MAY 1//GOLD CLOSED DOWN $8.85 TO $1981.50//SILVER DOWN DOWN ONE CENT TO $24.94//PLATINUM IS DOWN $23.90 TO $1054.90// PALLADIUM IS DOWN $48.55 TO $1457.15//IMPORTANT READ EGON VON GREYERZ//COVID UPDATES/DR PANDA/DR PAUL ALEXANDER//VACCINE IMPACT/SLAY NEWS//CIVIL UNRESTS PERMEATES THROUGHOUT FRANCE AS UNIONS ARE EXTREMELY ANGRY AT THE PENSION REFORMS//MOODY’S LOWERS THEIR RATINGS A NOTCH TO AA-//UKRAINE VS RUSSIA UPDATES//REPORT ON JAPAN//JPMORGAN MAKES A DEAL AND PURCHASES FIRST REPUBLIC: RAMIFICATIONS ON THIS//SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT//
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $28003 DOWN 1683 dollars
Platinum price closing $1078.80 DOWN $3.80
Palladium price; $1505.70 UP $1.95
“Our government… teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.” … Louis D Brandeis (former Supreme Court Justice)
GO GATA!
END
Due to the huge rise in the dollar, we must look at gold and silver in currencies other than the dollar to understand where we are heading
I will now provide gold in Canadian dollars, British pounds and Euros/4: 15 PM ACCESS
CANADIAN GOLD: $2684.40 DOWN 11.20 CDN dollars per oz (ALL TIME HIGH 2732.50)
BRITISH GOLD: 1588,33 up 3.13 pounds per oz//(ALL TIME HIGH//1629.84)
EURO GOLD: 1805.60 UP .20 euros per oz //(ALL TIME HIGH//1860.82)
118 C MACQUARIE FUT 35 435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 25 661 C JP MORGAN 23 50 686 C STONEX FINANCIA 2 726 C CUNNINGHAM COM 5 732 C RBC CAP MARKETS 14 737 C ADVANTAGE 36 15 800 C MAREX SPEC 33 19 905 C ADM 41
TOTAL: 149 149 MONTH TO DATE: 1,206
JPMorgan stopped 240/1057 contracts
FOR MAY:
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR MAY/2023. CONTRACT: 149 NOTICES FOR 14,900 OZ or 0.4634 TONNES
total notices so far: 1206 contracts for 120,600 oz (3.7511 tonnes)
FOR MAY:
SILVER NOTICES: 659 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 3,295,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 1674 for 8,370,000 oz
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END
GLD
WITH GOLD DOWN $8.85
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD
/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:///.
INVENTORY RESTS AT 926.28 TONNES
Silver//
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 1 CENT AT THE SLV//
HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 918.000OZ FROM THE SLV.//: INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 468.264 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 541 CONTRACTS TO 140,253 AND FURTHER FROM THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS STRONG SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR $0.01 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON FRIDAY. WE HAVE THIS YEAR SET ANOTHER RECORD LOW AT 117,395 CONTRACTS ///MARCH 29.2023. OUR BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT ROSE BY $0.01). AND WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING A FEW SPEC LONGS AS WE HAD A FAIR LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 305 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 0 CRIMINAL NOTICES FILED IN THE CATEGORY OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK TRANSFER FOR 0 MILLION OZ// ( THE TOTAL ISSUED IN THIS CATEGORY SO FAR THIS MONTH TOTAL 0MILLION 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 FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS( 235CONTRACTS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 13.105 MILLION OZ(FIRST DAY NOTICE) FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 20,000 OZ+ 0MILLION OZ OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK:THUS TOTAL OF 13.125 MILLION OZ OF STANDING FOR DELIVERY V) STRONG SIZED COMEX OI LOSS/ SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL –1 CONTRACTS
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS MAY. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF APRIL:
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 1 days, total 235 contracts: OR 1.175 MILLION OZ . (235 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 1.175 MILLION OZ
LAST 23 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: 100.105 MILLION OZ/FINAL//MUCH STRONGER ISSUANCE VS THE LATTER TWO MONTHS.
MARCH 2023: 112.58MILLION OZ//FINAL//STRONG ISSUANCE
APRIL 118.035 MILLION OZ(SLIGHTLY GREATER THAN THAN LAST MONTH)
MAY 1.175 MILLION OZ/INITIAL
RESULT: WE HAD A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 541CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR $0.01 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//FRIDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 235 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR JULY 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 APRIL OF 13.105 MILLION OZ//FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 20,000 OZ (INCREASES THE AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING) +// + 0 MILLION NEW EXCHANGE FOR RISK TODAY (INCREASES THE AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING) //TOTAL STANDING 13.125 MILLION OZ// .. WE HAVE A GOOD SIZED LOSS OF306 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD 659 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 3,295,000 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 80 CONTRACTS TO 475,817 AND FURTHER FROM 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: added 276 CONTRACTS
this is the 4th straight day of additions to comex volume//total insanity. We have had 9 additions out of the last 11 trading days.
WE HAD A SMALL SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI ( 80 CONTRACTS) DESPITE OUR $1.45 GAIN IN PRICE. WE ALSO HAD A STRONG INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR MAY. AT 3.5085 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE // PLUS A 6,000 OZ QUEUE. JUMP :(QUEUE JUMPING = EXERCISING LONDON BASED EFP’S, ATTACHED TO COMEX CONTRACTS ) (EFP is the transfer of COMEX contracts immediately to London for potential gold deliveries originating from London)////YET ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $1.45 GAIN IN PRICEWITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY’S TRADING.WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 3311 OI CONTRACTS (10.298 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A GOOD SIZED 3231 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 475,541
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 3035 CONTRACTS WITH 196 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX AND 3231 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF3035CONTRACTS OR 9.440TONNES.
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (3251 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE SMALL SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI (80 //TOTAL GAIN IN THE TWO EXCHANGES 3311 CONTRACTS. WE HAVE ( 1) NOW RETURNED TO OUR NORMAL FORMAT OF BANKERS GOING SHORT AND SPECULATORS GOING LONG ,2.) GOOD INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR MAY AT 3.5085 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 20,000 OZ // NEW STANDING: 3.8258 TONNES // ///3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION//4) SMALL SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST GAIN/ 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER/
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023 INCLUDING TODAY
MAY
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF MAY :
TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 3231 CONTRACTS OR 323,100 OZ OR 10.049 TONNES IN 1 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3231 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 1 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 10.049 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 10.049/3550 x 100% TONNES 0.281% 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: 151.61 TONNES/FINAL
MARCH: 280.09 TONNES/INITIAL (ANOTHER STRONG MONTH FOR EFP ISSUANCE)
APRIL: 197.42 TONNES ( MUCH SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)
MAY: 10.049 TONNES
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 APRIL. WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF GOLD
HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR ;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MAR HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF APRIL., 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 FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 541 CONTRACTS OI TO 140,253 AND FURTHER FROM 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 NEW RECORD LOW OF 117,395 CONTRACTS MARCH 27/2022
EFP ISSUANCE 235 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
JULY 235 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 235 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI LOSS OF 541CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 235OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,
WE OBTAIN A GOOD SIZED LOSS OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 306 CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 1.530 MILLION OZ
OCCURRED WITH OUR $0.01 GAIN IN PRICE ….. OUR SPEC SHORTS HAVE NOWHERE TO HIDE!
ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
b. Other gold/silver commentaries
c. Commodity commentaries//
d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
2.ASIAN AFFAIRS//
MONDAY MORNING//SUNDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 27,39 PTS OR 1.14% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 54,79 POINTS OR 0.27% /The Nikkei closed UP 266.74 PTS OR 0.92% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.31 % /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP TO 6.9121/OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN DOWN TO 6.9478 /Oil DOWN TO 75.18 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT AT 78.62 / Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MIXED// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER
1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A SMALL SIZED 196 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 475,541 WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $1.45 ON FRIDAY,
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MAY… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 3231 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : JUNE 3231 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 3231 CONTRACTS
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 3311 CONTRACTS IN THAT 3231LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 80COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS FAIR SIZED GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $1.45. WE ARE NOW WITNESSING THE BANKERS GOING NET SHORT AND THE SPECS GOING NET LONG.
// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: MAY (3.8258) ( NON ACTIVE MONTH)
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
MAR: 19.0637 TONNES
APRIL: 75.676 tonnes
MAY: 3.8258 TONNES
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT ROSE $1.45) //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD OUR FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 3311 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 9.440PAPER TONNES OF TOTAL OI FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR MAY. (3.5085 TONNES) FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 6,000 oz//NEW STANDING 3.8258 TONNES ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR RISE IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $1.45
WE HAD +ADDED 276 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST AFTER TRADING ENDED LAST NIGHT
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 3311 CONTRACTS OR 331,100 OZ OR 10.298 TONNES.
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
1206 notices 120,600 OZ 3.7511 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: 1
i) Our of Brinks: 2798.85 oz
total withdrawals: 2798.85 oz
Adjustments;
ii) customer to dealer Manfra: 2218.459 oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR MAY.
For the front month of MAY we have an oi of 173 contracts having LOST 955 contracts. We had 1015 contracts filed
on Friday, so we gained 60 contracts or an additional 6000 oz will stand for gold in this non active delivery month of May.
June LOST 5359 contracts DOWN to 373,047 contracts.
July added its first 151 contracts to stand at 151 contracts.
AUGUST GAINED 6053 contracts up to 59,005 contracts
We had 149 contracts filed for today representing 14,900 oz
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 23 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 149 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 50 notice(s) was (were) stopped received by J.P.Morgan//customer account and 0 notice(s) received (stopped) by the squid (Goldman Sachs)
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the MAY /2023. contract month,
we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (1,206 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MAY 173 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 149 x 100 oz per contract equals 123,000 OZ OR 3.8258 TONNES the number of TONNES standing in this NON- active month of May.
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the MAYcontract month: No of notices filed so far (1206 x 100 oz)+173 OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (149)x 100 oz} which equals 123,000 oz standing OR 3.8258 TONNES
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 3.8258 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR A NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH.
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED: 22,359,418.061 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD: 12,358,266.185 (384.39 tonnes)..
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,001,151.876 O Z
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 10,654,917 OZ (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 331.412 tonnes//
END
SILVER/COMEX
MAY 1//2023// THE MAY 2023 SILVER CONTRACT
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
80,986.120 oz
Brinks
.
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
nil oz
No of oz served today (contracts)
659 CONTRACT(S) (3,295,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
951 contracts (4,755,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
1674 Contracts (8,370,000 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: 0
total: nil oz
i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal
total dealer withdrawals: oz
We have 0 deposits into the customer account
Total deposits: nil oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 139,607 million oz/270.893 million =51.53% of comex .//dropping fast
Comex withdrawals: 1
ii) Out of Brinks 80,986.120 oz
Total withdrawals; 80,986.120 oz
adjustments: 0
the silver comex is in stress!
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 33.204 MILLION OZ (declining rapidly).TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 270.893 million oz
CALCULATION OF SILVER OZ STANDING FOR APRIL
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF MAY /2023 OI: 1610 CONTRACTS HAVING LOST 1011 CONTRACT(S). WE HAD 1015 CONTRACTS FILED
ON FRIDAY, SO WE GAINED 4 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 20,000 OZ OF SILVER WILL STAND FOR DELIVERY IN THIS VERY
ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MAY.
.JUNE HAD A 35 CONTRACTS GAIN TO 854
JULY HAD A 284 CONTRACT GAIN TO 118,759 CONTRACTS
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 659 for 3,295,000 oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 75,039 good
Comex volume: confirmed yesterday: 47,955 good
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in MAY. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 1674 x 5,000 oz = 3,295,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MAY(1610) and the number of notices served upon today 659 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the MAY/2023 contract month: 1674 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of APRIL (1610) – number of notices served upon today (659 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the MAY contract month equates to 13.125 million oz
the record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price on that day at $18.42. The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44
END
GLD AND SLV INVENTORY LEVELS
MAY 1/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.85 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 926.28 TONNES
APRIL 28/WITH GOLD UP $1.45 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.76 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 926.28 TONNES
APRIL 27/WITH GOLD UP $4.00 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 930.04 TONNES/
APRIL 26/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.45 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.61 TONNES FROM THE GLD.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 930.04 TONNES
APRIL 25/WITH GOLD UP $4.90 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .86 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 927.43 TONNES
APRIL 24/WITH GOLD UP $9.45 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 926.57 TONNES
APRIL 21/WITH GOLD DOWN $27.80 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 926.57 TONNES
APRIL 20/WITH GOLD UP $12.70: HUGE CHANGES TODAY IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .87 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 926.57 TONNES
APRIL 19//WITH GOLD DOWN $12.00 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 925.70 TONNES
APRIL 18/WITH GOLD UP $12.15 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.03 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 925.70 TONNES/
APRIL 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $7.15 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.89 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 927.72 TONNES
APRIL 14/WITH GOLD DOWN $38.90 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.47 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 930.61 TONNES
APRIL 13/WITH GOLD UP$31.70 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.17 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 934.08 TONNES
APRIL 11/WITH GOLD UP $14.30 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 903.91 TONNES
APRIL 10/WITH GOLD DOWN $21.40 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 930.91 TONNES
APRIL 6//WITH GOLD DOWN $9.15 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 930.91
APRIL 5//WITH GOLD UP 0 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 930.04
APRIL 4/WITH GOLD UP $36.30 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 930.04 TONNES
APRIL 3/WITH GOLD UP $14.20 TODAY;NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 928.02 TONNES
MARCH 31/WITH GOLD DOWN $10.30 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 928.02 TONNES
MARCH 30//WITH GOLD UP XX TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/: A DEPOSIT OF 2.24 TONNES FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 929.47 TONNES
MARCH 29/WITH GOLD DOWN $4.85 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4,16 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 927,23
MARCH 28/WITH GOLD UP $19.50 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .86 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 923.07 TONNES
MARCH 27/WITH GOLD DOWN $28.50 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.45 TONNES FROM THE GLD./INVENTORY RESTS AT 923.97 TONNES
MARCH 23/WITH GOLD UP $47.70 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//A DEPOSIT 87 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 925.42 TONNES
MARCH 21/WITH GOLD DOWN $38.70 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: ANOTHER HUGE DEPOSIT OF 3.4 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 924.55 TONNES
MARCH 20//WITH GOLD UP $9.60 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 6.36 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 921.08 TONNES
MARCH 17/WITH GOLD UP $50.50 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 914.72TONNES
MARCH 16/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.95 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.45 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 914.72 TONNES
GLD INVENTORY: 926.28 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
MAY 1/WITH SILVER DOWN ONE CENT TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 918,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 468.264 MILLION OZ
APRIL 28/WITH SILVER UP 1 CENT TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 469.482 MILLION OZ//
APRIL 27/WITH SILVER UP 16 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.103 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 469.182 MILLION OZ//
APRIL 26/WITH SILVER UP 10 CENTS TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.102 MILLION OZ FORM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 470.285 MILLION OZ
APRIL 25/WITH SILVER DOWN 34 CENTS TODAY: THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!! HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 7.304 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 471.387 MILLION OZ.
APRIL 24/WITH SILVER UP 22 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 464.083 MILLION OZ/
APRIL 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 29 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 919,000 OZ FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 464.083 MILLION OZ//
APRIL 20/WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.021 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 465.002 MILLION OZ/
APRIL 19/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 467.023 MILLION OZ//
APRIL 18/WITH SILVER UP 18 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.757 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 467.023 MILLION OZ
APRIL 17/WITH SILVER DOWN 33 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.194 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 469.780 MILLION OZ//
APRIL 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 48 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 470.974 MILLION OZ/
APRIL 13/WITH SILVER UP HUGELY BY 48 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.389 MILLION OZ OF SILVER INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 470.974 MILLION OZ
APRIL 11/WITH SILVER UP 27 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 468.585 MILLION OZ
APRIL 10/WITH SILVER DOWN 17 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 468.585 MILLION OZ
APRIL 6/WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV; A DEPOSIT OF 4.643 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 468.585 MILLION OZ//
APRIL 5/WITH SILVER DOWN 4 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 463.942 MILLION OZ
APRIL 4/WITH GOLD UP $1.11 TODAY CRIMINAL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.47 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 463,942 MILLION OZ
APRIL 1/WITH SILVER DOWN 14 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 465.412
MARCH 31/WITH SILVER UP 14 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE GLD/: A MASSIVE 4.779 MILLION OZ DEPOSITED INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT465.412 MILLION OZ
MARCH 30/WITH SILVER UP XX CENTS TODAY;HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV.: A DEPOSIT OF 550,000 OZ INTO THE SLV/.INVENTORY RESTS AT 460.633 MILLION OZ
MARCH 29/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.195 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 460.082
MARCH 28/WITH SILVER UP 28 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 368,000 OZ FORM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 458.887 MILLION OZ//
MARCH 27/WITH SILVER DOWN 15 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 230,000 OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 459.255 MILLION OZ
MARCH 23 WITH SILVER UP 62 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A SMALL DEPOSIT OF 919,000 0z INTO THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 459.485 MILLION OZ//
MARCH 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 24 CENTS TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 781,000 OZ FORM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 458.566 MILLION OZ/
MARCH 20./WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: ANOTHER MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.401 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 459.347 MILLION OZ//
CLOSING INVENTORY 468.264 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER STORIES
1:Peter Schiff
Peter Schiff: We Can’t Afford To Let Biden “Finish The Job”
President Biden has announced he will run for a second term in 2024. Peter Schiff recently appeared on the Ingraham Angle on Fox News to talk about what will happen if we keep going down the Biden road. In a nutshell, Peter said we can’t afford to let Biden “finish the job.”
Peter opened the interview by saying he couldn’t help but laugh as Laura Ingraham played clips of Biden administration shills touting all of the president’s “accomplishments.”
He hasn’t accomplished anything other than running up the debt, weakening the economy, and strengthening inflation.”
In fact, the Biden administration managed to run a budget deficit of over $1 trillion in just the first six months of fiscal 2023. Meanwhile, the GDP numbers for the first quarter of this year were extremely weak. Peter said the worst part of the GDP report was the inflation numbers that go into that calculation.
In Q1 of this year, inflation actually strengthened over the fourth quarter of last year. So, not only is the economy weakening, but inflation is strengthening. You have the worst of both worlds. This is stagflation and it’s going to get worse.”
Laura brought up the following quote by Paul Krugman.
The economy is in better shape than I suspect most pundits or even generally well-informed readers may realize… America has experienced remarkably fast and essentially complete job market recovery. … Inflation has subsided substantially. The overall situation is, well, not so bad.”
Peter said the problem is Paul Krugman still has a job.
If you look at the jobs that have been created, they’re low-paying service-sector jobs. So, what’s happened during the Biden presidency is people have lost good jobs, high-paying jobs with benefits, and they’ve been forced to replace them with two or three low-paying part-time jobs. That’s where all the jobs are coming from. That’s what the numbers show. The only reason we’re creating jobs is because we’re destroying so many good jobs, and you need to cobble together two or three part-time jobs to try to replace your lost income. That means we have more jobs, but they’re not good jobs. They’re bad jobs. People would rather have the jobs they lost than the crappy jobs that they’re forced to work.”
Most investors are totally ignorant of the purpose of gold or its historical significance.
After all, Gold is the only money that has survived in history but virtually nobody is aware of this vital information.
That’s why only 0.5% of global financial assets are invested in gold. Still most people put their trust in paper money.
In spite of the title, in this article I will be a Mug for a day and make some gold and silver projections.
Investment managers ignorance of gold is mainly due to the fact that they can’t churn commission by holding physical gold. Their primary job is to convince investors that they have superior skills and knowledge of the market. Still, 99% of these so called experts underperform the market by a wide margin.
Most of them, for example, are not aware that their clients could have put their money into gold at the beginning of this century and today would have seen their investment multiply 7 times or more depending on their base currency.
But that would have been too simple since it takes away the whole mystique of the asset management industry with their trillions of dollars of investments.
Ok, gold was up substantially in the last couple of decades. What about going forward? Should investors put their money with the experts who will then buy stocks, bonds and property investments which have had more than a century of printed money pushing values to bubble territory?
Well, the unequivocal reply to that is obviously YES.
Since governments and central banks are the biggest supporters of gold by continuously destroying the value of paper money, gold ownership is a SINE QUA NON (Must).
The Everything Bubble is likely to turn into the “Everything Collapse” (link below) with all the bubble assets declining between 75% and 95% in real terms.
After all; assets inflated by fake money must clearly be fake.
The biggest collapse will obviously be the $300 trillion debt market. But before this debt collapse, Western governments and central banks will have drowned financial markets in what my colleague Matt Piepenburg calls mouse-click money.
And they will wear out many batteries and mice before this is finished.
We saw during the Ides of March (Shakespeare), which is an ominous time in mid March when Julius Caesar was murdered. This Ides of March this year contained the death of 4 banks; one Swiss, and three US within a matter of days.
After the 2008 banking crisis, it was declared that there would be no more bailouts but only bail-ins. They were brave words at the time which we know wouldn’t hold.
The rumours of depositors withdrawing hundreds of millions or billions from Credit Suisse or Silicon Valley Bank meant that the central banks only had hours to save the system.
Bank runs are no longer made by depositors queuing at the door but by spreading the news in minutes via Social Media.
To stop an instant collapse of the system, the Central Bankers had to backstop everything. So we are back to bailouts again. And what we have seen so far is just the sheer beginning. The system is Rotten (BANCA ROTTA) as I wrote in a recent article –
The outstanding $2+ quadrillion of global derivatives are very likely to turn into debt as counterparties fail. That’s when the real money printing starts. But there are so many areas of unprecedented global risk of a magnitude never seen before in history. (“WILL NUCLEAR WAR, DEBT COLLAPSE OR ENERGY DEPLETION FINISH THE WORLD?”)
Since Western Governments and Central Banks know that the system is on the verge of collapse, they are doing all they can to control the people. Covid vaccines, lockups, global warming were just the beginning. Next is CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies). This will be the most perfect way for governments to control their people by having full control of their money. So especially the West is at a risk of coming under totalitarian control.
MITIGATE THE RISK BY OWNING PHYSICAL GOLD AND SILVER
There are obviously very few who have the possibility to escape what is coming but anyone who can, should really investigate all alternative options.
But what most people with savings can do is to own physical gold and some silver and store it in a safe jurisdiction outside the financial system. Then at least if your government becomes too oppressive, you can flee to your gold.
Because what is certain is that paper money in the next phase will reach its intrinsic value of ZERO as Voltaire said.
