FEB 27/LBMA/OTC OPTIONS EXPIRY TOMORROW: GOLD CLOSED UP $6.95 TO $1817.40//SILVER CLOSED DOWN 15 CENTS TO $20.69//PLATINUM CLOSED UP $1.95 TO $942.95//PALLADIUM CLOSED DOWN $6.25 TO $1430.45//COVID UPDATES: DR PAUL ALEXANDER/DR PANDA//VACCINE IMPACT//SLAY NEWS//UPDATES ON THE EAST PALESTINE DISASTER//UPDATES ON THE UKRAINE RUSSIA WAR: UKRAINE WANTS TO LEAD AN OFFENSIVE TO RETAKE CRIMEA//RUSSIA STOPS ALL GAS FLOWS TO POLAND///SWEDEN TO SEND LEOPARD TANKS TO UKRAINE AND THIS WILL ELEVATE TENSIONS//THE MAJOR TOWN OF BAKHMUT SURROUNDED//USA ENERGY DEPARTMENT WRITES THROUGH THE WALL STREET JOURNAL THAT THE COVID VIRUS MOST LIKELY CAME FROM WUHAN LAB LEAK//THE ALL IMPORTANT DALLAS FED MANUFACTURY SURVEY INDICATES HUGE CONTRACTION ON THE ECONOMY//SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT//
132 C SG AMERICAS 110 435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 36 661 C JP MORGAN 136 686 C STONEX FINANCIA 1 3 880 H CITIGROUP 184 991 H CME 120
TOTAL: 295 295
JPMORGAN STOPPED 136/195
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GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR FEB/2023. CONTRACT: 295 NOTICES FOR 29,500 OZ or 0.8175 TONNES
total notices so far: 15,350 contracts for 1,535,000 oz (47.744 tonnes)
SILVER NOTICES: 30 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 150,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 919 for 4,595,000 oz
END
GLD
WITH GOLD UP $6.95
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD
/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD////
INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.32TONNES
Silver//SLV
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 15 CENTS
AT THE SLV// HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.471 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV/
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV
CLOSING INVENTORY: 482.429. MILLION OZ (CORRECTED)
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A STRONG SIZED 635 CONTRACTS TO 125,180 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THE STRONG SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR $0.46 LOSS IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON FRIDAY. WE HAVE NOW COMING CLOSE TO OUR ALL TIME LOW OF 124,080 OI CONTRACTS RECORDED FEB 22/2023. OUR BANKERS WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT FELL BY $0.46). BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPEC LONGS, AS WE HAD AN ATMOSPHERIC SIZED GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES 3345 CONTRACTS. AS WELL, WE HAD 200 NOTICES FOR EXCHANGE FOR RISK TRANSFER ( AS THE TOTAL ISSUED IN THIS CATEGORY SO FAR THIS MONTH TOTAL 7.225 MILLION OZ. WE HAVE FINISHED WITH OUR SPECS BEING SHORT AS THEY COVERED WITH THE RISE IN PRICE IN JANUARY . WE HAVE NOW RETURNED TO OUR USUAL AND CUSTOMARY SCENARIO: BANKERS SHORT AND SPECS LONG.
WE MUST HAVE HAD: A GIGANTIC ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS( 2710 CONTRACTS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 0.540. MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 150,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP// NEW TOTALS STANDING = 4.595 MILLION OZ + 7.225 MILLION OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK//TOTAL STANDING 11.820 MILLION OZ//// V) STRONG SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/ GIGANTIC SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL REMOVED 236
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS FEB. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF FEB:
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 18 days, total 18,928 contracts: OR 94,640 MILLION OZ . (1051 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 94.64 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 FINAL
JAN 2023/// 53.070 MILLION OZ //FINAL
FEB: 2023: 94.64/ MILLION OZ/INITIAL//MUCH STRONGER ISSUANCE VS THE LATTER TWO MONTHS.
RESULT: WE HAD A STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 635 DESPITE OUR $0.46 LOSS IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//FRIDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A HUGE SIZED EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 2710 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 FEB OF 0.54 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 150,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP = NEW STANDING: 4.95 MILLION OZ + 7.225 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK://NEW STANDING INCREASES TO 11.82 MILLION OZ .. WE HAVE AN ATMOSPHERIC SIZED GAIN OF 3345 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD 30 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 150,000 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 SMALL SIZED 942 CONTRACTS TO 425,218 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 136 CONTRACTS.
.
WE HAD A SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI ( 942 CONTRACTS) DESPITE OUR $9.10 LOSS IN PRICE. WE ALSO HAD A SMALL INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR FEB. AT 41.601 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 10,400 OZ //NEW STANDING: 47.744 TONNES//(QUEUE JUMPING = EXERCISING LONDON BASED EFP’S ) (EFP is the transfer of contracts immediately to London for potential gold deliveries originating from London). TONNES
YET ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $9.10 LOSS IN PRICEWITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY’S TRADING
WE HAD A GOOD SIZED GAIN OF 5067 OI CONTRACTS (15.76 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A STRONG SIZED 4125 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 425,218
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A GOOD SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 5067 CONTRACTS WITH 942CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX AND 4125 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 5067 CONTRACTS OR 16,183 TONNES.
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (4125 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE SMALL SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI (942) TOTAL GAIN IN THE TWO EXCHANGES 5067 CONTRACTS. WE HAVE ( 1) NOW RETURNED TO OUR NORMAL FORMAT OF BANKERS GOING SHORT AND SPECULATORS GOING LONG ,2.) FAIR INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR FEB. AT 41.601 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 10,400 OZ QUEUE JUMP // ///3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION //4) SMALL SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST GAIN// 5) STRONG ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER/
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023 INCLUDING TODAY
FEB
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF FEB :
47,717 CONTRACTS OR 4,771,700 OZ OR 148.42 TONNES 18 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 2651 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 18 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 148.42 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 148.42/3550 x 100% TONNES 4.16% 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 // FINAL
JAN 2023: 228.49 TONNES FINAL//HUGE AMOUNT OF EFP’S ISSUED THIS MONTH!!
FEB: 148.42 TONNES/INITIAL
SPREADING OPERATIONS
(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS
SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF FEB. WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF BOTH GOLD (
HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR ;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF OCT HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB., FOR BOTH GOLD:
YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (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 STRONG SIZED 635 CONTRACTS OI TO 125,180 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. HOWEVER WE HAVE SET A RECORD LOW OF 124,080 CONTRACTS FEB 22/2023.
EFP ISSUANCE 2710 CONTRACTS (GIGANTIC)
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MAR 2710 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 2710 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 635 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 2771 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,
WE OBTAIN AN ATMOSPHERIC GAIN OF 3345 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
THUS IN OUNCES, THE HUMONGOUS GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 15.76 MILLION OZ//
OCCURRED DESPITE OUR $0.46 LOSS 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)MONDAY MORNING//SUNDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 9.13 PTS OR 0.28% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 66.33 PTS OR 0.33% /The Nikkei closed DOWN 29.52% PTS OR .11% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 1.24% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 6.9536 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN DOWN TO 6.9712// /Oil UP TO 76.15 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT AT 82.83 / Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER
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 SMALL SIZED 942 CONTRACTS UP TO 425,218 DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $9.10.
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A STRONG SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 4125 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : APRIL 4125 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 4125 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 5067 CONTRACTS IN THAT 4125LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A SMALL SIZED COMEX OI GAIN OF 942 CONTRACTS..AND THIS GOOD SIZED GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED (DESPITE OUR FALL IN PRICE OF $9.10). WE ARE NOW WITNESSING THE BANKERS GOING NET SHORT AND THE SPECS GOING NET LONG.
// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: FEB (47.744)
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
Dec. 64.541 tonnes (TOTAL YEAR 656.076 TONNES)
2003:
JAN/2023: 20.559 tonnes
FEB 2023: 47.744 tonnes
THE SPECS/HFT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT FELL $9.10) //// BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A GOOD SIZED GAIN OF 5067 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 15.76 PAPER TONNES OF TOTAL OI FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR FEB. (41.219 TONNES) FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE. JUMP OF 10,400 OZ OR 0.3234 TONNES//NEW STANDING INCREASES TO 47.744 tonnes … ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR FALL IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $9.10.
WE HAD -136 CONTRACTS REMOVED FROM COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST AFTER TRADING ENDED LAST NIGHT
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 5067 CONTRACTS OR 506,700 OZ OR 15.76 TONNES
Estimated gold comex today 132,550// //poor
final gold volumes/yesterday 177,576/// poor
FINAL STANDINGS FOR FEB 2023 COMEX GOLD //FEB 27//
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
15,350 notices 1,535,000 47.744 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
x
i)Dealer deposits: 0
total dealer deposit: nil oz
No dealer withdrawals
Customer deposits: 0
total deposits: nil oz
customer withdrawals: 2
i) out of Brinks: 7441.210 oz
ii) 508.269 Manfra
total withdrawals: 7949.470 oz real gold
in tonnes: 0.247 tonnes
Adjustments; 1
customer to dealer: 10,176.300 oz JPMorgan
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR FEBRUARY.
For the front month of FEBRUARY we have an oi of 295 contracts having gained 85 contracts. We had 19 notices
filed on Friday so we gained 104 contracts or an additional 10400 oz will stand searching for metal at the comex
March lost 222 contracts to stand at 1946. (We will have approximately 5 tonnes standing for gold in March initially)
April lost 9 contracts down to 328,683
We had 295 notice(s) filed today for 29,500 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 295 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer notice(s) was (were) stopped 136/ Received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account 3 and 0 notice(s) received (stopped) by the squid (Goldman Sachs)
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the FEB. /2023. contract month,
we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (15,350 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of (FEBRUARY 295 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 295 x 100 oz per contract equals 1,535,000 OZ OR 47.744 TONNES the number of TONNES standing in this active month of February.
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the FEB contract month:
No of notices filed so far (15,350 x 100 oz+ 295 OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (295)x 100 oz} which equals 1,535,000 oz standing OR 47.744 TONNES in this active delivery month of FEBRUARY..
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 47.744TONNES. SO JUST LIKE LAST MONTH WE START WITH A LOW INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING BUT THIS WILL GROW AS THE MONTH PROCEEDS TO ITS CONCLUSION.
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED: 21,653,698.127 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD: 10,889,770.731 (338,71 tonnes)..dropping fast
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,763,927.396 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 9,100,041 OZ (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 283.04 tonnes//dropping like a stone
END
SILVER/COMEX
FEB 27/2023//FINAL. SILVER CONTRACT FOR FEBRUARY
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
20,967.050 oz
CNT Delaware
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil OZ
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
623,318.511 oz
JPMorgan
No of oz served today (contracts)
30 CONTRACT(S) (150,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
0 contracts (nil oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
919 contracts (4,595,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month
NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month
i) 0 dealer deposit
total dealer deposits: nil oz
i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal
total dealer withdrawals: oz
We have 1 deposits into the customer account
i)Into JPMorgan: 623,318.511
Total deposits: 623,318.511 oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 148.365 million oz/288.994 million =51.33% of comex .//dropping fast
Comex withdrawals: 2
i) Out of CNT: 20,007.650 oz
ii) Out of Delaware: 959.400 oz
Total withdrawals; 20,967.050 oz
adjustments: 0
the silver comex is in stress!
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 31.873MILLION OZ (declining rapidly).TOTAL REG + ELIG. 288.994 million oz
CALCULATION OF SILVER OZ STANDING FOR FEB
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF FEB/2023 OI: 30 CONTRACTS HAVING GAINED 7 CONTRACT(S.).
WE HAD 23 NOTICES FILED ON FRIDAY, SO WE GAINED 30 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 150,000 OZ OF SILVER WILL STAND AT THE COMEX
March LOST 9978 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 7509 contracts. WE HAD ONE MORE READING DAYS BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE FEB 28.. PROBABLY AROUND 15 MILLION OZ OF SILVER WILL INITIALLY STAND IN MARCH.
April GAINED 86 CONTRACTS TO STAND at 357.
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY:30 for 150,000 oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 70,251// good//rollovers
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in FEBRUARY. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 919 x 5,000 oz = 4,595,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB(xx) and the number of notices served upon today 30 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the FEB./2023 contract month:919 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of FEB 30 – number of notices served upon today (30) x 500 oz of silver standing for the FEB. contract month equates 4.595 million oz + PREVIOUS 6.225 MILLION OZ ( EXCHANGE FOR RISK) = 10.820 MILLION OZ//(TOTAL OZ OF SILVER STANDING).
the record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price on that day at $18.42. The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44
END
GLD AND SLV INVENTORY LEVELS
FEB 27/WITH GOLD UP $6.95 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.32 TONNES
FEB 24/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.10 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.6 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.32 TONNES
FEB 23/WITH GOLD DOWN $13.05 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY REST AT 919.92 TONNES
FEB 22/WITH GOLD DOWN 22 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 919.92 TONNES
FEB 21/WITH GOLD DOWN $7.45 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.16 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 919.92 TONNES
FEB 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.35 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 921.08 TONNES
FEB 16/WITH GOLD UP $6.80 TODAY; SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSITOF .29 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 921.08 TONNES
FEB 15/WITH GOLD DOWN $19.65 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 920.79 TONNES
FEB 14/WITH GOLD UP $1.40 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 920.79 TONNES
FEB 13/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.90 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .31 TONNES FORM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 920.79 TONNES
FEB 10/WITH GOLD DOWN $4.05 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//A WITHDRAWAL OF .0.38 TONNES/INVENTORY RESTS AT 920.79 TONNES
FEB 9/WITH GOLD DOWN $10.90 TODAY:SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF .38 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD./INVENTORY RESTS AT 921.10 TONNES
FEB 8/WITH GOLD UP $6.15 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.9 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 920.82 TONNES
FEB 7/WITH GOLD UP $5.25 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.32 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.92 TONNES
FEB 6/WITH GOLD UP $3.30 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 920.24 TONNES
FEB 3/WITH GOLD DOWN $52.55 TODAY: STRANGE: BIG CHANGES AGAIN IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.74 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 920.24 TONNES
FEB 2/WITH GOLD $10.95 TODAY: BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.50 TONNES
FEB 1/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.55 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.06 TONNES
JAN 31/WITH GOLD UP $6.55 TODAY; BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.06 TONNES
JAN 30/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.00 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .87 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.50 TONNES
JAN 27/WITH GOLD DOWN $0.85 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 919.37 TONNES
JAN 26/WITH GOLD DOWN $11.55 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.03 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 919.37 TONNES
JAN 25/WITH GOLD UP $7.55 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .28 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.34 TONNES
JAN 24/WITH GOLD UP $7.35 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.06 TONNES
JAN 23/WITH GOLD UP $0.25 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4.63 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.06 TONNES
JAN 20/WITH GOLD UP $4.75 TODAY;BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.45 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.43 TONNES
JAN 19/WITH GOLD UP $16.95 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.74 TONNES INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 910.98TONNES
JAN 18/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.95 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.9 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 909.24 TONNES
JAN 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $11.45 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.14 TONNES
JAN 13/WITH GOLD UP $22.90 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .29 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.14 TONNES
JAN 12/WITH GOLD UP $20.55 TODAY: BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.74 TONNES FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.43 TONNES
JAN 11/WITH GOLD UP $1.20 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 914.17 TONNES
JAN 10/WITH GOLD UP $1.00 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 915.33 TONNES
JAN 9/WITH GOLD UP $ 8.60 TODAY: BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES FROM THE GLD//.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 915.33 TONNES
JAN 6/WITH GOLD UP $28.80 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 916.77 TONNES
JAN 5/WITH GOLD DOWN $17.05 TODAY: BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .87 TONNES FORM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 916.77 TONNES
JANUARY 4/WITH GOLD UP $32.40 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.64 TONNES
JAN 3/WITH GOLD UP $20.00 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:STRANGE: A WITHDRAWAL OF .87 TONNES FORM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.64 TONNES
GLD INVENTORY: 917.32 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
FEB 27/WITH SILVER DOWN 15 CENTS TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.471 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.900 MILLION OZ
FEB 24/WITH SILVER DOWN 46 CENTS TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.172 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.900 MILLION OZ//
FEB 23/WITH SILVER DOWN 32 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.379 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 487.072 MILLION OZ//
FEB 22/WITH SILVER DOWN 22 CENTS TODAY:SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 689,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 485.693 MILLION OZ
FEB 21/WITH SILVER UP 14 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.5363 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 486.382 MILLION OZ//
FEB 17/WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 827,000 OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 484.819 MILLION OZ/
FEB 16/WITH SILVER UP 8 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 690,000 OZ OF SILVER INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.992 MILLION OZ//
FEB 15/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.26 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.302 MILLION OZ//
FEB 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 1 CENT TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV” A WITHDRAWAL OF 460,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.302 MILLION OZ//
FEB 13 WITH SILVER DOWN 17 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV// INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.762 MILLION OZ//
FEB 10/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: //INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.762 MILLION OZ
FEB 9/WITH SILVER DOWN 14 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: INVENTORY RESTS AT 483.76 MILLION OZ (CORRECTED).//
Any suggestion of returning the monetary system to a gold standard is immediately met with howls of protest.
“It’s impossible!” we’re told.
But Bettina Bien Greaves who was a translator, editor, and bibliographer for economist Ludwig von Mises’ works argues that there is no practical reason we couldn’t return to a gold standard. The objections are almost all ideological. “If this basic obstacle could be overcome, however, a return to gold money would become a realistic possibility,” she wrote.
I think that the free market is going to reject the dollar and other currencies because they’re a flawed form of money because they are no longer a store of value.”
Greaves also believed market actions would be integral in any transition back to a gold standard. But there are steps the federal government could take — short of collapsing the entire monetary system, which is the path we seem to be on — to facilitate a return to sound money.
In 1995, Greaves wrote an article for FEE outlining some of the steps she thought would be necessary to return to a gold standard and sound money. As she points out, “There may be better ways and worse ways. Unfortunately, the science of economics cannot prescribe a correct, scientific, or ‘right’ way.” But considering her ideas and the monetary history she recounts shows that the path toward sound money isn’t impassible. It also reveals some of the monetary pitfalls that have brought us to the place we are today.
The following article was originally published by FEE in 1995. The opinions expressed by Bettina Bien Greaves do not necessarily reflect those of Peter Schiff or SchiffGold.
There is no reason, technically or economically, why the world today, even with its countless wide-ranging and complex commercial transactions, could not return to the gold standard and operate with gold money. The major obstacle is ideological.
Many people believe that it would be impossible to return to the gold standard—Never! There are just too many people in the world, they say, and the economy is too complex. Many others look on a return to the gold standard as an almost magical solution to today’s major problems—big government, the welfare state, and inflation. What is the truth of the matter?
Certainly if the United States went on a gold standard, it would have to carry out many reforms. The federal government would really have to stop inflating, balance its budget, and abandon welfare state programs. Most voters are not ready for such reforms. And politicians, pressured by voters and special interest groups for favors, hesitate to pass them. Thus the major stumbling block to monetary reform is ideological. If this basic obstacle could be overcome, however, a return to gold money would become a realistic possibility.
Let’s consider possible ways for transforming our present paper and credit monetary system, based on fractional reserve banking, into a gold standard. There may be better ways and worse ways. Unfortunately the science of economics cannot prescribe a correct, scientific or “right” way. It can only help us choose among alternatives by analyzing their various consequences. A review of monetary history will also be helpful.
Several methods have been suggested for returning to a gold standard. All gold standard advocates agree that the goal must be to re-introduce gold as money, while making it possible to continue honoring outstanding contracts. The principal point on which they differ is with respect to the price that should be set for gold and how any existing paper currency should be defined.
The question of re-adopting gold as money always arises because inflation has persisted for some time, prices of almost everything, including gold, have risen, and the savings of the people have been eroded. Some gold standard proponents want to return to the pre-inflation gold/money ratio. Others want to raise the gold price to some arbitrary figure and allow the monetary expansion to play “catch-up.” Still others say that the least disruptive way would be to discover the current market gold/money ratio and redefine the dollar on that basis.
Returning to Gold at an Artificially High Rate
Great Britain suspended specie payments in 1797 and inflated during the Napoleonic Wars. She finally returned to the gold standard in 1821, 24 years later. On the theory that it was only honorable to recognize debts made in British gold pounds at the old ratio, she re-established the 1797 gold/pound ratio. However, not all the debts outstanding in 1821 dated from before 1797. Many loans had been made in the interim. Persons who had borrowed relatively cheap inflated British pounds, then had to pay back their loans in higher-valued gold pounds. This worked a special hardship on tenants, farmers, merchants and others.
Britain abandoned the gold standard again in World War I. Before 1914, London had been the world’s financial center. When the war started in August, shipments to England of gold, silver, and goods from all over the world were immediately disrupted. The shortage of funds put London’s banks and stock exchange in crisis and they closed down for a few days. When they reopened, a debt moratorium was declared and the Bank Charter Act of 1844, fixing the gold/pound ratio and tying the quantity of paper pounds issued to the gold bullion reserves, was suspended. As the war continued and the government’s costs increased, the government inflated more and more. By 1920, after the war was over, inflation had proceeded to such an extent that prices had tripled and the gold value of the British pound had fallen 10 percent on world markets, from US$4.86 to US$4.40.
Faced with a devalued pound that was worth less on the market than it had been, the British again chose, as they had after the Napoleonic wars, to try to return to gold at the pre-war, pre-inflation rate. On April 28, 1925, England went back on the gold standard at the artificially high rate for the pound of US$4.86. The immediate effect was to price British goods out of the world market. For instance, U.S. importers who had been paying US$4.40 to buy a British pound’s worth of British wool or coal, now had to pay about 10 percent more. England was heavily dependent on exports, especially of coal, to pay for imported food and raw materials for her factories. As the cost of her goods to foreign buyers went up, they could buy less and British exports declined. Her factories and mines were hard hit. To keep the factories and mines open and men working, money wages would have had to be adjusted downward. This drop in money wages would not necessarily have affected real wages for, with the return to gold, the pound was worth more. But the unionized workers resisted and refused to work for less. Many went on the dole. And many went out on strike. Prices and production were seriously disrupted. Finally, on September 20, 1931, England announced that she would again suspend gold payments and go off the gold standard. The consequences were disastrous. The British monetary experiment played an important role in bringing about and prolonging the world depression of the 1930s.
