MAY 26/GOLD CLOSED UP $0.90 TO $1944.45//SILVER CLOSED UP $0.32 TO $23.25//PLATINUM CLOSED UP $0.55 DOLLARS TO $1026.50/PALLADIUM CLOSED UP $25.35 TO $1431.85//A MUST VIEW: ANDREW MAGUIRE INTERVIEWING PETER GRANDICH//NO DEAL YET ON THE DEBT CEILING//RUSSIA VS UKRAINE UPDATES/COVID UPDATES//DR PAUL ALEXANDER/VACCINE IMPACT/SLAY NEWS/EVOL NEWS//UPDATES ON DEBT CEILING FIASCO IN THE USA//FED’S FAVOURTE INDICATOR IN INFLATION , THE PCE DEFLATOR RED HOT//ANOTHER GREAT COMMENTARY FROM VICTOR DAVIS HANSON//SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT//
323 C HSBC 120 363 H WELLS FARGO SEC 10 657 C MORGAN STANLEY 2 661 C JP MORGAN 36 905 C ADM 13 991 H CME 83
TOTAL: 132 132 MONTH TO DATE: 2,690
JPMorgan stopped o/100 contracts
FOR MAY:
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR MAY/2023. CONTRACT: 1 NOTICES FOR 100 OZ or 0.003110 TONNES
total notices so far: 6140 contracts for 614,000 oz (19.094 tonnes)
FOR MAY:
SILVER NOTICES: 132 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 640,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 2690 for 13,450,000 oz
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Click here if you wish to send a donation. I sincerely appreciate it as this site takes a lot of preparation
END
GLD
WITH GOLD UP UP $0.90
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD//
/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:////
INVENTORY RESTS AT 941.29 TONNES
Silver//
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 44 CENTS AT THE SLV//
HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.306 MILLIO OZ OUT THE SLV//: ; : INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 468.300 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A STRONG SIZED 519 CONTRACTS TO 136,177 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS STRONG SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR $0.32 FALL IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON THURSDAY. TAS ISSUANCE WAS A SMALLER SIZED 542 CONTRACTS. THESE WILL BE USED FOR MANIPULATION NEXT MONTH. CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT THAT THE CROOKS USE THE MID MONTH FOR MANIPULATION AS THEY SELL THEIR BUY SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD FIRST AND THEN KEEP THE SELL SIDE TO LIQUIDATE AT A LATER DATE. THUS WE HAVE TWO VEHICLES THE CROOKS USE FOR MANIPULATION AND BOTH ARE SPREADERS: 1) AT MONTH’S END/SPREADERS COMEX AND 2/ TAS SPREADERS, MID MONTH. TOTAL TAS ISSUED ON THURSDAY: A SMALLER 542 CONTRACTS. DESPITE MANY COMPLAINTS THAT THE CROOKS HAVE VIOLATED POSITION LIMITS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE TAS ISSUED HAVE A VALUE OF ZERO (AS TO POSITION LIMITS) IF A CALENDAR SPREAD OCCURS. IT NATURALLY FELL ON DEAF EARS WITH OUR REGULATORS (OCC) WHEN THEY RECEIVED THE COMPLAINT. IT THUS LOOKS LIKE THE FED (GOV’T) IS BEHIND ALL OF THESE TRADES
WE HAVE THIS YEAR SET ANOTHER RECORD LOW AT 117,395 CONTRACTS ///MARCH 29.2023. OUR BANKERS WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT FELL BY $0.32). BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING SOME SPEC LONGS AS WE HAD A HUGE GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 1554CONTRACTS. 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 6.750MILLION OZ.). WE HAVE NOW RETURNED TO OUR USUAL AND CUSTOMARY SCENARIO: BANKERS SHORT AND SPECS LONG WITH MANIPULATION NOW MID MONTH AND BEYOND, DUE TO (TAS) MANIPULATION. WE WILL HAVE IN OUR FINAL WEEK IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE MORE MANIPULATION IN OUR PRECIOUS METALS DUE TO COMEX SPREADERS LIQUIDATION ACCOMPANYING OPTIONS EXPIRY ON BOTH THE COMEX AND LONDON’S LBMA ALONG WITH AN ADDED FEATURE OF TAS LIQUIDATION.
WE MUST HAVE HAD:
A HUGE ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS( 1035 CONTRACTS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 13.105 MILLION OZ(FIRST DAY NOTICE) FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S E.F.P. JUMP TO LONDON OF 45,000 OZ (E.F.P. JUMP LOWERS THE AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING)+0 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUED TODAY// TOTAL FOR THE MONTH 6.75MILLION OZ OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK (RAISES THE AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING):THUS TOTAL OF 20.200 MILLION OZ OF SILVER STANDING FOR DELIVERY V) STRONG SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/ HUGE SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/VI) SMALLER NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT INITIATION (542 CONTRACTS)//CONSIDERABLE T.A.S LIQUIDATION MANIPULATING THE PRICE SOUTHBOUND THURSDAY.
