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comex notices/

: JPMorgan stopped/total issued 25/62

EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: APRIL 2022 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 1,941.600000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 04/08/2022 DELIVERY DATE: 04/12/2022
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED

072 C GOLDMAN 15 3
104 C MIZUHO 28
363 H WELLS FARGO SEC 2
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 1
624 H BOFA SECURITIES 5
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 15 4
661 C JP MORGAN 25
709 C BARCLAYS 11
737 C ADVANTAGE 2
880 H CITIGROUP 11
905 C ADM 2

TOTAL: 62 62
MONTH TO DATE: 23,941

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR APRIL. CONTRACT 62 NOTICE(S) FOR 6200 OZ (0.1928 TONNES)

total notices so far: 23,941 contracts for 2,394,100 oz (74.466 tonnes)

SILVER NOTICES:

11 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 55,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month 999 : for 4,995,000 oz

END

Russia is a major supplier of silver to London while Mexico supplies the COMEX

With the sanctions, London has no way to obtain silver other than compete with NY.

END

GLD

WITH GOLD UP $3.40

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

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

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

A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF 1.74 TONNES FROM THE GLD//

INVENTORY RESTS AT 1090.49 TONNES

Silver//SLV

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP13 CENTS

AT THE SLV// A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/ THE SLV//A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.831 MILLION OZ OUT THE SLV

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV

CLOSING INVENTORY: 565.521 MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A GIGANTIC SIZED 3560 CONTRACTS TO 151,670 AND CLOSER TO THE NEW RECORD OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THE HUGE GAIN IN OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR SMALL $0.11 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON FRIDAY. OUR BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT ROSE BY $0.11) AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OUT ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A HUMONGOUS GAIN OF 4947 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 ZERO ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS iiii) A STRONG INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 4.305 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE. JUMP OF 65,000 OZ//NEW STANDING: 5.450 MILLION OZ// V) HUGE SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/

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

THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI SILVER TODAY: CONTRACTS : —-2047 (which is huge)

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

TOTAL CONTACTS for 7 days, total 3111 contracts: 15.555 million oz OR 2.22MILLION OZ PER DAY. (444 CONTRACTS PER DAY)

TOTAL NO OF OZ UNDERGOING EFP TO LONDON 3111 CONTRACTS X 5,000 PER CONTRACT:

EQUATES TO: 15.555 MILLION OZ

LAST 11 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: 72.39 MILLION OZ//

MARCH: 207.430 MILLION OZ//A NEW RECORD FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND WE ARE STILL GOING STRONG THIS MONTH.

APRIL: 15.555 MILLION OZ (LOOKS LIKE OUR BANKERS ARE NOW LOATHE TO ISSUE EFP’S)

RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 4607 WITH OUR SMALL $0.11 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX// FRIDAY THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 340 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR MAY 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 HUGE INITIAL SILVER OZ STANDING FOR MAR. OF 4.305 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 65,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP//NEW STANDING: 5.450 MILLION OZ/// .. WE HAD AN HUGE SIZED GAIN 4947 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES FOR 9.80 MILLION OZ DESPITE THE LOSS IN PRICE.

WE HAD 11 NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR 55,000 OZ

THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.

GOLD//OUTLINE

IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A VERY STRONG SIZED 5672 CONTRACTS TO 569,443 AND CLOSER TO 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: 4467 CONTRACTS.(which is also huge)

THE BIS HAS ABANDONED THE GOLD COMEX TRADING!!!

THE STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI CAME DESPITE OUR SMALL GAIN IN PRICE OF $7.70//COMEX GOLD TRADING/FRIDAY /.AS IN SILVER WE MUST HAD HUGE BANKER/ALGO SHORT COVERING ACCOMPANYING OUR SMALL SIZED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE. WE HAD ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION

WE ALSO HAD A HUGE INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR APRIL AT 78.33 TONNES

YET ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $7.70 WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY’S TRADING

WE HAD AN STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 7231 OI CONTRACTS (22.49 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A SMALL SIZED 1559 CONTRACTS:

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 569,443.

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE AN VERY STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 7231, WITH 5672 CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX AND 1559 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 7231 CONTRACTS OR 22.49 TONNES.

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A SMALL SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (1559) ACCOMPANYING THE STRONG SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI (5672,): TOTAL GAIN IN THE TWO EXCHANGES 7,231 CONTRACTS. WE NO DOUBT HAD 1) HUGE BANKER SHORT COVERING ,2.) HUGE INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR APRIL. AT 78.33 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 4400 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW STANDING 80.763 TONNES/// 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION ///. ,4) STRONG SIZED COMEX OI. GAIN 5) SMALL ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL/

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2022 INCLUDING TODAY

APRIL

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

16,871 CONTRACTS OR 1,687,100 OR 52.47 TONNES 7 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 2410 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 7 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES: 52.47TONNES

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

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 52.47/3550 x 100% TONNES 1.47% 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. 175.62 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//

JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL

FEB: 196.04 TONNES//FINAL

MARCH: 409.30 TONNES INITIAL( THIS IS NOW A RECORD EFP ISSUANCE FOR MARCH AND FOR ANY MONTH.

APRIL: 52.47 TONNES (THIS IS GOING TO BE A LOW ISSUANCE MONTH)

SPREADING OPERATIONS

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

SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF MAY.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 APRIL HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MAY, FOR SILVER:

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.”

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, ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED 2560 CONTRACTS TO 151,670 AND CLOSER TO 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 5 YEARS AGO.

EFP ISSUANCE 340 CONTRACTS

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

MAY 340 ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 0 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI GAIN OF 2560 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 340 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,

WE OBTAIN A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 2900 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 24.735

MILLION OZ,

OCCURRED WITH OUR GAIN OF $0.11 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 DOWN 84.71 PTS OR 2.61% //Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 663.71 PTS OR 3.34% /The Nikkei closed DOWN 164.28 PTS OR 0.91% //Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.02% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 6.3686 /Oil DOWN TO 93.81 dollars per barrel for WTI and DOWN TO 98.15 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL RED EXCEPT PARIS // ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT 6.3686 OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN ON THE DOLLAR AT 6.3789: /ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER

A)NORTH KOREA/

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 ROSE BY A STRONG SIZED 5672 CONTRACTS TO 569,443 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD THAT WAS SET IN JANUARY/2020: {799,541 OI(SET JAN 16/2020)} AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: 797,110 (SET JAN 7/2020). AND THIS STRONG COMEX INCREASE OCCURRED WITH OUR RELATIVELY SMALL GAIN OF $7.70 IN GOLD PRICING FRIDAY’S COMEX TRADING. WE ALSO HAD A SMALL SIZED EFP (1559 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 APRIL.. THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A SMALL SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,

THAT IS 1559 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: ;: , . 0 JUNE :1559 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 1559 CONTRACTS

WHEN WE HAVE BACKWARDATION, EFP ISSUANCE IS VERY COSTLY BUT THE REAL PROBLEM IS THE SCARCITY OF METAL AND IT IS FAR BETTER FOR OUR BANKERS TO PAY OFF INDIVIDUALS THAN RISK INVESTORS ESPECIALLY FROM LONDON STANDING FOR DELIVERY. THE LOWER PRICES IN THE FUTURES MARKET IS A MAGNET FOR OUR LONDONERS SEEKING PHYSICAL METAL. BACKWARDATION ALWAYS EQUAL SCARCITY OF METAL!

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A STRONG SIZED TOTAL OF 7231 CONTRACTS IN THAT 1559 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A STRONG SIZED COMEX OI GAIN OF 5672 CONTRACTS..AND THIS GAIN OCCURRED WITH OUR SMALL GAIN IN PRICE OF GOLD $7.70.

// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR APRIL (80.643),

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

YEAR 2022:

JANUARY 2022 17.79 TONNES

FEB 2022: 59.023 TONNES

MARCH: 36.678 TONNES

APRIL: 80.643

THE BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE //// (IT ROSE $7.70) AND AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN FLEECING ANY LONGS AS WE HAVE REGISTERED A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 7231 TONNES ON TOTAL OI FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR HUGE GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR APRIL (80.743 TONNES)…

WE HAD — 4467 CONTRACTS REMOVED FROM COMEX TRADES. THESE WERE REMOVED AFTER TRADING ENDED LAST NIGHT

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 7231 CONTRACTS OR 723,100 OZ OR 22.49 TONNES

Estimated gold volume today: 179,408 ///poor

Confirmed volume yesterday: 15,341 contracts poor

INITIAL STANDINGS FOR APRIL ’22 COMEX GOLD //APRIL 11

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory in oz*	nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer* Inventory in oz*	32,485/775 oz HSBC
Deposit to the Dealer* Inventory in oz*	nil OZ
Deposits to the Customer* Inventory, in oz*	32,215.302 oz JPMorgan 1002 kilobars
No of oz served (contracts) today	62 notice(s)6200 OZ 0.1992 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)	1986 contracts 198,600 oz 6.1773 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	23,941 notices 2,394,100 OZ 74.466 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:

dealer deposits 0

total dealer deposit nil oz//

No dealer withdrawals

1 customer deposits.

i) Into JPMorgan: 32,215.302 oz (1002 kilobars)

total customer deposit 32,215.302 oz

1 customer withdrawals

i) out of HSBC: 32,485.775 oz

total customer withdrawal: 32,485.775 oz /

ADJUSTMENTS: dealer to customer

i) Manfra: 76,862.305

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR APRIL.

For the front month of APRIL we have an oi of 2048 contracts having LOST 18.

We had 64 notices filed yesterday so we GAINED 46 contracts or 4,600 oz will stand for delivery at the comex

May saw a LOSS of 394 contracts to stand at 3688

June saw a GAIN of 3590 contracts UP to 476,514 contracts

We had 62 notice(s) filed today for 6200 oz FOR THE APRIL 2022 CONTRACT MONTH.

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 0 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equates to 62 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 25 notice(s) was (were) stopped/ Received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account and 8 notice(s) received (stopped) by the squid (Goldman Sachs)

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

we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (23,941) x 100 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of (APRIL 2048 CONTRACTS ) minus the number of notices served upon today 62 x 100 oz per contract equals 2,592,700 OZ OR 80.643 TONNES the number of TONNES standing in this active month of APRIL.

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

No of notices filed so far (23,941) x 100 oz+ (2046) OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (62} x 100 oz} which equals 2,592,700 oz standing OR 80.643 TONNES in this active delivery month of APRIL.

We GAINED 4400 oz as a QUEUE. jump as our banker friends scrounge around for some gold

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 80.763 TONNES (A WHOPPER FOR AN APRIL ( ACTIVE) DELIVERY MONTH)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION

NEW PLEDGED GOLD:

191,133,764.7, oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 5.94 TONNES

99,258.893 PLEDGED MANFRA 3.08 TONNES

54,339.114oz PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690 tonnes

243,923.704, oz JPM No 2 7.58 TONNES

898,821.330 oz pledged Brinks/27,96 TONNES

International Delaware:: 0

Loomis: 18,615.429 oz

total pledged gold: 1,488,458.117 oz 46.29 tonnes

TOTAL REGISTERED AND ELIG GOLD AT THE COMEX: 35,900,837.163 OZ (1116,66 TONNES)

TOTAL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 18,210,805.751 OZ (566.43 tonnes)

TOTAL OF ALL REGISTERED GOLD: 17,689,588.412 OZ (550.22 tonnes)

REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 16,201,130.0 OZ (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 503.923 tonnes

END

APRIL 2022 CONTRACT MONTH//SILVER//APRIL 11

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	1,527,367.415 oz Brinks Delaware JPM
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	792,760.000 OZ JPM CNT Delaware
No of oz served today (contracts)	11CONTRACT(S) 55,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	91 contracts (455,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	999 contracts 4,995,000 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 2 deposits into the customer account

i) Into JPMorgan: 209,692.800 oz

ii) Into CNT: 583,207.200 oz

total deposit: 792,760.000 oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 176.222 million oz/335.040 million =52.59% of comex

i) Comex withdrawals: 3

i) Out of JPM 817,904.210 oz

ii) Out of Delaware: 16,567.856 oz

iii) Out of CNT 692,895.349 oz

total withdrawal 1,527,367.415 oz

0 adjustments: dealer to customer

the silver comex is in stress!

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 86.281 MILLION OZ

TOTAL REG + ELIG. 335.040 MILLION OZ

CALCULATION OF SILVER OZ STANDING FOR APRIL

silver open interest data:

FRONT MONTH OF APRIL OI: 102, HAVING LOST 119 CONTRACTS FROM FRIDAY. We had 132 notices filed yesterday,

so we GAINED 13 contracts or an additional 65,000 oz will stand on this side of the pond

MAY HAD A LOSS OF 6486 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 84,662 contracts

JUNE HAD A GAIN OF 119 TO STAND AT 951

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 11 for 55,000 oz

Comex volumes: 91,585// est. volume today// strong/

Comex volume: confirmed yesterday: 67,325 contracts ( fair )

To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in APRIL. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 999 x 5,000 oz = 4,995,000oz

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of APRIL (102) and the number of notices served upon today 11 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

Thus the standings for silver for the APRIL./2021 contract month: 999 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for front month of APRIL (102) – number of notices served upon today (11) x 5000 oz of silver standing for the APRIL contract month equates 5.450,000 oz. .

We GAINED contracts or 65,000 oz will stand on this side of the pond

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:

APRIL 11/WITH GOLD UP $3.40 //A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.74 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1090.49 TONNES

APRIL 8/WITH GOLD UP $7.70: A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.45 TONNES INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1088.75 TONNES

APRIL 7/WITH GOLD UP $13.40: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1087.30 TONNES

APRIL 6/WITH GOLD DOWN $4.10: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.68 TONNES FROM THE GLD..//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1087.30 TONNES

APRIL 5/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.70: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.75 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1089.98 TONNES

APRIL 4/WITH GOLD UP $.70//NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1091.73 TONNES

APRIL 1///WITH GOLD DOWN $19.00 : A SMALL CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .29 TONNES INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1091.73 TONNES

MARCH 31/WITH GOLD UP $13.30 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD FROM MONDAY A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.71 TONNES FROM THE GLD:INVENTORY RESTS AT 1091.44

MARCH 28/WITH GOLD DOWN $14.65: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1093.18 TONNES

MARCH 25/WITH GOLD DOWN $7.60 : A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 5.52 TONNES INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1093.18 TONNES

MARCH 24/WITH GOLD UP $24.95: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4.06 TONNES INTO THE GLD..//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1087.66 TONNES

MARCH 23/WITH GOLD UP $15.75//NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1083.60 TONNES

MARCH 22/WITH GOLD DOWN $7.75: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.16 TONNES OF GOLD DEPOSITED INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1083.60 TONES

MARCH 21//WITH GOLD UP $.25 : A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 9.00 TONNES INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1082.44 TONES

MARCH 18/WITH GOLD DOWN $13.55 NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1073.44 TONES

MARCH 17/WITH GOLD UP $33.50: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 11.61 TONNES INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1073.44 TONNES

MARCH 16/WITH GOLD DOWN $18.50//A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.33 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1061.83 TONNES

MARCH 15/WITH GOLD DOWN $30.80 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1064.16 TONNES

MARCH 14//WITH GOLD DOWN $22.75, HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//STRANGE: A DEPOSIT OF 2.62 TONNES INTO THE GLD.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1064.16 TONNES

MARCH 11/WITH GOLD DOWN $14.60: A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.74 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 1061.54 TONNES

MARCH 10//WITH GOLD UP $11.55: A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.06 TONNES FORM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1063.28 TONNES

MARCH 9/WITH GOLD DOWN $53.85//A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4.64 TONNES INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1067.34 TONNES

MARCH 8/WITH GOLD UP $46.10: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 8.42 TONNES INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1062.70 TONNES

MARCH 7/WITH GOLD UP $28.40 A HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4.06 TONNES INTO THE GLD..//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1054.28 TONNES

MARCH 4/WITH GOLD UP $28.40//NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 1050.22 TONNES

CLOSING INVENTORY FOR THE GLD//1090.49 TONNES

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

APRIL 11/WITH SILVER UP 13 CENTS: A SMALL CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 831,000 OZ FORM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 565.521 MILLION OZ

APRIL 8/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS :NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 566.352 MILLION OZ//

APRIL 7/WITH SILVER UP 27 CENTS : NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 566.352 MILLION OZ//

APRIL 6/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS : NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 566.352 MILLION OZ

APRIL 5/WITH SILVER DOWN 16 CENTS : A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.386 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV..//INVENTORY RESETS AT 566.352 MILLION OZ//

APRIL 4/WITH SILVER DOWN 5 CENTS TO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//: A DEPOSIT OF 6.326 MILLION OZ//INVENTORY REST AT 564.966 MILLION OZ//

APRIL 1/WITH SILVER DOWN 39 CENTS A BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.302 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY REST AT 558.647 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 31/WITH SILVER UP 3 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//A DEPOSIT OF 2.171 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 556.345 MILLION OZ

MARCH 28/WITH SILVER DOWN 30 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.847 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 554.167 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 25/WITH SILVER DOWN 20 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 552.320 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 24/WITH SILVER UP 54 CENTS TODAY; A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.092 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 552.320 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 23/WITH SILVER UP 24 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 550.288 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 22/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.29 TODAY : NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 550.288 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 21/WITH SILVER UP 16 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 550.288 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 37 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.217 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 550.288 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 17/ WITH SILVER UP 72 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 3.049 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLVV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 548.071 MILLION OZ

MARCH 16/WITH SILVER DOWN 56 CENTS TODAY: A SMALL CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 462,000 OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 544.560 MLLION O

MARCH 15/WITH SILVER DOWN 18 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 545.022 MILLION OZ

MARCH 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 64 CENTS TODAY; STRANGE A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.125 MILLION OZ/INVENTORY RESTS AT 545.022 MILLIONOZ

MARCH 11/WITH SILVER DOWN 13 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 542.897 MILLION OZ

MARCH 10/WITH SILVER UP 39 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 542.897 MILLION OZ/

MARCH 9/WITH SILVER DOWN 88 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 5.174 MILLION OZ OF FAKE SILVER.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 542.897 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 8/WITH SILVER UP 88 CENTS TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.217 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS A 548.071 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 7/WITH SILVER UP 40 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 545.854 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 4/WITH SILVER UP 50 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 545.854 MILLION OZ/

SLV FINAL INVENTORY FOR TODAY: 565.521 MILLION OZ//

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER STORIES

1.PETER SCHIFF

As Prices Rise Americans Turning To Their Credit Cards

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 01:41 PM

Via SchiffGold.com,

Prices keep rising faster than wages. The stimulus checks are long gone. Savings are being depleted. How is the average American supposed to make ends meet?

The only option is to charge it.

And that’s exactly what Americans are doing.

Consumer debt rose at the fastest pace in 20 years in February.

Total consumer debt rose by $41.8 billion 11.3% in February, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve. It was an 11.3% increase year-on-year and the highest rate of growth since November 2001. Analysts had projected a modest $15 billion gain.

Americans now owe a total of $4.48 trillion in consumer credit.

The Federal Reserve consumer debt figures include credit card debt, student loans and auto loans, but do not factor in mortgage debt. When you include mortgages, US consumers are buried under more than $15 trillion in debt.

Americans ran up their credit cards at a blistering pace in February. Revolving credit, primarily credit card debt, rose by a whopping 20.7%. American consumers added $18 billion to their credit card bills in February alone. US credit card debt now stands at over $1.06 trillion.

With interest rates rising, Americans will soon be paying more in interest charges every month, and many will see minimum payments rise. The annual interest payment on the US debt has already surged by $16.4 billion in just six months.

As Axios put it, “COVID-era stimulus payments to American families are a distant memory, as is the savings cushion they briefly created. And remember, this data came before the worst of the current gasoline price spike.”

Non-revolving credit, including student loans and auto loans, jumped by $23.8 billion, an 8.4% year-on-year increase. Americans now owe $3.4 trillion in non-revolving debt. A surge in student loan borrowing pushed the total higher.

Americans, by and large, kept their credit cards in their wallets and paid down balances at the height of the pandemic in 2020. This is typical consumer behavior during an economic downturn. Credit card balances were over $1 trillion when the pandemic began. They fell below that level in 2020. We saw small upticks in credit card balances in February and March of last year as the recovery began, with a sharp drop in April as another round of stimulus checks rolled out. But Americans started borrowing in earnest again in May. Since then, we’ve seen a steady increase in consumer debt culminating in February’s decades-high surge.

Officials at the Federal Reserve say they will be able to raise interest rates and tighten monetary policy because the economy is strong. But the rising levels of debt seem to indicate that apparent economic strength is a smokescreen. Running up credit cards is not a sustainable economic model. Americans can make ends meet by borrowing on plastic for a while, but credit cards have limits. And rising interest rate will push balances toward those limits even faster.

In a nutshell, the Federal Reserve and the US government have built a post-pandemic “economic recovery” on stimulus and debt. It is predicated on consumers spending stimulus money borrowed and handed out by the federal government or running up their own credit cards.

And the stimulus is gone.

As Peter Schiff pointed out in a recent podcast, the economy isn’t stronger than it was after the 2008 crisis, and the central bank is set to take away the very thing propping the economy up.

It’s just a bigger bubble. It only appears stronger to the Fed that doesn’t understand that this artificial strength is purely a function of all this monetary heroin that the Fed has injected into the economy. Now they’re threatening to remove it, and they think somehow the economy is going to stay high as a kite if they take away the drugs that are the reason it’s high. It won’t happen.”

END

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

LAWRIE WILLIAMS: On the cusp: Inflation, equities and gold

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) general manager Agustin Carstens has recently been quoted as saying that we may well be on the ‘cusp of a new inflationary era’ in tandem with a retreat from globalization. The Basel-based BIS is also known as the central banks’ own central bank, so Carstens’ opinions are well worth taking into account.

Western economies have almost certainly become too reliant on expansionary monetary policies. They had mostly been in an extended period of below target inflation, but now face the opposite problem in the extreme, made even more difficult to counter due to the enormous debt levels that many countries have run up over the past few years. These had already been exacerbated by moves to protect their economies from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

In his opinion piece, Carstens noted that “Many of the forces behind high inflation remain in place, and new ones are emerging. There are already signs of increased price spillovers across sectors and between prices and wages, as is common in a high-inflation environment…The structural factors keeping inflation low in recent decades may wane as globalization retreats.”

He went on to comment that central banks will need to change strategies as they will no longer be able to boost their domestic economies without impacting prices through increasing money supply. This increase also will not always filter down to the sectors which it may be intended to benefit most.

“That change requires a broader recognition in policymaking that boosting resilient long-term growth cannot rely on repeated macroeconomic stimulus, be it monetary or fiscal. It can only be achieved through structural policies that strengthen the productive capacity of the economy.” he said.

He noted further that “Households, firms, financial markets and sovereigns have become too used to low interest rates and accommodative financial conditions. It will be a challenge to engineer a transition to more normal levels and, in the process, set realistic expectations of what monetary policy can deliver…We must strengthen the productive capacity of the economy. Higher potential growth would make it easier for indebted economies to withstand the higher nominal and real interest rates that are likely to prevail in the years ahead.”

In many ways Carstens’ stated viewpoints are somewhat obvious to a neutral observer and have been exemplified by what has been happening in terms of central bank action in the U.S. in particular. As the world’s dominant economy for the time being, what happens in the U.S. tends to be followed elsewhere. We are now in a situation in most countries where economies have been artificially stimulated and are now paying the inflationary price for what will, in retrospect, be seen as over–profligate economic largesse to keep economies advancing at a time where one might have expected them to turn down.

But what is perhaps most frightening for the global economic balance is that we were already experiencing almost out-of-control inflation in many countries before Russia commenced its military attack on Ukraine. The Russian leadership has undoubtedly totally misjudged the potential Ukrainian resistance and perhaps the almost universal condemnation of its war of attrition on some Ukrainian towns and cities.

The resultant economic sanctions aimed at debilitating the Russian economy are probably further-reaching, and likely will persist for far longer, than the Russian leadership had predicted. The consequences have been another huge global inflationary stimulus as nations try to reduce their dependence on Russian exports – of oil, gas, fertilizers, wheat and some key metal commodities in particular, by sourcing potentially more expensive supplies from elsewhere.

Russia appears to have believed also in its own propaganda that its forces would be perceived as liberators by the large segment of the Ukrainian population that is predominantly Russian-speaking, but that appears not to be the case. The Russian response has been devastating, and the example of the virtual annihilation of the city of Mariupol, located in a mostly Russian-speaking part of the country, is testimony to the lengths the Russian military will go to try and achieve its aims regardless of the ethnicity of the local population.

Ukraine is very definitely winning the propaganda war too, except perhaps in Russia itself where media outlets are almost wholly state-controlled. Russia’s cloud-cuckoo land explanations and denials for some of the devastation involved in its army’s offensive is almost completely easily countered by readily available satellite imagery of affected areas including the flattening of civilian neighbourhoods.

So, if Carstens is correct – and we believe he is – virtually the whole world is entering an extended period of high inflation which tends to be debilitating for business and economies as a whole. General equity prices tend to drop – often sharply – while safe haven type assets and equities ride the storm far better, and may well advance in price, although liquidity issues may be a mitigating factor.

Even an end to the Russia/Ukraine war may not bring this to a halt. Anti-Russian sentiment in the West is probably sufficient to see the imposed strict economic sanctions remain in place for a long time – if not indefinitely. Reliance on Russian commodities and foodstuffs will be, where possible, reduced to near zero. While this may be a huge blow to the Russian economy, the additional costs likely to be incurred in replacing this source of supply elsewhere will also be a major contributor to inflation – probably for years to come.

Hard assets like gold and silver tend to buck any downwards trend during periods of high inflation. The latter tends to lead to equity weakness which makes more stable assets more attractive as wealth protectors. And periods of negative real interest rates, which follow from high inflation combined with low base interest rates as we have at present – and may still get worse before they even begin to get better – are thus usually gold and silver price positive. We should therefore be in a period where precious metals are the most likely beneficiaries from the current, and likely future, economic environment. Gold and silver are both up over 6% year to date whereas equities have mostly fallen back a little – a situation which we see as accelerating as the year progresses.

10 Apr 2022

Rickards: “They’ve Secretly Raised Your Taxes”

SATURDAY, APR 09, 2022 – 04:30 PM

Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

Inflation is not a guessing game anymore; it’s here. Every time you buy gas at the pump or groceries at the supermarket or book a plane ticket, the price increases are staring you in the face.

The problem is that inflation cannot be isolated. It’s not limited to what you pay to fill up your car, for example. Truckers have to pay the same higher prices for diesel fuel, which add to transportation costs and to the final prices of delivered goods.