GOLD IS NATURE’S MONEY AND ETERNAL WEALTH
Paper money is ephemeral money and will therefore become worthless. But Nature’s Money – Gold – which has throughout history maintained its purchasing power, will be measured in paper money reach unthinkable heights.
So gold is Eternal Wealth. Therefore, if you hold gold as wealth protection, you don’t have to worry what happens to the value of your paper money. Gold will always reflect the debasement of paper money.
Therefore to give a forecast of the gold price is totally meaningless and a mug’s game.
It is not the future price of gold that we should forecast.
Instead, what is important is what will happen to your money. What will happen to the Dollar, the Euro, the Pound or the Yen. Will it go down by 50% or maybe 100%.
Since all currencies have lost 97-99% against gold since 1971, we are likely to experience at least the same decline in the next 5+ years.
EXPONENTIAL MOVES AND HYPERINFLATION
As I have explained in many articles, EXPONENTIAL MOVES ARE TERMINAL!
Just look at the illustration below which explains this phenomenon:
So the law of exponential moves is demonstrated above.
And this is what happens when hyperinflation sets in. Just look at gold in the Weimar Republic:
As the illustration above shows, paper money is not even acceptable as toilet paper.
But we don’t need to go back as far as the Weimar Republic in the early 1920s.
Just look at the Pesos and gold in Argentina today
In the first couple of decades of the 1900s, Argentina was one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Since then the country has been destroyed by corruption and mismanagement.
For anyone who doesn’t understand what effects the coming hyperinflation will have on his life, just speak to someone in former Yugoslavia or Argentina.
Mark Twain understood it:
For example, a few years ago, my wife and I were in a restaurant in the Italian part of Switzerland. The owner recognised me and told my friends who were with me to listen to me and to buy gold. That is what saved him in Yugoslavia. Most of his friends and family lost everything. My friends who were with me still don’t own any gold!
So if you own a sufficient amount of gold, you care less if your currency declines by 90% or 99%. But if you don’t hold protection in gold, it is of course a matter of financial survival.
George Bernhard Shaw (Pygmalion) understood it:
DOW JONES TO DECLINE BY 90% AGAINST GOLD
And for anyone who believes that the stock market will protect him from the coming collapse of the financial system, I have bad news:
The Dow – Gold ratio, currently at 17, is likely to reach at least the 1980 level of 1:1. That would mean a 94% fall of stocks against gold from here.
But I think it could easily reach the trend line of 0.5:1 which means that the Dow would fall 97% against gold.
SILVER – GOLD ON STILTS
So let’s look at gold on stilts which is SILVER. Silver is very volatile and not for orphans and widows. Silver normally goes both up and down at least twice as fast as gold. That means absolute euphoria on the upside but total misery when it goes down.
Currently both the fundamental picture (industrial demand, shortages etc) and the technical picture is superb. At some point, probably this year, silver could reach $50 on its way to much higher levels.
If gold reaches my very old target of at least $10,000 (remember I am now a mug) and the gold-silver ratio reaches its historical average of 15, silver would go to $666!
666 for gold is also a biblical number. In the Chronicles 9:13 it says:
“The weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold.”
666 Talents is 22 tonnes of gold which today is worth $1.4 billion
MUG FOR A DAY
I stopped making price projections in gold and silver some time ago since they are meaningless.
Measuring Gold – Nature’s Money and Eternal Wealth in what governments and central banks destroy on a daily basis clearly makes no sense whatsoever. Therefore price projections of gold are totally meaningless.
Still I decided to be a mug for a day and make the forecast that everyone wants to hear. So please ignore the gold “forecasts” above of $10,000, $20,000 or $200,000 or silver $666. Just take it as an oddity!
More importantly, remember that PHYSICAL gold and some silver are likely to give you protection in what will probably be the worst crisis in the history of the world.
And even more importantly, it could make it possible for you to help family and friends who will suffer in the coming difficult times.
end
PAM AND RUSS MARTENS
JPMorgan Chase, Officially the Riskiest Bank in the U.S., Is Allowed by Federal Regulators to Buy First Republic Bank
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 1, 2023 ~
First Republic Bank LogoOn Wall Street, the business model is you eat what you kill. Jamie Dimon and the bank he helms, JPMorgan Chase, just devoured First Republic Bank after Dimon had orchestrated the worst “rescue” of First Republic in the history of banking rescues. Given the outcome, one has to wonder if this rescue flop was a bug or a feature. (See Related Articles below.)
After 7 weeks of Jamie Dimon’s “rescue,” First Republic and its preferred shares had been downgraded by credit rating agencies to junk; its common stock had lost 98 percent of its market value, closing at $3.51 on Friday and at $1.90 in pre-market trading early this morning; its long- term bonds were trading at 43 cents on the dollar; and depositors continued to flee the bank.
And in order to pay out all those deposits that were taking flight, First Republic had to take out expensive loans from the Fed, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and a credit line from JPMorgan Chase, jeopardizing its future profitability. The interest cost of those loans significantly exceeded, in many cases, the rates it had locked in on the jumbo residential mortgages it had made to its wealthy clients and the government-backed bonds it had purchased during years of low interest rates on Treasury securities.
JPMorgan Chase’s statement on the takeover of First Republic this morning indicated that it “is not assuming First Republic’s corporate debt or preferred stock” and the “FDIC will provide loss share agreements covering acquired single-family residential mortgage loans and commercial loans, as well as $50 billion of five-year, fixed-rate term financing.”
Dimon’s so-called rescue plan, announced on March 16, made no sense from the beginning. It consisted of 11 banks chipping in a total of $30 billion to place into First Republic Bank as uninsured deposits for 120 days. Four banks contributed two-thirds of the total deposits with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo sluicing $5 billion each. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs deposited $2.5 billion each; while BNY Mellon, State Street, PNC Bank, Truist and U.S. Bank each deposited $1 billion.
But at the time of this display of heroics, First Republic Bank was bleeding deposits because it already had too many uninsured deposits – those above the FDIC cap of $250,000. And its losses on underwater mortgages and low- yielding bonds were making headlines every day. What it needed was an injection of long-term capital, not an injection of more uninsured deposits with a short-term horizon.
To keep the pitchforks at bay from the other 10 banks that chipped in to the $30 billion rescue fund of uninsured deposits, JPMorgan Chase said in its statement that it will be repaying the 10 banks for the deposits they each contributed.
What is raising eyebrows across Wall Street and throughout the Biden administration this morning, is that JPMorgan Chase is already ranked by its regulators as the riskiest bank in the U.S. (See Federal Data Show JPMorgan Chase Is, By Far, the Riskiest Bank in the U.S.) Making it bigger simply makes it more systemically riskier.
JPMorgan Chase’s history of gobbling up competitors is both stunning and an indictment of federal banking regulators. In 1955, Chase National Bank merged with The Bank of the Manhattan Company to form Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1991, Chemical Bank and Manufacturers Hanover announced their merger. Both banks had been severely weakened – Chemical from bad real estate loans and Manufacturers from bad loans to developing nations. In 1995, Chemical Bank merged with Chase Manhattan Bank. In 2000, JPMorgan merged with Chase Manhattan Corporation. In 2004, JPMorgan Chase merged with Bank One. In 2008, during the height of the financial crisis, JPMorgan Chase was allowed to buy Washington Mutual. These are just the largest bank consolidations. Over the years, Chase acquired dozens of smaller banks.
At the time of JPMorgan Chase’s purchase of Washington Mutual in 2008 – WaMu was the largest bank failure in U.S. history. JPMorgan Chase is now being allowed to purchase First Republic Bank, the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.
This flies in the face of President Biden’s Executive Order of July 9 2021, where he promised that his administration would “guard against excessive market power” and enforce antitrust laws. With regard to banks, the President wrote:
“To ensure Americans have choices among financial institutions and to guard against excessive market power, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Comptroller of the Currency, is encouraged to review current practices and adopt a plan, not later than 180 days after the date of this order, for the revitalization of merger oversight under the Bank Merger Act and the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (Public Law 84- 511, 70 Stat. 133, 12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) that is in accordance with the factors enumerated in 12 U.S.C. 1828(c) and 1842(c).”
The Bank Holding Company Act, a federal law, prohibits banks that control “more than 10 percent of the total amount of deposits of insured depository institutions in the United States” to purchase another bank.
According to its call report to federal regulators, as of December 31, 2022, JPMorgan Chase held $2.01 trillion in deposits in domestic offices and $426 billion in deposits in foreign offices, for a total of $2.4 trillion. According to the FDIC, as of December 31, 2022, there was a total of $17.7 trillion in domestic deposits in all U.S. banks and savings associations. That means that JPMorgan Chase held 11.36 percent of total U.S. domestic deposits, well in excess of the 10 percent cap, and should have been ineligible to buy yet another bank and become even more systemically dangerous.
But some smart Wall Street lawyer or lobbyist had the clever foresight to stick into the legislation that the market share cap could be waived if the acquisition involved one or more banks in default or in danger of default.
This caveat makes about as much sense as Jamie Dimon’s “rescue” plan. Just what the United States does not need in the time of a banking crisis, when one or more banks are defaulting, is to put in place a more systemic future banking crisis by consolidating big banks.
In addition, under the tenure of Jamie Dimon as Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the bank has racked up an unprecedented five felony counts and a rap sheet that is likely the envy of the Gambino crime family. And yet, mainstream media continues to hold Dimon up as the wise and prudent wizard of Wall Street. (See Jamie Dimon Tells 60 Minutes He’s a Patriot; There’s Good Reason to Think He’s a Crime Boss; and JPMorgan’s Board Made Jamie Dimon a Billionaire as the Bank Rigged Markets, Laundered Money, and Admitted to Five Felony Counts.)
end
3,Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
Sound money legislation is rapidly gaining traction in many uSA states
(Ronan Manly/Bullion star)
Ronan Manly: Sound money legislation rapidly gains traction in many U.S. states
Submitted by admin on Sun, 2023-04-30 21:59Section: Daily Dispatches
By Ronan Manly Bullion Star, Singapore Sunday, April 30, 2023
As the U.S. federal government and Federal Reserve head ever more into the abyss of destroying the value of the U.S. dollar, continually breaching debt ceilings, creating asset bubbles, and intervening in and manipulating financial markets, there is an accelerating counterforce emerging in the U.S. that is the antithesis of this madness.
That is the sound money movement. Generally speaking, a sound money is a money that is able to maintain a stable purchasing power over time and does not significantly fluctuate due to inflation or deflation. Sound money is most often associated with a tangible asset, such as gold, which has a low supply increase (or tight monetary controls) to ensure its stability. To paraphrase Mises, a sound money can “protect against arbitrary actions by sovereigns to depreciate the currency.”
The Sound Money Defense League defines sound money as follows:
“Sound money is money that is not prone to sudden appreciation or depreciation in purchasing power over the long term, aided by self-correcting mechanisms inherent in a free-market system.”
The movement for Sound Money in the United States is most powerful and effective on the state level, and it is a movement grounded in grassroots activism and in the tireless advocacy and promotional work of groups such as the aforementioned Sound Money Defense League, the Tenth Amendment Center, and the Campaign for Liberty. …
Submitted by admin on Sun, 2023-04-30 22:19Section: Daily Dispatches
By Raul Cortes Reuters Saturday, April 29, 2023
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican Senate today approved in an express session a package of laws including two constitutional reforms and a new mining law rebuked by the mining chamber and Canada.
Representatives of the president’s Morena party and its allies, nearly unanimously and with little debate, approved the laws in a fast-tracked process without opposition legislators present. Legislators convened outside the chamber’s usual voting location after the opposition occupied the chamber to try to prevent the session.
The two constitutional reforms approved by the Senate involve lowering the age to be a legislator and secretary of state to 18 from 21, and prohibiting perpetrators of gender violence from participating in elections.
The mining law shortens concessions in the mining sector to 30 years from 50, tightens water extraction permits, and requires some mining profits to be returned to local communities, among other modifications. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador promoted the initiative, but had originally proposed reducing concessions to 15 years. …
Physical nickel markets have become oversupplied in 2023.
A new wave of supply from Indonesia has put prices under pressure.
International Nickel Study Group: the nickel market will face a supply-demand surplus of 239,000 tonnes.
Last year, the nickel markets came into the limelight courtesy of the historic nickel short squeeze that sent nickel prices soaring to an astonishing $100,000 per tonne.
The massive surge doubled the previous all-time high over the course of one morning and plunged the London Metal Exchange into an existential crisis. And, just like the famous copper squeeze of more than a century ago, the nickel market snafu was largely linked to enormous short positions held by a single man: Chinese metal trader Xiang Guangda, the founder of China-based Tsingshan Holding, the world’s biggest nickel producer.
And now the exact opposite is happening in the nickel markets, only that this time around it’s the physical nickel markets and not nickel futures or a single trader that are to blame for the crash. Nickel prices have crashed in the current year, falling 21% in the year-to-date to $23,300 per tonne thanks to a massive supply glut as Indonesian production continues to outpace global demand. According to the International Nickel Study Group (INSG), the nickel market will face a supply-demand surplus of 239,000 tonnes, the largest in at least a decade and more than double last year’s excess of 105,000 tonnes. That revised figure is also way higher than the group’s last forecast in October when it expected the surplus to clock in at 171,000 tonnes in 2023.
Although global nickel demand is on track to register healthy 6.1% growth in 2023, matching last year’s demand growth, it won’t be anywhere near enough to absorb the wave of new production coming out of Indonesia.
Spot Nickel Prices (USD/metric ton)
Source: Bloomberg
It’s quite surprising that nickel demand even rose at all in 2022 considering the World Stainless Association reported that stainless steel output fell 5.2% during the year. The stainless steel industry is the biggest consumer of nickel, gobbling up 75% of global production in a typical year. China is mainly to blame for the weakening nickel demand after the removal of subsidies and the shift towards non-nickel chemistries.
That said, EVs are quickly becoming an important nickel consumer. According to research house Adamas Intelligence, 17,137 tonnes of nickel were deployed in EV batteries in the month of February alone, good for 19% month-on-month and 47% Y/Y growth.
Although the EV sector is growing at a brisk clip, it will still struggle to absorb surging production from the likes of Indonesia. INSG’s most recent monthly bulletin has reported that the country’s nickel mine output grew a huge 48% to 1.58 million tonnes in 2022 and by another 44% in the first two months of the current year. Indonesia slapped a full ban on the export of ore in 2020, meaning that all that mine output is now being converted to nickel products.
But not all nickel grades are facing a supply glut.
Indeed, whereas the supply of Class II nickel–containing less than 99.8% nickel–continues to grow rapidly, supply of Class I nickel–the grade traded on the LME–has declined 28% so far this year to 40,032 tonnes, the lowest level since 2007. Shanghai registered nickel stocks are even lower at just 1,496 tonnes thanks to China’s imports of refined nickel being increasingly replaced with intermediate products heading for the EV sector. The contango across the benchmark cash-to-three-months spread has contracted from over $200 per tonne in early April to just $12 currently, suggesting traders are growing more bearish about future nickel prices.
China Nickel pig iron 8-12% (Yuan / metric tonne)
Source: Bloomberg
Commodities Pullback
But the nickel markets are hardly alone. After a raging bull market in 2022, global commodity markets have been pulling back in 2023 with the World Bank predicting that global commodity prices will decline this year at the fastest clip since COVID-19 pandemic struck in late 2019.
According to the bank, overall commodity prices will contract 21% in 2023 relative to 2022, with energy prices projected to fall 26%. Brent crude oil is expected to average $84 a barrel this year, down 16% Y/Y, while U.S. and European natural-gas prices are forecast to be cut in half. Meanwhile, coal prices are expected to fall 42% in 2023 while fertilizer prices are also projected to decrease 37%, marking the largest annual drop since 1976. However, fertilizer prices are still close to their recent high seen during the 2008-09 food crisis.
Unfortunately, the World Bank says that falling food prices will bring little relief to the more than 350 million people facing food insecurity across the globe due to the fact that although food prices are expected to fall 8% in the current year, they will still be at the second-highest level since 1975.
end
GLOBAL COMMODITIES ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL
6.CRYPTOCURRENCY COMMENTARIES/
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 UP TO 6.9121
OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.9478
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 37.39 POINTS OR 1.14%
HANG SENG CLOSED UP 54.29 PTS OR 0.27%
2. Nikkei closed UP 398.76 PTS OR 1.40%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL MIXED
USA dollar INDEX UP TO 101.58 EURO RISES TO 1.1011 UP 5 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +.401Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 136.76 /JAPANESE YEN FALLING 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: UP// 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 DOWN for WTI and DOWN FOR Brent this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund DOWN TO +2.321***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield FALLS to 4.187*** /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD FALLS TO 3.3556…** DANGEROUS//
3i Greek 10 year bond yield FALLS TO 4.147
3j Gold at $1987.60 silver at: 24.25 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 0 AND 0 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 80.25//
3m oil into the 75 dollar handle for WTI and 78 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 136.76 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER BREAKING .54%, RISES TO .401% 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 0.8921 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF 0.9832 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.
USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.456 UP 1 BASIS PTS…GETTING DANGEROUS//
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 3.658 UP 2 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.1476 DOWN 7 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 19.46…
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: UP 4 BASIS PTS AT 3.7520
end
2. Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge:
2. a)FIRST, ZEROHEDGE (PRE USA OPENING// MORNING
Futures Flat On First Republic Failure Day
MONDAY, MAY 01, 2023 – 09:03 AM
US stock futures were flat to start the busy new week in subdued trading with much of the world close for May 1 celebrations, as investors assessed the government-backstopped intervention which saw JPMorgan Chase acquire First Republic Bank ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve rates decision. Contracts on the S&P 500 were unchanged at 4,187 after the underlying benchmark gained sharply on Friday, rising 0.8% on the back of another painful gamma squeeze. The dollar dropped, alongside Treasuries which edged lower after a muted session in Asia. There was no trading in much of Europe to observe the May 1 holiday, with markets also shut in Asian centers like Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China.
In premarket trading, First Republic tumbled 39% while JPMorgan advanced 2.9% as the already largest US bank became even bigger courtesy of billions in taxpayer funding. JPMorgan will take over First Republic’s assets, including about $173 billion of loans and $30 billion of securities, as well as $92 billion in deposits. JPMorgan and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which orchestrated the sale, agreed to share the burden of losses, as well as any recoveries, on the firm’s single-family and commercial loans. But really the losses, which will be funded by US taxpayers leaving JPM with the best assets which it bought for pennies on the dollar and is why JPM stock is up 3% premarket. Here are the other notable premarket movers:more bullish than most people’ on 2023 -CIO
Alignment Healthcare Inc. shares are up 4.8%, as Raymond James upgrades the health care software company to outperform from market perform.
Carvana shares rise as much as 18% after Bloomberg reported late Friday that the online auto retailer’s creditors, who hold about 90% of CVNA’s bonds, have been pitching to the company ways to pare down debt and improve liquidity, including a proposal for a debt-for-equity swap.
Top Financial Group Ltd. pulls back after rallying 1,510% over the last two trading sessions.
Iveric Bio Inc. jumps 18% after Japan’s Astellas Pharma Inc. agrees to buy it for about $5.9 billion.
General Motors shares rise as much as 2.9% Monday after the carmaker was upgraded to overweight from equal-weight at Morgan Stanley which says the stock looks oversold.
Manchester United Plc slides 5.2% Monday, amid a looming decision by the Glazer family over the sale of the football club.
Teradata advances 3.3% after Guggenheim Securities raised the database-management company to buy from neutral, saying channel checks signal that it may be at a positive inflection point with customer retention and revenue expansion through its cloud strategy.
Meanwhile, investors are anticipating the Fed to hike interest rates for a 10th consecutive – and final – time on Wednesday as it combats still-stubborn inflation. The benchmark S&P 500 has climbed in the past two months even amid banking sector turmoil and recession concerns, as investors take comfort in better-than-feared earnings and expect any slowdown to be mild. However, “if the message delivered at this meeting is more hawkish, it could provide a near-term negative surprise for equities,” Morgan Stanley’s permabear Michael Wilson wrote in a note, really scraping the bottom of the barrel on this one.
Shares in First Republic bank were halted after tumbling 46% in premarket trading. Regulators had worked into the evening on Sunday in Washington before announcing JPMorgan won the bidding to acquire the lender in an emergency government-led intervention. The collapse of First Republic was the second-biggest bank failure in US history. Private rescue efforts had failed to undo the damage from wrong-way investments and depositor runs that have roiled regional lenders.
As described earlier, JPMorgan acquired about $173 billion of First Republic’s loans, $30 billion of securities and $92 billion in deposits. JPMorgan and the FDIC which orchestrated the sale, agreed to share the burden of losses, as well as any recoveries, on the firm’s single-family and commercial loans, the agency said early Monday in a statement. JPMorgan shares rose 3.9% in premarket trade.
There was no trading in most of Europe to observe the May 1 holiday, with markets also shut in Asian centers like Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China. What Asian markets were open saw stocks rise: benchmarks in Japan and Australia climbed, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index 0.2% higher, with Japanese technology names NEC and Keyence among the top contributors to gains.
NEC surged 14% on strong results, helping boost the benchmark Topix to its highest since September 2021 even as Sony fell following disappointing guidance. Australia’s key gauge rose amid expectations the central bank will keep interest rates on hold when it meets Tuesday. The regional benchmark capped a 1.1% loss in April as geopolitical tensions and an uneven economic recovery spurred losses in Chinese equities. However, stocks in Japan capped a fourth-straight month of gains amid renewed investor interest, optimism over earnings and the central bank’s decision to maintain loose policy.
“The yen is trending somewhat toward depreciation, and we expect a somewhat positive impact on Japanese stocks, with scope for buying of bank stocks that were sold” recently, JPMorgan equity strategists led by Rie Nishihara wrote in a note Monday. Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong will be in focus when trading resumes Tuesday, after data showing consumer spending surged while the housing market continued to rebound. Still, an unexpected contraction in manufacturing activity in April confirmed that the broader economic recovery remains uneven. Onshore markets will be shut through Wednesday
In FX, the Bloomberg dollar index dipped even as the slide in the yen continued following last week’s dovish BOJ announcement.
USD/JPY advanced as much as 0.5% to 136.98, the highest since March 10, before paring gains to trade around 136.81. The BOJ indicated it has more confidence in wage increases for this fiscal year, according to its full quarterly economic report released Monday
EUR/USD fell as much as 0.3% to 1.0992, a third day of declines
This week’s interest-rate decision by the European Central Bank is going down to the wire as officials await two key economic reports arriving just one day before they convene.