Returning to Gold at an Artificially Low Rate
To consider returning to the gold standard in the United States at the long-since outgrown ratios of $20.67, $35.00, or even $42.42 per ounce of gold is obviously completely unrealistic. The U.S. dollar is now selling (mid-1995) at about $385 so that the value of the dollar has declined to approximately 1/385th of an ounce of gold. To re-value it at 1/20th, 1/35th or even 1/42nd of an ounce of gold would constitute an artificially high revaluation of the dollar and would undoubtedly lead to even more disastrous consequences than those resulting from the return to gold in Britain in 1925.
Realizing the problems England encountered in trying to establish an artificially high dollar/gold ratio, some gold standard advocates go to the opposite extreme and suggest an artificially low ratio. We are free, they maintain, to select any definition of the dollar we want. They then suggest dividing the quantity of gold mathematically by the total number of dollars in circulation, in commercial bank deposits, in checking accounts, and even in cashable savings accounts. By this method they arrive at several possible prices for the dollar, respectively $1,217/ounce, $2,000/ounce, $3,350/ounce, or even $7,500/ounce. Given the fact that an ounce of gold has been trading on the world market at about US$385, offering to pay any of these higher prices for a single ounce of gold would have an extremely inflationary influence. Prices would start to climb until they reflected the new dollar/gold ratio. For instance, anything that cost the equivalent of one gold ounce in today’s market would soon rise to $1,217, $2,000 or whatever.
An announcement that the U.S. planned to start paying something between $1,217 and $7,500 for an ounce of gold would immediately lead to the import of gold into this country at an unprecedented rate. It would spark a tremendous increase in gold mining, gold processing, and all related activities, to the detriment of all other production. To attempt to return to a gold standard at any such rate would be extremely disruptive of all prices and production. It would also destroy completely the value of all dollar savings and all outstanding contracts or commitments expressed in U.S. dollars. As practically all international production and trade depend on the dollar, this would bring business transactions to a halt worldwide.
Returning to Gold at the Market Rate
The goal of returning to a gold standard must be (1) to reintroduce gold and gold coins as money, without producing deflation and without causing the economy to go into shock, while permitting the fulfillment of outstanding contracts, including those of the U.S. government to its bondholders, and (2) to arrange for the transfer of gold from the government’s holdings into private hands, so that gold coins would be in circulation daily. As pointed out above, before this can happen, there must be a major ideological shift in the climate of opinion. The voters must be willing to be more self-reliant and accept personal responsibility for their actions. And the politicians must refrain from asking for more government spending at every turn. If this ideological stumbling block to establishing a gold standard could be overcome, if the people were willing to forgo welfare state spending and were determined to reform their monetary standard and introduce gold money once more in the United States, and if politicians would cooperate, then a shift from our paper and credit monetary system could be accomplished without radically disrupting the market, prices, and production.
Advocates of the gold standard should not be deterred by the three reasons given by critics who believe a gold standard could not work: that there isn’t enough gold to serve the needs of the world, with its increasing population and its expanding production and trade; that gold would be an unstable money; and that a gold standard would be expensive.
In the first place, there is no shortage of gold. The size of the world’s population, and the extent of production and trade are immaterial; any amount of money will always serve all society’s needs.[1] Actually, people don’t care about the number of dollars, francs, marks, pesos, or yen, they have in their wallets or bank accounts; what is important to them is purchasing power. And if prices are free and flexible, the available quantity of money, whatever that may be, will be spread around among would-be buyers and sellers who bid and compete with one another until all the goods and services being offered at any one time find buyers. In this way, the available quantity of money would adjust to provide the purchasing power needed to purchase all available goods and services at the prevailing competitive market prices.
In the second place, gold would be a much more stable money than most paper currencies. The purchasing power of government- or bank-issued paper currency may fluctuate wildly, as the quantity is expanded or contracted in response to the “needs” of business and/or political pressures, causing prices to rise or fall sharply. Under a gold standard, there would be some slight cash-induced price increases when the quantity of gold used as money rose, as more gold was mined, refined, and processed; and there would be some slight cash-induced price declines as the quantity of gold used as money fell, when gold was withdrawn from the market to be devoted to industry, dentistry, or jewelry. However, under a gold standard, price changes due to such shifts in the quantity of money would be relatively minor and easy to anticipate, and the purchasing power per unit of gold would be more stable than under an unpredictable paper currency standard.
In the third place, although it would cost more to introduce gold into circulation than a paper currency that requires no backing, in the long run a gold standard is not at all expensive as compared to paper. Again and again throughout history, paper moneys have proven to be extremely wasteful and expensive; they have distorted economic calculation, destroyed people’s savings, and wiped out their investments. Yale economist William Graham Sumner (1840-1910), writing long before the world had experienced the disastrous inflations of this century, estimated that “our attempts to win [cheap money] have all failed, and they have cost us, in each generation, more than a purely specie currency would have cost, if each generation had had to buy it anew.”[2]
Once it is agreed that the introduction of a market gold money standard is the goal, here are the steps to take:
First: All inflation must be stopped as of a certain date. That means calling a halt also to all expansion of credit through the Federal Reserve and the commercial banks.
Second: Permit gold to be actively bought, sold, traded, imported, exported. To prevent the U.S. government from exerting undue influence, it should stay out of the market for the time being.
Third: Oscillations in the price of gold would diminish in time and the “price” would tend to stabilize. At that point a new dollar-to-gold ratio could be established and a new legal parity decreed. No one can know what the new dollar-to-gold ratio would be. However, it is likely that it would stabilize a little above the then-current world price of gold, whatever that might be.[3]
Fourth: Once a new legal ratio is established and the dollar is newly defined in terms of gold, the U.S. government and the U.S. Mints may enter the market, buying and selling gold and dollars at the new parity, and minting and selling gold coins of specified weights and fineness. Gold might well circulate side by side with other moneys, as it did during the fiat money inflation time of the French Revolution, so that parallel moneys would develop, easing the transition to gold.[4]
Fifth: The U.S. Mint should mint gold coins of certain agreed-upon fineness and of various weights—say one-tenth of an ounce, one-quarter, one-half, and one ounce, etc.—and stand ready to sell these gold coins for dollars at the established parity and to buy any gold offered for minting.[5] As old legal tender dollars were turned in for gold, they should be retired, so that gold coins would gradually begin to appear in circulation.
Sixth: The financing of the U.S. government must be divorced completely from the monetary system. Government must be prevented from spending any more than it collects in taxes or borrows from private lenders. Under no condition may the government sell any more bonds to the Federal Reserve to be turned into money and credit; monetization of the U.S. government’s debt must cease! A 100 percent reserve must be held in the banks for all future deposits, i.e., for all deposits not already in existence on the first day of the reform.
Seventh: Outstanding U.S. government bonds held by non-U.S. government entities, must be fulfilled as promised.[6]
Eighth: To avoid deflation, there should not be any contraction of the quantity of money currently in existence. Thus prices and outstanding debts would not be adversely affected. U.S. government bonds held by the Federal Reserve as “backing” for Federal Reserve notes may be retained, but should not be used as the basis for further issues of notes and/or credit. No bank may be permitted to expand the total amount of its deposits subject to check or the balance of such deposits of any individual customers, whether private citizen or the U.S. Treasury, otherwise than by receiving cash deposits in gold, legal tender banknotes from the public or by receiving a check payable by another bank subject to the same limitations.[7]
Ninth: The funds collected over the years from employees and employers, ostensibly for Social Security, were spent as collected for the government’s general purposes. Thus the U.S. government bonds held as a bookkeeping ploy in the so-called Social Security Trust Fund are mere window-dressing. These U.S. bonds may be canceled. To keep its “promises” to those who have been led to expect “Social Security” benefits in their old age, arrangements could be made to phase out the program by a number of devices, including payments from the general tax fund to current retirees, to the soon-to-be-retired and, on a gradually declining basis, to others in the system—down to, say, ages 40-45 years. The program could then be closed down. No more Social Security “benefits” would be paid out and no more taxes would be collected for “Social Security.” People would have to become personally responsible for planning for their own old age and retirement. Without “Social Security” taxes to pay, they would be better able to save. Moreover, given a sound gold standard, they would be confident that their savings would not be wiped out by inflation.
After the Reform
For U.S. monetary reform to be carried out it is essential that the U.S. government balance its budget and refrain from spending more than it collects from taxes and borrows from willing lenders. The prerequisite for this, as noted above, is a change in ideology. Once the public and the politicians were determined to cut government spending, reform would become a realistic possibility.
When the United States is again on a gold standard, the old legal-tender paper money could continue to circulate until worn out when it would be returned and replaced by gold coins. New issues of paper notes would not be designated “legal tender.” But they should be strictly limited, always fully convertible into gold, and issued only against 100 percent gold. Gold coins would also be in daily circulation; should they start to disappear from the market, this would serve as a warning that the government was violating its strictures and starting once more to inflate.
Those who think that a gold standard would place such rigid limits on the market that money lending would no longer be possible should be reminded that what fully convertible money precludes is not moneylending per se. Individuals and banks would, of course, still be able to lend, but no more than the sums savers had accumulated and were willing to make available. What the gold standard prevents is the involuntary lending by savers, who are deprived in the process of some of the value of their savings, without having any choice in the matter. Fully convertible money under the gold standard prevents more than one claim to the same money from being created; while the borrower spends the money borrowed, the savers forgo spending until the borrower pays it back.
Under the gold standard, banks would have to return to their original two functions: serving as money warehouses and as money lenders, or intermediaries between savers and would-be borrowers. These two functions—money-warehousing and money-lending—should be kept entirely separate. But that will not preclude a great deal of flexibility in the field of banking. With today’s modern developments, computerized record-keeping, electronic money transfers, creative ideas about arranging credit transactions, credit cards, ATM machines, and so forth, lending and borrowing, the transfer of funds and money clearings could continue to take place rapidly and smoothly under the gold standard and free banking, even as they do now. However, under a market gold standard people need no longer fear the ever-impending threat of inflation, price distortions, economic miscalculations, and serious malinvestments.
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//
The San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange referred to its “listing standards” in a tweet.
Coinbase will suspend trading for Binance USD stablecoin on March 13, the exchange announced Feb. 27 on Twitter. The message mentioned “listing standards” as it announced its decision.
The decision will apply to Coinbase.com (simple and advanced), Coinbase Pro, Coinbase Exchange, and Coinbase Prime, according to the tweet thread. The exchange added, “Your BUSD funds will remain accessible to you, and you will continue to have the ability to withdraw your funds at any time.”
A Coinbase spokesperson told Cointelegraph:
“Our determination to suspend trading for BUSD is based on our own internal monitoring and review processes. When reviewing BUSD, we determined that it no longer met our listing standards and will be suspended.”
According to the Coinbase website, its digital asset listings group votes on assets to be listed on the exchange, “informed by a rigorous vetting/review process that evaluates assets against legal, compliance, and technical security standards.” In addition, there are additional business assessments and ongoing monitoring to ensure an asset continues to meet standards.
Coinbase’s decision comes after The SEC’s enforcement action against BUSD, which, as CoinTelegraph’s Prashsant Jha reports,raises questions about whether the regulatory body is focused on the stablecoin market or the crypto exchange Binance.
Binance-branded stablecoin, Binance USD, is a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos Trust Company, and is the third largest stablecoin after Tether’s and Circle’s USD Coin.
Paxos has claimed in the past that BUSD is fully backed by reserves held in either fiat cash or United States Treasury bills. BUSD was reportedly authorized and regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
Paxos partnered with crypto exchange Binance in 2019 and launched the stablecoin, which received approval from the NYDFS. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has stated that the exchange licensed the Binance brand to Paxos, and BUSD is “wholly owned and managed by Paxos.”
However, on Feb. 12, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Wells notice to Paxos — a letter the regulator uses to inform companies of planned enforcement action. The notice alleged that BUSD is an unregistered security. After receiving a Wells notice, the accused is allowed 30 days to respond via a legal brief known as a Wells submission — a chance to argue why charges should not be brought against prospective defendants.
One day later, the NYDFS ordered Paxos to stop minting new BUSD, citing specific unresolved issues around Paxos’ oversight of its relationship with Binance regarding BUSD. Paxos then decided to cut ties with Binance due to regulatory scrutiny, saying they are working with the SEC to resolve the issue constructively.
Binance, on the other hand, hopes the SEC won’t file an enforcement action based on the BUSD saga, telling Cointelegraph:
“The U.S. SEC, hopefully, will not file an enforcement action on this topic. Doing so is not justified by the facts or law. Furthermore, it would undermine the growth and innovation of the U.S. financial technology sector.”
Paxos refused to comment on the issue, citing ongoing talks with the SEC. The company directed Cointelegraph to an internal email with Paxos co-founder Charles Cascarilla reiterating their earlier stance that BUSD is not a security.
The statement from Cascarilla noted that the precedents used to identify securities in the U.S. are known as the Howey test and the Reves test. He stated that BUSD does not meet the criteria to be a security:
“Our stablecoins are always backed by cash and equivalents–dollars and U.S. Treasury bills, but never securities. We are engaged in constructive discussions with the SEC, and we look forward to continuing that dialogue in private. Of course, if necessary, we will defend our position in litigation. We will share more information when we can.”
Tether — issuer of the largest stablecoin by market capitalization — didn’t directly respond to specific questions about stablecoins being classed as securities. However, a spokesperson from the firm told Cointelegraph that “Tether has good relationships with law enforcement globally and is committed to operating securely and transparently in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.”
Are stablecoins the focus or are there bigger fish to fry?
Many crypto community members were baffled by accusations of BUSD being a security, and to see enforcement action against it. This is because BUSD is “stable,” maintaining a 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar, limiting its usage for speculation.
Just days after the SEC action against BUSD, rumors started circulating about a similar Wells notice being sent to other stablecoin issuers, including Circle and Tether. Circle’s chief strategy officer, Dante Disparte, quashed such rumors and said that the stablecoin issuer had not received such a document.
Speaking to Cointelegraph earlier this month, some legal experts explained how stablecoins might be considered securities. Although stablecoins are supposed to be stable, Aaron Lane, a senior lecturer at RMIT’s Blockchain Innovation Hub, said buyers might benefit from various arbitrage, hedging and staking opportunities.
He further explained that, while the answer isn’t obvious, a case could be made regarding whether the stablecoin was developed to produce money or is a derivative of a security.
Some crypto community members have stated that the issue might not be just about stablecoins as much as it is about Binance, indicating that the SEC didn’t take action against Paxos’ gold-backed stablecoin called Pax Gold (PAXG.)
Carol Goforth, a university professor and the Clayton N. Little professor of Law at the University of Arkansas, told Cointelegraph that the issue might be more about Binance than the stablecoin itself:
“There are unique issues with regard to that particular crypto asset because of its ties to and relationship with Binance. It is possible that some of those unusual features are what the SEC is focusing on, but because part of that is a lack of transparency and accuracy in reported information.”
Goforth added that the price of the stablecoin is designed to be stable, which would appear to be the antithesis of an expectation of profits.
Nonetheless, “I can see a potential argument that stablecoins make fast transactions in other forms of crypto possible and this is, in fact, the biggest use of stablecoins to date, accounting for a disproportionately high trading volume as compared to market capitalization” Goforth said, stating:
“‘Profit’ could be argued to include the extra value obtained from the ability to make such trades, although that seems to be a bit of a stretch. (Expectation of profits is important because it is one of the elements of the Howey investment contract test).”
Just weeks after enforcement action against BUSD, the SEC filed a motion to bar final approval of Binance.US’ $1 billion bid for assets belonging to bankrupt crypto lending firm Voyager Digital. The SEC flagged the potential sale of Voyager Token (VGX), issued by Voyager, which “may constitute the unregistered offer or sale of securities under federal law.“
The series of enforcement actions by the SEC against various aspects of Binance’s business led many to believe that the regulator was going after the exchange rather than the stablecoin industry.
SEC’s jurisdiction under question
Amid the ongoing increase in enforcement actions in the crypto market, the SEC’s jurisdiction has also been questioned, especially regarding stablecoins. In a recent interview, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of USDC issuer Circle, said that “payment stablecoins” are payment systems, not securities.
Allaire argued that SEC is not the suitable regulator for stablecoins and said, “there is a reason why everywhere in the world, including the U.S., the government is specifically saying payment stablecoins are a payment system and banking regulator activity.”
Coinbase — the first publicly listed crypto exchange on the Nasdaq — is fighting a securities battle of its own related to its staking products. It also questioned the SEC’s decision to get involved with stablecoins and claim they are securities.
2022 was a disastrous year for the crypto industry, seeing most crypto assets lose more than 70% of their valuation from their market highs. Outside the crypto winter, the collapse of crypto lending giants, exchanges and asset funds became a more significant concern. Many then questioned regulators for not ensuring investor security and enforcing regulations. In 2023, the tables have turned, with regulatory agencies coming out in full force against crypto firms. However, their approach and intentions are being questioned now that they have sprung into action.
end
1. YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS//MONDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN TO 6.9536
OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.9712
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 9.13 PTS OR 0.28%
HANG SENG CLOSED DOWN 66.33 PTS OR 0.33%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 29.52 PTS OR 0.11%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL RED
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 105.03 Euro RISES TO 1.0559 UP 20 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +.5000!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 136.27/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 DOWN /JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE YUAN: DOWN-// OFF- SHORE: DOWN
3f Japan is to buy INFINITE 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 UP for WTI and UP FOR Brent this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund UP TO +2.5720%***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield RISES to 4.438%*** /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD RISES TO 3.612…** DANGEROUS//
3i Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO 4.366//(ITALY WORSE THAN GREECE?)
3j Gold at $1811.10//silver at: 20.67 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 0 AND 92/100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 75.21//
3m oil into the 76 dollar handle for WTI and 82 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 136.27/10 YEAR YIELD AFTER BREAKING .54%, REMAINS AT .5000% STILL ON CENTRAL BANK (JAPAN) INTERVENTION
30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the FRANC. It is not working: USA/SF this 0.9404–as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF 0.9930well 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: 3.965% UP 2 BASIS PTS…GETTING DANGEROUS//
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 3.960 UP 2 BASIS PTS//INVERTED TO THE 10 YEAR!!
UK 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.8364 UP 3 BASIS PT
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 18,89…
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: 3.706% UP 9 BASIS PTS
end
i.b Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge:
FIRST, ZEROHEDGE (PRE USA OPENING// MORNING
Futures Rebound After Worst Week Of 2023
MONDAY, FEB 27, 2023 – 08:05 AM
US index futures jumped after suffering their worst weekly drop of 2023, as traders looked for fresh opportunities to buy stocks while assessing the outlook for growth. S&P 500 futures rose 0.5%, rising just shy of 4,000 by 7:45 a.m. ET after the underlying benchmark fell 1.1% in the last trading session. Nasdaq 100 futures rose by about 0.6% after the tech-heavy gauge tumbled 1.7% at the end of last week. European and Asian stocks also rose; the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index turned red after retreating from the day’s highs, lifting most Group-of-10 currencies. Treasuries edged lower, mirroring moves in global bond markets. Gold was little changed, oil fell and bitcoin resumed losses after gains overnight
In premarket trading, cancer drugmaker Seagen soared after the Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer is in early-stage talks to acquire the cancer therapy developer worth around $30BN. Pfizer shares slipped. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
Best Buy (BBY) shares drop 1.8% after Telsey downgraded the electronics retailer, saying the company’s business is likely to experience a further decline in the near term.
Fisker (FSR) climbs 7.8% after the carmaker posted 4Q results and forecast 8% to 12% annual gross margin and potentially positive Ebitda for 2023.
FuboTV (FUBO) rises 8.2% after posting 4Q revenue that beat the average analyst estimate.
Focus Financial Partners (FOCS) shares are halted after the company agreed to be acquired by affiliates of CD&R for $53 per share.
Enphase Energy Inc. (ENPH) shares are up 1.9% after Janney Montgomery upgraded the company to buy, citing attractive valuation.
Li-Cycle shares (LICY) rise 8% after the firm announced that one of its US subsidiaries had been granted a $375 million loan offer from the Biden administration.
Lucira Health (LHDX) shares surge 240% after the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the company’s Covid-19 and flu test.
Payoneer Global (PAYO) gains 5% after Jefferies initiated coverage with a buy recommendation, saying the payments firm suffered from a “complexity discount.”
Pulmonx Corp. (LUNG) rises 3.8% as Wells Fargo upgrades to overweight, saying the company’s fourth-quarter results “represent a turning point for the company.”
Range Resources (RRC) shares slump 7.5% after Pioneer Natural Resources said it was not “contemplating a significant business combination or other acquisition transaction” in a statement Friday evening.
Seagen (SGEN) shares soar 14% after the Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer is in early-stage talks to acquire the cancer therapy developer.
Tegna (TGNA) shares slump 22% after the Federal Communications Commission shelved Standard General’s proposed $5.4 billion buyout of the broadcaster.
Union Pacific (UNP) shares climb 10% after the rail freight company said it was looking for a new CEO following pressure from a hedge fund.
Universal Insurance Holdings (UVE) rises 1.8% after Piper Sandler upgraded the insurer to overweight, anticipating strong earnings in 2023 on higher prices and potential tort reform via a bill that seeks to reduce unnecessary litigation
XPeng (XPEV) shares gain 5% after the Chinese electric-vehicle maker is included in the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index
The S&P 500 has fallen over the past three weeks amid concerns that renewed price pressures will prompt more (and bigger) rate hikes from the US central bank. An unexpected acceleration in the personal consumption expenditures price index boosted expectations for policy tightening, while solid income and spending growth data further allayed fears of an imminent recession. Traders await durable goods data due later on Monday.