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL -removed 81CONTRACTS
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS MAY. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF MAY:
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 20 days, total 12,810 contracts: OR 64.050 MILLION OZ . (640 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 64.050 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
YEAR 2022:
JAN 2022-DEC 2022
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
TOTALS YR 2022: 1135.767 MILLION OZ (1.1356 BILLION OZ)
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 64.050 MILLION OZ/INITIAL (MUCH SMALLER THIS MONTH)
RESULT: WE HAD A STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 581 CONTRACTS WITH OUR STRONG SIZED $0.32 LOSS IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//THURSDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A HUGE SIZED EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 1035 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 MAY OF 13.105 MILLION OZ//FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S E.F.P. JUMP TO LONDON OF 45,000 OZ (DECREASES THE AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING) +// + 0 MILLION NEW EXCHANGE FOR RISK TODAY (INCREASES THE AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING) //TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK MONTH= 6.75 MILLION//NEW TOTALS 13.450 MILLION OZ + 6.75 MILLION EXCH./RISK = 20.200 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR MAY// .. WE HAVE A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 1554 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A SMALLER 542!!//CONSIDERABLE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED THURSDAY. THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE.
WE HAD 132 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 640,000 OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 10,886 CONTRACTS TO 469.026 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: REMOVED – 2910 CONTRACTS
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI ( 10,886 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR $19.70 LOSS IN PRICE. WE ALSO HAD A STRONG INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR MAY. AT 3.5085 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE // PLUS 100 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)/+ /A SMALLER ISSUANCE OF 708 T.A.S. CONTRACTS/STRONG FRONT END OF TAS LIQUIDATION THURSDAY ////YET ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $19.70 LOSS IN PRICEWITH RESPECT TO THURSDAY’S TRADING.WE HAD A GOOD SIZED LOSS OF 5073 OI CONTRACTS (15.779 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A GOOD SIZED 5813 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 466,116
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 5073 CONTRACTS WITH 10,886 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX//TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): 708 CONTRACTS) AND 5813 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 5073CONTRACTS OR 15.779TONNES.
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A GOOD SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (5813 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE STRONG SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (10,886) //TOTAL LOSS FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 5073 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 100 OZ // NEW STANDING: 19.094 TONNES+ 1.244 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK//NEW TOTALS FOR GOLD STANDING FOR MAY: 20.338 TONNES // ///3) SOME LONG LIQUIDATION//4) STRONG SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST LOSS/ 5) GOOD ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: SMALLER T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 708 CONTRACTS
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: 68,701 CONTRACTS OR 6,870,100 OZ OR 213.68 TONNES IN 20 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3435 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 20 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 213.68 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 213.68/3550 x 100% TONNES 6.00% 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//
TOTALS: 2,578.08 TONNES/2021
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
TOTAL: 2,847,25 TONNES/2022
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: 213.68 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 JUNE. 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 MAY HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF JUNE., 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 (JUNE), 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.
The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.
First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:
1.Today, we had the open interest at the comex, in SILVER ROSE BY A STRONG SIZED 519 CONTRACTS OI TO 136,258 AND CLOSER TO OUR COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710(SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 5 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 117,395 CONTRACTS MARCH 27/2022
EFP ISSUANCE 1035 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
JULY 1035 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 1035 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 519 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 1035OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,
WE OBTAIN A GIGANTIC SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 1554 CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 7.770 MILLION OZ
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//
FRIDAY MORNING//THURSDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 11.24 PTS OR 0.35% //Hang Seng CLOSED /The Nikkei closed UP 115.18 OR .37% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.24 % /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP 7.0579 /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN DOWN TO 7.0685 /Oil DOWN TO 72.48 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT AT 76.87 / Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE STRONGER
1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 10,998 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 466,116 WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $19.70 ON THURSDAY,
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MAY… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A GOOD SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 5813 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : JUNE 5813 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 5813 CONTRACTS
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE LOST THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 5073 CONTRACTS IN THAT 5813LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 10,886 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS FAIR SIZED GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $19.70. AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE),THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE TODAY WAS A MUCH SMALLER 708 CONTRACTS. DURING THIS WEEK THEY SOLD THE LONG SIDE OF THE SPREAD WHICH OF COURSE CONTINUES TO MANIPULATE THE PRICE OF GOLD SOUTHBOUND. (THEY KEEP THE SHORT SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD WHICH WILL BE LIQUIDATED TWO MONTHS HENCE).
// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: MAY (20.338) ( 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: 19.094 TONNES + 1.244 tonnes of exchange for risk = 20.338
THE SPECS/HFT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT FELL $19.70) //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING SOME SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD OUR FAIR SIZED LOSS OF 2164 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES. WE HAD CONSIDERABLE TAS LIQUIDATION. AND NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME TAS LIQUIDATION IS EXTENDING PAST MID MONTH. THE TAS ISSUED THURSDAY NIGHT WILL BE “PUT INTO THE BANK” TO BE USED AT A LATER DATE AT THE COLLUSIVE CHOOSING OF OUR BANKERS.
WE HAVE LOST A TOTAL OI OF 6.727PAPER TONNES OF TOTAL OI FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR MAY. (3.5085 TONNES) followed by today’s 100 oz queue jump //NEW STANDING 19.094 TONNES+1.244 exchange for risk(prior)// new total 20.338 tonnes ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $19.70
WE HAD – REMOVED 2910 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST AFTER TRADING ENDED LAST NIGHT
NET LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 5073 CONTRACTS OR 507,300 OZ OR 15.779 TONNES.
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
6140 notices 614,000 OZ 19.0974 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
No dealer withdrawals
Customer deposits: 0
total deposits: nil oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR MAY.
For the front month of MAY we have an oi of 1 contracts having LOST 99 contracts. We had 100 contracts filed
on THURSDAY, so we GAINED 1 contracts or an additional 100 oz will stand for gold in this non active delivery month of May
June LOST A HUGE 42,498 contracts DOWN to 69,612 contracts. We should have a strong delivery month for June (around 70 tonnes). We have 2 more reading days before first day notice.
July added 114 contracts to stand at 2917 contracts.
AUGUST GAINED 31,219 contracts UP to 336,431 contracts
We had 1 contract filed for today representing 100 oz
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 0 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 1 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 0 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 (6,140 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MAY (1 CONTRACT) minus the number of notices served upon today 1 x 100 oz per contract equals 614,000 OZ OR 19.094 TONNES the number of TONNES standing in this NON- active month of May. And now we must add 1.244 tonnes of gold delivery through our 400 contract exchange for risk//new total 20.338 tonnes of gold.
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the MAYcontract month: No of notices filed so far (6,140 x 100 oz) x xxx OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (1)x 100 oz} which equals 614,000 oz standing OR 19.094 TONNES + 1.244 (exchange for risk) = 20.338 tonnes
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 20.338 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR A NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH.
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED: 22,871,329.417 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD: 11,999,869.189 (373,24 tonnes)..
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,871,460.228 O Z
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 10,295,140 OZ (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 320.222 tonnes//
END
SILVER/COMEX
MAY 26//2023// THE MAY 2023 SILVER CONTRACT
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
54,679/200 oz Asahi
.
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
592,520.400 oz Brinks
No of oz served today (contracts)
132 CONTRACT(S) (640,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
0 contracts (nil oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
2690 Contracts (13,450,000 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) 1 dealer deposit
i)Dealer deposits: 1
Into Brinks 592,520.400 oz
total dealer deposit:592,520.400 oz
total dealer deposits: 0
total: nil oz
i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal
total dealer withdrawals: oz
We had 0 customer deposits
Total deposits: nil oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 141.313 million oz/272.132 million =51.83% of comex .//dropping fast
Comex withdrawals 1
customer withdrawals: 1
i) Out of Asihi: 54,679.280 oz
total withdrawals: 54,679.280 oz
adjustments:
Adjustments; 2 dealer to customer
i) Out of HSBC: 299,213.500 pz
ii) Out of Manfra: 607,621.500 oz
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 28.881 MILLION OZ (declining rapidly).TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 272.143 million oz
CALCULATION OF SILVER OZ STANDING FOR MAY
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF MAY /2023 OI: 132 CONTRACTS HAVING LOST 13 CONTRACT(S). WE HAD 4 CONTRACTS FILED ON THURSDAY, SO WE LOST 9 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 45,000 OZ WILL STAND FOR DELIVERY ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND AS THEY WERE EFP’d to LONDON WHERE THEY WILL UNDERGO THE DELIVERY PROCESS OVER THERE AS THERE SEEMS TO BE NO SILVER OVER HERE.