GBP/USD dropped 0.4% to 1.2517, paring last week’s advance
The extra bank holiday for King Charles III’s coronation on May 8 could help tip the economy into a minor contraction in the second quarter, economists say
Treasuries fell after a Friday rally. A sudden drop for Bitcoin dragged the cryptocurrency further below $30,000 after a stellar run this year.
Looking at the week ahead, interest rate decisions will be in focus this week. The Federal Reserve is expected to increase borrowing costs by 25 basis points to a range of 5% to 5.25%, a level not seen since 2007. The European Central Bank is also forecast to raise its key lending rates by 25 basis points. The Reserve Bank of Australia will likely keep interest rates on hold when it meets Tuesday.
Apple Inc. headlines another busy week of earnings that includes Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Ford Motor Co. In Asia, banks including HSBC Holdings Plc and Macquarie Group Ltd. will deliver their profit reports. In Europe, Volkswagen AG and energy giants BP Plc and Shell Plc are on the docket.
Top Overnight News
JPMorgan Chase & Co. won the bidding to acquire First Republic Bank in an emergency government-led intervention after private rescue efforts failed to fill a hole on the troubled lender’s balance sheet and customers yanked their deposits.
China’s NBS PMIs for April fall short of expectations, with manufacturing falling back into contraction territory for the first time since Dec (49.2, down from 51.9 in Mar and below the Street’s 51.4 forecast) while services cool (56.4, down from 58.2 in Mar and below the Street’s 57 forecast). BBG
China’s consumer spending and travel activity surge during the opening days of the May Day holiday period. Some 19.7 million railway trips were made across the country on Saturday, the highest on record for a single day. Shoppers were out in force on Saturday too, with major retail and catering companies seeing sales jump 21% from a year ago. BBG
China is clamping down on allowing critical data about the economy to leave the country as Xi focuses on national security amid growing concerns in the gov’t that the US poses an existential threat to the Communist Party. WSJ
The recovery in Macau’s casino sector gained traction in April, with gaming revenue climbing 449.9% to hit a three-year high as Chinese tourists continue to flock to the gambling hub. Gross gaming revenue reached 14.7 billion patacas ($1.8 billion). The result was better than the median analyst estimate of a 393% year-on-year increase, and is the highest monthly taking since January 2020. It was still more than a third below the 2019 level. BBG
The debt ceiling situation in Washington is even worse than many appreciate as substantive negotiations still aren’t even taking place (the next major event will be the new “X date” estimate from the Treasury). WaPo
JPMorgan won the bidding to acquire First Republic Bank in an emergency government-led intervention. It will take over First Republic’s assets, but agreed to share the burden of losses, as well as any recoveries, on the firm’s single-family and commercial loans with the FDIC. JPMorgan said it expects to recognize an upfront, one-time, post-tax gain of about $2.6 billion as a result of the deal. Its stock rose premarket while First Republic’s plunged. BBG
Deutsche Bank is planning a hiring spree and significant expansion of its investment bank advisory team, as the German lender positions itself for a dealmaking rebound and to take advantage of market dislocation after the collapse of rival Credit Suisse. FT
The central challenge for the Fed is that the economic outlook is souring at the same time that progress on reining in inflation is stalling out. Economic growth in the first quarter decelerated more than expected, data out this past week showed, while the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge is down less than a full percentage point from its peak and still more than double the bank’s 2% inflation target. The risk of a misstep is growing, and the consequences of over- or undershooting would be severe. Barron’s
PFE (Pfizer)/BNTX (BioNTech) are in talks w/the EU to sell the region ~70M COVID vaccine doses annually until 2026, a deal that would block other firms (MRNA, NVAX, and Sanofi) from the market. FT
On GS’s US Prime book, Health Care was net bought for the 2nd straight week and has now been net bought in 8 of the past 10 weeks. Nearly all subsectors were net bought, led by Pharmaceuticals, Life Sciences Tools & Services, and Biotech. The US Health Care L/S ratio now stands at 2.40, still near 1-year lows in the 3rd percentile, and in the 37th percentile vs. the past five years.
Market Snapshot
S&P 500 futures little changed at 4,185.75
MXAP up 0.2% to 160.70
MXAPJ little changed at 514.96
Nikkei up 0.9% to 29,123.18
Topix up 1.0% to 2,078.06
Hang Seng Index up 0.3% to 19,894.57
Shanghai Composite up 1.1% to 3,323.28
Sensex up 0.8% to 61,112.44
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.3% to 7,334.56
Kospi up 0.2% to 2,501.53
STOXX Europe 600 little changed at 466.89
German 10Y yield little changed at 2.31%
Euro down 0.2% to $1.0994
Brent Futures down 2.0% to $78.76/bbl
Gold spot down 0.6% to $1,978.17
U.S. Dollar Index up 0.24% to 101.90
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
Asia-Pac stocks were positive in a holiday-quietened start to the risk-packed week with most indices in the region closed for the Labour Day holidays, while weekend news flow was very light although the latest Chinese PMI data showed the nation’s factory activity unexpectedly contracted last month. ASX 200 (+0.6%) traded higher with energy leading the gains although further advances were capped after weak manufacturing PMI data from Australia and its largest trading partner, China, while the Albanese government is set to conduct a review whereby hundreds of the prior Coalition government’s infrastructure projects could be scrapped. Nikkei 225 (+0.7%) climbed above the 29,000 level for the first time since August last year after Friday’s dovish reaction to BoJ Governor Ueda’s first policy meeting and as participants digested more earnings results, with SoftBank shares also among the notable gainers amid reports the Co.’s Arm unit filed confidentially for a US IPO on the Nasdaq. Elsewhere, US equity futures were steady and took a breather following their recent rally into month-end, with price action contained amid the mass holiday closures on Monday and ahead of this week’s key events including the RBA, FOMC and ECB rate decisions, Apple earnings and the latest NFP jobs data
Top Asian News
US President Biden and Philippines President Marcos are expected to reach agreements on issues including business engagement and military enhancements at the summit on Monday. Philippines President Marcos will have discussions at the Pentagon about joint maritime patrols and the Philippines is increasingly concerned about provocative diplomacy by China and seeking stronger ties with allies and partners. Furthermore, the US State Department called on Beijing to stop its harassment and intimidation of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea and US Commerce Secretary Raimondo will lead a presidential business delegation to the Philippines to enhance commercial and business ties, according to a senior US official cited by Reuters.
Japanese PM Kishida said nothing concrete is decided yet when asked about reports of a summit in May with South Korean President Yoon, according to Reuters
European markets closed for Labour Day.
Top European News
EU’s tech regulation chief Vestager said that they will have a political agreement on the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act this year, according to Reuters.
Fitch downgraded France from AA to AA-; Outlook Stable and Moody’s affirmed Belgium at AA3; Outlook Stable.
UK employers are pushing to suspend scheduled pension contributions totalling tens of millions of pounds after
many retirement schemed reached unexpected surpluses, according to FT.
NBP’s Maslowska says CPI could hit single digits at end-May, maybel early autumn., via PAP.
Geopolitics
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces took four blocks in western Bahkmut, according to RIA. In relevant news, Twitter sources on Sunday reported that over a dozen of Russian Tu-95Ms bombers took off on Sunday.
Russian Defence Ministry said there forces struck Ukrainian military facilities overnight, all designated targets hit.
Wagner group’s Prigozhin said, in a letter to Russian Defence Ministry Shoigu broadcast on Telegram, that they are immediately requesting ammunition and if this isn’t provided immediately they will complain to President Putin. Adding, this issue alongside increasing casualties could result in them withdrawing from Bakhmut.
Ukrainian military intelligence official said over 10 tanks of oil products with capacity of around 40k tonnes were destroyed in an explosion in Sevastopol on Saturday, while the fuel was intended for use by Russia’s Black Sea fleet and is ‘God’s punishment’ for the Russian air strike on the Ukrainian city of Uman on Friday, according to Reuters.
Pope Francis said the Vatican is involved in a peace mission in Ukraine with the details to be released in due course, while they are willing to do everything that has to be done to bring peace to Ukraine and he discussed Ukraine peace with Hungarian PM Orban and the Russian Orthodox Church representative in Budapest, according to Reuters.
Twitter source noted that air raid sirens are sounding in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and that sirens are beginning to spread across Ukraine amid Russian missile launches; subsequently, Twitter source notes explosions in the Dniproletrovsk Oblast and Kyiv Oblast with air defence activity reported.
North Korean leader Kim’s sister said agreement from the South Korea-US summit will make insecurity worse and North Korea must further perfect the nuclear deterrent, according to KCNA. Iranian President Raisi is to visit the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to IRNA
US Event Calendar
09:45: April S&P Global US Manufacturing PM, est. 50.4, prior 50.4
10:00: March Construction Spending MoM, est. 0.1%, prior -0.1%
10:00: April ISM Employment, prior 46.9
10:00: April ISM Prices Paid, est. 49.0, prior 49.2
10:00: April ISM New Orders, prior 44.3
10:00: April ISM Manufacturing, est. 46.8, prior 46.3
2 b) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)/ASIA REPORT
May day//off today
2 c. ASIAN AFFAIRS
ASIAN AND AUSTRALIAN CLOSINGS//EUROPE OPENING TRADING:
MONDAY MORNING/SUNDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 27,39 PTS OR 1.14% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 54,79 POINTS OR 0.27% /The Nikkei closed UP 266.74 PTS OR 0.92% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.31 % /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP TO 6.9121/OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN DOWN TO 6.9478 /Oil DOWN TO 75.18 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT AT 78.62 / Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MIXED// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER
2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
///NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA/
2e) JAPAN
JAPAN
Graham Summers has it correct. Inflation is running rampant in Japan at 3.5%. The Central Bank of Japan will be forced now to
stop their QE which will send shock waves reverberating throughout the globe
(Graham Summers)
The Last Major Central Bank is Tapping Out
By Graham Summers, MBAJapan just reported inflation of 3.5%.This is a big deal.Why?First and foremost, it’s significantly higher than expectations: 3.5% vs 3.2%.Secondly, it shows that inflation is turning back upwards in Japan. Last month’s inflation data was 3.2% which was down from the prior month’s 3.3% which was down from the prior month’s 4.3%.Put simply, after trending down for three months, inflation is turning back upwards in Japan.
And finally… Japan remains the last central bank that is still easing monetary conditions.The Fed is aggressively tightening monetary conditions. So is the European Central Bank as well as the Bank of England. Only the Bank of Japan remains engaged in Quantitative Easing.With inflation coming in hot in Japan, the Bank of Japan will soon be forced to end its money printing. Which means the financial system would lose its last and final source of excess liquidity.Put another way, the great monetary easing cycle from 2020-2023 would be completely over. Every major central bank would be tightening. Liquidity would be exiting the system at an even more rapid clip.What do you think this would do to stocks?My proprietary crash trigger knows. It just triggered its 3rd confirmed “SELL” signal in 25 years.The last two time it signaled?2000 and 2008.
Many investors will lose everything… but you don’t have to be one of them
END
3 CHINA /
CHINA/TAIWAN//USA
ROBERT H TO US:
Yellen Threatens China
Watching a Hegemon fall is amusing as it is sad. Amusing because stupid is just that and sad because Americans are caught in the same net of lies and deceit as is the Western world with Neocon lies. They say big wheels turn by themselves and clearly this one does because no one cares to speak with it anymore. Relationships with Russia are severed not broken and China cares not to speak with a party where discussion is one sided. India has said NO and pays the price with all manner of mischief. Even tanker theft is not a tit for tat game with Iran with America stealing a tanker of oil bound for China and Iran returns the gesture with a similar theft of their own. And even Israel complains of being hollowed out of ammo left in the dark. Even that crook Zelensky has started to blame DC for Ukrainian ills as he readies to start a campaign within days. And he bemoans the lack of F16’s and like as other nations carefully assess how Russia might react in a not so friendly manner. And calls for complete destruction of Ukraine grow within Russia. Sadly they will do it all by themselves. Help is not needed.
Yes, Neocons are prepared to sell out all useful fools in their pursuit of hegemony which is beyond their grasp as they have not the tools by which achieve. However, blindness of sight will not prevent them from sacrificing all that they can. Even The Federal Reserve Dollar privately owned is on the altar of sacrifice in this madness of destruction. One does wonder if they actually understand who are the sacrificial goats in this affair.
Shortly, a major campaign will be under way in Ukraine as Bakhmut falls into silence where thousands of Ukrainians died for Zelensky madness. The results of that slaughter while thought by Neocons to deliver victory may well spell defeat of a type they cannot imagine. Because neither China, India or Russia can afford a loss.
Janet Yellen, the American Treasury Secretary, or Finance Minister, took the US hostility and threat against China to a new level in a speech on April 20 at Johns Hopkins University. In a speech laced with colonialist attitudes and arrogance she talked as if the USA was emperor of the world and China was a rebellious vassal, a speech, despite her rhetoric of seeking ‘constructive” economic ties, that can only destroy any chance of that succeeding.
To read her speech is to understand the mafia mind set of the American leadership for she spoke as if she were the lieutenant of a mafia don threatening to break someone’s legs for not obeying his criminal demands.
She began her long-winded speech by welcoming China’s adoption of some “market reforms” in prior years and claimed the US was responsible for China’s rise as an economic power claiming that “The US Congress and successive presidential administrations supported China’s integration into global markets.” The Chinese have a different view of the matter since China was never disconnected from world markets and relied on its own efforts and the success of the policies of the Communist Party to develop and expand its economy and its trade with the world.
After that introduction, she quickly switched gears by decrying China’s “decision to pivot away from market reforms toward a more state-driven approach that has undercut its neighbours and countries across the world,” and that, “this has come as China is striking a more confrontational posture toward the USA and our allies…”
In effect she admits the communist government of China has succeeded in developing China’s economy and the living standards of its people while the successive US governments have adopted policies destroying the US economy and standards of living. The glaring contrast makes the Americans both angry and embarrassed.
As for China being, “more confrontational,” Yellen cannot point to any evidence of China “confronting the USA at all since the end of the Korean War when China was attacked by the United States. Since the “opening up” to China by Trudeau of Canada, and Nixon of the US in the early 1970’s, China has always sought to cooperate with and improve its relations with all the nations of the world. It is the United States that has always been confrontational, and things have accelerated beginning with President Obama’s “pivot to Asia,” which was the beginning of their renewed strategic objective of forcing China to become their vassal.
President Trump continued with this objective with the imposition of trade tariffs in violation of World Trade Organisation agreements, with increased military sabre rattling over Taiwan, the arrest of Meng Wenzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, the Chinese communications company. President Biden continues this hostile policy today with increased military posturing and interference in the internal affairs of China over Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinxiang and other issues, all accompanied by an intense level of propaganda about China threatening American security and American “democracy.”
The United States is hardly a “democracy.” It is instead an extreme example of a plutocracy, a society ruled by the very wealthy but no matter; just a day before her speech, this “democracy” arrested two US citizens of Chinese ethnicity in New York City on absurd charges that they were running a “Chinese secret police station” in New York and members of a black, socialist party that expressed opposition to US war against Russia were charged with crimes amounting to treason for simply expressing their opinion.
She then claimed the US was the largest and most dynamic economy in the world, when data shows that Chins has now surpassed the USA in goods and services produced, and when latest figures project a growth rate in China of 6% this year while the USA may not even grow by 1%. A number of economic analysts and politicians warn of a deepening financial crisis in the US brought on by its failed economic policies and system and by the severe consequences on the USA and Europe of the illegal ‘sanctions” or economic warfare against Russia.
And she was quick to bring Russia into her speech. She made the claim that the “world is confronting the largest land war in Europe since World War II.” when we remember that in 1999 the United States, in an unprovoked attack, bombed Yugoslavia relentlessly for four months and during that war crime attacked the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing several diplomats, and when we remember that the United States continued to invade and occupy Syria as she was speaking. She never mentioned Syria of course in her remarks, nor all the death and destruction the USA has wrought on the countries it has attacked and destroyed just since 1945.
And is it the “world” facing the war in Europe-meaning Ukraine? No, it is the US and its NATO allies facing the war which they started in 2014, with the NATO coup, in Ukraine, overthrowing the legitimate government and installing Nazi puppets in its place; which immediately began attacking Russian speakers in Ukraine using shells, bombs and machine guns. Their aggression in Ukraine, their planned offensive, using the Ukrainian army against Russia, the movement of NATO up to Russia’s borders and the nuclear threat, required Russia to take action in self defence of itself and the Russian speakers in Ukraine. The causes of the war are to be found in one place, Washington and it is Washington’s war the world faces.
The military conflict in Ukraine could end tomorrow if the US wanted it to, but it does not, and, as a recent article in Foreign Policy Magazine proves, the goal of the USA is to break Russia into over 40 separate statelets that it will control. The fact is the world faces an American war to destroy Russia and control and exploit its remnants, then bring China to heel, then the rest of us.
Her speech is laced with the usual platitudes about “cooperation”, “negotiation” and “goodwill” but she stated,
“Some see the relationship between the U.S. and China through the frame of great power conflict: a zero-sum, bilateral contest where one must fall for the other to rise.”
Well, who does? Only people like herself and the government she works for. China, with all the good will it can muster, has been pushing the opposite idea for a long time, the concept of win-win situation achieved through meaningful negotiations, in an atmosphere of trust. But again, she states a good outcome can be had only if China “cooperates” and “makes the right choices.” Underlying these platitudes is the threat of force.
She winds up her speech stating she hopes to travel to China to “engage in dialogue.” No doubt the Chinese will agree to meet her. Talking is always a good thing to do. But how can the Chinese deal with an interlocutor who distorts reality, who lies and slanders China, whose smooth words are followed by threats and diktats, and whose US Navy is cruising off China’s coasts threatening China with war over Taiwan and supporting Taiwan with the hope of overthrowing the communist government in China? The Chinese have been complaining for a while now that the US says one thing but then does the exact opposite. But here in Yellen’s speech we see this contradiction stated as a matter of policy. We say this, but we mean that. There is no good faith expressed whatsoever, no amity between nations, no respect for the other party.
Yellen is forced to acknowledge that the US and its allies face debt challenges and economic and financial “pressures” but fails to mention that they are their own entire making. The fact is the USA is essentially bankrupt. Its debt far outstrips its assets. It cannot pay its 31 trillion dollar debt to the world and has to keep increasing its legal debt ceiling to put off the day of reckoning, which causes bickering within the US elites. A large part of this debt is due to their huge military spending and their inflation is largely due to the massive printing of US dollars since the US finally went off the gold standard in the 1971 so it could print money to pay for its defeat in Vietnam and all its other wars since then. It has not stopped the printing presses in all those years and with covid it accelerated. The result is making life miserable for citizens in the USA. Canada and Europe and elsewhere and effectively lowers the cost of labour, the value of wages. This results in the many strikes taking place across the West as workers fight back.
The gutting of the US industrial base in prior decades as US companies left the US to go to China to take advantage of cheaper labour for higher profits is no one’s fault but their own. The American government allowed US companies to leave, even helped them leave, abandoning American workers to destitution, creating the Rust Belt across the USA, the decayed cities and towns, the increased violence, the general misery.
Yellen felt she had to say something relevant about the other elephant in the room, abrupt global warming. She stated that the “Earth is likely to cross a critical global warming threshold within the next decade-if no drastic action is taken.” But what has the USA done about that? The answer is nothing. It is all empty rhetoric and useless programs that have had no effect whatsoever. The “critical threshold “was crossed years ago and the effects of crossing it accelerate with each passing day. We all see it around us. This is the reality. But the Americans always seem to be out of touch with reality.
And while she bragged, that “we remain the largest and most dynamic economy in the world”, she linked that statement to defending “our values and national security,” and that, “within that context, we seek a constructive and fair economic relationship with China.”
But what does fair trade and economic competition have to do with “national security and our values”? It means that the US will continue to use the pretext of “national security and values” to gain unfair economic advantages over China as the recent claims made about security against Huawei and Tik Tok, among other companies have established. By “fair” she means what is good for the USA,” not both parties, and that means nothing but more confrontation with China.
She wound up her speech by stating three “principle objectives” of the US in its economic approach to China, though they are just three ways of saying the same thing, that the principle objective is the domination of China. But she dresses that real objective up in fancy clothes. The first objective is “securing our national security-and protecting human rights.”
So, right after she claimed the US is look for more cooperation with China she boldly stated that the US will continue to violate Chinese sovereignty and to interfere in Chinese internal affairs in every way possible. She stated,
“We will clearly communicate to the PRC our concerns about its behaviour.” Of course, the “behaviour she is referring to is all in the imagination of their propagandists, so that, in effect the Americans intend to increase their slanders against China at every opportunity.
Then she added the following astounding statement, which admits the American confrontational posture,
“Even as our targeted actions may have economic impacts… we are motivated solely by our concerns about security and values.”
One just has to admire their use of words.
The second declared principle, seemingly contradicting the first, but in fact supporting the first objective, is “too seek a healthy economic relationship with China. A growing China that plays by international rules is good for the USA”. She means American rules.
She then spoke about “Chinese unfair economic practices,” a puzzling phrase since she does not state what they are, but we can assume she meant that it is unfair the communists in China are running an economy better than the capitalists do in the USA. She again referred to a “rules-based global economic order” meaning to an American controlled economic order.
Since China insists, as it should, that there is no such thing as a rules-based order, only international law by which all nations are bound, this statement is another declaration of intent to pursue war with China unless China kowtows to the United States. For there to be “rules” there has to be a ruler issuing them but the Americans have forgotten it seems that there are no world rulers on this planet of ours, only individual sovereign nations, governed by the principles set out in the UN Charter. The insistence, by the Americans, and their allies, on the existence of such an order is itself a violation of the founding principles of the United Nations.
Article 2 of the UN Charter states,
“The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.
1.The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members. “
Their so-called “rules-based order” is a complete negation of the UN Charter. They have, by adopting this phrase, torn up the UN Charter and international law and the entire West has acquiesced in this crime.
The Third principle she stated to be “seeking cooperation on urgent global challenges” by which she means challenges facing the USA, such as the war with Russia. And of course, the Americans are always claiming they are seeking “cooperation” when they mean they are seeking obedience.
Finally, she entered into a long statement meant to reassure American and foreign investors, and the American public, that the mess they see around them in the USA is not real, that everything is just fine, in fact it’s just great. The economy is just fine. The economy is growing. It’s dynamic. Inflation will be beaten. And she assured the world the US financial system is secure, despite the collapse of several large banks in the US in the past few weeks, requiring the government to step in, with warnings of further problems in the near future.