Monday’s advance may signal traders are looking “towards the end of the potential bearish correction brought by last week’s decreased appetite for riskier assets, after investors digested the prospect of longer hawkish monetary stances from central banks,” said Pierre Veyret, a technical analyst at ActivTrades.
Others – such as MS permabear Mike Wilson – remained bearish: Wilson said March will see stronger bear-market headwinds for stocks in a note on Monday. Fresh earnings downgrades will weigh on markets, with the S&P 500 potentially sliding as much as 24% to 3,000 points. Wilson also said that those treading into this market risk falling into a “bull trap”, a view echoed by Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management.
“A generation of investors has since 2008 been taught that they should buy on dips, but today is different because of high inflation, and credit markets and equity markets are underestimating the Fed’s commitment to getting inflation down to 2%,” Slok wrote in a note.
Stock markets that had mostly shrugged off forecasts for higher interest rates are finally giving way to a swift repricing of yields. Traders are now pricing US rates to peak at 5.4% this year, compared with about 5% just a month ago, as an acceleration in the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge dashes hopes for an imminent pause in policy tightening.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan strategists led by Mislav Matejka said last year’s strong outperformance in cheaper, so-called value stocks over growth peers is likely to reverse soon as the economic recovery slows. The next move for investors in the following month or two might be to go “outright underweight value versus growth,” they wrote in a note. Ironically, that comes as JPM initiated coverage of two big US online real estate firms, Zillow Group at overweight and Redfin at neutral, as it forecasts a recovery in the property market.
European stocks also rose as investors are tempted by lower prices following the largest weekly selloff since December. The Stoxx 600 is up 1.2% with tech, retail and consumer products the best-performing sectors. The bounce ignores the surge in German benchmark yields which hit 2.58%, the highest since 2011, on bets the European Central Bank will extend its tightening cycle beyond this year. Here are some of the biggest movers on Monday:
Shell rises as much as 2.4% after Goldman Sachs upgrades the oil and gas company to buy from neutral, following a strong earnings season for oil majors
Associated British Foods shares rise as much as 2.7% after the food processing and retailing company said it sees total sales for the first half more than 20% ahead of last year
Michelin gains as much as 3.1% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the French tiremaker to buy from neutral, noting “underappreciated tailwinds” including lower raw material and logistics costs
Hennes & Mauritz shares jump as much as 4.2% after Bank of America upgraded the clothing retailer to buy from underperform, citing prospects for a profit recovery this year
Bunzl shares gain as much as 4.2%, hitting the highest intraday since August, after the distribution group’s results were marginally better than expected across the board, showing business model resilience
Haleon shares rise as much as 1% after Bloomberg News reported the consumer health business, spun out of GSK last year, is exploring a divestiture of its ChapStick lip balm brand
PostNL shares tumble as much as 12%, the most since October, after the Dutch delivery firm’s new FY23 Ebit guidance came in 43% below consensus
Dechra Pharmaceuticals tumbles as much as 18% after the British animal health-care company posted a profit decline in the first half and forecast FY guidance that disappointed
Earlier in the session, Asian stocks declined as traders worry about the prospect of further interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve after an unexpected acceleration of US inflation. Investors were also cautious ahead of a key political meeting in China. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped as much as 0.8%, led by technology and materials shares. Australia and South Korea were among the worst-performing markets, while Japan bucked the region’s trend following a pledge from the Bank of Japan governor nominee to maintain ultra-loose monetary policy. Chinese and Hong Kong benchmarks edged lower as investors eyed the National People’s Congress meeting starting this weekend. They are showing a preference for onshore stocks over Hong Kong peers amid expectations that more pro-growth policies will be announced.
A strong rally in Asian stocks has hit a wall this month amid renewed worries of US policy tightening and a lack of positive catalysts for Chinese shares. A hotter-than-expected set of data in the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge Friday spurred a hawkish recalibration of expectations for rate hikes, pressuring risk assets. Asian emerging markets will “certainly not be immune” from “spillover risks” of the rebound in US inflation, said Vishnu Varathan, Asia head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank. Prospects of tighter policy for a longer period “will hold feet to fire for valuations.”
Japanese equities closed mixed, as investors mulled the unexpected acceleration of US inflation data that suggested potential further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Topix rose 0.2% to close at 1,992.78, while the Nikkei declined 0.1% to 27,423.96. The yen strengthened about 0.1% after tumbling 1.3% Friday to 136.48 per dollar. Fanuc contributed the most to the Topix gain, increasing 2.9% after it was upgraded at Nomura. Out of 2,160 stocks in the index, 1,478 rose and 591 fell, while 91 were unchanged. “Japanese equities were mainly influenced by the higher than expected US PCE data, and the rising US interest rates would make the environment tougher for growth stocks,” said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities. “However, compared to US stocks, Japanese stocks are still supported by a weaker yen and this is likely to continue for some time.”
Australian stocks declined; the S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.1% to close at 7,224.80, dragged by losses in mining shares. The materials sub-gauge dropped the most since Oct. 28, continuing a four-day losing streak, after iron ore slumped. In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.9% to 11,793.33
In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady and the greenback traded mixed against its Group-of-10 peers. Sweden’s krona and the pound were the best performers while the New Zealand and Australian dollars were the worst.
The euro was steady at $1.0550. Bund yields followed Treasury yields higher after an early drop. the 10-year yield rose to the highest since 2011 as traders are betting the ECB will extend its tightening cycle beyond this year, pushing back expectations for a peak in interest rates into 2024 for the first time. Focus is on speeches by policymakers
The pound rose 0.2% against the dollar, snapping a three-day decline, to trade around 1.1966 amid speculation of an imminent deal on the Northern Ireland protocol. Gilts yields rose as bets on BOE rates pricing turned higher.
The yen steadied near a two-month low as currency traders weighed remarks from BOJ governor nominee Kazuo Ueda at his second parliamentary hearing. Ueda said monetary easing should continue in support of the economy’s recovery, a comment that suggests he won’t seek an immediate change in policy if he is approved to helm the central bank
The New Zealand dollar underperformed its G-10 peers. RBNZ chief economist Paul Conway said inflation is “far too high,” labor market is “incredibly tight”.
The Australian dollar also tacked lower. RBA chief Philip Lowe’s expectation of further interest-rate rises prompted economists and money markets to narrow the odds of a recession
In rates, Treasury yields reversed a drop to inch up, led by the front end following a wider drop across German bonds, as traders wagered that the European Central Bank will extend its rate-hiking cycle further into 2024. US yields were cheaper by up to 1.7bp in front-end of the curve with 2s10s flatter by almost 1bp; 10-year yields around 3.95%, less than 1bp cheaper vs. Friday session close with Germany 10-year lagging by 3bp vs. Treasuries. Bund futures are lower as traders push back bets on when ECB rates will peak until 2024 for the first time. German 10-year yields are up 4bps.
In commodities, oil fell as concerns that the Fed will keep on raising rates eclipsed the latest disruption to supplies in Europe and optimism over a demand recovery in China; WTI hovered around $76.30. Spot gold is flat at around $1,810.
Bitcoin is modestly firmer on the session, +1.0%, but off initial best levels and well below 24k. RBI Governor Das said at the G20 that there is now wide recognition of major risk with crypto.
Looking at today’s calendar, we get the February Dallas Fed manufacturing activity, January durable goods orders, and pending home sales; elsewhere we also get Japan January retail sales, industrial production, Italy February manufacturing confidence, economic sentiment and consumer confidence index, Eurozone February services, industrial and economic confidence, January M3, Canada Q4 current account balance. Fed speaker slate includes Jefferson at 10:30am; Goolsbee, Kashkari, Waller, Logan, Bostic and Bowman are scheduled later this week. On the earnings front, Occidental Petroleum, Workday, and Zoom report.
Market Snapshot
S&P 500 futures up 0.5% to 3,994.25
STOXX Europe 600 up 1.0% to 462.49
MXAP down 0.5% to 157.92
MXAPJ down 0.8% to 511.47
Nikkei down 0.1% to 27,423.96
Topix up 0.2% to 1,992.78
Hang Seng Index down 0.3% to 19,943.51
Shanghai Composite down 0.3% to 3,258.03
Sensex down 0.4% to 59,220.58
Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 1.1% to 7,224.81
Kospi down 0.9% to 2,402.64
German 10Y yield little changed at 2.56%
Euro little changed at $1.0555
Brent Futures up 0.4% to $83.48/bbl
Gold spot down 0.1% to $1,809.86
U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 105.15
Top Overnight News from Bloomberg
Three quarters of the 1,500 UK business leaders polled by BCG’s Centre for Growth believe the economy will shrink in 2023 but only 20% plan to shed staff, fewer than the 29% who plan to increase headcount: BBG
Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen will meet in the UK in the early afternoon on Monday for final talks ahead of an expected announcement of a post-Brexit settlement for Northern Ireland: BBG
The ECB is very likely to go ahead with its intention to raise interest rates by a half-point when it meets next month, President Christine Lagarde told India’s Economic Times: BBG
Bloomberg’s aggregate index of eight early indicators suggests China’s economy rebounded in February after the long holiday, although it points to an uneven recovery with strong consumption following the scrapping of Covid rules but lagging industrial activity: BBG
Macron announced he will visit China in April and hopes to encourage Beijing to pressure Moscow into reaching a settlement of the Ukraine war. SCMP
New home sales by floor area in 16 selected Chinese cities rose 31.9% month-on-month in February, compared with a fall of 34.3% in January, according to China Index Academy, one of the country’s largest independent real estate research firms. RTRS
American companies, including McDonald’s, Starbucks, Ralph Lauren, Tapestry, and others, are expanding in China in anticipation of a consumer-led rebound in the economy as the post-reopening recovery continues. WSJ
China Renaissance confirmed Chairman Bao Fan has been assisting in a Chinese probe since he disappeared abruptly earlier this month. The investigation is being run by authorities, and Renaissance will “cooperate and assist with any lawful request.” It was reported last week that Cong Lin, the firm’s former president, has been involved in a probe since September. BBG
BOJ policy – incoming governor Kazuo Ueda says it’s premature to discuss normalization as “big improvements” must be achieved in the country’s inflation trajectory before changes can happen (Ueda says the benefits of monetary easing exceed the costs). RTRS
Russia has halted supplies of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline, a move that comes one day after Poland sent its first Leopard tanks to Ukraine. RTRS
US insurance regulators on Monday will meet to consider boosting capital charges on complex corporate loan instruments that some in the industry warn are creating excessive risk. The issue pits insurers backed by large private equity firms such as Blackstone, Apollo Global and KKR — who are increasingly investing in the loans — against traditional life insurers such as MetLife and Prudential Financial, who warn of growing risks. FT
Pfizer is in early-stage talks to acquire biotech Seagen, valued at about $30 billion, and its pioneering targeted cancer therapies. WSJ
Hedge fund Soroban Capital Partners is pushing Union Pacific Corp. to replace Chief Executive Lance Fritz, arguing the railroad has underperformed on his watch, according to people familiar with the matter. WSJ
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
Asia-Pac stocks traded cautiously heading into month-end and a slew of upcoming releases including Chinese PMI data, with headwinds also from the US where firmer-than-expected Core PCE data spurred hawkish terminal rate bets. ASX 200 was negative as participants digested a deluge of earnings and with the mining industry leading the retreat seen across nearly all sectors aside from energy which benefitted from a jump in Woodside Energy’s profits. Nikkei 225 price action was contained by a lack of pertinent macro drivers and with BoJ Governor nominee Ueda’s largely reiterated prior comments at the upper house confirmation hearing. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were choppy with initial pressure amid geopolitical frictions after the G20 finance ministers meeting failed to agree on a communique due to opposition from Russia and China, while National Security Adviser Sullivan also warned there will be a real cost if China provides military assistance to Russia for the Ukraine war. However, Chinese stocks gradually recovered from the early weakness and briefly turned positive with sentiment helped by a continued liquidity injection and after China drafted guidelines to regulate financial support in the housing rental market, although the gains proved to be short-lived.
Top Asian News
China drafted guidelines to regulate financial support in the housing rental market and began to solicit public opinion, according to China.org.cn.
Macau dropped COVID-19 mask mandates for most locations aside from public transportation, hospitals and some other areas, according to Reuters.
BoJ Governor Kuroda commented that he is resolved to keep ultra-loose policy and that the BoJ expects core consumer inflation to slow beyond 2% in both fiscal 2023 and 2024, according to Reuters.
BoJ Governor nominee Ueda says CPI growth will slow below 2% in fiscal 2023 and that it takes time for CPI to meet the 2% target stably and sustainably, while he added that the BoJ’s current monetary easing is appropriate and that it is appropriate to continue monetary easing from now on as well. Adds, changing the 2% inflation target into a 1% target would strengthen the JPY in the short-term, weaken it long-term. Overshooting commitment is aimed at exerting powerful announcement effects on policy, need to be mindful of risk of inflation overshooting too much. Targeting shorter-dated JGBs than current 10yr yield is one idea if BoJ were to tweak YCC in the future, but there are many other options. Does not think Japan has reached the reversal rate, in which financial transmission channels are hurt so much that the demerits of easing exceed benefits.
European bourses are firmer across the board, Euro Stoxx 50 +1.8%, after a cautious APAC handover following Friday’s selling pressure. Sectors are all in the green with Energy names at the top of the pile, given benchmark pricing and Shell’s upgrade at GS. Stateside, futures are currently posting more modest upside of around 0.5% with Fed’s Jefferson (voter) the session’s main event. Tesla’s (TSLA) German plant has hit a production level of 4,000 per week, three weeks ahead of schedule, according to Reuters.
Top European News
UK PM Sunak and European Commission President von der Leyen will meet at 12:00GMT/07:00EST in Windsor, according to BBC; if there is a deal, a press conference could be around 15:30GMT. Earlier, UK PM Sunak’s office said UK PM Sunak will meet with EU’s von der Leyen for talks on Northern Ireland Brexit deal late lunchtime on Monday and will hold a Cabinet meeting later on Monday. Furthermore, PM Sunak and von der Leyen will hold a news conference if a deal is reached, while Sunak will also address parliament if there is a deal.
UK ministers are unlikely to quit re. the Brexit deal, with the likes of Steve Baker and others liking what they are hearing but waiting to see the full text, according to Times’ Swinford; ERG say they would love to back the deal but if the DUP does not back the deal it cannot and won’t support it.
UK PM Sunak said they are giving it everything they’ve got regarding talks for a post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland and he will try to resolve the concerns the DUP Party have regarding a new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland. It was later reported that PM Sunak said he won big concessions from the EU, according to The Sunday Times and The Times.
UK Deputy PM Raab said there is real progress on a trade deal and he is hopeful for good news on the Brexit deal within days, not weeks, and also noted that Northern Ireland’s DUP does not have a de-facto veto over the Brexit deal. In other news, Raab said he will resign if an allegation of bullying against him is upheld, according to Reuters.
ECB’s Lagarde said headline inflation is still unacceptably high and core CPI is at a record level, while she added that they want to bring inflation back to the 2% target and noted that rate decisions are to be data dependent.
Magnitude 5.7 earthquake that struck the Eastern Turkey region has been revised to 5.2, according to the EMSC.
FX
DXY retained a bid between Fib and psychological level within 105.360-070 range; though has erred towards the lower-end of these parameters going into the US session.
Sterling ‘outperforms’ after a dip through 200 DMA vs Buck on UK-EU NI trade deal optimism, with EUR/GBP within 10 pips of 0.8800 at worst.
Kiwi flags as NZ Q4 retail sales fall and Aussie feels more contagion from Yuan weakness; antipodeans near 0.6150 and 0.6710 respectively.
Euro pivots 1.0550 vs the Dollar and Yen pares back from sub-136.50 amidst Fib support nearby.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.9572 vs exp. 6.9586 (prev. 6.8942)
Commodities
WTI and Brent are a touch softer though have lifted off overnight USD 75.58/bbl and USD 82.38/bbl lows given the improvement in risk sentiment throughout the European morning.
Though, the benchmarks are shy of USD 76.82/bbl and USD 83.60/bbl peaks with numerous geopolitical updates factoring into the overall indecisive price action.
Russia halted supplies of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline, according to PKN Orlen’s CEO. Subsequently, Russia’s Transneft says payment orders for oil shipments to Poland were not issued in the second half of February, no oil flows to Poland currently, via Tass; paperwork for oil supplies to Poland has not been completed.
Crude oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline to the Czech Republic are running as planned, according to Mero.
Spot gold is little changed with the yellow metal in a tight sub-10/oz range above the USD 1800/oz handle, taking its cue from the similarly cagey USD.
Base metals are, broadly speaking, firmer following overnight weakness but remain in proximity to the troughs from Friday’s session.
Fixed Income
Bonds remain in bear clutches after another failed recovery rally.
Bunds probe new cycle low at 133.61 (session high 134.36) have fallen just shy of key resistance area, associated 10yr at a YTD peak of 2.57%.
Gilts wane just two ticks below 101.00 and test bids/support into 100.00 and T-note hugs base of 111-07/16 range ahead of US data, Central Bank speakers and crunch UK-EU Brexit talks.
Geopolitics
Russia’s Kremlin, on China’s peace plan, says no conditions for peace ‘at the moment’ in Ukraine, according to AFP.
G20 Finance Ministers meeting concluded without a joint communique as China and Russia opposed the draft with the two countries said to be upset by the use of a G20 platform to discuss political matters, according to sources cited by Reuters. India’s chair statement noted that there was a discussion about the war in Ukraine and it reiterated the G20 position on deploring in the strongest terms aggression by Russia, as well as reiterated the G20 position demanding Russia’s complete and unconditional withdrawal from Ukrainian territory.
Russian President Putin said Russia has taken into account NATO’s nuclear potential and claimed that the west wants to liquidate Russia, according to TASS.
Russian Wagner Group boss Prigozhin said his fighters captured the village of Yahinde which is north of Bakhmut, according to Reuters.
US President Biden said on Friday that he is ruling out Ukraine’s request for F-16 aircraft for now but added they have to put Ukrainians in a position where they can make advances this spring and summer. Biden also said he doesn’t anticipate a major initiative on the part of China to provide weapons to Russia and that he hasn’t seen anything in the Chinese peace plan that would be beneficial for anyone but Russia, while he also suggested it is possible that Chinese President Xi did not know about the Chinese spy balloon, according to an ABC News interview.
US National Security Adviser Sullivan said China has made the final decision regarding providing aid to Russia and has not taken the possibility of providing lethal aid to Russia off the table, while he noted the consequences have been made clear to China and warned there will be a real cost if China provides military assistance to Russia for the Ukraine war, according to an interview with ABC News. There were also comments from Republican lawmaker McCaul that China is thinking of sending drones and other lethal weapons.
Belarus President Lukashenko will pay a state visit to China from February 28 to March 2. “The visit will serve as an opportunity for the two sides to further promote comprehensive cooperation”, according to Global Times.
Germany, France, and the UK are considering making concrete security guarantees to Ukraine as an incentive for Ukrainian President Zelensky to engage in peace talks with Russia, according to the WSJ.
German Defence Minister Pistorius commented regarding the Chinese peace plan and stated that they will judge China by its actions, not its words, according to Reuters.
US Event Calendar
08:30: Jan. Durable Goods Orders, est. -4.0%, prior 5.6%
Jan. -Less Transportation, est. 0.1%, prior -0.2%
Jan. Cap Goods Ship Nondef Ex Air, est. 0%, prior -0.6%
Jan. Cap Goods Orders Nondef Ex Air, est. -0.1%, prior -0.1%
10:00: Jan. Pending Home Sales (MoM), est. 1.0%, prior 2.5%
Jan. Pending Home Sales YoY, prior -34.3%
10:30: Feb. Dallas Fed Manf. Activity, est. -9.2, prior -8.4
Central Bank Speakers
10:30: Fed’s Jefferson Discusses Inflation and the Dual Mandate
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
As we close out a tougher second month of the year than the first tomorrow night, Henry pointed out an interesting stat to me on Friday. January was the best January for the Global Bond Ag index this century whereas February so far is on course to be the worst February over the same period. The very strong financial market performance between mid-October and end-January was in our opinion based mostly around US terminal pricing being remarkably stable between 4.75-5.1%. In the previous 9-10 months it was constantly being repriced from around 1% to 5% causing chaos in the financial world.
On Friday, US terminal closed at 5.4%, catching up to DB’s street leading 5.6% forecast. Clearly this has been bubbling up since payrolls (Feb 3), the CPI revisions (Feb 10), CPI beat (Feb 14), retail sales beat (Feb 15), and even things like Manheim used prices spiking higher again in January and February. Last Friday’s core PCE was another important piece of evidence with the 0.6% mom print above expectations of 0.4%. Even though the concern was that it would beat, this added fuel to the fire and markets still struggled to deal with the ramifications with 2yr, 10yr and terminal up +11.6bps, +6.8bps and +5.3bps to 4.814%, 3.943% and 5.40% respectively. 2yr yields are the highest since July 2007 and terminal the highest this cycle.
For core US PCE, the 3m, 6m and 12m annualised numbers are now 4.8%, 5.1% and 4.7% and thus strongly hint at inflation stickiness. With this data it’s tough to rule out a return to 50bps hikes even if that’s not yet the base case. While that uncertainty is there, markets will stay on edge.