It’s a clear example of the ripple effect.

That much is clear. What is less clear are the thousands of ways that inflation hurts you that are invisible. The most important of these is that inflation is a tax.

The government borrows dollars, and you earn dollars. Taxation is one way that governments take money from citizens to pay off government debt. But taxes are unpopular and hard to get approved by Congress.

Inflation works much better.

It reduces your real income since the dollars you earn are worth less. And it reduces the government debt because the money the government owes is easier to repay for the same reason – the dollars are worth less.

So inflation works the same as a tax increase except that you can’t see it and Congress doesn’t have to lift a finger.

Nice, right?

Sleight of Hand

Another damaging effect of inflation has to do with the difference between nominal income and real income. Nominal income is the amount of money you make measured in dollars. Real income is the amount those dollars are actually worth when adjusted for inflation.

For example, your wages might have gone up 5% (that’s the latest annualized wage increase as of April 1, according to the Labor Department). That’s a nice gain, but with inflation of 7.9% (also the latest data we have), your real wages actually went down 2.9% (5.0 – 7.9 = -2.9).

You got a raise in nominal terms, but you took a pay cut in real terms. Many people are not familiar with this simple formula for converting nominal gains to real gains. But everyone is familiar with how long their paycheck lasts.

More and more Americans are finding that by the time they pay the rent or mortgage, put gas in the car, buy groceries and pay some medical bills, they’re out of money. They’re waiting for the next paycheck. There’s nothing left over for a dinner out, a new pair of shoes or a visit with family members.

The economic consequences of this decline in real incomes are huge. If you buy coffee at the grocery store instead of going to Starbucks or go jogging instead of paying a visit to the gym, then service and retail industries all around the country start to suffer.

This can be followed by layoffs at some of those outlets and even more cuts in discretionary spending as the laid-off workers tighten their belts.

China Locks Down 26 Million in Shanghai

A lot of the inflation today comes from the supply side, not the demand side. It has to do with supply chain disruptions and the cascade of consequences from the economic sanctions because of the war in Ukraine. None of these situations will show any improvement in the short run.

They may actually get worse, as the situation in China suggests…

China is currently experiencing a severe outbreak of COVID. The reason for this is China’s badly flawed and ineffective zero COVID policy. When a case does emerge, they immediately shut down the surrounding area, quarantine everyone, test everyone, trace any contacts and send the infected to isolation camps for two weeks or longer.

When an outbreak spreads, they will lock down entire cities and ban all transportation to or from that city. This is happening in Shanghai now. The entire city of 26 million has been shut down. Citizens are being ordered to stay inside. Visits outside for food and water are severely limited.

Shanghai is one of the largest cities in the world and is adjacent to Ningbo, one of the largest container cargo ports in the world. With the latest lockdown, you can expect further supply chain disruptions. China’s policies are a drag on global growth and represent another disruption to global supply chains.

There’s nothing the Fed can do to stop the inflation because it’s coming from the supply side, which the Fed has no control over. Higher interest rates won’t increase the supply of oil. The Fed has no mandate to drill for oil or discover natural gas resources.

The Fed is essentially helpless.

A Drop (of Oil) in the Bucket

To help lower gas prices, Biden plans to release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But that will accomplish nothing at all. Here’s why…

The U.S. uses about 20 million barrels of oil per day. So the 1 million barrel release from the reserve only adds about 5% to the supply. But it doesn’t really add anything to the supply because importers will simply reduce imports or domestic drillers will reduce output to equilibrate for the new oil.

There never was an oil shortage in the U.S., so adding a new source of oil doesn’t alleviate a shortage that never existed. It simply causes some oil to be redirected to other buyers.

Oil is a global market. The price is set mainly on futures exchanges in London and New York. Those markets focus on a wide variety of market variables of which the release from the reserve is only one.

In fact, global output is about 92 million barrels per day, so the U.S. reserve addition is only 1.08% of total output. That’s hardly enough to affect the world price one way or the other.

A Cheap Political Stunt

It’s also the case that U.S. refineries are not geared to process the type of oil in the reserve without significant modifications that take time. In short, the oil from the reserve does not convert easily to refined product and will have minimal impact on retail gas prices.

Finally, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is meant to be strategic. It’s not a short-term price manipulation tool; it’s meant to give the U.S. a cushion in the event of a war or natural disaster that directly affects the U.S. itself.

Biden’s release will reduce the cushion and leave the U.S. more vulnerable to a true disaster. Biden’s release from the reserve will not affect the price at the pump, not affect the world price and reduce U.S. readiness.

It’s a cheap and dangerous publicity stunt.

The bottom line is there is practically only one way for the Fed to stop the inflation. That’s by raising rates until they cause a recession. It’s a fair question whether the cure (recession) is worse than the disease (inflation).

Since this is the incompetent Fed we’re talking about, we may even get both inflation and recession.

-END-

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

A good read.

Ron Manly…

Ronan Manly: Spotlight on gold and silver mining share indexes, Part 1

Submitted by admin on Fri, 2022-04-08 22:45Section: Daily Dispatches

By Ronan Manly
Bullion Star, Singapore
Friday, April 8, 2022

When glancing through news articles about precious metals prices, you will often come across references to the performance of various gold and silver mining stock indexes, as well as the exchange-traded funds that are benchmarked against these indexes.

While old-timers will be familiar with the XAU and HUI indexes, there are now a plethora of other gold and silver mining company equity indexes to contend with, from GDM to IMI, and from indexes maintained by MSCI, to indexes calculated by MVIS, Solactive, and Prime, to name but a few.

And with the gold and silver mining sector potentially benefitting from renewed interest in commodities and hard assets, as well as the stocks in this sector being leveraged to any gold and silver price upside, now is as good a time as any to brush up on what these indexes are all about. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.bullionstar.com/blogs/ronan-manly/spotlight-on-gold-and-silver-mining-share-indexes-part-1/

END

This is a must view

Andrew Maguire/GATA.Kinesis

Russia’s ‘petro-ruble’ draws gold into the energy trade, Maguire says

Submitted by admin on Fri, 2022-04-08 22:31Section: Daily Dispatches

10:25p ET Friday, April 8, 2022

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

In his new interview with Shane Morand on Kinesis Money’s “Live from the Vault” program, London metals trader Andrew Maguire says Russia has created a “petro-ruble” to compete with the “petro-dollar” and is drawing gold into the trade for Russian energy supplies.

The interview is 48 minutes long and can be viewed at YouTube here:

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

end

4.OTHER GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES

5.OTHER COMMODITIES

FERTILIZER

The shortage of fertilizer means far less food will be grown over in the planet in 2002

(Michael Snyder)

The Global Fertilizer Shortage Means That Far Less Food Will Be Grown All Over The Planet In 2022

SATURDAY, APR 09, 2022 – 10:30 AM

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

I never imagined that I would be writing so much about fertilizer in 2022. When I was growing up, there were only two things that I knew about fertilizer. I knew that it helped stuff grow and I knew that it smelled bad. But these days, experts are telling us that a global shortage of fertilizer could result in horrifying famines all over the world. Right now, to a very large degree we are still eating food that was produced in 2021. But by the end of the year, to a very large degree we will be eating food that was produced in 2022.

Unfortunately for all of us, it appears that a lack of fertilizer will mean that far less food is grown in 2022 than originally anticipated.

Thanks to an unprecedented explosion in energy prices, we were already facing a fertilizer crisis even before the war in Ukraine, but now that war has definitely taken things to the next level.

Under normal conditions, a great deal of the world’s fertilizer comes from either Russia, Belarus or Ukraine…

A fertilizer shortage has added to growing concerns about the Ukraine war’s impact on the price and scarcity of certain basic foods.
Combined, Russia and Belarus had provided about 40% of the world’s exports of potash, according to Morgan Stanley. Russia’s exports were hit by sanctions. Further, in February, a major Belarus producer declared force majeure — a statement that it wouldn’t be able to uphold its contracts due to forces beyond its control.
Russia also exported 11% of the world’s urea, and 48% of the ammonium nitrate. Russia and Ukraine together export 28% of fertilizers made from nitrogen and phosphorous, as well as potassium, according to Morgan Stanley.

Global hunger rose significantly in both 2020 and 2021, but what we are going to be dealing with in the months ahead is going to be completely unlike anything that we have dealt with in the past.

In fact, one commodity expert that was interviewed by CNBC is extremely pessimistic about what is ahead…

“All of this is a double whammy, if not a triple whammy,” said Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities. “We have geopolitical risk, higher input costs and basically shortages.”

We have never seen anything like this before.

Since the beginning of 2021, some fertilizer prices have “more than doubled”, and some fertilizer prices have more than tripled…

Some fertilizers have more than doubled in price. For instance, Melek said potash traded in Vancouver was priced at about $210 per metric tons at the beginning of 2021, and it’s now valued at $565. He added that urea for delivery to the Middle East was trading at $268 per metric ton on the Chicago Board of Trade in early 2021 and was valued at $887.50 on Tuesday.

And in some parts of the globe it is even worse.

In Peru, fertilizer prices have experienced an “almost fourfold” increase…

The global fertilizer squeeze exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is imperiling rice production in Peru, where the seed is a staple for tens of millions of people.
Prices of the crop nutrient urea have surged almost fourfold amid supply scarcities, adding to cost inflation for growers, according to the Peruvian Association of Rice Producers.

That same article goes on to explain that many farmers in Peru won’t be able to afford to plant crops at all this year.

If that sounds familiar, that is because this is something that I have been warning about for months.

In particular, here in the United States it simply is not going to be profitable for many farmers to grow corn this year, because corn needs a high amount of fertilizer.

All over the world, far less fertilizer will be used in 2022, and that means that far less food will be grown.

There will be famines, and one expert is even warning that food scarcity will “touch people in the lower income distribution in North America”…

“We’re talking about an erosion of food security on a scale we have not seen for a long time, and I think it will touch people in the lower income distribution in North America,” he added.

But as long as you have a decent income, you will still be able to go to the store and buy food in the months ahead.

It just might cost you a lot more.

During a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, farmer Ben Riensche warned that Americans could soon be paying a thousand dollars more a month for their groceries…

“Soaring fertilizer prices are likely to bring spiked food prices. If you’re upset that gas is up a dollar or two a gallon, wait until your grocery bill is up $1,000.00 a month, and it might not just manifest itself in terms of price. It could be quantity as well. Empty Shelf syndrome may be starting.”

Can you afford to pay $1,000 more for groceries every month?

If not, you better stock up now while prices are still relatively reasonable.

Of course there are certain things that you will not be able to stock up on because they simply aren’t there.

Shortages are intensifying all over the country, and in particular we have seen an alarming shortage of pasta begin to happen in certain stores. The following comes from an article that was just posted on All News Pipeline…

First, it was Eggs and now it’s also Pasta.
The eggs have been missing for well over a week now and yesterday morning I was surprised to see the pasta was also mostly bare. Also, some of the shelves have the old COVID trick of pushing everything together and up to the front of the shelf!
This is Sioux Fall SD!
No eggs for over a week!
Very little pasta left!

Of course the shortage of eggs is related to the shortage of pasta, because eggs are used in making pasta.

I have been trying to explain to my readers that this new bird flu pandemic is going to be a really, really big deal. As I mentioned yesterday, 28 million chickens and turkeys are already dead in less than two months, and things are already so bad that pasta is starting to disappear from our store shelves.

If things are this crazy already, what will conditions be like six months from now?

You might want to think about that.

I have been trying to sound the alarm about a coming global famine for years, and now it is here.

Global food riots have already started, but what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg.

Like I said at the top of this article, for now we are still eating food that was produced last year to a large degree.

Just wait until we get to the end of this year and beyond.

It won’t be pretty.

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures, and I hope that this article will give you a sense of urgency to take action.

Unfortunately, most people still assume that everything will turn out just fine somehow, and so they won’t do anything to get prepared until it is far too late.

* * *

It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

end

/DIAMONDS

Now diamonds are sanctioned from Russia and that will cut of 1/3 of the world;s supply

US Treasury Sanctions Largest Russian Diamond Miner Producing Third Of World’s Supply

SATURDAY, APR 09, 2022 – 12:00 PM

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has hit Russian diamond miner Alrosa PJSC with sanctions, potentially reducing 30% of the world’s rough stones, tightening global supplies, which may result in soaring prices.

Alrosa, a Russian state-owned enterprise and the world’s largest diamond mining company responsible for 90% of the country’s diamond mining capacity, was sanctioned by the OFAC. All clients and other counterparties must halt transactions with the Russian miner by Thursday, the OFAC said.

“These sanctions will continue to apply pressure to key entities that enable and fund Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine,” said Brian Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

“These actions, taken with the Department of State and in coordination with our allies and partners, reflect our continued effort to restrict the Kremlin’s access to assets, resources, and sectors of the economy that are essential to supplying and financing Putin’s brutality,” Nelson said.

In 2021 Alrosa generated over $4.2 billion in revenue. Diamonds are one of Russia’s top non-energy exports by value, with exports in 2021 totaling over $4.5 billion.

According to Bloomberg, “Alrosa produces about the same amount of gems as De Beers, the iconic diamond company that had a monopoly until the start of this century.” The U.S. represents about half of the world’s global diamond demand, and supply shortages could follow as a third of the world’s diamond supply evaporates.

Diamond data provider PolishedPrices’ broad diamond index shows prices have already retraced 50% of the decline from the peak in 2011 to the low in 2020. Data has yet to reflect the Russian invasion of Ukraine nor yesterday’s OFAC sanction. The last print on the index was Feb. 22.

There’s also a push by a bipartisan group of 11 US Congress members to halt the diamond trade from Russia to India. Most of the diamonds from Russia are polished in India and freely move around the world.

“As it stands at this time, a diamond can be mined by an Alrosa subsidiary, polished or cut in India or another country, and sold to the United States without any prohibition, making a profit for the Russian government,” the lawmakers said in a letter.

The turn of events is a plus for the diamond industry after gem prices plunged before the virus pandemic as demand plunged (read: here & here & here). De Beers might be able to secure more market share and capture increasing profits as price increases are likely to continue and demand remains robust in the U.S.

However, soaring prices are bad news for Americans getting engaged as their ability to afford a multi-carat ring becomes harder. Perhaps, consumers should look into lab-grown diamonds as a cheaper option.

END

COMMODITIES IN GENERAL

Global food prices explode higher in March as the Ukraine war unleased food supply shocks

(zerohedge)

Global Food Prices Explode Higher In March As Ukraine Supply Shock Strikes

FRIDAY, APR 08, 2022 – 06:00 PM

Global food prices jumped to a new record high, soaring the fastest on record, as the conflict in Ukraine unleashed food supply shocks across the world.

“The current conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation is increasing the risk of a further deterioration of the food insecurity situation at global level,” the FAO said in a recent food insecurity assessment (pdf).

March’s food price index from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) printed 159.3 points in March, up 19.15 points from February, when it had already reached record highs. The index was up 33.6% from the same time last year.

The March rise in food prices is a stunning 12.64% MoM – almost double the previous record monthly surge…

Leading the charge was the FAO Cereal Price Index, up 17.1% in March than in February, entirely driven by significant price increases in wheat and grains as a result of the Black Sea breadbasket region going offline because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and sanctions-related supply disruptions by Western countries on Russia. The invasion has choked off more than a quarter of the global wheat trade, about a fifth of corn, and 12% of all calories traded globally.

Another driver was FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index, up 23.2%, driven by higher prices of sunflower seed oil, of which Ukraine is the world’s leading exporter. Palm, soy, and rapeseed oil prices increased due to higher sunflower seed oil and Brent crude prices.

It’s not just a shortage of food, but also shortages of fertilizer and skyrocketing diesel prices, the ability to farm and even perhaps produce robust harvests by the end of the Northern Hemisphere growing season could be in jeopardy, which would ultimately extend the global food crisis through 2023.

“Looking forward to 2022-23, we’re already seeing signs that production is going to be reduced in Ukraine,” Erin Collier, an economist at the UN, told Bloomberg.
“The amount they’re able to export really depends on how much longer this conflict continues.”

The bad news is the world’s hunger problem isn’t going away and may only get worse from here…

The risks of soaring basic foods are possible inflation riots in emerging market economies. Last week, the UN pointed out millions of Middle Eastern and North African families struggle to buy even the most basic foods to keep hunger at bay.

“People’s resilience is at a breaking point. This crisis is creating shock waves in the food markets that touch every home in this region. No one is spared,” Corinne Fleischer, UN’s World Food Programme Regional Director said.

The risk of uprisings is increasing by the week as the UN projects food prices to soar even higher. It’s important to note that food prices were already rising before the Ukrainian conflict.

We’ve outlined the most reliant countries on Ukraine wheat, including Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Turkey (the countries that could see unrest first).

However, in South America, inflation riots have already begun as the government declared a curfew last weekend. Arab Spring 2.0 appears to be emerging, but this time it could be global, unlike a decade ago.

end

(courtesy Joe Wallace/WallStreet Journal)

Palladium and platinum prices jump after London market blocks Russian precious metals

April 9, 2022 at 12:22 p.m. ET

By Joe Wallace

Trading in two precious metals key to global industry got swept up in the disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia.

The body that oversees London’s palladium and platinum market said Friday it would bar metal produced by two major refining companies owned by the Russian government. Prices for the metals soared on the move. Palladium futures PA00, 0.97% rose 8.3% to about $2,407 a troy ounce following the suspension. Platinum futures PL00, +0.77% rose 2.5% to $981.30 a troy ounce.

The London Platinum and Palladium Market, an industry group, said Friday it was removing JSC, the Gulidov Krasnoyarsk Non-Ferrous Metals Plant, and JSC Prioksky Plant of Non-Ferrous Metals from the list of refiners whose metal can be traded in the London and Zurich markets. The LPPM said bars produced by the companies—known as Krastsvetmet and PZCM respectively—on or before April 8 can still be bought and sold. Bars and sponges made after April 8 will be blocked.

Spokespeople for the suspended refining companies didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

Russia is a big supplier of both metals, which are used in the auto industry alongside platinum’s role in jewelry. Palladium in particular has been in high demand in recent years thanks to tightening limits globally on harmful emissions from cars. Palladium goes into catalytic converters that reduce noxious substances in exhaust fumes from gasoline-powered cars.

The rally in palladium and platinum is the latest example of sharp moves in commodity markets sparked by the war in Europe. The conflict has disrupted exports of grains from Ukraine, a breadbasket. Prices for oil, natural-gas, coal, uranium and nickel have jumped on the threat of interruptions to shipments from Russia, a commodities superstore.

6.CRYPTOCURRENCIES

7. GOLD/ TRADING TODAY

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

ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN 6.3686

OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.3789

HANG SANG CLOSED DOWN 663.71 PTS OR 3.34%

2. Nikkei closed DOWN 164.28 PTS OR 0.61%

3. Europe stocks ALL RED EXCEPT PARIS CAC

USA dollar INDEX UP TO 99.89/Euro RISES TO 1.0902

3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +.239/ !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 125.63/JAPANESE FALLING APART WITH YEN FALTERING AS WELL AS LONG TERM YIELDS RISING BREAKING THE JAPANESE CENTRAL BANK.

3c Nikkei now ABOVE 17,000

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

3e WTI:: 93.41 and Brent: 101.84

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

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

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

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

3i European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund RISES TO +.0.800%/Italian 10 Yr bond yield RISES to 2.42% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD RISES TO 1.73%…ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD/GERMAN BUND: 1.62: DANGEROUS FOR THE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM

3j Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO : 2.85

3k Gold at $1963.45 silver at: 25.25 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00

3l USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble DOWN 1 /14 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 81.48

3m oil into the 93 dollar handle for WTI and 98 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 125.63 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 .9341– as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF 1.0184 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: 2.753 UP 9 BASIS PTS

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 2.763 UP 7 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 14.73

Global Risk Off As Futures, Bonds And Oil Slide; Yields Surge To 3 Year High Ahead Of CPI

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 08:03 AM

US futures slumped on Monday amid renewed concerns around surging bond yields, high inflation and rising Covid-19 cases in China. Contracts on the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 were down 0.8% by 7:15 a.m. in New York, with S&P 500 futures slipping 0.4% and Dow futures fell 0.2% after the French election revealed an outcome largely as expected with Macron facing Le Pen in the second round in two weeks…

… and as 10Y yield soared as high as 2.78% overnight, up almost 10bps on the day and the highest since 2019, with US yields briefly rising above China’s 10Y for the first time since 2010, before reversing some of the move.

European stocks dropped and Asian stocks stumbled led by a drop in Chinese stocks which were spooked by the latest Covid outbreak on the mainland, as well as elevated factory-gate prices and regulatory concerns in the technology sector. Oil retreated on risks to demand from China’s lockdowns, as Iran said the 2015 nuclear deal is in the “emergency room.” The Bloomberg dollar index extended its streak of gains to an eighth day, the longest since March 2020, as money markets raised Fed hike wagers, sending Treasuries and U.S. stock futures lower.

“Today, the mantra for many investors is ‘Don’t fight the Fed when it is fighting inflation,’” Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, wrote in a note. “We agree with that, but it’s not as bearish as it sounds” in part because accumulated excess liquidity and an inflation boost to earnings are props for stocks, he added.

The biggest highlight of the overnight session was Twitter stock, which tumbled as much as 5% in premarket trading after Elon Musk decided not to join the board of the social media platform…

… before erasing most losses on speculation Musk could mount a takeover of the social media platform

Among other notable premarket moves, U.S.-listed Chinese stocks Nio Inc. and Li Auto Inc. declined as the electric vehicle makers halted production and warned of delivery delays amid a rising Covid-19 caseload and stringent lockdowns in China. American depository receipts of other Chinese stocks also fell. Bank stocks are slightly higher in premarket trading Monday as the U.S. 10-year yield extends gains for a seventh straight day to hit about 2.76%. In corporate news, Wall Street’s dealmaking boom likely came to an abrupt halt amid the war in Ukraine and a global shift toward rising interest rates. Here are some other notable premarket movers:

Donald Trump-tied social media blank check company Digital World Acquisition (DWAC US) jumps as much as 17% in premarket trading. Stock has been hit by competition concerns around Musk’s association with Twitter.
SailPoint (SAIL US) gained 27% premarket as the Financial Times reports that Thoma Bravo will pay $65.25 a share for the firm, citing two people with direct knowledge of the details.
Lowe’s (LOW US) CFO Dave Denton’s departure is an “incremental negative” for the home-improvement company, but an overweight view on the shares is still “firmly intact,” according to Wells Fargo.
Citi says Wells Fargo’s balance sheet stands out among U.S. banks as it upgrades to buy, in note moving to “sidelines” with downgrades for several firms including BNY Mellon (BK US) and Citizens Financial (CFG US).

Last week, the S&P 500 snapped a three-week winning streak, as signs of slowing economic growth were compounded by hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve. Focus now turns to inflation figures for March due tomorrow morning, with economists expecting consumer prices to have risen 8.4% from a year ago, the fastest annual rate since early 1982, according to a Bloomberg survey.

“While we advise investors to build up portfolio hedges and tilt toward value stocks to manage a rising rate environment, our base case is for stocks to move higher,” said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management. “We continue to see areas of particular equity value for longer-term investors in 5G, robotics and smart mobility.”

For those who missed it, French President Macron (27.6%) and far-right Le Pen (23.4%) are set for a run-off in the presidential election on April 24th and all major candidates aside from far-right candidate Zemmour have called for a vote against Le Pen. Furthermore, an IFOP poll showed that Macron would win the second round with 51% of the vote, while Ipsos and Opinionway polls showed Macron would win with 54% vs Le Pen at 46% in the second round, according to Reuters. French Election Poll, second round (i.e. run-off): Macron 55% (prev. 54%) vs Le Pen 45% (prev. 46%), Opinionway-Kea partners poll.

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Ukraine needs more military support, including heavy weapons, as Ukraine reported Russian missile attacks and said it expects Russia to widen its offensive in the east this week. Some other notable developments out of Ukraine:

Russian President Putin is believed to have set himself four weeks to achieve some sort of a victory in Ukraine before the big Russian “Victory Day” holiday on May 9th, according to The Times on Friday. There were also reports in Axios that the May 9th Russian holiday will be a pivotal and dangerous deadline.
Russian Ministry of Defence alleged that Kyiv is preparing a mass murder of civilians in Luhansk with support from the West, according to Sputnik.
Russian Republic of Chechnya head Kadyrov said there will be an offensive not only on Mariupol but on other Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, according to Reuters.
Ukrainian President Zelensky discussed with German Chancellor Scholz anti-Russian sanctions, as well as defence and financial support for Ukraine. German Chancellor Scholz called for Russia to immediately pull its troops back and said that European borders must remain untouched, while he added that those who committed war crimes must be held responsible and that it is right Germany supplies Ukraine with defence weapons which it will continue doing so, according to Reuters.
White House National Security Adviser Sullivan said Russia’s systematic targeting of civilians in Ukraine constitutes war crimes and that Russia’s new commander in charge of the Ukrainian invasion, General Dvornikov, will author crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians. Sullivan added that they will get Ukraine the weapons it needs and are in talks with European allies about reducing dependence on Russian oil, according to Reuters.

Most European cash equity indexes are in the red but climb off worst levels. Euro Stoxx 50 drops as much as 1.2% before fading the move. The Stoxx 600 Index was down 0.5% as investors focused on an uncomfortably tight race for the French presidency. Technology and auto stocks underperformed. CAC 40 outperformed, rising as much as 0.9% following the weekend’s election. Tech, consumer-discretionary and auto names are the worst Stoxx 600 performers; banks and insurance outperform. Here are some of the biggest European movers today:

Societe Generale shares soar as much as 8.2% after the lender agreed to sell its Russian Rosbank unit, removing a major worry for investors.
Rheinmetall AG rises as much as 7.2% after the U.K. exercised an option in a 2019 contract to order another 100 Boxer wheeled armored vehicles.
Toll-road operators Vinci gains as much as 3.6% and Eiffage as much as 3.0% amid optimism that the pro-business President Emmanuel Macron will manage to beat nationalist Marine Le Pen in an April 24 run-off of French elections; Le Pen pledged to renationalize the country’s highways if elected
French stocks rise more broadly, with BNP Paribas gaining as much 4.1%, Veolia +4.2% and oil giant TotalEnergies +3.5%
Wood Group rises as much as 16% after the energy services firm said its sees its FY21 underlying results in line with expectations. Jefferies upgraded the stock to hold.
Nokian Renkaat slumps as much as 13% after saying new sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union will have a significant impact on sales and production.
Boliden drops as much as 7.5% after announcing adjustment plans for its Aitik mine totaling SEK5b over the next two years.
European luxury and sports-apparel stocks, including Moncler and Puma, fall as China’s largest Covid outbreak in two years continues to spread. LVMH drops as much as -2.3%; Puma -3.8%, Moncler -5.5%

Meanwhile, the credit derivatives market ruled Russian Railways JSC to be in default after missing an interest payment last month. Russia said it would halt bond sales for the rest of the year and take legal action if sanctions force it into a sovereign default.

