

(https://usawatchdog.com/white-coat-mafia-tyranny-dr-betsy-eads/

After the Interview:

You can follow Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Eads on Twitter or you can follow her on Telegram.

end

Well that is all for today. I will see you Monday night

John Adams	Sun, Feb 6, 6:53 PM (12 hours ago)
to Robbie, Ted, Wilson, Ross, Robert, John, Greg, Richard, Lex, Anthony, John, Lionel, Andrew, Rafi, georgemav7, Tom, Phoenix, Bix, me, Yankel, Dimitrios, Martin, jeremy, Sanjeev, sean, beck1972, David, Philip, April, julie, julie, D, Melissa, Russell.Broadbent.MP, Gerard, Paul, Dunagun, daniel

Milan Sabioncello	Feb 6, 2022, 11:16 PM (8 hours ago)
to me

Greg Hunter via aweber.com	Sat, Feb 5, 6:00 PM (19 hours ago)
to Harvey

Robert Hryniak	Feb 5, 2022, 7:47 PM (17 hours ago)
to

Robert Hryniak	11:20 AM (3 hours ago)
to

Robert Hryniak	Sun, Feb 6, 7:46 PM (11 hours ago)
to

Robert Hryniak	11:23 AM (4 hours ago)
to

FEB 7

DONATE

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR FEB. CONTRACT: 285 NOTICE(S) FOR 28,500 OZ (0.8864 TONNES)

total notices so far: 16,528 contracts for 1,652,800 oz (51.409 tonnes)

1/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3 C CHINA

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

6.Global Issues

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

Peter Schiff: The Fed Is Going To Lose The Inflation Fight

‘We’re out of everything,’ Goldman Sachs commodity research chief says

Should Idaho let its reserves be gutted by inflation or should it invest in gold?

Maguire and Hemke discuss why price suppression via derivatives may end this year

Goldman Commodity Veteran Says He’s Never Seen a Market Like It

Russia Ministry Of Finance Suggests Letting Banks Sell Bitcoin

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

Futures Tread Water Amid Peripheral Bond Rout As Key CPI Print Looms

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

3c CHINA

Xi-Putin Olympics Summit Is Explicitly – And Primarily – Anti-US

China Fixes Yuan At Weakest On Record Relative To Expectations

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

EU Wants To Keep Vaccine Passports In Place For Another Entire Year

Technocrats Demand Meat Tax To Fight Climate Change

Biden Presses Reluctant German Chancellor On Halting Nord Stream 2, Imposing Russia Sanctions

European Bonds Are Blowing Up As Peripheral Europe Runs “Panic-Pain” Playbook

“If You’re Not Scared Here…” – Lagarde Let Europe’s Genie Out Of The ‘Unintended-Consequence’ Bottle

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

Russia Might Invade Ukraine “As Soon As Tomorrow”: White House

The disinformation of truth is becoming the madness of a failing narrative as control fails

Ukraine & NATO Agree Threat of Russian Invasion ‘Low’ – But US Continues “Apocalyptic” Rhetoric

6// GLOBAL COVID ISSUES/VACCINE MANDATE ISSUES/

GoFundMe Seizes Millions In Trucker Protest Funds, Will Give It To Charities Instead

Police Threaten Arrests For People Giving Fuel To Freedom Convoy

“This Is A Nationwide Insurrection” – Ottawa Mayor Declares ‘State Of Emergency’ Amid Trucker Convoy ‘Occupation’

Fwd: The song of the Canadian drivers at the protest

Alberta to Repeal COVID Restrictions | Armstrong Economics

Canada in protest .. all alternative media around these world is on this story

Unacceptable HonkHonk Chicken Gate on Twitter: “This is the Canada I know and love! https://t.co/XufSo3YjdA” / Twitter

Dr. David Martin and the 5th circuit court final order AWESOME LANGUAGE FROM THE COURT – Vaccine Liberation Army

Startling New Data From Germany Shows Cases of Serious Injury From The Vax Have Increased Over 2000% – enVolve

CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WaPo completely avoid Johns Hopkins study finding COVID lockdowns ineffective | Fox News

Dr. Reiner Fuellmick’s case to the Nuremberg Jury.

Must see

FDA

Malone: The Mass Formation Madness Must Stop

World Food Prices Accelerate In January, Set For Record High

Tyson Foods Soars To Record After Hiking Beef, Chicken And Pork Prices By Double Digits

Ford Shutters 8 Factories Due To “Persistent Supply Chain Disruptions”

US Heating Oil, Diesel Stocks Dwindle As Demand Rises

Backwardation

Michael Every

Rabobank: You Just Saw History Being Made

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET& AUSTRALIA ISSUES

Australia Finally Ready To Reopen To Tourists After 2 Years Of COVID Lockdowns

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

Bitcoin & Bullion Surge, Stocks Purge, As EU Credit Crisis Risk Re-Emerges

Consumer Debt Growth Tumbles 50% Amid Sharp Slowdown In Credit Card Usage, Decline In Student Loans

Fauci Says He’s Mystified By Lagging Vaccine Booster Rates

NJ Governor To End School Masking Mandate In Hopes Of Returning To “Normalcy”

Gas Prices At Pump Highest Since 2013; Biden Losing War Against Inflation

White Coat Mafia Tyranny – Dr. Betsy Eads

Share this:

Related

2 comments

Leave a reply to WORLD WIDE FOOD PRICES ACCELERATE AT FASTEST PACE IN QUITE SOME TIME | awarecitizen.com Cancel reply

Donate

Archive

Spot Gold

Spot Silver