In credit we downgraded our tactical bullishness in our “Credit: Rally ends soon” (Jan 30) note (link here) and suggested reducing exposure to dollar credit immediately. The biggest challenge though is when to officially run for the preverbal hills given we’ve had a long standing YE 23 target for HY of +860bps linked into our US recession call by year end. In the near-term we’re a little more relaxed on European credit. Indeed our credit team published a €HY update this morning looking at tight spreads in the face of growing fundamental vulnerabilities and the highest share of bonds rated B or worse in the last 10 years. However with supply unlikely to pick up materially, favourable technicals should keep spreads supported for now. Still, we think concerns about deteriorating credit metrics will eventually prevail and see €HY selling off in H2’23 alongside the US market when signs of a growth slowdown become even more tangible (see here for the full text).
Linked into this view, the recent US data probably makes us more confident of a hard landing given the boom-and-bust nature of this cycle that has been increasingly clear step-by-step over the last 2-3 years. This trend first emerged with the extraordinarily excessive covid stimulus, which in turn led to an enormous spike in the money supply, which brought structural inflation, and was always going to require an immense amount of tightening to control. An immaculate disinflation and soft landing from here would defy all historical precedent. Time will tell if we’re wrong and history needs to be rewritten but this feels a fairly straight forward US cycle to predict.
For this week, with the current sensitivities over prices, all eyes will be on the flash February European CPI releases (France Tues, Germany Weds, Italy and EA Thurs) and labour market data released throughout the week. The CPI numbers follow Friday’s upward revisions for the January report in the Euro Area, where core inflation was revised up a tenth to a new record of +5.3%. We also have the global PMIs (and US ISMs) with manufacturing on the first day of the month (Wednesday) and services (Friday).
ECB speakers will have plenty of opportunity to reflect on the data with at least 8 appearances already scheduled for next week. For a more backward-looking assessment, markets will also have the ECB’s account of the February meeting due Thursday to read through. Our own European economists upgraded their ECB call last week and now see two +50bps hikes in March/May followed by a final +25bps hike in June, which would imply a terminal of 3.75%, up from 3.25% previously (see full note here). Fed speakers are also prevalent as you’ll see in the day-by-day week ahead. There are six FOMC voters and there is a lot for them to chew over at the moment, especially after Friday’s PCE data.
Outside of the ISMs, US data will revolve around consumer and manufacturing activity. That will include the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index tomorrow, Chicago PMI (also tomorrow) and a host of regional central bank indices. Other notable indicators due include durable goods orders today and the advance goods trade balance tomorrow.
Asian equity markets are trading lower this morning with the KOSPI (-1.19%) leading losses across the region while the Hang Seng (-0.75%), the CSI, (-0.21%) the Shanghai Composite (-0.12%) and the Nikkei (-0.19%) all trading in the red. In overnight trading, US stock futures are fairly flat alongside US yields.
Earlier this morning, the government’s nominee for the Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor, Kazuo Ueda in his speech to the parliament stressed the need to maintain the central bank’s ultra-loose policy to support the Japanese economy despite various market side-effects. Meanwhile, candidates for the BoJ deputy governor (Uchida and Himino) will appear for hearings in the Upper House tomorrow, following this week’s Lower House hearings.
Looking back on last week now, both equities and fixed income retreated as markets priced in further central bank hikes following mounting evidence that inflation was continuing to prove persistent. The selloff gathered pace on Friday, following the aforementioned US PCE inflation data surprising firmly to the upside, with headline PCE at +0.6% (vs +0.5% expected) month-on-month, and +4.7% (vs +4.3% expected) year-on-year. Further adding to the view that inflation is durable, core PCE inflation also came in above consensus, with the month-on-month print at +0.6% (vs +0.4% expected) whilst year-on-year came in at +4.7% (vs +4.3% expected).
This data led markets to swiftly priced in a more aggressive price of rate hikes from the Fed. In particular, there was growing speculation that the Fed might step up their hikes to 50bps again, with a +30.3bps move priced into the next meeting in March, up from +27.5bps at the start of the week. US terminal rate timing is starting to be evenly balanced between July (5.400%) and September (5.401%), rather than the July peak we’ve had for several weeks. It’s also at the highest level of the cycle. The pricing for the July meeting climbed up +11.8bps last week (+5.3bps on Friday), while the September meeting pricing rose +14.6bps last week (+6.9bps on Friday). Expectations also increased for rates remaining higher for longer, with the December meeting now implying a 5.28% rate. This was up +11.0bps on Friday and +21.6bps on the week – marking a fifth consecutive weekly increase.
Renewed expectations of additional hikes by central banks triggered a sell-off in both US and European equities on Friday. The S&P 500 fell back -1.05% on Friday, finishing off the week down -2.67% and marking its worst weekly performance so far this year. The Nasdaq similarly retreated, down -3.33% last week (-1.69% on Friday), its largest weekly down move since mid-December. European equities fell back too, with the STOXX 600 retreating -1.42% last week (-1.04% on Friday).
This sell-off was echoed across fixed income markets, with 10yr Treasury yields up +6.6bps on Friday and +12.8bps over the course of last week. 2yr Treasuries significantly underperformed, as yields rose +11.6bps on Friday and +19.7bps over the week, reaching their highest level since July 2007. It was a similar story in Europe, with the 2yr German yield up +11.7bps on Friday in their largest up move since December and hitting their highest level since October 2008. Over the course of the week, that left them up +15.3bps at 3.03%. In the meantime, 10yr bund yields rose +9.7bps last week (+5.9bps on Friday) to 2.54%, and the German 2s10s curve inverted to -50bps after it fell -5.6bps on Friday, which made up nearly the entirety of the -5.8bps flattening last week.
Finally, commodity markets fell back most of last week before a rally in oil on Friday (WTI +1.23% & Brent +1.16% Friday) left WTI crude down just -0.03% on the week at $76.32/bbl and Brent crude up +0.19% at $82.16/bbl. On the other hand, metals saw continued selling on Friday, with copper futures falling back -3.81% overall (-2.64% on Friday), and nickel down -4.93% last week (-3.33% on Friday). Looking at the market more broadly, the Bloomberg Industrial Metals Index fell back -3.17% over the course of last week (-2.44% on Friday). All this likely down to some concerns that the Chinese reopening isn’t quite as smooth and bouyant as hoped.
AND NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)
US futures firmer, core fixed downbeat and GBP outperforming; Jefferson & data due – Newsquawk US Market Open
MONDAY, FEB 27, 2023 – 06:23 AM
European bourses are firmer across the board, Euro Stoxx 50 +1.8%, after a cautious APAC handover following Friday’s selling pressure.
Stateside, futures are currently posting more modest upside of around 0.5% with Fed’s Jefferson (voter) due.
DXY is softer but remains above 105.00 with GBP outperforming on UK-EU N. Ireland deal optimism; Antipodeans lag slightly.
Bonds remain underpressure though current losses are relatively modest, Germany 10yr yield at a fresh YTD peak.
Crude benchmarks are slightly softer in indecisive trade with numerous geopolitical updates and Druzhba developments factoring.
Looking ahead, highlights include US Durable Goods, Pending Home Sales; Fed’s Jefferson; ECB’s Lane & de Cos.
DXY retained a bid between Fib and psychological level within 105.360-070 range; though has erred towards the lower-end of these parameters going into the US session.
Sterling ‘outperforms’ after a dip through 200 DMA vs Buck on UK-EU NI trade deal optimism, with EUR/GBP within 10 pips of 0.8800 at worst.
Kiwi flags as NZ Q4 retail sales fall and Aussie feels more contagion from Yuan weakness; antipodeans near 0.6150 and 0.6710 respectively.
Euro pivots 1.0550 vs the Dollar and Yen pares back from sub-136.50 amidst Fib support nearby.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.9572 vs exp. 6.9586 (prev. 6.8942)
Bonds remain in bear clutches after another failed recovery rally.
Bunds probe new cycle low at 133.61 (session high 134.36) have fallen just shy of key resistance area, associated 10yr at a YTD peak of 2.57%.
Gilts wane just two ticks below 101.00 and test bids/support into 100.00 and T-note hugs base of 111-07/16 range ahead of US data, Central Bank speakers and crunch UK-EU Brexit talks.
WTI and Brent are a touch softer though have lifted off overnight USD 75.58/bbl and USD 82.38/bbl lows given the improvement in risk sentiment throughout the European morning.
Though, the benchmarks are shy of USD 76.82/bbl and USD 83.60/bbl peaks with numerous geopolitical updates factoring into the overall indecisive price action.
Russia halted supplies of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline, according to PKN Orlen’s CEO. Subsequently, Russia’s Transneft says payment orders for oil shipments to Poland were not issued in the second half of February, no oil flows to Poland currently, via Tass; paperwork for oil supplies to Poland has not been completed.
Crude oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline to the Czech Republic are running as planned, according to Mero.
Spot gold is little changed with the yellow metal in a tight sub-10/oz range above the USD 1800/oz handle, taking its cue from the similarly cagey USD.
Base metals are, broadly speaking, firmer following overnight weakness but remain in proximity to the troughs from Friday’s session.
UK PM Sunak and European Commission President von der Leyen will meet at 12:00GMT/07:00EST in Windsor, according to BBC; if there is a deal, a press conference could be around 15:30GMT.Earlier, UK PM Sunak’s office said UK PM Sunak will meet with EU’s von der Leyen for talks on Northern Ireland Brexit deal late lunchtime on Monday and will hold a Cabinet meeting later on Monday. Furthermore, PM Sunak and von der Leyen will hold a news conference if a deal is reached, while Sunak will also address parliament if there is a deal.
UK ministers are unlikely to quit re. the Brexit deal, with the likes of Steve Baker and others liking what they are hearing but waiting to see the full text, according to Times’ Swinford; ERG say they would love to back the deal but if the DUP does not back the deal it cannot and won’t support it.
UK PM Sunak said they are giving it everything they’ve got regarding talks for a post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland and he will try to resolve the concerns the DUP Party have regarding a new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland. It was later reported that PM Sunak said he won big concessions from the EU, according to The Sunday Times and The Times.
UK Deputy PM Raab said there is real progress on a trade deal and he is hopeful for good news on the Brexit deal within days, not weeks, and also noted that Northern Ireland’s DUP does not have a de-facto veto over the Brexit deal. In other news, Raab said he will resign if an allegation of bullying against him is upheld, according to Reuters.
ECB’s Lagarde said headline inflation is still unacceptably high and core CPI is at a record level, while she added that they want to bring inflation back to the 2% target and noted that rate decisions are to be data dependent.
Magnitude 5.7 earthquake that struck the Eastern Turkey region has been revised to 5.2, according to the EMSC.
DATA RECAP
EU Consumer Confidence Final (Feb) -19.0 vs. Exp. -19.0 (Prev. -19.0)
US Treasury Secretary Yellen said she expects readjustments of housing rental contracts to lower rates will help drive a reduction in inflation this year, while she added that the US consumer spending report shows that disinflation is not a straight line and inflation remains a problem. Furthermore, she disagrees with the premise that the Fed needs a recession to win the inflation fight and also said that she was willing to negotiate with Republicans regarding the budget proposal to be unveiled next month but not as a condition of raising the debt limit, according to Reuters.
JPMorgan (JPM) reportedly considering cutting China’s weighting in the new Asia credit index to circa. 30% (vs ~43% in the current index), via Reuters citing sources; proposes adding Australia, New Zealand & Japan. Proposal follows some fund managers pushing Co. to cut china exposure following poor performance and geopolitical tensions. Such an index would be in parallel to its existing Asia credit index.
Russia’s Kremlin, on China’s peace plan, says no conditions for peace ‘at the moment’ in Ukraine, according to AFP.
G20 Finance Ministers meeting concluded without a joint communique as China and Russia opposed the draft with the two countries said to be upset by the use of a G20 platform to discuss political matters, according to sources cited by Reuters. India’s chair statement noted that there was a discussion about the war in Ukraine and it reiterated the G20 position on deploring in the strongest terms aggression by Russia, as well as reiterated the G20 position demanding Russia’s complete and unconditional withdrawal from Ukrainian territory.
Russian President Putin said Russia has taken into account NATO’s nuclear potential and claimed that the west wants to liquidate Russia, according to TASS.
Russian Wagner Group boss Prigozhin said his fighters captured the village of Yahinde which is north of Bakhmut, according to Reuters.
US President Biden said on Friday that he is ruling out Ukraine’s request for F-16 aircraft for now but added they have to put Ukrainians in a position where they can make advances this spring and summer. Biden also said he doesn’t anticipate a major initiative on the part of China to provide weapons to Russia and that he hasn’t seen anything in the Chinese peace plan that would be beneficial for anyone but Russia, while he also suggested it is possible that Chinese President Xi did not know about the Chinese spy balloon, according to an ABC News interview.
US National Security Adviser Sullivan said China has made the final decision regarding providing aid to Russia and has not taken the possibility of providing lethal aid to Russia off the table, while he noted the consequences have been made clear to China and warned there will be a real cost if China provides military assistance to Russia for the Ukraine war, according to an interview with ABC News. There were also comments from Republican lawmaker McCaul that China is thinking of sending drones and other lethal weapons.
Belarus President Lukashenko will pay a state visit to China from February 28 to March 2. “The visit will serve as an opportunity for the two sides to further promote comprehensive cooperation”, according to Global Times.
Germany, France, and the UK are considering making concrete security guarantees to Ukraine as an incentive for Ukrainian President Zelensky to engage in peace talks with Russia, according to the WSJ.
German Defence Minister Pistorius commented regarding the Chinese peace plan and stated that they will judge China by its actions, not its words, according to Reuters.
OTHER
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry says a US P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and recon. military plane flew through the Taiwan Strait from north to south. Subsequently, China’s military said the action deliberately interferes with and disrupts the regional situation and endangers the peace/stability of the Taiwan Strait.
Saudi Foreign Minister Farhan visited Ukraine and discussed ways to reduce escalation with Ukrainian President Zelensky, as well as announced USD 400mln in humanitarian aid agreements.
Israel and Palestinian officials agreed to de-escalate on the ground and prevent more violence, while they agreed to meet again next month and stressed the joint readiness and commitment to work immediately to stop unilateral measures for 3-6 months, according to the joint statement at the end of the meeting in Aqaba, Jordan.
CRYPTO
Bitcoin is modestly firmer on the session, +1.0%, but off initial best levels and within recent sub-25k parameters.
RBI Governor Das said at the G20 that there is now wide recognition of major risk with crypto.
APAC TRADE
APAC stocks traded cautiously heading into month-end and a slew of upcoming releases including Chinese PMI data, with headwinds also from the US where firmer-than-expected Core PCE data spurred hawkish terminal rate bets.
ASX 200 was negative as participants digested a deluge of earnings and with the mining industry leading the retreat seen across nearly all sectors aside from energy which benefitted from a jump in Woodside Energy’s profits.
Nikkei 225 price action was contained by a lack of pertinent macro drivers and with BoJ Governor nominee Ueda’s largely reiterated prior comments at the upper house confirmation hearing.
Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were choppy with initial pressure amid geopolitical frictions after the G20 finance ministers meeting failed to agree on a communique due to opposition from Russia and China, while National Security Adviser Sullivan also warned there will be a real cost if China provides military assistance to Russia for the Ukraine war. However, Chinese stocks gradually recovered from the early weakness and briefly turned positive with sentiment helped by a continued liquidity injection and after China drafted guidelines to regulate financial support in the housing rental market, although the gains proved to be short-lived.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
China drafted guidelines to regulate financial support in the housing rental market and began to solicit public opinion, according to China.org.cn.
Macau dropped COVID-19 mask mandates for most locations aside from public transportation, hospitals and some other areas, according to Reuters.
BoJ Governor Kuroda commented that he is resolved to keep ultra-loose policy and that the BoJ expects core consumer inflation to slow beyond 2% in both fiscal 2023 and 2024, according to Reuters.
BoJ Governor nominee Ueda says CPI growth will slow below 2% in fiscal 2023 and that it takes time for CPI to meet the 2% target stably and sustainably, while he added that the BoJ’s current monetary easing is appropriate and that it is appropriate to continue monetary easing from now on as well. Adds, changing the 2% inflation target into a 1% target would strengthen the JPY in the short-term, weaken it long-term. Overshooting commitment is aimed at exerting powerful announcement effects on policy, need to be mindful of risk of inflation overshooting too much. Targeting shorter-dated JGBs than current 10yr yield is one idea if BoJ were to tweak YCC in the future, but there are many other options. Does not think Japan has reached the reversal rate, in which financial transmission channels are hurt so much that the demerits of easing exceed benefits.
DATA RECAP
Australian Gross Company Profits (Q4) 10.6% vs. Exp. 1.5% (Prev. -12.4%, Rev. -11.5%); Business Inventories (Q4) -0.2% vs. Exp. -0.2% (Prev. 1.7%, Rev. 2.1%)
MONDAY MORNING/SUNDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 9.13 PTS OR 0.28% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 66.33 PTS OR 0.33% /The Nikkei closed DOWN 29.52% PTS OR .11% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 1.24% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 6.9536 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN DOWN TO 6.9712// /Oil UP TO 76.15 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT AT 82.83 / Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER
2 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
///NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA/
2B JAPAN
JAPAN/COVID
3c CHINA /
CHINA/RUSSIA/UKRAINE/USA
While Proposing Peace In Ukraine, China Issues Scathing Tome Over “The Perils Of US Hegemony”
FRIDAY, FEB 24, 2023 – 10:00 PM
A massive, 4000-word scathing critique of American foreign policy was circulated by Chinese embassies hosted in Western countries this week, including to American officials and media. It included a lengthy laundry list of US crimes abroad and imperialist tactics.
The long essay was first published in state-run Xinhua News agency, and is entitled“U.S. Hegemony and Its Perils”. It heavily focuses on Washington’s recent wars in the Middle East, which have killed many tens of thousands of people, as well as bullying sanctions on countries like Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and Russia which have had a strangling effect on entire populations.
For a sampling of the kind rhetoric contained in the essay, which at this point has semi-official status as a Chinese government document (again, given it’s being circulated by the Chinese embassy in D.C., among others), one section begins: “So far, the United States had or has imposed economic sanctions on nearly 40 countries across the world, including Cuba, China, Russia, the DPRK, Iran and Venezuela, affecting nearly half of the world’s population.”Via Reuters
It repeatedly calls out American hypocrisy and says the US has departed from the very principles it has long espoused and claimed to represent:
“The United States of America” has turned itself into “the United States of Sanctions.” And “long-arm jurisdiction” has been reduced to nothing but a tool for the United States to use its means of state power to suppress economic competitors and interfere in normal international business. This is a serious departure from the principles of liberal market economy that the United States has long boasted.
This also comes the very week that China unveiled a peace plan intended to wind down the Russia-Ukraine war. To be expected, the plan was met with an icy reception in Europe and the US.
Below is the Chinese government document in its entirety, which was sent out to Western government officials and media late this week.
(see zero hedge)
END
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS/UK AFFAIRS//
SWEDEN//RUSSIA/UKRAINE
This will escalate things. Russia will not be happy that Sweden is sending in Leopard tanks
(zerohedge)
Sweden To Send ‘Around’ 10 Leopard Tanks, Anti-Air Systems To Ukraine
SATURDAY, FEB 25, 2023 – 08:45 AM
At a moment Sweden alongside Finland is seeking to join NATO, a process which has been stalled due to Turkish objections, the Swedish government has announced it is planning to deliver “around” 10 Leopard 2 tanks and anti-air systems to Ukraine.
“We have decided to deliver Swedish Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a press briefing upon the one-year anniversary of the war. Defense minister Pal Jonson in follow-up confirmed that “around ten” tanks would be sent, and they were identified as the “Leopard 2A5” models.
The government also aid it will be delivering the IRIS-T and HAWK anti-air missile systems as part of the package. The deliveries will be coordinated with Germany, after in late January both Washington and Berlin jointly agreed to allow Western tanks to be transferred to Ukraine as part of the war effort.
The Swedish prime minister’s office further said the new deliveries will help Ukraine “win the war” after Stockholm decided to join the “Leopard family”…
And yet, like other European countries which have been directly backing Kiev, Sweden is having its own struggles keeping up with domestic defense readiness and capability, as Breaking Defensedetails:
The newly published Swedish armed forces annual report 2022 has laid out a number of operational and industrial difficulties facing the Scandinavian nation, which include supply chain shortages and a pilot crisis causing Gripen fighter jet flight hours to fall by nearly 12 percent compared to 2021.
Across 2022, the war in Ukraine and supplier shortages led directly to struggles with maintenance of military equipment and “major delivery deviations” arising, such as delay to the new signals intelligence vessel HSwMS Artemis, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Russia is likely to continue pressuring Turkey to remain firm in its resolve to block Sweden’s NATO accession.
But Sweden has remained optimistic with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström telling CNBC this week that “of course it is” really happening, when asked about joining NATO.
“We, after all, have 28 member states of the 30 who are already members of NATO who have already ratified the applications for Sweden and Finland. So yes, of course, this is just a matter of time,” Billström said. However, Turkey doesn’t seem any closer to giving approval, and Finland has even recently indicated it’s ready to join without Sweden.
END
5.UKRAINE// RUSSIA//MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
RUSSIA/WEST
Putin pounds the table that the Ukraine war poses existential threat to the survival of the Russian people
(zerohedge)
Ukraine War Poses Existential Threat To Survival Of The Russian People: Putin
MONDAY, FEB 27, 2023 – 06:55 AM
Last week when President Vladimir Putin said his country is suspending participation in the New START nuclear arms control treaty with the US, he explained it was to “ensure security, strategic stability” for Russia.
In Sunday remarks given to state TV channel Russia 1, he explained more about what he sees as the West’s goal in its deeper involvement in opposing Russian forces in Ukraine while seeking to punish Moscow with continually ratcheting sanctions and attempted isolation on the world stage. He warned in the new comments that the Russian people may not survive in NATO countries succeed in imposing a “strategic defeat” on Russia.
He presented the proxy war in Ukraine and Western arms being pumped in, which has recently included authorization for US and German tanks, as an existential threat to his country and people.