JUNE HAD A 1 CONTRACT loss TO 1114
JULY HAD A 756 CONTRACT LOSS TO 106,540 CONTRACTS
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 132 for 640,000 oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 59,370 good/
Comex volume: confirmed yesterday: 67,726
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 2690 x 5,000 oz = 13,450,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MAY(132) and the number of notices served upon today 132 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the MAY/2023 contract month: 2690 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of May (132) – number of notices served upon today (132 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the MAY contract month equates to 13.450 million oz + THE CRIMINAL 0 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK TODAY//NEW TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK: 6.750//NEW TOTAL 20.200 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 26/WITH GOLD UP $.90 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY REST AT 941.29 TONNES
MAY 25/WITH GOLD DOWN $19.70 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 941.29 TONNES
MAY 24/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.50 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.45 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 941.29 TONNES
MAY 23/WITH GOLD $2.25 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 942.74 TONNES
MAY 22/WITH GOLD DOWN $4.70 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 5.83 TONES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD DESPITE THE L0SS IN PRICE//INVENTORY RESTS AT 942.74 TONNES
MAY 19/WITH GOLD UP $22.20 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 936.96 TONNES
MAY 18/WITH GOLD DOWN $23.80 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 936.96 TONNES
MAY 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.25 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .87 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 934.94 TONNES
MAY 16/WITH GOLD DOWN 28.05 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.57 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 934,07
MAY 15/WITH GOLD UP $2.85 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 937.64 TONNES
MAY 12/WITH GOLD DOWN $.40 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.89 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 937.84 TONNES
MAY 11/WITH GOLD DOWN $15.15 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 934.95 TONNES
MAY 10/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.00 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.70 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 934.95 TONNES
MAY 9/WITH GOLD UP $9.70 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A MONSTER DEPOSIT OF 5.88 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 937.64 TONNES
MAY 8/WITH GOLD UP $8.70 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.73 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 931.77 TONNES
MAY 5/WITH GOLD DOWN $30.30 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: AS DEPOSIT OF 1.74 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 930.04 TONNES
MAY 4/WITH GOLD UP $19.00 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 928.30 TONNES
MAY 3/WITH GOLD UP $13.90 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.47 TONNES INTO THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 928.30 TONNES
MAY 2/WITH GOLD UP $32.70 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.45 TONNES FORM THE GLD/////INVENTORY RESTS AT 924.83 TONNES
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
GLD INVENTORY: 941.29 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
MAY 26/WITH SILVER UP $0.44 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.306 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 468.300 MILLION OZ//
MAY 25.WITH SILVER DOWN $0.32 TODAY; SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 276,000 OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 471.606 MILLION OZ//
MAY 24/WITH SILVER DOWN $.35 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 471.330 MILLION OZ//
MAY 23/WITH SILVER DOWN 22 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.801 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 471.330 MILLION OZ//
MAY 22/WITH SILVER DOWN 19 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 468.529 MILLION OZ//
MAY 19/WITH SILVER UP 38 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 468.529 MILLION OZ
MAY 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 919,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 468.529 MILLION OZ/
MAY 17/WITH SILVER DOWN 2 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 469.448 MILLION OZ//
MAY 16/WITH SILVER DOWN 34 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF .643 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 469.448 MILLION OZ.
MAY 15/WITH SILVER UP 13 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 470.091 MILLION OZ/
MAY 12/WITH SILVER DOWN $.26 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 3,123 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 470.091 MILLION OZ./
MAY 11/WITH SILVER DOWN $1.18 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 466.968 MILLION OZ
MAY 10/WITH SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.286 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 466.968 MILLION OZ//
MAY 9/WITH SILVER UP 7 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A TINY DEPOSIT OF .08 MILLION OZ OF SILVER INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 465.682 MILLION OZ//
MAY 8/WITH SILVER DOWN 7 CENTS: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.194 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 465.602 MILLION OZ//
MAY 5/WITH SILVER DOWN 31 CENTS TODAY; SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 368,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 466.876 MILLION OZ//
MAY 4/WITH SILVER UP 53 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A SMALL DEPOSIT OF .174 MILLION OZ INTO SLV.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 467.174 MILLION OZ//
MAY 3/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.194 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 467.070 MILLION OZ//
MAY 2/WITH SILVER UP 37 CENTS TODAY;NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 468.264 MILLION OZ//
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
3,Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
UAE plus other countries are cashing in big time importing Russian gold due to the stupid sanctions. Some refiners have stopped using Russian gold and this set up the UAE with its 75 tonnes of gold in 2021 as the central hub. You can be assured that the 2022 number of gold imports to the uAE will be higher than 2021.
India will be using them to buy gold to purchase Russian oil
Submitted by admin on Thu, 2023-05-25 09:09Section: Daily Dispatches
By Peter Hobson Reuters Thursday, May 25, 2023
LONDON — the United Arab Emirates has become a key trade hub for Russian gold since Western sanctions over Ukraine cut Russia’s more traditional export routes, Russian customs records show.
The records, which contain details of nearly a thousand gold shipments in the year since the Ukraine war started, show the Gulf state imported 75.7 tonnes of Russian gold worth $4.3 billion — up from just 1.3 tonnes during 2021
China and Turkey were the next biggest destinations, importing about 20 tonnes each between Feb. 24, 2022 and March 3, 2023. With the UAE, the three countries accounted for 99.8% of the Russian gold exports in the customs data for this period.
