DEC 30/LAST TRADING DAY FOR 2022//FIRST DAY NOTICE//FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY YEARS, THE CROOKS FAIL TO KNOCK GOLD DURING OPTIONS EXPIRY WEEK: GOLD PRICE ROSE AGAIN BY 80 CENTS TO $1820.30//SILVER PRICE WAS DOWN 21 CENTS//PLATINUM CONTINUES TO GAIN ON PALLADIUM: PLATINUM UP $9.75 TO $1066.95 WHEREAS PALLADIUM FALLS BY $20.90 TO $1789.70//RUSSIA AND CHINA CONTINUE TO BE THE HUGE CENTRAL BANKERS BUYING GOLD//COVID UPDATES: CHINA NOW EXPERIENCES A MASSIVE WAVE OF COVID AND MANY DEATHS AS CITIZENS IMMUNITY IS NOW IN QUESTION!!//AMBROSE PRITCHARD EVANS A MUST READ ON THE CHINA/COVID OUTBREAK//UPDATES ON THE FTX SCANDAL//SOUTH KOREA TO BECOME MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH RESPECT TO NORTH KOREA’S PROVACTIVE ACTIONS/UPDATES UKRAINE VS RUSSIA//ISRAEL’S NEW GOVERNMENT UNDER NETANYAHU TAKES OVER AND IT IS THE MOST RIGHT WING EVER!/TWITTER RELEASES THE MOST DAMAGING CENSORSHIP ON COVID 19 AND VACCINES//SCOTT ATLAS A MUST READ….//GEORGE SANTOS AND OTHER SWAMP STORIES//
118 C MACQUARIE FUT 468 435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 23 657 C MORGAN STANLEY 9 661 C JP MORGAN 558 737 C ADVANTAGE 74 800 C MAREX SPEC 14 905 C ADM 12
TOTAL: 579 579
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GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR JAN/2023. CONTRACT: 579 NOTICES FOR 57,900 OZ or 1.8009 TONNES
total notices so far: 579 contracts for 57900 oz (1.8009 tonnes)
SILVER NOTICES: 668 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 3,340,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month 668 for 3,340,000 oz
END
GLD
WITH GOLD UP $0.80
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD//BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: /////NO CHANGES IN GLD INVENTORY: /
INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.51 TONNES
Silver//SLV
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 21 CENTS
AT THE SLV// :/NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV
CLOSING INVENTORY: 509.05 MILLION OZ (THIS IS ALSO A CRIME SCENE@!!!!
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED 2302 CONTRACTS TO 130,232 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THE GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR STRONG $0.63 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON THURSDAY. OUR SHORTERS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT ROSE BY $0.63 AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY APPRECIABLE SPEC LONGS, AS WE HAD A HUGE GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 2748 CONTRACTS. AS WELL WE HAD 0 EXCHANGE FOR RISK TRANSFER ( 0 CONTRACTS). WE HAD CONSIDERABLE SPEC SHORT COVERINGS . WE ALSO HAD ALSO MINOR SHORT ADDITIONS WITH THE HUGE PRICE GAIN IN SILVER. // OUR BANKERS CONTINUE TO BE PURCHASERS OF NET COMEX LONGS. BUT THEY ALSO SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY SHORT CONTRACTS>>> HUGE INCREASE OF NEWBIE SPEC LONGS ADDING TO THEIR POSITIONS CAUSING ADDITIONAL MISERY TO OUR SHORTERS.
WE MUST HAVE HAD: A FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 4,055. MILLION OZ // V) HUGE SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/ GOOD EFP ISSUANCE/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL – 22
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS DEC. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF DEC:
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 23 days, total 12,279 contracts: OR 61.395 MILLION OZ PER DAY. (538 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 61.395 MILLION OZ
.
LAST 17 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
APRIL: 114.52 MILLION OZ FINAL//LOW ISSUANCE
MAY: 105.635 MILLION OZ//
JUNE: 94.470 MILLION OZ
JULY : 87.110 MILLION OZ
AUGUST: 65.025 MILLION OZ
SEPT. 74.025 MILLION OZ///FINAL
OCT. 29.017 MILLION OZ FINAL
NOV: 134.290 MILLION OZ//FINAL
DEC, 61.395 MILLION OZ INITIAL( VERY SMALL)
RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 2302 WITH OUR STRONG $0.63 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX// THURSDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A GOOD SIZED EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 424 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR MAR AND 0 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS) WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX TO LONDON AS FORWARDS./ WE HAVE A GOOD INITIAL SILVER OZ STANDING FOR JAN OF 4.055 MILLION OZ / //NEW STANDING 4.055 MILLION OZ + EFR 0 = 4.055 MILLION OZ. .. WE HAVE A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 2726 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES FOR 12.65 MILLION OZ.. THE SILVER SHORTS ARE NOW TRAPPED AS THEY ARE HAVING CONSIDERABLE DIFFICULTY IN COVERING THOSE SHORTS.
WE HAD 668 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 3,340,000 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 FAIR SIZED 2676 CONTRACTS TO 440,513 AND CLOSER TO THE 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: REMOVED 114 CONTRACTS.
.
THE FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI CAME WITH OUR $8.35 GAIN IN PRICE. WE ALSO HAD A SMALL INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR JAN. AT 2.1710 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE //(QUEUE JUMPING = EXERCISING LONDON BASED EFP’S ) (EFP is the transfer of contracts immediately to London for potential gold deliveries originating from London). NEW STANDING 63.542 TONNES
YET ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $8.35 GAIN IN PRICEWITH RESPECT TO THURSDAY’S TRADING
WE HAD A GOOD SIZED GAIN OF 4068 OI CONTRACTS (12.65 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES..
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 1392 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 440,513
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A GOOD SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 4068 CONTRACTS WITH 2790 CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX AND 1392 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 4068 CONTRACTS OR 12.65 TONNES.
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (1392 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE FAIR SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI (2676) TOTAL GAIN IN THE TWO EXCHANGES 4068 CONTRACTS. WE NO DOUBT HAD 1) ZERO SPECULATOR SHORT COVERINGS // CONTINUED GOOD BANKER ADDITIONS BUT THEY ALSO SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY PAPER SHORT. WE HAD SOME SHORT SPEC ADDITIONS/// // GOOD NEWBIE SPEC ADDITIONS ,2.) SMALL INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR JAN. AT 2.1710 TONNES FOLLOWED /NEW STANDING 2.1710 TONNES///3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION //.,4) FAIR SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST GAIN 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER/
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2022 INCLUDING TODAY
DEC
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF DEC :
59,774 CONTRACTS OR 5,977,400 OZ OR 185.59 TONNES 23 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 2598 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 23 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES:185.59 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2021, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 185.59/3550 x 100% TONNES 5.22% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION
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: 169.55 TONNES (FINAL VERY LOW ISSUANCE MONTH)
MAY: 247,44 TONNES FINAL//
JUNE: 238.13 TONNES FINAL
JULY: 378.43 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST: 180.81 TONNES FINAL
SEPT. 193.16 TONNES FINAL
OCT: 177.57 TONNES FINAL ( MUCH SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)
NOV. 223.98 TONNES//FINAL ( MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUS MONTHS//comex running out of physical)
DEC: 185.59 tonnes Initial// FINAL
SPREADING OPERATIONS
(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS
SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW NON ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF NOV. WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF BOTH SILVER AND GOLD (WILL BE SMALL AS SPREADERS DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO NOVEMBER)
HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR ;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF OCT HEADING TOWARDS THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV., FOR BOTH GOLD AND 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 (NOV), 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 2302 CONTRACTS OI TO 130,232 AND CLOSER TO OUR COMEX HIGH 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 424 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MAR 442 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 442 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 2324 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 424 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,
WE OBTAIN A HUGE GAIN OF 2726 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 12.63 MILLION OZ//
OCCURRED WITH OUR 63 CENT GAIN IN PRICE ….. OUR SPEC SHORTS HAVE NOWHERE TO HIDE!
4. Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
end
5. Other gold/silver commentaries
6. Commodity commentaries//
7/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
3. ASIAN AFFAIRS
i)FRIDAY MORNING//THURSDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 15.56 PTS OR 0.51% //Hang Sang CLOSED UP 40.27 PTS OR 0.20% /The Nikkei closed DOWN 0.83 OR 0.00% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN .34% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP TO 6.8989//OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN UP TO 6.9129// /Oil DOWN TO 78.55 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT AT 83.08 / Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL RED ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE STRONGER
a)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
outline
b) REPORT ON JAPAN/
OUTLINE
3 C CHINA
OUTLINE
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE 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 FAIR SIZED 2676 CONTRACTS UP TO 440,513 WITH OUR THE GAIN IN PRICE OF $8.35
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE -ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF JAN… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 1392 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: ;: , . 0 FEB: 1392 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 1392 CONTRACTS
WHEN WE HAVE BACKWARDATION, EFP ISSUANCE IS VERY COSTLY BUT THE REAL PROBLEM IS THE SCARCITY OF METAL AND IT IS FAR BETTER FOR OUR BANKERS TO PAY OFF INDIVIDUALS THAN RISK INVESTORS ESPECIALLY FROM LONDON STANDING FOR DELIVERY. THE LOWER PRICES IN THE FUTURES MARKET IS A MAGNET FOR OUR LONDONERS SEEKING PHYSICAL METAL. BACKWARDATION ALWAYS EQUAL SCARCITY OF METAL!
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A GOOD SIZED TOTAL OF 4068 CONTRACTS IN THAT 1392 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A FAIR SIZED COMEX OI GAIN OF 2790 CONTRACTS..AND THIS GOOD SIZED GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $8.35. WE ARE WITNESSING SOME SPEC SHORTS ADDITIONS TO THEIR SHORTFALL WITH ZERO SPEC SHORT LIQUIDATIONS. BANKERS CONTINUE AS NET BUYERS OF COMEX GOLD CONTRACTS AS THEY HAVE BEEN NET LONG FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS. WE ALSO HAD STRONG NEWBIE SPECS ADDITIONS
// WE HAVE A Small AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING Jan (2.1710)
TONNES),
HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 12 MONTHS OF 2021-2022:
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 YEAR 2021 (JAN- DEC): 601.213 TONNES
YEAR 2022:
JANUARY 2022 17.79 TONNES
FEB 2022: 59.023 TONNES
MARCH: 36.678 TONNES
APRIL: 85.340 TONNES FINAL.
MAY: 20.11 TONNES FINAL
JUNE: 74.933 TONNES FINAL
JULY 29.987 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST:104.979 TONNES//FINAL
SEPT. 38.1158 TONNES
OCT: 77.390 TONNES/ FINAL
NOV 27.110 TONNES/FINAL (TOTAL SO FAR THIS YEAR 591.535 TONNES)
Dec. 64.541 tonnes
JAN:2.1710 tonnes
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT ROSE $8.35) //// AND WERE ALSO UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A GOOD GAIN OF 4068 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES // WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 12.65 PAPER TONNES OF TOTAL OI FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR JAN. (2.1710 TONNES)…THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR RISE IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $8.35.
WE HAD – 114 CONTRACTS COMEX TRADES REMOVED FROM OPEN INTEREST AFTER TRADING ENDED LAST NIGHT
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 4068 CONTRACTS OR 406,800 OZ OR 12.65 TONNES
Estimated gold comex today 104,645// awful//
final gold volumes/yesterday 112,448/ awful
INITIAL STANDINGS FOR JAN 2023 COMEX GOLD //DEC 30//
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
579 notices 57,900 1.8009 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
i)Dealer deposits: 0
total dealer deposit: nil oz
No dealer withdrawals
Customer deposits: 0
total deposits: nil oz
customer withdrawals: 0
Total withdrawals: nil
total in tonnes: 0.00 tonnes
Adjustments: 0
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR JANUARY.
For the front month of JANUARY we have an oi of 698 contracts having LOST 172 contracts
Thus by definition, the initial amount of gold standing for delivery in this non active delivery month of January is as follows:
698 contracts x 100 oz per contract = 69800 oz or 2.1710 tonnes
February LOST 222 contacts to 364,124
April gained 2831 contracts up to 45,665.
We had 579 notice(s) filed today for 57900 oz
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 equate to 559 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 74 notice(s) was (were) stopped/ Received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account and 0 notice(s) received (stopped) by the squid (Goldman Sachs)
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the JAN. /2022. contract month,
we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (579 x 100 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of (JAN.698 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 579 x 100 oz per contract equals 69,800 OZ OR 2.1710 TONNES the number of TONNES standing in this non active month of January.
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the JAN contract month:
No of notices filed so far (579 x 100 oz+ (698 OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (579} x 100 oz} which equals 69,800 oz standing OR 2.1710 TONNES in this NON active delivery month of JAN..
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 2.1710 TONNES (A POOR STANDING//COMEX RUNNING OUT OF PHYSICAL TO SERVE UPON OUR LONGS.
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in JANUARY. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 668 x 5,000 oz = 3,340,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JAN(811) and the number of notices served upon today 668 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the JAN./2022 contract month: 668 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of JAN (811 – number of notices served upon today (668) x 500 oz of silver standing for the JAN. contract month equates 4.055 million oz..