Asia-Pac stocks fell as Covid-19 cases climbed in Shanghai and a key U.S. Treasury yield rose to a milestone. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid as much as 1.5%, with tech shares among the biggest decliners as the 10-year yield touched 2.77% to exceed the equivalent rate on Chinese debt for the first time since 2010. China’s CSI 300 was among the region’s worst-performing indexes as Shanghai reported more than 26,000 daily infections Sunday and official data showed that factory-gate and consumer prices both jumped more than expected last month. China’s tech shares took an additional hit from the country’s new guidelines on removing data monopoly at platform companies, dragging the Hong Kong equity gauge. On a positive note, data released Monday showed the China’s credit expanded faster than expected in March. Still, most benchmarks across the region, excluding Pakistan’s and Australia’s, traded lower.

“It looks like another test of nerves all around, with a confluence of growth concerns, a more aggressive Fed and high inflation from supply disruptions,” said Wai Ho Leong, a strategist at Modular Asset Management. Investors are becoming increasingly uneasy about Asia’s growth prospects as China maintains its Covid-Zero policy and regulatory drive at a time when Russia’s war on Ukraine is a burden on global forecasts and driving up input costs. The MSCI Asia gauge is back to trading at levels seen in mid-March. Nomura strategists cut their end-2022 target for the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index over the weekend by about 11% to 820, citing earnings risks from elevated inflation, a hawkish Federal Reserve and the lockdowns in China. “Overall actual earnings for 2021 full-year/interims have broadly come in below market expectations, with more misses than beats,” Nomura strategists including Chetan Seth wrote in a note.

Japanese equities dropped, dragged by technology shares amid ongoing concern over the impact of the Federal Reserve’s plans to tighten U.S. monetary policy. Electronics makers and telecoms were the biggest drags the Topix, which fell 0.4%. Fast Retailing and SoftBank were the largest contributors to a 0.6% loss in the Nikkei 225. The yen weakened 0.5% to around 125 per dollar.

Indian stocks fell, led by software exporters, ahead of the start of the March-quarter earnings season for companies later in the day. The S&P BSE Sensex slipped 0.8% to 58.964.57 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index declined 0.6% to 17,674.95. Software exporter Infosys Ltd. retreated 2.7% to a one-month low. It was the biggest drag on the Sensex, which saw 25 of its 30 stocks trading lower. Ten of the 19 sectoral sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. declined, led by a gauge of information technology companies. Earnings for India’s top companies start Monday with Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Asia’s largest software services provider, scheduled to announce results. “The 4Q earnings season is quite significant as it comes on backdrop of the scorching inflation conditions,” said Prashanth Tapse, an analyst at Mumbai-based Mehta Equities Ltd. “The theme of the day revolves around TCS results and investors will focus on the management commentary — primarily on future outlook, attrition rates, and deal momentum.”

In rates, Treasuries extend losses with yields cheaper by up to 6bp across front-end and belly of the curve into early U.S. session. 10-year yields trade around 2.75% after topping at YTD high near 2.78%. Bear-flattening move also seen in EGBs with gilts lagging as BOE policy tightening is further priced into front-end. U.S. auctions are front-loaded this week starting with $46b 3-year note sale at 1pm, followed by $34b 10- and $20b 30-year offerings Tuesday and Wednesday. bunds lag by additional 3bp in the sector, gilts by 2bp; front-end and belly-led losses flatten Treasury 5s30s curve by ~1bp on the day. WI 3-year yield around 2.815% is above auction stops since November 2018 and more than ~100bp cheaper than last month’s result. Bund yields rose, slightly undeperforming Treasuries as central bank tightening wagers surged, while French bonds outperformed bunds with President Macron and his nationalist rival Le Pen set to face off in the final round of the French election. Peripheral spreads tighten with long-end Italy outperforming. Semi-core tightens to Germany with the 30y Bund/OAT spread narrowing below 75bps.

In FX, the Bloomberg dollar index extended its streak of gains to an eighth day, the longest since March 2020, rising 0.1% as the greenback strengthened against most of its Group-of-10 peers; the yen and commodity currencies were the worst performers while the euro was the best. The euro rose above $1.09 after earlier giving up an Asia session advance. The pound hovered while gilts followed Treasuries lower. The U.K. economy grew less than expected in February after industrial production and construction shrank. The 0.1% expansion followed a robust 0.8% gain in January. The Aussie and kiwi edged lower with iron ore and crude oil. Australia’s longer-maturity bonds dropped, sending 10-year yields above 3% for the first time since 2015, as markets priced in a faster pace of global policy tightening. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal National coalition is currently trailing the opposition Labor Party in opinion polling after announcing a federal election for May 21 on Sunday. Yen slipped to 125.44 per dollar, its weakest level in almost seven years on the back of higher U.S. yields. Bonds fell amid a lack of support from the Bank of Japan’s purchases.

Bitcoin remains under pressure and in proximity to the overnight sub-USD 42k low. Elon Musk tweeted that the Twitter Blue subscription price should probably be about USD 2/month and suggested “maybe even an option to pay in Doge?”.

In commodities, crude futures remain around Asia’s worst levels. WTI drops over $2.5, back on to a $95-handle, Brent trades near $100. Spot gold rallies, snapping through $1,950/oz. Most base metals are under pressure, with LME nickel and aluminum down over 2%.

There is nothing on today’s economic calendar; Bostic, Bowman and Evans are among the Fed speakers scheduled to talk.

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures down 0.6% to 4,454.75
MXAP down 1.4% to 173.61
MXAPJ down 1.6% to 574.89
Nikkei down 0.6% to 26,821.52
Topix down 0.4% to 1,889.64
Hang Seng Index down 3.0% to 21,208.30
Shanghai Composite down 2.6% to 3,167.13
Sensex down 0.4% to 59,183.91
Australia S&P/ASX 200 little changed at 7,485.19
Kospi down 0.3% to 2,693.10
STOXX Europe 600 down 0.7% to 457.91
German 10Y yield little changed at 0.77%
Euro up 0.3% to $1.0912
Brent Futures down 2.3% to $100.40/bbl
Gold spot up 0.4% to $1,955.50
U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 99.78

Top Overnight News from Bloomberg

President Emmanuel Macron’s team painted Marine Le Pen as “an ally of Vladimir Putin” on Monday as they began a campaign offensive that will run over the next two weeks ahead of a final vote.
Despite Russia’s invasion jeopardizing the euro zone’s pandemic rebound, policy makers are more worried about the conflict stoking already-lofty energy costs — as they underlined last month by agreeing to speed up their removal of years of stimulus
The Bank of Japan lowered its assessment on the largest number of regional economies since the start of the recovery in a move likely to support continued stimulus even as global peers raise interest rates.
Russia will halt bond sales for the rest of the year and take legal action if sanctions force it into a default on its debt, according to the country’s finance minister
China’s largest Covid outbreak in two years continues to spread despite an extended lockdown of Shanghai’s 25 million people, weighing on a fragile economy and straining global supply chains
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said she’s confident that the U.S. will avoid a recession as the Fed tightens policy, though the inflation rate will probably remain at more than 2% into next year.

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

Asia-Pac stocks were mostly cautious amid the higher yield environment and COVID-19 woes in China. ASX 200 attempted to buck the trend helped by strength in gold-related stocks and the top-weighted financial sector, while M&A newsflow and campaigning ahead of the May 21st election provided mild tailwinds. Nikkei 225 was subdued after failing to retain the 27,000 status despite the recent currency weakening. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp underperformed with Hong Kong pressured by weakness in tech and with the mainland suffering from COVID-19 concerns after a fresh record number of daily infections in Shanghai.

Top Asian News

China Said to Limit Sales by Some Funds as Stocks Slide Again
BOJ Lowers View on Biggest Swath of Economy Since Recovery Start
China’s Credit Growth Rebounds After Lunar New Year Break
China Three Gorges Said to Plan Up to $2b Dollar, Euro Bond Sale

European bourses are mixed, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.1%, with benchmarks well off lows in a choppy and yield-driven morning. The CAC 40 +0.7% is the notable outperformer amid the first round of the French election where incumbent-Macron came out on top; albeit, polls between him and Le Pen for the run-off are tight. Stateside, US futures are subdued and given the rate environment the NQ -0.7% lags its peers, ES -0.3%.

Top European News

Russian Railways in Default on Bond Payment, Credit Panel Rules
Le Pen Branded Putin Ally as Macron Fights Populist
U.K. Economy Slows as Supply Chain Delays Hold Up Car Makers
European Stocks Waver on China Covid Spread, French Uncertainty

FX:

Buck off best levels ahead of Fed speakers later today and US CPI data on Tuesday, as DXY slips back below 100.000.
Yen continues to underperform as BoJ reiterates easy policy stance and only expresses concern about its rate of decline not level, USD/JPY up to fresh 2022 high near 125.50.
Euro relieved to see French President Macron emerged ahead of Le Pen after round one, EUR/USD reclaims 1.0900+ status.
Aussie undermined by risk aversion and more resilient Kiwi pre-RBNZ, Loonie contains oil related losses ahead of BoC on Wednesday; AUD/USD sub-0.7450, AUD/NZD under 1.0900 and USD/CAD pivoting 1.2600 as 200 DMA caps upside again.
Nokkie hit by Brent decline and sub-forecast Norwegian inflation data, EUR/NOK near top of 9.5630-9.4695 range.

Fixed Income

Yet another dead cat bounce for bonds as the bear run continues, with T-notes down to 119-17 and the 10 year yield topping 2.75% in advance of more Fed rhetoric.
Bunds probe Fib resistance at 76bp to open scope for a higher retracement level at 81bp ahead of the ECB on Thursday.
Gilts labour just above 119.00 before UK jobs and earnings tomorrow and inflation on Wednesday.

Commodities

WTI and Brent are pressured with focus on the COVID situation in China, specifically Shanghai City
Currently, the benchmarks lie near session troughs of USD 95.20/bbl and USD 99.79/bbl respectively, as Brent lost the USD 100/bbl handle after slipping from earlier highs of USD 103.30/bbl.
White House Press Secretary said she is unaware of the US considering an easing of oil sanctions on Venezuela, while the White House said it is continuing to consider a gas tax holiday, according to Reuters.
Kuwait raised May crude prices to Asia to record levels, according to Reuters citing the pricing document.
Spot gold is bid and derived impetus from a break of USD 1950/oz, lifting to session highs of USD 1959.40/oz; though, still around USD 5/oz shy of late-March highs.

US Event Calendar

Nothing major scheduled

Central Bank speakers

09:30: Fed’s Bostic Makes Opening Remarks at Fed Listens Event
09:30: Fed’s Bowman, Waller Give Remarks at Fed Listens Event
12:40: Fed’s Evans Discusses Economy and Monetary Policy

DB’s Henry Allen concludes the overnight wrap

As we go to press this morning, the main weekend news comes from France’s presidential election, where Sunday’s first round results mean that President Macron is set to face off against Marine Le Pen in two weeks’ time, marking a repeat of the run-off in 2017. Relative to the polls going into the first round, it looks like good news for President Macron, whose score of 27.6% (based on preliminary results from the Interior Ministry) was above the 26% in Politico’s polling average, and also above the 24% he won in the first round 5 years earlier. Marine Le Pen came in second place with 23.4%, but that was roughly in line with her polling rather than above, even if it surpassed the 21% she won in 2017’s first round.

The fact that Macron’s lead was wider than the polls had indicated saw the Euro immediately bounce +0.72% as trading reopened last night, but since then it’s pared back nearly all those gains to be up just +0.03% at $1.088. Those moves follow a -1.50% decline for the Euro last week as the polls narrowed, as well as a noticeable underperformance in French assets. Indeed, by the close on Friday the spread of French 10yr yields over bunds had widened to 55.5bps, which is its widest level in over two years, so that’ll be one to keep an eye on as the race develops over the next two weeks. Furthermore, the CAC 40 has underperformed the broader STOXX 600 for 8 consecutive sessions now, and last week it shed -2.04%, which was well beneath the STOXX 600’s +0.57% gain.

Of course, all attention will now turn to the second round on April 24, and the big question for that will be where the supporters of the defeated first round candidates go. The largest group are the 22% who voted for the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came in third place behind Macron and Le Pen. Indeed, he was only 1.4% behind Le Pen and a place in the second round based on preliminary results. He didn’t give an active endorsement to either candidate, but did say that voters shouldn’t cast a single vote for Le Pen. Otherwise, there was the far-right Éric Zemmour in fourth place with 7.1%, who endorsed Le Pen, whilst the centre-right Valérie Pécresse in fifth place with 4.8% endorsed Macron. We did get some further polls for the second round after voting concluded yesterday, which continued to point to a much tighter race than Macron’s 66%-34% victory in 2017. The narrowest from Ifop put Macron ahead by just 51%-49%, but two others from Opinionway and Ipsos both had him ahead by a larger 54%-46% margin. For those after more reading on the election, see Marc de-Muizon’s guide from last week for more information (link here)

Overnight in Asia, Chinese stocks are leading losses across the region, with the Shanghai Composite (-2.06%) and the CSI (-2.85%) both losing significant ground as the nation’s inflation figures surprised on the high side. PPI for March came in at +8.3% y/y (vs. +8.1% expected), whilst CPI was up +1.5% y/y (vs. +1.4% expected). Those inflation numbers come amidst continued Covid outbreaks in China, with state media CCTV reporting yesterday that the southern city of Guangzhou would suspend in-person classes for schools from today due to the virus. And in turn that’s contributed to a further fall in oil prices this morning, with Brent crude down -2.28% to $100.44/bbl, which itself comes on the back of two consecutive weekly declines. Other indices including the Hang Seng (-2.49%), Nikkei (-0.70%) and Kospi (-0.48%) are similarly lower this morning, as are futures including those on the S&P 500 (-0.58%) and the DAX (-0.74%). That comes against the backdrop of a continued bond selloff given concerns about monetary policy tightening, with 10yr Treasury yields gaining +6.9bps this morning to reach 2.769%, its highest levels since early 2019.

Looking forward now, it’s an eventful calendar for markets this week ahead of Easter, with Thursday’s ECB meeting set to be one of the main highlights. At their last meeting in March, the ECB adopted a more hawkish position than had been expected by confirming a faster reduction in their asset purchases. That’s set to see APP purchases fall from €40bn in April to €30bn in May and then €20bn in June, with the possibility of ending purchases altogether in Q3. Since then however, inflation has accelerated by even more than the consensus expected, with the flash CPI estimate for the Euro Area at +7.5% in March, which is the highest since the formation of the single currency, and up from +5.9% in February.

In terms of what to look for this time round, our economists write in their preview (link here) that they’re not expecting much change to the ECB’s message. Instead, they think that when the new staff forecasts are available in June, they’ll announce that APP purchases will end in July, ahead of a liftoff in the policy rate in September, so an underlying direction of travel that’s becoming clear. Their view is that the risks are tiled towards a more hawkish, rather than a less hawkish tone though, and as a reminder, our economists changed their call last week to expect a more aggressive ECB exit given the deteriorating inflation outlook, and now see the terminal rate reaching 2% by end-2023, which is 250bps higher than at present.

Staying on that central bank theme, another big highlight this week will be the release of the US CPI data for March on Tuesday, which is the last one the Fed will get ahead of their meeting in early April. That comes amidst heightened speculation that the Fed could move by 50bps at the next meeting, and futures are pricing in an 88% chance of a 50bps move as we go to press this morning. Our US colleagues have released a preview ahead of the release (link here), and they’re expecting that the monthly gain in headline CPI of +1.3% will push the year-on-year rate up to +8.6%, which hasn’t been seen since 1981. That said, they think that March is likely to be the peak in the year-on-year rates for both headline and core, since the base effects from last year’s surge in used car prices will begin rolling off in the April data.

Elsewhere this week, we’ll start to see the Q1 earnings season get going, with releases from a number of US financials, among others. They include JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock (both on Wednesday), ahead of reports from Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo (on Thursday). But overall, it’s still a fairly quiet on the earnings front with just 15 companies in the S&P 500 reporting, and it’ll only really ramp up the following week with 68 of the index reporting, and then 181 in the week after that. Our equity strategists published their preview of the Q1 earnings season last week (link here), and they write that a variety of drivers point to continued solid sequential earnings growth in Q1, and they look for slightly above average beats.

To recap last week now, the bond selloff continued apace after minutes from the March Fed and ECB meetings confirmed that both central banks want to tighten policy to deal with inflation running at multi-decade highs. That saw investors price in an increasingly aggressive pace of monetary policy tightening over the rest of the year, which led 10yr treasury and bund yields to move up +31.8bps (+4.2bps Friday) and +15.2bps (+2.6bps Friday) respectively over the week. Real yields did most of the work, with real 10yr treasury yields gaining +25.2bps (+0.1bps Friday) on the back of impending policy tightening. Indeed, the 10yr real yield ended the week at a 2-year high of -0.18%, having gained around +90bps over the last month alone.

European equities were resilient to the jump in rates, with the STOXX 600 picking up +0.57% (+1.31% Friday). But French equities underperformed as the polls narrowed ahead of yesterday’s election, with the CAC falling -2.04% (+1.34% Friday). Meanwhile the S&P 500 posted its first weekly loss in a month, down -1.27% (-0.27% Friday), and tech stocks saw even bigger declines, with the NASDAQ down -3.86% over the week, whilst the FANG+ index shed -5.19%.

Finally, Brent crude futures continued their slide last week, falling -1.54% (+2.19% Friday) to $102.78/bbl. But other commodities put in a stronger performance, with copper (+0.78%), gold (+1.14%), wheat (+6.81%) and corn (+4.59%) all seeing advances over the week.

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)MONDAY MORNING// SUNDAY NIGHT

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

///NORTH KOREA

END

3B JAPAN

end

3c CHINA

CHINA/RUSSIA

China is undercutting sanctions on Russia by various means. Berman of Gatestone Institute discusses the consequences

(Berman/Gatestone)

China Undercuts Sanctions On Russia: Where Are The “Consequences”?

SUNDAY, APR 10, 2022 – 11:30 PM

Authored by Judith Bergman via The Gatestone Institute,

“For China… the Ukrainian crisis provided a unique opportunity to increase its access to Russia’s natural resources, particularly gas, gain contracts for infrastructure projects and new markets for Chinese technology, and turn Russia into a junior partner in the relationship between the two countries.” — Report by the European Council on Foreign Relations, February 2015.
In addition to undermining sanctions through the commodities trade, China is possibly also helping Russia hide its money.
Despite all of the above, the Biden administration continues to talk about China as if proof were still needed that it is undercutting sanctions on Russia.
China has clearly been giving material help to Russia. So where are the “consequences”?
The closest that the U.S. has come to going beyond words is the announcement, along with other G7 leaders, of an “enforcement initiative” to prevent Russia from evading sanctions, but it is — presumably deliberately — unclear what that initiative actually entails.
“The trade and the purchase of long-term energy supplies undercut the sanctions, because it shows Putin he has got somebody in his corner for the next five years or more.” — Michael Pillsbury, author of The Hundred-Year Marathon, Fox News, March 21, 2022.
The Biden administration, by repeatedly threatening “consequences” and issuing “warnings” to China, “if” it helps Russia undercut sanctions, merely continues to project indecision, weakness and lack of leadership …[and] will only result in the additional loss of credibility and the further degradation of U.S. deterrence to the detriment of the West.

Despite tough Western sanctions on Russia, President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine has now lasted for more than a month and Putin is showing no signs of backing down. The power helping him to withstand the effects of the sanctions and continue the war is Russia’s most powerful ally — China. Pictured: Putin meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow on June 5, 2019. (Image source: kremlin.ru)

Shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russia and China entered into contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars. On February 4, Putin announced new Russian oil and gas deals with China worth an estimated $117.5 billion. On February 18, six days before the invasion, Russia announced a $20 billion deal to sell 100 million tons of coal to China. On the day of the invasion, China, lifting restrictions that had been in place previously due to concerns about plant diseases, agreed to buy Russian wheat.

All of these deals, by undermining Western sanctions on Russia, are lifelines to Putin and his war on Ukraine. “China could emerge as a major buyer for Russian wheat and sunflower oil as wide-ranging financial sanctions threaten Russia’s agriculture trade flows to its traditional markets in Europe,” S&P Global Commodity Insights wrote.

China, perhaps with a covetous eye toward Taiwan, has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has repeatedly stated that it is against sanctioning Russia. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng called Western sanctions “outrageous.” China has not even tried to conceal that it continues to do business with Russia. As Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said in his press briefing, “China and Russia will continue to conduct normal trade cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.”

There is nothing new or surprising in China’s decision to supply the lifeline that enables Putin to stay afloat. After Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and was met with Western sanctions, Russia turned to China. In May 2014, Russia and China signed a gas supply deal worth $400 billion, making China Russia’s second-largest gas market after Germany. A February 2015 report by the European Council on Foreign Relations stated:

“After the European Union and the United States imposed sanctions on Russia [in 2014], President Vladimir Putin made a dramatic turn to China and signed a series of deals, including a $400 billion deal to export gas to China last May. Moscow is now attempting to reorient its entire economy towards Asia as a way to mitigate the negative impact of Western sanctions. For China, meanwhile, the Ukrainian crisis provided a unique opportunity to increase its access to Russia’s natural resources, particularly gas, gain contracts for infrastructure projects and new markets for Chinese technology, and turn Russia into a junior partner in the relationship between the two countries.”

In addition to undermining sanctions through the commodities trade, China is possibly also helping Russia hide its money. According to Foreign Affairs:

“Russia may have stashed tens of billions of dollars in reserve assets in opaque offshore accounts, where it holds dollar-denominated securities beyond the reach of international sanctions and asset freezes…there are signs, too, that Russia may have moved some of its dollars with help from a foreign government… It is not yet clear which intermediaries Russia would have used to stash Treasuries offshore. One strong possibility, however, is China, with which Putin now appears allied.”

Despite all of the above, the Biden administration continues to talk about China as if proof were still needed that it is undercutting sanctions on Russia. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on March 13:

“We are communicating directly, privately to Beijing, that there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them. We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country, anywhere in the world.”

After Sullivan held a seven hour long meeting with Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi on March 14, a senior Biden administration official told reporters:

“I’m just going to reiterate that we do have deep concerns about China’s alignment with Russia at this time, and the national security adviser was direct about those concerns and the potential implications and consequences of certain actions,”

On March 18, in a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. President Joe Biden warned that there would be “implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia,” but without being specific. One unnamed senior U.S. official even said, “The president really wasn’t making specific requests of China. I think our view is that China will make its own decisions.”

China has clearly been giving material help to Russia. So where are the “consequences”?

The closest that the U.S. has come to going beyond words is the announcement, along with other G7 leaders, of an “enforcement initiative” to prevent Russia from evading sanctions, but it is — presumably deliberately — unclear what that initiative actually entails. prior to Biden’s trip to Europe, Sullivan told reporters on March 23:

“[T]he G7 leaders tomorrow will agree on an initiative to coordinate on sanctions enforcement so that Russian efforts to evade the sanctions or other countries’ effort to help Russia evade the sanctions can be dealt with effectively and in a coordinated fashion.”

After the G7 meeting, the White House released a statement by the G7, which merely said:

“We will continue to cooperate closely, including by engaging other governments on adopting similar restrictive measures to those already imposed by G7 members and on refraining from evasion, circumvention and backfilling that seek to undercut or mitigate the effects of our sanctions.”

There was no mention of China; again, it all seemed too little, too late.

“They’re [China] the invisible hand behind Putin,” said Michael Pillsbury, author of The Hundred-Year Marathon.

“They are the ones who are funding the war. Roughly half of Russia’s gold and currency reserves are controlled now by the U.S. and by the West, he [Putin] can’t get access to them. But the other half the Chinese can provide access to and they’ve been doing it… The trade and the purchase of long-term energy supplies undercut the sanctions, because it shows Putin he has got somebody in his corner for the next five years or more. There’s a number of ways that China’s support is just crucial for Putin. I believe the Chinese could stop the war with one phone call to him. It would be like the banker calling you… so far it’s not happening… Probably the only way to get ahead is going to be American sanctions on China… the war will go on because the banker is not going to make that call.”

The Biden administration, by repeatedly threatening “consequences” and issuing “warnings” to China, “if” it helps Russia undercut sanctions, merely continues to project indecision, weakness and lack of leadership. The constant repetition of these warnings without follow-up actions by the Biden administration will only result in the additional loss of credibility and the further degradation of U.S. deterrence to the detriment of the West.

end

CHINA//SHANGHAI//COVID/LOCKDOWNS

Citizens of Shanghai are starving as they cannot get food with the devastating lockdowns

(Song/EpochTimes)

“We Are Starving To Death”: Shanghai Residents Under Lockdown Shout At Visiting Vice Premier

SUNDAY, APR 10, 2022 – 10:45 AM

Authored by Kelly Song via The Epoch Times,

When Sun Chunlan, a vice premier of the Chinese regime, visited Shanghai earlier this week, where tens of millions are under COVID-19 lockdown, she was greeted by residents shouting from their apartment windows: “There is no food left!” and “We are starving to death!”

Sun was accompanied by a swarm of local officials, cameramen, several vans with black tinted windows, and police vehicles. Yet the streets were empty. The residents could only view the envoy from their own apartments. Some were brave enough to shout from their windows or balconies. Someone called out to the officials, “Can you arrange some vegetables to be sent over?”

The officials, however, as seen in a video posted by residents in Jiading district, had no reaction whatsoever as if they did not hear anything.

Sun Chunlan, former head of the United Front Work Department, was appointed vice premier in 2018. Out of the four vice premiers, she is the only female and the oldest one. Since the pandemic, she has been staging high profile visits to COVID-stricken cities. This was not the first time she was shouted at.

Shanghai ‘Must Win the Battle’

Amidst mass testing and draconian lockdowns, Sun went to Shanghai with a stern message from Beijing, “unswervingly adhere to the zero-COVID policy and win the battle against COVID as soon as possible!”

Since the pandemic broke out in 2020, Sun has assumed the unofficial title of “COVID messenger” delivering Beijing’s orders to cities around China.