In the days after the Ukraine conflict started, many multinational banks, logistics providers and precious metal refiners stopped handling Russian gold, which had typically been shipped to London, a gold trading and storage hub. …
New ‘In Gold We Trust Report’ explains again why gold should be going up
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2023-05-26 11:18Section: Daily Dispatches
11:19a ET Friday, May 26, 2023
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
The annual “In Gold We Trust” report from Ronald-Peter Stoeferle and Mark J. Valek of Incrementum AG in Liechtenstein has just been published and as usual it provides a thousand reasons why gold should be soaring in price but no explanation of why it isn’t. Apparently that job is too sensitive, risking the ire of governments, major banks, establishment news organizations, and fearful mining companies, and so must be left to GATA:
All the same, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in the report’s 417 pages. This year’s edition is titled “Showdown” and it can be found in PDF format here:
It’s time to prepare both financially and mentally. Feat. Peter Grandich
In this week’s episode of Live from the Vault, Andrew Maguire is joined by renowned author Peter Grandich who offers a holistic approach to anchoring oneself to personal responsibility and financial decision-making in a world of debt reliance.
The precious metals experts examine whether the possible US debt default could ever be paid back in the end-of-the-dollar scenario and contemplate the changing behaviours of modern society in contrast to traditional norms and values.
END
5.IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES: COPPER//CHINESE BONDS VS STOCKS VS USA
One metric I look at fairly often for various countries is the relationship between the performance of stocks vs. bonds. The idea is straightforward enough: when stocks are outperforming bonds, it tends to be associated with a growing economy. When bonds are outperforming stocks, it is a tell that there is some sort of negative dynamic going on.
Why do I bring this up? In the US, stocks—represented by the SPY ETF—have just made a new high relative to the TLT ETF (which represents long-term US Treasury bonds). This would suggest that despite all the angst over inflation, the debt ceiling, and other issues, investors seem to taking a positive perspective.
This contrasts with China. In China, stocks have underperformed government bonds by about 50% since the beginning of 2021. This suggests there could be something rotten going on underneath the surface of the Chinese economy. Debt issues, housing issues, demographic issues, and geopolitical issues all could be weighing on sentiment toward Chinese equities and growth.
To further validate the theory that there is something rotten in China, I overlay the CNY/USD on the stock/bond chart. The CNY is weakening alongside this relationship of bonds outperforming stocks.
While last fall, the market began to discount the opening of China, now the dynamic seems to have changed. Copper did a good job signaling the upturn in Chinese GDP estimates for 2023.
With the Chinese reopening seeming to have less thrust than was anticipated, copper prices are falling again. This could telegraph a downturn in Chinese growth estimates.
end
5 B GLOBAL COMMODITIES ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL
6.CRYPTOCURRENCY COMMENTARIES/
END
1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS//FRIDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED UP AT 7.0579
OFFSHORE YUAN: 7.0685
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 11.24 PTS OR 0.35%
HANG SENG CLOSED
2. Nikkei closed UP 115.18 PTS OR 0.37%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL GREEN
USA dollar INDEX UP TO 103.82 EURO FALLS TO 1.0727 DOWN 29 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +.412 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 139.68 /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 UP /JAPANESE Yen UP CHINESE YUAN: UP// OFF- SHORE:UP
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 UP TO +2.5640***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield RISES to 4.392*** /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD RISES TO 3.591…** DANGEROUS//
3i Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO 3.901
3j Gold at $1952.90 silver at: 23.17 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 0 AND 2 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 80.03//
3m oil into the 72 dollar handle for WTI and 76 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 139.68 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER BREAKING .54%, RISES TO .412% 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 0.9022 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF 0.9705 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: 3.817 UP 1 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 3.997 UP 1/2 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.529 UP 3 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 20.03…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: UP 2 BASIS PTS AT 4.3800 UP 3 BASIS PTS (RATES RISING RAPIDLY)
end
2. Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge:
2. a)FIRST, ZEROHEDGE (PRE USA OPENING// MORNING
Futures Rise On Optimism Of Imminent Debt Deal
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 – 08:19 AM
US equity futures are higher across the board, amid speculation that a debt deal is taking shape and may be announced as soon as today (whether or not a 0.2% spending cut “deal” is something to be proud about is a different matter) and also thanks to optimism around Nvidia and AI prospects. S&P futures are 0.2% higher, rising to 4,169 and undoing the drop from the previous two days, while Nasdaq futures are up 0.4% amid continued AI-bubble euphoria. Treasury yields are falling, most markedly at the short end, on debt ceiling optimism, while a measure of the dollar is weakening. Commodities are mostly higher led by base metals. Oil prices are set for a weekly gain, climbing higher today. Gold prices are edging higher but still set for their third weekly decline.