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
DEC 30/WITH GOLD UP $.80 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.51 TONNES
DEC 29//WITH GOLD UP $8.35 TODAY:; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.51 TONNES
DEC 28/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.80 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 5.50 TONNES INTO THE GLD..//INVENTORY REST S AT 918.51 TONNES
DEC 27/WITH GOLD UP $18.15 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .87 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 913.01 TONNES
DEC 23/WITH GOLD UP $19,15 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 913.88 TONNES/
DEC 22/WITH GOLD DOWN $29.35 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 913.88 TONNES
DEC 21/WITH GOLD FLAT TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.74 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 913.88 TONNES
DEC 20/WITH GOLD UP $27.05: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.73 TONNES INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.14 TONNES
DEC 19/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.10: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD> A BIG WITHDRAWAL OF 3.47 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 910.41 TONNES
DEC 16/WITH GOLD UP $12.45: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.32 TONNES INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 913.88 TONNES
DEC 15//WITH GOLD DOWN $31.00: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.16 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 911.56 TONNES
DEC 14/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.20: BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.32 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.72 TONNES
DEC 13/WITH GOLD UP $32.75: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.32 TONNES INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 910.41
DEC 12/WITH GOLD DOWN $17.60: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 908.09 TONNES
DEC 9/WITH GOLD UP $8.90//NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 908.09 TONNES
Dec 8/WITH GOLD UP $4.05, OVER THE PAST 3 WEEKS WE LOST 2.04 TONNES//INVENTORY RESTS AT 908.09 TONNES
NOV 14/WITH GOLD UP $7.30: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.45 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 910.12 TONNES
NOV 11/WITH GOLD UP $15.25//BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.19 TONNES INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 911.57 TONNES
NOV 10/WITH GOLD UP $40.75: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 908.38 TONNES
NOV 9/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.00: BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.89 TONNES INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 908.38 TONNES
GLD INVENTORY: 918.51 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
DEC 30/WITH SILVER DOWN 21 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 509.050 MILLION OZ
DEC 29/ WITH SILVER UP $0.63 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 509.050 MILLION OZ
DEC 28//WITH SILVER DOWN 46 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.715 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///..INVENTORY RESTS AT 509.050 MILLION OZ
DEC 27/WITH SILVER UP 34 CENTS TODAY; SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/A WITHDRAWAL OF 550,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 507.350 MILLION OZ//
DEC 23/WITH SILVER UP 29 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY REST AT507.900 MILLION O//
DEC 22/WITH SILVER DOWN 53 CENTS TODAY;NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 507.90 MILLION OZ//
DEC 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.0 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 507.90 MILLION OZ//
DEC 20/WITH SILVER UP 105 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:: A DEPOSIT OF 700,000 OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 509.90 MILLION OZ//
DEC 19/WITH SILVER DOWN 13 CENTS: BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.05 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 509.20 MILLION OZ//
DEC 16/WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS; HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.85 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 508.15 MILLION OZ//
DEC 15/WITH SILVER DOWN 78 CENTS: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF EXACTLY 2.00 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 510.000 MILLION OZ
DEC 14/WITH SILVER UP 7 CENTS: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.7 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 512.000 MILLION OZ//
DEC 13/WITH SILVER UP 59 CENTS: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 600,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 513.900 MILLION OZ//
DEC 12/WITH SILVER DOWN 33 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 514.500 MILLION OZ//
DEC 9/WITH SILVER RISING 77 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.2 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 514.500 MILLION OZ.
DEC 8/WITH SILVER RISING 34 CENTS TODAY: OVER THE PAST 3 WEEKS, WE HAVE GAINED A STRONG: 44.777 MILLION OZ/INVENTORY RESTS AT 516.700 MILION OZ.
NOV 14/WITH SILVER UP 41 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 471.923 MILLION OZ//
NOV 11/WITH SILVER DOWN 2 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 553,000 OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 471.923 MILLION OZ//
NOV 10/WITH SILVER UP 39 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV; A DEPOSIT OF 368,000 OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 472.476 MILLION OZ//
NOV 9/WITH SILVER DOWN 10 CENTS: BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/; A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.821 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 472.108 MILLION OZ//
CLOSING INVENTORY 509.050 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER STORIES
1:Peter Schiff
end
2 Lawrie Williams//Pam and Russ Martens/Jim Rickards/Mathew Piepenburg/Von Greyerz//Rickards:
END
3. Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries//
Russia and China are the biggest buyers of physical gold.
(London’s Financial Times)
Central bank gold buying is highest since financial system broke 55 years ago
Submitted by admin on Thu, 2022-12-29 11:15Section: Daily Dispatches
By Harry Dempsey Financial Times, London Thursday, December 29, 2022
Central banks are scooping up gold at the fastest pace since 1967, with analysts pinning China and Russia as big buyers in an indication that some nations are keen to diversify their reserves away from the dollar.
Data compiled the World Gold Council, an industry-funded group, has shown demand for the precious metal has outstripped any annual amount in the past 55 years
Last month’s estimates are also far larger than central banks’ official reported figures, sparking speculation in the industry over the identity of the buyers and their motivations.
The flight of central banks to gold “would suggest the geopolitical backdrop is one of mistrust, doubt, and uncertainty” after the U.S. and its allies froze Russia’s dollar reserves, said Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault, a gold marketplace.
The last time this level of buying was seen marked a historical turning point for the global monetary system. In 1967 European central banks bought massive volumes of gold from the U.S., leading to a run on the price and the collapse of the London Gold Pool of reserves. That hastened the eventual demise of the Bretton Woods System that tied the value of the U.S. dollar to the precious metal. …
Tennessee and Virginia legislators named sound money legislators of the year
(MMN)
Tennessee and Virginia legislators named Sound Money Legislators of the Year
Submitted by admin on Thu, 2022-12-29 18:04Section: Daily Dispatches
From Money Metals News Service Eagle, Idaho Tuesday, December 27, 2022
As the year comes to a close, Money Metals Exchange and the Sound Money Defense League have named Tennessee state lawmakers Rep. Bud Hulsey and Sen. Frank Niceley, Virginia Delegate Amanda Batten as “Sound Money Legislators of the Year.”
Hulsey and Niceley won their multi-year battle to eliminate unjust sales taxation of the monetary metals in the Volunteer State, passing House Bill 1874 and Senate Bill 1857 in May.
Meanwhile, Virginia Delegate Amanda Batten successfully passed House Bill 936, not only extending the sunset date on Virginia’s existing sales tax exemption but also eliminating the state’s regressive taxation of all precious metals purchases below $1,000. …
A very important commentary from Ambrose Evans Pritchard as he discusses Xi’s failed authoritarian COVID mandates. Xi moved from zero COVID policy to polar opposite events
Submitted by admin on Thu, 2022-12-29 22:58Section: Daily Dispatches
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard The Telegraph, London Thursday, December 29, 2022
China’s lurch from extreme zero-Covid to extreme herd immunity is a watershed moment in the global ideological struggle of our age, an unanswerable illustration of why autocratic regimes are less successful in the end than messy liberal democracies.
Leadership cults and totalitarian media control can at times enable breath-takingly destructive policies, and it is hard to think of a policy more unhinged than suddenly exposing a “naive” population with inadequate vaccination to mass infection in mid-winter, and just before the great internal migration of Chinese
What was the purpose of lockdown torment — and the economic slippage that came with it — a full 18 months after the rest of the world had reopened and moved on?
Most regional governments are suppressing Covid data but Zhejiang province south of Shanghai, with a population the size of England, says it faces a million new cases a day. It expects the figure to double again this week. Sichuan is in the eye of the storm already.
China’s National Health Commission fears that up to 37 million people a day are being infected and that 248 million caught the virus over the first 20 days of December, according to leaked but unverified minutes posted online.
To the extent that successful Covid management has been mobilised over the last three years in the beauty contest of the new Cold War, this portends a public relations disaster for China’s authoritarian model. The breakdown of the Chinese hospital system cannot be hidden. …
The Gold Price Fix – do we have a solution? Feat. Special Guest
BY KINESIS MONEY
THURSDAY, DEC 29, 2022 – 21:03
In this week’s Live from the Vault, Andrew Maguire shines a light on his whistleblowing origins, which began following an investigation with the CTFC and DOJ into national-level banks rigging the price of gold and silver in 2008.
The industry veteran digs deeper into his roots within the precious metals industry and examines how the Kinesis platform addresses the issues he faced in his whistleblowing career.
Farmers Celebrate As Ag Boom Sends Incomes Soaring
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 09:16 AM
Believe it or not, now is a great time to be a farmer. Agricultural commodities are set to lock in another year of annual gains, the longest stretch in decades, prompting higher farm incomes.
The Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Subindex, which tracks everything from corn, soybeans, and wheat to sugar and coffee, will lock in the fourth year of annual gains today.
Bloomberg said this would be the “longest stretch of annual gains since at least the early 1990s as drought and war cut production and erode inventories, keeping global food inflation simmering.”
High prices for crops and livestock indicate boom times for the US farm belt, making farmers, ranchers, and agricultural firms all winners after a decade of sliding net farm income.
According to the latest US Department of Agriculture forecast, US net farm income is expected to jump to $160.5 billion this year. If realized, farm income would be at the highest level since 1973 in inflation-adjusted dollars, which would be a significant reversal from the agricultural recession that crushed farmers in the last decade.
Kenneth Zuckerberg, a senior economist at agricultural lender CoBank, told WSJ that farm income for the current cycle has probably peaked but will remain high in 2023. He said, “there’s no way it’ll be as good as 2022.”
Perhaps all those millennials who were told “learn to code” only to be fired this year in a Federal Reserve-induced downcycle in tech might find more opportunity in farming.
END
6/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
Crook!!
FTX Founder Reportedly Cashes Out $684K After Being Released On Bail
SBF has allegedly cashed out $684,000 from a crypto exchange in Seychelles while being under house arrest, according to an on-chain investigation…
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly cashing out large amounts of cryptocurrency soon after being released on bail, on-chain data suggests.
SBF has cashed out $684,000 in crypto to an exchange in Seychelles while being under house arrest, according to the on-chain investigation by DeFi educator BowTiedIguana.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) analyst BowTiedIguana took to Twitter on Dec. 29 to report on a series of obfuscated wallet transactions allegedly linked to SBF, suggesting that the former FTX CEO could have violated release conditions to not spend more than $1,000 without permission from the court.
According to BowTiedIguana’s analysis, SBF’s public address (0xD5758) on Dec. 28 sent all remaining Ether to a newly created address (0x7386d). BowTiedIguana noted that SBF took over the address that was originally owned by Sushiswap creator from Chef Nomi in August 2020.
Within hours, 0x7386d received transfers totaling $367,000 from 32 addresses identified as Alameda Research wallets, with an additional $322,000 coming from other wallets. All funds were sent to a centralized crypto exchange in Seychelles and to the crypto bridge RenBridge, according to the DeFi analyst.
0x7386d sent a total of 519.5 Ether, or around $629,000, to 0x64e9B, which also received funds from addresses labeled as Alameda Research. BowTiedIguana also identified five separate transactions of less than 51 ETH ($61,000) that were used to move funds to newly created wallets and then “onwards to a Seychelles-based exchange.”
Additionally, the SBF-linked wallet 0x64e9B sent three tranches of 200,000 Tether (USDT) to the FixedFloat exchange.
“As the Ethereum blockchain is an immutable public ledger, this on-chain evidence is permanently available to law enforcement and the courts,” BowTiedIguana stated, calling attorneys from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to look at the issue.
Confirmed to be related to SBF or not, the transactions do not necessarily mean that FTX founder has violated bail release conditions, according to some industry enthusiasts.
“I don’t know that this necessarily qualifies as ‘spending’ money. They’re his assets already,” one industry observer suggested.
A number of online commenters also speculated that SBF himself was Chef Nomi, the anonymous co-founder of Sushiswap. Coinbase head of strategy Conor Grogan stressed that many of the recent SBF-linked transactions were heavily related to early Sushiswap activity. “These wallets — assuming they all belong to him — were heavily involved with LPing Sushi early on, well before Chef Nomi handed off the project to SBF,” Grogan stated.
SBF himself claimed in September 2020 that he didn’t have anything to do with building Sushiswap.
The alleged SBF-linked transactions occurred about a week after SBF was granted bail with a $250 million bond secured by SBF’s parents paid with the equity in their house. SBF previously claimed that he only had $100,000 in his bank account after the collapse of FTX.
The news comes soon after the government of Bahamas officially announced that local authorities seized $3.5 billion worth of crypto from FTX on Nov. 12. The authorities claimed that the action was taken in order to avoid a risk of “imminent dissipation” of funds after SBF warned about cyberattacks on FTX in mid-November.
END
This should turn out to be interesting where we will have a fight between Bahamas and the uSA
(zerohedge)
Bahamas Seized $3.5 Billion FTX Assets Over Risk Of ‘Imminent Dissipation’
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 10:08 AM
Shortly after FTX Digital Markets filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Bahamian authorities seized $3.5 billion of digital assets from the failed cryptocurrency exchange, according to a statement late Thursday.
The assets were seized by the Bahamian Securities Commission, which cited a risk of “imminent dissipation” of the assets over concerns flagged by Bankman-Fried, which included potential cyberattacks against the exchange, Bloomberg reports.
According to bankruptcy filings, around $372 million worth of tokens were stolen from the exchange, out of roughly $700 million of token outflows from FTX within a 24 hour period, according to blockchain research firm Nansen.
The disclosure could mean that some FTX customers recover more losses than anticipated.
The Bahamian Securities Commission said the digital assets are under its “exclusive control” on a temporary basis until the country’s Supreme Court allows the regulator to return them to the customers and creditors who own them or to the joint liquidators. That could provide relief to some FTX customers after its current chief executive John J. Ray III, who is overseeing the restructuring, warned that the international customers could lose more funds than US peers.
Bahamian authorities are scrutinizing the web of relationships between bankrupt FTX.com, which is registered locally as FTX Digital Markets Ltd., and its trading firm, Alameda Research. -Bloomberg
According to Bloomberg, the US Justice Department has launched a criminal probe into the stolen assets, while the Bahamian Supreme Court suggested the Commission should lawfully assist in sharing information regarding FTX with US debtors and their representatives.
Earlier today we noted that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried cashed out roughly $684,000 from a crypto exchange in Seychelles while being under house arrest, CoinTelegraph reports.
SBF has cashed out $684,000 in crypto to an exchange in Seychelles while being under house arrest, according to the on-chain investigation by DeFi educator BowTiedIguana.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) analyst BowTiedIguana took to Twitter on Dec. 29 to report on a series of obfuscated wallet transactions allegedly linked to SBF, suggesting that the former FTX CEO could have violated release conditions to not spend more than $1,000 without permission from the court.
According to BowTiedIguana’s analysis, SBF’s public address (0xD5758) on Dec. 28 sent all remaining Ether to a newly created address (0x7386d). BowTiedIguana noted that SBF took over the address that was originally owned by Sushiswap creator from Chef Nomi in August 2020.
What else does SBF have scurried away?
end
1. YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS//FRIDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: UP TO 6.8989
OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.9129
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 15.56 PTS OR 0.51%
HANG SENG CLOSED DOWN 40.27 PTS 0.20%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 0.83 PTS OR 0.00%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL RED
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 103.50 Euro RISES TO 106.82 UP 22 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +.406!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 131.85/JAPANESE YEN RISING AS WELL AS LONG TERM 10 YR. YIELDS RISING //EVENTUALLY THIS WILL BREAK THE JAPANESE CENTRAL BANK.
3c Nikkei now ABOVE 17,000
3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning
3e Gold UP /JAPANESE Yen UP CHINESE YUAN: UP-// OFF- SHORE: UP
3f Japan is to buy the 9 TRILLION YEN’S worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion usa
Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.