She has to admit China’s growth, its success in the elimination of poverty but tries to minimise and obscure that success by drawing a dark picture with a long list of claimed economic problems, China faces, all sorts of head winds, and again complains about state control of the economy-forgetting of course that in the USA many large corporations are funded by state contracts and large corporations control the government. A number of US companies have been assisted by government sanctions on Chinese companies, by export and import controls, unfair tariffs, and false claims of the use of child or forced labour, all designed to keep Chinese goods and services out of the world market in favour of US goods. She claims the USA is better in everything, while China is in decline. It was quite a sales pitch, and like most sales pitches, a litany of lies and half-truths.
Her big lie was to claim that eliminating Chinese companies from US and allied markets is for “security reasons” not for economic reasons, when we know “security reasons” are just a pretext
Then, right after that lie she again called for “cooperation” between the US by threatening China over Russia. She said,
“It is essential that China and other countries do not provide Russia with material support or assistance with sanctions evasion. We will continue to make the position of the United States extremely clear to Beijing and companies in its jurisdiction. The consequences of any violations would be severe.”
So much for seeking cooperation. What cooperation? This is just the same old bullying and coercion the Americans have been known for all over the world for a long time. And, again, for one nation to make such threats to another sovereign nation is a violation of Chapter VII of the UN Charter dealing with peace and security and threats to international peace which this threat of “severe consequences” surely is.
She makes things even worse by repeating slanders about China repressing this or that group in this or that place and declares the US intention to take more hostile action against China based on these pretexts. She said,
“The United States will continue to use our tools to disrupt and deter human rights abuses wherever they occur around the globe.”
Yellen then put on a fake smile to be more conciliatory and talked about the strong economic links between the US and China, only again to reveal the true intention; “A growing China that plays by the rules can be beneficial for the United States. For instance, it can mean rising demand for U.S. products and services and more dynamic U.S. industries.”
She closed by stating she hopes to travel to China to talk about the situation. But can the Chinese accept her in the face of this posturing and these threats? They are always polite, and ever seeking some peaceful way forward, so we can suppose they would be willing to talk with her if she asked to meet with them. But what is there to talk about when the United States has made it clear what their objectives are, the domination of China, Russia and the world?
Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer based in Toronto. He is known for a number of high-profile war crimes cases and recently published his novel Beneath the Clouds. He writes essays on international law, politics and world events, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
END
end
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDAVIAN AFFAIRS
FRANCE
Fitch downgrades again France another notch to AA- as they cite civil unrest
(zerohedge)
Fitch Downgrades France To AA-, Cites Civil Unrest As Major Risk
SUNDAY, APR 30, 2023 – 07:35 AM
Macron’s not-so-secret ambitions for France to supplant AAA-rated Germany as Europe’s superpower took a nosedive on Friday when rating agency Fitch downgraded the eurozone’s second-largest economy one notch to AA- (with a stable outlook) late on Friday night over concerns that social unrest and political paralysis following the pensions fight will limit government efforts to improve public finances.
“Political deadlock and (sometimes violent) social movements pose a risk to Macron’s reform agenda and could create pressures for a more expansionary fiscal policy or a reversal of previous reforms,” Fitch wrote.
Fitch had rated France AAA until July 2013, when it downgraded it to AA+, and then to AA in Dec 2014.
The move is another blow to Macron only weeks after his government enacted a long-promised and much-hated pension reform to raise the retirement age by two years to 64, despite months of street protests, stiff resistance in parliament and ongoing strikes.
The president’s party does not have a parliamentary majority and may struggle to deliver on other priorities such as boosting employment and cutting fiscal deficits while improving public services such as schools.
According to the FT, Fitch also echoed our own assessment when it said the government’s use of a constitutional tactic known as Article 49.3 to pass the unpopular pension reform without a parliamentary vote could “further strengthen radical and anti-establishment forces” in French politics.
Similar to the US downgrade by S&P in 2011 over the debt ceiling fight, which sparked a witch hunt of the rating agency by minions of the then Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, the French government was also terribly vexed by this particular case of truthiness about France’s economic outlook, and Finance minister Bruno Le Maire, who recently presented the government plan to bring deficits back in line with EU targets by 2027, said France remained committed to structural reforms while explaining why Fitch was wrong.
“This decision is the result of a pessimistic assessment by Fitch regarding France’s growth prospects and its debt trajectory,” Le Maire said in a statement.
“It underestimates the consequences of the structural reforms adopted in the last few months by the French government, [notably] the reforms on unemployment insurance, pensions and production taxes.”
Fitch expects France to have a fiscal deficit of 5% of GDP this year due to weaker growth and higher expenditure linked to inflation, up from 4.7% in 2022. It forecasts that it will then fall back again next year as measures to help households with bills during the energy crisis are phased out; in reality this was a concession by the rating agency, and what will really happen is that deficits will keep ballooning higher.
While France’s economy barely grew by 0.2% in the first three months of the year despite the strikes, inflation also rose in April to 5.9% year on year.
France’s “fiscal metrics are weaker than peers”, Fitch wrote, warning that its government debt when measured as a proportion of economic output would “remain on a modest upward trend, reflecting relatively large fiscal deficits and only modest progress with fiscal consolidation”.
The credit rating agency expects pressures on spending to remain high in the short term as a third of all spending – largely on social benefits and pensions – is indexed to inflation. However it said that the savings generated by the pension reform, expected to total €17.7bn by 2030, will be “moderately helpful” over the longer term.
It also forecast inflation in France will ease in the second half of this year, averaging 5.5% for the year before dropping to 2.9% in 2024.
Le Maire has repeatedly underlined the need to cut public debt because interest rate rises have caused annual debt servicing costs to balloon.
As reported previously, France has been rocked by months of protests and strikes against the pension reform since January. Many smaller scale protests continue and labor unions plan to hold a large protest march on May 1.
END
May day protests in France as unions fume over Macrons’ pension reform
(zerohedge)
May Day Protests In France Turn Violent As Unions Fume Over Macron’s Pension Reform
MONDAY, MAY 01, 2023 – 09:30 AM
Nationwide protests are expected in France on Monday, with annual May Day demonstrations coinciding with ongoing discontent over President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension overhaul in March.
As reported by NYTimes, French authorities estimate 500,000 to 650,000 protesters across the country – with as many as 100,000 or more in Paris. A flare-up in demonstrations today comes after months of unrest due to France’s Constitutional Council approving Macron’s unpopular pension reform that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.
EU/
5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
RUSSIA/UKRAINE
This war is insane with huge losses of life
(zerohedge)
Death Toll Rises As Ukraine Ramps Up Attacks On Russian Border Towns
SUNDAY, APR 30, 2023 – 07:00 PM
Casualties have risen after intense shelling of a Russian village in the Bryansk region near the Ukrainian border, an attack which happened Saturday, with emergency responders initially citing two killed.
The casualty count as been revised as rescuers comb through rubble of a residential building. Four civilians have died and another two wounded “as a result of the actions by Ukrainian nationalists,” governor Aleksandr Bogomaz announced Sunday.
Authorities declared a state of emergency in the village of Suzemka, where the strike took place. It lies a mere 10km from Ukraine.
The governor further said the wave of Ukrainian strikes hit a residential area, according to CNN:
Unverified video posted on Bogomaz’s Telegram channel shows people emerging from a damaged building at night.
A person can be heard on the video saying, “They pulled a woman out. They’re still checking for a kid. Not sure. Horrible.”
Attacks, including with drones, on Russian territory have increased of late as Ukrainian forces are reportedly preparing for a spring counteroffensive.
The biggest weekend attack was deep inside Crimea. Multiple drones hit a fuel depot early Saturday, unleashing a huge multiple-hours long blaze which could be seen for miles.Suzemka
It appeared a retaliation strike in response to Friday’s major Russian cruise missile and drone attacks against several Ukrainian cities, particularly in the central part of the country.
Additionally, international reports indicate over the weekend cited Moscow-installed officials in eastern Ukraine who said “Ukrainian shelling had killed nine people, including an eight-year-old girl in the city of Donetsk.”
end
RUSSIA/POLAND/UKRAINE
Poland runs out of ammunition and thus will no longer supply Ukraine. Russia has at least one year of resources to continue the war
(ReMix)
“We Simply Don’t Have The Ammo” – Polish General Says Can No Longer Supply Ukraine, Warns Russia Has Resources To Continue War
Speaking at a strategy session of the National Security Bureau, the Polish Armed Forces chief of staff General Rajmund Andrzejczak said that when he analyzes the war in Ukraine politically, he is pessimistic.
This is, he explained, because “there is nothing that indicates that Russia will lack the resources to continue the conflict.”
He said during the session that he did not feel sanctions would stop Russia from having the funds to continue the war.
The general also offered a bleak assessment of Poland’s ability to send ammunition to Ukraine.
“We simply don’t have the ammunition. Our industry isn’t ready to send the equipment to Ukraine and to maintain our own dwindling reserves,” he said.
He noted that he was tirelessly presenting such an analysis in order to raise awareness.
He continued his remarks by saying that “war is not the business of soldiers.”
It is rather “a question of politics with economic factors involving finance, infrastructure, technology, food, and a range of other problems that you have to figure into the equation to be able to understand it.”
Gen. Andrzejczak observed that “Ukraine is experiencing huge financial problems,” despite the huge aid packages it was receiving from the U.S., the West and Poland.
Gen. Andrzejczak told the National Security Bureau that he regarded the security situation facing Poland as highly dangerous. Asked if the leaders of the West appreciated how far Ukraine is from winning the war with Russia, he opined that “an honest assessment of the threats was still both a surprise and a shock for most of them.”
The general also said there was no indication that Ukrainians who fled their country would return home to start reconstruction, adding that he felt that the NATO summit in Vilnius will be “a summit to define our credibility, of NATO, and the whole of the West.”
If the response was “late” and lacking in determination, then Ukraine would have no chance of a secure future.
END
Russian Freight Train Derails In Sabotage Attack As Airstrikes Pummel Ukraine For 2nd Day
MONDAY, MAY 01, 2023 – 10:50 AM
An apparent sabotage attack with an “explosive device” has resulted in a disastrous train derailment in the Russian region of Byransk which borders Ukraine.
“An unidentified explosive device went off, as a result of which a locomotive of a freight train derailed,” Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz announced on Telegram Monday
The governor further confirmed there were no casualties and that the train struck the device “on the 136th kilometer” of the railroad between regional hub Bryansk and the town of Unecha, as cited in AFP.
The Bryansk region near Ukraine has been site of frequent cross-border attacks throughout the conflict. The latest was just the day prior, with projectiles fire from Ukraine killing four people in a Russian village which lies just 10km from the border.
Bogomaz says the FSB security service has opened a criminal case looking into the act of “sabotage”.
Meanwhile Monday witnessed the second consecutive day of large-scale Russian airstrikes across mainly central Ukraine.
Central Dnipropetrovsk saw the heaviest bombardment, resulting in at least 34 people wounded – among them children – according to regional Ukrainian authorities. “There are already 34 wounded due to a missile attack on the Pavlograd district,” head of the Dnipropetrovsk region Sergiy Lysak said in a press statement.
Russia’s defense ministry confirmed the overnight wave of strikes, which it said was directed at Ukrainian military targets, including weapons depots and ammunition factories.
The United States condemned the missile attack as “barbaric”. US ambassador to Kyiv, Bridget Brink, issued a statement on Twitter describing that “Russia again launched missiles in the deep of night at Ukrainian cities where civilians, including children, should be able to sleep safely and peacefully.”
“I am grateful for those who protect Ukraine’s skies, and the United States will continue to work hard and fast to support them and their ability to defeat Russia’s barbaric attacks on the people of Ukraine,” she said.
Ukraine’s military once again claimed its anti-air defenses had intercepted many of the inbound missiles. As casualties mount from the last two days of aerial attacks, Kiev is likely to press its Western backers even harder at this point for more advanced anti-air systems.
end
IRAN/USA
Below is footage of Iranian commanders taking control of a tanker heading to the USA
Tanker Wars Are Back: Iran Releases Footage Of Commandos Landing On US-Bound Vessel
SATURDAY, APR 29, 2023 – 01:30 PM
Iran’s navy has released new footage showing elite commandos seizing a foreign vessel in the Gulf of Oman two days ago.
The Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Advantage Sweet had been moving Kuwaiti oil to Houston under Chevron, but while en route was boarded by Iranian troops who propelled down to the vessel’s deck from a helicopter, the footage shows.
“Advantage Sweet was seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy while transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman,” the US Navy said Thursday.
But it was later revealed that the Iranian assault on the vessel was in retaliation for the United States days prior to this, seizing Iranian oil that was bound for China.
“US authorities ordered a tanker of Iranian crude oil to redirect towards the US in recent days, in a move officials believe was the trigger for Iran’s decision to capture a US-bound tanker on Thursday,” the FT reported Friday.
“Three people briefed on the situation said the US had intervened to summon a ship loaded with Iranian crude, originally destined for China, as Washington looks to step up enforcement of sanctions on Tehran.”
Meanwhile, Iran is boasting that it is stepping up hosting joint maritime drills with its more powerful military partners China and Russia…
Iran welcomes the expansion of joint military drills with China, and believes such exercises will help defuse the threat posed to both nations by American-led unilateralism, Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani has said on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) defense ministers meeting in New Delhi, India, held on April 28-29.
“The regional and international situation is changing, and as a result, the expansion of relations between Iran and China has become more important than in the past,” Ashtiani said, speaking to his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, on Saturday.
With “friends” like these, Tehran is likely to feel emboldened to go after more international tankers, and especially those carrying crude bound for the US. At the same time, some Congressional hawks have been calling on the Biden administration to get even more aggressive in cracking down in Iran’s sanctions-busting activities.
END
END
RUSSIA/UKRAINE/USA/NATO
The dark clouds gathering over Ukraine
Robert Hryniak
6:36 PM (4 hours ago)
to
While there are many crisis all converging from banking to social issues to refugees everywhere and neocons out of control we see lies everywhere. Neocons are attempting to cause everyone to walk before them into an offensive that cannot be won. Sure, everyone knows they have wet dreams about destroying the Black Fleet so NATO can make the Black Sea a NATO lake. Treaties be dammed for hegemony ambitions. Meanwhile Ukrainians are desperate to wage a spring campaign just in case everyone discovers they cannot win. Perhaps, they do not realize they are expendable in a greater quest. The reality is this is all a fiction that will end badly with realities. Today, the Russians destroyed 200 tons of ammo destined for this upcoming campaign in May. How and where from will this be made up? The reality is there are no ready means to replace this loss. A metals firm in Germany founded in 1380 has just gone out of business. Germany is dying. How does Europe survive the high energy costs going forward? Losing manufacturing in Germany and Italy and elsewhere will leave Europe very much fragmented with a refugee problem that shows no easy answers if indeed there is an answer that is possible without more distress. Because alternative energy supply is no longer cheap like it was upsetting decades of reliance. And a new winter will beckon higher prices than the last one. Yes, Ukrainians are now dying in amounts over a 1000 a day and who knows how many wounded. And Bakhmut is going soon to be fully in Russian hands with whatever number of poor souls remaining being now retreated after losing many thousands to accomplish nothing but headlines for Zelensky. And no doubt 10’s of thousands will be thrown into the spring campaign that will bring many more deaths as that is certain. In the end, Ukraine will continue to hollow out itself until it can no longer function. As it is, it has lost over 1/2 of its’ population before all this started. And whatever value can be squeezed out is being squeezed out to leave nothing but a poorer rump of a failed nation. Whatever comes after this, we can be certain nothing will be the same from Neocon control to banking issues to immigration or social wellness. If chaos births change then the future will be be decidedly different than what is seen going into a new month.
Cheers Robert
end
Updates on Sudan…
SUDAN
Drone-Escorted Buses Evacuate Hundreds Of Americans To Port Sudan
Following expressions of shock and disgust by Americans disappointed that the Biden administration wasn’t facilitating their evacuation from war-torn Sudan, two bus convoys ferried Americans to the safer city of Port Sudan on the country’s Red Sea coast over the weekend.
In the first convoy, buses traveled more than 500 miles under the protection of armed U.S. drones. However, from Port Sudan, Americans are left to find tickets on boats making the voyage across the Red Sea to the Saudi city of Jeddah — a trip that, by ferry, takes about 12 hours.
“U.S. officials also are working with Saudi Arabia to see if one of the kingdom’s naval vessels can carry a larger number of Americans to Jeddah,” reported the Associated Press.
“A second USG-organized convoy arrived in Port Sudan today,” tweeted State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Sunday. “We are assisting U.S. citizens and others who are eligible with onward travel to Jeddah, where additional personnel are ready to assist with consular & emergency services.”
Miller said the US government, in a multinational effort, has facilitated the evacuation of almost 1,000 Americans since violence erupted on April 15th. Channeling Matthew McConaughey in The Wolf of Wall Street, other countries might say“those are rookie numbers”: India’s already cleared almost 3,000.
Rather than toting citizens to the coast and then begging the Saudis for help, other countries are taking a more hands-on and expedient approach to rescuing their citizens. A Turkish C-130 took small arms fire while landing outside Khartoum, the Indian Air Force has used its own C-130s, and China is dispatching its own navy.
Also over the weekend came reports of the murder last Tuesday of a US-born doctor who was about to evacuate his parents, wife and two children from the capital city of Khartoum. “A roving band of strangers surrounded him in his yard, stabbing him to death in front of his family,” reported the Associated Press. In addition to heavy fighting, the city of 5 million has also been beset by widespread looting.
The 49-year-old doctor was the second American to die so far, along with an unidentified U.S. civilian who was earlier killed in a crossfire.
On April 23, the US government executed a military airlift of its embassy personnel, with three Chinook helicopters carrying nearly 100 Americans about 760 miles southeast to Camp Lemonnier, a US Navy-led base in the the country of Djibouti.
The White House subsequently ruled out any large-scale military evacuation of the estimated 16,000 Americans who were in the country as the war began. To the disappointment of Americans in Sudan — and their worried family members in the US — the Biden administration continued to say conditions weren’t suitable for a civilian evacuation.
Many other countries quickly reached a different conclusion.
end
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES/
GLOBAL ISSUES
It will not work as the only currency worthy is gold backed
(zerohedge)
24 Nations Align Against US Dollar As BRICS Looks to Launch New Global Currency – The Daily Hodl
Once the Saudis are on board, look for oil to longer be availed in dollars. The deal is close to being finalized.
“Clearly, the powers behind this mad Zero Carbon agenda know none of this really works. They don’t care, as their goal has nothing to do with the environment. It is about the eugenics and culling of the human herd as the late Prince Philip famously remarked.
Maurice Strong, founder of the UN Environment Program, in his opening speech to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, declared, “Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?” At the Rio summit Strong oversaw drafting of the UN “Sustainable Environment” goals, the Agenda 21 for Sustainable Development that forms the basis of Klaus Schwab’s Great Reset, as well as creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the UN. [xiii]
Strong, a protégé of David Rockefeller was far the most influential figure behind what is today the UN Agenda 2030. He was co-chairman of Klaus Schwab’s Davos World Economic Forum. In 2015 on Strong’s death, Davos founder Klaus Schwab wrote, “He was my mentor since the creation of the Forum: a great friend; an indispensable advisor; and, for many years, a member of our Foundation Board.”
We need to address the real means by which to remain emissions sensible while maintaining our societies and their agenda is not it and will fail causing much harm and actually impeding progress.
William Enghadl
From: “F. William Engdahl” <info@williamengdahl.com> Date: May 1, 2023 at 9:22:06 AM EDT Subject:Is the Zero Carbon Green Agenda Possible?
Hello Dear Readers, I want to share with you in this issue of my newsletter detailed analysis of the true raw materials cost and the true financial cost of what is an impossible Zero Carbon Green Agenda, an agenda demanded by the EU and its member states, by the US Biden regime, by the UN and various other corrupt countries around the world. The agencies pushing this nonsense know fully well it is impossible. But Zero Carbon was never the goal. Rather, it is mass depopulation and collapse of our living standard to that of a failed Third World country. 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 again for your interest and support, William Engdahl
In a remarkable video, ABC News presented a pre-recorded interview with presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, telling viewers that parts of what was said had been edited out because he said something about the COVID vaccine that the news network disagrees with.
The interview was aired with clear edits made during parts where Kennedy spoke about his views on vaccines.
The interviewer Linsey Davis asked RFK Jr. about his belief that vaccination was linked to autism, which he began to explain before she jumped in and claimed that has all been debunked. The footage then skipped to a different topic entirely.
After the interview concluded, Davis told viewers “We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the Covid-19 vaccines.”
She claimed “Data shows that the Covid-19 vaccine has prevented millions of hospitalizations and deaths from the disease.”
“He also made misleading claims about the relationship between vaccination and autism,” Davis further asserted, adding “Research shows that vaccines and the ingredients used in the vaccines do not cause autism, including multiple studies involving more than a million children and major medical associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the advocacy group Autism Speaks.”
“We’ve used our editorial judgment in not including extended portions of that exchange in our interview,” Davis explained.
What did Kennedy say? That the COVID vaccines don’t prevent transmission of the virus, despite government claims to the contrary? That the vaccines have caused deaths? We simply don’t know because ABC News declared itself to be the arbiter of information and openly censored him.
They can’t upset their Pharma masters, can they?— Greg Goodwin (@ggoodwin284) April 28, 2023
they actually tell you that they edited out the parts where he gave irrefutable evidence to back his claims. wake up north america.— Fringe Movement Frank (@TyrannyAlgergy) April 28, 2023
How long until RFK Jr is labeled a “MAGA democrat”?— ₿loope ️ (@fiatgobloope) April 28, 2023
Brought to you by Pfizer…— Tony Matty (@TJMatty) April 28, 2023
Here is the full interview (minus the parts you’re not allowed to hear):
In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. We need you to sign up for our free newsletter here. Support our sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.
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questioning ABC when EPOCH itself censored The Wellness Company (TWC) by removing one of TWC’s adds for the sought after SPIKE Recovery support product; who threatened & bullied EPOCH?
That is the key question and we know who it is, we have clear intel of what took place, the question is, do you know who would engage in such censorship at EPOCH? Did you know that the seemingly impartial potent EPOCH is but a paper tiger, all cowboy but NO hat!