Sun Chunlan, Chinese regime vice premier and former head of the United Front Work Department. (Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images)

She went to the northeastern province of Jilin in late March. In Jilin City, residents shouted “we have no veggies!” from apartment buildings.

In mid-December 2021, Sun visited Xi’an city, 12 million population, when it was in lockdown. Sun urged the municipal government to “quickly reach zero cases.” While in Xi’an Gaoxin district, Sun was greeted by residents calling loudly “I want to eat!”

Back in March 2020 when the COVID broke out in Wuhan, Sun went to Wuhan. The residents called out “Fake, fake, it is all fake!” during her visit.

Afterward, the Wuhan residential neighborhood suffered the consequences. The entire neighborhood was in complete lockdown, nobody was allowed to enter or exit.

Shanghai Lockdown Continues

Shanghai has been under lockdown since April 1. On April 4, Sun Chunlan ordered the municipal government to “achieve zero COVID in society at large (excluding quarantine hospitals) as soon as possible.”

According to recent online postings, the municipal government issued a notice saying the lockdown will continue until at least May 1. As for what will happen after May 1, the notice said, it will be decided on May 1 whether to open up or continue the lockdown.

Many neighborhoods in Shanghai are in a chaotic state. Some people can’t get treatment. There is a serious lack of food. Some elderlies died in senior facilities without family members around. Babies are separated from their parents because their COVID-19 test results are different.

Videos also show truckloads of food supplies stuck in the outskirt of the city unable to reach those in need. There are also rotten vegetables and other foods sitting on the sidewalk.

Moreover, at the makeshift quarantine sites, one can see boxes of food piled up in trash dumps.

END

Shanghai reports a 7th day of record cases. Remember that Shanghaiis over 80% vaccinated with their useless Sinopec and Sputnik vaccines. It is causing huge immune related effected.

Also it is easy for the Omicron to penetrate

(zerohedge)

Shanghai Reports 7th Day Of Record Cases As Viral Video Of Fatal Dog Beating Provokes Outrage

FRIDAY, APR 08, 2022 – 08:40 PM

The better part of a week has passed since local authorities announced on Monday that they would be extending the lockdown in Shanghai “indefinitely”. But despite authorities’ best efforts (or perhaps, because of them) COVID case numbers have continued to climb at a record pace, with Shanghai recording another 20K+ COVID cases on Thursday, topping the 20K mark for the second day in a row.

Authorities reported 21,222 new cases in Shanghai alone on Thursday, marking a 7th straight daily record. For context, the city reported more cases on Thursday than the entire country saw earlier in the week.

The number of symptomatic cases has also increased substantially. Shanghai, the new epicenter of China’s latest coronavirus outbreak, has recorded more than 131,000 cases since the flare-up started on March 1.

According to the latest developments reported by the SCMP, the city has converted conference centers and public facilities into temporary quarantine and treatment facilities with tens of thousands of bunks, adding to the 77,000 hospital beds already set aside in the city of 25 million residents.

Meanwhile, rumors have emerged on social media – sourced from unwittingly leaked military documents – that the military is taking over the city…

…and that the lockdown will persist at least until May.

Should the lockdown persist for the entirety of April, China’s GDP could suffer a hit of more than one percentage point, as Goldman analysts determined that every four weeks of lockdown in the city would shave 1 percentage point off the country’s GDP, given Shanghai’s importance to the Chinese economy.

The city has recorded more than 131,000 COVID cases since the flare-up began on March 1. Health authorities are taking no chances, even if the vast majority of the infections – daily symptomatic cases were in triple digits – showed no symptoms, and there had been no fatality in the current wave.

“The battle against the outbreak is still very tough,” according to a Thursday speech by Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, who had been overseeing the anti-pandemic work in Shanghai since last weekend. “Any sign of relaxation or complacency is unacceptable.”

After sending some 40,000 military and medical personnel to the city, the CCP has issued a call to all discharged and available troops from the PLA in a search for volunteers to join the effort to provide food and other supplies – as well as testing and security – to the center.

Beyond Shanghai, China added a total of 24,101 new cases on Friday, including 2,266 infections spotted in northeastern China’s Jilin province, the outbreak’s second epicenter.

The city and its residents have already endured four rounds of tests involving every single resident between April 3 and April 7. And on Friday, the fifth round of mass testing began.

In keeping with the CCP’s history of scapegoating local officials for lockdown failures, Shanghai removed three local officials in the Pudong New Area for failing to contain the virus, according to a statement from the CCP’s disciplinary committee.

Finally, after suffering one public outrage after another, Shanghai residents were outraged on Friday after footage of a COVID worker beating a dog to death emerged on social media. The brutal remedy was applied after the dog’s owner tested positive for COVID, according to CNN. The beating took place at a residential compound in Pudong on Wednesday.

end

Food in China – dangerously low

Inbox

Food wars will be coming soon .. Europe will be next .. it is the ultimate weapon

> This came from a friend. There is no doubt it will come here with the ripple effect. .my aunt in Hong Kong told me shelves are empty in the morning as people are in a frenzy.
>
> Fyi stock up. Also side effect of booster I heard from at least 2 people ringing in the ears.
> –
> Subject: Food in China – dangerously low
>
> by 9:00 am all foods are snapped up.
> My wife has several emails from friends and family in Hong Kong and Shanghai,
> The Government is setting up food banks where people, if they get fast
> enough, get a 10 pound bag of rice, 2 Bok Choy and one Zucchini.
> People breaking into homes to get food … many have been arrested …
> many have died. Major food crisis. It will come here next

end

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK AFFAIRS

//EU VS USA VS CHINA VS RUSSIA

A must read..

Dr Michael Hudson…

Hudson: The Dollar Devours The Euro

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 02:00 AM

Authored by Michael Hudson,

It is now clear that today’s escalation of the New Cold War was planned over a year ago, with serious strategy associated with America’s plan to block Nord Stream 2 as part of its aim of blocking Western Europe (“NATO”) from seeking prosperity by mutual trade and investment with China and Russia.

As President Biden and U.S. national-security reports announced, China was seen as the major enemy. Despite China’s helpful role in enabling corporate America to drive down labor’s wage rates by de-industrializing the U.S. economy in favor of Chinese industrialization, China’s growth was recognized as posing the Ultimate Terror: prosperity through socialism. Socialist industrialization always has been perceived to be the great enemy of the rentier economy that has taken over most nations in the century since World War I ended, and especially since the 1980s. The result today is a clash of economic systems – socialist industrialization vs. neoliberal finance capitalism.

That makes the New Cold War against China an implicit opening act of what threatens to be a long-drawn-out World War III. The U.S. strategy is to pry away China’s most likely economic allies, especially Russia, Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia. The question was, where to start the carve-up and isolation.

Russia was seen as presenting the greatest opportunity to begin isolating, both from China and from the NATO Eurozone. A sequence of increasingly severe – and hopefully fatal – sanctions against Russia was drawn up to block NATO from trading with it. All that was needed to ignite the geopolitical earthquake was a casus belli.

That was arranged easily enough. The escalating New Cold War could have been launched in the Near East – over resistance to America’s grabbing of Iraqi oil fields, or against Iran and countries helping it survive economically, or in East Africa. Plans for coups, color revolutions and regime change have been drawn up for all these areas, and America’s African army has been built up especially fast over the past year or two. But Ukraine has been subjected to a U.S.-backed civil war for eight years, since the 2014 Maidan coup, and offered the chance for the greatest first victory in this confrontation against China, Russia and their allies.

So the Russian-speaking Donetsk and Luhansk regions were shelled with increasing intensity, and when Russia still refrained from responding, plans reportedly were drawn up for a great showdown to commence in late February – beginning with a blitzkrieg Western Ukrainian attack organized by U.S. advisors and armed by NATO.

Russia’s preemptive defense of the two Eastern Ukrainian provinces and its subsequent military destruction of the Ukrainian army, navy and air force over the past two months has been used as the excuse to start imposing the U.S.-designed sanctions program that we are seeing unfolding today. Western Europe has dutifully gone along whole-hog. Instead of buying Russian gas, oil and food grains, it will buy these from the United States, along with sharply increased arms imports.

The prospective fall in the Euro/Dollar exchange rate

It therefore is appropriate to look at how this is likely to affect Western Europe’s balance of payments and hence the euro’s exchange rate against the dollar.

European trade and investment prior to the War to Impose Sanctions had promised a rising mutual prosperity between Germany, France and other NATO countries vis-à-vis Russia and China. Russia was providing abundant energy at a competitive price, and this energy was to make a quantum leap with Nord Stream 2. Europe was to earn the foreign exchange to pay for this rising import trade by a combination of exporting more industrial manufactures to Russia and capital investment in developing the Russian economy, e.g. by German auto companies and financial investment. This bilateral trade and investment is now stopped – and will remain stopped for many, many years, given NATO’s confiscation of Russia’s foreign reserves kept in euros and British sterling, and the European Russophobia being fanned by U.S. propaganda media.

In its place, NATO countries will purchase U.S. LNG – but they will need to spend billions of dollars building sufficient port capacity, which may take until perhaps 2024. (Good luck until then.) The energy shortage will sharply raise the world price of gas and oil. NATO countries also will step up their purchases of arms from the U.S. military-industrial complex. The near-panic buying will also raise the price for arms. And food prices also will rise as a result of the desperate grain shortfalls resulting from a cessation of imports from Russia and Ukraine on the one hand, and the shortage of ammonia fertilizer made from gas.

All three of these trade dynamics will strengthen the dollar vis-à-vis the euro. The question is, how will Europe balance its international payments with the United States? What does it have to export that the U.S. economy will accept as its own protectionist interests gain influence, now that global free trade is dying quickly?

The answer is, not much. So what will Europe do?

I could make a modest proposal. Now that Europe has pretty much ceased to be a politically independent state, it is beginning to look more like Panama and Liberia – “flag of convenience” offshore banking centers that are not real “states” because they don’t issue their own currency, but use the U.S. dollar. Since the eurozone has been created with monetary handcuffs limiting its ability to create money to spend into the economy beyond the limit of 3 percent of GDP, why not simply throw in the financial towel and adopt the U.S. dollar, like Ecuador, Somalia and the Turks and Caicos Islands? That would give foreign investors security against currency depreciation in their rising trade with Europe and its export financing.

For Europe, the alternative is that the dollar-cost of its foreign debt taken on to finance its widening trade deficit with the United States for oil, arms and food will explode. The cost in euros will be even greater as the currency falls against the dollar. Interest rates will rise, slowing investment and making Europe even more dependent on imports. The eurozone will turn into an economic dead zone.

For the United States, this is Dollar Hegemony on steroids – at least vis-à-vis Europe. The continent would become a somewhat larger version of Puerto Rico.

The dollar vis-à-vis Global South currencies

The full-blown version of the New Cold War triggered by the “Ukraine War” risks turning into the opening salvo of World War III, and is likely to last at least a decade, perhaps two, as the U.S. extends the fight between neoliberalism and socialism to encompass a worldwide conflict. Apart from the U.S. economic conquest of Europe, its strategists are seeking to lock in African, South American and Asian countries along similar lines to what has been planned for Europe.

The sharp rise in energy and food prices will hit food-deficit and oil-deficit economies hard – at the same time that their foreign dollar-denominated debts to bondholders and banks are falling due and the dollar’s exchange rate is rising against their own currency. Many African and Latin American countries – especially North Africa – face a choice between going hungry, cutting back their gasoline and electricity use, or borrowing the dollars to cover their dependency on U.S.-shaped trade.

There has been talk of IMF issues of new SDRs to finance the rising trade and payments deficits. But such credit always comes with strings attached. The IMF has its own policy of sanctioning countries that do not obey U.S. policy. The first U.S. demand will be that these countries boycott Russia, China and their emerging trade and currency self-help alliance. “Why should we give you SDRs or extend new dollar loans to you, if you are simply going to spend these in Russia, China and other countries that we have declared to be enemies,” the U.S. officials will ask.

At least, this is the plan. I would not be surprised to see some African country become the “next Ukraine,” with U.S. proxy troops (there are still plenty of Wahabi advocates and mercenaries) fighting against the armies and populations of countries seeking to feed themselves with grain from Russian farms, and power their economies with oil or gas from Russian wells – not to speak of participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative that was, after all, the trigger to America’s launching of its new war for global neoliberal hegemony.

The world economy is being enflamed, and the United States has prepared for a military response and weaponization of its own oil and agricultural export trade, arms trade and demands for countries to choose which side of the New Iron Curtain they wish to join.

But what is in this for Europe? Greek labor unions already are demonstrating against the sanctions being imposed. And in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has just won an election on what is basically an anti-EU and anti-U.S. worldview, starting with paying for Russian gas in roubles. How many other countries will break ranks – and how long will it take?

What is in this for the Global South countries being squeezed – not merely as “collateral damage” to the deep shortages and soaring prices for energy and food, but as the very objective of U.S. strategy as it inaugurates the great splitting of the world economy in two? India has already told U.S. diplomats that its economy is naturally connected with those of Russia and China. Pakistan finds the same calculus at work.

From the U.S. vantage point, all that needs to be answered is, “What’s in it for the local politicians and client oligarchies that we reward for delivering their countries?”

From its planning stages, U.S. diplomatic strategists viewed the looming World War III as a war of economic systems. What side will countries choose: their own economic interest and social cohesion, or submission to local political leaders installed by U.S. meddling like the $5 billion that Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland bragged of having invested in Ukraine’s neo-Nazi parties eight years ago to initiate the fighting that has erupted into today’s war?

In the face of all this political meddling and media propaganda, how long will it take the rest of the world to realize that there’s a global war underway, with World War III on the horizon? The real problem is that by the time the world understands what is going on, the global fracture will already have enabled Russia, China and Eurasia to create a real non-neoliberal New World Order that does not need NATO countries and which has lost trust and hope for mutual economic gains with them. The military battlefield will be littered with economic corpses.

END

Russia will not like this at all!

(zerohedge)

Finland Set For NATO Entry As Soon As Summer – Russian Official Warns “Destruction Of Their Country” Coming

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 10:40 AM

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday issued a new warning against Finland and Sweden seeking NATO membership, after the Sunday Times reported that “Finland’s application is expected in June, with Sweden expected to follow.”

Peskov said that “the alliance remains a tool geared towards confrontation” – but Washington is said to be supporting the move, with Western officials cited as saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is proving to be a “massive strategic blunder”. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Image: Finnish govt

It was first revealed last week that Finland in particular has changed its thinking regarding its historic neutrality on the NATO question; however, there would be a period of domestic political debate before any application is made, and also with Sweden expected to determine its course independently.

After those reports first emerged days ago, a Russia lawmaker from parliament’s upper house, Vladimir Dzhabarov of the Federation Council, issued the most dire warning from among Moscow officials, threatening that such a “strategic mistake” as Helsinki petitioning NATO means Finland “would become a target.”

“I think it [would be] a terrible tragedy for the entire Finnish people,” said Dzhabarov. He also strongly suggested it would result in “the destruction of their country.”

He expressed hope that it’s unlikely that “the Finns themselves will sign a card for the destruction of their country” – as originally cited in RIA Novosti. The Finnish foreign ministry subsequently said it “does not comment on the statements of individual MPs” when asked to respond.

According to a recent Axios report, “60% of Finns now support joining NATO, according to a survey conducted last month — a 34-point jump from last fall, and the highest level since polling on the issue began in 1998.”Map: The Daily Mail

Early this month Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin signal a complete reversal of policy direction, saying that a “new security environment” in Europe brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means the country has to rethink its long-standing policy of neutrality toward the NATO bloc. “Russia is not the neighbor we thought it was,” she said of Moscow’s ongoing assault on Ukraine, calling it a “flagrant violation”.

“In this new situation and changed security environment, we’ll have to evaluate all means to guarantee the safety of Finland and Finns,” Marin said. “We’ll have to seriously mull over our own stance and approach to military alignment. We’ll have to do this carefully but quickly, effectively during the course of this spring.”

end

Europe’s roads and railways aren’t fit for a fight with Russia – POLITICO

Inbox

The real problem in Europe is that it is not prepared for a actual war. Words of war are an entirely different matter.
The Ukraine is simply a proxy to be used to the last Ukrainian to inflect as much damage as possible to Russia and Russian speaking people and military. It is a typical American move to use proxies no matter the tainted smell they have. So NeoNazi behavior is imply ignored in the pursuit of damaging Russia. This certainly is not the first time nor the last. One only has to look to history to see this.
And it is no secret that NATO advisors are well intrenched with Ukrainian military forces. It cannot be without blame that they share in war crimes committed by such forces. Just as much as Russian forces deserve blame for what crimes the soldiers commit.
Sadly, we in the west have no moral compass to accept blame for what NATO forces do or see or be a part of. It is always the other guy. People either forget or choose not to know that the US actually hung its’ own troops for war crimes in France during the Normandy invasion. War is war and armies are never clean handed as very few are disciplined enough to have honor in a fight especially when it comes to civilians.
This fight in the Ukraine no matter how awful and disgusting it is a sideshow to the real fight which is a currency war between the USD and its’ dominance against the Ruble and Russia. The dollar is handicapped by a delusional crowd who knows nothing about sound money principles willing to sacrifice the USD to preserve its’ criminal behavior enlisting every western civilian to suffer its’ wounds with out a voice in choice. The very real damage to the Euro is well underway.
Wherever we end up, it will not be where we were. So thinking that there will be a return to normal as we knew yesterday is a dream not worth having.

https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-military-mobility-budget-slammed-as-almost-nothing-to-tackle-russia-challenge/

Cheers
Robert

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

RUSSIA/

Central Bank of Russia eases more capital controls as the rouble rises.

(zerohedge)

Bank Of Russia Eases More Capital Controls, Allowing Euro & USD Withdraws

FRIDAY, APR 08, 2022 – 06:40 PM

Russia’s central bank has announced Friday the easing of more capital controls following its surprise policy meeting, exactly a week after it began loosening some restrictions on the transfer of funds abroad, which authorized transfers up to $10,000 – or another currency equivalent – within a one month timeframe.

“The Bank of Russia rolled back some capital controls, allowing banks to exchange rubles for hard currency once more and for some hard-currency account holders to withdraw euros and not just dollars,” Bloomberg reports of the fresh Bank of Russia decision.Bank of Russia file

It’s latest among a series of signs that the Russian financial system is stabilizing. As we noted earlier in the day the biggest news out of Moscow was the central bank’s unexpected move of slashing rates by 300bps (from 20% to 17%). And was even more surprising to many is that the Ruble – previously dismissed as “rubble” by President Biden – actually strengthened further on the rate-cut, surging by end of day to just below 80/USD.

Further according to Bloomberg, “Individuals with foreign currency accounts or deposits open prior to March 9 who hadn’t used up their $10,000 limit for withdrawing cash, can receive euros as well as dollars from April 11, the central bank said in a statement.

“Banks can sell foreign currency once again from April 18, but only the foreign currency that the banks received since April 9,” the report indicates. The fresh curbs also included canceling the 12% commission on brokers’ FX purchases.

Meanwhile, the media are claiming that the strength of the ruble “may be illusory” or that Russia has exploited a “loophole” in the sanctions and used “financial alchemy” to “rescue the ruble”.

But as the FT observed yesterday (while telling their readers to “Whisper it quietly…”), “The domestic banking sector also seems to have stabilized, after bank runs in the initial days of the war,” pointing out that “The need for central bank liquidity has faded sharply and the commercial banking sector as a whole could soon end up having surplus deposits with the CBR, the IIF [Institute of International Finance] notes.”

end

NATO agrees to provide heavier weapons to UKraine. Czech tanks arrive

(zerohedge)

NATO Agrees To Provide ‘New & Heavier’ Weapons To Ukraine After Czech Tanks Arrive

SATURDAY, APR 09, 2022 – 07:35 AM

During a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels among the alliance’s foreign ministers on Thursday, the US and UK led the way in forging a fresh agreement to give Ukraine “new and heavier” weapons, at a moment a limited number of Czech-provided Soviet-designed T-72M tanks have already been transferred to Kiev – reportedly with the quiet assistance of Washington.

“There was support for countries to supply new and heavier equipment to Ukraine, so that they can respond to these new threats from Russia,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said at a press briefing.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the US is “looking across the board right now, not only at what we have provided … and whether there are additional systems that would make a difference.” The latest cutting edge weaponry the Pentagon has transferred to Ukraine has included Switchblade drones, which are low-cost Kamikaze drones capable of destroying armored vehicles and tanks in the more advanced version of the system.Image via The Drive

However, Blinken hasn’t specified which “heavier” weapons the US would be willing to send. So far any efforts to transfer jets or tanks has been met with inter-alliance resistance given it would likely put NATO and Russia on a more direct collision course. This as on Friday Slovakia announced it has “donated” an S-300 air defense system to Ukraine.

Weapon shipments have also so far included Javelin ant-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. But the Ukrainian government has persistently lobbied for more, often with emotional language – such as Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba’s appeal to NATO this week: “The more weapons we get and the sooner they arrive in Ukraine, the more human lives will be saved,” he said.

Ahead of the foreign ministers meeting, Kubela met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, stating on Twitter that he had urged the “three most important things” for Ukrainians are “weapons, weapons, weapons.”

So far Brussels appears to have responded positively. the UK’s Truss has signaled that NATO is looking to go beyond the older Soviet-designed systems currently being given to Ukraine’s military. This after all is what its forces are trained on and are efficient in. “We agreed to help Ukrainian forces move from their Soviet-era equipment to NATO standard equipment, on a bilateral basis,” she said.

FM Kuleba has responded by saying he’s “cautiously optimistic” NATO will meet the demands for more. “I was very specific about the requests and the timeline that they should be accommodated. I will be looking forward to the follow-up from allies,” he said.

end

RUSSIA/USA

Biden signs new bill downgrading Russia’s trade status and thus paving the way for tariff increases along with those sanctions.

(DeCamp/Antiwar.com)

Biden Signs Bill Downgrading Russia’s Trade Status, Paving Way For Tariffs

SATURDAY, APR 09, 2022 – 06:30 PM

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

On Friday, President Biden signed into law a bill that suspends normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus. He also signed legislation codifying an executive order he signed last month banning the import of Russian oil, gas, and coal.

The Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act strips the two nations of their “most favored nation trade status,” which paves the way for tariffs and other trade restrictions. The bill blasted through the Senate in a vote of 100-0 and overwhelmingly passed the House with only three Republican Reps. voting against it.Image: Shutterstock

The votes demonstrate the bipartisan support for the US-led Western sanctions campaign against Russia. Also on Friday, the EU imposed new sanctions on Moscow that include a ban on Russian coal and other products. It’s estimated the new measures will slash 10% of the EU’s total imports from Russia.

Under the coal ban, the EU plans to wind down imports over the next four months. The sanctions are significant as the EU relies on Russia for about 45% of its coal imports, and the ban is expected to impact about $8.7 billion of Russian exports.

Responding to the ban, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian coal would be sent to other markets. “Shipments of coal, as Europe refuses [its] consumption … will be redirected to alternative markets,” Peskov said, according to Tass. “Of course, coal is still a very popular commodity.”

Meanwhile, hawks in the West are eyeing ratcheting anti-Russian measures further as the inter-EU debate continues over whether to halt Russian energy into Europe…

So far, the sanctions campaign has done nothing to stop the fighting in Ukraine. While Russia’s economy is taking a serious hit, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be unphased. In March, his approval rating reached 83%, up from 69% in January.

end

UKRAINE//

This is not good for the world: shocking estimates show threat Ukraine’s crop harvest could be cut in half. Ukraine supplies much of this food stuff to the globe

(zerohedge)

Shocking Estimates Show Ukraine’s Crop Harvest Could Be Halved

SUNDAY, APR 10, 2022 – 08:45 AM

Ukraine is one of the world’s top exporters of corn, sunflower oil, and wheat. Disruptions stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have stoked fears the war-torn country could experience a 50% decline in crop output this year, according to Bloomberg.

Forecast data from ag expert UkrAgroConsult show Ukraine’s corn output could be as low as 19 million tons, about half of last year’s 41 million tons.

UkrAgroConsult’s pessimistic outlook follows huge production uncertainties as farmers experience shortages of diesel and fertilizer and bombed-out infrastructure.

The outlooks of two other ag firms aren’t as gloomy. Black Sea research firm SovEcon expects Ukraine’s 2022 corn harvest to be 27.7 million tons, and Barva Invest’s outlook is 29.5 million tons. Both a far below 2021 totals.

Maxigrain analyst Elena Neroba warned if farmers don’t have diesel, they “can’t plant huge hectares.”

“Some farmers still don’t have access to seeds and fertilizers. Even if they already paid for them, the delivery supply chain doesn’t work as well as it should,” Neroba said.

Regardless of how much the conflict impacts output, global food prices have never risen so fast and have never been so high in anticipation of food shortages worldwide.

In March, global food prices jumped a stunning 12.64% MoM – almost double the previous record monthly surge…

Prices have exceeded levels only seen during the inflation riots of 2010/11, known as Arab Spring.

Breaking down export numbers, Ukraine produced 49.6% of global sunflower oil, 15.3% of global maize, 12.6% of global barley, and about 10% of global wheat.

Rather than planting, some Ukrainian farmers are stealing Russian tanks and selling them to the government.

We’ve already pointed out that food inflation riots are underway and may continue to spread throughout emerging market economies.

The bad news is that the world’s hunger problem isn’t going away and may only worsen. The anticipation of Ukraine’s crops evaporating from the global food supply will exacerbate the incoming food crisis. Food supplies may plunge next year as harvests will result in lower production, which may force food prices even higher.

The world could be on the cusp of a multi-year food crisis. It’s never been a better time to start growing your own garden.

end

RUSSIA/CHINA INDIA

Russian oil continues to flow to friendly India and China

(Alex Kimani/Oil Price.com)

Russian Oil Continues To Flow To India And China

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 03:30 AM

Authored by Alex Kimani via OilPrice.com,

China and India are emerging as Russia’s main crude buyers.
Russia’s ESPO blend is especially popular among Asian refiners.
Russia’s Urals crude is trading at discounts of more than $30 per barrel.

It has been exactly six weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, with no end in sight to one of humanity’s biggest existential crises in modern times. In response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war, the United States and the West have hit the rogue nation with a plethora of sanctions, with the latest announced just days ago mostly targeting Russia’s financial sector.

But so far, Russia’s pivotal energy sector has largely been spared. With the exception of Lithuania and Poland as well as self-sanctioning by refiners and bankers, no country has yet to announce a ban on Russia’s energy products.