3g Oil DOWN for WTI and DOWN FOR Brent this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund UP TO +2.502%***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield RISES to 4.614%*** /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD RISES TO 3.582…** DANGEROUS//
3i Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO 4.549//
3j Gold at $1820.25//silver at: 23.94 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 2 AND 90/100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 69.18//
3m oil into the 78 dollar handle for WTI and 83 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 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 131.85
30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the FRANC. It is not working: USA/SF this 0.9226–as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF 0.9857 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: 3.8745% UP 1 BASIS PTS…GETTING DANGEROUS
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 3.924% UP 0 BASIS PTS//
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 18,72…
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: 3.697 % DOWN 3 BASIS PTS
end
i.b Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge:
FIRST, ZEROHEDGE (PRE USA OPENING// MORNING
Futures Slide On Final Trading Day Of 2022
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 08:02 AM
US equity-index futures slumped on Friday, tracking European stocks lower, after Wall Street’s best session of the month and denting hopes that Santa Claus would make a late appearance on the last trading day of the year and ease the pain for investors as global stock markets are about to close the books on their worst annual performance since the global financial crisis in 2008.
Similarly to European bourses, US tech led the decline – after leading yesterday’s gain – with contracts on the Nasdaq 100 down 0.7% at 5:26 a.m. in New York. The tech-heavy index enjoyed a 2.6% jump during the previous session, thanks in large part to a sharp bounce-back in Tesla shares. The Nasdaq has lost a third of value this year as tech stocks emerged as some of the most vulnerable to rising rates. Optimism spurred by weaker than expected continuing job claims data signaling some easing in tight US labor markets faded overnight, taking contracts on the S&P 500 about 0.5% lower, and appears to be headed for that infamous JPM Collar strike of 3835.
The dollar extended declines against major peers, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index heading for its lowest level since June. Treasury yields inched higher and the yen rallied even as the Bank of Japan unveiled an unprecedented third day of unscheduled bond purchases.
In premarket trading, travel and leisure stocks are under pressure as a surge in Covid-19 cases in China has prompted authorities to consider flight and travel restrctions. Technology shares are also under the spotlight after a volatile week, notably for Apple Inc. and Tesla. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
China Securities Regulatory Commission will ask Futu Holdings and UP Fintech Holding to correct illegal acts in cross-border securities business, according to a statement from the regulator. Futu shares fall 25% in premarket trading.
Sesen Bio rises 27% in US premarket trading after the company said it will increase a previously announced one-time special dividend following its merger with Carisma Therapeutics, to around $0.34 per share from as much as $0.12 per share.
With low visibility on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path, the surge in Covid cases in China or the war in Ukraine, strategists are being cautious in calling the direction of travel for the next few weeks.
“On equities, I expect a choppy first few weeks of the year, while central banks keep their hawkish tone, but then a more positive second quarter and onwards as inflation declines,” said Rajeev De Mello, a global macro portfolio manager at GAMA Asset Management.
The market’s uncertain direction sapped hopes for a rally to close out 2022, a year when inflation reasserted itself to wipe a fifth in value from global stocks, the worst run since the financial crisis. Bonds lost 16% of value, the biggest decline since at least 1990 for one leading measure, as central banks raced to slow rising consumer prices by hiking interest rates around the world.
European stocks dropped 0.7%, and was trading at session lows, as technology and telecommunications shares led a broad-based decline in the Stoxx Europe 600 index, which is heading for its worst year since 2018. The gauge held a decline even after data showed Spanish inflation slowed for a fifth straight month in December as energy costs continue to decline in the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy.
Earlier in the session, Asian stocks headed higher on their last session for 2022 as shares in China advanced on mobility figures that showed economic activity rebounded in several of the nation’s cities where infections have likely peaked. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed as much as 0.8%, the most in a week, with most markets in the region gaining. US data allayed fears of a supercharged jobs market that would support a more aggressive policy path. Bourses in South Korea and the Philippines were closed Friday. Despite the gain, Asian stocks are down almost 20% this year in their worst slump since the 2008 financial crisis. Vietnam and South Korea were the region’s worst performers in 2022, with both losing at least a quarter of their value. India and Indonesia were among the world’s top gainers. The annual loss for Asia is in line with the drop in global and US equities.
While investors remain concerned about the supply-chain impact from China’s Covid infection surge ahead of its Lunar New Year holiday in January, the reopening of the nation’s economy has helped support sentiment. Expect Asia’s “discount to intrinsic value to narrow across the region in 2023 due to an improvement in sentiment on the back of China’s reopening and US rate hike expectations plateauing,” said Sukumar Rajah, director of portfolio management at Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity.
Emerging-market stocks were set for the first weekly advance in three as the benchmark index remained on track for a decline of more than 20% in 2022.
In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell as much as 0.3%; the pound underperformed, losing ground against the greenback which dropped to the lowest level since June. The yen rose against all G-10 currencies even after the BOJ announced unscheduled bond purchases for the third day. USD/JPY fell more than 1% to 131.55 after dropping 1.1% on Thursday. The combination of additional fixed-rate and fixed amount purchases announced Friday have boosted BOJ’s buying this month to about 17 trillion yen, a monthly record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
“Our view is that the BOJ’s yield curve control policy is on borrowed time and the central bank will have to eventually let go of the policy — this is one key factor why we see USD/JPY heading toward 120 per dollar in 2023,” said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Sydney. “JPY flow implications are also likely supporting the yen with Japan domestic yields starting to look more appealing for Japanese insurance companies as well as any offshore investor with FX hedged positions”
In rates, treasuries were under pressure as the last US trading session of the year gets under way, with yields higher by 2bp-3bp across the curve, inside weekly ranges. 10-year TSY yields were higher by 2.4bp at 3.84%, near the highest level since mid-November and above 50-DMA level; German 10-year is up ~7bp on the day; Bunds and most other euro-zone bond markets underperformed after bearish Spanish inflation data. Treasuries may draw support into month-end index pricing at 1pm New York time. Sifma recommended a 2pm close for cash bonds. Global market focus remains on the impact of China’s unwind of Covid restrictions, with the nation facing as many as 25,000 deaths a day later in January, according to estimates.
In commodities, oil rose after a three-day run of declines on worries about a rise in crude stockpiles and concerns that rising Covid-19 infections in China would slow demand in one of the world’s top oil importers.
The only economic datapoint on the last trading day of the year is the Chicago PMI which is expected to bounce modestly to 40.0 from 37.2.
Market Snapshot
S&P 500 futures down 0.5% to 3,853.75
STOXX Europe 600 down 0.5% to 428.18
MXAP up 0.5% to 155.91
MXAPJ up 0.3% to 506.39
Nikkei little changed at 26,094.50
Topix down 0.2% to 1,891.71
Hang Seng Index up 0.2% to 19,781.41
Shanghai Composite up 0.5% to 3,089.26
Sensex down 0.6% to 60,775.99
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.3% to 7,038.69
Kospi down 1.9% to 2,236.40
German 10Y yield little changed at 2.52%
Euro little changed at $1.0660
Brent Futures up 0.1% to $83.55/bbl
Brent Futures up 0.1% to $83.55/bbl
Gold spot up 0.1% to $1,816.85
U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 103.88
Top Overnight News from Bloomberg
The Bank of Japan announced an unprecedented third day of unscheduled bond purchases as it fights back against speculation it is about to end its super-accommodative monetary policy
European and US equity futures edged lower and Asian shares were mixed on the final trading day of a brutal year in financial markets that has dragged stocks and bonds to their worst annual run in more than a decade.
China will extend the trading hours for the onshore yuan as the government pushes ahead with plans to internationalize the currency
No novel Covid-19 variants have emerged in China, according to a global consortium that’s tracking coronavirus mutations
China appointed its ambassador to the US, Qin Gang, as the new foreign minister, as the Asian nation shows signs of moving back to a lower-key diplomatic strategy after a growing backlash against its confrontational style
US Event Calendar
09:45: Dec. MNI Chicago PMI, est. 40.0, prior 37.2
AND NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)
off this week
1.c FRIDAY/ THURSDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 15.56 PTS OR 0.51% //Hang Sang CLOSED UP 40.27 PTS OR 0.20% /The Nikkei closed DOWN 0.83 OR 0.00% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN .34% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP TO 6.8989//OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN UP TO 6.9129// /Oil DOWN TO 78.55 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT AT 83.08 / Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL RED ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE STRONGER
2 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
///NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
This is not good: South Korea vows more aggressive response to North’s testing of ballistic missiles
(zerohedge)
South Korea Vows More Aggressive Response To North’s ‘Provocations’
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has vowed more aggressive retaliation to military action by Pyongyang, calling to “punish” the DPRK soon after Seoul unveiled a new $440 million military spending package.
Briefing reporters following a meeting between the president and South Korea’s National Security Office this week, Yoon’s press secretary Kim Eun-hye said officials were instructed to react forcefully to any future “provocations,” citing a major breach of South Korea’s airspace by North Korean drones earlier this week
“President Yoon told them to punish and retaliate in no uncertain terms in response to any provocation by North Korea, saying that is the most powerful way to deter provocations,” she said, adding that Yoon “also emphasized that we must not be fearful or hesitant just because North Korea has nuclear weapons.”
The Wednesday national security meeting took place days after Pyongyang flew five reconnaissance drones over the border separating the two Koreas, prompting the South to scramble military aircraft in response. Though the drones remained in Seoul’s airspace for up to seven hours, some flying over the country’s capital city, the South Korean military was unable to shoot down any of the UAVs.
Yoon reportedly“berated” Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup over the failure to bring down the aircraft, saying the incident showed that the military was “greatly lacking” in preparedness, and also vowed to bolster South Korea’s air defenses and surveillance capabilities to prevent similar incursions in the future.
Toward that end, the Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that it would spend some $441 million over the next five years on a variety of different projects, including the development of ‘non-kinetic’ weapons platforms, such as an “airborne laser” designed to bring down drones, as well as a new signal jammer.
Tensions have soared between the North and South in recent months, with the DPRK conducting more weapons tests in 2022 than any year prior. South Korea, meanwhile, has significantly stepped up live-fire military drills with the United States and Japan, despite vocal condemnation from Pyongyang, which considers the exercises as preparations for an attack. Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have additionally pledged to further boost trilateral military ties between themselves, largely citing alleged threats from North Korea and China.
end
2B JAPAN
end
3c CHINA /
CHINA//USA//COVID//LOCKDOWNS
A great commentary as it highlights the horrible indictment of lockdowns and the harm it has done!
(zerohedge)
China’s COVID Chaos A “Horrible Indictment” Of US Leadership For Emulating CCP Lockdowns: Former White House Adviser
If the world can learn one thing from the COVID chaos in China, it is that “locking down does not work,” said healthcare policy adviser Dr. Scott Atlas.
“We don’t even know really the extent of the harms to their population that they inflicted by locking down but we know anecdotally that there were massive harms to people—they couldn’t get food, they couldn’t get their own medications, people were imposing a completely uncivilized, almost animalistic way,” Atlas, a previous White House special coronavirus adviser and contributor to The Epoch Times, said in an interview.
For almost three years, China’s ruling regime has imposed a severe zero-COVID strategy, using strict lockdowns, centralized quarantines, mass testing, and omnipresent surveillance to contain the virus’s spread, leading to many residents being deprived of basic living needs, and some even dying from a lack of care.
“This is a massive human rights violation,” Atlas said.
“All of their policies imposed on their public,” he said, referring to China’s communist party (CCP), “is an example of one of the most extraordinary violations of human rights that we have seen in modern history.”
World Health Organization emergencies director Mike Ryan noted during a global health briefing on Dec. 14 that this wave of COVID-19 now seen in China is not due to the lifting of COVID restrictions, as it started long before any easing of the zero-COVID policy.
“I think that it’s very important to recognize that,” he said, adding,
“The disease was spreading intensively because I believe the control measures in themselves were not stopping the disease, and I believe that the Chinese authorities have decided strategically that that for them is not the best option anymore.”
Contrasting the few death cases the authorities have reported—11 since the easing of COVID curbs earlier this month—was mounting anecdotal evidence suggesting that the virus is fast spreading in Chinese cities and fatalities are rising. Hospitals and funeral homes have been filling up, with backlogs of bodies awaiting cremation.
The Chinese numbers, Atlas said, are “absurd” to think of.
“This just completely flies in the face of common sense,” he said.
“No one should believe the counting method that is reported by China,” he added, noting that to “save face and justify their reckless harmful lockdowns,” the regime would “necessarily have to say they had fewer deaths.”
COVID-19 patients on gurneys at Tianjin First Center Hospital in Tianjin, China, on Dec. 28, 2022. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)
“I don’t know how anyone would think that they have transparency on how they’re counting.”
The lack of data from China has been so concerning that it has driven the United States to impose a new travel curb mandating COVID tests for travelers from China.
Lockdown Success ‘Fantasy’
That the regime has been “lying about the numbers” from the beginning, Atlas said, poses a troubling question.
In January 2020, after suppressing whistleblower doctors and journalists trying to sound warning about the emerging virus, China became the world’s first country to shut down cities in response to COVID-19 spiraling out of control. As the virus spread, the lockdown method that Beijing insisted was effective was then quickly copied by other countries around the world, such as the United States.
Atlas, an early lockdown critic, has previously enumerated the toll that such policies inflict on the public, from learning loss and mental health damage to a rise in substance abuse.
“There was this false belief that somehow China had ‘beaten the virus.’ This was a completely absurd lie—a fantasy.”
Health workers wait for people to scan a health code to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus in the Jing’an district in Shanghai, China, on Dec. 22, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)
It was a lie that Atlas believes policymakers “blind to science” bought without question.
“It’s one thing that it’s a society like China [that] imposes the draconian policies on its on its public, because that’s what totalitarian societies do,” he said. “But it’s another thing—it’s extraordinary that governments of supposedly ‘free societies’ would attempt to impose these sorts of policies on the public—and even more sad is the acquiescence of people to such policies.”
“It’s a horrible indictment of American leadership to emulate a totalitarian society like China.”
Separate from the fact that locking down can’t get rid of a virus, Atlas sees two things that the world hasn’t grasped about the CCP’s “inhumane policies”: “the true failure of their policies and the massive harms on their own people.”
“The worst thing for China, or any totalitarian society, is to have people start realizing that the government policies are failures,” he said. “Because the only reason that the totalitarian societies exist is they have power.”