In premarket trading, Marvell Technology shares soared 17% after the chipmaker projected AI revenue in fiscal 2024 will “at least double” from a year ago. The company also reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share that beat estimates and provided second-quarter guidance. Analysts had a positive reaction, increasing price targets on the stock. Meanwhile Nvidia shares were little-changed in US premarket trading, pausing following yesterday’s 24% surge after the chipmaker gave a bullish forecast thanks to surging demand amid an AI boom. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
Tilray Brands shares plunged 19% in premarket trading after the cannabis producer priced an offering of $150m of unsecured convertible senior notes.
Gap shares jump 11% in premarket trading after the apparel retailer produced better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter, compared to Wall Street forecasts for a sizable loss for the period. Analysts pointed toward the cost management of the company, with Jefferies saying lower expense on air freight contributed to the better margin and EPS.
Domo shares dropped 4.9% in postmarket trading after the application software company’s guidance for 2Q revenue missed the average analyst estimate, while analysts flagged the firm’s still-muted growth.
Workday shares gained 8.5% in extended trading, after the software company narrowed its subscription revenue forecast for the full year and named Zane Rowe as new chief financial officer. Analysts are positive on the report and forecast.
Yesterday, the Nasdaq rallied 2.5%, a 1.9-sigma move, as NVDA surged 24% amid forecast beat; XSD (Semiconductors ETF) added 4.5%. The NDX rally was driven by a narrow leadership as there are only 17 out of 100 companies outperformed the benchmark. On debt ceiling, headlines turned more optimistic as there seems to be a deal emerging, but gaps remains between the two parties. Today, macro focus will be the PCE and Durable Goods release. Optimism was also boosted by reports that a deal is emerging which could include a paltry $10bn spending cut. Today’s macro focus will be on PCE releases and Durable Goods Orders.
“We are in a very hesitant market,” said Ariane Hayate, a fund manager at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management. The debt ceiling is “a factor that adds up nervousness, but the market isn’t expecting that no solution will be found.”
In Washington, Republican and White House negotiators have narrowed differences in talks over recent days and are moving closer to an agreement to raise the debt limit and cap federal spending for two years, according to people familiar with the matter. However, details agreed to are tentative and a final accord is still not in hand, the people said.
European stocks also rose with chipmakers including ASML Holding NV advancing for a second day. Glencore Plc advanced 2.5% after a report that Viterra unit is in talks to merge with Bunge Ltd., one of the world’s largest crop merchants. The Stoxx 600 was up 0.5% as European mining stocks rose and were among the biggest gainers on the Stoxx 600 regional benchmark as metal prices trim weekly decline, while the sector bounces on technical support and Rio Tinto gets a broker upgrade. Here are the most notable European movers:
Rio Tinto rallies as much as 4.3% in London after being upgraded to overweight from equal-weight at Morgan Stanley, which says weakness in the mining company’s shares has created an opportunity
European semiconductor equipment makers rise, extending Thursday’s blistering rally on hopes that adoption of chips used in artificial intelligence computing could accelerate the sector’s future growth
Faurecia gains as much as 5.7% and Valeo as much as 3.7% after Jefferies upgraded the firms to buy, saying auto suppliers are starting to benefit from a more supportive operating environment
Atos shares rise as much as 8.8% after the company got a favorable decision in litigation involving Syntel, now part of Atos, in the US, with Oddo calling the judgement “very favorable” at first sight
Coface jumps as much as 7.8% after reporting earnings that Deutsche Bank says could lead to mid-single-digit consensus upgrades as the French financial services company “continues to demonstrate its quality”
Asos shares rise as much as 8.9% after the UK online fast fashion retailer announced capital raising plans. The new debt financing and equity raise provide “much needed visibility on liquidity,” Citi analysts say
Casino shares slump as much as 11% after the debt-laden French retailer said a Paris court decided to open conciliation procedures amid talks with its creditors
Ninety One falls as much as 2.1% after being downgraded to underperform at Avior, which says the current market environment favors fixed-income instruments over stocks, putting equity performance at risk
Asian stocks traded mixed following the mild positive bias stateside where the tech sector surged on Nvidia’s blockbuster report and with sentiment underpinned by firm US data and progress in debt ceiling talks.
The Shanghai Comp. was subdued amid the closure of Hong Kong markets and Stock Connect trade but with the downside cushioned after the meeting between the US and China’s commerce chiefs where concerns were raised about recent actions taken against US companies in China, as well as US chip policy and export curbs
Japan’s Nikkei 225 outperformed and reclaimed the 31,000 level with the index lifted by recent currency weakness and mostly softer-than-expected Tokyo CPI, while tech stocks benefitted from the ripple effect which stemmed from the rally in US counterparts.
Australia’s ASX 200 was indecisive with price action rangebound and risk sentiment contained by disappointing Retail Sales data.