So far, Russian oil and gas exports to the EU remain largely unchanged since only the Baltic States have announced a 100% ban on Russian energy imports. Poland, a major thoroughfare for Russian energy supplies, has also been more proactive than most after it took steps to block Russian coal imports and announced steps to halt Russian oil imports by year-end. Poland–home to the ~1.3mb/d Druzhba pipeline that carries Russian crude to several points in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic–directly consumes ~330kb/d of Russian crude and imports ~9.4mt of Russian thermal coal in 2020, accounting for ~5% of Russian exports. The EU currently gets about 40% of its natural gas from Russia, which powers everything from household heating to factory production, and makes up around 25% of the bloc’s total energy consumption.

But that could soon change.

The flow of “bloody money” to Russia must stop, Kyiv’s mayor has said as the West prepares new sanctions on Moscow after dead civilians were found lining the streets of a Ukrainian town seized from Russian invaders. Since Russian forces withdrew from northern Ukraine, turning their assault on the south and east, grim images from the town of Bucha near Kyiv, including a mass grave and bound bodies of people shot at close range, have prompted international outrage.

The experts are now saying that the atrocities against Ukrainian civilians revealed by the withdrawal of Russian forces from areas north and east of Kyiv have made it very likely that EU countries will impose sanctions on Russian oil in the coming months. In the United States, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has warned of “enormous economic repercussions” from the Ukraine war.

The million-dollar question right now is how disruptive a total ban on Russian energy commodities will be on Russia’s economy.

Unfortunately, a ban on Russian oil and gas by the U.S. and the EU might not be as damaging to Russia as the west hopes, with the presence of heavily discounted Urals proving too irresistible for some.

India’s Surging Imports From Russia

India has never been a big buyer of Russian crude despite needing to import 80% of its needs. In a typical year, India imports just 2-5% of its crude from Russia, roughly the same proportion as the United States did before it announced a 100% ban on Russian energy commodities. Indeed, India imported only 12 million barrels of Russian crude in 2021, with the majority of its oil coming from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Nigeria.

But reports have now emerged of a “significant uptick” in Russian oil deliveries bound for India.

Matt Smith, the lead oil analyst at Kpler, has told CNBC that since the beginning of March, five cargoes of Russian oil, or about 6 million barrels, have been loaded and are bound for India. In other words, India has imported half as much crude from Russia in one month as it did in an entire year.

And, it could be all about the money.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Urals crude from Russia is being offered at record discounts. Ellen Wald, president of Transversal Consulting, has told CNBC that a couple of commodity trading firms–such as Glencore and Vitol–were offering discounts of $30 and $25 per barrel, respectively, two weeks ago for the Urals blend. Urals is the main blend exported by Russia.

The experts say simple economics is the reason why White House pressure to curb purchases of crude oil from Russia have fallen on deaf ears in Delhi.

“Today, the Government of India’s motivations are economic, not political. India will always look for a deal in their oil import strategy. It’s hard not to take a 20% discount on crude when you import 80-85% of your oil, particularly on the heels of the pandemic and global growth slowdown,“ Samir N. Kapadia, head of trade at government relations consulting firm Vogel Group, has told CNBC via email.

Still, it will not be lost on many readers that India has maintained a cozy relationship with Russia over the years, with Russia supplying the Asian nation with as much as 60% of its military and defense-related equipment. Russia has also been a key ally on crucial issues such as India’s dispute with China and Pakistan surrounding the territory of Kashmir.

China To The Rescue?

But India might not be the lone pariah helping finance Putin’s illegal war.

Given China’s experience with evading sanctions, you would expect it to be among the first countries lining up to lap up those cheap barrels of Urals. After all, it’s a badly kept secret that Beijing has been using all sorts of clandestine means aka ‘cloaking’ to import cheap Iranian oil ever since it was sanctioned in 2011. China is already Russia’s biggest oil customer, importing an average of 1.72 mb/d in 2021.

However, Reuters has reported that China’s crude imports from Russia in the first two months of the year actually declined 9.1% to 1.57 mb/d.

But this has got little to do with China suddenly acting sanctimonious or moral compunction. Rather, the notable decline has been caused by Beijing’s crackdown on smaller independent refiners aka the teapots.

In a dramatic reversal of fortunes, back in June, Beijing announced huge cutbacks in import quotas for the country’s private oil refiners. According to Reuters, China’s independent refiners were awarded a combined 35.24 million tons in crude oil import quotas in the second batch of quotas this year, a 35% reduction from 53.88 million tons for a similar tranche a year ago.

The big reduction came as part of a government crackdown on private Chinese refiners known as teapots, which have become increasingly dominant over the past five years. The move is intended to allow Beijing to more precisely regulate the flow of foreign oil as it doubles down on malpractices such as tax evasion, fuel smuggling, and violations of environmental and emissions rules by independent refiners. China’s teapots have been steadily grabbing market share from entrenched state players such as China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (NYSE:SNP), also known as Sinopec, and PetroChina Co. (NYSE:PTR) ever since Beijing partially liberalized its oil industry in 2015. Teapots currently control nearly 30% of China’s crude refining volumes, up from ~10% in 2013.

But make no mistake about it: China has never been one to let a good crisis go to waste, and is widely expected to capitalize on the ongoing snafu.

“China is still importing Russian oil, but would likely increase its purchases if it can pay in yuan and at discounts. Basically, Russia is pressured because it is having difficulty selling its oil. China really would prefer much cheaper oil … prices are way too high even in the $90 range that’s too high for China,” she added. If they can buy Russian oil at a discount, and some of these discounts are pretty significant–$30 off the benchmark, then I really don’t see what would be stopping China from purchasing a lot of Russian oil,” Wald has told CNBC in an email.

Another big reason: Chinese refiners love ESPO crude.

The ESPO (Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean) oil pipeline is one of several outlets for Russian crude. The 4,188km-long pipeline with a capacity of 58 million tonnes a year is even longer than the Yamal-Europe pipeline and exports crude oil from Russia to the Asian Pacific markets of Japan, China, and Korea.

ESPO could provide a lifeline for Russia in the event flows through the Yamal and Druzhba pipelines are halted. Yamal connects Russian natural gas fields in the Yamal Peninsula and Western Siberia with Poland and Germany through Belarus, while the Druzhba pipeline delivers crude oil from Russia to Poland and Germany through Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic via Ukraine.

Luckily for the west, the IEA says uptake of heavily discounted Russian crude remains limited so far, with Asian oil importers for the most part sticking to traditional suppliers in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. Further, Russia is likely to struggle to fill the gap left by a ban on imports by the west, with the IEA estimating that as much as 3 million barrels a day of Russian oil supply will be shut in starting from April, while commodity analysts at Standard Chartered said it could take years for Russia’s vast energy empire to fully recover, if ever.

end

RUSSIA/SLOVAKIA/UKRAINE

Seems those S 300 systems provided by Slovakia have been destroyed

(zerohedge).

Russian Military Says It Successfully Destroyed S-300 Systems Provided By EU State

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 10:02 AM

Russia has said its forces have destroyed S-300 anti-air defense systems which were recently transferred to Ukraine by a European state. This after long ago warning that any external weapons shipments to Kiev would be deemed a “legitimate target” and that external backers providing the shipments would be held responsible.

“Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Monday Russian Kalibr missiles destroyed on Sunday four S-300 launchers concealed in a hangar on the outskirts of the central-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, hitting 25 Ukrainian soldiers in the attack,” Al Jazeera writes, citing Russian state sources. Slovakia even released footage showing an S-300 mobile system departing a military facility.

The Russian statement didn’t specify the outside European country from which the S-300 system originated, but within the past days it was widely reported that Slovakia was donating S-300 missiles to Ukraine. The White House had followed by announcing it would be replacing Slovakia’s supplies with Patriot missiles.

There’s also the possibility that Ukraine had received anti-air systems from other countries possessing S-300s, albeit without any public announcement. Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment on whether the Russian statements are accurate, but later issued denials of the Russian claims alongside its backer Slovakia.

According to further details by USA Today:

About two dozen Ukrainian troops were also hit by the strike, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement Monday. The statement said Ukraine had received the technology from an unnamed European country. Konashenkov’s claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Slovakia has since called the Russian claims a “hoax” and part of battlefield propaganda:

Last week, Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger confirmed: “I would like to confirm that Slovakia has provided Ukraine with an air-defense system S-300. The Ukrainian nation is bravely defending its sovereign country and us too. It is our duty to help, not to stay put and be ignorant to the loss of human lives under Russia’s aggression,” according to the statement.

If confirmed that one or more S-300s were taken out, it’s likely that any further such major weapons transfers from the West will be done more quietly – as opposed to the very public way in which these deals are being announced.

NATO/RUSSIA

NATO Plans Massive Military Buildup On Russia’s Border, Citing Major “Reset”

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 08:31 AM

Authored by Kyle Anzalone via AntiWar.com,

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is in the middle of a “fundamental transformation” and planning a massive military buildup along Russian borders. The Telegraph reported, “Nato is drawing up plans to deploy a permanent full-scale military force on its border in an effort to combat future Russian aggression following the invasion of Ukraine, the alliance’s secretary general has revealed.”

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO will undergo a major “reset” and plans to put enough troops in states that border Russia to repel an invasion. The alliance currently has 40,000 troops in eastern member states.

NATO considers its forces in Eastern Europe a deterrent against Russia but insufficient to actually stop incoming forces. The “tripwire” policy believes Moscow would be unwilling to kill American soldiers and provoke a larger war. Stoltenberg did not say how many troops would be needed in states like Latvia and Estonia to fight off a Russian invasion.NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg talks to troops in Bardufoss, Norway in March. Image: NATO

The alliance recently announced the creation of four new battlegroups of about 1,500 troops each to be deployed to Eastern European states. NATO will have a battlegroup that stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea:

Battlegroups typically are made up of 1,000-1,500 soldiers. The trans-Atlantic alliance currently has similar deployments in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

Stoltenberg described in March the new security situation in Eastern Europe, “Along with our existing forces in the Baltic countries and Poland, this means that we will have eight multinational NATO battlegroups all along the eastern flank, from the Baltic to the Black Sea.” The alliance also has 140 warships at sea and 130 aircraft on high alert.

Stoltenberg said the change in policy is a response to the invasion of Ukraine and will claim the buildup is defensive. Moscow is unlikely to share that interpretation. Russia demanded a withdrawal of NATO forces from Eastern Europe in the December security proposal.

Since the 1990s, NATO has expanded and moved forces into former Soviet states. Moscow has consistently said the alliance’s eastward expansion is a threat and is part of the reason President Vladimir Putin elected to launch a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.

News/Ukraine war;

Here Are All The Latest News And Developments From The Ukraine War: April 11.

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 08:50 AM

Feeling lost in the relentless barrage of news and fake news out of Ukraine? Hopefully this summary, courtesy of Newsquawk, will help at least a little although we leave it up to readers to sort out the truth from the propaganda.

NEGOTIATIONS/TALKS

Ukrainian President Zelensky said they should not lose the possibility of a diplomatic solution to the war, while Zelensky separately commented that he is not confident that Ukraine forces will receive what they need from the US to succeed in the war against Russia, according to a CBS ’60 Minutes’ interview.
Ukraine conducted a prisoner exchange with Russia on Saturday which was the third such swap since the start of the war. It was also reported that there were nine trains available for use for evacuation from the Luhansk region on Sunday, according to the regional governor, who added that more evacuations of people from settlements are needed, according to Reuters.
Austrian Chancellor Nehammer will travel to Russia on Monday to meet with Russian President Putin following the Austrian Chancellor’s visit to Ukraine over the weekend where he met with Ukrainian President Zelensky, according to Reuters; to speak at 17:00BST following talks. Russian Kremlin adds that Austria requested a closed format and no statement is planned.
Ukrainian minister Stefanishyna expects Ukraine to be given EU candidate country status in June and said that Ukraine is “ready to move fast” with its application to join the EU, according to REPUBLICWORLD.COM.
Ukraine Deputy PM says nine humanitarian corridors have been agreed, including Mariupol, via AJA Breaking.

DEFENCE/MILITARY

Russian President Putin is believed to have set himself four weeks to achieve some sort of a victory in Ukraine before the big Russian “Victory Day” holiday on May 9th, according to The Times on Friday. There were also reports in Axios that the May 9th Russian holiday will be a pivotal and dangerous deadline.
Russian Ministry of Defence alleged that Kyiv is preparing a mass murder of civilians in Luhansk with support from the West, according to Sputnik.
Russian Republic of Chechnya head Kadyrov said there will be an offensive not only on Mariupol but on other Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, according to Reuters.
Ukrainian President Zelensky discussed with German Chancellor Scholz anti-Russian sanctions, as well as defence and financial support for Ukraine. German Chancellor Scholz called for Russia to immediately pull its troops back and said that European borders must remain untouched, while he added that those who committed war crimes must be held responsible and that it is right Germany supplies Ukraine with defence weapons which it will continue doing so, according to Reuters.
White House National Security Adviser Sullivan said Russia’s systematic targeting of civilians in Ukraine constitutes war crimes and that Russia’s new commander in charge of the Ukrainian invasion, General Dvornikov, will author crimes and brutality against Ukrainian civilians. Sullivan added that they will get Ukraine the weapons it needs and are in talks with European allies about reducing dependence on Russian oil, according to Reuters.
UK PM Johnson said during a surprise visit to Kyiv that they will intensify sanctions against Russia week by week, while the UK will send 120 armoured vehicles and anti-ship missile systems to Ukraine and will guarantee USD 500mln in World Bank lending to Ukraine, according to Reuters and AFP.
UK military intelligence said Russian armed forces are seeking to bolster troops with personnel discharged from service since 2012 in response to mounting losses and that efforts to generate more fighting power include trying to recruit from the unrecognised Transnistria region of Moldova. UK military intelligence also noted that Russia’s departure from northern Ukraine left evidence of disproportionate targeting of non-combatants and that Russian forces continue to attack infrastructure targets with a high risk of collateral harm to civilians, according to Reuters.
European Commission President von der Leyen said the EC wants to pledge EUR 1bln to support Ukraine, according to Reuters.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Borrell said the EU will soon convene a military committee to discuss the supply of weapons to Ukraine and that they will discuss further steps with EU ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday.
Slovakia’s Interior Minister said Slovakia is negotiating with Ukraine on the possible sale of self-propelled howitzers Zuzana and could also send MiG-19 fighter jets to Ukraine although this option is not yet in play, according to Interfax.

ENERGY/ECONOMIC SANCTIONS & UPDATES

EU member states remain at loggerheads regarding a Russian energy ban with the Hungarian government noting that targeting Russia’s oil and gas exports is a red line, while it was also reported that discussion of a Russian oil ban will only be raised informally for broad discussion during the EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday, according to FT.
One proposal under consideration, at today’s discussion of EU foreign ministers, is some form of tariff on Russian oil, according to Politico citing diplomats; but, sharp divisions remain on the issue.
Irish Foreign Minister Coveney says the European Commission is working on an oil embargo on Russia, as a part of the potential next sanctions package.
Hungary says it will not be backing down at today’s EU meeting on its refusal to impose sanctions on Russian energy imports, according to Sky News Arabia.
EU is banning tyre imports from Russia, according to Nokian Tyres.
EU added Sberbank chief Gref and other oligarchs to its sanctions list on Friday, while Russian President Putin’s daughters have also been added to the sanctions list, according to Reuters.
BaFin ordered VTB Bank Europe not to take instructions from its Moscow-based parent and said VTB Bank no longer has control of its European arm, while savers with VTB Europe continue to have access to their funds, according to Reuters.
Huawei is reportedly suspending all orders in Russia due to fear of secondary sanctions by the US, according to Game News 24.
Eastward gas flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline have increased, via Reuters citing Gascade data.

SOVEREIGN/FUND/OTHER

Russian Finance Minister said Russia has been fulfilling its foreign debt obligations, according to Sputnik.
Russia will boost its government reserve fund by RUB 273.4bln or around USD 3.4bln to “ensure the stability of the economy in the face of external sanctions”, according to a Bloomberg report citing the Kremlin.
World Bank forecasts Ukraine GDP output to shrink by 45.1% this year amid high uncertainty regarding the duration and destruction of the war, while it sees Russia’s economy to contract 11.2% this year, according to Reuters.
CDS panel has ruled that Russian Railways are in default and as such, contracts for Russian Railways will be triggered and paid out after missing a coupon payment in March, via Bloomberg.

OTHER

Iranian President Raisi said Iran will not back down one iota from asserting its nuclear rights which should be respected by all parties in Vienna talks and stated that Iran’s nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, according to Times of Israel.
Majority of Iranian parliamentarians in a letter to Iranian President Raisi, demanded legal assurances by Washington with Congress approval that the US will not exit the nuclear deal if it is revived, while they suggested that the trigger mechanism should be arranged to prevent the US from exiting the deal again. Furthermore, they said that Iran should be permitted to export oil to any country and receive money through the banking system, according to Reuters.
Iranian Foreign Minister said there is no final text of the agreement in Vienna and we will not back down from our red lines, via Al Jazerra; adding, that what remains between Iran and the US is more than one issue.
Finland’s Centre Party, which is part of the five-party ruling coalition, rallied around a potential NATO membership bid in what is another sign the country is nearing an application to join the alliance, according to Bloomberg.
China delivered HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems to Russian ally Serbia in a semi-secret operation during the weekend which was being referred to as a veiled operation, according to the Independent.
In an apparent show of force to deter potential provocations by North Korea, USS Abraham Lincoln is set to enter the international waters of the East Sea later this week, according to Yonhap sources.
END
Ukraine War Meant To Stop US World Domination, Russia’s Top Diplomat SaysMONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 11:20 AMRussia has revealed its broad-level geo-strategic aims with its Ukraine operation vis-a-vis the United States and NATO in a Rossiya 24 TV interview with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.Lavrov stressed that ultimately Russia’s invasion which began on Feb.24 has put an end to the US-dominated order, forcing Washington to retreat from its unipolar vision of the world where it reigns supreme. “Our special military operation is meant to put an end to the unabashed expansion [of NATO] and the unabashed drive towards full domination by the US and its Western subjects on the world stage,” Lavrov said in the interview which aired Monday.Image via AP“This domination is built on gross violations of international law and under some rules, which they are now hyping so much and which they make up on a case-by-case basis,” he said further.He suggested that in the lead-up to the invasion of Ukraine, the US was not dealing with other powerful countries as “equals” but that it ignored the legitimate security concerns of Russia and others, and thus Moscow was not ready to submit to its will.Lavrov further called out EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell for his recent statement while meeting with Volodomyr Zelensy. Borrell said “This war will be won on the battlefield.” The statement suggested that the West is pushing the Ukrainians away from the idea of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire. Despite recent Zelensky statements offering neutrality on the question of joining NATO, negotiations have made little actual progress, typically devolving into accusations and counter-accusations in the aftermath of each session. Lavrov slammed the Saturday statement as “outrageous” and pointed out Borrell’s position is supposed to represent EU diplomacy:”When a diplomatic chief … says a certain conflict can only be resolved through military action… Well, it must be something personal. He either misspoke or spoke without thinking, making a statement that nobody asked him to make. But it’s an outrageous remark,” Lavrov said.The top Russian diplomat went on to explain that he thinks a more militaristic confrontational approach has taken root among EU officials due to the influence of Washington, which is using the war to stoke a standoff with Russia. This will in turn discourage progress in direct Ukraine-Russia ceasefire negotiations…Lavrov stressed further that Moscow is still interested in negotiating peace. Interestingly, his comments come as Zelensky himself is again lashing out at NATO for being “weak” – as it long pushed Ukraine to stand up to Russia yet is now refusing to “close the sky” – or impose a no fly zone.

UKRAINE//Sunday

War drums beat

Inbox

At 7:48 AM, today the Russian Ambassador to the US warned that “The West’s actions may lead to a military confrontation between Moscow and Washington.”

Anatoli Antonov, Russian Ambassador to the USA:

And Germany is actively reinforcing its’ bomb shelters.

If war is not coming, why do this? What do they know that is not public. Is that they will not pay for gas in Rubles and will be cut off from supply? So war is the answer to a collapsing economy before public rage breaks out at politicians.

There are upwards to 1800 Chinese Troops in Serbia with talk of more coming shortly. Why?

\what reassurance did Boris Johnson give Zelensky, the current poster boy of war? And why? No leader in modern history has been pushed as hard as this clown as the face of war, which tells us it is the media narrative to push the Western public to support a war, that has no winners only losers. To benefit who? If it is to cause the Russian public to support the west, it has failed as the Russian public is firmly behind Putin and the Kremlin plan, even if it means months or years of hardship. I suppose the question people in the West need to ask, why should anyone go down this road? We did not do so in Yemen or Africa. And we have seen what Iraq and Syria and Libya look like; and not to forget the sadness of Afghanistan where western soldiers and local civilians died in vain and in the end were abandoned in their sacrifice. Fueling further terrorism by the mindless, delusional decision making by failed leadership. And we are now being asked to believe in a NATOStan war in the Ukraine to engulf Europe and perhaps many other countries; for whose gain and purpose? Because it certainly is not the public well being led by the same fools of failed wars and military misadventures.

If this goes off the rails and a wider war ignites, be not surprised that China and Russia both fight shoulder to shoulder against the West and do anticipate the fight to go nuclear. No one will immune from the fallout of such idiocy.

Cheers

Robert

end

6// GLOBAL COVID ISSUES/VACCINE MANDATE

ISSUES/GLOBAL ISSUES//ORIGINS OF COVID 19//COVID 19

Dr Robert Malone says that he will sue the New York Times unless it corrects its defamatory article on him

(Stieber.EpochTimes)

Robert Malone Says He Will Sue New York Times Unless It Corrects ‘Defamatory’ Article

SUNDAY, APR 10, 2022 – 04:30 PM

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

The New York Times will face a lawsuit unless it corrects an article claiming Dr. Robert Malone has spread “unfounded claims about the [COVID-19] vaccines and the virus” and misrepresents his role in creating messenger RNA technology, the doctor and his lawyer say.Dr. Robert Malone in Washington on June 29, 2021. (Zhen Wang/The Epoch Times)

The New York Times recently published a piece calling Malone the “latest COVID misinformation star,” written by a reporter who the paper hired to cover “disinformation,” or the purposeful spread of false information.

Davey Alba, the reporter, acknowledges Malone performed some of the earliest experiments on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which was used to build the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. But the article questions Malone’s assertion that he invented the mRNA vaccines.

In addition, Malone is accused of “spreading misinformation about the virus and vaccines on conservative programs,” with examples of the alleged actions including how Malone “questions the severity of the coronavirus” and has championed the use of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, two drugs that U.S. regulators say should not be used to treat COVID-19.

Steven Biss, representing Malone, gave notice to the New York Times on April 6, informing lawyers for the paper that the article contains “false and defamatory statements of fact of or concerning Dr. Malone,” including the thinly supported headline.

Biss and Malone say Alba, who now works for Bloomberg, declined an offer from Malone to show her evidence regarding his research and invention of the mRNA technology.

“She refused to view the information that we offered to provide to her,” Malone told The Epoch Times.

A review of the New York Times article found no mention of the patents on which Malone is named. Instead, it says Malone alleges to have invented the technology because he performed experiments on human cells at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, and links to a study Malone co-authored about injecting RNA into mouse skeletal muscle.

One of the study’s co-authors, Dr. Gyula Acsadi, chief of pediatric Neurology at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, was quoted as saying it was a “totally false claim” for Malone to say he invented mRNA vaccines. Malone says on his websites that he is “the inventor of mRNA vaccines” and “the original inventor of mRNA vaccination as a technology” but also says he did not invent the COVID-19 vaccines. “In fact, I have very actively distanced myself from them,” he wrote in a blog post.

“The facts are that I am a named inventor on the original nine issued U.S. patents, which describe the mRNA vaccine platform technology,” Malone told The Epoch Times.

The patents cover delivery mechanisms used in mRNA vaccines, among other things.

“Those patents were used aggressively to keep other companies from entering the technology area until they expired,” Malone said.

While Acsadi co-authored the paper, he is not listed on any of the patents.The New York Times building in New York City on Aug. 31, 2021. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Dr. Jon Wolff, named in the paper and the patents, is deceased. Dr. Philip Felgner, also named in the paper and the patents, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Alba, the reporter, is also accused of searching for sources to quote on Twitter, as two of the three critics had previously criticized Malone on the social media website.

Dr. Angela Rasmussen, for instance, called Malone in August 2021 a “grifter” and “just another scammer.”

She was quoted in the New York Times article as saying guidance from health agencies changes over time because the guidance is “only as reliable as the evidence behind it, and thus it should change when new evidence is obtained.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), among other health agencies, has repeatedly changed guidance during the pandemic, drawing growing distrust from Americans, according to surveys.

Some leading health officials have admitted to misleading Americans on key pandemic-related matters. Dr. Anthony Fauci, for instance, has acknowledged he lied about the effectiveness of masks early in the pandemic because of concerns there would be a mask shortage if he was truthful.

Malone has criticized Fauci and the CDC, telling The Epoch Times earlier this year, for instance, that the CDC’s withholding of data on COVID-19 was an example of “scientific fraud.”

“Robert Malone is exploiting the fact that data-driven course correction is inherent to the scientific process to peddle disinformation,” Rasmussen told the New York Times, referring to how Malone makes money from his blog. “It’s extraordinarily dishonest and morally bankrupt.”

Dr. Alastair McAlpine, another source critical of Malone, promoted the article on Twitter, alleging he “and many others,” presented with the “false claim” that Malone “‘invented mRNA technology,” had “debunk[ed]” the idea.

Alba “appears to have sought her sources by looking through Twitter to find detractors, which suggests intent to defame because she was biasing her sources to individuals that she knew were already defaming,” Malone told The Epoch Times.

The New York Times was told to publicly retract the statements alleged to be false and defamatory, issue a written apology, and provide compensation for the “presumed and actual damages” Malone has suffered.

If the requested actions are not taken within 30 days within receipt of the notice, or if actions are taken but are deemed insufficient, Malone intends to take legal action, Biss told the paper.

Alba did not respond to requests for comment. She has shielded her Twitter page from view from all users except for those who follow her.

A spokesperson for the New York Times told The Epoch Times in an email that the story “was thoroughly researched and edited, and we are confident in the diligence of our reporting.”

The paper’s legal department is reviewing the legal notice “and will respond to counsel after that review,” the spokesperson added.

end

Interesting: Pfizer hired 600 employees who job it is to report on the large increase in adverse events. Pfizer now expects 1800 people to be hired for this

(Stieber/EpochTimes)

Pfizer Hired 600 Employees Due To ‘Large Increase Of Adverse Event Reports’: Document

SUNDAY, APR 10, 2022 – 09:20 AM

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

Pfizer hired 600 employees in the months after its COVID-19 vaccine was authorized in the United States due to the “large increase” of reports of side effects linked to the vaccine, according to a document prepared by the company.A pedestrian walks by Pfizer’s New York City headquarters in a file photograph. (Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)

Pfizer has “taken a multiple actions to help alleviate the large increase of adverse event reports,” according to the document. “This includes significant technology enhancements, and process and workflow solutions, as well as increasing the number of data entry and case processing colleagues.”