China abruptly reversed the zero-Covid regime that isolated the world’s second-largest economy for nearly three years. High-frequency data shows highway congestion is rising, which could indicate a surge in crude demand in 2023.
BloombergNEF published a note that found China’s road congestion index rebounded from the previous week. The index includes highway congestion from 15 major cities, which jumped by 58.2% versus a week earlier. And what this means is that mobility is increasing across China despite the resurgence of Covid-19 infections.
China’s exit from zero-Covid (more on what the reopening means for the economy and markets) could indicate crude consumption for the country might begin to tick up in the first quarter of 2023 and accelerate in the back half of the year if the reopening process is smooth.
Since 2020, strict lockdowns and quarantines have impeded mobility by road inside China. For the first ten months of this year, passengers traveling by road were down 82% versus the same period in 2019. As restrictions ease, travel demand will increase and eventually rebound as urban and long-distance highway travel resumes. This would boost oil consumption.
“China’s total consumption is set to rise by 1.0 million b/d or more by the end of 2023 as travel restrictions unwind and manufacturing recovers,” Reuters noted. As we explained last month, China has already increased oil imports for reopening.
The problem with China reopening is there might not be enough spare crude production capacity to satisfy demand by the second half of 2023. Crude supply remains constrained by OPEC+ output limits, sanctions on Russia, and a lack of US crude production, so if there’s no global recession next year, the likelihood of renewed upward pressure on crude could take hold.
… and maybe former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s bullish outlook for $150 Brent is something to note.
end
As highlighted to you, China has been hit with a tsunami of COVID infections and most importantly many deaths. If it was just Omicron i doubt very much that we would witness the deaths that have been reported over there. Remember that China forced the vaccinations on their citizens. Although it was not the mRNA of the west, it was probably the adeno- virus operations and these vaccinations will also cause mass mutations and more importanly prevent China from reaching herd immunity. Huge visits to the hospital is probably due to lack of immunity///cancers//not taking Vitamin D etc.
(zerohedge
China Hit By Tsunami Of COVID Infections In Reopening Scramble But It’s All Just Omicron, As No New Variants Emerge
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 11:39 AM
There are good and bad news in China’s scramble to emerge from its catastrophic 3-year long zero-covid hangover, into a country reborn, metaphorically speaking, and with herd immunity.
First, the bad news: Bloomberg reports that according to Airfinity Ltd., a London-based research firm that focuses on predictive health analytics, China could see as many as 25,000 deaths a day from Covid-19 later in January, casting a shadow over the start of the first Lunar New Year festivities without pandemic restrictions.
Mortalities from the contagious respiratory illness will probably peak around Jan. 23, the second day of the annual holiday in the country of 1.4 billion, Airfinity estimated, adding that daily infections will peak 10 days before at around 3.7 million cases. These numbers are roughly in line with our own calculations.
“Using the trends in regional data our team of epidemiologists has forecast the first peak to be in regions where cases are currently rising and a second peak driven by later surges in other Chinese provinces,” Airfinity said in a statement late on Thursday.
Daily infections are currently at around 1.8 million, with mortalities at 9,000, the researcher said. That’s up from the 5,000-plus daily estimate by Airfinity earlier this month, and contrasts sharply with just around a dozen Covid deaths the Chinese government has reported in total since the dismantling of Covid restrictions in early December. By the end of April 2023, China may see 1.7 million deaths from this wave of infections, Airfinity said.
Airfinity’s estimates are based on data from China’s regional provinces, which had reported numbers far higher than official national figures, combined with trends seen in Hong Kong, Japan and other countries when they lifted strict restrictions, the researcher said. The extent of the latest outbreak has been difficult to gauge after officials abandoned publishing an accurate case count and narrowed their definition of a virus death.
Amid expectations that China would maintain its strict anti-covid policy well into 2023, Beijing suddenly ended its Covid Zero framework in mid/late December, abandoning the strict testing and lockdown measures embraced by the world’s second-largest economy since the start of the pandemic almost three years ago. The resulting outbreaks have been difficult to gauge without an accurate count, forcing observers to rely on outside estimates and anecdotal evidence.
And while the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wu Zunyou, said in a briefing Thursday that Covid outbreaks have peaked in Beijing, Tianjin and Chengdu, he added that the situation in Shanghai, Chongqing, Anhui, Hubei and Hunan remains serious. More ominously, Italy’s Milan reported that up to 50% of passengers on a recent flight from China have covid. Wu added that the disease will probably spread during Lunar New Year, with many expected to travel around the holiday, he added. With the lifting of travel and other restrictions for the first time since the start of the pandemic, a huge rebound in travel is anticipated during the holiday week in January.
Meanwhile, with scenes of overwhelmed hospitals playing out across the country, officials on Thursday said some regions are now grappling with a surge in severe Covid patients. The occupancy rate of intensive care unit beds for the whole country hasn’t crossed the red line of 80%, but some parts of the nation are bracing for a peak in severe cases, said Jiao Yahui, an official overseeing hospitals at the National Health Commission.
The jump in cases has fueled concern across the globe about the emergence of new Covid variants that could be more contagious, lethal, or both. That has prompted numerous countries to adopt mandatory testing and entry restrictions for travelers from China, which also announced this week that it would reopen its borders on Jan. 8. Liang Wannian, China’s senior official overseeing epidemic response, said the country is strengthening the monitoring of Covid variant and will report to the World Health Organization if it discovers any.
Now the good news: while China’s rushed reopening will likely lead to another wave of global covid infections, it will likely be the mostly innocuous Omicron variant; the risk is that a new, more dangerous/virulent variant emerges. However, so far no novel Covid-19 variants have emerged in China, according to a global consortium that’s tracking coronavirus mutations, easing concerns that the country’s record wave of infections would give rise to new strains that could circulate around the world.
National, provincial and private health-care authorities in the country have provided nearly 1,000 genetic sequences from infected patients to GISAID in the past five days, said CEO Peter Bogner. So far, all the samples continue to be omicron, though subvariants that have hit other parts of the world – including XBB.1 and BQ.1.1 – have emerged, he said.
“The variants continue to circulate without any significant changes that raise any specter of concern,” Bogner said. “You do not have any kind of data that suggest anything but business as usual.”
China is also ramping up efforts to track mutations, with the recent upload of sequencing data comparing with just 25 samples submitted in the previous month, he said. The data are important for helping with future needs as statistics on cases and deaths provide backward-looking information, he said.
“There is huge self-interest,” he said. “That’s the one you can act on. It’s actionable information. You can adjust your diagnostic kits, your vaccines. There’s not actionable information in how many people died. It’s the rear-view mirror. Genomic information provides actionable insights.”
end
CHINA/TAIWAN//USA
USA is now ready to fortify Taiwan with anti tank systems. Get a load of what these new tanks can do
(zerohedge)
Major US Anti-Tank Systems Deal Underscores Taiwan Fortifying Itself Against Future Invasion
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 12:21 PM
This week the State Department announced that it has approved the new potential sale of $180 million more in arms for Taiwan, chiefly consisting of anti-tank systems, which the begins the process of Congressional approval next.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the Volcano system will boost the island’s “asymmetric warfare” capabilities and the sale should take about a month. Crucially the announcement came mid-week, just after on Monday China sent a record number of 71 aircraft to buzz the self-ruled island, which included more than half of these jets breaching the Taiwan Strait median line.Chinese PLA drill simulating beach assault, Xinhua photo
“The Chinese Communist Party’s frequent military activities near Taiwan have posted severe military threats to us,” Taiwan’s defense ministry said, stressing that ongoing US military sales are the “cornerstone of maintaining regional stability and peace.”
Northrop Grumman, as well as Oshkosh Corporation, are named as the principal contractors for vehicle-launched Volcano anti-tank munition-laying systems and related equipment.
The Volcano system disperses multiple anti-tank mines when mine canisters are ejected over a large area. The Volcano is part of efforts to shore up the Taiwan military’s ability to protect its coastline from possible Chinese amphibious landing and invasion.
President Tsai Ing-wen this week vowed to bolster the island’s civil defense systems following the recent repeat Chinese PLA incursions of the island’s Air Defense Identification Zone. “The more preparations we make, the less likely there will be rash attempts of aggression. The more united we are, the stronger and safer Taiwan would become,” Tsai said.
President Biden recently outraged Beijing by signing the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which approves an unprecedented $10 billion in loans for Taiwan to buy US-made arms.
US Army clip showing the Volcano mine-laying system in action…
In response to the new Taiwan funding in the NDAA, China has vowed to keep up the military pressure through drills near the island, which has also of late included naval warships in some instances breaching the Taiwan Strait median line. Beijing officials cited the “the escalating collusion and provocation by the United States and Taiwan.”
END
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS/UK AFFAIRS//
UK
Trade union bosses accuse UK government of blocking pay disputes.
(zerohedge0
Trade Union Boss Accuses UK Government Of Putting “Fingers In Their Ears” Over Pay Disputes
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 05:45 AM
The new general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government of refusing to listen or negotiate about pay demands which have led to strikes on Britain’s railways and in the National Health Service.
Train services over Christmas were badly hit by strikes and Network Rail warned this week that “industrial action means rail travel will be significantly disrupted throughout December and January.”
The NHS has seen unprecedented strikes by nurses and ambulance workers this month and there have also been pay disputes with postal workers, civil servants, and university staff which have led to industrial action.
Ambulances parked during a strike outside Waterloo ambulance station, London, on Dec. 21, 2022. (Kirsty O’Connor/PA Media)
As Chris Summers report at The Epoch Times, Paul Nowak, who will take over as TUC general secretary next week, accused the government of refusing to negotiate over NHS pay claims.
He said in an interview with PA:
“We want to see public services where workers are properly rewarded and respected. There is overwhelming support for NHS workers, so it is not good enough for government ministers to continue to put their fingers in their ears.”
In an interview with the BBC’s Today programme, Nowak also doubted whether pay review bodies were “genuinely independent” and said they found their “hands tied” by the government.
The new General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Paul Nowak, pictured outside the TUC’s office in London, England, on Dec. 21, 2022. (PA)
Nowak said:
“Our unions are looking very seriously at the pay review bodies and looking particularly at the way the Government has used them effectively as a human shield in this discussion about public sector pay.”
He added:
“The pay review body process itself is in danger of being brought into disrepute because the government is hiding behind the pay review bodies, refusing to negotiate on pay and refusing to reach a reasonable settlement with our public sector unions.”
The government, which is battling inflation and trying to keep down the national deficit, has tried to restrict pay rises.
But Nowak said: “Starting off the conversation about NHS pay by saying ‘We’ve got this limited amount of money, that’s all there is, it doesn’t matter what evidence the unions bring to the table, it doesn’t matter what the pressures are on the workforce’ I don’t think is a reasonable starting point for a reasonable conversation about public sector pay.”
Nowak’s Predecessor Has Become Labour Peer
Nowak, who replaces Frances O’Grady—who was given a peerage in October and became a Labour peer, Dame O’Grady of Upper Holloway—accused the government of “sabotaging” attempts to resolve the wave of strikes which have spread across the country since the summer.
He added: “Today I am issuing a challenge to government and employers. Work with unions to end Britain’s living standards nightmare. UK workers are on course for two decades of lost pay. This is the longest squeeze on earnings in modern history. We can’t go on like this.”
Nowak said: “We can’t be a country where nurses are having to use food banks, while City bankers get unlimited bonuses. Unless we get wages rising across the economy, families will just keep lurching from crisis to crisis.”
“Unions stand ready to work with good employers to drive up growth, living standards, and productivity,” he added.
Passengers wait at the barriers at King’s Cross station following a strike by members of the Rail, Maritime, and Transport union (RMT), in a long-running dispute over jobs and pensions, in London, on Dec. 27, 2022. (James Manning/PA Media)
The TUC—an umbrella group which speaks up for the whole trade union movement in Britain—has traditionally been allied to the Labour Party and, with a general election looming in the next two years, Nowak made a party political point when he said: “For too long we have been trapped in a vicious Conservative cycle of stagnant growth, stagnant investment, and stagnant wages. It’s time for a proper long-term economic plan that rewards work not wealth.”
‘Dangerous Trap’
Earlier this month Health Secretary Steve Barclay accused the Unite, Unison, and GMB unions, which have been coordinating the ambulance strike, of refusing to work with the government at the national level to set out plans for dealing with medical emergencies during the strike.
In an article in The Telegraph on Dec. 20, Barclay said: “The British people would not forgive if politicians like me spent every single winter frozen in negotiations with trade unions, rather than getting on and solving the very real challenges we face as a country. It is a dangerous trap we have been determined to avoid.”
Barclay said the government had accepted the advice of the independent NHS pay review body and he added: “Most ambulance staff received a rise of at least four per cent this year, following the body’s recommendation. On average, ambulance staff have additional earnings worth around 37 per cent of basic pay, covering unsocial hours, geographical supplements and overtime. This takes total earnings to around £47,000 per person.”
But Nowak said workers were facing two decades of “lost pay” and he accused the government of being “blind” to the staffing crisis in the NHS, which he said was largely the fault of low pay.
A government spokeswoman told The Epoch Times, in an email: “The unions have chosen to strike over Christmas to cause maximum disruption. We are doing all we can to mitigate the impact, but the union bosses should be reasonable, stay around the negotiating table and call off these damaging strikes.”
She added: “Pay must be affordable and fair, which is why we accepted the recommendations from the independent pay review bodies to pay our valued public servants more. Inflation-matching pay increases for all public sector workers would cost everyone more long-term—worsening debt, fuelling inflation, and costing every household an extra £1,000.”
END
U.K. house prices see longest losing streak since global financial crisis, lender says
Dec. 30, 2022 at 4:23 a.m. ET
MarketWatach
The average house price in the U.K. is now £262,068.
U.K. house prices in December dropped for a fourth consecutive month, the longest stretch since the 2008 financial crisis, lender Nationwide reported on Friday.
The monthly drop was just 0.1%, compared to the 1.4% decline in November and 0.9% in October.
Still, prices are now 2.5% below their August peak.
Annual house price growth in December fell sharply to 2.8% from 4.4% in November. Average house prices dropped by 0.1% month-on-month – “a much smaller decline” than prior months, said
The average house in the U.K. was priced at £262,068 ($316,000) during December, down by just over £1,700 compared with November.
“While financial market conditions have settled, mortgage rates are taking longer to normalize and activity in the housing market has shown few signs of recovery,” said Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist.