“In today’s conditions, when all the leading NATO countries have declared their main goal as inflicting a strategic defeat on us, so that our people suffer as they say, how can we ignore their nuclear capabilities in these conditions?” Putin said, according to Reuters.
“I do not even know if such an ethnic group as the Russian people will be able to survive in the form in which it exists today,” he said, while also suggesting the West is eyeing Russia’s abundant resources, and seeks to obtain and divide them.
It’s not the first time he’s cast the Ukraine war in terms of a global conflict and confrontation, but such heightened rhetoric which shows he doesn’t see losing as an option has grown and come more frequent of late. Last week he had said the following, echoing a similar theme:
“Western elites aren’t trying to conceal their goals, to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ to Russia,” he said last Tuesday. “They intend to transform the local conflict into a global confrontation.”
Putin spoke those words headed into Friday’s one-year mark since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine while charging it was the West that “started the war”.
“We aren’t fighting the Ukrainian people,” Putin had asserted in a speech, saying Ukrainians have “become hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, which have effectively occupied the country.”
Meanwhile, the only remotely positive sign to come in recent days has been Kiev’s somewhat positively greeting China’s 12-point ceasefire plan for ending the war. Zelensky had acknowledged that at least the Chinese are talking about Ukraine and that this is a welcome start. The Ukrainian leader even went so far as to say that he and President Xi Jinping should meet.
END
RUSSIA/POLAND
Poland has been preparing for this day: Russia shuts gas to Poland today
(zerohedge)
Russia Halts Pipeline Flows To Poland While Shifting Crude To Germany
MONDAY, FEB 27, 2023 – 09:05 AM
Russian oil pipeline company Transneft shifted oil flows from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline that runs through Poland while shipments to Poland were halted, according to Reuters, citing at least one Russian news agency.
TASS news reported Polish customers were unable to receive Russian oil because Transneft didn’t receive paperwork and transit payment in late February.
“(Oil) should have been pumped to Polish refineries in the second half of February.”
“However, routing orders with confirmed resource and transit payment were not executed.
“In addition, operational changes were made to the schedule, excluding supplies for Polish consumers,” a spokesperson for the pipeline operator said.
On Monday, Kazakhstan oil pipeline operator KazTransOil said about 20,000 tons of crude was pumped to Germany via Russia’s Druzhba pipeline. Kazakhstan is a landlocked country that relies on Russia to export energy products that aren’t subjected to Western sanctions.
The northern leg of Druzhba supplies crude to Germany, while the southern portion supplies Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
The first oil flow disruption was reported Saturday. Poland’s largest oil company PKN Orlen SA said oil flows from the Druzhba pipeline from Russia were unexpectedly halted.
“The halt comes a day after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reached the one-year mark,” Bloomberg pointed out. It also comes after President Biden visited Kyiv and Warsaw last week.
Meanwhile, Poland has been one of the biggest cheerleaders of Kyiv, sending weapons and humanitarian aid and receiving more than 1.5 million refugees. Poland was the first European country last year to have its natural gas flows cut by Russia shortly after the invasion.
Even though Western sanctions have excluded Russian oil imports via pipelines, Warsaw has requested sanctions to cancel the last contract with a Russian supplier.
About 10% of Polish crude supplies are sourced from Russia. The country has moved quickly to reduce its dependency on Moscow. Orlen stated that the reduced flows from Russia wouldn’t impact operations or consumers.
Poland has been preparing for this day with alternative sourcing, though Germany still has an addiction problem to cheap Russian energy products
END
UKRAINE/RUSSIA/(CRIMEA)\
Not sure that this is a good idea: the citizenry in Crimea is 95% Russian speaking
(zerohedge)
Zelensky Says Ukraine Is Preparing To Attack Crimea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Ukraine is preparing to launch attacks to recapture Crimea by forming new military units and sending troops to train in other countries.
“There are military steps, and we are preparing for them. We are ready mentally. We are preparing technically: with weapons, reinforcements, the formation of brigades, in particular the assault brigades, of different categories and nature,” Zelensky said at a press conference, according to the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.
According to Ukrinform, Zelensky said Ukrainian troops were being sent to train in other countries to learn how to use new weapons. “We have to be ready. Then, there will be corresponding fair de-occupation steps and, God willing, they will be successful,” he added.
Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials have maintained that kicking Russia out of Crimea is one of their war goals, but Russia controls a good portion of territory to the north of Crimea in the Kherson Oblast. The Pentagon has also assessed it’s unlikely Ukraine can take the peninsula, which Russia has controlled since 2014.
Despite the Pentagon’s assessment, Biden administration officials still say they would support Ukrainian attacks on Crimea. “Russia has turned Crimea into a massive military installation … those are legitimate targets, Ukraine is hitting them, and we are supporting that,” Victoria Nuland, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs, recently said.
The US backing Ukrainian attacks on Crimea would risk a major escalation with Moscow, a fact that even Secretary of State Antony Blinken has recognized by calling the peninsula a “red line” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian leader has shown a willingness to escalate the war over attacks on Crimea, as Russia’s bombardment of Ukrainian infrastructure didn’t start until after the truck bombing of the Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea to the Russian mainland.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 following the US-backed coup in Kyiv that ousted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Polling since then has shown the majority of people living on the peninsula are happy that they joined the Russian Federation.
END
RUSSIA/CHINA//GERMANY
Not good: Russia in talks with China to buy suicide drones
(zerohedge)
Russia In Talks With China To Buy Suicide Drones: German Media
FRIDAY, FEB 24, 2023 – 09:20 PM
German magazine Der Spiegel has issued an anonymously sourced report saying that Russia is currently in negotiations with a Chinese manufacturer to purchase 100 drones, which comes after repeat dire warnings out of the US for Beijing not to provide lethal aid to Moscow.
While highlighting that China rejected these warnings communicated by Secretary of State Antony Blinken as “disinformation”, the publication wrote Thursday that “information obtained by DER SPIEGEL indicates that the planned cooperation between Beijing and Moscow goes even further than Blinken makes it sound.”File image of IAI Harop drone.
“According to that information, the Russian military is engaged in negotiations with Chinese drone manufacturer Xi’an Bingo Intelligent Aviation Technology over the mass production of kamikaze drones for Russia,” Spiegel continued.
The report specified that “Bingo has reportedly agreed to manufacture and test 100 ZT-180 prototype drones before delivering them to the Russian Defense Ministry by April 2023. Military experts believe the ZT-180 is capable of carrying a 35- to 50 kilogram warhead.”
The report further suggested that the design could possible be similar to Iran’s Shaheed 136 kamikaze drone, which Russia has heavily utilized on the battlefield, especially against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, such as power plants and heating facilities.
There’s certainly cause for skepticism when it comes to the Germany media report, given Spiegel is extremely vague on any of its sourcing methods, not even identifying whether the source is a Western government official, or how it came by the information.
Also, recently National Security Council spokesman John Kirby laid out that “While there are indications that China may be considering the provision of lethal capabilities to Russia, we have not seen them make that decision, we have not seen them move in that direction.” Kirby further warned days ago that, “Frankly, China should not want to become tangibly involved in that.” Likely if there was significant evidence possessed by the German or another allied government, the White House would be running with it.
END
RUSSIA
75% of Russians support the war with Ukraine
(zerohedge)
75% Of Russians Support War With Ukraine, New Poll Finds
As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes, the Russian state-controlled media environment explains why approval rating for Putin or the Ukraine war can stay so high despite the country now being extremely marginalized in the international community and enduring the hardships of sanctions and war mobilization. Despite the surveys carried out by an independent researcher, many Russians may still feel pressured to give a favorable opinion because of the system they live in. The Levada Center has in a release pointed out that, while surveys only show the behavior people are willing to display publicly, survey-taking behavior has not changed since the invasion. Some observers believe war approval to actually be lower.
As part of the same survey, Russians were asked what feelings the news of the mobilization caused in them. Fear was the most common answer given throughout all age demographics.
The second most common answer varied by age group, however.
Those above the age of 40 were also likely to feel pride for Russia, while those younger named shock as the second most common feeling in relation to the mobilization, followed by anger.
end
Getting quite nasty! Huge surveillance Russian plane blown up
(zerohedge)
Large Russian Plane Destroyed At Belarus Airstrip, Say Opposition Saboteurs
MONDAY, FEB 27, 2023 – 08:20 AM
Ukrainian media reports began claiming Sunday that a large explosion rocked Machulishchy airbase in Minsk Oblast in Belarus, with reports saying a Russian aircraft had been damaged. Eyewitness accounts suggested two explosions in the Sunday morning hours.
“According to preliminary reports, the traffic police stopped the cars in several places around the airbase and checked the trunks and ID of the drivers,” Ukrainska Pravda reported, also citing the presence of emergency vehicles on the scene. But now there appears further confirmation in AFP that a Russian military airplane was likely destroyed at the airfield.Belarus’s air base at Machulishchy. source: Belarusian opposition figure Franak Viacorka/Twitter
Belarus’ anti-Lukashenko opposition is now claiming that it was a successful sabotage operation which targeted Russian aircraft. The information has been revealed by officials working under exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya:
“Partisans… confirmed a successful special operation to blow up a rare Russian plane at the airfield in Machulishchy near Minsk,” tweeted Franak Viacorka, a close adviser of opposition figurehead Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
“This is the most successful diversion since the beginning of 2022,” he added.
The two Belarusians who carried out the operation had used drones, he said, adding that they had already left the country and were safe.
Tikhanovskaya herself also weighed in, saying, “I am proud of all Belarusians who continue to resist the Russian hybrid occupation of Belarus & fight for the freedom of Ukraine.” She’s long carried out her opposition activity in exile from Lithuania and earlier Poland, having also recently been tried in absentia by Lukashenko’s court system.
She further claimed the aircraft was worth 330 million euros, with other opposition media sources identifying that it was an A-50 surveillance plane.Beriev A-50U Mainstay. (Russian MoD)
The Russian A-50U “Mainstay” is indeed a very large, expensive surveillance aircraft in operation by the Russian air force, as The Drivedetails:
The target here is very important, regardless. The A-50s are very low-density, high-demand assets and are one of Russia’s major advantages over Ukraine in terms of the air war. The A-50 provides general wide-area aerial surveillance and airborne command and control capabilities. Beyond this, and arguably most importantly, they provide the critical ‘look-down’ radar surveillance capability for Russia’s air operations.
“As such, not only can they generate an ‘air picture’ deep into Ukraine, but this also includes detecting low-flying aircraft which far-off ground-based radars cannot see,” the report continues. “This is the currently primary operating regime for Ukrainian aircraft anywhere near Russia’s ‘overlay’ of complex anti-air capabilities that extends deep into Ukrainian-controlled territory.”
Ukraine along with its Western backers have long accused Belarus of aiding and abetting the Kremlin’s war efforts by allowing its territory to be used as a staging ground for Russian planes, drones, and troops. For this reason, major Russian assets parked in Belarus would indeed be likely targets of Ukrainian and Belarusian exiled opposition sabotage attacks. The A-50 in particular is considered a rare aircraft within the Russian arsenal, given its size and expense.
Below is official footage of the behemoth surveillance plane in action…
If this was indeed a successful sabotage operation to take out such a large, valuable Russian asset, it’s very likely the saboteurs had help from a NATO country’s intelligence agency, perhaps with US, UK, or Polish involvement. This also given the difficulty of what would have been required to pull off such an attack on a sensitive military facility and get away with it.
Secret operatives reportedly used drones to carry out the attack, before sneaking back across the border and out of Belarus. Reuters is also as of Monday morning reporting the news.
Belarus’ anti-Lukashenko opposition is now claiming that it was a successful sabotage operation which targeted Russian aircraft. The information has been revealed by officials working under exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya:
“Partisans… confirmed a successful special operation to blow up a rare Russian plane at the airfield in Machulishchy near Minsk,” tweeted Franak Viacorka, a close adviser of opposition figurehead Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
“This is the most successful diversion since the beginning of 2022,” he added.
The two Belarusians who carried out the operation had used drones, he said, adding that they had already left the country and were safe.
Tikhanovskaya herself also weighed in, saying, “I am proud of all Belarusians who continue to resist the Russian hybrid occupation of Belarus & fight for the freedom of Ukraine.” She’s long carried out her opposition activity in exile from Lithuania and earlier Poland, having also recently been tried in absentia by Lukashenko’s court system.
She further claimed the aircraft was worth 330 million euros, with other opposition media sources identifying that it was an A-50 surveillance plane.Beriev A-50U Mainstay. (Russian MoD)
The Russian A-50U “Mainstay” is indeed a very large, expensive surveillance aircraft in operation by the Russian air force, as The Drivedetails:
The target here is very important, regardless. The A-50s are very low-density, high-demand assets and are one of Russia’s major advantages over Ukraine in terms of the air war. The A-50 provides general wide-area aerial surveillance and airborne command and control capabilities. Beyond this, and arguably most importantly, they provide the critical ‘look-down’ radar surveillance capability for Russia’s air operations.
“As such, not only can they generate an ‘air picture’ deep into Ukraine, but this also includes detecting low-flying aircraft which far-off ground-based radars cannot see,” the report continues. “This is the currently primary operating regime for Ukrainian aircraft anywhere near Russia’s ‘overlay’ of complex anti-air capabilities that extends deep into Ukrainian-controlled territory.”
Ukraine along with its Western backers have long accused Belarus of aiding and abetting the Kremlin’s war efforts by allowing its territory to be used as a staging ground for Russian planes, drones, and troops. For this reason, major Russian assets parked in Belarus would indeed be likely targets of Ukrainian and Belarusian exiled opposition sabotage attacks. The A-50 in particular is considered a rare aircraft within the Russian arsenal, given its size and expense.
end
3 commentaries from Robert H to us: EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
1.
Bakhmut
Russians have encircled Bakhmut and there is no way out now for the troops trapped there. Another Zelensky lie of victory exposed. While we can feelings for the poor soldiers trapped who will have to decide whether they surrender or die. The bigger problem is already manifesting. Zelensky has been kept in power by American money and the batshit Azov crowd who act as thugs sending innocent men and children to die in vain. This is same NAZI mentality that should have been extinguished at the end of WWII when this crowd was allowed to return to the Western Ukraine. This group has been at the center of arms smuggling paying off where needed. However, the problem is that they have made sure their fellow brothers of mindset in Europe received weapons provided. As it becomes more clear that Zelensky is waning as a useful tool for them makes them dangerous because they have started to find a new scapegoat which is the ordinary Jewish people in Ukraine and not the oligarchs plundering out of Israel. Jewish people in Ukraine should think hard about staying because they will be the next to suffer the horrors inflicted upon people in the Donbas. Now that the Donbas front rolls Westward. In the end this same crowd will turn upon their financiers and enablers. Smart nations allowing immigration from Ukraine want to look carefully at who they let in became this group will always cause issues where ever they land.
end
2.
CIA director says Russian counterpart ‘understood’ warnings against using nuclear weapon | The Hill
Russia is really misunderstood. They will never roll over for the bankers who want to loot the country. They would rather die first.
War in Ukraine Has Changed Europe Forever – The New York Times
The Europe of yesterday is gone. Whether it can return to yesterday within a decade remains to be seen. As it is Germany has already said it needs to allot a trillion dollars to support the damage from high energy costs. With Russia a cutting off the energy flow yesterday running through Poland, both parties will have to contend with that additional cost. Russia has turned away from Europe and it is not coming back anytime soon.
end
6.GLOBAL ISSUES/COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
Vaccine//Covid issues: Injuries
How I Survived COVID-19: What They Don’t Seem to Want You to Know
Certain treatment protocols have demonstrated efficacy but have garnered little interest from official sources
By Christy Prais The Epoch Times, New York Thursday, February 23, 2023
I was one of the first 25,000 known COVID-19 cases in the United States in early March 2020 and was lucky enough to find a doctor—a pediatrician—who thought outside the box and successfully treated me—possibly saving my life—against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
Being the first adult COVID-19 case my doctor treated, he documented my progress and submitted his successful findings to the CDC, the World Health Organization (WHO), a network of 26,000 doctors, and shared it in a Facebook post.
What transpired next was an attack by doctors in his own network and his findings were not acknowledged by the CDC or the WHO. The social media post outlining his treatment was censored and deleted by Facebook.
Despite the backlash my doctor went on to successfully treat hundreds of adults with COVID-19, seeing over forty a day for three months at one point during the pandemic. He is one of the many unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the following months during my recovery in 2020, I watched reports of hundreds of thousands of people dying from COVID-19 while the lifesaving medications I received continued to be heavily recommended against the CDC’s COVID-19 treatment guidelines. Sadly three years into the pandemic they still are shunned or not mentioned at all.
Unfortunately, many doctors who have shared COVID-19 treatment protocols that differ from the CDC have lost their livelihoods. Because of this, my doctor wishes not to be named in this article and would like to continue to save lives in peace. I will call him Dr. Wes to respect his wishes.
My COVID Timeline As a child, I suffered from severe asthma but the severity diminished and has become mild in my adult years. I was 41 and in excellent physical and cardiovascular health at the time of contracting COVID-19 in early 2020. Here is a brief timeline of my illness progression:
Day 3 after exposure: Mild sinus infection symptoms. A telemedicine doctor prescribed azithromycin, also known as Z-Pak, and prednisone but refused to issue a COVID-19 test due to a lack of respiratory symptoms (at this time COVID-19 testing was only obtained through a doctor’s referral).
Day 5: Symptoms worsened. Severe headache, sinuses completely inflamed, body aches, low energy, lungs heavy when breathing, no fever. Finally got a COVID-19 test at one of the first drive-through sites.
Day 7: Symptoms further worsened. Headache, body aches, low energy, difficulty breathing, no fever.
I was contacted by a disease investigation and intervention specialist with the state health department who confirmed the result of the COVID-19 test as positive. I was told to stay home unless I needed to go to the hospital. No additional treatment advice was given.
Day 10: Completed prescribed azithromycin and prednisone. Breathing was more difficult, no improvement from medications, and no fever. Started nebulizer treatments of albuterol (I had these on hand from a previous bronchitis bout). No improvement from medication.
Day 12: Symptoms worsened, severe burning in feet, dizziness, and lungs started to feel like they were failing. Felt like I was suffocating or drowning.
Contacted urgent care and asked for a prescription for hydroxychloroquine but they refused. I was told by the nurse they were only prescribing it to those who were dying. I mentioned I would probably be close to dying in a few days and that it would be great if we could avoid getting to that point. They still refused but finally agreed to prescribe a steroid inhalant budesonide.
Budesonide and albuterol inhalant only gave a four-hour widow of minor ease of breathing. Lungs still worsening. No Fever.
Contacted Dr. Wes (a pediatrician referred by a friend) who gave me a treatment of racemic epinephrine and continued with budesonide and albuterol. Wes told me to go to the hospital for a chest x-ray, treatment, and prescription of racemic epinephrine.
Hospital refused a racemic epinephrine prescription. The doctor said I couldn’t breathe well because I had COVID-19 and all they could do was intubate me once I was worse. I went home.
Dr. Wes prescribed racemic epinephrine. Started on three treatments daily of racemic epinephrine along with albuterol and budesonide.
Day 14: Breathing improving and stabilizing. No Fever.
Day 19: Throat swelling shut. Rushed to Wes’s office. Clinically diagnosed with a secondary bacterial infection. No Fever.
The remainder of my treatment journey is below in a censored and deleted Facebook post Wes posted on Nov. 11, 2020, after successfully treating hundreds more adults with COVID-19. Many were elderly with underlying conditions.
His post was his attempt to help save more lives after the CDC, WHO, and a major doctor’s network failed to acknowledge this treatment’s success. It was also a warning that inflammation and secondary bacterial infections were major contributors to mortality from the COVID-19 virus.
A few deletions have been made to protect his identity and his name has been changed:
Nov. 11, 2020, PSA “First of all, Happy Veterans Day and thank you to all of those who have served our country.
“I am often asked about the treatments I am using with my COVID-19 patients so I thought I would begin with my adult case zero, the first adult patient that I inherited. The first adult I treated with COVID-19 early in the pandemic was a 41-year-old asthmatic female … She was in excellent physical and cardiovascular health at the time of contracting the illness.
“March 12, 2012: Felt like she had a sinus infection (few, if any of the approx. 80 adults I have treated had a fever at the start of COVID).
“March 16, 2020: She felt very ill.
“March 20, 2020: Lungs started to feel like they were failing.
“March 24, 2020: Patient reported she couldn’t breathe so I referred her to the ER [emergency room]. ER said come back when she couldn’t breathe at all. Started on azithromycin. Already on albuterol and budesonide breathing treatments.
“March 26, 2020: The patient reported to me that she felt like the racemic epinephrine stabilized her lungs and was the first time her breathing improved.
“March 31, 2020: We clinically diagnosed her with a secondary bacterial infection. I felt like she might not make it if I kept following the guidelines at the time, so I asked her if she wanted me to … treat her the same way I treated every severe pediatric Coronavirus patient for 17 years, or I could continue to follow the current [CDC] guidelines and we could hope for the best.
“That night a doctor friend she knew told her, ‘[Dr. Wes] is going to kill you.’ She was very intelligent and asked the doctor how many COVID-19 patients he treated to which he replied, ‘zero.’
“March 31, 2020: Ceftriaxone 1 gm daily shots were begun for five days, Dexamethasone 8 mg daily shots were begun for five days. After the second day of shots, she finally felt like her lungs began “purging” all the fluid. Continued to alternate racemic epinephrine, Albuterol, and Budesonide breathing treatments daily.
“First week of April: Repeated shot regimen: Ceftriaxone 1 gm daily shots x 4 or 5 days, Dexamethasone shots 8 mg daily for 4 or five days.
“After the shots were completed: Patient finally felt like she could breathe again, but continued to have fatigue and exercise intolerance, but was no longer at risk from COVID-19.