Shame on ABC and shame on EPOCH! Two peas of the same pod, I suppose. It is laughable that EPOCH would make a stink when it does the same as ABC. It decides IMO and by what happened, what should be aired and based on who demands it. EPOCH appears at this time to be compromised by agents within the COVID Freedom Fighter movement, for their own benefit. I like EPOCH, always felt a good outfit, did good work with Jan (know him personally and we were friends before the grifters arrived and I could say a decent man, husband, God fearing, excellent) and Z Stieber is superb. This guy is top notch. I think the best in the lot with Zhang. Either or both must go to the bosses at EPOCH now and get them to apolagize to TWC for such bad form and bias. Such blatant censoring on behalf of a grifter at large. Tell their bosses if they gots stones, to publish the name of the character who threatened them to take down TWC’s spike recovery advertisement. Do that Jan, show us those huge stones we know you got.
Love EPOCH, they do some good work and I did lots with them and helped showcase them and promote them. Across COVID. I sure hope they get their act together on the influence in their now reporting decision making and censorship, they seem misguided at present, confused by donors or threats and bullies. Thats the record now. that is building now. It is theirs to refute.
After airing clips of the interview, reporter Linsey Davis spoke to viewers.’
END
McCullough & Zelenko: Here’s What Big Pharma Doesn’t Want you to Know
BY THE WELLNESS COMPANY
Big Pharma wants to keep you sick. Your medical challenges are good for their bottom line. Since Rockefeller released his Flexner Report in 1910, all medicinal strategies that weren’t pushed through the government-run medical-industrial complex were demonized and censored – even when they deliver you better health than pharmaceuticals.
Fortunately, we have medical freedom fighting super heroes: Dr. Peter McCullough and the late Dr. Zev Zelenko.
Unlike Big Pharma, Drs McCullough and Zelenko always believed that the health and wellbeing of their patients should come before profits. They rediscovered the hidden secrets to health and wellness that Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know about.
Now more than ever, we need warriors like Zelenko and McCullough.
When the COVID “Plan-demic” started, we were all just how important our immune system is – and nothing is more effective at boosting your immune system than Dr Zev Zelenko’s revolutionary Z-stack protocol.
Zev’s patented gun and bullet approach to combatting all viruses is as critical to your health today as it was at the height of the lockdowns.
As you take steps to stay healthy, you should also plan to defend your cells from mRNA delivery devices – the spike protein – that covers the earth following the mass “vaccinations,” COVID infections, and shedding. Research has only just begun to understand the harm that this toxic substance can inflict.
From Dr. McCullough:
“Far and away the most common question I get from those who took one of the COVID-19 vaccines is: “how do I get this out of my body.” The mRNA and adenoviral DNA products were rolled out with no idea on how or when the body would ever breakdown the genetic code. The synthetic mRNA carried on lipid nanoparticles appears to be resistant to breakdown by human ribonucleases by design so the product would be long-lasting and produce the protein product of interest for a considerable time period… it is a big problem when the protein is the pathogenic SARS-CoV-2 Spike.”
Fortunately, Dr. McCullough has a solution: the best-known defense against mRNA-carrying spike proteins is a daily dose of over-the-counter nattokinase:
“Nattokinase is an enzyme is produced by fermenting soybeans with bacteria Bacillus subtilis var. natto and has been available as an oral supplement. It degrades fibrinogen, factor VII, cytokines, and factor VIII and has been studied for its cardiovascular benefits. Out of all the available therapies I have used in my practice and among all the proposed detoxification agents, I believe nattokinase and related peptides hold the greatest promise for patients at this time.”
“I saw Dr. McCullough talk about the product and decided to give it a try. A month and a half later, I feel sooo much better. I also have recommended the product to family members to help them detox from the painful side effects of the vaccine.”
“I feel like I have had brain fog for the past 18 months and after taking this supplement noticed the fog lifting finally. I plan to buy more for myself and now a friend suffering from heart issues.”
“I am grateful for the Wellness Company and for you coming out with this spike protein vitamins. I am a big believer in natural healing and not pharmaceutical drugs. Thank you for doing what is right and for speaking truth in a world that is so dark.”
were the ‘real’ vulnerable ones, not the rest of the population and this beast, this little vapid beast is saying he told you that, when we know and can show all he did was lie and deceive for 3 years
This guy and his buddy scarf lady Birx were so duplicitous to Trump and the nation, we must investigate and if shown in legal settings what we know, we jail these bastards for the deaths they caused. And still the bastard is lying!
‘In a new interview with the New York Times Magazine, Fauci responded to a wide range of questions about the pandemic and his career, which saw him serve as a key adviser to seven U.S. presidents.
At one point in the questioning, the interviewer, David Wallace-Wells, asked Fauci how effectively the age skew of COVID was conveyed to the public.
As Wallace-Wells wrote three years ago for New York magazine: “As we’ve known nearly from the start of this pandemic, but have chosen to downplay in our public messaging and public policy, COVID-19 is brutally lethal for the elderly, considerably less so for the middle-aged, and still less so for the young. The disease discriminates by age.”
In his interview, Wallace-Wells took the opportunity to ask Fauci about that directly.
“Did we do enough to communicate the age skew of the disease?” he asked. “I still think, honestly to this day, that almost no one appreciates just how wide that age skew really is, given that the risk to someone in their 80s or 90s is perhaps hundreds of times as high as it is to someone in their 20s or 30s.”
“You are hitting on some terrific points,” Fauci replied. “Did we say that the elderly were much more vulnerable? Yes. Did we say it over and over and over again? Yes, yes, yes. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. Like 85 percent of the hospitalizations are there. But if you ask the person in the street, they may say, ‘Oh, yeah, elderly are more vulnerable, but everybody’s really vulnerable’—which is true, but to a much lesser extent.”’
It is critical that all those involved in mRNA technology based gene injection come forward & explain the mechanism of action and how to stop the mRNA even before spike protein is produced cellularly
The Covid Jabs Have Created Millions of Zombies | Dr Vernon Coleman
Robert Hryniak
Apr 29, 2023, 7:31 PM (15 hours ago)
to
What if he is correct? What are the real consequences going forward? There is no research to suggest that if one took means to avoid problems of longer term impact if there was complete success. It is not even certain that vaccinated people did not transmit MRNA to those who were and are unvaccinated. And what of consequences to those who forced this madness upon society? How do they avoid problems? Somewhere in all of this is a darker side to all of this that has been exposed. Because people are being affected from all walks of life and position.
Billed as the most in-depth interview yet, the New York Times published a very long piece that contains some rather startling admissions, claims, and defenses from Anthony Fauci, the face of lockdowns and shot mandates.
The author and interviewer is David Wallace-Wells, who before (and now after) Covid specialized in writing about climate change, invokes every predictable trope.
So there was a sense in which this interview was a lovefest between the two.
Still it netted some interesting results.
Here are my top-ten picks of Fauci quotes.
1. Fauci: “Something clearly went wrong. And I don’t know exactly what it was. But the reason we know it went wrong is that we are the richest country in the world, and on a per-capita basis we’ve done worse than virtually all other countries.”
This seems promising but one quickly realizes that there is an axiom among the people responsible for lockdowns. They were completely correct in their thinking. The problem was not enough centralization, prior planning, or resources.
Also there was too much disinformation and non-compliance, leading to a low vaccine uptake compared with other countries. The vaccines are the miracle and the greatest achievement of the pandemic, a point on which they admit no argument.
This is also the conclusion of a thing called The Covid Crisis Group (funded mostly by the Charles Koch and Rockefeller Foundations) which has released the new book Lessons from the Covid War: An Investigative Report. There is no PDF. You have to buy it. The lead author is the well-known fixer Philip Zelikow, who wrote the 9-11 Commission report.
Included among the team is none other than Carter Mecher, who bears more responsibility for school closings than anyone else. Also there is Rajeev Venkayya, the one-time Bush administration official who is widely credited with having invented the very concept of lockdowns.
It’s their story and they are sticking to it.
2. Fauci on vaccine mandates: “Man, I think, almost paradoxically, you had people who were on the fence about getting vaccinated thinking, why are they forcing me to do this? And that sometimes-beautiful independent streak in our country becomes counterproductive. And you have that smoldering anti-science feeling, a divisiveness that’s palpable politically in this country.”
If you didn’t think you needed the vaccine or didn’t trust it, Fauci proclaims that you are responsible for divisiveness and anti-science feeling. The “independent streak” is called freedom, which for him is the real problem. The lesson for next time? Hard to know. Maybe he thinks the mandates should have been enforced with more energy.
3. Fauci on the economics of the lockdowns: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not an economic organization. The surgeon general is not an economist. So we looked at it from a purely public-health standpoint.
It was for other people to make broader assessments — people whose positions include but aren’t exclusively about public health. Those people have to make the decisions about the balance between the potential negative consequences of something versus the benefits of something.”
There we go with the great divide between public health and real life, as if one does not impact the other. Public health cared not for economics — the science of human cooperation — and, sadly, the economists were too often unschooled on public health. The compartmentalization of speciality fields played into the haphazard totalitarianism we experienced.
But there’s more — a lot more. Read on to see Fauci’s other important quotes, and what they really mean.
4. Fauci on why he is not responsible for anything: “when people say, ‘Fauci shut down the economy’ — it wasn’t Fauci. The C.D.C. was the organization that made those recommendations. I happened to be perceived as the personification of the recommendations. But show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did. I gave a public-health recommendation that echoed the C.D.C.’s recommendation, and people made a decision based on that. But I never criticized the people who had to make the decisions one way or the other.”
He was merely deferring to a giant bureaucracy where no one takes responsibility either!
5. Fauci on how they should have locked down earlier: “We were not fully appreciative of the fact that we were dealing with a highly, highly transmissible virus that was clearly spread by ways that were unprecedented and unexperienced by us. And so it fooled us in the beginning and confused us about the need for masks and the need for ventilation and the need for inhibition of social interaction.” Should they have shut down in February 2020? “We should have, probably, if we knew what we know now.”
Inexperienced in a textbook respiratory virus? It’s because they thought it was a bioweapon that could be handled like AIDS. Masks were the condoms. Lockdowns were the behavioral changes. Minimizing of cases was the metric of success. On every point, they were wrong.
Plus they didn’t even learn from the AIDS experience. It wasn’t the vaccines that cooled the crisis. It was the therapeutics innovated in clinical experience. Instead, Fauci shut down all efforts at early treatment to wait for the vaccines. Having done it earlier would have been even worse!
6. Fauci on the effectiveness of masking: “From a broad public-health standpoint, at the population level, masks work at the margins — maybe 10 percent. But for an individual who religiously wears a mask, a well-fitted KN95 or N95, it’s not at the margin. It really does work. But I think anything that instigated or intensified the culture wars just made things worse. And I have to be honest with you, David, when it comes to masking, I don’t know.”
He doesn’t know. At least he admits it. And yet the CDC is still suing for the legal right to impose masking on the whole population whoever it wants.
7. Fauci on not understanding the virus: “Herd immunity is based on two premises: one, that the virus doesn’t change, and two, that when you get infected or vaccinated, the durability of protection is measured in decades, if not a lifetime. With SARS-CoV-2, we thought protection against infection was going to be measured in a long period of time. And we found out — wait a minute, protection against infection, and against severe disease, is measured in months, not decades. No. 2, the virus that you got infected with in January 2020 is very different from the virus that you’re going to get infected with in 2021 and 2022.”
To be clear, nothing about herd immunity requires lifetime immunity and it certainly is not premised on unchanging virus. Indeed, it is astonishing that he claims they had no idea the virus would mutate.
It’s an established reality that such widespread and mostly non-deadly pathogens like this mutate, which is precisely why they cannot be eradicated through vaccination. Why must anyone have to explain virus basics to Fauci of all people?
8. Fauci on the huge age gradient of medically significant risk: “Did we say that the elderly were much more vulnerable? Yes. Did we say it over and over and over again? Yes, yes, yes. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. Like 85% of the hospitalizations are there.”
In fact, their solution was to shut down the whole of society for a virus that was mostly if not entirely a danger to the aged and sick. And to justify that, they absolutely did obscure the risk gradient, which is why most everyone was running around like their hair was on fire. The attempt was precisely to create population fear and panic, as Fauci said many times in private.
9. Fauci on whether the NIH funded the lab that leaked the virus. “ Now you’re saying things that are a little bit troublesome to me. That I need to go to bed tonight worrying that N.I.H.-funded research was responsible for pandemic origins…. Well, I sleep fine. I sleep fine. And remember, this work was done in order to be able to help prepare us for the next outbreak. This work was not conceived by me as I was having my omelet in the morning. It is a grant that was put before peer review of independent scientists whose main role is to try to get data to protect the health and safety of the American public and the world. And it was judged that this type of research was important.”
Once again, if the NIH had anything to do with funding the research that led to the virus, he is not responsible for that either. It was those pesky independent scientists. He has again thrown colleagues under the bus.
10. Fauci on gain-of-function research: “Some want to pass a law: All gain-of-function should be stopped. But if all gain-of-function stops, you will have no vaccines for flu. You will have no vaccines for any of the other diseases, because all of that manipulates a virus or a pathogen to gain a certain function to be able to make a vaccine.”
That’s a very hard claim. I asked ChatGPT about that and it quickly spat out the following:
“No, the flu vaccine does not require gain-of-function research. The development of flu vaccines typically involves studying the behavior of the virus and its strains, identifying the most common strains and predicting which one will be most prevalent in the upcoming season. The vaccine is then developed using inactivated or attenuated versions of the virus, which do not require gain-of-function research. Gain-of-function research, which involves genetically modifying viruses to make them more infectious or deadly, is sometimes used for studying the flu virus, but it is not required for the creation of flu vaccines.”
If not for the flu vaccine, what is gain-of-function’s purpose? The creation of bioweapons and vaccines to confound them? The track record of this looks awful.
Fauci and his friends keep trying to close the book on the Covid epoch. They have settled on the messaging and are doing everything possible to tie it all up in a bow in hopes that everyone will move on. The mainstream media wants to move on too. Everyone guilty for the wreckage wants to do the same, particularly the elites in every sector that pushed for and celebrated the mass violation of human rights.
They are wrong. The book is not closed and will not be until we get honest answers.
The CDC is blaming an outbreak of severe pediatric brain infections on mask mandates being lifted and made-up theories like immunity debt. They don’t even ask the obvious.
What’s being Investigated
The CDC is currently conducting an investigation into a group of uncommon and severe brain abscesses among children in the United States.
Brain abscesses are not typically reportable conditions, so doctors are not required to report them to public health departments. This means that we do not have accurate data on the number of cases that are occurring.
However, Nevada saw a threefold increase in brain abscesses in children in 2022, with 18 cases reported, up from an average of 4-5 cases per year.
According to the sole pediatric neurosurgeon in Nevada, the unusually huge increase in pediatric intracranial abscesses started in March of 2022. The cases were strikingly similar in their presentation.
A public health advisory by the Southern Nevada Health District reports initially, children would experience common childhood complaints like earaches or sinus infections, accompanied by headaches and fever. However, within a week, it became evident that a more serious condition was developing.
The most reported pre-hospitalization symptoms included cold symptoms such as rhinorrhea and nasal congestion, headache and fever. They make sure to mention ‘cessation of masking’ practices as a common exposure in 38% of cases.
Brain abscesses are pockets of infection that form in the brain. They can cause a variety of neurological symptoms, such as seizures, vision problems, and changes in speech, coordination, or balance. The initial symptoms of a brain abscess are often recurring headaches and fever.
Treatment for a brain abscess typically involves surgery to drain the abscess and antibiotics to kill the infection. Children may need to stay in the hospital for several weeks or even months to recover from surgery and treatment.
Summary
Don’t expect the CDC to figure out what’s going on.
Dr. Jessica Penney, the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer assigned to the investigation, can’t find anything to link the cases. Dr. Penny has looked at travel, a history of COVID-19 infection, underlying health, and any common activities or exposures. She is baffled.
One of Dr. Penny’s ideas is that removing mask mandates contributed to the increase in cases. It’s absolutely absurd. Forgetting about all of the evidence that masks do not effectively control the spread of COVID-19, cases were already above ‘normal’ at the time the mandates were lifted.
More likely it’s the dirty unchanged masks being worn all the time by children.
Also, why is Dr. Penny or the CDC afraid of including the children’s vaccination status? Is it because every child that had an intracranial abscess was vaccinated? I’d bet if they were unvaccinated they would let us know.
As has been said many times before the vaccine must be considered until proven otherwise.
Liza Burke was a college student who had a glioblastoma brain tumor. A bad headache on March 10, admission to Mayo Clinic on March 14, diagnosis on March 28.
cells by a pseudovirus expressing SARS-CoV-2 spike protein & prevented entry of live SARS-CoV-2 into cells; this is worth studying & it tells us that natural substances around us would help, not vax!
‘As a complement to vaccines, small-molecule therapeutic agents are needed to treat or prevent infections by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, which cause COVID-19. Affinity selection-mass spectrometry was used for the discovery of botanical ligands to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Cannabinoid acids from hemp (Cannabis sativa) were found to be allosteric as well as orthosteric ligands with micromolar affinity for the spike protein. In follow-up virus neutralization assays, cannabigerolic acid and cannabidiolic acid prevented infection of human epithelial cells by a pseudovirus expressing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and prevented entry of live SARS-CoV-2 into cells. Importantly, cannabigerolic acid and cannabidiolic acid were equally effective against the SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant B.1.1.7 and the beta variant B.1.351.
Orally bioavailable and with a long history of safe human use, these cannabinoids, isolated or in hemp extracts, have the potential to prevent as well as treat infection by SARS-CoV-2.’
within 24 Hours Of Cancer Diagnosis; mRNA technology injection has subverted your immune system, wrecked it, damages P53 tumor suppressing protein, guardian of genome & Toll like receptors 7 & 8
TURBO cancers, which are blindingly rapid, vicious, from diagnosis to rapid metastasis, often death as soon as diagnosis. We are seeing cancers that are in remission flaring up, and metastasis happening at speeds never seen before. Why? Is it the COVID gene injection? All evidence suggests YES! When will they listen, when will the proper studies be done and when will this mRNA technology injection be stopped?
mRNA technology based gene injections appear to damage and subvert the P53 pathway and when there is cancer, the P53 pathway is hobbled. mRNA gene injection does this. The majority of the human cancer cells exhibit the inactivation of the P53 pathway. P53 tumoro suppressor protein play critical roles in DNA damage responses, apoptosis, autophagy, and cellular metabolism.
‘Kyle Limper died shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia on April 13.
A Philadelphia teen’s family is grieving after their son suddenly died just 24 hours after being diagnosed with cancer.
Kyle Limper was a seemingly healthy 16-year-old, participating in several sports and consistently earning A’s at Penn Treaty High School until his family says he began complaining about back pain one day after a recent basketball game.
He was taken to a hospital to be checked out and was told to come back in a few days if he began to feel worse, the teen’s father, Ken Limper, told Fox 29.’
Red Table Talk,” the Internet talk show hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, has been called by Facebook’s parent company Meta .READ MORE
VACCINE IMPACT:
The “Godfather of AI” Says Doomsayers Are Wrong and ChatGPT Isn’t Remarkable – Mainly an Advanced Disinformation Tool
April 28, 2023 5:30 pm
The hype over AI Chat searches as well as the “AI is going to take over the world and replace humans” is continuing unabated, and investments into AI are now the only thing left propping up the U.S. economy. I suppose this is the result of having a generation of adults who have now grown up in the “computer age” starting in the early 1980s who are now running the economy with their beliefs in AI and technology. Old school technologists like myself, who watched all of this technology develop, and know better, are having little to no effect in trying to dispel these false beliefs. I have earned my living and built my career on this technology for over 25 years now, but that doesn’t seem to matter with this generation. My views on the hype over this “new” AI fad are not unique at all, as many others also share them, but it is much more interesting to state that AI is going to take over the world and replace humans, and that is the view that gets clicks and traffic today, which can obviously be monetized as well. Therefore, the “AI is going to take over the world” view is the predominant view, not because it is true, but because it is more popular and sells more. So I am going to highlight some of the other dissenting voices in this article, and then I am going to show what this “new” AI Chat software is actually doing today, as it has been out in the public for about 5 months now. But if you want the spoiler as to what it is actually doing today with hundreds of millions of users, here it is: It is a disinformation and data collection tool.
With it becoming more and more difficult to find information on the Internet with Google and Microsoft increasingly working hard to control all online content, it is more important than ever for people to learn how to use RSS feeds. RSS feeds allow you to capture new articles published throughout the day without using email subscriptions, social media, or having to use online search engines or AI chat bots. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (or sometimes Rich Site Summary.) It was developed back in the 1990s during the infancy of the Internet, and was originally called RDF (Resource Description Framework). Almost all websites publishing content still use this technology today by using an XML file format that is included with each new article published, that can then be retrieved by an RSS feed reader as soon as that content is published. The more sites you add to your RSS reader, and the longer you use it, you will soon have your own “database” of sites that you prefer, which you can then search on your local computer or device. And don’t just add sites you agree with, but add other sites that give different perspectives, so you do not succumb to online propaganda. When it comes to news, add other country’s English news sites as well, such as Russian, Chinese, Arab, etc. so you can compare what the U.S. corporate media is reporting, compared to what other countries report on the same news topic, even if the other country’s news site is just propaganda also from their government.
The 4th U.S. Bank has collapsed in less than 2 months, as it was announced late Friday that First Republic, an FDIC bank, was being purchased by JPMorgan and PNC after a government seizure. The bank is headquartered in San Francisco, and is part of the Silicon Valley crowd with rich clients who have money deposited way above the FDIC insurance limits. So the bailout of wealthy Big Tech investors continues.
Interesting Europe is buying record amounts of high cost LNG Russian fuel through India
(zerohedge)
Europe Is Buying Record Amounts Of Refined Russian Fuels Through India, And Paying A Huge Markup
SATURDAY, APR 29, 2023 – 06:30 PM
Last August, we were the first to show how Russia was bypassing Europe’s so-called commodities embargo: it was selling LNG to China which was then re-selling it to Europe at a substantial mark up. And while we also frequentlyreported that Russiawas using a similar sanctions bypass for oil, this time using India instead of China, few were willing to confirm as much: after all, it would seem very shortsighted if European consumers were paying an extra surcharge to India, while Russia was not suffering any adverse consequences from Europe’s laughable “sanctions.”