“It will be hard for the market to regain much momentum in the near term as economic headwinds strengthen, with real earnings set to fall further and the labour market widely projected to weaken as the economy shrinks.”
Gardner added that he wouldn’t be surprised if potential house buyers waited until the new year to see how mortgage rates evolve, given long-term interest rates are heading back to the levels seen before the mini-budget in September.
“Longer-term interest rates, which underpin mortgage pricing, have returned towards the levels prevailing before the mini-Budget,” he said. The yield on the 10-year gilt TMBMKGB-10Y, 3.667% was 3.70% on Friday, compared to a peak of 4.64%.
“If sustained, this should feed through to mortgage rates and help improve the affordability position for potential buyers, as will solid rates of income growth, especially if combined with weak or negative house price growth.”
END
AUSTRIA/EUROPE
Austrian defense minister warns Europeans that they are totally unprepared for coming days of long blackouts
(Watson/SummitNews)
Austrian Defense Minister Warns Europeans Are Unprepared For Coming Days-Long Blackouts
The Austrian defense minister has warned that Europeans could face blackouts that go on for days, leaving one–third of citizens unable to “supply themselves.”
Klaudia Tanner made the comments during an interview with German news outlet Die Welt.
“The question is not whether it (the blackout) will come, but when it will come,” said Tanner, blaming the war in Ukraine.
“For Putin, hacking attacks on Western power supplies are a tool of hybrid warfare. We must not pretend that this is just a theory. We must be prepared for blackouts in Austria and Europe,” she added.
Austrian armed forces are set to establish 100 self-sufficient barracks by 2025 that are capable of sustaining themselves for a minimum of two weeks if energy supplies are seriously disrupted.
Tanner spoke to how unprepared Europeans were for crippling elongated blackouts by warning, “one-third of citizens would not be able to supply themselves on the fourth day of a blackout at the latest.”
While Vladimir Putin remains the convenient scapegoat, others have pointed to Europe’s overdependence on ‘green energy’ and its shutting down of traditional coal-fired and nuclear plants as one of the primary reasons for increasing the risk of blackouts.
In Germany for example, the country only has three remaining operational nuclear power plants, with MPs even having to vote to extend their life span into 2023 after previous plans to shut them down.
As we previously highlighted, Germans buying up electric heaters in anticipation of the gas supply being cut off is threatening to cause huge spikes in demand that could lead to widespread blackouts.
“If everyone switched on a fan heater at home, it would mean that we would have to almost double the existing network structure on every street,” said Peter Lautz, the boss of the Stadtwerke Wiesbaden Netz utility company.
Before winter began, cities across Germany announced they were planning to use sports arenas and exhibition halls as ‘warm up spaces’ to help freezing citizens who are unable to afford skyrocketing energy costs.
Top Green Party official Winfried Kretschmann caused controversy earlier this year by suggesting Germans use washcloths instead of taking showers, as well as buying expensive eco-heating systems that are unaffordable for the average person.
END
5.UKRAINE RUSSIA//
UKRAINE/RUSSIA/HUNGARY
Orban is correct for a pro peace stance. Ukraine lashes out at him
(zerohedge)
Ukraine Lashes Out At Orbán’s Pro-Peace Stance On Russian-Ukrainian Conflict
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 04:15 AM
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been harshly criticized by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, according to remarks published on the ministry’s website on Tuesday, Dec. 27, German news agency dpa reports.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba talks during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Orbán’s statements “demonstrate a pathological disregard for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people who are fighting against Russian aggression,” the Ukrainian ministry said, accusing the Hungarian leader of “political short-sightedness.”
As Denis Albert reports at Remix News, the comments came in response to a statement by Orbán that the war could end if the United States stopped supplying arms to Ukraine. Orbán was working in this way towards Ukraine’s defeat, even if it would increase the danger of Russian aggression directed at Hungary, the Ukrainian ministry said.
“The Hungarian leader should ask himself if he wants peace,” the ministry said in a statement.
In an earlier interview Orbán said, “Ukraine can continue fighting only as long as the United States supports them with money and weapons. If the Americans want peace, then there will be peace.”
As Remix News reported, in a recent interview Orbán said that while it is important for his government that Russia poses no security threat, continued economic relations is essential for not only Hungary, but also for the entire European economy.
“The answer to the question of whether we are on the right or wrong side of history is that we are on the Hungarian side of history. We support and help Ukraine, it is in our interest to preserve a sovereign Ukraine, and it is in our interest that Russia does not pose a security threat to Europe, but it is not in our interest to give up all economic relations with Russia. We are looking at these issues through Hungarian glasses, not through anyone else’s,” Orbán said.
Russia boosts naval nuclear force — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union
This is a serious example of a country preparing for whatever comes with high tech tools. Compare that to the balderdash spewed by DC and the out of control printing presses. To continue to annoy or agitate much more or longer maybe once too often. Hitting Engels airbase may seem like a good idea but what if Russia says enough and takes out all NATO bases in Europe to make a statement felt? Ramstein can be wiped out using conventional missiles. end /
END
RUSSIA/CHINA
Pledging Deepened Military Ties With Putin, Xi To Visit Russia In Spring Against Backdrop Of War
BY TYLER DURDEN
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 03:00 PM
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping hailed Russia-China ties as at their “best in history” and the strategic partnership between the two countries a “stabilizing factor” amid broader geopolitical tensions with the West. Putin vowed to his “dear friend” Xi to strengthen military cooperation with China, while Xi reciprocated by saying Beijing stands ready to expand ties.
“In the context of soaring geopolitical tensions, the importance of the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership as a stabilizing force is growing,” Putin emphasized, saying relations will continue to expand “dynamically” from this point on.
The Chinese leader in response said: “Under our joint leadership, the Chinese-Russian comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction in the new era demonstrates… resistance to stress [or difficulties],” according to a Russian state media readout.
Xi additionally sought to reassure Putin that China “in the face of a simple and far from unambiguous international situation” stands ready to “increase strategic cooperation with Russia, provide each other with development opportunities, and be global partners.”
Xi’s remarks about the ongoing Ukraine crisis and conflict, which Putin himself this month for the first time referred to as a “war” (a definite upgrade in terminology from the previous “special military operation” reference), were interesting considering that they carefully avoided condemning the invasion of Ukraine…
Xi also told Putin that the road to peace talks in Ukraine would not be smooth and that China would continue to uphold its “objective and fair stance” on the issue, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
With these words, Xi once again shirked continued pressure from Western countries to issue a full condemnation of the war.
Another big development to come from the Friday virtual summit is that the Kremlin unveiled an invitation for President Xi to travel to Russia in the spring of 2023. Putin expressed hope that this would present a united front and public solidarity in closer relations in the face of the pressure campaign from the West.
Putin said: “We are expecting you, dear Mr Chairman, dear friend, we are expecting you next spring on a state visit to Moscow,” adding that the state visit would “demonstrate to the world the closeness of Russian-Chinese relations.”
Given that part of the meeting was televised, and the formal invitation made public as part of this, it’s very likely Xi will indeed proceed with the spring visit, which is likely to have already been long in the planning process.
Putin further summarized what kind of message this would send to Russia and China’s rivals and enemies, stressing to Xi that “Amid unprecedented pressure and provocations from the West we are standing up for our own fundamental views.”
As we detailed this week of Zoltan Pozsar’s year-end big picture global sitrep, a major (recurring) theme of which includes the following observation: “in a moment when the world is going from unipolar to multipolar, the actions of heads of state are far more important than the actions of central banks”…
According to Pozsar the special relationship between Russia and China “has a financial agenda to it, and what President Xi and President Putin say about the future of money – that is, the future they envision – matters for the future of the U.S. dollar and liquidity in the U.S. Treasury market.” But even more important is what they do, i.e., it is their actions that are forging something new, or as Zoltan puts it:
Bretton Woods III is slowly taking shape, and in light of developments to date, my motto for Bretton Woods III – “our commodity, your problem” – remains apt.
The defense ministers of Syria, Turkey, and Russia held talks in Moscow on Wednesday in a sign of thawing relations between Ankara and Damascus. The conversation between Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and his Syrian counterpart, Ali Mahmoud Abbas, is believed to be the first meeting of the two nation’s defense ministers since 2011.
Turkey severed diplomatic relations with Damascus back in 2012 and backed the failed regime change effort against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by supporting anti-government fighters.
But now that it’s clear that Assad isn’t going anywhere and Turkey has been focusing on Kurdish militants in northeast Syria, Ankara has been signaling it wants a rapprochement with Damascus. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu revealed earlier this year that he briefly met with his Syrian counterpart in October 2021, the first known high-level meeting between the two governments since 2011.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that during Wednesday’s meeting, the ministers “noted the constructive nature of the dialogue held in this format and the need to continue it in the interests of further stabilizing the situation.” The Turkish Defense Ministry described the talks as having a “constructive atmosphere.”
In November, Turkey launched major airstrikes against the US-backed Kurdish-led SDF in northeast Syria over allegations the group was involved in a bombing in Istanbul, which the SDF denies. Turkey has been asking the US and Russia to convince the SDF to withdraw from towns near the Turkish border.
Unhappy with the US efforts to curtail Turkey’s offensive, the SDF has also requested Russia to broker talks with the Syrian government.
One possible solution would be for Syrian government troops to deploy to the border areas to act as a buffer between the Kurdish forces and Turkey, but that is unlikely to happen as long as the US occupies eastern Syria.
END
TURKEY
Turkey finds a good discovery in the Black Sea in their territorial waters. Turkey wants to replace the hub that supplied natural through Nordstream 1 and 2
(Paraskova/OilPrice.com)
Turkey Bets On Black Sea Gas To Slash Import Dependence
Turkey announced on Monday a new natural gas discovery in the Black Sea.
Erdogan: Turkey’s natural gas reserves in the Black Sea have now increased to 710 billion cubic meters.
Earlier this year, Erdogan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin agreed to set up a natural gas hub in Turkey.
Turkey announced on Monday a new natural gas discovery in the Black Sea and upgraded estimates for an already discovered field in the basin, in what could be a major step for the country in slashing gas imports and diversifying its energy sources. Turkey’s natural gas reserves in the Black Sea have now increased to 710 billion cubic meters (bcm), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.
The country upgraded the resource estimate of a previously discovered gas field and announced a new discovery in its Black Sea waters.
The already discovered Sakarya field saw its reserves upgraded, while a new discovery at Caycuma-1 further boosts Turkey’s estimates of gas in place that could replace much of its imports, on which the country is heavily dependent.
“As a result of the analysis of the data, we have revised the previously declared 540 billion cubic-metre reserve to 652 billion cubic metres,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“With our new discovery at Caycuma-1, our gas reserve in the Black Sea has risen by 170 billion cubic metres to 710 billion cubic metres,” said Erdogan.
“This new discovery will open the door for new ones. We’ll start drilling new wells as soon as possible,” Bloomberg quoted Erdogan as saying at a press conference after a cabinet meeting.
The Sakarya gas field is on track to produce first gas as early as next year, Turkey’s Erdogan said in November.
“Hopefully we’ll start using this gas next year,” the Turkish president was quoted as saying last month.
This week, Erdogan said Turkey had already drilled 13 wells in the Sakarya field.
The new discovery, at Caycuma-1, could be connected to the larger Sakarya gas field and from there to the country’s national grid, the president said on Monday.
The newly developed gas fields are set to go a long way toward Turkey’s energy diversification. So far, the country has mostly relied on imports to procure energy supply. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has hit Turkey’s economy and energy prices hard and has made energy imports much more expensive for Ankara.
Before this week’s reserves update, Turkish officials had expected that the Black Sea gas resources could meet around one-third of the country’s gas demand, Bloomberg notes.
Turkey is also preparing to potentially host a gas hub for Russian and other gas, which, however, may not be politically palatable to the EU.
Earlier this year, Erdogan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin agreed to set up a natural gas hub in Turkey, the Turkish president said.
“And in his own words, Putin announced to the world that ‘Europe can get its natural gas from Türkiye’,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.
A week earlier, Putin first suggested that Russia redirect natural gas supplies intended for the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea and the creation of a European gas hub in Turkey.
Since Putin first suggested the creation of the gas hub in Turkey, the two countries have not wasted time and instructed in October their respective energy regulators to immediately begin technical work to make the Russian proposal a reality.
“There will be no waiting” on this issue, Erdogan has said, as carried by AP.
Last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that any decisions on the potential gas hub in Turkey would be taken in 2023.
“Currently Gazprom is actively working with Turkish colleagues, with other potential participants of this project from other countries,” Novak was quoted as saying in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV news channel on Friday.
“As supplies to Europe in the southern direction are underway from both Algeria, and Qatar, and Azerbaijan as of today, fundamentally, the issue about the creation of a certain hub with not only Russian suppliers, but other exporters participating as well,” TASS quoted Novak as saying.
end
ISRAEL/USA
Biden congratulates the most extreme right government in Israel’s history
(zerohedge)
Biden Awkwardly Congratulates Most Extreme Right Government In Israel’s History
THURSDAY, DEC 29, 2022 – 06:40 PM
As we previewed earlier Benjamin Netanyahu has formed what’s being widely perceived as the most hardline and right-wing governing coalition in the country’s history, and on Thursday he was sworn in as the next prime minister along with this top officials.
President Biden promptly issued a formal congratulations, but also stressed that his administration will “oppose policies that endanger” the two-state solution or “contradict our mutual interests and values.”
The somewhat strained congratulatory statement among “friends” suggests that relations could get rocky from the start, given on Wednesday Netanyahu’s Likud party released the new governing coalition’s policy guidelines which vowed to place settlement expansion in the Palestinian West Bank as highest on the list of priorities.
The policy statement opens by vowing to “advance and develop settlement in all parts of the land of Israel – in the Galilee, Negev, Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria.”
Netanyahu’s return to power, after already being the longest-ever serving PM for the country, comes after he was ousted 18-months ago under a cloud of scandal. He served as prime minister from 2009 to 2021 – and his ultra-right coalition finally emerged victorious after multiple failed national election attempts.
Here’s how Axios, consistent even with a number of Israeli publications, describes the new government sworn in on Thursday:
Biden still stressed that the two leaders can “jointly address the many challenges and opportunities facing Israel and the Middle East region, including threats from Iran.”
The Biden statement continued: “The United States is working to promote a region that’s increasingly integrated, prosperous, and secure, with benefits for all of its people.”