“Every physician should consider their own clinical judgment and guidelines when deciding how to treat COVID-19 patients and this is not meant to criticize the current guidelines nor any other physician’s treatment of their patients.”
How COVID-19 Kills When the COVID virus invades the body, it can cause an imbalance in the immune system that may result in a “cytokine storm.”
“What ‘kills’ COVID-19 patients is dysregulated systemic inflammation,” wrote the authors of a commentary published in Critical Care Explorations in April 2020. This can cause a severe life-threatening “cytokine storm” also known as cytokine release syndrome (CRS).
Another study published in Mediators of Inflammation in January 2022 states, “What relentlessly takes the patient’s life is the overactive immune response induced by SARS-CoV-2 virus infection.”
Inflammation is normally a beneficial response of our immune system helping to fight off infection and helping us heal.
A CRS is a life-threatening inflammatory response caused by an overproduction of cytokines, which are proteins that regulate the body’s immune response. This inflammation mistakenly attacks and destroys the body’s own cells and tissues.
Patients with mild CRS mainly show nonspecific clinical symptoms such as fever, rash, fatigue, anorexia, diarrhea, joint pain, headache, myalgia, and neuropsychiatric symptoms.
More severe cases can cause severe lung damage, cardiovascular symptoms, hematologic symptoms, acute kidney injury, and multiple organ failure. A survey found that nearly half of all patients diagnosed with CRS had severe CRS and a poor prognosis.
CRS is an important factor in the deterioration of some COVID-19 patients and leads to abnormalities such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Respiratory failure due to ARDS is the leading cause of death from COVID-19.
Dr. Roger Seheult, who is quadruple board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary diseases, critical care medicine, and sleep medicine through the American Board of Internal Medicine, breaks down this process in a 2020 medical lecture.
“The entire lung becomes inflamed” due to the abnormal inflammatory response causing a cytokine storm, explained Seheult. The inflammation causes a “leakage of fluids” into the interstitial space between the alveolar and capillaries blocking the oxygenation of blood.
The fluid also leaks into the alveolar filling them up with liquid. This liquid prevents oxygen from getting into the bloodstream and causes the blood and the entire body to become hypoxic (too little oxygen).
This creates a feeling of heaviness and difficulty breathing, or as I describe it, a feeling of drowning or suffocating on the fluid in the lungs.
Immune dysregulation and the abnormal inflammatory response of a CRS causes widespread tissue injury and can lead to bacterial growth and infections.
More recently, studies have reported over 50 percent of secondary bacterial infections in critically ill COVID-19 patients have been linked to a noticeable surge in COVID-19 severity and mortality.
A study published in BCM Infectious Diseases in March 2022 found that 68 percent of the 94 patients in the study acquired at least one of the studied secondary bacterial infections during their ICU stay. Almost two-thirds of patients (62 percent) acquired secondary pneumonia. “This study confirms that the incidence of secondary bacterial infections in critically ill patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 is very high,” the authors stated.
Another study aimed to analyze the death risk due to coinfections in 212 severely ill COVID-19 patients found that the mortality rate was 50.47 percent. Fungal and/or bacterial isolation occurred in 89 patients, of whom 83.14 percent died. Coinfected patients stayed hospitalized longer and had increased odds of dying and the risk of death was increased by bacterial and fungal coinfections.
The study concluded that severe COVID-19 patients with secondary coinfections required longer hospitalization and had a higher risk of death. “The early diagnosis of coinfections is essential to identify high-risk patients and to determine the right interventions to reduce mortality,” the study states.
Published papers speculate that the current estimated percentage of people dying from COVID-19 secondary bacterial infection may be underestimated as “Few papers report the species identity or time of specimen collection, making it impossible to determine whether any patients presented with bacterial infection at the time of hospital admission.”
Why the Protocol Saved My Life My COVID-19 experience followed the same course laid out above. Wes aggressively treated the inflammation in my lungs and the secondary bacterial infection—the life-threatening symptoms of COVID-19—allowing my body to heal. Here is a brief outline of the medications my doctor used:
Racemic epinephrine is a bronchodilator that quickly reduces inflammation and helped reduce the fluid in my airways that was inhibiting the oxygenation of my blood. Bronchodilators are used when individuals have lower than optimal airflow through the lungs and make breathing easier by relaxing the muscles in the lungs and widening the airways (bronchi).
Racemic epinephrine’s efficacy in the treatment of patients with inflammation of the larynx, trachea, and bronchi has been well documented.
Racemic epinephrine also acts by narrowing the airway mucosa through stimulation of the alpha and beta-adrenergic receptors, this helps to reduce edema (build-up of fluid) in the lungs. Reducing edema can improve lung function by decreasing the pressure in the blood vessels, which prevents fluid from entering the air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs.
Ceftriaxone is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections including those in the respiratory system by killing bacteria or preventing their growth. It’s effective against bacteria that are resistant to other antibiotics. Dexamethasone is a glucocorticoid that has an anti-inflammatory effect shown to prevent and suppress cytokine storm development in COVID-19 patients. Studies show the effect of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular system is more severe in patients with elevated levels of inflammatory factors such as interleukin (IL)-6. Dexamethasone significantly reduces the level of IL-6 and was the first drug shown to reduce mortality in COVID-19 patients.
Forgetting History’s Deadly Consequences Viral infections of the respiratory tract have long been linked to the risk of secondary bacterial infections. Bacterial coinfections were considered a major cause of death in previous influenza pandemics.
During the outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and H1N1 influenza in 2009, bacterial complications were associated with serious outcomes such as death and admission to intensive care.
Upward of 95 percent mortality was directly attributable to secondary bacterial pneumonia in the 1918 Spanish Flu.
In a 2008 news release from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) titled “Implications for Future Pandemic Planning,” researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the NIH stated:
“The majority of deaths during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 were not caused by the influenza virus acting alone … Instead, most victims succumbed to bacterial pneumonia following influenza virus infection. The pneumonia was caused when bacteria that normally inhabit the nose and throat invaded the lungs along a pathway created when the virus destroyed the cells that line the bronchial tubes and lungs.”
“Pathologists of the time … were nearly unanimous in the conviction that deaths were not caused directly by the then-unidentified influenza virus but rather resulted from severe secondary pneumonia caused by various bacteria. Absent the secondary bacterial infections, many patients might have survived, experts at the time believed.”
“A future influenza pandemic may unfold in a similar manner …”
“Preparations for diagnosing, treating, and preventing bacterial pneumonia should be among highest priorities in influenza pandemic planning …”
“We are encouraged by the fact that pandemic planners are already considering and implementing some of these actions,” says Dr. Fauci.
Research has now found that secondary bacterial infections in COVID-19 patients are a stronger predictor for death compared to influenza patients.
A study published in Nature in June 2021 found that in-hospital death of patients with pulmonary secondary bacterial infection was two times higher in COVID-19 patients than in influenza patients.
Questioning the Ethics of CDC and WHO On Feb. 4, 2020, The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act was implemented, which grants immunity to individuals working to combat the pandemic (except in cases of willful misconduct) from liability claims that may arise from the use or administration of covered countermeasures.
Some examples of covered countermeasures included are COVID-19 tests, vaccines, any approved drug, therapeutics, or other harms COVID-19 may cause.
Feb. 15, 2020, a commentary regarding the use of corticosteroids(CST) for COVID-19 coauthored by a member of the WHO panel on clinical management stated there is “conclusive data” to expect that patients with COVID-19 ARDS will not benefit from corticosteroids. This resulted in corticosteroids, including dexamethasone, being recommended against in the WHO and CDC COVID-19 treatment protocols.
A commentary written by several doctors and published in the Society of Critical Care Medicine in April 2020 criticized this interpretation and called it “biased and without evidence-based support.”
They stated, “… there is no justification based on available evidence and professional ethics to categorically deny the use of CST in severe life-threatening ‘cytokine storm’ associated with COVID-19 …”
They argue that the “conclusive” statement rested on only four small studies without including results from another 25 publications, six of ten studies in meta-analysis lacked a description of CST, they disregarded positive results of two major studies (5,327 SARS & 2,141 H1N1 patients) showing significant reduction in mortality, and a SARS study found CST safe and reduced death risk by 47 percent after adjusting for confounders.
As of Dec. 28, 2022, the CDC COVID-19 guidelines still recommend against the use of dexamethasone or other systemic corticosteroids in the absence of another indication. They list preferred therapies such as Paxlovid, Remdesivir, and Molnupiravir and there is no mention of treatment for “cytokine storm” induced inflammation or secondary bacterial infections.
The Importance of Early Treatment My battle with COVID-19 in early 2020 left me with severe lung damage, microvascular damage, and what we now call long-COVID, which severely impacted my life for almost two years.
My doctor stated, “that my COVID would not have been severe if I had been treated early on and with the right medications.”
Dr. Pierre Cory, a critical care physician and one the founding physicians of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance has done extensive research on early treatment and progression of COVID-19 that shows the first one to five days are crucial in the successful treatment of COVID-19.
In early July 2022, I was hit again with COVID-19. This time, it was much more severe from day one. I had a 102-degree temperature, severe body aches, and difficulty breathing. My symptoms were getting worse by the day.
Day 3: I started on Wes’s medication protocol. By that evening most of my symptoms were gone.
Day 4: I was given a Meyers Cocktail IV and Ozone infusion.
Day 6: I continued on daily NAC supplements and had no more symptoms except for mild brain fog and fatigue which disappeared within two weeks.
All my symptoms resolved within two weeks and I experienced no long-COVID or ongoing lung issues.
I owe my life to Dr. Wes. Early in my treatment, he promised he would not let me die. He kept that promise. I am deeply grateful for him and for all the doctors that have refused medical tyranny and used their own clinical judgment and guidelines when deciding how to treat COVID-19.
END
This is big!! Hard evidence in a new study showing brain and heart damage caused by MRNA
(EpochTimes)
Hard Evidence in New Study: Brain, Heart Damage Caused by mRNA Vaccine and NOT the virus!!
Scientists in Germany have found that mRNA vaccination, not COVID-19 infection itself, caused brain and heart damage in an older adult with underlying conditions.
This study was published in October 2022 in the journal Vaccines: “A Case Report: Multifocal Necrotizing Encephalitis and Myocarditis after BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccination against COVID-19.” It examined the situation of a 76-year-old German man with Parkinson’s disease.
The patient died three weeks after receiving his third COVID-19 injection.
The first vaccine he received in May of 2021 was the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. That was followed by two more injections in July and then December of the same year. His two subsequent vaccines were both made by Pfizer.
After the second vaccine, the patient’s family noticed marked changes in his behavior. He started experiencing more anxiety, became more lethargic, and did not want to be touched. He became withdrawn, even from close family members, and the symptoms of his pre-existing Parkinson’s disease worsened considerably.
Given the ambiguous clinical symptoms prior to his death, his family requested an autopsy.
The unusual and fascinating results of the autopsy led to a published case report about what is now being claimed as a vaccine-induced death.
This patient had no history of ever having a COVID-19 infection. This clinical history was confirmed via pathology.
“We can say definitively that this damage was caused by vaccine,” insisted nurse educator, John Campbell, Ph.D., who explained the study in detail in a 14-minute YouTube video that he shared with his 2.68 million subscribers on Feb. 16.
Natural COVID-19 Infection
The COVID-19 pandemic was caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2, which is short for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. It is an RNA virus belonging to the family Coronaviridae. The name for this family of viruses is derived from the Latin word “corona,” meaning crown. This is because the virus under electron microscopy appears crown-like due to small bulbar projections formed by viral spike (S) proteins.
Like many other respiratory viruses, coronaviruses spread quickly through droplets that one person projects out of the mouth or nose when breathing, coughing, sneezing, or speaking. The droplets can then be inhaled by another person.
Once inside the recipient’s respiratory system, the viral spike protein plays a key role in virus-host cell communication. A successful communication results in the virus being accepted by the recipient’s cell, completing the process of natural infection.
FDA Approved COVID-19 Vaccines
Apart from the spike protein, SARS-CoV-2 also has other essential structural proteins, such as an envelope (E), a membrane (M), and nucleocapsid (N) proteins.
As the spike protein is the most abundant and most “exposed” viral protein, it was the obvious choice as a viral antigen for vaccine development.
In fact, without exception, all of the FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines use the spike protein as a viral antigen. None of the authorized vaccines use any other SARS-CoV-2 proteins as viral antigens.
As a former vaccine developer with a Ph.D. in molecular genetics, Joe Wang has questioned the design of these vaccines. At the same time, however, this vaccine design makes it easy to distinguish pathology caused by infection by the virus versus pathology caused by the vaccine.
“So if you see spike protein on its own, that means it’s vaccine; if you see spike protein and nucleocapsid protein, that means it’s natural viral infection. That’s the difference between the two,” Campbell explained.
In order to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death in the 76-year-old Parkinson’s disease patient, researchers processed tissues in his body with formalin, cut them into sections, and stained them with hematoxylin and eosin in order to examine them.
They compared their samples with controls, both of the cultured cells from SARS-CoV-2 positive COVID-19 patients (that contained both the spike protein and the nucleocapsid), and cultured cells that contained vaccine-induced spike protein expression but no nucleocapsid protein.
The autopsy uncovered inflammation in both the brain and the heart.
The patient experienced acute brain damage that was unrelated to his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. There were patches of degeneration and inflammation in the front of his brain and his brain further contained three kinds of pathological findings: neuronal death (dead nerve cells), microglial infiltration (defense cells in the brain), and lymphocytes, which are associated with viral infection. They found spike protein in the frontal lobe of the brain, as well as in other sections of the brain. But there was no nucleocapsid protein present.
They found myocarditis–that is, swelling—in the heart. It was clear from the autopsy that the myocarditis was not caused by natural infection but, instead, by vaccine-induced spike proteins.
This research showed very clearly that the patient’s pathology was caused by the vaccines and not by natural infection.
The case report included detailed photographs of the patient’s affected tissue. The images speak for themselves: Scientists or doctors who deny the connection between vaccines and abnormal tissue findings need only review the images for themselves.
‘The Vaccines Caused the Brain Damage’
Pathologists found that the patient had several places in his brain where there was damage, as well as generalized swelling in his heart. They also confirmed that he was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and that he had some long-standing hardening in his arteries. Finally, they found evidence of pneumonia, which may have been caused by him aspirating his own saliva or other body fluids.
“It looks like what happened here is that the vaccines caused the brain damage,” Campbell says. It appears that the vaccine-induced brain damage caused the patient to have seizures.
Then the seizures (what Campbell called “fitting”) caused him to go unconscious, and while unconscious, he breathed in some of his own vomit or saliva, which contributed to his cause of death.
“The vaccine circulating around the body will come into contact with the blood vessels. So the lipo-nanoparticles containing the mRNA will go into the blood vessels. And it’s the blood vessels’ cells themselves that will express the spike protein,” Campbell explained. When the spike protein is expressed in the brain and the heart, it causes an inflammatory response and leads to the death of different parts of the brain.
Why Aren’t More Autopsies Being Conducted?
This is a question Campbell asked in his video—one for which he had no answer. Why are German pathologists conducting autopsies but American and British medical scientists are not?
Dr. Robert Lowry, a Texas-based neurologist who specializes in sports medicine, thinks not conducting autopsies is a grievous mistake. Lowry, who has been practicing medicine for over 30 years, insisted back in July of 2022 that autopsies should be conducted on every young person who dies suddenly and unexpectedly.
In addition, based on his research and what he has seen in his clinical practice, Lowry does not hesitate to say that we should not be giving any more mRNA injections.
“We need to stop these vaccines because they don’t work,” Lowry told The Epoch Times.
“They don’t prevent disease, and the immediate and long-term risk of serious injury from them is greater than that of having the actual disease. Natural immunity to corona viruses is far better and longer lasting than anything these vaccines provide,” he said.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.
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The correct analysis that they should use is the following:
“it came from a lab leak”. However this is big news that the virus came from China’s Wuhan lab
(zerohedge)
COVID “Likely Arose” From Lab Leak, US Energy Department Admits In Classified Report
SUNDAY, FEB 26, 2023 – 01:30 PM
The argument that Covid-19 leaked from the virology lab in Wuhan, China (the only Level 4 lab in Asia) is growing louder after years of Big Tech and governments censoring the Covid debate.
Last summer, the WHO, an avid protector of the Chinese government, made a sharp change in attitude by admitting the possibility of a lab leak. A Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor, and Pensions noted last fall, “substantial evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic was the result of a research-related incident associated with a laboratory in Wuhan.” The FBI and other intelligence agencies have also investigated the Wuhan Lab.
The latest US agency to embrace the lab leak idea is the Energy Department, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing a classified intelligence report provided to the White House and top members of Congress.
Sources told WSJ, “the Energy Department has concluded that the Covid pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak.”
The Energy Department had an undecided stance on the virus’ origins. The conclusion is due to new intelligence, but the department hedged itself by indicating “low confidence” in its latest opinion, according to people who have read the classified report.
The agency joins the FBI in expressing the opinion the virus’ origins are due to a Chinese lab leak. WSJ noted four other agencies and a national intelligence panel still believe the virus was likely the result of natural transmission, and two are undecided.
The Energy Department’s report is important because the agency supervises the US national laboratories, some of which are Level 4 labs.
US officials wouldn’t shed more color on why the Energy Department changed its views on the origins of Covid. They said the agency and FBI have come to the same conclusions for different reasons.
After the pandemic struck, the mainstream media and Big Tech social media platforms labeled anyone as a “conspiracy theorist” for even mentioning the lab leak origin.
Recall Zero Hedge was banned from Twitter in February 2020 after we “published an article linking a Chinese scientist to the outbreak of the fast-spreading coronavirus.”
It was later revealed that left-wing faux-news site BuzzFeed had complained to Twitter about Zero Hedge supposedly releasing “the personal information of a scientist from Wuhan,” but all we had done was print information that was publicly available and ask questions about whether a lab leak may have been plausible than the seafood market. Three years later, our questioning appears to have been correct so far.
A recent Twitter Files drop has shown the incestuous relationship between Big Tech and the government rigging the debate around Covid origins.
The complex narrative that governments, non-governmental organizations, Big Tech, and mainstream media built around Covid with shaky assumptions and misdirections is falling apart — hence the latest pivot by the Energy Department.
Dr. Makis is an inspiration to me in his tireless advocacy standing up against these fraudulent deadly COVID mRNA gene injections. See his substack below and you subscribe if you can, please support him.
‘Dr. Anthony Emanuel Chifor grew up in Windsor, Ontario. His family, like mine, was from Slovakia and had emigrated to Canada to find a better life.
He graduated from University of Windsor where he was celebrated as an Outstanding Scholar and a Lead Gold Medallion Scholar, earning his B.Sc. in Biology and Biochemistry with Great Distinction and was part of the Dean’s Honour Roll.
He was studying medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine, in Detroit Michigan (USA), when he was forced to take three COVID-19 vaccines to continue his medical training.
He was in the process of completing his 3rd year of medical school when he died suddenly at the age of 25, on January 17, 2023.
He is currently the youngest Canadian doctor death in my database.
According to my research, deaths of Canadian doctors under the age of 30 increased by 900% in 2022 compared to the 2019-2020 average.
His medical school continues to enforce its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.’
Dr. Anthony Emanuel Chifor grew up in Windsor, Ontario. His family, like mine, was from Slovakia and had emigrated to Canada to find a better life. He graduated from University of Windsor where he was celebrated as an Outstanding Scholar and a Lead Gold Medallion Scholar, earning his B.Sc. in Biology and Biochemistry with Great Distinction and was part o…
mRNA technology gene injection vaccine is dysregulating & subverting his immune system, damaging it, vaccinated more prone to infection, ADEI & ADED, mismatch virus to antibodies & antigenic sin
This MD needs serious help. For he is on the booster treadmill the blockhead can’t seem to get off of and the egg-head does not get yet, despite what we have published, that the booster has failed, is in negative effectiveness territory and causes harms and death. This ding dong will likely take 5 more shots and go on Paxlovid (causes COVID rebound) and Molnupiravir (causes mutations).
lord help this dimwit. He even thinks masks work for he says he does not get it in hospital where he in masked and only when outdoors on vacation…what a blockhead. This is the very same type of moron that helped suffer us and caused deaths of many by their Branch COVIDian Taliban mentality and ineptness, academic sloppiness, and intellectual laziness for he sure has not picked up one scientific paper, yet he may have, and it is that he cannot read the science or understand it. Cognitive dissonance. And dangerous. His stupidity by this blog abounds.
In case you never saw the data, there were then 5 more deaths in vaccine arm (total 20); simple question, if there were 20 deaths in one group exposed to a drug vs 14 in unexposed, would you approve?
1)Study published by Pfizer with the data they submitted to FDA for EUA of their vaccine that we all got:
SOURCE:
Alexander COVID News-Dr. Paul Elias Alexander’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is what Pfizer reported to the FDA and in print:
‘BNT162b2 continued to be safe and well tolerated. Few participants had adverse events leading to study withdrawal. VE against COVID-19 was 91% (95% CI 89.0‒93.2) through up to 6 months of follow-up, among evaluable participants and irrespective of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection.’
2)then they reported this:
‘During the blinded, controlled period, 15 BNT162b2 and 14 placebo recipients died; during the open-label period, 3 BNT162b2 and 2 original placebo recipients who received BNT162b2 after unblinding died.’
That means 15 (vaccine arm) vs 14 (placebo control arm) died in the trial blinded phase and when they unblinded, 5 more died in after getting vaccine and so
a)in the blinded phase, there was one more death in vaccine arm versus placebo (15 vs 14)
b)yet far worse when unblinded, 5 more deaths for a total of 20 vs 14 and so 6 more deaths in vaccine arm vs placebo
So 42% more deaths in the vaccine arm than in control arm. Did you know that? They reported 95% relative risk reduction but did you know there were 42% more deaths in the vaccine arm?