At the time when the document—from the first quarter of 2021—was sent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer had onboarded about 600 extra full-time workers to deal with the jump.

“More are joining each month with an expected total of more than 1,800 additional resources by the end of June 2021,” Pfizer said.

The document was titled a “cumulative analysis of post-authorization adverse event reports” of Pfizer’s vaccine received through Feb. 28, 2021. It was approved by the FDA on April 30, 2021.

The document was not made public until the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency sued the FDA after the agency claimed it needed decades to produce all the documents relating to the emergency use authorization granted to the company for the vaccine.

Under an agreement reached in February, the FDA must produce a certain number of pages each month.

The analysis of adverse event reports was previously disclosed to the health transparency group, but certain portions were redacted (pdf), including the number of workers Pfizer onboarded to deal with the jump in adverse event reports.

“We asked that the redactions on page 6 of this report be lifted and the FDA agreed without providing an explanation,” Aaron Siri, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told The Epoch Times in an email.

After the document was produced, the FDA determined that the three redactions on that page “could be lifted,” an FDA spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

The redactions had been made under (b) (4) of the Freedom of Information Act, which lets agencies “withhold trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person which is privileged or confidential.”

The unredacted version of the document also now shows that approximately 126 million doses of Pfizer were shipped around the world since the company received the first clearance, from U.S. regulators, on Dec. 1, 2020. The shipments took place through Feb. 28, 2021.

It was unclear how many of those doses had been administered as of that date.

Pfizer did not respond to emailed questions, including how many workers it has onboarded to deal with adverse events.

The companies that manufacture the other two COVID-19 vaccines that U.S. regulators have cleared, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, did not respond when asked if they have seen an increase in adverse events and if they have hired more employees to deal with reports.

The number of post-vaccination adverse event reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, jointly run by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has spiked since the vaccines were first cleared.

Problems linked to the vaccines include heart inflammation, blood clotting, and severe allergic shock.

Federal officials say the vaccines’ benefits outweigh the risks, but some experts are increasingly questioning that assertion, particularly for certain populations.

GLOBAL ISSUES

CANADA

end

VACCINE MANDATES/

New Brunswick drops vaccination requirement for many health care employees

Inbox

New Brunswick drops vaccination requirement for many health care employees

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/brunswick-drops-vaccination-requirement-many-195650500.html

VACCINE INJURIES//

a must view!!

DR. RICHARD FLEMING – SWORN TESTIMONY THAT COVID-19 IS A BIO-WEAPON

Inbox

DR. RICHARD FLEMING – SWORN TESTIMONY THAT COVID-19 IS A BIO-WEAPON

Fwd: A Warrior Calls: “Genocide and Barratry Occurring” and 5 more videos

Inbox

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Rumble<notifications@rumble.com>
Date: Sat, Apr 9, 2022 at 06:39
Subject: A Warrior Calls: “Genocide and Barratry Occurring” and 5 more videos
To: <sabioncello@gmail.com>

VACCINE IMPACT

4,023 Fetal Deaths Now Recorded in VAERS Following COVID-19 Vaccines as US Appeals Court Reinstates Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers

April 9, 2022 4:29 pm

The U.S. Government’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) was updated yesterday (April 8, 2022) and another 100+ cases were added this past week where an unborn child died after their mother received a COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the total now to 4,023 fetal deaths following COVID-19 vaccines for the past 16 months. By way of contrast, there were 2,238 recorded deaths of unborn babies in VAERS for the 30 years (360 months) prior to the authorizations of the COVID-19 vaccines in December of 2020, following all FDA-approved vaccines combined during that time period. So just by comparing the flu shots for the previous 30 years (360 months) to the COVID-19 shots for the past 16 months, we get an average of 1.5 fetal deaths a month following the flu shots, and an average of 251 fetal deaths a month following the COVID-19 vaccines. That’s a 16,633% percent increase in fetal deaths following COVID-19 vaccines as compared to annual influenza vaccines. And yet the CDC and FDA continue to recommend the COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women. In fact, the FDA is planning on modeling the COVID-19 vaccines after the flu vaccines, so they can keep injecting people every year with these COVID-19 shots. And earlier this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned a block on the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers. This action will potentially cause more harm from these experimental vaccines that are killing and crippling so many people, including unborn babies, for people desperate to stay employed.

April 10, 2022 3:21 pm

As everyone watches the current show in the theater called “Ukraine” today, thousands of people are committing suicide in Shanghai, China, as its 25 million residents continue to be locked down and many of them reportedly starving because they cannot get food. Protests and looting have reportedly started, and horrible images are appearing of people jumping to their deaths from buildings while others hang themselves. Dogs and cats are being murdered on the streets. And this is Shanghai! I have spent time in Shanghai in the past, and it is the most modern city in China. It’s financial and shopping district would rival Manhattan in New York, the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, or Beverly Hills in Los Angeles. If this can happen in Shanghai, it can happen anywhere. Words cannot describe what I have watched today from reports coming out from people on the ground there, so I have created a short video montage that will communicate what is going on in Shanghai right now, better than anything I can write. This is VERY GRAPHIC! It will disturb you. I cry like a baby every time I watch these clips. But the Big Tech social media platforms are censoring much of this, and I am not seeing much of this at all in either the corporate media nor the alternative media. But it should be headline news everywhere right now!

Newly Revealed Document Shows Pfizer Needed to Hire an Additional 1800 Employees to Process Adverse Reactions to Their COVID-19 Vaccine

April 10, 2022 5:20 pm

Pfizer hired 600 employees in the months after its COVID-19 vaccine was authorized in the United States due to the “large increase” of reports of side effects linked to the vaccine, according to a document prepared by the company. Pfizer has “taken a multiple actions to help alleviate the large increase of adverse event reports,” according to the document. “This includes significant technology enhancements, and process and workflow solutions, as well as increasing the number of data entry and case processing colleagues.” At the time when the document—from the first quarter of 2021—was sent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer had onboarded about 600 extra full-time workers to deal with the jump. “More are joining each month with an expected total of more than 1,800 additional resources by the end of June 2021,” Pfizer said. The document was titled a “cumulative analysis of post-authorization adverse event reports” of Pfizer’s vaccine received through Feb. 28, 2021. It was approved by the FDA on April 30, 2021. The document was not made public until the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency sued the FDA after the agency claimed it needed decades to produce all the documents relating to the emergency use authorization granted to the company for the vaccine.

Michael Every

Rabo: Over Half Of France Just Voted For Extreme Alternatives To The Status Quo

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 09:40 AM

By Michael Every of Rabobank

Le Pen is Mightier Than The Sword(?)

Markets may try an attempt at risk on today given the French elections saw President Macron win around 28% in the first round while far-right – and pro-Putin – Le Pen got around 24% and is also through to the head-to-head in two weeks. An even-further far right candidate got 7%, and the far-left candidate got 22%, while the centre-right got just 5%. Even if Macron wins, an advance risk-on rally will overlook that French society is deeply happy. Over half of it just voted for extreme alternatives to the status quo. Yet France is one of the world’s richest countries, with a nuclear power network to rely on, and a huge food surplus: if it is that angry, imagine the implications elsewhere.

In poorer countries, things look far worse. Food prices hit a record high in March according to the FAO; one reports suggests Ukraine’s harvest could be down 50% this year, which could make things far worse; we see headlines like ‘Rising Food Costs Push Arab World’s Vulnerable to Breaking Point’; and Lebanon, a buyer of Ukrainian wheat, is allegedly out of it completely: its last delivery was ruined by moisture – and it does not appear to have the spare FX reserves to buy more at a time of tight supply and soaring prices.

Pakistan just saw the parliamentary ousting of pro-Chinese PM Khan, despite it being a nuclear power in a tense neighborhood; and the chaos in pro-China Sri Lanka, where the IMF are talking about a new loan rather than a new Marshall Plan; and that’s at a time when others are talking about a new global financial architecture – Russia on Saturday called on the BRICs economies to extend the use of national currencies and integrate their payment systems, for example. US President Biden is to talk to Indian PM Modi this week: certainly lots to discuss.

Today’s Chinese CPI picked up slightly more than expected from 0.9% to a still-low 1.5% y/y (it’s amazing what price controls and a policy of deliberate over-supply can do), while PPI fell back from 8.8% to 8.3% y/y (again, it’s amazing what price controls and going all-in on cheap coal can do). So, food prices may not be a major issue right now in China – but food *supply* is. The market voices who extolled China’s Covid restrictions are eerily quiet now tens of millions are locked down and reportedly struggling to get hold of enough to eat, prompting the US to withdraw its diplomatic personnel from Shanghai. The former editor of the acerbic Global Times states it is “rude, undiplomatic, and unethical” for the US to comment on China’s Covid struggles. I don’t recall the reverse being true when it was the US floundering with the virus – it was the US system that was seen as failing.

At least Covid has delayed a further China-US firestorm, as House Speaker Pelosi has postponed a visit Taiwan after testing positive. The same former editor says Pelosi is “playing with fire”: the Japanese press today says, ‘Taiwan conducts drills to prepare for possible Chinese attack on nuclear plant’, showing the kind of fire potentially being played with.

Meanwhile, we are days away from a huge new front in east Ukraine, as Russia reportedly calls up 60,000 reservists to fight there. That really will be the largest battle in Europe since WW2. Yet the even larger one many in markets still refuse to see. Former-oligarch Khodorkovsky argues, “The US and its Western allies fail to understand that from Putin’s perspective, they are already at war with Russia.”; Russian intellectual Karaganov, in an interview, says, “We are at war with the West. The European security order is illegitimate.”:

“We see that most of the [European security] institutions are, in our view, one-sided and illegitimate. They are threatening Russia and Eastern Europe. We wanted fair peace, but the greed and stupidity of the Americans and the short-sightedness of the Europeans revealed they didn’t want that. We have to correct their mistakes.… Americans and their NATO partners continue support of Ukraine by sending arms. If that continues, it is obvious that targets in Europe could or will be hit in order to stop lines of communications. Then the war could escalate. At this juncture it is becoming more and more plausible. I think the Joint chiefs of staff of US armed forces are of the same opinion as I am.”

That is as Finland and Sweden are both being reported as being on the verge of NATO membership, making the European security order even less legitimate in Russia’s eyes; and Western weapons are flooding into Ukraine from some countries, if not from Germany, whose dog ate its geopolitical homework again. Someone is bluffing; or someone is going to get a shock. We won’t find out which until we escalate.

So, trade as if Le Pen is mightier than the sword. Just consider how many daggers are being drawn behind you, and knives are falling: the dollar index DXY is just shy of 100 this morning, up over 8% over 12 months; and Aussie 10-year yields have flirted with 3%, perhaps flagging a warning to US Treasuries trading at 2.70%.

Regardless, many in markets think they are mightier than the likes of Le Pen or any sword. Indeed, a recent op-ed in The New York Times argued “Ordinary People Don’t Think Like Economists. It’s a Problem.” I will confess I didn’t read it. I will also confess I wouldn’t read it even if it were free, let alone requiring a subscription – which logically makes me one of the ordinary people and not an economist. However, that op-ed title points to how we ended up in our current mess: presuming neoliberal economics was a panacea for the longer cycles of history, class struggle, and even of national character, rather than an amplifier of all of them.

As an example, as Italy signs a new gas supply deal with Algeria, Germany is contemplating its Russian gas flows. Thinking like an economist, it sees voluntarily switching off the gas to hit the Russian economy is bad because it would mean a deep German recession. There are various figures bandied about, but some say GDP might fall as much as 6%. On the other hand, has Germany calculated the cost of buying Russian gas, for now, and de facto helping it win the war in Ukraine? I don’t mean the direct human cost, which social media is pointing out. I mean the future economic cost to Germany of having a victorious, entrenched, revanchist, irridentist Russia as a neighbour, and inspiring a new global alliance around it. You think that would cost less than 6% of GDP over time, and carry even larger tail risks? You must be an economist!

Knives are also out for UK Chancellor and until-recently-presumed-next-PM Sunak, as another rich (net food importing) country sees economic pain and rising public discontent. Sunak is now revealed as holding a US Green Card(!), while his wife is a ‘non-dom’ not paying tax on her foreign income. How both of these facts were apparently unknown until last week is politically jaw-dropping. Then again, so is Sunak’s alleged resistance to the UK acting to ensure its long-term energy security by fast-tracking seven new nuclear power stations. He is reported as believing Russia will win the war soon and we will all go back to BAU, so why bother spending so much? He is *obviously* an economist.

7. OIL ISSUES

Oil Tumbles Near Pre-Invasion Lows As China Lockdowns Escalate

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 08:16 AM

It appears China demand anxiety trumps Russia’s geopolitical risk premia for now as WTI has tumbled 5% this morning, pressing down towards pre-invasion lows…

WTI trades with a $92 handle, testing those mid-March lows…

But we note mid-term crude prices have been rising since the SPR release headlines…

A hawkish Fed (US demand pressure) and accelerating COVID cases in China (and the subsequent lockdowns spreading) are dominating the push-pull in the energy complex…

“Fears are rising now that if China’s Omicron wave spreads to other cities, its zero-COVID policy will see mass extended lockdowns that negatively impact both industrial output and domestic consumption,” said OANDA senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley.

…with global reserve releases piling on top of that bearish narrative.

“The release of strategic government oil reserves should ease some market tightness over the coming months, reducing the need for oil prices to rise to trigger near-term demand destruction,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. International Energy Agency (IEA) member nations will release 60 million barrels over the next six months, with the United States matching that as part of its 180 million barrel release announced in March.

Naturally, China’s economic activity is slowing down rapidly

The possibility of Iran production hitting the market remains an overhang as Bloomberg reports Iran said the 2015 nuclear deal is alive but lingering in the “emergency room,” with its fate resting on a decision by the U.S. that could lift sanctions on Tehran’s economy and oil exports.

However, of course, global oil supplies remain at their tightest in years and elsewhere in the world, demand is picking up with fuel demand in India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, rising to a three-year high in March, with petrol sales hitting a record peak. Additionally, on the bullish side of the coin from crude prices, One of Nigeria’s largest oil producers owes $1.7 billion to Shell and seven banks, which if unpaid, could do significant harm to the West African country’s financial system, say the lenders, and reduce production and thus supply for the global system.

8 EMERGING MARKET& AUSTRALIA ISSUES

Australia//// NEW ZEALAND/ SOUTH AFRICA/BRAZIL/ARGENTINA/INDIA

PAKISTAN

USA hater Khan is ousted in a midnight no confidence vote. He urges his supporters to rsie up against USA led foreign conspiracy

(zerohedge)

Pakistan’s Imran Khan Ousted In Midnight No Confidence Vote, Urges Supporters Rise Up Against US-Led “Foreign Conspiracy”

SUNDAY, APR 10, 2022 – 12:00 PM

The past week has witnessed a political earthquake rock nuclear-armed Pakistan, culminating in the historically unprecedented ouster of its sitting prime minister by a vote of no-confidence in parliament. The country has seen many days of constitutional chaos and massive rival street protests unfold, culminating in the midnight Saturday vote to boot longtime ruler Imran Khan, who has now seen his term end Sunday.

Khan was earlier able to block a similar attempt by seeking to dissolve parliament (a move thwarted by the country’s Supreme Court), but by the weekend some key political allies deserted him, leading to 174 parliamentarians passing the no-confidence motion, which required 172 votes among the 342 seat parliament to pass.

Crucially Khan quickly pointed the finger at the United States, and urged his supporters across the nation to take to the streets. The Hill writes, “Anticipating his loss, Khan, who charged his opposition colluded with the United States to unseat him, has called on his supporters to stage rallies nationwide on Sunday.”Imran Khan, file image

“Khan’s options are limited and should he see a big turnout in his support, he may try to keep the momentum of street protests as a way to pressure Parliament to hold early elections,” the report continues. Khan said in a national address on Friday: “You have to come out to protect your own future. It is you who have to protect your democracy, your sovereignty and your independence. … This is your duty.” He vowed: “I will not accept an imposed government.”

It’s believed his relations with the country’s powerful military (which has long been the core of Islamabad’s ‘deep state’) have soured, also amid surging inflation and a plummeting rupee, earning charges of severe economic mismanagement from the political opposition and widespread public anger. In particularl he’s said to have clashed with Pakistan’s Army Chief as well as the foreign office.

It bears recalling that PM Khan had met with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Feb.24 – a mere hours before Russian tanks rolled across the border into Ukraine. Despite the Feb.23-24 visit being long in planning, and primarily aimed at boosting energy and trade ties between the two countries, the poor timing served to spotlight the controversy of the visit and warming Pakistan-Russia relations.

Deutsche Welle “EU diplomatic circles have not taken Khan’s Russia trip well.”Getty Images/AFP

Al Jazeera pointed out that “when Russia’s President Vladimir Putin formally announced the invasion of Ukraine just before daybreak on February 24, eliciting swift global condemnation and sending international markets into a tailspin, Prime Minister Khan and his delegation were just settling in their hotel rooms in Moscow.”

Khan’s accusations and denunciations of a US hidden hand behind his ouster forced a response from Washington, with the State Department on Friday issuing a statement saying there was “absolutely no truth to these allegations.”

“Of course, we continue to follow these developments, and we respect and support Pakistan’s constitutional process and rule of law. But again, these allegations are absolutely not true,” a spokesperson said. Khan has specifically pointed to the Feb.24 Putin meeting as what finally set in motion Washington’s regime change playbook against him.

Quite interestingly, the embattled 69-year old leader who was elected as prime minister in 2018, has in the last days issued very specific charges concerning US actors from the embassy plotting against him in regime change efforts led from Washington.

He’s described it as a “foreign conspiracy” to topple him and destabilize the country of some 225 million Muslims:

Mr Khan has alleged that Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the Department of State was involved in the ‘foreign conspiracy’ to topple his government.

But it remains that over a dozen defectors from Khan’s own political party had turned against him, enabling the no confidence vote. These also deny that they were in cahoots with a foreign power as he’s been busy alleging.

In his first reaction on Sunday since his ouster, Khan again doubled-down, saying the “freedom struggle” against “a foreign conspiracy of regime change” will continue, calling on Pakistanis to “defend their sovereignty and democracy”.

All of this leaves the opposition’s Shehbaz Sharif poised to take power, as the BBC previews:

Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif – who is expected to be chosen as the new prime minister on Monday – said Pakistan and its parliament were “finally freed from a serious crisis”, adding in a tweet: “Congratulations to the Pakistani nation on a new dawn.”
If voted in by parliament, Mr Sharif – a long-time rival of Mr Khan and brother of former three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – would be able to hold power until October 2023, when the next election is due to be held.

But if Khan can get his supporters into the streets in large enough numbers, the country could be in for some near-term turmoil. Military and police appear to be readying additional measures for such a scenario, with weekend reports indicating all airports being put on on ‘high alert’ security status.

Khan has long been critical of US foreign policy, particularly post-9/11 global war on terror policies, which could further serve in this currently crisis to tap into conservative Islamic anti-American sectors of society…

For decades going back to when Pakistan achieved nuclear weapons status, the US has appeared to prioritize stability and counterterror cooperation, centered on close relations with the country’s military, somewhat akin to the situation of a long-term US supported security state in Egypt.

end

Pakistan Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif Named New Prime Minister Amid Raging Pro-Khan Protests

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 09:25 AM

After the dramatic weekend ‘no confidence’ vote ouster of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, described by he and his supporters as a foreign backed coup led covertly by the United States, the country’s lawmakers convened Monday to choose a new prime minister.

They chose opposition lawmaker Shahbaz Sharif to replace Khan – the latter whose supports took to the streets Sunday night in various cities across the country, calling his ouster and replacement illegitimate. “Mr Shahbaz, 70, is the younger brother of three-times prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and led the bid by the opposition parties to remove Mr Khan,” Sky News notes.Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N President Shabaz Sharif, now named as prime minister, via AFP

Khan on Sunday rejected parliament’s midnight no confidence vote to ouster him from the night before. “Pakistan became an independent state in 1947; but the freedom struggle begins again today against a foreign conspiracy of regime change,” he wrote on Twitter. He called what’s happening a power grab by an “imported government.”

Many thousands have taken to the streets Sunday into early Monday, including in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar – where some instances roads were blocked – and even with pro-Khan demonstrations popping up in Dubai and London.

Multiple hundreds were observed gathered to protest in front of the London home of Nawaz Sharif as well, where supporters of Sharif clashed with the pro-Khan rally.

Newly named PM Shahbaz Sharif has been a prominent opposition lawmaker since his election to parliament in 1990, having fled the country following the 1999 military coup, but returning in 2007.

On Monday as lawmakers appointed Sharif new prime minister, Khan issued a statement thanking his supporters for taking to the streets “against US-backed regime change”.

However, he appears to be conceding given he changed his verified Twitter bio to the following: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf & former Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

His specifying “former” prime minister is being widely taken to mean he’s conceding defeat, or at least not willing to risk civil unrest in pushing back against his ouster too hard (or perhaps he was paid off handsomely?).

Khan had met with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Feb.24 – a mere hours before Russian tanks rolled across the border into Ukraine. Despite the Feb.23-24 visit being long in planning, and primarily aimed at boosting energy and trade ties between the two countries, the poor timing served to spotlight the controversy of the visit and warming Pakistan-Russia relations.

Missed this!!!needs to happen to all countries!!

New Zealand High Court ENDS Jacinda Ardern’s Vaccine Mandate: “It’s a Gross Violation of Human Rights” – News Punch

Inbox

Needs to happen in many other countries.

https://newspunch.com/new-zealand-high-court-ends-jacinda-arderns-vaccine-mandate-its-a-gross-violation-of-human-rights

New Zealand High Court ENDS Jacinda Ardern’s Vaccine Mandate: “It’s a Gross Violation of Human Rights”

Fact checked

THIS LANDMARK CASE WILL BE USED TO OVERTHROW ALL OF ARDERN’S ILLEGAL MANDATES IN NEW ZEALAND.

February 26, 2022 Sean Adl-Tabatabai News, World 32 Comments

Court ends mandatory vaccination in New Zealand, dealing a devastating blow to PM Jacinda Ardern

14.3k

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was left reeling on Friday after a High Court ruled that her vaccine mandate represented a “gross violation of human rights” for New Zealanders.

The landmark case means that the police and NZDF cannot be fired for refusing to take the experimental vaccine. This case will be used to overthrow all of Ardern’s illegal mandates in New Zealand.

ende

Justice Francis Cooke ruled that ordering frontline police officers and Defence staff to be vaccinated or face losing their job was not a “reasonably justified” breach of the Bill of Rights.

Nzherald.co.nz reports: The lawyer for the police and Defence staff at the centre of the claim is now calling for the suspended workers to return to their jobs immediately, saying many have given decades of service to their community and are still committed to their jobs.

The challenge, put forward by a group of Defence force and police employees, questioned the legality of making an order under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act to require vaccination for frontline employees.

The challenge was supported by a group of 37 employees affected by the mandate, who submitted written affidavits to the court.

Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Michael Wood, Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura and NZDF Chief People Officer Brigadier Matthew Weston filed affidavits defending the mandate.

As it stands, 164 of the overall police workforce of nearly 15,700 were affected by the mandate after choosing not to be vaccinated. For NZDF, the mandate affected 115 of its 15,500 staff.

The group relied on two aspects of the Bill of Rights – the right to decline a medical procedure and the right to religious freedom.

On the religious freedom argument, a number of those who made submissions referred to their fundamental objection to taking the Pfizer vaccine, given that it was tested on the cells that were derived from a human foetus.

Justice Cooke agreed with the claim, saying that “an obligation to receive the vaccine which a person objects to because it has been tested on cells derived from a human foetus, potentially an aborted foetus, does involve a limitation on the manifestation of a religious belief.”

However, Justice Cooke disagreed with the claimants’ broader claims that requiring vaccination is inconsistent with holding religious beliefs more generally.

“I do not accept that a belief in an individual’s bodily integrity and personal autonomy is a religious belief or practice. Rather it seems to me, in the circumstances of this case, to be a belief in the secular concept referred to in section 11 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.”

Justice Cooke also agreed with the claim that the mandate impinged on the right to decline a medical procedure.

The judge said that while it’s clear the government isn’t forcing Police and NZDF employees to get vaccinated against their will and they still have the right to refuse vaccination, the mandate presents an element of pressure.

“The associated pressure to surrender employment involves a limit on the right to retain that employment, which the above principles suggest can be thought of as an important right or interest recognised not only in domestic law, but in the international instruments,” Justice Cooke stated.

But in considering the two claims, Justice Cooke also considered whether or not the mandate fell within the definitions laid out in the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act.

The court accepted that vaccination has a significant beneficial effect in limiting serious illness, hospitalisation, and death, including with the Omicron variant. However, it was less effective in reducing infection and transmission of Omicron than had been the case with other variants of Covid-19.

“In essence, the order mandating vaccinations for police and NZDF staff was imposed to ensure the continuity of the public services, and to promote public confidence in those services, rather than to stop the spread of Covid-19. Indeed health advice provided to the government was that further mandates were not required to restrict the spread of Covid-19. I am not satisfied that continuity of these services is materially advanced by the order,” the Judge said.

“Covid-19 clearly involves a threat to the continuity of police and NZDF services. That is because the Omicron variant in particular is so transmissible. But that threat exists for both vaccinated and unvaccinated staff. I am not satisfied that the order makes a material difference, including because of the expert evidence before the court on the effects of vaccination on Covid-19 including the Delta and Omicron variants.”

An additional claim that the mandate would disproportionately affect Māori was dismissed by Justice Cooke.

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

Euro/USA 1.0902 UP .0033 /EUROPE BOURSES //ALL RED EXCEPT PARIS

USA/ YEN 125.63 UP 0.1434 /NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT .11% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…

GBP/USA 1.3022 UP 0.0038

Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 84.71 PTS OR 2/61%

Hang Sang CLOSED UP 663.71 PTS OR 3.34%

AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.02% // EUROPEAN BOURSES OPENED ALL RED EXCEPT PARIS

Trading from Europe and ASIA

I) EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL RED EXCEPT PARIS

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SANG CLOSED DOWN 663/71 OR 3.34%

/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 84.71 PTS OR 2.61%

Australia BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.02%

(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 164.28 PTS OR 0.61%

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE RED

Gold very early morning trading: 1959.25

silver:$25.20-

USA dollar index early MONDAY morning: 99.89 UP 9 CENT(S) from FRIDAY’s close.