The White House has only within the past month acknowledged that the JCPOA Iran nuclear deal is dead. Israeli officials have long warned that any “bad deal” would result in them seriously contemplating a preemptive attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Netanyahu’s own newly appointed national security chief actively supports military strikes on the Islamic Republic.
It’s worth recalling that after the Biden administration entered the White House at the start of 2021, then PM Netanyahu had to wait weeks for an initial phone call from Biden after Israel reached out. This was widely taken inside Israel as sign of a ‘cold shoulder’ from Biden.
end
6/GLOBAL ISSUES//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
Vaccine//Covid issues: Injuries
Word is getting out!!
Twitter’s COVID-19 Censorship Led To Loss Of Life, Says Former White House Adviser Dr. Scott Atlas
When discussing censorship, there are often “vague implications” on the effects of that restriction. But by censoring medical science and health policy, “you are killing people,” Dr. Scott Atlas firmly stated in an interview that aired on Newsmakers by NTD and The Epoch Times on Dec. 28.
“Censorship of the correct science and medical information, during this pandemic, absolutely killed people. It prevented people from making intelligent decisions. It prevented people from making the appropriate use of caution,” Atlas alleged of Twitter censoring doctors such as himself
Furthermore, Atlas charged, Twitter’s censorship was particularly “harmful” and “shocking” because the United States was founded on freedom.
“This kind of censorship was, in my view, unheard of in the United States,” Atlas stated.
“It’s reminiscent of everything that we, as a free society and democracy, abhor about countries that are authoritarian, like China, the former USSR and now Russia, North Korea.
“This is the kind of censorship that occurs in those countries. And now it’s occurring in our country.”
Censorship Kills
According to Atlas, censorship at the government’s behest isn’t limited to social media and is far more insidious than first imagined.
“It’s not simply blocking information. It’s also—being less overt about it—it’s limiting the public’s access to information. It’s impugning people who are speaking correct information,” Atlas said.
In Atlas’s view, there was only one acceptable COVID-19 narrative at the height of the pandemic, and that was the one put forward by those in authority, specifically Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx.
Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies in front of the U.S. Senate on Sept. 14. The director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who became the face of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, announces on Aug. 22 that he plans to retire at the end of the year. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Consequently, when other health authority figures, such as Atlas, advanced conflicting information, the above authorities enlisted help from the media to squash that dissent.
“Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, etc., went to their friends in the media and undermined people like me. Who, in fact, were saying what was correct, what has been validated as being correct this entire time.
“But the reality is, yes, the censorship of science kills people. And it killed people during this pandemic. There’s no doubt about that,” Atlas stated.
Calls for Accountability
According to the latest Rasmussen Reports, 63 percent of “Likely U.S. Voters” want Congress to investigate the FBI’s involvement with social media companies like Twitter.
Unfortunately, Atlas stated, he’s skeptical about any investigation “led by government officials.” Moreover, he doesn’t think a Congressional investigation is enough to fully uncover the collaboration between Big Tech and the government.
“Government investigations are usually political in nature. And even if they aren’t political, they will be perceived as having been political. And once something is perceived as political, you’ve lost a significant percentage of the public in terms of credibility,” Atlas explained.
Still, while Atlas doesn’t believe a Congressional investigation is enough, he thinks investigations are necessary to bring the truth about the government working with social media to light.
Plus, Atlas asserted that censorship and collusion would continue unchecked without an investigation.
“It’s necessary to do the investigations because we need the public to know the truth, and investigations are one way to do that,” Atlas said.
Prior to its upcoming conference in Davos next month, the World Economic Forum (WEF) appears to have joined the cancel campaign against Twitter, taking to recommending Chinese state-controlled social media apps to “follow along” with Davos Man into the future.
Twitter is noticeably absent from the entities listed on the organization’s “How to follow Davos 2023” social media pamphlet, and that appears to be no accident.
To stay up to speed with all that is happening within the invite-only doors of the ruling class confab, the WEF recommends following along through a handful of social media sites. They include the U.S.-based narrative-compliant Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, along with the Chinese social media apps TikTok WeChat, and Weibo. Twitter, which has freed itself from the grasp of the WEF-endorsed censorship-compliant social apps, is no longer included.
Through its founder Klaus Schwab and partner organizations, the WEF has a very cozy relationship with the Chinese government. Davos recently revealed that their China office now has 40 full time staffers. Moreover, every year in Beijing, the WEF hosts its “Annual Meeting of the New Champions,” which facilitates partnerships between international businesses and the Chinese Community Party. In 2018, the CCP awarded Klaus Schwab with its China Reform Friendship Medal, a medal for non-Chinese people who do the CCP’s bidding overseas.
Davos 2023 will feature Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, on stage. First reported by The Dossier, he will appear at an event titled “Tackling Harm in The Digital Era.”
In case you missed it, The Dossier has obtained an early, partial list of both events and confirmed speakers for Davos 2023. On the agenda for the 2023 conference includes event titles such as Why We Need Battery Passports, Leading The Charge Through Earth’s New Normal, A Living Wage For All, Enabling An Equitable Transition, and Beyond The Rainbow: Advancing LGBTQ+ Rights, among others.
The Bird App has faced a ferocious cancel campaign following its change of management. Elon Musk’s pledge to turn Twitter into a free speech platform has met major resistance from the institutional corporate and governmental ruling class. Several WEF partners, such as BlackRock, have joined the attacks against Twitter, boycotting the platform in protest of its “content moderation” policies. It should come as no surprise that the ruling class’s favorite narrative and ideas shop for technocratic tyranny has come after Twitter, given that the latter app is now serving as the one major global social media platform for open debate and dialogue.
Anthony Fauci acknowledged in 2012 that controversial “gain-of-function” research carried the “remote” possibility of triggering a pandemic, but argued the benefits would “outweigh the risks”
‘WASHINGTON, June 1, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged in 2012 that controversial “gain-of-function” research carried the “remote” possibility of triggering a pandemic, but argued the benefits would “outweigh the risks,” according to remarks newly unearthed as worldwide COVID-19 deaths near 3.6 million.’
I recorded this video on Rumble as a guide for President Xi of China and the Chinese people on what they face and what they must do next with surging COVID infections
Ukraine is at risk of losing. Their nation is ruined for the sake and at the instigation of the globalist American empire. George is a friend of mines & IMO, of the best of the best Americans
If Von der Leyen’s estimate is true, that is nearly ten times the number of dead Ukrainian soldiers reported by the Ukrainian government. The E.C. president’s remark shows that even the strongest backers of this bloody and unnecessary war can no longer hide the truth: Ukraine is at risk of losing.
The mainstream media and the Biden administration insist ad nauseam that Ukraine is winning against Russia. But the facts on the ground do not fit the narrative and the administration and media know it. The war hawks know their cynical Ukraine policy has not succeeded in driving Russia out of Ukraine. Tragically, the Ukrainians are the ones who suffer the immense cost of this foreign policy failure. Their nation is ruined for the sake and at the instigation of the globalist American empire.
As Ukraine loses its grip on heavily defended and important crossroads around the city of Bakhmut, the Western press has commenced a campaign to downplay the importance of the loss. Defense Express reports: “UK Defense Intelligence States [t]hat Bakhmut’s capture becomes primarily a symbolic, political objective for Russia.” Last week, the Financial Times published an article entitled: “Hell Just Hell: Ukraine and Russia’s war of attrition over Bakhmut.” As the subtitle of the piece reads, “Soldiers say fighting in and around eastern Donetsk city is reminiscent of first world war-style trench conflict.”
The following information is an indication of the nature of the Ukrainian “victory” over the previous six months.
Ukraine has lost an estimated 20 percent of its territory. At least 22 percent of Ukrainian farmland is under Russian control. These areas are a large part of the territory identified in the Minsk II agreement that were to be governed as autonomous districts. Due to the failure of the Minsk II agreement, Russia declared its Special Military Operations to free these areas from the grip of the Ukrainian government. As of today, it appears Russia has come close to achieving some of its initial goals.
The Ukrainian Central Bank estimates the nation’s 2022 GDP will decline by 32 percent, inflation will hit 30 percent, and unemployment will reach 30 percent. The New York Times reported Ukraine’s agriculture industry has lost an estimated $23 billion from the war. The International Monetary Fund reports the Ukraine war has led to the worst food shortage since 2008. CNN reports that Ukraine’s communications are entirely dependent on Elon Musk’s Starlink system. If there are troubles with the system, the country goes dark.
Brookings reports: “The war has destroyed at least $127 billion of the nation’s buildings and other infrastructure, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.” The Washington Post reports the Ukrainians are asking for $700 billion in addition to the over $100 billion we have sent.
On the ground, Ukraine has had difficulty taking any territory actively defended by Russia. The recent “victory” of Ukraine capturing Kherson has evaporated. Ukraine is evacuating Kherson due to Russian shelling. The Ukrainian military machine is unable to maintain control of a city their opponent had evacuated. All the September and October Ukrainian offensives have stalled, and the Russians appear to be solidifying their lines of defense and dramatically increasing their forces in the field while Ukraine is drafting sixty-year-old men.
Ukraine is also losing its access to the resources it needs to continue the war. The U.S. and Europe are running out of weapons to send Ukraine. In addition, CNN reports weapons supplies for Ukraine are running low. Ukraine’s military equipment, especially its artillery, is crumbling and the West can’t replace much of what is breaking down.
Foreign Policy reports that NATO officials are very worried by the shortages. Even neocon Frederick Kagan admits NATO isn’t prepared for a conflict like Ukraine. “NATO doesn’t really plan to fight wars like this, and by that I mean wars with a super intensive use of artillery systems and lots of tank and gun rounds,” Kagan told Foreign Policy. “We were never stocked for this kind of war to begin with.” According to the CEO of Raytheon, Ukraine has used thirteen years of Javelin production in ten months.
It didn’t have to be this way. Ukraine and Russia could have made a lasting peace deal if it weren’t for the meddling of the Globalist American Empire. In March of 2022, the two sides appeared to be close to agreeing on terms to settle the conflict. It appeared that the agreement would assure Ukraine would never join NATO. The NATO issue is the biggest in this whole affair. The United States and United Kingdom thwarted this deal and the war has continued since, killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians, Russians, and others. Their blood is on the hands of U.S. and U.K. leaders.
U.S. defense contractors, politicians, and think tanks are profiting at the expense of Ukraine and its unfortunate citizens. The rest of Europe is suffering from the “maximum sanctions” aimed at Russia while Ukrainians continue to flee their own country. None of this suffering appears to concern the people in charge of American foreign policy. They don’t care about Ukraine’s ruin–they only care about sticking it to Russia. This is the inevitable product of a D.C. worldview that sees humans as cattle.
No doubt, the cost of the war to Russia has been high as well. They have miscalculated and made errors throughout this whole tragedy. But the narrative purveyed to the American people has not been honest or accurate. What does Ukraine gain by losing tens of thousands of lives and significant portions of its infrastructure? Many Ukrainians have lost their loved ones and face a brutal winter all for the sake of people like Ursula von der Leyen, Joe Biden, and their neocon handlers. It’s time for Western leaders face the truth, and pursue negotiations to save the Ukrainians from this human tragedy.’
George D. O’Neill Jr.
George D. O’Neill, Jr., is a member of the board of directors of the American Ideas Institute, which publishes The American Conservative, and an artist who lives in rural Florida.
Trump Thinks Melania Put Up Better Christmas Decorations In The White House Than Jill BidenFormer President Donald Trump claimed Melania Trump put up better Christmas decorations in than White House than Jill Biden. Trump shared an article by the Western Journal on Truth Social that made the case that Melania’s decorations were better because of her “glamor and impeccable taste.” The media of course trashed whatever Melania did in the White House including her …READ MORE
Trump Scolds Paul Ryan For Falling “Into The Democrat Trap: Paul Has Always Been A Loser”Trump warned Republicans discussing cutting Social Security they were falling into one of the many “traps” the Democrats lay for the GOP with the American voter and if he is elected again he will protect the vital program. Trump said: “We’re not cutting Social Security. It’s very simple. It’s a simple answer. We’re not cutting Social Security. We have to …READ MORE
Liz Cheney Surrenders As Jan 6 Committee Formally Withdraws Subpoena For Donald TrumpLiz Cheney suffered one more loss to former President Donald Trump when the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 withdrew a subpoena it issued in October to Donald Trump. “As you may know, the Select Committee has concluded its hearings, released its final report and will very soon reach its end,” Chairman Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) wrote in a letter …READ MORE
“The Time Has Come For His Wealthy Friends To Be Held Responsible”: Wall Street Bank Sued For Helping Jeffrey EpsteinThe U.S. Virgin Islands government filed a lawsuit Tuesday against JPMorgan Chase accusing the Wall Street bank of helping Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation by failing in its duty to report suspicious financial activity. “Over more than a decade, JPMorgan (JPM) clearly knew it was not complying with federal regulations in regard to Epstein-related accounts as evidenced by its too-little …READ MORE
Target Limits Purchases of Children’s Medicines Amid ‘Tripledemic’Department store chain Target has decided to restrict the sales of over-the-counter pain and fever medication for children as the United States faces the challenge of a “tripledemic” and health care systems struggle with drug shortages.“Tripledemic” refers to three illnesses—COVID-19, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)—that are spreading during the winter season, with RSV and flu cases mainly affecting children. …READ MORE
Joe Biden Doesn’t Trust Some Secret Service Agents Because They Support Donald Trump New Book ClaimsChris Whipple is a bestselling author with extraordinary access to the inner workings of Washington DC. He has a new book coming out about President Joe Biden called “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House” where he spills the beans on what is really going on inside the White House. The book jacket claims, “Prizewinning journalist Chris …READ MORE
Protecting Your Privacy Should be a High Priority in 2023 – Beware of Substack!