I am writing a piece as it relates to Dr. Malhotra’s prior support for the gene injections now being against them; to come. Why “I am sorry” is missing & why it’s a must, from all new realty converts
Hat-tip to Dr. Thorpe, I know him, spoke on stage with him, maybe one of the most genuine no-nonsense persons, loves humanity, loves our God and strives only to do the right thing, was out there day one banging away at this mRNA gene injection madness.
I sat hang them high, all who have perpetrated this, all involved, hang them high! Proper trials then to the gallows once ruled death penalty is the verdict and punishment.
“We compared the COVID-19 vaccine adverse events over 18 months with that of the influenza vaccine over 282 months” using data from the U.S. Food and Drus Administration (FDA) as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Thorp explained regarding his paper.
“We found a 1200-fold increase in severe menstrual abnormalities, a 57-fold increase in miscarriage, a 38-fold increase in fetal death or stillbirth rates,” he said.
Thorp also revealed he found “15 other major pregnancy complications all far exceeding the CDC and FDA values of safety,” before referencing “more than 30 other completely independent sources globally that corroborate exactly our findings.”
Did such homes kill our elderly with sedation e.g. midazolam? Poor treatment? Did they refuse to treat with antibiotics for pneumonia? Did they euthanize our vulnerable elderly in e.g. UK, in Canada?
Alexander COVID News-Dr. Paul Elias Alexander’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
“Compared with other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, Canada had a relatively low overall COVID-19 mortality rate but the highest proportion of LTC deaths. Residents of LTC homes in Canada represented 81% of all reported COVID-19 deaths compared with an average of 38% in other countries.”
“It was noticed very early on during the COVID-19 pandemic that some of the worst outbreaks were happening in for-profit, privately owned homes”, explains Nathan Stall, a geriatrician at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, and lead author of a recent study investigating care quality and rates of mortality in 623 Ontario care homes. “When we investigated, we found that they tend to deliver inferior care.” Stall and colleagues found that the incidence of COVID-19 was higher among residents in for-profit facilities than those in other homes.”
Reports are that Canada’s nursing homes etc. had more deaths than in the UK which was catastrophic and this raises serious questions about what really took place in Canada during 2020 and 2021. In Ontario, in Alberta, in Quebec etc. We need this investigated fully and now while documents are still available and relevant people accessible for testimony and we need to jail many people who were reckless and dangerous and caused deaths. Did we euthanize Canadians during COVID with potent sedatives that killed them and did we further kill them by denying antibiotics for bacterial pneumonia?
announces something like this, it is covering up something or misdirecting you! Energy department? Ha ha ha, for sure then you know NOT China principally, look to US soil, Ukraine soil, even Canada
This is to misdirect you, for you to hate China for it’s support of Russia. I am no fan of China, far from it, in fact China is a real problem yet this is misdirection. Gives you the public some red meat on China so they could sell the anger China may help Russia. IMO sleep with one eye open with regard to China and Russia. But if the government tells you China is origin of COVID, then 100% it is not.
Why did they not just ask Hunter?
We must have zero to do with Ukraine, zero. Not our fever to sweat for. Stop giving these crooks our tax money.
Then conduct a real investigation with serious people. The Energy Department? Ha ha ha. It’s like telling me Pothole Pete cares for the people of East Palestine, Ohio. Ha ha ha.
Take that to the bank you COVID Taliban lockdown lunatics, seems the real data is now coming out; this was never ever a pandemic-level event in the US, anywhere, the truth will come out
Maryanne Demasi asks a critical question about the mRNA technology gene injection vaccine and the answer to why? is because if they studied it, even FDA knows it will show the vaccine to be deadly
Pfizer stopped the trial with only about 350 of an intended 4000 women because they know it will show the shot to be deadly in pregnant women. I invite Pfizer to sue me. Let us get into that neat issue called ‘discovery’.
I share this piece by Maryanne for I think it is well written and spot on and once again she does a tremendous job at exposing the fraud and filth of these mRNA technology injections (see her substack below):
‘When covid-19 vaccines were granted emergency authorization in Dec 2020, there was consternation over whether pregnant women should be vaccinated.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women were excluded from the original Pfizer and Moderna phase III clinical trials, so any recommendation to vaccinate them was a gamble.
The world was dealing with a novel vaccine technology, tested under ‘warp speed’ conditions, and no long-term safety data to speak of.
For this reason, the WHO did not widely recommend the covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy because of insufficient safety data. But not everyone agreed.
In January 2021, soon after the vaccine roll-out commenced, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its website saying that the mRNA vaccines were “unlikely to pose a specific risk for people who are pregnant.”
Professional societies such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) both advised that covid-19 vaccines not be withheld from pregnant or lactating women.
Similarly, the UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) released a statement saying that “COVID-19 vaccines are strongly recommended in pregnancy.”
So, as the months passed, hundreds of thousands of pregnant women globally, rolled up their sleeves to receive the vaccine, despite the absence of any clinical trials.
The message from authorities was clear – the harm from covid-19 infection outweighed any harms from the mRNA vaccine – but in truth, they couldn’t possibly have known.
Animal studies
Pfizer’s official product labelling information for pregnant women refers only to animal studies, stating “No vaccine-related adverse effects on female fertility, fetal development, or postnatal development were reported”.
But a freedom of information (FOI) request to the Australian drug regulator in June 2021, shows the study was only carried out in 44 rats (22 injected with 30µg of mRNA vaccine, 22 injected with saline).
The study found the vaccine led to a statistically significant doubling in fetal loss (9.77% mRNA vs 4.09% saline), but Pfizer concluded that the difference between the two groups was “not biologically meaningful.”
The label also states that Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine was not tested for its potential to cause carcinogenicity (ability to cause cancer), genotoxicity (ability to damage genetic information), or impairment of male fertility.
Unlike Pfizer, Moderna kept its pregnant rodents alive to test the embryos. Documents accessed by Judicial Watch, showed a “statistically significant” number of rats were born with skeletal variations after being injected with Moderna’s mRNA vaccine.
But Moderna concluded that the “Skeletal variations are structural changes that do not impact development or function of a developing embryo” and therefore “not considered adverse.”
Human trials
In the absence of any human data, Pfizer announced it would begin recruiting volunteers for a clinical trial to examine the safety and efficacy of its mRNA vaccine in pregnant women and their newborns.
The trial, which began in Feb 2021, originally intended to enroll 4,000 women, but enrollment stopped in late 2021 with just 349 participants.
There has been no explanation for why they stopped recruiting participants, nor have the data been published in a conference abstract, preprint or medical journal.
It has been over a year since the last woman was enrolled in the trial, and all of them would have given birth by now.
Recently, Marty Makary, a public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University, objected to the secrecy. “They should say something. They have a moral duty to speak up. Here we are 18 months later, the results of those 349 women have never been made public,” said Makary.
“They just recommended it for pregnant women with zero data. And maybe that’s why [Pfizer] stopped the study….running a study runs the risk of showing that there may not be a benefit in pregnant women,” he added.
Pfizer’s response
In response to my questions, today I can reveal the reason why Pfizer hasn’t published the study — the company admitted it does not have the data.
In an email, Pfizer said the trial’s “enrollment rate declined significantly” towards the end of 2021, because authorities had already widely recommended the vaccine to pregnant women.
Declining enrollments meant that there were insufficient numbers of participants in the trial to carry out the intended analysis.
Pfizer’s full response:
In the fourth quarter of 2021, enrollment was stopped in C4591015 Study (a Phase 2/3 placebo controlled randomized observer-blind study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of BNT162b2 against COVID-19 in healthy pregnant women 18 years of age and older). This study was developed prior to availability or recommendation for COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant women. The environment changed during 2021 and by September 2021, COVID-19 vaccines were recommended by applicable recommending bodies (e.g., ACIP in the U.S.) for pregnant women in all participating/planned countries, and as a result the enrollment rate declined significantly. With the declining enrollment, the study had insufficient sample size to assess the primary immunogenicity objective and continuation of this placebo controlled study could no longer be justified due to global recommendations. This proposal was shared with and agreed to by FDA and EMA.
Pfizer does not yet have a complete data set from the maternal immunization study, C4591015. Pfizer and BioNTech plan to complete the analysis of the clinical trial C4591015 and share it with global public health regulators and seek publication or presentation as is our standard practice. It is important to note that relevant real-world evidence on the use of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant women has been presented and published numerous times by various parties in multiple journals and forums.
The FDA said it does not comment on ongoing studies.’
When covid-19 vaccines were granted emergency authorization in Dec 2020, there was consternation over whether pregnant women should be vaccinated. Pregnant and breastfeeding women were excluded from the original Pfizer and Moderna phase III clinical trials, so any recommendation to vaccinate them was a gamble…
Who Owns the World Health Organization and Their Plan to Vaccinate and Digitally Track Every Human Being on the Planet?
February 24, 2023 8:41 pm
It has been widely reported in the Alternative Media this past week that the World Health Organization (WHO) is drafting a new “Pandemic Agreement” that would turn over all future pandemic responses to the WHO and would be legally binding worldwide. The WHO, however, is simply a puppet organization that is funded by Globalist Billionaires, so let’s put some faces to this organization and reveal who is really behind this effort to vaccinate every single person on the planet, and then track everyone via digital IDs.
NO TREATMENT ALLOWED: Sarasota Memorial Hospital punishes doctor for mentioning that ivermectin cured his patients of covid – NaturalNews.com
“The answer is simple there is no great profits to be realized from ivermectin. Sadly, today everything is about how much money can be made from illness rather than making one whole and well. One is left to critically determine what is best for oneself and research what works and does not work since no one is s identical in requirements to stay Healthy.
One would have thought that with the passage of time we would be taught early to learn what to do do to stay healthy throughout Life. Instead we are leafy to be at the mercy of the medical community that has been dumbed down to the point where everything is about money with medicine being directed by big Pharma whose main objective is profit not wellness.
Even the food industry ignores the human biome stuffing it with all manner of genially engineered additives and now even bugs which carry a whole new level of parasites that will have to be dealt with. It is like engineered beef now said to cause cancer. It is not so good which is why companies who once upon a time saw stellar stock prices now are in the dump.
The family practice physician and former United States Army soldier was in the middle of explaining how ivermectin has helped many of his patients overcome the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) when triggered board members freaked out and told him to leave the room immediately.
Everything was going fine and people in attendance, as well as the board, were listening with interest until the precise moment Littell brought up ivermectin in relation to his patient care routine. All hell broke loose as board members with Ivermectin Derangement Syndrome (IDS) suffered a meltdown and ordered him to flee their presence.
“I have dozens of cases I can share with you,” Littell tried to state as he was being interrupted by another irate board member – watch the video below.
“But let me just tell you this. If you’re going to be the best, be the first to admit wrongdoing. Just think about how many lives could have been spared. And I was disciplined for giving ivermectin.”
(Related: Check out this study showing that ivermectin reduces the risk of covid death by 92 percent.)
Sarasota Memorial Hospital is a fascist organization that hates science
Littell was apparently expected to only speak about the so-called “vaccine,” which is the only “remedy” that Sarasota Memorial Hospital accepts as valid for treating the Fauci Flu.
Despite the fact that numerous other hospital workers agree with Littell, having themselves seen firsthand the powers of ivermectin, he was kicked out of the meeting and forcibly ejected by a police officer from the meeting.
Nobody who agrees with Littell is brave enough to say anything positive about ivermectin “for fear of retribution,” he says. Many of them, however, would routinely call Littell throughout the scamdemic to ask him for access to ivermectin.
“All over the state I got calls from doctors and lawyers and mayors and teachers, and I just treated them with stuff that I knew worked and kept them out of the hospital,” he said – watch the follow-up video below of Littell speaking his mind outside the board meeting:
WATCH! I interviewed Dr Littell after he was tossed out of the meeting at Sarasota Memorial Hospital where Covid Protocols were being reviewed
Littell is said to have violated some kind of “protocol,” which was the excuse given for his ejection.
“I have to confess: I’ve never been to a hospital board meeting ever,” Littell explained later that day, adding that he is still in shock over the fact that he was escorted off the property by a police officer “as though I’m some kind of a criminal and all I did was speak my mind.”
Also this week, a new meta-analysis of ivermectin found that the drug produces “overwhelmingly positive” results when administered as a treatment protocol for covid. This flies in the face of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warnings that ivermectin “should be avoided.”
“Doctors know about ivermectin but they have expensive homes in nice neighborhoods and they need to make their payments so they remain silent,” wrote someone on Twitter about why the American medical industry is inexplicably hostile towards ivermectin.
“Doctors also took an oath to ‘do no harm,’” responded another. “Remdesivir did a lot of harm! And they had to have known that.”
“I no longer trust any general doctor’s practice. And there is no such thing as a ‘family doctor’ anymore. They couldn’t care less about the health of your family.”
The latest news coverage about fascism in the medical workplace can be found at Fascism.news.
Academics: Russia Selling Oil Way Over Price Cap | OilPrice.com
Robert H to us:
So much for sanctions doing anything but hurting the West. While it can be argued that higher prices for oil are palpable if it actually hurt Russia. What is not palpable is that economies like that of India and China actually benefit from lower oil prices while Western ones paying more, suffer. It is very simple, the cost of energy is in everything, day to day. Hurting Russia works only when it does and it does not when it hurts you directly or indirectly by assisting other hegemonic actors. So much for the wise on that ship of fools who actually have shown themselves to understand very little about Russia, how economies work or the role of sanctions in a modern multipolar world. Daily everyone in the West is paying for foolish idealism which is failing. And it seems every week the same crowd wants to double down on the same flawed logic.
Interesting: fertility rates in India plummeting. Why?
Fertility Rates In India Fall Across All Religious Groups
MONDAY, FEB 27, 2023 – 02:45 AM
India has become the biggest country in the world this year, but conversely, its fertility rates have been in a steep decline for years.
In reality, the reversal of population growth that manifested itself in China this year has already begun in India as well.
As Statista’s Katharaina Buchholz explains, the number of children born per woman in India had dropped to 2.0 by 2019. To maintain a stable population, 2.1 births per woman are necessary.
Muslim women have traditionally given birth to more children than other women in India, but the gap between Hindu and Muslim birth rates in the country as been narrowing from one third to one quarter higher birth rates among the latter population.
While life expectancy in India is still growing rather quickly, the population can continue to increase, but if this factor slows down in the future, population decline will start.
And you wonder why America is shunned by India? India as well as China realize that they are next on the chop block if Russia is dismembered. Both now been placed in a position of making a choice and they have chosen to back Russia over America. If Russia asked, India would send weapons and troops. The prospect of India and China side by side having Russia’s back ought to make a sane person think twice about feeling lucky. Because it is not just resources at home that they have . There is something called diaspora abroad that will be raised to voice if needed. And that says nothing about other countries having dependency. This ship of fools in Washington has managed to toss decades of diplomacy out the window in a Neocon blindness of reason and reality. And today this sheer colossal hubris is placing America in real danger of facing isolation by its’ own hand. Do not think for a minute that the new BRICS currency will not be embraced as an alternative to the USD and America itself. This is truly tragic!
Hello Dear Readers, In 1983 amid many scandals regarding failed CIA regime change operations around the world, the Reagan Administration CIA director, Bill Casey, initiated a new “private” non-governmental organization to “do what the CIA did 25 years ago” according to the man who drafted the legislation for the National Endowment for Democracy. Since its founding in 1983, that agency and allied “democracy” NGOs like Soros’ Open Society Foundation have succeeded in toppling countless regimes deemed “hostile” to US foreign policy aims around the world. The sophisticated techniques of these covert “Color Revolutions” by Washington are the subject of my best-selling book, Manifest Destiny: Democracy as Cognitive Dissonance. In early 2023 a bold new regime change operation was launched by both the UK and US intelligence against the ruling party of India. It is aimed at forcing regime change ahead of 2024 elections in India and the future of the country’s traditionally neutral foreign policy. If you haven’t yet done so, please consider support for my online voice. The relentless censorship of the Internet and social media by the private corporate social media companies since the 2020 Corona virus, and now the war in Ukraine, is alarming and damaging and can only be compared with book burnings in the Germany of the 1930s, or the Medieval Inquisitions with torture of heretics. I thank you for your interest and support, William Engdahl www.williamengdahl.com
END
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Trading from Europe and ASIA
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USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 136.21 DOWN 0.124////YEN UP 12 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3576 DOWN .0007 (CDN dollar, UP 7 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 75.60
Brent OIL: 82.19
USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 3 BASIS pts to 3.920%
USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 2 BASIS PTS to 3.922% (30 YR INVERTS TO 10 YEAR)
USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 2 PTS AT 4.7824%
USA dollar index: 104.63 DOWN 52 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 18.89
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 74.61 UP 2 0 AND 52/100 roubles
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 72,67 PTS OR 0.62%
Mixed bag of data this morning with an upside surprise in home sales (driven by a dip in mortgage rates which has now reversed entirely) and weak headline durable goods orders (because Boeing didn’t sell a shitload of planes this month), along with some ugliness in the Dallas Fed sentiment survey summed by this respondent’s comment: “There is nothing positive with respect to the economy.”
However, overall, macro data continues to upset any hopes of a Fed Pivot…
Source: Bloomberg
And so, rate-cut expectations have almost entirely been priced out for this year (from over 50bps of cuts priced-in at the start of Feb to just 3bps now)…
Source: Bloomberg
But stocks didn’t care with Nasdaq leading the charge higher (and The Dow lagging but still green). Some late day selling stalled at the S&P 50DMA but wiped out most of the gains from all the majors except Nasdaq…
For the 4th day in a row, any early short-squeeze attempts were sold into…
Source: Bloomberg
So while today’s gains were not the classic short-squeeze, the 0DTE gamers were active, buying calls aggressively out of the gate (lifting stocks), but as SPY hit 400 (SPX 4000 ish), 0DTE put-buying swept in and dragged the market lower. Around 1130ET (as the S&P neared it 50DMA) the put-buying stalled and call-buying soared, lifting the index off the day-session lows. That ‘buying’ wave stalled around 1230ET and put-buying (with no response from calls) began around 1330ET (after a quick pump up to 4,000) and weighed the index down enough to test the 50DMA once again late on
SpotGamma explains that early action in the clip below:
4,000 was a key level all day…
…testing the 50DMA (3979) and bouncing…
Notably, JPMorgan’s traders suggest the 200DMA (~3940) represents the largest CTA level and could trigger ~$50bn of selling.
Gamma was about $35bn towards puts, which represented about $10bn of selling. Given the market’s action, vol-targeters and levered ETFs may contribute ~$5bn of selling.
And Goldman’s traders confirmed:
“CTA supply should accelerate as we’ve moved through all of the trigger levels in the SPX and could see $16-20bn over the next month/$50bn in global equities”
While stocks closed green on the day, the bear market in the S&P 500 shows no sign of ending anytime soon – and investors now have a grim milestone to mark. As Bloomberg notes, the index has gone for 287 sessions without a record, which surpassed a 285-day streak that ended in 2016 for the longest stretch since the financial crisis.
Source: Bloomberg
And with the gauge still down 17% from its all-time high, the dry spell will likely have months, if not quarters, to run.
Treasury bonds were bid from early in the US session (after overnight selling), with yields lower across the curve but the long-end underperforming and the belly bid most…
Source: Bloomberg
The 10Y yield charged higher again with everyone anticipating 4.00%… but once again it failed at around 3.98% and slipped lower…
Source: Bloomberg
Inflation expectations continue to rise, with 1Y swaps now back above 3.00%…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar ended lower thanks to GBP gains on UK-EU Brexit agreements over Northern Ireland, reversing at the exact payrolls print highs from January…
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin pumped-n-dumped up towards $24k but never made it before reversing lower…
Source: Bloomberg
Gold managed modest gains on the day after trading notably lower overnight…
Oil prices had a volatile day with WTI ending lower, unable to hold a $76 handle…
Finally, is US equity market cap set to catch down to Fed reserve levels once again as pivot-prayers evaporate into the ether?
Source: Bloomberg
END.
EARLY MORNING TRADING//
USA DATA
A good sign that the USA economy is faltering
(zerohedge)
US Durable Goods Orders Plunged Most Since COVID Lockdowns In January
MONDAY, FEB 27, 2023 – 08:37 AM
After a shockingly large upside surprise surge (+5.6% MoM) in December, analysts expected preliminary January durable goods orders to tumble (-4.0% MoM). The actual print came in worse with a 4.5% MoM drop – the biggest drop since April 2020.
Source: Bloomberg
But, everything else was super strong…
Core Durable Goods (ex-Transports) jumped 0.7% MoM (+0.1% exp) – biggest jump since March 2022 (but YoY Core is up just 1.6%)…
Source: Bloomberg
Additionally, the value of core capital goods orders, a proxy for investment in equipment that excludes aircraft and military hardware, increased 0.8% last month after a downwardly revised 0.3% decline in December, Commerce Department figures showed Monday.
The big swing factor was no Boeing orders as non-defense aircraft new orders tumbled 54.6% MoM…
We see the same picture with capital goods (non-defense) orders: Total (incl aircraft) -15.3%, Ex aircraft +0.8%
Core capital goods shipments, a figure that is used to help calculate equipment investment in the government’s gross domestic product report, jumped 1.1%.
So, all in all, this is ‘good’ news for the economy and thus ‘bad’ news for The Fed.
end
USA pending homes sales explode higher in January despite higher mortgage rates??
US Pending Home Sales Explode Higher In January
MONDAY, FEB 27, 2023 – 10:07 AM
Existing home sales plunged, new home sales surged… so today’s pending home sales print will be the decider over what level of bloodbathery is really occurring in the US housing market. After a surprise jump in December (after 6 straight declining months), analysts expected a modest 1.0% MoM jump in pending home sales in January but were blown away by an 8.1% MoM explosion in sales (though Dec was revised down from +2.5% to +1.1%)….