Not any more: on Friday, Bloomberg reported that for all of Europe’s fire and brimstone about an embargo (which has gotten decidedly quieter in recent months), “Russian oil is still powering Europe just with the help of India.“
As we reported at the time, last December the EU barred almost any seaborne crude oil imports from Russia. It extended the prohibition to refined fuels two months later. However, the rules didn’t stop countries like India from snapping up cheap Russian crude, turning it into fuels like diesel, and shipping it back to Europe at a big markup: as shown in the chart below, just the Brent to Urals price differential, a byproduct of the Russian sanctions, is about $25/bbl, almost a third of the price of a barrel of crude. The markups on Russian product are even greater when dealing with refined products such as gasoline or diesel.
In fact, India has become so good at reselling Russian oil to the same Europeans who refuse to buy it directly from Moscow for a much lower price, that the Asian country is on track to become Europe’s largest supplier of refined fuels this month while simultaneously buying record amounts of Russian crude, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.
In other words, Europe is still buying Russian oil, keeping Putin’s military machine well-funded, but because of the virtue signaling exercise of buying Russian oil though a mediator, the transaction ends up costing Europeans billions more than if they simply had purchased the oil directly.
“Russian oil is finding its way back into Europe despite all the sanctioning and India ramping up fuel exports to the west is a good example of it,” said Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at the firm. “With India taking in so much Russian barrels, it’s inevitable.”
As Bloomberg notes, “the development is double-edged for the EU. On the one hand, the bloc needs alternative sources of diesel now that it has cut off direct flows from Russia, previously its top supplier. However, it ultimately boosts demand for Moscow’s barrels, and means extra freight costs.” In other words, Europe achieves none of its embargo goals (i.e., keeping Russian oil out of the market, preventing Putin from using oil to finance the war in Ukraine), while being hit with far higher energy prices.
It also means more competition for Europe’s oil refiners who can’t access cheap Russian crude, and comes amid wider market scrutiny about where the region’s diesel imports are coming from.
Repsol SA’s CEO Josu Jon Imaz said on Thursday that Russian diesel is entering Europe illegally and called on authorities to clamp down on the activity. He wasn’t talking about the trade via India but flows of diesel that originated in Russia… which of course is the same thing.
Hilariously, a preliminary inquiry into the matter by Spanish authorities didn’t find evidence that Russian diesel was entering the country, a government official said Friday, adding that a probe is ongoing. Of course, nobody in Europe wants to admit that they are indirectly funding Putin, so expect many more such “discoveries” as all other countries try to find if they are importing Russian oil only to find that everyone but them is using it.
Meanwhile, Europe’s refined fuel imports from India are set to surge above 360,000 barrels a day, edging just ahead of those of oil exporting titan Saudi Arabia, Kpler’s data show.
And the cherry on top: Russian crude oil arrivals to India are expected to surpass 2 million barrels a day in April, representing almost 44% of the nation’s overall oil imports, according to Kpler data. India then quickly re-exports the oil or processes it first into diesel and gasoline, and then sells it to European customers.
More than half of Russia’s seaborne oil shipments were to the European Union and Group of Seven nations before the bloc began to cut purchases in response to the nation’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Finally, the question of what the point is of continued Russian “sanctions” remains, as the IIF’s Robin Brooks explains in the following twitter thread, which once again makes clear that western sanctions against Russia have been a catastrophic failure… perhaps as was intended all along.
Evaluation of our sanctions policy
1. Only 2 questions matter. First, have our sanctions meaningfully curtailed Russia’s ability to wage war? Second, are our sanctions a deterrent to countries that may wage war in the future? Unfortunately, the answer to both questions is: “No!”
2. Root problem is an infatuation with financial sanctions. These can be effective when used on current account deficit countries – Turkey in 2018 is an example – but they don’t work on current account surplus countries. This is a key point that cannot be emphasized enough.
3. Russia shows how our financial sanctions failed. We sanctioned some banks, including the central bank (red), but not all. This meant that all the cash from Russia’s current account surplus got routed through non-sanctioned Russian banks (blue). Putin still got all his cash…
4. So our financial sanctions did not prevent Putin getting all his cash in return for energy exports. All this cash just got routed through different banks than before. As a result, financial conditions in Russia eased back to pre-war levels, a big plus for Russia’s war economy.
5. We could have avoided this, but it would have required sanctioning ALL Russian banks. That’s the same as a trade embargo, since Putin no longer gets paid and stops exporting. This shows what’s needed to hurt c/a surplus countries: a trade embargo! Not financial sanctions…
6. Number one lesson from Russia is that our infatuation with financial sanctions must end. They don’t work on c/a surplus countries, unless we sanction all banks, in which case we’re just doing a trade embargo. We need to be doing trade embargos instead of financial sanctions…
7. Had we done a hard energy embargo on Russia, this would have come at a cost to the West, but Russia would have gone into financial crisis, making the war harder for Putin to fight. An embargo would have also scared other potentially hostile current account surplus countries.
8. It’s not too late. First, the West needs to end its focus on financial sanctions. Second, we need to start talking about hard trade-offs that are needed to confront c/a surplus countries. We need to stop giving them cash, which means we need to stop buying their stuff…
9. A footnote on the G7 oil price cap. The cap is recognition of the fact that Russia’s current account surplus needs to be cut. But – thanks to Greek shipping oligarchs – the cap was set at $60 and wasn’t binding. A mistake that can be fixed now by lowering the cap…
end
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES
END
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS MONDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSINGS
EURO VS USA DOLLAR:1.1011 UP 0.0005
USA/ YEN 136.76 UP 0.583 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT .50% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//
GBP/USA 1.2532 DOWN 0.0013
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3580 UP .0047 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 47 PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 37.39 PTS OR 1.14%
Hang Seng CLOSED UP 54,29 PTS OR 0.27%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP .31% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL MIXED
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL MIXED
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED UP 54.29 PTS OR 0.27 %
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 37.39 PTS OR 1.14%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.31%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 266.74 PTS OR 0.92%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN
Gold very early morning trading: 1987.85
silver:$25.25
USA dollar index early MONDAY morning: 101.58 UP 19 BASIS POINTS FROM FRIDAY’s close.
The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE (CLOSED UP.(6.9121)
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)…. 6.9569
TURKISH LIRA: 19.46 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.401…VERY DANGEROUS
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 9 in basis points from FRIDAY at 3.545% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic
USA 30 yr bond yield 3.791 UP 12 IN BASIS POINTS
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.1366% UP 7 in basis points.
USA dollar index, 101.93 UP 53 in basis points ON THE DAY/12.00 PM
Your 12:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates MONDAY: 12:00 PM
(THESE ARE FRIDAY CLOSES)
London: CLOSED UP 38.99 points or .50%
German Dax : CLOSED UP 121.93 PTS OR .71%
Paris CAC CLOSED UP 7.66 PTS OR 0.10%
Spain IBEX DOWN 73.60 PTS OR 0.79%
Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 80.56 PTS OR 0.30%
WTI Oil price 75.53 12: EST
Brent Oil: 79.06. 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN /// AT: 80.25/ ROUBLE UP 0 AND 0//100 RUBLES/DOLLAR
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.305 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
UK 10 YR YIELD: 3.752 UP 3 BASIS PTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA: 1.0972 DOWN 0.0034 OR 34 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2487 DOWN .0058 or 58 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 3.752% UP 0 BASIS PTS
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 137.54 UP 1.36 //YEN DOWN 136 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3549 UP .0016 CDN dollar, DOWN 16 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 75.77
Brent OIL: 79.33
USA 10 yr bond yield UP 15 BASIS pts to 3.603%
USA 30 yr bond yield UP 18 BASIS PTS to 3.852%
USA 2 YR BOND: UP 8 PTS AT 4.1428%
USA dollar index: 101.92 UP 52 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 19.46
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 80.25 UP 0 AND 0/100 roubles
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: DOWN 46.46 PTS OR 0.14%
NASDAQ 100 DOWN 1./52 PTS OR 0.11%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 16.11 UP 0.33 PTS (2.09)%
GLD: $183.97 DOWN 0.83 OR 0.045%
SLV/ $22.89 DOWN 0.11 OR 0.48%
end
USA AFFAIRS
1 a) USA TRADING TODAY IN GRAPH FORM
Bonds, Bitcoin, & Bullion Battered After Bank Bailout, Stagflation Scare
MONDAY, MAY 01, 2023 – 04:01 PM
Weak macro data, re-accelerating inflation (prices paid), no progress on the debt-ceiling, and a bank bailout that literally does nothing to calm fears of more bank runs (or superwalks).
Macro data disappointment continues…
Source: Bloomberg
ISM Manufacturing signaled stagflation with prices paid rising but activity and new orders still in contraction…
Source: Bloomberg
“Stagflation is looming,” said Bruce Liegel, a former macro fund manager at Millennium Partners LP who’s been working in financial markets since the early 1980s. He advised buying short-duration Treasuries, such as the 2-year note. Rates are high now and will remain high at maturity — so investors can pick up new debt at that time at even higher rates. He also expects value stocks to outperform growth during this time as well.
“We are set to have higher rates, and higher inflation for at least three to five years,” said Liegel, who writes a monthly global macro report.
“The growth we had seen in the past was based on low interest rates and leverage. And now we are unwinding all that, which is going to be a headwind for growth for years.”
The debt-ceiling “game” in Washington remains stagnant and the T-Bill curve’s kink is becoming more and more cliff-like…
If everything’s so awesome, why are big- and small-bank stocks down today…
Source: Bloomberg
JPM, of course, outperformed as its now even too-biggest-to-fail, but BofA, Goldman, and MS were all red on the day…
Source: Bloomberg
Interestingly, with banks “fixed” and stagflation scares ascendant, we saw rate-hike expectations lift modestly hawkishly today with the terminal rate in June (but very marginally above this Wednesday – hence the 25% odds of a June hike). NOTE (off the chart because of scaling) that December is expected to be 25bps below current levels!
Source: Bloomberg
So what did all that mean for stocks? Well BTFD of course – durr, as 0DTE vol plunged at the open once again. But, they could not hold it and stocks faded late on into the red as major negative delta flow from 0DTE hit the market starting around 1200ET…
On the day the pump was met with a dump leaving the majors basically unchanged (Small Caps spiked into the green in the last few mins)…
Another day, another VIX compression (VIX his 15.60 lows intraday) and VIX1D dump and pump…
Source: Bloomberg
Treasury yields soared, despite equity’s general malaise as a holiday-thinned session was dominated by heavy corporate supply (META $8.5 billion for example). The entire curve was basically up 13-15bps…
Source: Bloomberg
Also bear in mind that Europe was largely closed today for Labor Day.
We wouldn’t be betting too hard on today’s yield surge holding as the corporate calendar easing up and rate-locks lifted…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar was higher, reversing overnight weakness, pushing back up to Friday’s highs…
Source: Bloomberg
Crypto was clubbed like a baby seal for no good reason again. Bitcoin tried to tag $30k again but was punished, puking back to the Mt.Gox ‘fake news’ spike lows…
Source: Bloomberg
Gold was crazy today – with Futs spiking up to $2105 intraday on the JPM rescue then puking it all back because we can’t have the barabrous relic hinting that systemic shit is bad…
Oil was down on the day but WTI seemed to find support at $75…
Finally, well done Jim Cramer…
Source: Bloomberg
That “CNBC Pro” sub was well worth the money.
END
.i b Morning trading:
Early morning trading:
II) USA DATA//
No question about it stagflation is here. We have inflation with low growth
(zerohedge)
ISM Manufacturing Screams Stagflation, Still Contracting With “Reigniting Inflationary Pressures”
MONDAY, MAY 01, 2023 – 10:05 AM
Following S&P Global’s manufacturing survey’s surprise jump in the flash data, the 50.4 print has dropped intra-month to 50.2 (still back in expansion)
S&P Global US Manufacturing final April print of 50.2, down from 50.4 flash, up from 49.2 in March – highest since Oct 2022
ISM US Manufacturing April print of 47.1, up from 46.3 prior (and betyer than the expected 46.8) – but still in contraction (sub-50).
Given the notable slide in the US macro surprise index
“US manufacturing output has regained some encouraging momentum at the start of the second quarter, having stabilised in March after four months of decline.
“While the upturn is in part linked to greatly improved supply chains, helping reduce backlogs of orders, April also saw a welcome upturn in new order inflows for the first time since last September.
“Although only modest, the rise in new orders hints at a tentative revival of demand, notably from consumers but there are also signs that fewer customers are deliberately winding down their inventory levels.
“The brightening demand picture was accompanied by a lifting of business confidence about the outlook and increased hiring. The downside was a reigniting of inflationary pressures, with a stronger order book encouraging more firms to pass through higher costs to customers.”
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in April for the sixth consecutive month following a 28-month period of growth, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report.
“Of the six biggest manufacturing industries, two – Petroleum & Coal Products; and Transportation Equipment – registered growth in April.”
“New order rates remain sluggish as panelists remain concerned about when manufacturing growth will resume. Panelists’ comments registered a 1-to-1 ratio regarding optimism for future growth and continuing near-term demand declines. Supply chains are prepared and eager for growth, as panelists’ comments support reduced lead times for their more important purchases. Price instability remains and future demand is uncertain as companies continue to work down overdue deliveries and backlogs. Seventy-three percent of manufacturing gross domestic product (GDP) is contracting, up from 70 percent in March.
However, fewer industries contracted strongly; the proportion of manufacturing GDP with a composite PMI® calculation at or below 45 percent — a good barometer of overall manufacturing weakness — was 12 percent in April, compared to 25 percent in March,” says Fiore.
Prices Paid back above 50…
Source: Bloomberg
So ISM screams stagflation – no growth and higher prices.
III) USA ECONOMIC STORIES
FIRST REPUBLIC//FRIDAY NIGHT
This would be simply awful and a nightmare for the banking industry
(zerohedge)
JPMorgan, PNC To Buy First Republic After FDIC Seizure First Leaves Taxpayers Holding The Toxic Stuff
FRIDAY, APR 28, 2023 – 10:10 PM
Update (2210ET): As the weekend begins, the WSJ reports late on Friday that big banks including JPMorgan and PNC are set to buy First Republic Bank but not in a private, market-arranged deal but rather in a transaction that would follow a government seizure of the troubled lender. A seizure and sale of First Republic, which would wipe out the equity of FRC and potentially impose losses on creditors, could come as soon as this weekend, the WSJ sources said.
And so JPM, which is already the largest US bank is about to get even bigger, by scooping up all the good FRC assets while leaving US taxpayer holdings on to the toxic ones.
That said, it wasn’t immediately clear whether the $30 billion in deposits funneled by JPM and other banks into FRC will be treated as insured funds (why should they should be insured?), nor was it clear how a wipeout of this capital, which would spark a systemic crisis simply because the Fed is now running policy of “monetary tightening through bank collapse”, having failed to contain inflation and tighten policy using conventional means.
end
Sunday
With FRC Auction Results Imminent, Handicapping The Reported Bidders For First Republic
SUNDAY, APR 30, 2023 – 12:30 PM
By Todd Baker, Senior Fellow at the Richman Center for Business, Law & Public Policy at Columbia and the Managing Principal of Broadmoor Consulting LLC; first published on Medium
According to the collective wisdom of The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Reuters, there are five banks that have been asked to submit bids to the FDIC in this weekend’s rumored receivership sale of First Republic Bank. All can “afford” the bank with sufficient FDIC assistance, although a private deal is effectively impossible outside of a collective bid by the banks that provided $30 billion in emergency deposits last month.
Unlike most bank deals, this one won’t be fueled by cost cutting and branch closings. The key for bidders is finding a way to hold on to First Republic’s rainmakers and customer service model, which are the reason it has been so successful in acquiring and retaining wealthy customers. That means hitting the ground running with retention packages and active outreach to front line employees.
JP Morgan
It’s good to be the King, as Mel Brooks once said. JP Morgan has a large wealth management business and a deep presence in First Republic’s key California and New York markets. It has high customer satisfaction ratings in California tied in part to its acquisition of Washington Mutual in 2008. It also worked hard to help First Republic when the initial run happened and tried its best to find a private solution to the bank’s problems, so there should be some employee goodwill should JP Morgan be the winner. While generally prohibited from buying more deposits due to the 10% national deposit cap, it can do a deal like this with the FDIC. Can it integrate First Republic’s quirky culture and customer focus into its disciplined private banking behemoth? We stand a good chance of finding out as it is probably the favorite going into the auction.
Bank of America
It would be deeply ironic if Bank of America turned out to be the successful bidder. It owned First Republic Bank as a result of buying Merrill Lynch and sold it in 2010 because it didn’t fit in well with the bank’s own wealth management plans. Nevertheless, times change and the attractiveness of First Republic’s customer base is real for Bank of America asset management and Merrill Lynch business lines. One problem…Bank of America’s California customer satisfaction ratings are much lower than competitors’ (other than Wells Fargo) and many First Republic California customers came to the bank initially because they were dissatisfied with Bank of America.
PNC Bank
In many ways, this is the best fit for First Republic. PNC has relatively few operations in the Western US and only a small presence in New York, where First Republic has also been successful. That means fewer layoffs in a deal. Like many of the other potential bidders, it has made wealth management a focus and punches above its weight in that field. It will be most likely to value the existing First Republic high-touch business model and keep the revenue producers and other front line staff happy. An added bonus is geographic diversification coming into a credit downturn. I’d bet on PNC to either win or place in the auction.
US Bank
It seems unlikely for US Bank to be an active bidder because it is currently integrating its own acquisition of California-based Union Bank which closed at the end of last year. It has also faced criticism about its relatively low capital levels which might make a large transaction challenging. Finally, First Republic’s huge California single family jumbo loan portfolio might be too much to handle given the size of a similar loan portfolio acquired by US Bank in the Union Bank deal.
Citizens Bank
Citizens would be a real dark horse winner, but like PNC it has no geographic overlap to speak of so it would be likely to keep all the front line staff and a significant part of the back office functions. It recently acquired Investors Bancorp to strengthen its New York to Philadelphia presence, as well as HSBC’s East Coast branches and national online deposit business. The introduction of First Republic’s customer-service model into those geographies could be a winner, as could increasing the geographic diversity of Citizens’ loan portfolio with addition of California.
end
MONDAY MORNING:
Republic bank seized by FDIC: sold to the crooks JPMorgan! Now everyone will now focus on the big elephant in the room:
real estate in which losses in the uSA exceed trillion of dollars (zerohedge)
Second Largest US Bank Failure In History: First Republic Bank Seized By FDIC, Sold To JPMorgan
MONDAY, MAY 01, 2023 – 07:33 AM
Heading into the weekend, US regulators were facing a dilemma over the fate of First Republic Bank: either let the insolvent California bank fail and bail-in some (or all) of the $30 billion in uninsured rescue deposits given to the bank by a consortium of banks including JPMorgan, BofA, Goldman and others so as not to appear like the Biden admin is bailing-out big, bad banks again a la 2008, but in the process restarting the bank run panic as an impairment of all bank depositors would reverse Janet Yellen’s vow not to do just that in the aftermath of the SVB collapse, orbail out FRC including all of its depositors, both retail and institutional, insured and uninsured, and spark a fresh political crisis where republicans accuse democrats of rescuing Jamie Dimon and his banker pals.
In the end, early on Monday morning, the US unveiled a hybrid solution – after all other attempts at a private rescue effort failed – one where the FDIC would seize the insolvent First Republic, the 14th largest US bank by assets, making it the second biggest bank failure in US history, and immediately sell the bulk of its assets and all of its deposits to JPMorgan after a sham but “highly competitive bidding process” had taken place over the weekend (one in which virtually nobody wanted to participate as nobody would buy FRC without explicit government backstops, which in the end is precisely what they ended up getting on FRC’s IO and CRE loan portfolio) while keeping FRC’s toxic Interest-only mortgages to Hamptons’ billionaires.
According to the FDIC announcement, JPMorgan would assume all of First Republic’s $92 billion in deposits — insured and uninsured, including the $5 billion in deposits given by JPM to First Republic on March 16. It is also buying most of the bank’s assets, including about $173 billion in loans and $30 billion in securities.
As part of the agreement, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will share losses with JPMorgan on First Republic’s loans. The agency estimated that its insurance fund would take a hit of $13 billion in the deal, which is precisely the hole that prevented a private sector solution from being reached. JPMorgan also said it would receive $50 billion in financing from the FDIC to consummate the deal.
More importantly, the FDIC and JPMorgan also entered into a “loss-share transaction on single family, residential and commercial loans it purchased from the former First Republic Bank.” As part of this transaction, the FDIC as receiver and JPMorgan will share in the losses and potential recoveries on the loans covered by the loss-share agreement.
The loss-share transaction, the FDIC said, is projected to maximize recoveries on the assets by keeping them in the private sector, and “is also expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. In addition, JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, will assume all Qualified Financial Contracts.”
The second largest US bank failure in history become a fact after the San Francisco-based First Republic lost $100 billion in deposits in a March run following the collapse of fellow Bay Area lender Silicon Valley Bank, a testament to the catastrophic supervision of the Mary Daly-led San Fran Fed, which was more worried about rainbow flags and DEI than making sure banks in its regions were, you know, solvent. It limped along for weeks after a group of America’s biggest banks came to its rescue with a $30 billion deposit. Those deposits will be repaid after the deal closes, JPMorgan said.
And with the collapse of FRC, three of the four largest-ever U.S. bank failures have occurred in the past two months. First Republic, with some $233 billion in assets at the end of the first quarter, ranks just behind the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual. Rounding out the top four are Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, a New York-based lender that also failed in March.
Meanwhile, just as we said a month ago when we joked that the regional bank crisis is meant to make JPM even bigger and more systematically important than ever, as it pays just 0.01% on its deposits as it remains the only truly “safe” bank for US depositors, in effect collecting a $90 billion annual subsidy courtesy of its TBTF status…
… both First Republic and Washington Mutual are now substantially owned by JPMorgan. The nation’s largest bank, it has been known to step in during banking crises. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon was pivotal in earlier efforts to rescue First Republic.
“Our government invited us and others to step up, and we did,” Dimon said Monday.
Following the transaction, First Republic’s 84 branches will reopen as part of JPMorgan Monday during normal business hours, and customers will have full access to their deposits, the FDIC said.
As the WSJ notes, First Republic’s failure seems unlikely to spur another crisis of confidence in the Main Street lenders that serve a large chunk of America’s businesses and consumers. Regional lenders uniformly lost deposits during the first quarter, but the declines were modest compared with First Republic’s $100 billion outflow.
“This is the last stages of that initial panic. First Republic’s problems started as a result of SVB and Signature,” said Steven Kelly, a senior researcher at the Yale Program on Financial Stability. “This isn’t the story of 2008, where one bank went down and investors focused on the next biggest bank, which would wobble.”