Indian stocks were the best performers among major Asian markets this week, even as investors awaited the outcome of ongoing negotiations to raise the US debt ceiling. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 1% to 62,501.69 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced by the same magnitude. The Sensex gained 1.3% this week, while the Nifty climbed 1.6%. The advance has mainly been supported by information technology, pharmaceuticals and consumer staple firms. Investors kept a close eye on US debt-ceiling talks. Republican and White House negotiators are making progress toward a deal to raise the debt limit. Strategists warn that any break down in negotiations could have serious implications for global economic growth.
In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is also lower by 0.2%, snapping a four-day run of gains; it is on course to end the week in positive territory, posting its third straight week of gains. The Swedish krona is the best performer among the G-10’s. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index edged down 0.2%, USD/JPY slipped 0.3% on easing Treasury yields and as Japan’s 10-year breakeven inflation rate hit an eight-year high.
In rates, Treasuries are richer across the curve with gains led by front-end, steepening spreads from Thursday’s close. US session focus includes a flood of economic data, headed by PCE deflator at 8:30am New York. US yields richer by up to 5bp across front-end of the curve with 2s10s, 5s30s spreads flatter by 1bp and 1.5bp on the day; 10- year yields around 3.78%, richer by 4bp on the day with bunds lagging by 1.5bp in the sector. The two-year Treasury yield slipped 4bps to 4.49%, pulling back from a two-month high around 4.55% hit the previous day. Markets are pricing in 23 basis points of Fed tightening in July, down 3 basis points from Thursday but still reflecting the likelihood of a 25 basis point hike in two months’ time; Boston Fed President Collins on Thursday said the central bank may have reached, or be approaching, the point at which it can pause interest-rate increases
In commodities, crude futures advance with WTI rising 0.5% to trade near $72.20. Spot gold adds 0.6% to around $1,953. Bitcoin falls 0.2%
Looking to the day ahead now, and data releases from the US include PCE inflation for April, along with personal income and personal spending for April, preliminary durable goods orders for April, and the University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment index for May. Meanwhile in Europe, there’s UK retail sales for April. Otherwise from central banks, we’ll hear from the ECB’s Lane and Vujcic.
Market Snapshot
S&P 500 futures down 0.3% to 4,170
MXAP up 0.5% to 159.93
MXAPJ up 0.7% to 506.87
Nikkei up 0.4% to 30,916.31
Topix little changed at 2,145.84
Hang Seng Index down 1.9% to 18,746.92
Shanghai Composite up 0.4% to 3,212.50
Sensex up 0.8% to 62,392.17
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.2% to 7,154.76
Kospi up 0.2% to 2,558.81
STOXX Europe 600 up 0.3% to 457.36
German 10Y yield little changed at 2.52%
Euro little changed at $1.0729
Brent Futures little changed at $76.23/bbl
Gold spot up 0.6% to $1,953.26
U.S. Dollar Index down 0.15% to 104.09
Top Overnight News from Bloomberg
European stocks rose and Treasury yields ticked lower on signs that US negotiators are moving closer to striking a debt deal.
Republican and White House negotiators are nearing a deal to raise the debt limit and cap federal spending for two years, according to people familiar with the matter, as time grows short to avert a catastrophic US default
With investor attention on the US sovereign credit rating rising as the federal government gets ever closer to running out of cash, Moody’s Investors Service says that a mid-June payment of interest on Treasuries will be critical for maintaining the top, AAA grade.
Germany has been Europe’s economic engine for decades, pulling the region through one crisis after another. But that resilience is breaking down, and it spells danger for the whole continent.
In 2020, just after George Floyd’s murder in the US, one of the most senior Black professionals in the City of London, KPMG UK Partner and Vice-Chair Richard Iferenta, appealed to CEOs and chairpeople of the business community “to stamp out racism of all forms.” Three years later, he has yet to see the change and ambition he asked for.
Morgan Stanley is letting go of at least six managing directors, including some key China bankers, as part of broader job cuts in Asia where dealmaking has been stymied by growing China-US tensions and tepid economic growth.
Barclays Plc lost three senior investment bankers including John Miller, all of whom are joining Jefferies Financial Group Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter.
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
European bourses began the session on the front foot but have since pulled back from best levels and now see a mixed picture, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.1%. Sectors in Europe are mixed (vs a mostly positive open). Basic Resources outperform as base metals claw back some recent losses, with Tech the next best performer as NVIDIA’s surge continues to reverberate globally. The downside meanwhile consists of Utilities, Telecoms, and Banks. US equity futures traded horizontally overnight but saw a slight uptick shortly after the cash open, in tandem with Europe, but have since pulled back; ES -0.1%.
Top European News
UK ministers look to reshape the pensions lifeboat fund to provide a boost to business, according to FT.
ECB’s Lane on “How quickly will inflation return to target?” – reiterates guidance from the 4th May ECB Meeting.
There is no sense of certainty in the terminal rate; uncertainty in models is high; some upside risks to wage growth.