Source: Bloomberg
“Home sales activity looks to be bottoming out in the first quarter of this year, before incremental improvements will occur,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.
That is the biggest MoM jump since June 2020, pushing the index to its highest since August 2022…
Source: Bloomberg
“Buyers responded to better affordability from falling mortgage rates in December and January,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
Sorry Larry… that’s history!
This surge in pending sales is unlikely to continue since mortgage rates have surged since the period these sales were ‘pending’ for.
Signings rose in all four regions in the month, led by a more than 10% gain in the West.
“An extra bump occurred in the West region because of lower home prices, while gains in the South were due to stronger job growth in that region,” Yun said.
Even with the surge at the start of the year, contract signings were still down 22.4% from January 2022 on an unadjusted basis.
end
I do not think that Powell wants to hear this!!
(zerohedge)
“Stupid Slow” – Dallas Fed Manufacturing Production Plunges Into Contraction
MONDAY, FEB 27, 2023 – 10:41 AM
For the 10th month in a row, The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Outlook survey printed negative (signaling contraction) with the February print dropping to -13.5 from -8.4 (-9.3 exp).
Source: Bloomberg
The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, edged down from 0.2 to -2.8, a reading suggestive of a modest contraction in output.
Under the hood, the new orders index was negative for a ninth month in a row and moved down nine points to -13.2. The growth rate of orders index fell from -12.3 to -16.9. The capacity utilization index returned to negative territory after two positive readings, falling 10 points to -4.1, while the shipments index was largely unchanged at -5.0.
Perceptions of broader business conditions worsened in February as pessimism increased, as evidenced by comments from survey respondents:
Primary metal manufacturing: “We expect recession in the second half of this year. We already had a first round of layoffs. We are looking at each employee very carefully to learn who may have to be in a second wave of layoffs, if and when business slows down again.”
Printing and related support activities: “It seems like someone turned off the spigot, as we have gotten stupid slow, as have others in our industry. We are not sure if it’s the Federal Reserve jacking with interest rates, or else some sort of cyclical slowdown, but it feels like business has ground to a halt. We have some nice work planned for later on this year, but right now we are just stupid slow.”
Printing and related support activities: “Our residential building and construction business has decreased drastically over the past few months due to mortgage rate increases, inflation and other factors. One major factor affecting our industry is foreign competitors dumping product into the U.S. at lower prices than their domestic prices—and lower than U.S. producers’ prices. Mexico, India, Colombia, Ecuador, Vietnam, Malaysia, Turkey and Poland are among countries exporting aluminum extrusions to the U.S. at record levels.”
Computer and electronic product manufacturing: “I am currently worried about the time I am seeing it take for my customers to pay me.“
Plastics and rubber products manufacturing: “Revenue dollars per sale are going down. People are watching their money.“
Textile product mills: “February has been a slow month; it is hard to know why, but our outlook has worsened for both our business and retail activity in general.”
Miscellaneous manufacturing: “All markets served have slowed down and are ordering lower quantities as compared with last year. Automotive OEM [original equipment manufacturers] customers’ volumes are most affected by lower quantities.”
Transportation equipment manufacturing: “There is nothing positive with respect to the economy.“
The Environmental Protection Agency ordered Norfolk Southern to halt all shipments of contaminated waste from the train derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio, to ensure proper disposal, according to Bloomberg.
“Moving forward, waste disposal plans, including disposal location and transportation routes for contaminated waste, will be subject to federal EPA review and approval,” said Debra Shore, the regional administrator for EPA’s Region 5 office.
Shore said, “EPA will ensure that all waste is disposed of in a safe and lawful manner at EPA-certified facilities to prevent further release of hazardous substances and impacts to communities.”
Until Friday, Norfolk Southern “had been solely responsible for the disposal of waste,” she said.
The move comes as state officials in Michigan and Texas complained they weren’t notified when truckloads of contaminated soil and water from East Palestine were shipped into their jurisdictions for disposal.
The Ohio governor’s office said Saturday night that of the twenty truckloads (approximately 280 tons) of hazardous solid waste hauled away, 15 truckloads of contaminated soil was disposed of at a Michigan hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility while five truckloads had been returned to East Palestine.
Liquid waste already trucked out of East Palestine would be disposed of at a licensed hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility in Texas, but that facility would not accept more liquid waste, the Ohio governor’s office said.
“Currently, about 102,000 gallons of liquid waste and 4,500 cubic yards of solid waste remain in storage on site in East Palestine, not including the five truckloads returned to the village,” the governor’s office said. “Additional solid and liquid wastes are being generated as the cleanup progresses.” —AP News
The Biden administration has been criticized for its response time and lack of coordination following the train derailment on Feb. 3. But, on Saturday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the response by federal agencies “has been really well coordinated.”
If that’s the case, why would the EPA temporarily suspend the removal of contaminated waste while evaluating Norfolk Southern’s plan? Wouldn’t a concrete plan already be in play?
end
“We’re Dying Slowly”: East Palestine Residents Report Bizarre Health Issues After Toxic Train Derailment
SUNDAY, FEB 26, 2023 – 06:30 PM
Residents of East Palestine, Ohio have been reporting bizarre symptoms following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment and subsequent toxic explosion, the NY Post reports.
“Doctors say I definitely have the chemicals in me but there’s no one in town who can run the toxicological tests to find out which ones they are,” said 40-year-old Wade Lovett, whose high-pitched voice now sounds as if he’s been inhaling helium.
“My voice sounds like Mickey Mouse. My normal voice is low. It’s hard to breathe, especially at night. My chest hurts so much at night I feel like I’m drowning. I cough up phlegm a lot. I lost my job because the doctor won’t release me to go to work.”
Leading the charge to fight for the community is 46-year-old Jami Cozza, a lifelong East Palestinian who counts 47 close relatives here. Many of them are facing health issues from the chemical fire as well as the psychic toll of their town becoming, in the words of a scientist visiting the area Thursday, the new “Love Canal” — a reference to the Niagara Falls, NY, neighborhood that became a hotbed issue in 1978 because people were getting sick from living above a contaminated waste dump. -NY Post
Many residents are also complaining of mystery rashes and sore throats after returning home following the lifting of evacuation orders on February 8.
“Yesterday was the first day in probably three or four days that I could smell anything. I lost my smell and my sense of taste. I had an eye infection in both eyes. I was having respiratory issues like I was just out of breath. Other members of my family have had eye infections and strep throat,” said Shelby Walker, who lives a few yards from the epicenter from the crash and explosion. “The cleanup crew drives past us at night and won’t even look at us. It’s like we don’t exist. No one has reached out to us or told us anything.”
According to an independent analysis of EPA data by Texas A&M University released on Friday, nine air pollutants were found around East Palestine at levels that could raise long-term health concerns.
“My fiancé was so sick that I almost took him to the hospital,” Jami Cozza told the Post. “Not only am I fighting for my family’s life, but I feel like I’m fighting for the whole town’s life. When I’m walking around hearing these stories, they’re not from people. They’re from my family. They’re from my friends that I’ve have grown up with,” she said. “People are desperate right now. We’re dying slowly. They’re poisoning us slowly.“
According to a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of hundreds of residents, Norfolk Southern ‘went rogue’ when it made the decision three days after the derailment to blow up five train cars containing deadly vinyl chloride. Around 1.1 million pounds of the toxic compound were spilled and later burned, the suit claims.
Norfolk Southern, meanwhile, says they consulted with experts and Gov. Mike DeWine (R) before the controlled burn, which they say they did to avoid a potential ‘catastrophic failure of the cars.’
“What they could have done and should have done is remove all the vinyl chloride from the train cars and put them in secure containment vessels,” said Rene Rocha of the Morgan & Morgan law firm, one of the lead attorneys on the class-action case. “They then should have excavated tons of soil and monitored and remediated the soil and groundwater.”
Cozza’s hearing included a panel with scientists from the University of Pittsburgh, an environmental lawyer, and a veteran Ohio hazardous materials expert. None of them painted a rosy picture of the town’s future, despite Norfolk Southern’s insistence that the area is safe and will be cleaned up and tested more.
The experts listened as desperate residents asked about the safety of breastfeeding their babies and getting water from their wells. Planting season is coming soon in an area where many farm. One woman cried when she spoke about her worry over her pregnant goats. -NY Post
According to Harvard-trained toxicologist, Stephen Lester, the hot zone at East Palestine is one of the ‘most concerning’ he’s ever seen – and warned that the chemical dioxin that was released during the controlled burn will be embedded in the soil and water.
“Until the government takes this seriously there are going to be real problems,” said Lester. “It’s criminal that the EPA didn’t come forward with information about dioxin and start testing for it.”
end
We pointed this out to you two days after the derailment
(Premack/Freightwaves)
Norfolk Southern Eliminated Key Maintenance Role In Derailment Region, Union Says
One union of rail workers has questioned declining maintenance standards following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which forced the evacuation of the 5,000-person town earlier this month.
A device that can play a role in preventing derailments is the wayside hot-box detector. It uses infrared sensors to detect bearings, axles or other components of a rail car that are overheating, then uses radio signals to flag rail crews of any overheated components.
Wayside hot-box detectors — also called “hot boxes” — are typically placed every 25 miles along a railroad, according to a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) report. Their use has contributed to a 59% decrease in train accidents caused by axle- and bearing-related factors since 1990, according to a 2017 Association of American Railroads study.
Declining head counts have led to these mechanisms receiving less preventative maintenance, according to an official from the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen union.
The FRA has no regulations requiring the use or maintenance of hot boxes.
A hot box in East Palestine notified the crew moments before the train derailed, according to the NTSB’s report.
It’s unclear if any hot box prior to East Palestine notified crews. A surveillance video shared on Facebook from an industrial facility in Salem, Ohio, about 20 miles from East Palestine, suggests the train’s axle was already on fire.
Norfolk Southern did not respond to a request for comment, and the FRA declined to comment on the record.
From 5 ‘electronic leaders’ to zero in derailment region
Specialized signalmen called “electronic leaders” specialize in maintaining devices like hot boxes.
As recently as three years ago, Norfolk Southern employed five electronic leaders in the area of its rail network that includes East Palestine. Today, it employs zero, according to Christopher Hand, director of research at the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.
Hand said electronic leaders know hot-box detectors “inside out.” But the position, which typically requires years of experience and higher pay, has become less common at railroads across the country. Electronic leaders also taught newer signalmen how to operate devices like the hot boxes.
After that position was eliminated in Norfolk Southern’s Division B, Hand said its responsibilities were likely transferred to a signal maintainer. Their main role is to keep up with government-mandated tests of equipment — and hot boxes aren’t under federal regulations.
“Once they eliminated that position, it fell to the signal maintainers who had no knowledge, no training or very, very little training on these hot-box detectors,” Hand said in an interview with FreightWaves.
Across the rail industry, Hand said most signalmen are exclusively spending time on these government-mandated tests, rather than doing preventive maintenance, like cleaning and greasing.
“There used to be something called ‘maintenance’ and it was routinely maintaining your apparatus — not just strictly going there when you have a regulated test,” Hand said.
It’s the responsibility of the railroad to maintain the track and locomotives by which railcars move. However, these derailed cars were possibly owned by a leasing company or the actual shipper of the chemicals inside the railcar.
Lobbying efforts to scale back maintenance saved railroads hundreds of millions
Federal regulators have rolled back other rail safety rules.
For years, the federal government required railroads to conduct a type of brake test on rail cars that had not been operated for four or more hours. As of 2020, rail operators may wait up to 24 hours to conduct this test.
The Association of American Railroads, an industry association that includes Norfolk Southern, lobbied for this change starting in 2017, according to the Federal Register. The FRA estimated that changing this rule would save the rail industry nearly $600 million over a 10-year period.
The Association of American Railroads was also key in rolling back Obama-era legislation that would have required railroad companies to update their braking systems from a 19th-century design to an electronic one, as the Huffington Post reported on Wednesday.
end
The ugly Project Veritas story after the dismissal of founder James O”Keefe
(Stieber/EpochTimes)
Project Veritas Staffers Release New Statement As Whistleblowers Say They Stand With James O’Keefe
In a Feb. 24 video statement, Project Veritas staffers said they “are at a crossroads” due to the dispute between O’Keefe and the organization’s board of directors.
O’Keefe departed Project Veritas this week after being suspended and stripped of his authority. The board has said it uncovered signs of “financial malfeasance” but that it did not terminate O’Keefe. Staffers said Thursday that supporters should “give us a chance” as they work to continue O’Keefe’s mission.
“We want James back,” staffers said in the new video. “But we have a duty to our generous supporters, to all of you, and to our journalistic integrity to break record stories, which impact our culture, and most importantly, the future of our country.”
Staffers said they’re committed to continuing working to expose waste, fraud, and abuse, and that “no board or donor ever tells us what to report.
“We will never replace James O’Keefe. But for now, we see it as our job to hold the torch for him while keeping the door wide open for his return. We will keep the spirit of James’s mission alive for as long as we are able. We have investigations underway and stories to release. Our reporters are in the field,” they said. “As James has always told us, content is king. Our visionary may not be with us right now, but the Project Veritas mission is vital. We will produce stories and break news until a day may come when we can’t.”
The group acknowledged that many supporters are disenchanted with O’Keefe’s ouster.
“We don’t want to see a Project Veritas without James O’Keefe,” they said. “Due to decisions made outside of our control, it’s possible we may never earn back the trust of this audience. But we owe it to all of you to try.”
O’Keefe has said that, after board members rebuffed his request for them to resign, he could not return to the company. In a farewell message to staffers at the group’s headquarters, he said he was planning to “start anew” and that he hoped to see some of the staffers soon.
O’Keefe has since posted several times on Twitter, sharing a new email address for tips.
“Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who actually do,” he said in his last update on Feb. 24.
end
High interest rates have just killed this subprime auto lender and used car retailer
(zerohedge)
Subprime Auto Lender And Used Car Retailer Collapses As Distress Cycle Finally Arrives
… which was to be expected: after all the latest consumer credit report from the Fed revealed an exponential spike in the amount of new car loans, which increased by more than $2,000 in one quarter, from just over $38,000 (a record), to $40,155 (a new record).
And yet something just didn’t click: if so many subprime Americans were saddled with record amounts of auto loans – on average more than $40K – where were the defaults? After all, the average loan rate for new car loans just hit a 13 year high and will soon rise to the highest level this centiry.
Well, after a lengthy period in which nothing seemed to happen, suddenly the dominoes are starting to fall, and as Bloomberg reports, used car retailer and subprime auto loan lender, American Car Center, told employees the business was closing its doors, just one day after the company had hoped to pull off a funding Hail Mary by selling a $222 million bond (it failed).
According to Bloomberg, the used car retailer, which targets consumers regardless of their credit history (and thus targets almost entirely subprime borrowers who can’t get a loan elsewhere), said in an email to employees on Friday the firm was ceasing all operations, closing its headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, and that all employees would be terminated by the end of the business day, the people said. It employed about 288 people at its headquarters.
The closure email came a day after the company sent another message to staff saying management and advisors had been working with lenders to improve liquidity and continue operations. American Car Center, which has more than 40 dealerships across 10 states, is owned by York Capital’s private equity group.
The long overdue collapse – the first of many – comes as more Americans are starting to fall behind on their car payments, and the distress cycle is rapidly accelerating.
Think of it as the infamous New Century domino that signaled the collapse of subprime housing… only for cars.
Just before the announcement, American Car Center shelved a bond deal backed by subprime loans citing market conditions despite investors placing orders for the debt. It wasn’t clear why ACC backed down in the last moment as the alternative was liquidation. However, since many more auto subprime lenders will now follow in ACC’s footsteps, we are confident the answer will emerge.
Meanwhile, we can’t help but be amused by the mindblowing divergence in Wall Street mental models, where on one hand speculation that used car pries are somehow surging has sent risk assets lower driven by fears of a rebound in inflation (remember that spike in the Manheim used car price index?), while on the other companies like ACC and Carvana are either liquidating or on the verge of doing so, simply because the used car auto segment has completely imploded.
end
3 B)USA ECONOMIC ISSUES// SUPPLY ISSUES//
USA COVID//
SWAMP STORIES
Hunter Biden Business Partner Flips, Now ‘Cooperating’ With GOP Investigators
SATURDAY, FEB 25, 2023 – 01:32 PM
Eric Schwerin, a close business associate of Hunter Biden who also dealt with Joe Biden’s business and tax affairs, is now working with House GOP investigators looking into Biden family dealings – particularly in Ukraine and China, where the family collected millions of dollars, Just the News reports.
“He is cooperating with us,” House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) toldthe outlet.
“His attorneys and my counsel are communicating on a regular basis. Now, I feel confident that he’s going to work with us, and provide us with the information that we have requested,” Comer continued. “I think that Schwerwin is going to be a very valuable witness for us in this investigation.”
Schwerin’s cooperation comes after the committee received word that Hunter and his uncle, James Biden, don’t plan to be forthcoming with all the information Comer’s committee has sought in their wide-ranging probe.
According to Comer, subpoenas are imminent for non-cooperating witnesses.
“We know individuals, many are cooperating with us now, but others, not so much,” he said. “We’re going to start subpoenaing people in the private sector, we’re going to start subpoenaing financial institutions to get us the information. And then we’ll go from there.”
Comer then suggested that if innocent, Hunter Biden would want to clear his name in front of the committee.
“He could come in front of the House Oversight Committee right now and defend his good name,” Comer said. “He would have 20 Democrats that would definitely support him, and he could make 26 Republicans look bad if all this information we have from his laptop, all the emails that were in his own words, all the audio that are in his own voice, if for some reason we’re misinterpreting that, then he could make us look bad.
“But we all know that this family was involved in influence peddling. And this administration is doing everything in its ability to try to block oversight.”
Both Joe Biden and Hunter Biden have denied the family did anything wrong, although Hunter Biden has acknowledged he is under federal criminal investigation on tax issues.
Comer said while the committee battles the White House and the Biden family for information, Schwerin’s cooperation was a breakthrough that could spur other key witnesses to cooperate. –Just the News
According to White House visitor logs, Schwerin met directly with then-Vice President Joe Biden in the West Wing on Nov. 17, 2010, and had several meetings with White House aides during times when Hunter Biden was securing multi-billion dollar deals overseas, including in China.
Meanwhile, as The Epoch Times reported last year, the NY Postrevealed that Hunter had set up a meeting between his father and Andrés Pastrana Arango, the former president of Colombia, on March 2, 2012.
Before the March 2012 meeting, Hunter Biden and his partners at Rosemont Seneca Partners were allegedly seeking business with Brazilian construction company OAS, according to emails from the laptop, the Post reported. The Brazilian firm was interested in several projects in Columbia at the time, including a hydroelectric power plant worth $1.8 billion and a renovation project to a subway system in Bogota worth $3 billion.
“If it works, we’ll all be rich,” Schwerin wrote to Hunter Biden in an email in August 2011, according to the Post. Emails showed Hunter Biden traveling to Bogota in November 2011.
Money manager and economist Peter Schiff said in October the Federal Reserve “could NOT win the fight on inflation by raising interest rates.” As inflation just turned up anew, it looks like he was right—again. Schiff explains, “Based on the recent data we got . . . the inflation curve has bent back up. The months of declining inflation are in the rearview mirror. Now, we are going to see accelerating inflation . . . and I think before the year is over, we are going to take out that 9% inflation high last year in year over year CPI (Consumer price Index) . . . and what that is going to show is what the Fed has done thus far in its inflation fight is completely ineffective. If the Fed is serious about fighting inflation, and I do not believe it is, it’s going to have to fight a lot harder than it has. Interest rates need to go up much higher than anybody thinks, but that alone is not going to do the trick. We also have to see a big contraction in consumer credit and lending standards rising so consumers can’t keep spending. . . . Consumers are running up credit card debt. That is inflationary. That is an expansion of the supply of credit.”
It gets worse when the Fed has to save the economy again. Schiff predicts, “I think the Fed is going to have to throw in the towel on the inflation fight because it will be fighting something it fears more, which is a complete economic collapse. . . .The federal government may be legitimately forced to cut Medicare and Social Security instead of illegitimately cutting it through inflation. . . .We have this collapsing standard of living, but think about it as a tax. This is what Americans are paying. This is the price of big government. . . . Higher prices are the price we pay for big government, and inflation is a tax. Instead of raising our taxes, they are just printing money, and that devalues the money we have.”
What is the answer? Schiff says, “We have to let the phony economy collapse so we can build a real economy on the rubble of this economic house of cards.”
There are going to be lots of losers in the coming collapse. Schiff says, “People are going to suffer the consequences of this experiment gone bad. . . . We know how this experiment is going to end. They are not doing anything that Zimbabwe didn’t try, or Argentina didn’t try or the Weimar Republic. They didn’t reinvent inflation. It’s the same old thing.”
As a result, Schiff predicts big losses in many stocks (but not all), bonds and bank deposits. Schiff contends, “They can’t cover the deposits at the FDIC. They have to acknowledge that the FDIC is bankrupt and people are going to lose money at a bank. The losses are going to dwarf those in the Great Depression because we have a far more leveraged system now thanks to government intervention.”
Schiff says he also likes gold and silver as a core investment and thinks they both go way up in price in a world where the dollar is eaten up by inflation.
In closing, Schiff says, “We already have inflation. So, prepare for the consequences of inflation. It is going to raise prices, but it is also a massive transfer of wealth. You have to position yourself to be a winner and not a loser. . . .Creditors are going to get wiped out. People think they are playing it safe in a bond portfolio. Look how bad bonds did last year. It was the worst year in history, and you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
There is much more in the 47-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with money manager and economic expert Peter Schiff, founder of Euro Pacific Asset Management 2.25.23.
COVID Intel – by Dr.William Makis
Maryanne Demasi, reports
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