Actually, it is, because only now does the solvency crisis courtesy of trillions in commercial real estate on bank books start to manifest itself, as we also warned it will. But it will take a while for that to trickle down to the rest of the population.
As for the immediate cause of First Republic’s collapse, just like in the case of Silicon Valley Bank, was a smartphone-enabled exodus of panicked depositors with big uninsured balances, but the bank’s problems were rooted in a wrong-way bet on interest rates. A focus on America’s coastal elite helped First Republic become one of the most valuable U.S. banking franchises. Big deposits from customers with lots of cash funded low-rate jumbo mortgages to wealthy home buyers in both California and New York. Ultralow interest rates and a pandemic savings boom supercharged the bank’s growth.
When the Fed began raising interest rates last year to cool inflation, customers began demanding higher yields to keep their money at First Republic. Rising rates also dented the value of loans the bank made when rates were near zero.
The chronic problem turned into an acute one in March, when the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sparked fears about the overlooked risks lurking in the banking system. Investors and customers were especially worried about banks, such as First Republic, that relied heavily on uninsured deposits and had large unrealized losses in their loan and securities portfolios due to rising rates.
“It was a run on the business model,” Kelly said.
First Republic’s badly damaged balance sheet left it with few good options. In a dismal quarterly-earnings report last week, the bank disclosed the extent of the deposit run and said it had filled the hole on its balance sheet with expensive loans from the Federal Reserve and Federal Home Loan Bank. An untenable future, in which it earned less on its loans than it paid on liabilities, appeared all but certain. The earnings report sent the bank’s stock down nearly 50% in one day. First Republic shares ended the week at $3.51. They closed at $115 on March 8, the day before SVB’s disastrous run. They traded around $1.9 in the premarket following news of the FDIC seizure which effectively wipes out the equity.
AS the WSJ notes, while some employees started jumping ship after SVB’s collapse, many stayed and watched the bank’s stock crater last week and frantically texted friends about how they feared the bank would go under soon. Some said they wished management had provided clearer communication about where the bank was headed.
Business had grown quieter since the banking turmoil started, current and former employees said. First Republic bankers who previously focused on luring in deposits found there was little they could do to reverse the tide when customers started pulling cash. Pay took a hit too: Bankers were compensated in part by how much in customer deposits they brought to the bank.
In a pair of emails late Friday and Saturday morning, CEO Michael Roffler and Executive Chairman Jim Herbert thanked First Republic employees for staying focused during the turmoil.
“Throughout our history and in these past weeks, we have done what we always do—serve our clients, support our communities, and take care of one another,” Roffler wrote. “When we come in next week, we will continue to do the same.”
Hoping that the bank crisis is over now that First Republic has been tucked away, the US Treasury issued a statement on Monday morning after the deal was announced, saying that the US banking system remains sound, resilient, and with the ability “to fulfill its essential function of providing credit to businesses and families.”
The good news is that we will very soon test just how resilient the banking system is after the full extent of the CRE crisis become evident over the coming year.
end
It is just the opposite: things are not going well as JPMorgan swoops up and buys all regional banks
(zerohedge)
JPM CEO Says “System Is Very, Very Sound” After Second Largest US Bank Failure In History
MONDAY, MAY 01, 2023 – 07:33 AM
Update (0835ET): After another massive bank failure – and taxpayer-funded bailout – JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told listeners on an investor call this morning that “The system is very, very sound.”
Doesn’t seem like it Jamie, old chap?
But hey, whatever you say now as the CEO of a bank that holds over 10% of America’s deposits.
“We need large, successful banks in the largest economy,” Dimon continued, proclaiming that “this is nothing like ’08 or ’09.”
Well he is right, in so much as this is far larger… and we really don’t know where the CRE holes on bank balance sheets are (even as Charlie Munger warns they are everywhere).
The good news, Dimon declares regarding bank failures, “this is getting near the end of it.” Thought how he would know that is hard to comprehend?
Finally, the too-biggest-to-fail bank CEO warned, “we are clearly gong to see some reduction in bank lending,” implying JPMorgan will be doing “God’s work” for The Fed by contracting credit without the need for rate-hikes.
For now, it’s clear what the market thinks of JPM’s state-sponsored buyout of FRC assets…
Dimon’s closing comments were the most prophetic, stating that they “support community banks” and that “banks will consolidate.” Of course they will, once the banks are pushed into FDIC hands and assets scooped up by JPM with govt bankstops…
Translation: We will wait for the bank run (thanks Fed for the hike to 5.25%) to cripple them all, then buy them all for cents on the dollar with the FDIC keeping the toxic crap.
end
El-Erian Warns Of “Collateral Damage & Unintended Consequences” Of JPM’s Sponsored Buyout Of FRC
Lots will be written on the rise and fall of First Republic Bank. Its customer service was legendary in the banking system, as was its list of rich clients with ample deposits and a healthy appetite for issuing jumbo mortgages to highly creditworthy borrowers. Yet it went from being admired to being seized by regulators and sold to another bank.
What emerged on Monday morning was far from perfect, despite weeks of discussions and posturing. What we have are US government institutions caught up in the policy implications of a “second best” world — that is, the repeated inability to come up with an optimal solution. What’s emerged will come with collateral damage and unintended consequences.
First Republic found itself in a similar situation to Silicon Valley Bank, which was shut down by regulators in March. Its failure to manage an interest rate mismatch on its balance sheet ultimately crippled it as deposits flew out the door in response to the earlier bank failures. Its vulnerability was amplified by the Federal Reserve’s initial mischaracterization of inflation as transitory, the failure to take timely measures, and the inevitably highly concentrated set of hikes that followed.
The inevitable assessments of First Republic’s failure are also likely to point to significant lapses in bank supervision and regulation — the type of failures that were detailed last Friday in a report by the Fed that, refreshingly and encouragingly, saw the central bank finally take ownership of a mistake and seek to learn from it. Unlike other major central banks, it had repeatedly failed to do so when it comes to monetary policy.
First Republic became increasingly fragile as the contraction in deposits worsened funding costs, deepened a capital hole, and plummeted its stock price by around 95%. That was the bad news. The good news was that, at least on paper, there was a constructive alignment of incentives among the main actors in the bank resolution process.
Having already lost three institutions, the banking system as a whole desperately needed an orderly resolution for First Republic that minimized the risk of further disruptions.
This was not just the case for regional and community banks where the risks of flighty deposits and duration mismatches were under a bright spotlight. It was also the case for the 11 larger banks as they had injected tens of billions of deposits into First Republic in an earlier attempt to stabilize the situation.
It was also the case for regulators, especially the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Fed. The FDIC wanted to avoid being on the hook for financial losses and having to dispose of yet another bank’s assets and liabilities; and the Fed did not want to trigger yet again the “systemic risk” clause to allow for an extension of deposit insurance to theoretically uninsured deposits. The Fed was also keen to keep the door open for the policy “separation principle” that has interest rate policy aimed at inflation reduction and other tools used for financial stability.
Despite this alignment, it took weeks for a solution to emerge. And when it did, it involved unfavorable spillovers, as well as having one of the nation’s biggest and most dominant bank – JPMorgan – becoming even more so. With this comes the further evolution of the largest financial institutions from major sources of systemic risk to stabilizers of the system itself. Moreover, and also departing from the previous conventional wisdom, the bigger and more diversified banks are now being considered “safer” than the narrow banks which have either no or a very limited range of capital market activities that have traditionally been viewed as a source of financial stability risk.
The solution that emerged early Monday morning deals with the immediate threat of a disorderly failure of First Republic and, therefore, does not fuel the already uncomfortable risk of possible additional disruptions to other regional and community banks.
Yet the potential collateral damage and the unintended consequences are far from immaterial.
Four stand out in particular.
First, the US now has a more concentrated banking system, with what was once viewed not so long ago as “too big to fail”/”too big to manage” banks becoming larger.
Second, there is even greater doubt about the nature of the de facto deposit insurance system in place.
Third, the compositional risk within the banking system of less credit extending into the economy will continue, potentially aggravating the headwinds to high and inclusive growth.
Finally, the total cost of First Republic’s resolution remains to be assessed, including how the burden be shared among the public and private sectors and, with that, the extent of the “bailout” for the 11 banks that had large deposits with First Republic.
The US economy continues to suffer from too many years of easy money, and the subsequent mishandling of the rate hiking cycle and lapses in supervision and regulation. With that comes the ever-present risk of collateral damage and unintended consequences given that first best policy responses are no longer available.
end
This is dangerous!! Blackstone’s BREIT suffers its sixth consecutive month of withdrawals as CRE deteriorates
(Blackstone/zerohedge)
Blackstone’s BREIT Suffers Sixth Consecutive Month Of Withdraws As CRE Deteriorates
MONDAY, MAY 01, 2023 – 02:20 PM
Blackstone has limited investor redemption requests from its $70 billion real estate trust for high-net wealth investors for six consecutive months while storm clouds gather over commercial real estate markets.
According to an investor letter published Monday, the CRE giant and the world’s largest commercial landlord said investors asked to pull out more than $4.5 billion in April from Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT). Out of the request, the firm only allowed $1.3 billion to be withdrawn, or approximately 29% of the amount requested.
The firm restricts withdrawals to about 5% a quarter, or about 2% monthly caps, leaving investors with a narrower path out of the non-trade REIT.
“We remain confident that BREIT’s portfolio will continue to be well-positioned to deliver strong long-term performance and consistent distributions, while providing investors access to the diversification benefits of high-quality real estate as a core portfolio holding,” Blackstone told investors.
However, if this were the case, why do BREIT investors continue to panic exit? Recall last December, Blackstone sent a letter to financial advisors to keep their clients calm. Read the bizarre letter here.
The continued high level of withdrawal requests is an ominous sign that investors are limiting their exposure to the CRE space, as higher borrowing costs risk sending some commercial property values into a tailspin. We’ve pointed out (“New “Big Short” Hits Record Low As Focus Turns To $400 Billion CRE Debt Maturity Wall“) that the regional banking crisis kick-started the coming CRE turmoil. JPM, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs have all joined the CRE gloom parade.
Despite the cracks in the CRE’s office space sector, Blackstone asserts that BREIT has “virtually no exposure” to struggling office buildings and malls and emphasizes it has a strong balance sheet.
Still, investors want out of BREIT. The latest BofA Fund Managers Survey (available to pro subs in the usual place) shows institutional players are most bearish on real estate since 2009.
end
Crowding-Out. The Fed May Be Killing The Private Sector To Save Government
The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet reached its all-time high in May 2022.
Since then, it was supposed to drop at a steady pace and shed three trillion US dollars by 2024.
The normalization of monetary policy was built on the idea of a soft landing for the economy. However, the Fed may be killing the private sector to save the government.
Curbing inflation requires a significant reduction in the money supply and aggregate demand. However, if government deficit spending is left untouched, the entire burden of normalizing monetary policy will fall on families and businesses.
The current situation is the worst possible.
The Fed’s balance sheet is not falling as fast as it should; government spending has not even been scratched, but the money supply is falling at the fastest pace since the 1930s, and rate hikes are hurting the productive economy while the government seems unaware of the need to reduce its bloated budget.
The first-quarter GDP figure is extremely concerning.
Government spending showed yet another big rise at +4.7%, much higher than expected. However, consumption, at +3.7% annualized, was well below estimates and driven by a worrying new record in credit card debt.
Even more concerning, gross private domestic investment fell by a massive 12.5%.
There is robust evidence of a negative trend in the real economy.
Rising federal expenditure, more bureaucracy, higher taxes, and weaker activity in the part of the economy that drives growth and jobs
Rate hikes have two direct negative effects on the economy if the government does not reduce its deficit spending spree. They mean higher taxes and a massive crowding out of available credit. The government deficit is always going to be financed, even if it is at higher rates, but this also means less credit for businesses and families. The crowding-out effect of the public sector over the productive economy means lower productivity growth, weaker investment, and declining real wages as the government keeps inflation above target by spending additional units of newly created currency, but the productive sectors find it harder and more expensive to find credit. Additionally, the government borrows at a much lower cost than even the most efficient and profitable businesses.
It is impossible to achieve a soft landing for the economy when the Federal Reserve ignores the signals of the banking system and the real economy. The first pillar of a true soft landing must be to preserve the real disposable income of workers and the job creation and investment capabilities of businesses.
When the government continues to increase spending, there is no signal of the mildest budgetary control, and the entire “landing” comes from the private sector, what we get is upside-down economics.
The Federal Reserve has stopped paying attention to monetary aggregates just as the money supply is contracting at an almost historic pace. Even worse, the money supply is contracting but federal deficit spending is untouched, and the debt ceiling was raised again.
The money supply is collapsing due to the inevitable credit crunch and the difficulties faced by consumers and businesses.
It is impossible to grow with rising taxes, persistent inflation—a tax in itself—and carrying the entire burden of the normalization of monetary policy.
Fighting inflation without cutting government spending is like reducing weight without eliminating fattening foods.
END
This should tell you a lot; Lazard, a huge bank is set to cut 10% of jobs amid M and slowdown
(zerohedge)
“Time To Act:” Lazard To Cut 10% Of Jobs Amid M&A Slowdown
FRIDAY, APR 28, 2023 – 03:05 PM
Investment bank Lazard Ltd on Friday announced plans to shrink its workforce by 10% this year, following a decline in dealmaking activity in the first quarter.
“Candidly, things are not feeling as good as they were in December or January,” Chief Executive Officer Ken Jacobs told Bloomberg. He stressed, “It’s time to act. That’s basically it.”
The first quarter of 2023 was the slowest start to global dealmaking since 2013, as rising interest rates and elevated inflation soured the mood in capital markets.
According to Bloomberg data, on Wall Street, investment-banking fees across the top five firms plunged 49% last year. This resulted in a first-quarter financial-advisory revenue decline of 29% from a year ago, to 274 million, which missed analysts’ estimates of $296 million. Asset-management revenue slid 15% to $265 million. There was also a surprise first-quarter loss of 22.2 million, or 27 cents a share, compared with a profit of $113.9 million, or $1.05 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting a profit of 32 cents a share.
Lazard incurred a $21 charge in the first quarter, and the investment bank expects an additional $95 million in charges.
“We are implementing cost-saving initiatives to right-size for the current environment and provide flexibility to strategically invest in our business,” Jacobs said.
As of March, Lazard had a workforce of approximately 3,400.
Jacobs expects other investment banks will reduce headcount this year as the dealmaking environment remains muted. Bankers have also been slashing bonuses (read: here & here).
end
Please!! read this!! A must read
(Eric Peters)
“Fed Wishes It Had Shut Down Reverse Repo Which Is Making The Bank Run Worse… But It Didn’t, And Now It’s Too Late”
SUNDAY, APR 30, 2023 – 08:30 PM
By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management
“The Policy on Counterparties for Market Operations has been updated to clarify that, in addition to implementing monetary policy, broader policy goals including fostering financial stability and ensuring bank safety and soundness, are considered when reviewing a prospective or existing counterparty,” wrote the NY Fed on their website.
And of course, on the surface, that’s the most boring quote I’ve ever opened with. Truly. But how about this?
“SEC registered 2a-7 funds that, in the sole judgement of the New York Fed, are organized for a single beneficial owner, or exhibit sufficient similarities to a fund so organized, generally will be deemed ineligible to access reverse repo operations.”
More boring. For sure.
They concluded with this beauty: “These updates are intended to clarify the New York Fed’s existing counterparty management practices and do not impact the participation of current reverse repo counterparties.”
My favorite word here is “clarify,” which suggests their policy was misunderstood. In fact, it was perfectly understood.
So understood that the Fed needed to clarify to investors that accelerating the banking crisis is in nobody’s interest, especially not the Fed.
But to appreciate such subtleties you must waste decades of the most productive years of your life reading these intentionally mind-numbing statements. Like I have. Do it long enough, you succumb to Stockholm Syndrome.
So, to save you a life of torture, let me translate: The Fed introduced the reverse repo policy (RRP) in 2014 when they lost control of market operations at the zero lower bound. But after losing control of inflation, they hiked interest rates so fast it sparked a bank run.
Now, investors are pulling cash from banks to buy money-market funds that invest in risk-free high-yielding reverse repos.
This exacerbates the bank run, and contracts credit in the economy. Which scares investors into selling risk assets to park more cash in reverse repos.
And our central bankers wish they’d seen this coming and shut the program years ago. But they didn’t and it’s too late. So instead, they “clarified” their intent, and will probably build another complex program on top of something that should no longer exist. And/or slash interest rates. In the hope of regaining control.
Even as it slips away.
end
There were 70 major bankruptcies in the last 4months
(Mish Shedlock)
There Were 70 Major Bankruptcies In Just 4 Months This Year
“Thank you to all of our loyal customers,” Bed Bath & Beyond said in a message posted to social media on Monday. “We have made the difficult decision to begin winding down our operations. Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuy BABY stores remain open to serve you.”
According to the retailer’s website, “deep discount” store closing sales are expected to begin in stores and online beginning Wednesday, and “all purchases during our store closing sales will be final.”
According to the retailer, Bed Bath & Beyond websites, along with 360 brick-and-mortar stores and 120 buybuy BABY locations will “remain open and continue serving customers as the Company begins its efforts to effectuate the closure of its retail locations.”
In Illinois, only eight Bed Bath & Beyond stores remain open, along with five buybuy BABY stores. Earlier this year, Bed Bath & Beyond announced closures of 19 stores across Illinois, many of them in the Chicago area.
Deep Discounts, No Coupons
Bed Bath and Beyond is no longer accepting coupons. Gift cards and loyalty certificates are still valid. All sales are final.
“An increasing number of brides are opting for less traditional wedding attire, including thrift wedding dresses,” David’s Bridal said in a bankruptcy filing. “These shifting consumer preferences have significantly exacerbated” the company’s financial crunch.
“The demand for formal wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, and related accessories has decreased substantially in the current environment,” the company said in its filing.
David’s Bridal will keep its nearly 300 stores and website operating and fulfill all customer orders as it searches for a buyer for the company. It will also honor gift cards, returns and exchanges. But if David’s Bridal is not able to find a buyer, it could have to close all stores and liquidate.
The company has around 10,000 full and part-time employees, but last week it said it was laying off 9,000 workers.
David’s Bridal, the successor to a bridal retailing business that began as a single bridal salon in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in 1950, said approximately 25% of brides in the United States wear one of its gowns at their wedding.
Nonstore Retail Sales as Percent of Advance Retail Sales
To create the chart I subtracted food, gasoline, motor vehicles, and items one does not normally buy online, then took the nonstore percentage of what remained.
Not only have consumer preferences shifted on what people buy, preferences have shifted in the way people buy.
The percentage of shopping online has been steadily rising but the Covid pandemic goosed the trend. It’s about four percentage points above the prior trend.
Amazon was the big beneficiary. It explains Amazon’s earnings report. Nonetheless, not all is well with Amazon.
Amazon began notifying Amazon Web Services and human resources employees impacted by its latest round of layoffs on Wednesday, as the company continues to trim headcount to cut costs.
The layoffs are part of the 9,000-person corporate workforce reduction announced by the company in March. The cuts mostly affect AWS, human resources (which Amazon calls PXT, for People Experience and Technology), Amazon Advertising, and Twitch.
Amazon in January announced a 18,000-person layoff, the largest in the Seattle company’s history. The additional 9,000 layoffs bring the total to 27,000 job cuts, about 8% of Amazon’s corporate workforce, which previously numbered around 350,000 people.
The company has trimmed back and eliminated several products, services, and entire businesses over the past year to help cut expenses, including its Scout neighborhood delivery robots, its Amazon Care primary healthcare business, bricks-and-mortar Amazon bookstores, and others. Amazon said Wednesday that it was shutting down its Halo health devices and service.
The economy is slowing fast. A rise in unemployment will follow,
end
Vultures circling the wagon as they bet against the survival of REITS
(zerohedge0
Vultures Circling: Bearish Bets Against REITs Soar As CRE Meltdown Risks Mount
SUNDAY, APR 30, 2023 – 02:00 PM
As storm clouds gather over the commercial real estate market, it faces ever-darker prospects by the week. Short-seller vultures are circling above CRE REITs, targeting these investment vehicles with significant exposures to office, retail, and hotel with massive bearish bets on the hope “more borrowers will default on office debt as interest costs increase and property values fall,” as reported by Bloomberg.
New data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence shows short interest in some of the largest REITs with exposure to commercial properties, Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc. and Starwood Property Trust Inc., have soared in recent weeks.
Hedge funds are making bearish bets in the credit derivatives and equities spaces on the premise remote and hybrid work will continue to paralyze demand for tier 2 and 3 properties and crush landlords. Data from broker Cushman & Wakefield indicates office vacancy rates are rising at alarming rates.
The gold-standard measure of office occupancy trends is the card-swipe data provided by Kastle Systems. The average office occupancy nationwide is around 46%, still well off the highs from pre-pandemic levels.
The problem now is borrowers lack new tenants, which means default risk increases and negatively impacts REITs. These investment vehicles generate revenue from the spread between their capital costs and the interest rates charged to borrowers for loans.
Gavriel Kahane, the co-founder of real estate investment firm Arkhouse, warned there’s mounting concern among top investors about “ballooning defaults on held loans” due partly to higher refinancing costs. He noted:
“Mortgage REITs in general do better when the Fed funds rate stays constant, and in this hyper-turbulent environment distress bubbles up.”
The surge in bearish bets is an ominous sign market participants recognize the CRE space is headed for severe pain. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported a delinquency rate on office loans across all lenders climbed to 2.7% at the end of 2022, up from 1.6% in the previous quarter. We suspect that the rate will continue to rise throughout this year.
Bloomberg noted, “Office loans are a minority of the portfolios for the mortgage REITs that are being shorted.”
We highlighted the next big short: BBB- tranches of CMBX Series 15, due to its outsized exposure to office commercial real estate…
BBB- tranches of CMBX Series 15 is sliding again.
We also cautioned about a large maturity wall in the CRE sector, with $400 billion of debt due this year. Morgan Stanley data shows $2.5 trillion in CRE debt comes due over the next five years.