THIS ENDS MONDAY MORNING NUMBERS

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And now your closing MONDAY NUMBERS 1: 00 PM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 1.68% UP 5 in basis point(s) yield

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.231% DOWN 0 AND 0/10 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 1.74%// UP 6 in basis points yield

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 2.46 UP 9 points in basis points yield ./

the Italian 10 yr bond yield is trading 72 points higher than Spain.

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: RISES TO +0.816% IN BASIS POINTS ON THE DAY//

THE IMPORTANT SPREAD BETWEEN ITALIAN 10 YR BOND AND GERMAN 10 YEAR BOND IS 1.64% 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 /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM

Euro/USA 1.0887 UP .0018 or 18 basis points

USA/Japan: 125.48 UP1 .293 OR YEN DOWN 129 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.3042 UP 57 BASIS POINTS

Canadian dollar DOWN 76 BASIS pts to 1.2619

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The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE (CLOSED ..DOWN 6.3666

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)..6.3887

TURKISH LIRA: 14.70 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.231

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 6 IN basis points from FRIDAY at 2.771% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic

USA 30 yr bond yield: 2.808 UP 6 in basis points

Your closing USA dollar index, 99.94 UP 14 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 MONDAY: 12:00 PM

London: CLOSED DOWN 53.77PTS OR 0.80%

German Dax : CLOSED DOWN 103.68 POINTS OR 0.93%

Paris CAC CLOSED DOWN 2.86PTS OR 0.04%

Spain IBEX CLOSED DOWN 39.00PTS OR 0.45%

Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 90.01 PTS OR 0.36%

WTI Oil price 95.14 12: EST

Brent Oil: 98.80- 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN /// RUBLE FALLS TO: 83.13.88 DOWN 3 RUBLES/DOLLAR

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +.816

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

Euro vs USA: 1.0886 UP .0017 OR UP 17 BASIS POINTS

British Pound: 1.3028 UP .0042 or UP 42 basis pts

USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 125.42 UP 1.226//YEN DOWN 123 PTS

USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.2630 UP .0087 (CDN dollar DOWN 87 basis pts)

West Texas intermediate oil: 94.20

Brent OIL: 98.67

USA 10 yr bond yield: 2.788 up 7 points

USA 30 yr bond yield: 2.834 UP 9 pts

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 14.66

USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA///USA/ ROUBLE: 79,06 DOWN 3 ROUBLES (ROUBLE UP 3 ROUBLES/USA )//

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: DOWN 273.75 PTS OR 0.79%

NASDAQ 100 DOWN 337.05 PTS OR 2.35%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 24.31 UP 3.02 PTS (14.27%)

GLD: 182.37 UP 0.33 PTS OR 1.45%

SLV/ 23.15 UP .33 PTS OR 1.45%

end)

USA trading day in Graph Form

Bonds, Bitcoin, & Big-Tech Battered As US ‘Misery’ Reaches 40 Year Highs

BY TYLER DURDEN

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 04:01 PM

Despite no economic data and minimal fresh news, Tech wrecked again today as yields rose and hawkish FedSpeak abounded. Late in the day, everything puked (all US majors and crypto) on new news catalyst as they broke technical levels. Nasdaq was the ugliest horse in the glue factory while Small Caps ‘outperformed’ the rest (but were still red, unable to hold unch late on…

Defensives and Cyclicals were equally smacked today but Growth was puked relative to Value, now down dramatically since last Monday’s upside spurt…

Source: Bloomberg

All the majors broke below their 50DMAs…

Of course, the big headlines in equity-land were from TWTR and Elon Musk as he rejected a board position, sparking speculation that he will bid for a bigger stake in the progressive-hegemon. After an initial 5-6% tumble, TWTR ended 3.5% higher on the day

Treasuries very mixed today with the short-end outperforming and the long-end smacked with the ugly stick (30Y +11bps, 2Y -1bps). That was right before the last few minutes as stocks puked, a bid emerged for the long-end, rescuing its from its worst levels

Source: Bloomberg

The yield curve steepened dramatically today with 2s10s surging up to the pre-March-FOMC plunge levels…

Source: Bloomberg

Notably, a 7-part back-end loaded Amazon deal, large block trades, and a looming $20 billion 30-year bond reopening sale on Wednesday all contributed to the curve steepening today.

Additionally, the steepening appears to be driven by a sudden rush to short the 10Y (as signaled by the plunge in o/n repo rates)…

Source: Curavture’s Scott Skyrm

And rather notably while the rate-hike cycle remains relative unchanged (around 9 more hikes this year), the subsequent rate-cut cycle is shifting hawkishly with just 2 cuts now priced in for the following 2 years…

Source: Bloomberg

Meanwhile the 30Y mortgage rate hit 5.25% today – the highest since 2009!

Source: mortgagenewsdaily.com

Bitcoin collapsed in the last 24 hours, puking back below $40,000 (not far above the pre-invasion levels of late Feb)

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar extended its gains to its highest close since July 2020…

Source: Bloomberg

Interestingly, after a weekend of downplaying Russia’s currency recovery, the Ruble was clubbed like a baby seal today…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil prices tumbled back near pre-invasion lows today with WTI trading with a $92 handle briefly…

Gold rebounded further today, back above $1970 intraday…

Finally, this is all happening against a backdrop of severe economic malaise in America. Instead of relying on the traditional “Misery” Index (which relies on the ‘unemployment rate’, which in turn is entirely dependent on the participation rate), we go straight to the source and create an ‘alt-Misery’ Index (combining the inflation rate and the percent of Americans not participating in the workforce). It is currently at 40 year highs of ‘Misery’…

Source: Bloomberg

This ‘alt-Misery’ Index dovetails strongly with The Fed’s own survey findings today that “Perceptions about households’ current financial situations compared to a year ago deteriorated in March, with more respondents reporting being financially worse off than they were a year ago. Respondents were also more pessimistic about their household’s financial situation in the year ahead, with fewer resondents expecting their financial situation to improve a year from now.”

And bear in mind tomorrow is CPI day… and The White House has already warned of “extraordinarily elevated” March inflation (no doubt entirely due to Putin, of course).

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And there’s no need to worry, because as Chicago Fed president Charles Evans said today, “we will know a lot more about persistent inflation the end of the year” and (here’s the best line), he is “hopeful it’s receding…”

So The Fed is now in the business of “hope”!

END

I) /MORNING TRADING/

AFTERNOON

END

II)USA data

Fed Losing Control As Gloom Spreads, Consumer Inflation Expectations Soar To A Mindblowing 6.6%

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 02:00 PM

Last September, when the Fed was still busying lying to the people that soaring inflation would prove to be “transitory” (today even the Fed is humiliated and embarrassed by the historic amounts of bullshit it was shoveling last summer and is willing to risk a market crash just to contain the same inflation it failed to notice less than a year ago), we warned that the “Fed Was On Verge Of Losing Control As Consumers Expect Inflation To Soar“, an article which was based on the NY Fed’s own monthly survey of Consumer Expectations, and in which we warned that the Fed’s biggest nightmare was about to come true: with prices relentlessly soaring, the central bank was on the verge of losing control over near-term inflation expectations.

Unfortunately more than half a year later, things are just going from back to worse for the Fed, because in its latest Consumer Expectations survey, the central bank found that inflation expectations at the one-year horizon soared to a new all time high of 6.58% in March from the previous month’s 6.00%, a new series high and the third biggest one-month spike on record.

According to the NY Fed, the increase in short-term expectations was broad-based across age, education, and income groups.

The median inflation uncertainty rose at the short-term horizon, reaching a new series high as disagreement across respondents (as measured by the difference between the 75th and 25th percentiles of inflation expectations) increased at both horizons to new series highs. As a result, the median point prediction hit a staggering 8.5%!

Expectations about year-ahead price changes were roughly flat for rent (at 10.2%) and medical care (at 9.6%), increased by 0.8 percentage point for gas prices (to 9.6%) and increased by 0.4 percentage point for food prices (to 9.6%). The median one-year-ahead expected change in the cost of a college education decreased by 0.5 percentage point to 8.5%.

Even more concerning is that inflation expectations soar without ending, median one-year-ahead expected earnings growth remained unchanged at 3.0% in March for the third consecutive month and the lowest since August 2021, confirming that real incomes continue to slide and that the US consumer is headed for a world of recessionary pain.

The silver lining: 3-year inflation expectations dipped again, and are now seen as rising “only” 3.7% (vs 3.8% last), which of course is still about double the Fed’s steady-state inflation estimate of 2%. However, there is a big caveat here: the decline in medium-term expectations was driven by respondents with no college education and with annual household incomes under $50,000. In other words, those most susceptible to lies from the Biden administration that inflation is under control when it clearly it is not.

Some other highlights from the latest survey:

The median expected change in home prices one year from now increased to 6.0% from 5.7%. The measure, which has been elevated for the past year, remains well above its pre-pandemic reading of 3.0% in February 2020.
Over the next year consumers expect gasoline prices to rise 9.62%; food prices to rise 9.58%; medical costs to rise 9.55%; the price of a college education to rise 8.47%; rent prices to rise 10.15%
The median expected growth in household income fell by 0.2 percentage point in March to 3.0%, its lowest level since August 2021.
Median year-ahead household spending growth expectations jumped by 1.3 percentage points to 7.7%, a new series high. The increase, the largest month-to-month increase in the series, was broad based but was largest for respondents with a college degree and with annual household incomes above $100,000.
Perceptions of credit access compared to a year ago deteriorated in March, with more respondents finding it harder to obtain credit now than a year ago. Expectations about future credit availability deteriorated as well, with more respondents expecting that it will be harder to obtain credit in the year ahead.
The median expectation regarding a year-ahead change in taxes (at current income level) was unchanged at 4.5%.
Median year-ahead expected growth in government debt decreased 0.4 percentage point to 10.7%, its lowest reading since December 2020.
The mean perceived probability that the average interest rate on saving accounts will be higher 12 months from now increased from 31.3% in February to 32.6%, its highest level since March 2019.

And here are the most concerning trends, showing once again that the US economy is headed for a very pain landing, the only question is whether it is recessionary or stagflationary:

Mean unemployment expectations—or the mean probability that the U.S. unemployment rate will be higher one year from now—increased by 1.7 percentage points to 36.2%, its highest level since February 2021. The increase was broad based across age, education, and income groups.
The mean perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next 12 months rose to 11.1% from 10.8%, but remains well below its pre-pandemic reading of 13.8% in February 2020. The mean probability of leaving one’s job voluntarily in the next 12 months also increased to 19.2% from 19.0%.
A larger percentage of consumers, 11.08% vs 9.20% in prior month, expect to not be able to make minimum debt payment over the next three months, above the 12-month trailing average of 10.0%.

Hilarious, the mean probability that U.S. stock prices will be higher 12 months from now increased by 0.3 percentage point to 37.3%. Spoiler alert: stocks will be lower 12 months from now unless the Fed freaks out

The bottom line, from the NY Fed: “More respondents reporting being financially worse off than they were a year ago. Respondents were also more pessimistic about their household’s financial situation in the year ahead, with fewer respondents expecting their financial situation to improve a year from now.”

With Democrats set to lose the midterms by an avalanche, the above is a fitting epitaph to their domination of executive (and congressional) power since the 2020 election.

end

IIB) USA COVID/VACCINE MANDATES

Total insanity!!

Here We Go Again: Philadelphia Reinstates Indoor Mask Mandate

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 04:40 PM

Here we go again.

With the entire nation – even mentally-challenged, nanny-state fanatics – having more or less moved on from the two-year covid scourge and even Fauci barely making hourly TV appearances, the liberal bastion that is Philadelphia just reminded us that covid will never be truly gone as long as the specter of harvested mail-in balloting is around, and today, with seven months left to go until the midterms – the city of brotherly mugging announced it will once again be under an indoor mask mandate.

The Department of Public Health made the announcement on Monday afternoon during a press briefing.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19zZW5zaXRpdmVfbWVkaWFfaW50ZXJzdGl0aWFsXzEzOTYzIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6ImNvbnRyb2wiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjo0fX0%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1513578815058022409&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fhere-we-go-again-philadelphia-reinstates-indoor-mask-mandate&sessionId=e8a08e221490bcc22a732fa043427820e88fd58f&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=940dd9ee54270%3A1649359550911&width=550px

Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole said mask precautions begin Monday, but in order to provide a one-week education period for businesses, masks will be required in all indoor public spaces as of Monday, April 18. Starting April 18, masks will be required in all indoor public spaces, including schools and child care settings, businesses, restaurants, and government buildings.

At that time, residents will be asked to report any business not complying with the mandate to 311.

Bettigole cited a rise in COVID cases as the reason that the city is reinstating the mask requirements for indoor public spaces. Confirmed COVID-19 cases have risen more than 50% in 10 days.

The health department says the city will be move to Level 2: Mask Precautions under its COVID-19 Response guidelines.

Level 2 is reached when the city meets two of the following three criteria:

Average new cases per day are less than 225
Hospitalizations are less than 100
Cases have increased by more than 50% in the previous 10 days.

Under Level 2, you must wear a mask when indoors in public places.

However, there is no vaccine or testing requirement for places that serve food or drink under Level 2.

The city had lifted its indoor mask mandate and moved to the All Clear Level 1 on Wednesday, March 2. Now, 41 days later, the city is bringing it back.

Some colleges in the Northeast, including Columbia, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins, have reinstated indoor mask mandates in recent days.

Expect all other liberal-controlled cities and colleges in the US to follow suit.

end

iiia) USA inflation//SHIPPING commentaries//LOG JAMS//

Now we have shortages of baby formula in the uSA

(zerohedge)

Baby Formula Shortage Hits Walgreens As Rationing Begins

SUNDAY, APR 10, 2022 – 07:00 PM

Infant formula is in short supply as US retailers begin rationing. A combination of COVID-19-related snarled supply chains and a major baby formula recall earlier this year exacerbated shortages.

At least 29% of the top-selling baby formula products were out of stock by mid-March, according to an analysis by Datasembly, which tracked baby formula stock at 11,000 retailers.

“This is a shocking number that you don’t see for other categories,” Ben Reich, CEO of Datasembly, told CBS News.

“We’ve been tracking it over time and it’s going up dramatically. We see this category is being affected by economic conditions more dramatically than others,” Reich added.

Now America’s second-largest pharmacy, Walgreens, with over 9,000 locations, announced it would ration baby formula. A spokesman for the company confirmed consumers are only limited to three baby formula products per transaction due to “increased demand and various supplier issues.”

Besides COVID-related shortage of formula and other vital ingredients, packaging woes, soaring freight costs, and labor shortages, a major baby formula recall in January exacerbated shortages.

Consumers have noticed shortages at retailers as internet searches for “baby formula shortage” rocket to the highest level ever.

This is just more evidence America is on its way to becoming Venezuela as shortages of items persist, and the highest inflation in four decades is crushing households.

end

IIIB) USA ECONOMIC STORIES

SCARY!

Stunning Rise In Chicago Carjackings Leaves Lawmakers Scrambling

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 11:40 AM

Authored by Matt Rosenberg via Wirepoints.org,

Last year Chicago suffered 1,836 carjackings, or theft of a vehicle from the driver by force. That’s five per day – and dramatically more than in 2010 – when there were 570 carjackings or just one-and-a-half per day. Carjacking is just one of the many ways Chicagoans are victimized by crime.

One of the legislative failures contributing to the jump in Chicago carjackings came when lawmakers in 2015 rescinded the right of county prosecutors to charge juvenile carjackers as adults. Juveniles have recently been responsible for nearly half or more of carjackings or carjacking arrests in Chicago.

Chicago police say growth in carjacking is being driven by juveniles; other departments nationwide report the same thing. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown has said most carjackings in the city are perpetrated by 15- to 20-year-olds. He reiterated the centrality of juveniles today. In addition, juvenile carjackers on probation have been charged in several murders – including the killings of Chicagoans Melissa Ortega and Keith Cooper. Some analysts say victim guesstimates of the age of carjackers suggest the majority aren’t juveniles.

Part of the latest attempt by lawmakers to respond to growing pressure on crime and carjacking is HB 1100 and within it, House Floor Amendment No. 2. The bill with that amendment attached has passed the House and is now in the Senate. Sponsored by Democrats only, it aims at carjacking instigators who recruit juveniles. To further battle carjacking, it would provide for grants to local governments and community groups, and tweak the state bureaucracy. In other words, it sidesteps the core of the problem: poor arrest rates; a revolving door bail system and weak sentencing for juvenile carjackers; and lax parenting.

HB1100 defines a Class 1 felony of predatory vehicular carjacking as when anyone older than 18 recruits anyone younger than 18 to commit that crime. With Chicago’s “Don’t Snitch” ethos, good luck making that charge stick.

The bill also establishes a state program of grants to street-level intervention programs to prevent the recruitment of youths for vehicular carjacking. But there are already a slew of Chicago violence intervention groups with outreach counselors on the streets. And more funding for such groups is already planned under an executive order from Governor J.B. Pritzker. How would this add anything but another layer of government bureaucracy and funding?

HB 1100 further provides for grants to local governments, businesses, and nonprofits to identify, arrest, and prosecute carjackers and recover stolen vehicles. Again, more money? How about for starters, Cook County prosecutors don’t decline to prosecute carjacking in slightly more than half the cases police present to them with suspects identified?

The proposed legislation adds vehicle hijacking to the mission and name of the state body currently called the Illinois Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention and Insurance Verification Council. So bureaucrats sitting in a meeting room guiding plans to combat vehicle theft, recycled metal theft and insurance fraud, will now also issue directives against carjacking? One can imagine prospective carjackers quaking at the very thought.

Lawmakers have also introduced SB 4205. The bill would seek to require car manufacturers to cooperate on activating built-in GPS in vehicles manufactured in 2015 or later, if and when they are stolen. The data would be shared with police through a 24-7 hotline.

Carjackings rose only 34 percent in Chicago from 2010 to 2019 but skyrocketed 204 percent from 2019 to 1,836 in 2021.

The go-to explanation for carjackings has been the COVID pandemic and kids out of school. Now, COVID has been waning for several months and yet carjackings are still up in Chicago. Through March, 2022 carjackings have increased 3 percent from the same period last year.

And in those first three months of the new year, juveniles were charged in 57 percent of carjacking arrests

END.

This ought to be fun: Russia threatens legal action if the uSA treasury forcies it into sovereign debt default

(zerohedge)

Russia Threatens Legal Action If US Treasury Forces It Into Sovereign Debt Default

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 01:21 PM

On Saturday, rating agency S&P cut its rating on Russia to “Selective Default” on Saturday after the Russian government said last week that it had repaid about $650 million in dollar-denominated debt in rubles (the payment was contractually due in dollars but Russia claims that sanctions make payment impossible).

The downgrade to what is effectively a determination of default was S&P’s final assessment before it pulled coverage (ratings firms are abandoning Russia because of a European Union ban; Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings have also withdrawn ahead of an April 15 deadline).

On April 4, Russia had been due to make a payment of $649 million to holders of two of its sovereign bonds, but the U.S. Treasury blocked the transfer, preventing Russia from using any of its frozen foreign currency reserves to service its debt. The ratings agency said late Friday that it didn’t expect investors to be able to convert the ruble payments into U.S. dollars that were equivalent to the original amount due, pushing Russia toward its first default on foreign currency sovereign debt in more than a century.

While the bonds do have a 30-day grace period, giving the Russian government time to repay in dollars or find some other way to avoid a default, but S&P said it didn’t expect the government to convert the payments within the grace period.

“Sanctions on Russia are likely to be further increased in the coming weeks, hampering Russia’s willingness and technical abilities to honor the terms and conditions of its obligations to foreign debt holders,” the ratings agency said.

Instead of pushing for a default in response to the barrage of western sanctions, Russia’s view is the opposite and even though Moscow has said it won’t be accessing the international bond market this year due to exorbitant debt prices, the country has not been seeking to default. On the contrary, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper on Monday that Russia will take legal action if the West tries to force it to default on its sovereign debt, sharpening Moscow’s tone in its financial wrestle with the West.

“Of course we will sue, because we have taken all the necessary steps to ensure that investors receive their payments,” Siluanov told the newspaper in an interview.
“We will present in court our bills confirming our efforts to pay both in foreign currency and in roubles. It will not be an easy process. We will have to very actively prove our case, despite all the difficulties.”

Siluanov did not elaborate on Russia’s legal options and did not say where any court hearing could happen, according to Reuters.

The bonds in question were issued under English law, which allows a borrower to defend itself by saying that an external force made it impossible to honor obligations, so the court may postpone the payment, said Mitu Gulati, professor of law at the University of Virginia.

“So I think Russia is going to argue this but … this is a war … caused by Russia,” said Gulati, also an expert on debt restructuring, adding:
“This is not a completely implausible legal argument.”

Meanwhile, Siluanov has said Russia will do everything possible to make sure its creditors are paid.

“Russia tried in good faith to pay off external creditors,” Siluanov was quoted saying. “Nevertheless, the deliberate policy of Western countries is to artificially create a man-made default by all means.”

Siluanov said Russia’s external liabilities amount to about 20% of the total public debt, which stood at about 21 trillion roubles ($262 billion). Of that, about 4.5-4.7 trillion roubles were external liabilities.

As noted above, Siluanov also said Russia was halting bond auctions because of prohibitive borrowing costs. “We do not plan to go to the local market or foreign markets this year,” he said. “It makes no sense because the borrowing cost would be cosmic.”

Todd Schubert, head of fixed income at Bank of Singapore, said Russia’s fiscal position at the onset of the Ukrainian conflict was favorable thanks to low leverage and sizable foreign exchange reserves. It also has massive inflows of funds thanks to its oil and gas exports, with the European Union alone paying about 1 billion euros a day for energy.

“This gives the government flexibility to abstain from the public debt markets for the foreseeable future,” Schubert said.

Russia has not defaulted on its external debt since the aftermath of its 1917 revolution, but its bonds have now emerged as a flashpoint in its economic tussle with Western countries. The last time Russian debt served as a focal point of a global financial crisis was in 1998 – it led to the eventual collapse and bail out of Long-Term Capital Management, ushering in the era of Too Big To Fail.

According to Artur Starikov, a partner with Capital Law Office, a key question is whether Russian assets previously frozen by Western countries, such as nearly a half of Russia’s $640 billion in gold and foreign exchange reserves, could be claimed by creditors following the default. A default was unimaginable until recently, with Russia rated as investment grade in the run-up to its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

“If an economic and financial war is waged against our country, we are forced to react, while still fulfilling all our obligations,” Siluanov said. “If we are not allowed to do it in foreign currency, we do it in roubles.”

iv)swamp stories

Looks like Hunter Biden is going to be indicted and let us see where this heads..

(zerohedge)

“Something Is Up”: Rep. Jim Jordan Suggests Hunter Biden Indictment Could Be Coming

MONDAY, APR 11, 2022 – 07:05 AM

Top House Republican Jim Jordan said on Sunday he thinks “something is up” with the MSM’s recent flip-flop on the Hunter Biden laptop story – which was originally branded as Russian disinformation right before the 2020 US election, only to be validated as authentic in recent weeks amid a grand jury investigation into the First Son.

According to Jordan, it “sure seems” that Hunter is on his way to being indicted – though he couldn’t say for sure, according to the Washington Examiner. Jordan pointed to the remarkable timing of MSM outlets reporting on Hunter’s laptop in seeming lockstep, which coincides with a flurry of grand jury activity.

“You mentioned those two stories from the Washington Post 10 days ago,” Jordan told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. “I understand they were four minutes apart. One was at 11:00. One was at 11:04. So two eight-page-long stories four minutes apart from the news organization that said 18 months ago there was no story here, this was Russian disinformation. That tells you something is up. You don’t see the Washington Post do that.”

While the New York Post led the charge in reporting on the contents of the abandoned laptop, which contained emails detailing Biden’s business dealings and rollercoaster personal life, other major media outlets sought to cast doubt on its authenticity, and Big Tech companies even took steps to suppress its spread in the final weeks of the 2020 election.
Jordan, who is the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, remarked how “interesting” it is that the “story has evolved” in recent weeks, coinciding with rising suspicions that President Joe Bidsen himself could be drawn into a federal criminal investigation, even as the White House has been adamant in asserting that the president is not involved and that his 52-year-old son did not commit any crimes. -Washington Examiner

“Remember, it started off as, ‘Oh, it wasn’t his laptop.’ Then it was, ‘Well, it was his laptop, but it was Russian disinformation.’ Now it’s, ‘No, it wasn’t Russian disinformation, but Joe had nothing to do with it,” Jordan continued.

“And now, finally, it is, ‘Well, Joe had something to do with it, but he really didn’t do anything wrong.’ In fact, that’s what his chief of staff, Ron Klain, told us last Sunday on the Sunday shows,” he added. “So, my, how this story has changed. And now, we find out these text messages and emails that link the entire family, not just Hunter and Joe and — but also uncle, the — Joe’s brother, James Biden, is involved in this as well.”

Bartiromo brought up that author Peter Schweizer said the laptop includes messages from Hunter that show at least $31 million in shady international dealings, as well as a 2019 message to his daughter complaining about covering family expenses.

“I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years,” said Hunter. “It’s really hard. But don’t worry, unlike pop, I won’t make you give me half your salary.“

When asked to respond, Jordan said, “It sure looks like Joe Biden was involved,” adding that there are “4.8 million reasons” to think Joe Biden is lying when he says there was nothing unethical about Hunter’s business dealings in China and Ukraine.

“The thing that bothers me the most, though, Maria, is the conspiracy,” said Jordan. “The Left always tries to — always says, ‘Oh, there’s these right-wing conspiracies.’ The real conspiracy here was the Democrats, Big Tech, Big Media keeping this story from the American people just days before the most important election we have, an election for president of the United States, election for who’s going to be the commander in chief.”

“Maybe worst of all” was the 51 ‘former intelligence officials’ who swore in an October 2020 letter that the Hunter Biden laptop story was likely Russian disinformation.

“That letter they wrote where they said this has all the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign, that letter became the basis for Big Tech and Big Media to suppress this story and keep it from We the People in the run-up to our most important election,” said Jordan. “That’s why we sent a letter to these 51 guys. We want to know who they were talking to, how they came to this conclusion, how they put that letter together, because that was the basis for the conspiracy that kept information from the voters right up before the presidential election.”

* * *

In late March we learned that two Hunter Biden associates testified before the grand jury about a now-defunct PLA-linked Chinese energy company, CEFC.