December 29, 2022 6:40 pm
The MIT Technology Review recently published an article about how an iRobot’s Roomba J7 series robot vacuum took pictures of people inside their homes, in one case a woman sitting on a toilet, and those images ended up on the Internet on Facebook. iRobot is the world’s largest vendor of robotic vacuums, and Amazon.com recently bought them for $1.7 billion. The captured images making their way to Facebook was a mistake, as the article clearly explains, and this allegedly didn’t happen with their commercially available iRobots, but from “special development robots with hardware and software modifications” given to users who agreed to allow data streams to be collected for the purpose of training their AI (artificial intelligence). Welcome to the Brave New World of AI. The public has been brainwashed by the Technocrats into thinking that AI is “smart,” and that one day its intelligence will exceed that of humans. But in reality AI is STUPID, because in spite of using the word “intelligence” with this kind of software, it is only as good as the data supplied and programmed by those who develop it, and therefore will NEVER exceed the intelligence of human beings. And human intelligence is also dramatically DECREASING as so many foolishly agreed to be injected with experimental bioweapon shots which has resulted in a huge increase in neurological disorders. I am a former computer programmer and technologist myself, and I have watched this technology develop over the years, and AI is prone to all the errors, failures, crashes, ability-to-be-hacked, that every other software system contains, as this example with robotic vacuum cleaners clearly shows. If you don’t want “smart” devices (which are not “smart” at all!) in your home collecting your voice and images that can go out over the Internet, TURN OFF YOUR WIFI AND BLUETOOTH in your home. And in your car!
The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE (CLOSED ..(UP) AT 6.8983
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)…. 6.9166
TURKISH LIRA: 18.71 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.406
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 4 IN basis points from THURSDAY at 3.879% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic
USA 30 yr bond yield 3.953 UP 3 in basis points
Your closing USA dollar index, 103.46 DOWN 0.13 BASIS PTS ON THE DAY/1.00 PM/
Your closing bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates FRIDAY: 12:00 PM
London: CLOSED DOWN 60.98 PTS OR 0.81%
German Dax : CLOSED DOWN 148.13 POINTS OR 1.05%
Paris CAC CLOSED DOWN 102.16 PTS OR 1.55%
Spain IBEX CLOSED DOWN 94.30 OR 1.13%
Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 352.61PTS OR 1.47%
WTI Oil price 78.82 12: EST
Brent Oil: 84.26 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN /// DOWN TO: 69.90/ ROUBLE UP 2 AND 28/100 RUBLES/DOLLAR
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.562
UK 10 YR YIELD: 3.697 UP 0 BASIS PTS.
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA: 1.0702 UP .0042 OR 42 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2074 UP .0019 or 19 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 3.6975% UP 1 BASIS PTS
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 131.00 DOWN 1.917/YEN UP 192 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3539 DOWN .0016 (CDN dollar, UP 16 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 80.37
Brent OIL: 85,96
USA 10 yr bond yield UP 4 BASIS pts to 3.879%
USA 30 yr bond yield UP 5 BASIS PTS to 3.975%
USA dollar index:103.26 DOWN 32 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 18.70
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 69.90 UP 2 AND 28/100 roubles
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: DOWN 73.55 PTS OR 0.22%
NASDAQ 100 DOWN 11.29 PTS OR 0.10%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 21.73 UP 0.29 PTS (1.35)%
GLD: $169.64 UP 0.79 OR 0.47%
SLV/ $22.02 UP $0.05 OR 0.23%
end)
USA trading day in Graph Form
‘Worst Year Ever’ For Stocks & Bonds – Global Inflation Fight Bursts ‘Everything Bubble’
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 04:01 PM
Before we get to the big picture on the month, quarter, and year, this week has ended with no ‘Santa Claus’ rally this year for US stocks…
Until the last few minutes, the S&P 500 pinning around 3835 just as we said as JPM’s Collar trumped 0-DTE chaos, then everything melted up into the close…
As SpotGamma remarked earlier,as January is a put-heavy OPEX, any downside start to January could energize those puts, and serve to press markets lower.
This could lead to higher IV, and a reflexive selling loop to the downside. We’d then look for a rally after OPEX, as those puts expire.
Conversely, should January start off with strength, those puts could help to fuel a rally as their values collapse leading to an early, material stock rally.
OPEX could then trigger a reversal of that market strength. We currently assign edge to this scenario.
Trade the first week of January should help shed light on the timing of the rally (i.e. pre-OPEX or post-OPEX) as the machines show the way…
The dollar slipped lower, gold higher, and bitcoin lower on the week as Treasury yields surged into year-end…
Source: Bloomberg
On the year, global stocks suffered a 20% decline in 2022, the 2nd worst year since 1974, as central banks fought inflation in the face of supply chain shortages and an energy crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…
Source: Bloomberg
Worse still, as The FT reports, a traditional portfolio consisting of 60% US stocks and 40% US bonds will have seen its worst performance since 1932, when the U.S. was in the midst of the Great Depression.
As US bond returns are suffering their worst stretch in over a century…
US equity and bond markets lost a combined $17.4 trillion in 2022 at their October lows…
Source: Bloomberg
And while The Dow ‘only’ fell 9% in 2022, Nasdaq plunged over 33%…
Source: Bloomberg
Over $7 trillion in stock market cap has been erased from the Nasdaq 100. While the Nasdaq 100”s drop was bigger in 2008 (down 41.9%), it was only down about $1 trillion in 2008 though, because the denominators have gotten so much bigger…
Source: Bloomberg
European stocks were also slammed lower (worst year since 2018) with UK worst and Spain the prettiest horse in the glue factory…
Source: Bloomberg
With the ‘longest duration’ stocks having been hammered the hardest…
Source: Bloomberg
Energy stocks turned in a dramatic performance and were the only US equity sector with gains in 2022 (as Consumer Discretionary and Tech underperforming)…
Source: Bloomberg
“This has been a year to be in the bunker,” says John Bilton, head of global multi-asset strategy at JPMorgan Asset Management.
Gold ended the year unchanged as the dollar surged; and while bonds and stocks were monkeyhammered lower, crypto was really clubbed like a baby seal…
Source: Bloomberg
The volume of negative-yielding debt has collapsed in 2022 (from a peak over $18 trillion in Dec 2020, there remains a modest $113 billion left, mainly in short-dated JGBs)…
Source: Bloomberg
As The Fed unleashed its most aggressive tightening cycle in decades…
“This has been a train crash waiting to come,” says Alexandra Morris, chief investment officer at Norway’s Skagen Funds.
“Now, money has a cost. You can’t just throw money at unprofitable businesses, very risky businesses. We need to have a much more sensible allocation of capital.”
As the year ends, 113 counterparties parked a record $2.554 trillion at the Fed’s overnight reverse repurchase agreement facility, in which counterparties like money-market funds can place cash with the central bank. That was $245 billion more than the day before, the biggest one-day increase ever.
Source: Bloomberg
Demand for the facility has tended to surge at the end of each quarter as dealers curtail their activity in the market for repurchase agreements in order to shore up their balance sheets for regulatory purposes.
US Treasury yields exploded higher this year, led by the short-end, as the market realized The Fed wasn’t kidding about its anti-inflation stance. 2Y Yields rose a stunning 370bps in 2022 while 30Y yields rose over 200bps…
Source: Bloomberg
Which meant a massive flattening in the yield curve…
Source: Bloomberg
…driving the entire curve deep into inversion…
Source: Bloomberg
For some context, 2Y Yields started the year at 0.72% and ended at 4.43% (with Fed Funds now trading above it)…
Source: Bloomberg
The last six months have seen dramatic swings in the market’s expectations for The Fed’s monetary policy trajectory with the terminal rate surging up to around 5.00% as the expectations for a H2 2023 rate-cutting cycle (which implies a recession) surging dovishly in Q4…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar has gained more than 8 percent over the year, but it lost more than 8 percent this quarter on expectations the Fed may not raise rates as high as previously feared…
Source: Bloomberg
Cryptos took annus horribilis to ’11’ this year with the big ones – BTC and ETH – down 64% and 67% respectively as chaos reigned across the ecosystem…
Source: Bloomberg
On the commodity side of the board, it was a very volatile year with copper down notably (growth/demand scares) and energy up (supply scares), though the latter is dramatically below its mid-year panic highs…
Source: Bloomberg
WTI had a volatile year as Putin invasion reactions battled China COVID restrictions
Source: Bloomberg
Despite the dollar’s gains, gold ended unchanged on the year, rallying back above $1800 after triple-testing $1600 support…
Source: Bloomberg
Silver outperformed gold on the year, with Q4 seeing the gold/silver ratio top out (at 2019/2020 resistance) and fall back into the red for the year…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, if you’re hoping for a rebound in 2023, there’s really only one factor you can pray for…
Source: Bloomberg
When (or if) The Fed ends its QT program? Or this?
See you in 2023!
END
EARLY MORNING TRADING//
EARLY AFTERNOON TRADING
ii) USA DATA
Chicago PMI Bounces But Remains Worst December Since 2015
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 09:56 AM
The final macro datapoint of 2022 just printed and it was better than expected with Chicago PMI bouncing from 37.2 to 44.9 (considerably better than the 40.0 expected), but remaining deep in contraction territory…
This is the worst December print for the Chicago PMI since 2015…
Under the hood, the headline index rose despite only four components rising versus last month:
Prices paid rose at a slower pace; signaling expansion
New orders fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction
Employment fell at a faster pace; signaling contraction
Inventories fell and the direction reversed; signaling contraction
Supplier deliveries rose and the direction reversed; signaling expansion
Production fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction
Order backlogs rose and the direction reversed; signaling expansion
Stocks stumbled in true ‘good’ news is ‘bad’ news fashion…
But we suspect the 3835 level for the S&P 500 will prove critical today.
III) USA ECONOMIC STORIES.
This guy is one big doorknob: State Ag’s were warned of airline debacle months ago
(zerohedge)
Buttigieg Knew: State AGs Warned Transportation Agency Of Airline Debacle Months Ago
THURSDAY, DEC 29, 2022 – 07:20 PM
Shortly before Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in September that airline issues would ‘get better‘ before the holidays, a bipartisan group of attorneys general warned him that regulators’ lax oversight over the industry was about to lead to chaos.
According to The Lever, federal officials stood by as Southwest Airlines executives, “flush with cash from a government bailout,” showered themselves in cash and dividends, instead of shoring up fundamental issues that have contributed to this week’s travel mayhem.
Four months before Southwest’s mass cancellation of flights, 38 state attorneys general wrote to congressional leaders declaring that Buttigieg’s agency “failed to respond and to provide appropriate recourse” to thousands of consumer complaints about airlines customer service. -The Lever
“Americans are justifiably frustrated that federal government agencies charged with overseeing airline consumer protection are unable or unwilling to hold the airline industry accountable,” the AGs wrote in August, urging Congress to pass legislation which would arm state officials to enforce consumer protection laws against airlines.
On August 2, New York AG Letitia James sent Buttigieg a letter raising the alarm over “the deeply troubling and escalating pattern of airlines delaying and canceling flights,” especially during the holidays. The letter made several recommendations, including;
Require airlines to advertise and sell only flights that they have adequate personnel to fly and support. Perform regular audits of airlines to ensure compliance, thoroughly investigate airlines with excess cancellations, and impose fines on airlines that do not comply.
Require airlines to provide partial refunds to passengers for any cancellation that results in a rescheduled flight which the passenger accepts but that is later or longer than the originally purchased flight.
Require airlines to provide full refunds and additional payments for cancellations that require passengers to cancel their flights and assume additional costs, such as flights on other airlines, rental car reservations, gas, or hotel stays, in order to make it to their destination.
Require airlines to provide full and prompt refunds to passengers, at passengers’ request, if flights are delayed for longer than a time period established by the FAA.
Impose steep fines for domestic flight delays of more than two hours and international flight delays of more than three hours that are not weather-related
Congressional lawmakers put pressure on Buttigieg nearly six months ago.
Nearly six months ago @BernieSanders & I called for Buttigieg to implement fines & penalties on airlines for cancelling flights. Why were these recommendations not followed? This mess with Southwest could have been avoided. We need bold action. https://t.co/wVH4iAezfx— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) December 29, 2022
One week after the letter from the Attorneys General, Buttigieg told The Late Late Show With James Corden that the airline experience “is going to get better by the holidays,” Lever reports.
Looks like they will resume normal flight operations
(zerohedge)
Southwest Airlines Resumes Normal Flight Operations After Week From Hell
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 07:45 AM
Southwest Airlines’ operational meltdown for the past week appears to be normalizing on Friday with minimal disruptions.
As of 0645 ET, only 39 of Southwest’s flights had been canceled, according to the flight-tracking service website FlightAware.
Thursday appears to be the last day of the Southwest crisis when about 2,350 flights, or 60% of the airline’s schedule, were canceled. FlightAware shows the budget airline scrapped more than 15,000 flights over the past week, stranding tens of thousands of passengers at airports across the country.
The company issued numerous apologies for the worst operational mishaps in its five decades of existence. The latest apology was released Thursday:
We know even our deepest apologies – to our Customers, to our Employees, and to all affected through this disruption – only go so far.
We’ve set up a page at Southwest.com/traveldisruption for Customers to submit refund and reimbursement requests for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation; as well as to connect Customers to their baggage.
We have much work ahead of us, including investing in new solutions to manage wide-scale disruptions.
We aim to serve our Customers and Employees with our legendary levels of Southwest Hospitality and reliability again very soon.
The systemwide chaos started last week when the airline declared a “state of operational emergency” at its Denver Airport hub after “an unusually high number” of employee absences ahead of Christmas.
A combination of staffing shortages, the winter storm, an antiquated crew-scheduling system, and a network that allowed cancellations in one region to spread throughout all other airports led to the travel mess.
On Thursday, Chief Commercial Officer Ryan Green told reporters that disruptions “would certainly impact the fourth quarter.” A similar incident in October 2021 cost the airline $75 million. Meanwhile, Cowen analyst Helane Becker told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday that the fourth quarter hit could be “in the hundreds of millions of dollars range.”
Southwest faces significant customer service challenges. First, it must repair trust with customers. But even before that, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have signaled that they will investigate Southwest.
end
House prices are set to decline even more as supply jumps
(zerohedge)
Housing Supply Jumps Most On Record As Market Freezes
FRIDAY, DEC 30, 2022 – 02:19 PM
A downturn in the residential real estate market could be nearing, Kieran Clancy, a senior US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, recently warned. The potential for a major price decline has been on our radar in recent quarters as elevated mortgage rates and record-high prices create an unfavorable environment for buyers.
The only reason housing prices have yet to plummet is because of the lack of housing inventory. That’s the primary difference between the current market and the market during the 2008 housing crash.
For now, we keep our eyes peeled for the changing dynamics in supply/demand. A new Redfin report might be the first sign inventory is increasing.
For the four weeks ending Dec. 25, the total number of homes for sale jumped 18% compared to the same period a year ago. Redfin said this was a record year-over-year increase, adding homes are lingering on the market longer.
“Inventory is up even though new listings are down by double digits because homes are taking a long time to sell amid 6%-plus mortgage rates (the average 30-year rate ticked up to 6.42% this week), economic uncertainty and the typically slow holiday season,” the report said.