“We expect private equity and commercial real estate to suffer as regional banks were disproportionate funders of these sectors and the crisis has shut leveraged lending primary markets for the time being,” fund managers James Hanbury and Jamie Grimston of Brook Asset Management wrote in a letter to investors seen by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, CRE Billionaire Sam Zell recently told New York University graduate students that remote work is a “bunch of bullshit” and that they should dismiss the idea of working from home. It might be hard for Zell to persuade folks to return to the office. These work trends seem permanent and will exert pressure on the CRE space, with mounting risks of a default wave. The dominos appear to be already falling.
end
END
USA COVID//
END
SWAMP STORIES
this will be hugely problematic if Biden continue to endorse Sanders leftist policies
(zerohedge)
Bernie Sanders: Government Should Confiscate All Wealth Over $999 Million
That’s the newly proclaimed policy of Bernie Sanders, who most definitely is not challenging the Democrats to nominate him for president in 2024, as he did in 2020. Nope, Bernie is perfectly comfortable with the policies being followed by President Biden’s handlers.
Presumably, in exchange for not rocking the boat as he did in 2020, forcing the party’s controllers to pick an already senescent Joe Biden just because he was easy to control with all these bribes that could be exposed when needed (cough! Stay tuned as Biden’s desire for re-election now appears to be a kamikaze mission), Bernie has assurances that the hard left vector will continue no matter who is leading the party as presidential nominee in 2024.
Bernie Sanders’s choice of $999 million as the permissible level of wealth and no more brings to mind Barack Obama’s words: “I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”
Of course, once such a wealth confiscation is announced, billionaires will depart for friendlier shores, there will be very little left to confiscate, and entrepreneurs will be creating jobs and wealth elsewhere.
That’s what happened when France tried a wealth tax, and that’s why it was repealed.
Watch as Bernie defines ”enough” to Chris Wallace of CNN:
WALLACE: “Sir, you’re saying that billionaires should not exist. So, are you basically saying that once you get to $999 million, that the government should confiscate all the rest?”
SANDERS: “I’m saying that we should go back to a very progressive tax policy like what we had under Dwight D. Eisenhower.”
WALLACE: “Which would mean that — that — over a billion, basically it all goes to the government?”
SANDERS: “You may disagree with me, but — fine, yeah, I think people can make it on $999 million.”
Bernie, who is himself worth $3 million, according to GoBankingRates, previously criticized both millionaires and billionaires, but now only opposes those worth over a billion dollars.
Sanders, alongside Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) had introduced new legislation in April, called the “For the 99.5 Percent Act,” which was announced on Sanders’ Senate website.
END
Special thanks to Robert H for sending this to us:
The Fox Network’s firing of Tucker Carlson last week at first seems surprising. He was the station’s biggest attraction. He was close to President Trump and was able to interview him on his program. Getting ridding of him is a surefire way to lose ratings and money, and television networks don’t like to do that. In addition, his fans are angry, which will make even more trouble for Fox. Why then was he removed? The answer is simple. He raised issues you aren’t allowed to mention. He went after the CIA, saying he had information from an inside source the agency was involved in the Kennedy assassination. He was a vaccine skeptic and spoke about the interests of Big Pharma in killing us. The deep state couldn’t allow this. Therefore he had to go, and, we predict, he will be lucky if he isn’t arrested on some fraudulent charge.
Here is one of the things that Tucker Carlson said on April 19 that the toxic left would like to throw down the Orwellian memory hole: “The channels took hundreds of millions of dollars from Big Pharma companies and then they shelled for their sketchy products on the air and as they did that, they maligned anyone who was skeptical of those products. At the very least, this was a moral crime. It was disgusting, but it was universal. It happened across the American news media. They all did it.
So, at this point, the question isn’t who in public life is corrupt? Too many to count. The question is who is telling the truth? There are not many of those. One of them is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Robert Kennedy knew early that the COVID vaccines were both ineffective and potentially dangerous and he said so in public to the extent he was allowed. Science has since proven Robert f. Kennedy Jr. right. Unequivocally right.
But Kennedy was not rewarded for this. He was vilified. He was censored because he dared to criticize their advertisers, the news media called Bobby Kennedy a Nazi, and then they attacked his family, but he kept doing it. He was not intimidated and we were glad he wasn’t. This is one of those moments when it’s nice to have a truth teller around. It’s helpful because suddenly the stakes are very high.” See this.
The heroic Michael Rectenwald exposes the corrupt Big Pharma interests behind Tucker’s ouster: “Tucker’s show was no doubt a leading money-maker for the network, or a major means for paying the damages. Why would Fox get rid of an income generator like Tucker Carlson just as the bill came due? The answer is that Fox is not as concerned about making money as it is about being a faithful servant of the regime.
Tucker crossed significant establishment redlines and has finally suffered the consequences. He consistently argued that that the ruling elite hates the majority and consistently attacks it, that national sovereignty is being eroded, and that the electorate is being replaced. The redlines included his criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky and the U.S. involvement in the Ukrainian war, his criticism of the covid responses that destroyed the economy, his questioning of the vaccines, and his targeting by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for various ‘offenses.’
In February, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Fox Corporation (FOXA). BlackRock now owns 15.1 percent of the company. BlackRock’s enhanced position in Fox Corporation explains, in part, the Tucker dismissal, and it was a dismissal, not Tucker’s choice.
Why would BlackRock, headed by CEO Larry Fink, pressure Fox News to axe Tucker? For one, Tucker was known for his scathing criticism of Ukraine’s corruption, which put him at odds with the investment giant. In January, Carlson reacted derisively to a video of Ukrainian President Zelensky thanking BlackRock, J.P. Morgan, and Goldman Sachs for ‘rebuilding’ the country. Tucker referred to Zelensky, not as a hero, as the establishment would have it, but as a dictator. Carlson has also been critical of BlackRock’s push for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, claiming, rightly, that ESG is a means of circumventing legislation and thus subverting democratic processes. ESG thwarts the will of the people and installs a ‘climate change’ dictatorship in its place.
BlackRock also has enormous holdings in pharmaceuticals companies, as one of the three largest shareholders of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck. And Tucker recently interviewed Robert Kennedy, Jr. A presidential candidate, Kennedy has lambasted the covid-19 vaccines as ‘deadly and worthless.’
Perhaps most significant was the ADL’s calls for Tucker’s removal. Tucker consistently claimed that the Democratic Party is attempting to replace the American electorate with illegal immigrants and the ADL called for Tucker to be de-platformed for holding to ‘the Great Replacement Theory,’ as well as other views that the ADL forbids. The ADL had consistently pushed for Tucker’s dismissal. On The Megyn Kelly Show, after Kelly noted that the ADL was once again pushing for Tucker’s firing, Tucker said, ‘f—- them.’ And Tucker struck back at the ADL on his own show.
Following Tucker’s dismissal, the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt celebrated Tucker’s firing on Twitter, where he also accused Tucker of spewing ‘antisemitic, racist, xenophobic and anti-LGBTQ hate to millions.’ He also acknowledged that the ADL had ‘long called for his firing’:
‘It’s about time. For far too long, Tucker Carlson has used his primetime show to spew antisemitic, racist, xenophobic and anti-LGBTQ hate to millions. @ADL has long called for his firing for this and many other offenses, including spreading the Great Replacement Theory’.
The Dominion defamation suit was not the impetus for the removal of Tucker Carlson from the Fox News line-up. Nor did Tucker walk out of Fox on his own accord. Tucker was axed by the regime’s henchmen, who work together to silence dissent, pummel the population with endless propaganda, and gaslight their victims with lies that represent the precise inverse of the truth. As a propaganda apparatus of the ruling class, Fox News is not primarily interested in profit. Its raison d’être is to serve as controlled opposition. And Tucker was out of the establishment’s control.
‘The media,’ Tucker recently said, ‘are part of the control apparatus…not only are they part of the problem, but I spent most of my life being part of the problem, defending the Iraq War, like I actually did that.’ That is, Tucker came to recognize that the media are ideological state apparatuses whose functions are to indoctrinate, mislead, and support the reigning regime and their narratives, whether past, present, or future. Tucker attempted to subvert those media functions and became a danger to the regime. It is no wonder that he no longer works for Fox News. The question is how he lasted so long.
As Rectenwald points out, Tucker has challenged the plot of brain-dead Biden and his gang on neocon controllers to start a nuclear war with Russia over the Ukraine: He said last October: “The question of who blew up Russia’s energy pipelines to Europe, which is not just a question in the news, it’s a historical question, we’ve addressed it a couple of times already, is not really much of a question anymore. So, on television, they’re assuring you that obviously the Russians did it. Vladimir Putin sabotaged his own pipelines.
With his nation at war, Putin intentionally destroyed Russia’s most vital national asset. Now why, you ask yourself, would Putin do that? Well, because…actually no one’s explained why Putin would do something like that. Bad people do bad things. That seems to be the idea.
The Biden administration is responsible, either directly or through proxies, for the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines and the environmental catastrophe and the economic collapse that will certainly follow. That is true. It’s done.
So the question is, where does that leave us? And that’s the problem. This act leaves us, the United States, with no option but total war with Russia. There is no off-ramp now. There is no way out. We are all in, no matter what that means, no matter where it goes.
Are you shocked by this? Was there a vote on this? Did someone ask your opinion? No, but it’s been happening for months in slow motion. It’s been hidden from public view by the near-total blackout imposed by America media outlets so you probably didn’t know any of the details. For example, in March, the Turkish government tried to broker a peace in Ukraine and they came very, very close. Wasn’t reported widely.
Ukraine was prepared to guarantee neutrality, meaning it would not join NATO. That’s what the Russians wanted above all and in return for that, the Russian government would withdraw its forces from Ukraine and that might have been a neat solution, certainly for the rest of us. The global economy wouldn’t need to be destroyed. Nobody would die in a nuclear war. Negotiations to that point advanced to the stage that Vladimir Putin pledged to meet with Zelenskyy to sign a peace treaty and Zelenskyy was ready for it, too and we’re quoting, “I’m ready for a dialog,” he announced, but sadly, Zelenskyy could not act alone. Despite what you may hear on NBC News, Zelenskyy is not the independent leader of a democratic nation. No, not even close. That is a fiction.
Zelenskyy is a client of the Biden administration, which runs his country, and ideologues within the Biden administration did not want a negotiated peace in Ukraine. They wanted all along and it’s very clear now a regime change war against Russia. Period.
Tucker Carlson also told the truth about the CIA and the Kennedy assassination: In a remarkable television broadcast on December 15, 2022, Tucker Carlson made an explosive charge. He pointed out that, contrary to law, the White House was refusing to release thousands of pages of documents about the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Carlson said that these documents proved CIA involvement in the assassination and that someone within the government who had looked at these documents made a direct statement to this effect.
1992, Congress passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act. That act mandated full disclosure of all documents by 2017, 54 years after JFK was killed. The last administration promised to comply fully with that law. But under intense pressure from CIA Director Mike Pompeo, withheld, in the end, thousands of pages of CIA documents.
Today, this afternoon, the Biden administration did exactly the same thing. That would be thousands of pages of documents after nearly 60 years, after the death of every single person involved. But we still can’t see them. Clearly, it’s not to protect any person. They’re all dead. It’s to protect an institution. But why?
Well, today we decided to find out. We spoke to someone who had access to these still hidden CIA documents, a person who was deeply familiar with what they contained. We asked this person directly, ‘Did the CIA have a hand in the murder of John F. Kennedy, an American President?’ And here’s the reply we received verbatim. Quote, ‘The answer is yes. I believe they were involved. It’s a whole different country from what we thought it was. It’s all fake.’
It’s hard to imagine a more jarring response than that. Again, this is not a ‘conspiracy theorist’ that we spoke to. Not even close. This is someone with direct knowledge of the information that once again is being withheld from the American public. And the answer we received was unequivocal. Yes, the CIA was involved in the assassination of the president. Now, some people will not be surprised to hear that they suspected it all along. But no matter how you feel about it or what you thought about the Kennedy assassination, pause to consider what this means.
It means that within the US government, there are forces wholly beyond democratic control. These forces are more powerful than the elected officials that supposedly oversee them. These forces can affect election outcomes. They can even hide their complicity in the murder of an American president. In other words, they can do pretty much anything they want. They constitute a government within a government mocking, by their very existence, the idea of democracy. As cynical as we have become after 30 years of watching government officials ignore the voters who employ them, we were shocked to learn this. It’s not acceptable.”
After this broadcast, Robert Kennedy, Jr, JFK’s nephew, tweeted: “The most courageous newscast in 60 years. The CIA’s murder of my uncle was a successful coup d’état from which our democracy has never recovered.”
Carlson made another powerful enemy who helped get him fired: George Soros. According to Helena Glass: “Carlson isn’t the only one fired, producer Justin Wells was given the boot based on a lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg against the two claiming a hostile environment and anti-Semitism. Grossberg’s attorney has stated that the fact that Fox fired the two is tantamount to a testament of ‘guilt’.
Media Matters, the Soros led organization, has joined the bandwagon to declare that Tucker, Bartiromo, and Wells (Tucker’s producer) repeatedly used sexist slurs to refer to women and anti-Semitic discrimination.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, also a sidekick of Soros, has called out Carlson as a ‘fascist’. Soros and Carlson have had a hate filled relationship that has spiked some most recently. Could Grossberg have been approached by a Soros Handler to help initiate her Lawsuit and subsequent reiterations of her claim? The boot may have been ultimately orchestrated by Soros. Tucker was Targeted!”
Getting rid of Tucker Carlson should be a wake-up call for us. Let’s do everything we can to get rid of Big Pharma, the CIA, and brain-dead Biden and his gang of neocon controllers.
US Futures Drop as Inflation Data Cement Fed Hike The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, one of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauges, rose 0.3% in March (as expected) … Compared with a year ago, the measure was up 4.6% (as exp.), Commerce Department data showed Friday… A measure of employment costs from the Department of Labor also increased 1.2% in the first quarter from the previous period, exceeding (1.1%) expectations… https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-stocks-set-rise-tech-222448082.html
U.S. officials lead urgent rescue talks for First Republic The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are among government bodies that have in recent days started to orchestrate meetings with financial companies about putting together a lifeline for the troubled lender, the sources said. The government’s involvement is helping bring more parties, including banks and private equity firms, to the negotiating table, one of the sources added… https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-officials-lead-urgent-rescue-talks-first-republic-sources-2023-04-28/
First Republic Shares Gain on Reports of Potential Rescue Plans The San Francisco-based bank gained as much as 14% in New York. The stock has plunged 95% this year through Thursday as the company struggles to navigate the turmoil in the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and two other regional banks in March… https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-republic-shares-gain-reports-111353862.html
April Chicago PMI 48.6, 43.6 consensus, 43.8 prior April UM Sentiment 63.5 as expected and prior April UM Current Conditions 68.2, 68.6 expected and prior April UM Expectations 60.5, 60.4 consensus, 60.3 prior April UM 1-year Inflation 4.6%, 4.6% prior April UM 5-10 Year Inflation 3.0%, 2.9% prior
ESMs traded modestly lower but sideways from the Nikkei opening on Friday until they broke down minutes before the 3 ET European opening… By 5:08 ET, ESMs had sunk 24 handles. After a modest spike higher, ESMs and stocks went inert until the rally for the NYSE opening commenced at 9:20 ET.
The usual suspects aggressively bought the NYSE opening, driving ESMS to 4178.25, +46.75 from the low, by 10:25 ET. April performance gaming and hope for a FRC bailout was the impetus.
The DJTA hit +1.83% at 10:11 ET because airlines stocks were sharply higher on better-than-expected American Airlines results, and Matson increased its share repurchase program by 3m shares.
ESMs swooned 15 handles by 10:38 ET. Traders quickly pushed ESMs back up. At 10:53 ET, ESMs tumbled 36 handles (from the high) in 7 minutes due to a collapse in FRC that forced the bank to 3.00, a crash of 51.3%. Apparently, the selling infuriated April performance gamers. The intensity of their manipulation increased; ESMs soared to 4185.75 by 13:31 ET. ESMs and stocks then had a slow rollover that persisted until 14:47 ET. It was time to get serious about manipulating stuff higher to embellish April performance. ESMs performed a moderate A-B-C rally into the close.
Bonds rallied sharply, despite the disappointing inflation data, on April performance gaming.
Positive aspects of previous session Stocks and bonds rallied robustly on April performance gaming
Negative aspects of previous session Fangs were soft due to Amazon’s cloud disappointment
Ambiguous aspects of previous session What will be the magnitude and duration of US stagflation?
First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE open:Up; Last Hour: Up
Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 4155.61 Previous session High/Low: 4170.06; 4127.18
Today – This is Fed Week and the back nine of earnings reporting season. The big earnings event, and effective denouement for earnings season, is Apple on Thursday, May 4. Ergo, the window for a rally is open until the FOMC Communique and/or Powell’s presser on Wednesday.
If the FOMC Communique and Powell are dovish, the window for the rally will be extended to the release of Apple’s results after the close on Thursday. So, be prepared for type of top later this week.
Expected economic data: April S&P Global US Mfg PMI 50.4; April ISM Mfg 46.8, Prices Paid 49; March Construction Spending 0.2% m/m
ESMs are -3.50 at 20:10 ET in lackluster trading. Apparently, traders are waiting for a FRC resolution.
Axios: The White House rarely puts Biden in improvisational settings — or in front of hostile questions from reporters. So it’s tough for anyone outside his tight bubble to truly appraise the reality of Biden being the oldest president in U.S. history… Some White House officials say it’s difficult to schedule public or private events with the president in the morning, in the evening, or on weekends: The vast majority of Biden’s public events happen on weekdays, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m… https://www.axios.com/2023/04/28/inside-biden-run-against-age-white-house
@Spriter99880: Joe Biden hosted the Air Force football team today! He was to be presented with a ball signed by the team, a helmet and a football jersey with his name on it. But Biden grabbed only a sweater and began to wander, looking for a way out. https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1652368461975134208
Epstein’s Private Calendar Reveals Prominent Names, Including CIA Chief, Goldman’s Top Lawyer: WSJ Kathryn Ruemmler, a White House counsel under President Barack Obama, had dozens of meetings with Epstein in the years after her White House service and before she became a top lawyer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 2020. He also planned for her to join a 2015 trip to Paris and a 2017 visit to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean…In 2014, Epstein called Ms. Ruemmler within weeks of her leaving the Obama White House… Ms. Ruemmler first met Epstein after he called her to ask if she would be interested in representing Mr. Cates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Goldman Sachs spokesman said…. In 2013, Epstein asked Mrs. de Rothschild for help finding a new assistant, “female.. multilingual, organized,” she replied, “I’ll ask around.” “In 2019, after Epstein was arrested, the bank said that Rothschild never met with Epstein.” They later acknowledged this was untrue… https://www.wsj.com/articles/jeffrey-epstein-calendar-cia-director-goldman-sachs-noam-chomsky-c9f6a3ff
Sen. Ron Johnson: Antony Blinken ‘lied boldface to Congress’ over contact with Hunter Biden ‘I think there’s so much more to uncover here,’ the Wisconsin Republican said SEN. RON JOHNSON: … Yes, he did. He said he did not email Hunter Biden, and now we have those emails. We also know that his wife, using her private email address when she was a[n] employee of the State Department, was basically a conduit between her husband and Hunter Biden as well… https://www.foxnews.com/media/sen-ron-johnson-antony-blinken-lied-boldface-congress-contact-hunter-biden
There was little impact, interesting, or irritating news over the weekend.
Karen Kingston is a biotech analyst and former Pfizer employee who understands complicated medical and biological contracts. Kingston also understands what it takes to make or defend a legal case against Big Pharma. She has years of experience on multiple levels. Kingston contends you do not need new laws to stop the CV19 mRNA technology. Everybody simply needs to understand the CV19 vax and the mRNA technology are proven bioweapons. The data shows millions have been disabled or murdered by the CV19 bioweapon/vax so far. Is it going to get worse? Kingston says, “Unfortunately, it is going to get worse. The worst is yet to come. . . . The FDA did have to prove that these were safe. Based on the information that they had in October and November of 2020, they should have never moved forward . . . with the trials. So, they broke the law. They knew it would cause all these disabilities and deaths. . . . I predicted a 25% myocarditis rate in July of 2021. I have heard experts say we may be looking at 100% . . . if they got two or three shots. So, it’s going to get bad.”
Big Pharma and government are allowing mRNA technology (the same deadly bioweapon in the CV19 injections) to be put into the entire food supply. Kingston contends this is to turn humans into trans-humans in something called “Directed Evolution.” Kingston explains, “Directed Evolution is forcing the evolution of humans to merge with DNA from reptiles, insects and artificial intelligence. It’s the bio-digital merger. This is what this is, and there are multi-trillion dollar industries around this. . . . There is a whole bio-data division in DARPA in the U.S. military. It is about merging the bio-digital with humans.”
Many have been calling the CV19 bioweapon/vax that features technology poison such as graphene as a genocide. Kingston contends it is far more than that. Kingston says, “This is not for the benefit of humanity. This is going to lead to our extinction. I just do not know why people do not understand that.”
Kingston demonstrates the electromagnetic properties of mRNA on a beef steak. The quarter she uses sticks to a part of the meat where the mRNA had assembled because the mRNA creates a magnetic field. (All patents Kingston has reviewed prove, without a doubt, mRNA is an electromagnetic device.) Kingston says there is no need to pass new laws to stop evil Big Pharma, government and food producers from putting this in our food. mRNA is a bioweapon, and it is illegal to put this in anyone’s food. Kingston says, “It’s not that you want informed consent about mRNA technology in your food, every state has laws on the books where weapons of biowarfare cannot contaminate the food supply. I think what is most important is that we seize these mRNA injections. Once we seize the shots and we get legal custody of that to show American citizens and global citizens what the technology is in the shots, then we can start shutting it down around the globe. Not just in the ‘vaccine’ market, but show this is what is being put into our food supply and why all of this needs to stop.”
Kingston contends the FDA and CDC knew early on mRNA CV19 bioweapon injections were going to cause a long list of serious debilitating and deadly diseases. They continue to push the mRNA bioweapon on every aspect of our lives with no end in sight.
Kingston predicts by 2030, there will be 200 million disabled or murdered Americans by mRNA and CV19 bioweapon/vax injections.”
There is much more in the 1-hour and 4-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with renowned biotech analyst Karen Kingston as she gives an update on the bioweapon mRNA injections and why they need to be stopped for 4.28.23.
12:47 PM (35 minutes ago)
(@TyrannyAlgergy) April 28, 2023
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(@fiatgobloope) April 28, 2023
(@TJMatty) April 28, 2023
Carlson made another powerful enemy who helped get him fired: George Soros. According to Helena Glass: “Carlson isn’t the only one fired, producer Justin Wells was given the boot based on a lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg against the two claiming a hostile environment and anti-Semitism. Grossberg’s attorney has stated that the fact that Fox fired the two is tantamount to a testament of ‘guilt’.
harveyorganblog.com 