“The investigation began as a tax inquiry years ago and has expanded into a federal probe involving the FBI and IRS,” according to CBS News’ Catherine Herridge, adding that “two men who worked with Hunter Biden when his father was Vice President were called to the grand jury last fall,” according to a source.

The probe is now exploring whether Hunter and pals violated tax, money laundering, and foreign lobbying laws.

According to records reviewed by CBS along with congressional documents, the feds are looking at “multiple financial transactions involving an energy company called CEFC. Republicans accuse the business of being an arm of the Chinese government. In 2017, the year Joe Biden left the Vice Presidency, a $1 million retainer was signed with a Chinese energy company for Hunter Biden’s services as a lawyer.

His client, CEFC official Patrick Ho, was later convicted on international bribery and money laundering charges on unrelated work in Africa.”

When the Hunter Biden laptop story broke (and was immediately suppressed by the media), CEFC was the company that reportedly extended a $5 million interest-free loan to the Bidens that enraged their business partner, Tony Bobulinski – who flipped on the Bidens following a Senate report which revealed the $5 million ‘loan.’

According to the former Biden insider, he was introduced to Joe Biden by Hunter, and they had an hour-long meeting where they discussed the Biden’s business plans with the Chinese, with which he says Joe was “plainly familiar at least at a high level.”

Text messages from Bobulinski also reveal an effort to conceal Joe Biden’s involvement in Hunter’s business dealings, while Tony has also confirmed that the “Big guy” described in a leaked email is none other than Joe Biden himself.

“You can imagine my shock when reading the report yesterday put out by the Senate committee. The fact that you and HB were lying to Rob, James and I while accepting $5 MM from Cefc is infuriating,” wrote Bobulinski to Jim Biden. (Via the Daily Caller‘s Chuck Ross):

CEFC was paying Hunter $850,00 per year according to an email from Biden business associate James Gilliar to Bobulinksi – which is also the source of the “10 held by H for the big guy” email.

Emails obtained by the New York Post show that Hunter “pursued lucrative deals involving China’s largest private energy company — including one that he said would be “interesting for me and my family.”” according to the report.

You can read more on Hunter and the CEFC here. As an aside, but of course not coincidental we’re sure, the Clinton Foundation accepted a donation between $50,001 and $100,000 from CEFC.

And according to Bobulinski, Joe Biden was in on the whole thing.

And of course, all evidence of this was suppressed right before the 2020 election.

The King Report (including swamp stories)

The yields on the US 10-year (2.717%) note and 30-year bond (2.72%) hit their highest levels since 2019.

Food prices hit record high (+13% m/m) in March, U.N. agency says (Betcha CPI will be much less!)
https://www.reuters.com/world/food-prices-surge-new-record-high-march-un-agency-says-2022-04-08/

U.S. Wheat ETF Runs Out of Shares as Commodity Demand Booms Anew (Fed is sooo behind!)
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/securities-law/u-s-wheat-etf-runs-out-of-shares-as-commodity-demand-booms-anew

Truflation: The real inflation index you don’t need to trust (Currently 13.4%)
Under Congressional pressure, BLS has also frequently changed the CPI calculation methods. And the Fed altered the reporting frequency and discontinued certain metrics…The Fed has the incentive to misinform the public…Truflation is the first true US inflation index based on the independent data sources and metrics created by developers and crypto investors… https://truflation.com/

@KyivIndependent: BBC: Russia changes its military command.  According to an unnamed Western official, Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, who has experience in Syria, will lead the army amid Kremlin’s desire to reach “some kind of success” before May 9, when the country celebrates the victory in WWII.

@Jkylebass: Ex German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder pushed Germany away from clean and efficient nuclear power and into dependence of Russia’s gas. It’s hard to believe he is now Chairman of Russia’s Rosneft and was added to Gazprom’s board 20 days before Putin’s invasion.

House set to approve more COVID relief for restaurants, including businesses tied to Disney
“When Congress started this program a year ago, it became a buffet line for well-off woke corporations, including affiliates of Disney,” Anderson said. “There’s no reason to believe it won’t happen again.”…
(Dems provide taxpayer funds for allegiance!) https://t.co/TMjTO53ZmW

NBC: In a break with the past, U.S. is using intel to fight an info war with Russia, even when the intel isn’t rock solid – “It doesn’t have to be solid intelligence,” one U.S. official said. “It’s more important to get out ahead of them [the Russians], Putin specifically, before they do something.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-using-declassified-intel-fight-info-war-russia-even-intel-isnt-rock-rcna23014

Holy Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, Batman!

‘Major housecleaning’ needed after Biden team waged info war using unverified intel, expert says
https://justthenews.com/government/security/major-housecleaning-needed-after-white-house-waged-info-war-based-unverified

Hypersonic-Missile Delay Puts U.S. Further Behind Russia and China (Go woke, go broke!)
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/hypersonic-missile-delay-puts-u-s-further-behind-russia-china

Rep. Gaetz: Biden Defense Department Sacrificing Our Capabilities ‘on the Altar of Wokeism’
We’re doing mandatory pronoun training… socialism lectures at the National Defense University and even defending Critical Race Theory at West Point… They’re shifting away from technical capabilities and analysis. And they’re moving toward this embrace of what they call egalitarian socialism.”…
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022/04/06/gaetz-biden-defense-department-sacrificing-our-capabilities-on-the-altar-of-wokeism/

Pentagon Brass Admit Sharing Intel on Russia with China Was Ill-Advised
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/04/08/pentagon-brass-admit-sharing-russian-intel-with-china-was-a-mistake-n2605668

For the First Time, Scientists Found Microplastics in Human Lungs…  the most common plastic types being polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and resin… (Food containers and masks?)
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a39654267/scientists-find-microplastics-in-human-lungs-for-the-first-time/

Surgical face masks are made with non-woven fabric, which has better bacteria filtration and air permeability while remaining less slippery than woven cloth. The material most commonly used to make them is polypropylene, either 20 or 25 grams per square meter (gsm) in density…
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a39654267/scientists-find-microplastics-in-human-lungs-for-the-first-time/

Pfizer Hired 600 Employees Due to ‘Large Increase of Adverse Event Reports’
https://www.theepochtimes.com/pfizer-hired-600-employees-due-to-large-increase-of-adverse-event-reports-document_4391628.html

Elon Musk mocks Washington Post after op-ed calls to prevent ‘rich people’ from controlling media platforms – Critics pointed out the Washington Post is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos
https://www.foxnews.com/media/elon-musk-mocks-washington-post-op-ed-twitter

@WSJ: Chinese leaders see a stronger nuclear arsenal as a way to deter the U.S. from getting directly involved in a potential conflict over Taiwan, people close to the leadership say  https://t.co/YhYRowlJXJ

A big thanks to all the US corporations, politicians, and Establishment members that nurtured, developed, and greatly enriched China to the detriment of most Americans.

$54M in Chinese gifts donated to UPenn, home of Biden Center https://t.co/6LATX0Rhkj

@RNCResearch: While Hunter was raking in MILLIONS from communist China, what was Joe Biden doing? Standing up for China and dismissing it as a threat. Biden: “We want to see China rise… A rising China can be a significant asset for the region and the world… We should be helping China with some of their problems…They are not our competition… What are we worried about?”
https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1509907174436311040

@WSJ: Once-loyal Democratic voters, blaming their party for the ill effects of Covid restrictions on their children, are defecting to Republican candidates—a threat Democrats face in November’s midterm elections.   https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-school-reopenings-midterm-elections-democrats-republicans-11649286564

I Asked What My Daughter Would Learn in Kindergarten. Then the Teachers Union Sued Me.
https://t.co/0X99J88ivb

Parents struggle to find baby formula amid widespread shortages and rationing
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baby-formula-shortage-abbott-nutrition-recall-supply-chain/

Elon Musk asks if Twitter HQ should be turned into a homeless shelter because ‘no one turns up anyway’ https://t.co/g2hbFSKnW8

Today – Numerous traders and hedge funds are exceedingly bullish for this week because it’s expiry week and the beginning of Q1 earnings season. This buying bias has been inculcated over decades. Over the past 2-3 decades though, the Fed has seldom been in tightening mode; the Fed was in quantitative tightening mode only once; inflation was tame; there was no major conflict in the western world, and bonds were in a Grand Super Cycle Bull Market. Ergo, the usual trading patterns might not be reliable.

@charliebilello: This is the longest US bond market drawdown in history (20 months and counting) and the largest (-7.6%) since 1981 (note: using monthly total return data). In 1981 the 10-year yield was at 15.8%, and the bond market hit a new high 2 months after bottoming. Today it’s at 2.7%.
https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1512521578768125961

Traders are focused on the 4450 S&P 500 support due to the bottom level at the number last week.

As always during expiry week, monitor SPY options for an indication of big players’ intentions.

@MarketWatch: JPMorgan Chase kicks off the earnings season on April 13. Analysts have reduced their first-quarter earnings target for the megabank to $2.71 a share on Wednesday from $2.81 on March 14 and $2.95 a share in early January.   https://t.co/32KHcIZW9P

ESMs are -13.25 at 20:15 ET on the worsening Shanghai Covid outbreak and lockdown. We’ve all seen this movie before: Bad Asian news pushes ESMs lower; traders buy near the European and US opens.

Atlanta Fed Pres Bostic, Fed Govs Bowman and Waller 9:30 ET, Chicago Fed Pres Evans 12:40 ET

S&P 500 Index 50-day MA: 4427; 100-day MA: 4534; 150-day MA: 4521; 200-day MA: 4493
DJIA 50-day MA: 34,381; 100-day MA: 34,977; 150-day MA: 35,025; 200-day MA: 35,018

S&P 500 Index – Trender trading model and MACD for key time frames
Monthly: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 4153.02 triggers a sell signal
Hourly: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 4547.45 triggers a buy signal
Daily: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 4469.69 triggers a sell signal
Hourly: Trender is negative; MACD is positive – a close above 4525.40 triggers a buy signal

@julie_kelly2: Verdicts in Whitmer “kidnapping” trial: Adam Fox–the alleged ringleader
No Verdict on conspiracy to kidnap; Barry Croft: NO VERDICT; Daniel Harris on kidnapping Not Guilty; Harris Not Guilty on gun charge; Brandon Caserta Not Guilty…
      The FBI entrapped innocent men in 2020 (1 month before election) to produce damaging headlines for Donald Trump while millions of Americans were voting for president…
     This raises many, many questions about who knew about this and who was involved. But it also raises MANY questions about January 6—the head of the FBI field office mainly responsible for this caper was moved to DC FBI field office several weeks before January 6. No coincidences.
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/08/two-acquitted-in-whitmer-case-fbi-misconduct-central/

Detroit’s Top FBI Agent Promoted to Head D.C. Field Office    October 13, 2020
FBI Director Christopher Wray made the announcement Tuesday, just several days after D’Antuono’s agents and state police busted up a plot to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. His official new title is assistant director in charge… https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/26405/detroit_s_top_fbi_agent_promoted_to_head_of_d_c_field_office

@ColumbiaBugle: With the Huge Whitmer Trial News, everyone should be asking: what other entrapment operations has the FBI been engaged in?

@ShidelerK: Considering this case, the fact that the FBI refuses to tell Congress about any UC/CIs present at J6, & that two Iranians just successfully pretended to be UC Feds in a scheme 2 entrap secret service agents. Maybe we need some reforms to Fed undercover practices?

FBI Kidnapping Caper Was Flagrant Election Interference
Whitmer quickly pinned the blame on President Trump…explained Andrew Birge, assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan. The defendants, Birge claimed, plotted to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation cottage “before the November election.”… The media portrayed Whitmer as a victim of Trump’s bullying—and Whitmer fully embraced the role. In a Washington Post op-ed published on October 9, 2020, Whitmer accused Trump of encouraging “domestic terrorists.”…
https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/09/fbi-kidnapping-caper-was-flagrant-election-interference/

@ggreenwald: Note the enormous gap between (a) media coverage devoted to the FBI’s pre-election announcement that it broke up a right-wing plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer and (b) the jury’s refusal to convict the key defendants following evidence that the plot was actually driven by the FBI.

Hunter Biden frequently covered family expenses, texts reveal
The expenses are spelled out in an email to Hunter from business partner Eric Schwerin from June 5, 2010, entitled “JRB Bills.”… JRB are President Biden’s initials…
https://nypost.com/2022/04/09/hunter-biden-frequently-covered-family-expenses-texts-reveal/

@JonathanTurley: CBS (Stahl) in 2020: Hunter Biden allegations “can’t be verified . . . no evidence.” https://t.co/NhBgH2kext  CBS in 2022: There are 150 “concerning” Hunter transactions.  https://t.co/bIGRsp72xB

@bennyjohnson: BIDEN: “America is a nation that can be defined in a single word…*has complete ANEURYSM*”   https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1512477374067134465

@townhallcom: BIDEN: “I was in the foothills of the Himalaya (For the J Peterman Catalogue or caddy for Dali Lama?) with Xi Jinping, traveling with him, that’s when I traveled 17,000 miles when I was Vice President. I don’t know that for a fact.  https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1512475153405468679

As COVID rages, Biden hosts hundreds for Ketanji Brown Jackson party https://trib.al/QqwHIDD

Biden, Who Viciously Smeared Justices Thomas and Kavanaugh, Proclaims KBJ Subjected to ‘Most Vile Accusations’ https://t.co/m4QVwtGGb4

Obama blasted for ‘self-serving’ ‘revisionist’ Russia comments during conference on disinformation – The former president said he wouldn’t have predicted Russia to invade Ukraine 5 years ago… What I remember is that after Russian separatists shot down a civilian airliner and Russia invaded a sovereign country, we just passed weak and targeted sanctions. All because Obama wanted Putin’s help [w] Iran deal,” he tweeted. “And then Obama was publicly thanking Putin less than a year later for that deal. It was no wonder Putin assumed the international costs of another invasion of Ukraine would be relatively low,” he added…
    Obama’s former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, admitted this week on CNN that his presidency should’ve been tougher on Russia in 2014 when they invaded and annexed Crimea.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/barack-obama-blasted-self-serving-revisionist-russia-comments?s=02

Woke white Stanford academic is branded ‘Professor Karen’ for threatening to call police on black Berkeley professor who opposed her plans to dumb-down the school’s math curriculum to boost ‘equity’   https://t.co/qOG4zYVZey

New Jersey Model Curriculum: ‘Gender Identity’ Lessons for 1st & 2nd Graders https://t.co/dRxSQceLTE

John Kass: Introducing children to such sensitive issues is a job for parents, not a job for zealot political activists with teaching certificates who are determined to deconstruct what’s left of the American family…
    Disney has “de-gendered” its theme parks by removing all references to “boys and girls” and “ladies and gentlemen.”… Someday, this saga of self-immolation will be taught in business schools: “How to Destroy Your Brand and Your Company”… a great American institution damages itself beyond repair, the way American corporate legacy media has destroyed itself by playing the bobo for the left; and as universities have destroyed their core mission by allowing themselves to be captured by activists of the left… Parents have rights to protect their children, despite what the corporatists of Disney insist…
https://johnkassnews.com/disney-goes-woke-against-families-pushing-sex-and-gender-indoctrination-for-kids/

“Wokeness” gives people a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue.” — Elon Musk

Environmental group calls for deflating tires of SUVs to combat climate change: target ‘wealthy areas’ – SUVs play a large role in climate change, the group says
https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/environmental-group-calls-for-deflating-tires-of-suvs-to-combat-climate-change-target-wealthy-areas

@kylamb8: Nearly 62,000 New Yorkers moved to Florida and traded in their drivers’ licenses for a new FL license in 2021. Through 2 months of 2022, it’s on pace for close to 70,000. That number was 43,000 in 2019. Instead of targeting Floridians perhaps NYC should worry about their own.

Good will for Mayor Eric Adams fading as New Yorkers fear woke empty suit  https://t.co/5iV3lxVYRY

@CWBChicago: A woman was hijacked as she waited for a red light to change in the heart of the Loop yesterday evening. It’s the second carjacking of the week in the Loop. The neighborhood and the city are both setting new record highs for carjackings this year.  https://t.co/J5VS28Dvqp

Retail stores in Chicago now need security that rivals international airports. https://t.co/qobF5wrP9U

Crime is inflationary; so is corruption!

Aldi Sign Saying Steaks Can’t Be Sold on Shelf Due to Theft Ignites Debate
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/other/aldi-sign-saying-steaks-cant-be-sold-on-shelf-due-to-theft-ignites-debate/ar-AAW0t6U

Crime: 81% Expect Issue to Be Important in Midterms – Only 11% think the crime problem is getting better… https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/crime/crime_81_expect_issue_to_be_important_in_midterms

@themarketswork: Your daily reminder that Five former CIA Directors lied to get Biden elected.

@TomFitton: The Secret Service is dysfunctional and that is dangerous.

Judge tells Fulton County to provide ‘additional layer of security’ for 2020 election records
https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/asdf

Missouri Supreme Court sides with John Solomon in Sunshine Law case against St. Louis prosecutor – “Today is a great day for public transparency. We have been fighting alongside John Solomon for nearly three years to obtain public records showing Kimberly Gardner’s communications with liberal megadonor George Soros…
https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/missouri-supreme-court-sides-john-solomon-sunshine-law-case-against-st-louis

@ClayTravis: Yesterday Hillary Clinton said the 2016 election was stolen from her. I’m old enough to remember when Democrats said these kinds of comments were unacceptable and a direct attack on our democracy: (Insurrectionist, democracy destroyer, conspiratorialist)  https://t.co/5ZkgdzZKN4

@Bubblebathgirl: Why hasn’t Hillary Clinton been banned from Twitter for yesterday saying that the 2016 election was “stolen” from her?

@Liz_Wheeler: Trump endorsing Dr. Oz (Senate from PA) confirms what Trump supporters fear for 2024… His worst thing was surrounding himself with idiots, suck ups & deep state. We worry, has he learned his lesson or will 2024 be a repeat? Endorsing Oz? The same. (DJT is gradually losing his base.)

@JackPosobiec: Dr. Oz did a whole episode promoting transgender children – including surgery. He tried to cover it up, but it was archived… Dr Oz is pro-choice, anti-gun. This isn’t even up for debate.. Here is Oz calling for more immigration… Oz would be the Romney of PA… (DJT, celeb jock sniffer?)
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1513019083268239364

@BehizyTweets: Dr. Oz in 2009 bragging about helping with Obamacare
https://twitter.com/BehizyTweets/status/1512941648006766603

Trump said he would NOT run in 2024 if health issues arose. DJT already crafting an excuse?

Macron (28%) and LePen (24%) won the 1^st Round of France’s Presidential Election. They will runoff.

GOP Rep @laurenboebert: The socialist nation of France held elections today. In that election there was no mail-in voting, early voting or use of voting machines. There was a mandatory proof of ID to vote. Why can’t we get that basic election security here?

@Cernovich: Hungary had an election, and now France, without anyone stopping the count. No “pipes bursting.” No one going home to take a nap. Fascinating.

@JDVance1: I have a buddy in France, and they just had an election there. Polls closed a few hours ago and they already know who the winners are. Must be nice to live in a first world country.

@BRyvkin: Do I need to remind people that George Habash and Yasser Arafat went from being nobodies to leading nationalist figures across the Arab world thanks to an aggressive KGB propaganda campaign, and that both were Soviet assets. Same w/ Mahmoud Abbas, who studied in Moscow.

Let us close out Monday with this offering courtesy of Greg Hunter interviewing Bo Polny

Millions About to Lose Everything – Bo Polny

Millions About to Lose Everything – Bo Polny

By Greg Hunter On April 9, 2022 In Political Analysis56 Comments

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

Biblical cycle timing expert and geopolitical and financial analyst Bo Polny has been predicting a “New Era of Time.” The transition is going to be rough, especially for the unprepared. Time is short, and Polny explains, “You are going to see the financial event of financial events that the world has never seen before. This is going to be truly historic. From a Biblical perspective, it is called the Third Seal of Revelation, which is a complete flipping of the financial scales. It’s like Jesus walking into the temple and flipping the tables on the money changers. This is what’s about to happen. This is a ‘Black Horse’ event, and that represents death. Millions of people are going to lose everything this year. I say millions of people, but particularly, the people who have been involved in this evil system they have been running across the world. . . . We get to be on Earth and watch God move. . . . This is going to be moment of time like the parting of the Red Sea. Can you imagine being there and watching God doing that? Can you imagine being there for Noah’s ark where water comes gushing up from the ground? . . . .As great as those events were in the Bible, they are nothing compared to what is about to happen this year. This is going to be bigger than all those events combined, and the crazy part, it all starts within the next 60 days.”

Polny contends there are serious problems with the money because so much has been conjured up that it is now impossible for the U.S. dollar to hold its current value. Polny says, “The first trillion dollars ever created in the United States took 100 years. In the crash of March 2020, they created $7 trillion to $8 trillion over a weekend to push the market back up. The financial system is how the Harlot (Deep State Globalists) controls the world. The entire financial system is nothing but smoke and mirrors. . . . Hyperinflation is coming, and it starts this year. The simple definition of hyperinflation is the doubling of prices very quickly. Typically, it’s in days or even hours. A very powerful time point is April 24, 2022. . . . Understand that the BRIC nations Brazil, Russia, India and China, these nations are going to come together as one. The BRIC nations are going to take down the Babylon financial system, and you are seeing it happen right now. Putin demands payment for oil or gas in rubles on March 24th. Four days later, Putin pegs gold to the ruble. Understand how powerful that moment in time is. That’s the first time in 50 years that there was any attachment to any fiat money. So, Putin, in essence, just started the gold standard, at least in Europe, and that is coming to our shores in the United States this year. . . .What we are seeing are historic events playing out right now.”

Polny says incredible things are going to happen this year such as: Roe v. Wade will be overturned; Trump will be put back into office; 2022 will be a year of jubilee as debts will be wiped out; gold, silver and Bitcoin will go up to mind boggling prices while millions will be wiped out financially; and earthquakes and volcanos will be going off all over the world in great numbers. Polny says, “The Earth is going to shake.”

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with Biblical cycle expert and financial analyst Bo Polny, founder of Gold2020Forecast.com for 4.9.22. (There is much more in the 1 hour and 2 minute interview.)

Millions About to Lose Everything – Bo Polny

(To Donate to USAWatchdog.com Click Here)

After the Interview:

Robert Hryniak	7:32 AM (1 hour ago)
to

Robert Hryniak	7:13 PM (3 hours ago)
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Robert Hryniak	1:23 PM (51 minutes ago)
to

Milan Sabioncello	1:03 PM (21 minutes ago)
to me

DONATE

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR APRIL. CONTRACT 62 NOTICE(S) FOR 6200 OZ (0.1928 TONNES)

total notices so far: 23,941 contracts for 2,394,100 oz (74.466 tonnes)

1/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)MONDAY MORNING// SUNDAY NIGHT

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

As Prices Rise Americans Turning To Their Credit Cards

Rickards: “They’ve Secretly Raised Your Taxes”

Sleight of Hand

China Locks Down 26 Million in Shanghai

A Drop (of Oil) in the Bucket

A Cheap Political Stunt

Ronan Manly: Spotlight on gold and silver mining share indexes, Part 1

Russia’s ‘petro-ruble’ draws gold into the energy trade, Maguire says

The Global Fertilizer Shortage Means That Far Less Food Will Be Grown All Over The Planet In 2022

US Treasury Sanctions Largest Russian Diamond Miner Producing Third Of World’s Supply

Global Food Prices Explode Higher In March As Ukraine Supply Shock Strikes

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

Global Risk Off As Futures, Bonds And Oil Slide; Yields Surge To 3 Year High Ahead Of CPI

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

3c CHINA

China Undercuts Sanctions On Russia: Where Are The “Consequences”?

“We Are Starving To Death”: Shanghai Residents Under Lockdown Shout At Visiting Vice Premier

Shanghai ‘Must Win the Battle’

Shanghai Lockdown Continues

Shanghai Reports 7th Day Of Record Cases As Viral Video Of Fatal Dog Beating Provokes Outrage

Food in China – dangerously low

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK AFFAIRS

Hudson: The Dollar Devours The Euro

The prospective fall in the Euro/Dollar exchange rate

The dollar vis-à-vis Global South currencies

Finland Set For NATO Entry As Soon As Summer – Russian Official Warns “Destruction Of Their Country” Coming

Europe’s roads and railways aren’t fit for a fight with Russia – POLITICO

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

Bank Of Russia Eases More Capital Controls, Allowing Euro & USD Withdraws

NATO Agrees To Provide ‘New & Heavier’ Weapons To Ukraine After Czech Tanks Arrive

Biden Signs Bill Downgrading Russia’s Trade Status, Paving Way For Tariffs

Shocking Estimates Show Ukraine’s Crop Harvest Could Be Halved

Russian Oil Continues To Flow To India And China

India’s Surging Imports From Russia

China To The Rescue?

Russian Military Says It Successfully Destroyed S-300 Systems Provided By EU State

NATO Plans Massive Military Buildup On Russia’s Border, Citing Major “Reset”

Here Are All The Latest News And Developments From The Ukraine War: April 11.

NEGOTIATIONS/TALKS

DEFENCE/MILITARY

ENERGY/ECONOMIC SANCTIONS & UPDATES

SOVEREIGN/FUND/OTHER

OTHER

War drums beat

6// GLOBAL COVID ISSUES/VACCINE MANDATE

ISSUES/GLOBAL ISSUES//ORIGINS OF COVID 19//COVID 19

Robert Malone Says He Will Sue New York Times Unless It Corrects ‘Defamatory’ Article

Pfizer Hired 600 Employees Due To ‘Large Increase Of Adverse Event Reports’: Document

VACCINE MANDATES/

New Brunswick drops vaccination requirement for many health care employees

VACCINE INJURIES//

DR. RICHARD FLEMING – SWORN TESTIMONY THAT COVID-19 IS A BIO-WEAPON

Fwd: A Warrior Calls: “Genocide and Barratry Occurring” and 5 more videos

VACCINE IMPACT

4,023 Fetal Deaths Now Recorded in VAERS Following COVID-19 Vaccines as US Appeals Court Reinstates Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers

April 9, 2022 4:29 pm

Protests, Looting, Pets Destroyed and Mass Suicides in Shanghai China as People Starve During Lockdowns

April 10, 2022 3:21 pm

Newly Revealed Document Shows Pfizer Needed to Hire an Additional 1800 Employees to Process Adverse Reactions to Their COVID-19 Vaccine

April 10, 2022 5:20 pm

Michael Every

Rabo: Over Half Of France Just Voted For Extreme Alternatives To The Status Quo

Le Pen is Mightier Than The Sword(?)