The residential real estate market is freezing as homes on the market now take 40 days to go under contract, more than double from a record low of 18 days in May and the slowest pace since January 2021.
A jump in supply is not a promising sign for the market heading into 2023. Goldman Sachs analysts slashed their outlook for home prices from around flat next year to down 4%, noting “unsustainable levels of housing affordability to continue weighing on housing demand.”
The median home sale price was $351,860, up a measly 0.7% year-over-year, the slowest growth rate since the beginning of the virus pandemic.
During the four weeks leading up to Dec. 25, prices fell 9% year-over-year in San Francisco, 6.5% in San Jose, 6% in Los Angeles, 4.5% in Detroit, 4.4% in Pittsburgh, 3.7% in Sacramento, 3.6% in Oakland, CA and 2.3% in Austin. They slipped 2% or less in New York, Seattle, Anaheim, CA, Phoenix, Chicago, Newark, NJ, Riverside, CA, Boston, and Washington, DC.
And for more insight into what’s next. Industry insider and CEO of US home-furnishings company RH, Gary Friedman, warned in a recent earnings call “there will be no soft landing” in the residential real estate market.
The bottom line is that momentum in the housing markets has stalled, inventory is now building, and perhaps it’s just a matter of time before prices decline.
USA ECONOMIC ISSUES// SUPPLY ISSUES//DERIVATIVES
SWAMP STORIES
Quite a story: this guy lied on everything and yet wins his seat. They cannot remove him
(Ly/EpochNews)
Lying Liar George Santos Under Investigation For All Those Lies
Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, a Republican who took office at the start of 2022, said in a statement on Dec. 29: “The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning.
“The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress. No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”
Representatives for Santos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Dec. 26, in an interview with the New York Post and New York-based radio station WABC, Santos said he had fabricated parts of his education and work experience, in what he called “resume embellishments.”
Santos had falsely claimed on his biography posted on the National Republican Congressional Committee that he had obtained “degrees in finance and economics” at Baruch College and New York University, and had worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
The revelations came about after a report from The New York Times on Dec. 19 called into question what Santos had claimed about his heritage, education, and work history.
The rep.-elect said he still plans to assume office in January. He is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 3, when the U.S. House of Representatives reconvenes.
“I want to make sure that if I disappointed anyone by resume embellishments, I’m sorry,” he told WABC on Dec. 26. “And I will deliver to you on everything I campaigned on because it’s still the same guy, still the same message, still the same priorities.”
Santos faced other allegations such as that he had falsely said he was Jewish. Santos on Dec. 26 told the New York Post he had “never claimed to be Jewish.”
Previously, he referred to himself as “a proud American Jew,” reported The Associated Press, and described himself as a “non-observant Jew,” reported the Jewish Insider. He separately had said on Twitter that he is a “conservative Roman Catholic.”
In remarks to the Jewish Insider in early November, Santos said: “Whether my mother’s Jewish background beliefs, which are mine, or my father’s Roman Catholic beliefs, which are also mine, are represented or not, I want to represent everyone else that practices every other religion to make sure everybody feels like they have a partner in me.”
Rolex watch thefts hitting major western USA cities
(zerohedge)
Rolex Watch Theft Wave Hits Major Western Cities
THURSDAY, DEC 29, 2022 – 11:20 PM
Timepiece aficionados are leaving their Rolex, Patek, Audemars Piguet, and other expensive watches at home as they attempt to stay under criminals’ radar while in public. From Los Angeles to Manhattan to London to Paris, violent high-end watch robberies are rising.
“I outright stopped wearing it [stainless steel Rolex Submariner] on the subway.
“I don’t want to draw attention to myself in that way” amid the spate of subway crimes, New York City resident Troy Barmore told NYTimes in August.
While watch theft statistics are limited in major metro areas, authorities across the US and Europe have warned about a wave of criminals targeting affluent people for their timepieces.
Bloomberg reported London’s Metropolitan Police Service recorded a staggering 60% jump in knife-point robberies. In Paris, an entire police task force has been assigned to investigate luxury watch theft.
“This is a top priority for us, and we have already made a number of arrests.
“No one should have to go about their day in fear of thieves,” said London Detective Chief Superintendent Owain Richards.
Police data in London shows 667 Rolex watches were stolen from people between January and September, up from 60 over the same period last year. The average value of watches stolen in the English capital exceeded 10,000 pounds this summer.
Watch owners insure their timepieces, but that’s the least of their worries because they could become victims of a violent robbery. Some who sport these watches have taken them off and placed them in winder boxes.
And back to the US, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said 206 thefts involving at least one watch valued at $5,000 or more occurred between Jan. 1 through mid-November. That’s a 30% increase over the same period last year.
Organized crime gangs have been mainly on the prowl, scoping out wealthy folks, either at their homes or in public, waiting to pounce and steal expensive jewelry. These thefts are also happening at home.
“We are definitely seeing examples of robberies and thefts of luxury watches taking place across North America,” Tannie Ng, a senior underwriter for luxury collections at Chubb Ltd., said in an interview.
With that in mind, it’s safer to wear less expensive and or no jewelry at all. And for those who want to wear fancy jewelry despite the risks, well, wearing body armor and or legally concealing a weapon could be your best shot at survival as the western world plummets into a crime-infested liberal utopia.
THE KING REPORT
The King Report December 30, 2022 Issue 6918
Independent View of the News
The Bank of Japan conducted two additional rounds of unscheduled bond-purchases on Thursday.
BOJ Defends Yield-Curve Target with More Rounds of Bond BuyingBOJ offers to buy unlimited quantity of two- to five-year debtSome yields rise even after BOJ announces extra purchasesThat was on top of Wednesday’s unplanned operations and a daily offer to buy 10-year debt at 0.5%, the top of its current yield target… https://www.yahoo.com/now/boj-announces-more-unscheduled-bond-012640654.html
US Initial Jobless Claims 225k as exp., 216k prior; Continuing Claims 1.710m, 1.69m exp, 1.672m prior
@stlouisfed: An analysis of state-level economic growth suggests that a certain number of slumping state economies could signal the start of a national recessionhttp://ow.ly/IE2o50Mexk6 In sum, a threshold estimate based on this analysis shows that 26 states need to have negative growth in the SCI (state coincident indexes) to have reasonable confidence that the national economy entered into a recession. Excluding the 2008 outlier raises the threshold to 29 states. So, where are we now? In October 2022, 27 states had negative growth in the SCI. That would exceed the six-recession average of 26 states but would fall short of the outlier-adjusted estimate (ex-2008) of 29. One caveat is worth noting: Populous states like California, Texas and Florida that have disproportionately large economies can sometimes exert a large influence on national economic activity. This analysis does not adjust for this.
Credit Cracks Widen with Distressed Debt Ballooning Distressed debt in the US alone jumped more than 300% in 12 months, high-yield issuance is much more challenging in Europe and leverage ratios have reached a record by some measures…. Globally, almost $650 billion of bonds and loans are in distressed territory… Loan-loss provisions at systematically important banks surged 75% in the third quarter compared with a year earlier, a clear indication that they are bracing for payment issues and defaults… The search for yield during quantitative easing was so desperate that borrowers were able to soften investor protections, known as covenants, meaning investors are far more exposed to the risks. For example, more than 90% of the leveraged loans issued in 2020 and early 2021 have limited restrictions on what borrowers can do with the money… Almost 75% of issuers in the US have only loans in their debt capital structure, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co., compared with 50% in 2013… https://www.yahoo.com/now/credit-market-cracks-widen-distressed-081138767.html
The above headline is absurd. Initial Jobless Claims were as expected. Stocks rallied yesterday purely on 2022 performance gaming. Fangs and techs soared because holders of these stocks are suffering huge losses for 2022. Ergo, the need to push these stocks higher is extreme.
ESHs traded sideways, mostly in modestly positive territory, during Asian trading on Thursday. They rallied modestly into the European open but quickly went inert until another rally began at 3:41 ET. The rally ended by 6:11 ET. ESHs and stocks went inert until the pre-NYSE rally commenced.
ESHs sagged when the NYSE opened. However, traders eagerly and aggressively bought the weakness, creating a bottom at 9:31 ET. ESHs and stocks then soared with ESHs jumping 42.50 by 10:55 ET. After a moderate retreat, ESHs and stocks rallied to new highs near the European close, of course.
ESHs and stocks were inert (minor new high near 14:07 ET) until a modest decline at the close appeared.
Positive aspects of previous session Stocks rallied and Fangs soared on desperate 2022 performance gaming
Negative aspects of previous session The BoJ intervened for the 2nd consecutive day in Japanese bonds After the manic equity buying when the NYSE opened, stocks went inert, a sign of few organic buyers
Ambiguous aspects of previous session Time is running out for Santa. Perhaps too many Street boys & girls were naughty this year
First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE open:Up; Last Hour:Down
Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 3837.64 Previous session High/Low: 3858.19; 3805.45
Virgin Islands attorney general sues JPMorgan Chase over banking services for Jeffrey Epstein “Over more than a decade, JPMorgan clearly knew it was not complying with federal regulations in regard to Epstein-related accounts as evidenced by its too-little too-late efforts after Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and shortly after his death, when JPMorgan belatedly complied with federal law,” states the complaint filed by US Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George. “Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JPMorgan,” the lawsuit states… https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/virgin-islands-attorney-general-sues-jpmorgan-chase-over-banking-services-for-jeffrey-epstein/
Slow Pace of Balance Sheet Reduction Calls into Question Fed’s Commitment to Inflation Fight The plan called for $30 billion in US Treasuries and $17.5 billion in mortgage-backed securities to roll off the balance sheet in June, July and August. That would total $45 billion per month. In September, the Fed said it would increase the pace to $95 billion per month. Given the plan, the Fed balance sheet should have dropped by $560 billion as of the end of December… as of Dec. 19, the balance sheet had only shrunk by $401 billion (Now, $414B)… the balance sheet has only shrunk by a relatively tepid 4.5%… https://schiffgold.com/commentaries/slow-pace-of-balance-sheet-reduction-calls-into-question-feds-commitment-to-inflation-fight/
Today – Traders and money managers want to force stuff higher to embellish 2022 performance, which is generally poor. After today’s NYSE close, there are only two days left for the Santa Rally.
Though most traders believe the last day of the year is unremittently bullish, Nasdaq has been down in 16 of the past 22 years. Per the Trader’s Almanac, Nasdaq was up on the final session of the year for 29 years in a row, from 1971 to 1999. The usual suspects want to force stuff higher to embellish 2022 performance, which is desperately needed this year. However, in recent years organic selling, for a variety of reasons & purposes, has appeared on the final session of the year. Today is a total crapshoot.
ESHs are -6.50 at 20:40 ET. Expected economic data: Dec Chicago PMI 40
@greg_price11: In the first two years of his presidency, Biden has spent 270 days on vacation.
@bonchieredstate: Joe Biden jet setting off to St. Croix for his weekly vacation instead of staying in DC for one extra day to sign the omnibus bill, causing it to now have to be flown by private jet to the Caribbean (must be signed by 12/30), is the perfect description of our government…
Tall Tales: Before George Santos, politicians from Biden to Clinton fibbed about their past Political history is littered by figures who exaggerated their credentials or told tall tales about the backgrounds. Well before Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) admitted to fabricating key details of his biography, lying about one’s past was a rich political exercise. President Joe Biden got caught boasting about bogus academic credentials, Hillary Clinton made up a sniper attack in Bosnia, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren had to apologize for claiming Native American heritage… Santos has received widespread backlash for his fibs, and a Long Island prosecutor said she intends to investigate whether the soon-to-be-congressman committed any crimes… Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) led voters in Connecticut to believe he was a Vietnam veteran when, in fact, he was never deployed to Vietnam. In 2010, the New York Times revealed that Blumenthal had made misleading statements about his war service since at least 2003, and that the media had reported that he was a Vietnam veteran for at least a decade. https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/resume-padders-george-santos-these-politicians-lied-about-their
@AlexEpstein: “Country Faces an Overpopulation by 1975, with Farms Unable to Feed All, Experts Say” —@nytimes in 1952, fearing that US population would reach 190 million. Today we have 330 million people, and our major food-related problem is eating too much of it. https://t.co/U9N7D3T5vl
We wish all our readers and friends a safe, healthy, and gratifying 2023.
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (WNW 562 12.30.22)
President Donald Trump doubled down on his pro vax stance in a new interview this week. It looks like Trump has waded into the vax quicksand, and it’s going to take him under if he doesn’t pull out soon. Even though host Wayne Root is firmly anti-CV19 vax, Trump told him the CV19 bioweapon/vax is a “miracle of modern science” and “saved millions of lives.” Donald Trump cannot back up the claim this bioweapon saved “millions of lives” because bioweapons are designed to maim and kill. That is exactly what this CV19 injection has done and is still doing. Sticking to his guns on the bioweapon passed off as a vaccine is so far afoul of the injury and death data is disturbing for a man who wants to be President again. Before it’s over, I predict President Trump will have to do an about face on the vax. I hope he does not wait too long. With the overwhelming negative scientific evidence on the CV19 bioweapon, I am surprised Trump has not already done so. What good are Trump’s policies if nobody is left alive to enjoy them in 2025? Repent Donald Trump.
Elon Musk has taken a wrecking ball to Twitter censorship when he took over as CEO. Now, Musk is tweeting out “Gain-of-Function” with the word “bioweapon.” Musk is saying the CV19 infection was a bioweapon in clear terms. Do you think Musk has been watching Karen Kingston on USAWatchdog? Kingston is calling out everything CV19 from “infection to injection” and saying, “It’s all a lie.” Data and documents show CV19 is, in fact, a man-made military bioweapon. There is no virus, according to biotech analyst Kingston. It’s just lipid nanoparticles or a “biohybrid microrobot.” This is what the Big Pharma patents say, and everybody at the top knows CV19 from “infection to injection” is a bioweapon.
We have so many “wars and rumors of wars” going on today around the world that the prediction from Jesus, more than 2,000 years ago, is looking more and more like a prophesy coming true. The Pentagon is threatening to kill Putin, according to the Russians. Ukraine is a war with no end in sight, Iran is threatening to nuke Israel, and China is threatening Taiwan on a regular basis. These are just to name a few of the “wars and rumors of wars” happening now.
There is much more in the 47 min. newscast.
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he talks about these stories and more in the final Weekly News Wrap-Up of 2022.
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