ECB’s Vujcic says inflation momentum is still persistent and it is questionable that we will be able to get to 2% in the next two years.
Riksbank’s Breman says increasing asset sales is something we could think about if we see the crown continuing to weaken. Adds, increasing asset sales is something we should think about, doesn’t need to be next meeting.
APAC stocks traded mixed following the mild positive bias stateside where the tech sector surged on Nvidia’s blockbuster report and with sentiment underpinned by firm US data and progress in debt ceiling talks. ASX 200 was indecisive with price action rangebound and risk sentiment contained by disappointing Retail Sales data. Nikkei 225 outperformed and reclaimed the 31,000 level with the index lifted by recent currency weakness and mostly softer-than-expected Tokyo CPI, while tech stocks benefitted from the ripple effect which stemmed from the rally in US counterparts. Shanghai Comp. was subdued amid the closure of Hong Kong markets and Stock Connect trade but with the downside cushioned after the meeting between the US and China’s commerce chiefs where concerns were raised about recent actions taken against US companies in China, as well as US chip policy and export curbs
Top Asian News
US Commerce Secretary Raimondo met with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang in Washington and raised concerns about the recent spate of Chinese actions taken against US companies in China.
Furthermore, China’s MOFCOM said Wang and Raimondo agreed to keep communication on trade concerns and that China expressed concerns on US chip policy and export curbs, while the meeting was candid and constructive, according to Reuters.
China’s top server makers asked suppliers to suspend shipments of modules containing chips made by Micron (MU) following Beijing’s partial ban on Micron products, according to SCMP.
FX
The broader Dollar and index have pulled back from overnight highs. mostly amid the strength in G10 counterparts.
The non-US Dollars are firmer against the Dollar to varying degrees, AUD/USD outperforms as base metals rebound.
Sterling resides as one of today’s outperformers on the back of the stronger-than-expected Retail Sales data (+0. 5% M/M vs exp. 0.3%), coupled with hawkish commentary from BoE’s Haskel yesterday.
The SEK stands as the current G10 outperformer with strength seen amid hawkish commentary from Riksbank Deputy Governor Bremen.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0760 vs exp. 7.0752 (prev. 7.0529)
Fixed Income
Core benchmarks are mixed with USTs bid as the risk tone slips while EGBs/Gilts are softer, but directionally infitting.
EGBs and Gilts were initially weighed on by strong UK Retail data which adds to the factors in-favour of further BoE tightening.
Though, market pricing for the BoE hasn’t altered significantly from the post-CPI pricing of 100bp of tightening by end-2023.
Stateside, yields are lower across the curve and towards troughs given the above benchmark pricing
Commodities
WTI and Brent futures are relatively flat on either side of the unchanged mark following the downside yesterday, which was due to a concoction of weak German GDP data and comments from Russia Deputy PM Novak.
Spot gold has firmed in the European morning as the DXY pulled back, while the yellow metal also found support near its 100 DMA (USD 1,934.86/oz) in APAC hours.
Base metals are firmer across the board following the losses seen throughout the majority of this week.
India weather office says El Nino seen emerging during monsoon season.
Geopolitics
Japan is to place additional sanctions against Russia in which it will freeze the assets of 78 groups and 17 individuals in Russia as part of new sanctions, according to a government bulletin. Furthermore, Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno said Japan is to ban providing construction and engineering services in Russia, while they condemned Russia’s plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus as it intensifies the situation around Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Regarding Sweden’s NATO accession, Sweden said Turkish President Erdogan’s demands are impossible to meet as Sweden has not received a list of relevant individuals from Turkey, according to a senior Swedish official cited by WSJ.
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
After some rough sessions earlier in the week, the newsflow has been a lot more positive for markets over the last 24 hours. First, there’s now some more optimism again around the debt ceiling, particularly after comments from Speaker McCarthy suggested that a deal was near, and that he would be staying in town over the long weekend to work on a deal. Second, tech stocks saw a big outperformance thanks to excitement surrounding AI, which followed Nvidia’s positive outlook from the previous day. And third, US economic data yesterday ran ahead of expectations, thus helping to ease fears about an imminent recession. But with all this newfound optimism, investors are once again dialling up their expectations for future rate hikes, and sovereign bonds saw a decent selloff in response. In the meantime, the gains for equities were actually very narrow and solely driven by the large tech stocks.
Starting with the debt ceiling, we still don’t have a deal yet, but the latest developments yesterday raised hopes that an agreement can be reached ahead of the deadline (whenever that actually is). Shortly after the US open, markets reacted to comments from Speaker McCarthy, who said “I thought we made some progress” in the discussions on Wednesday. Furthermore, he said “I don’t think everybody is going to be happy at the end of the day”, which was seen as laying the groundwork for any potential compromise, and hence positive for the likelihood of reaching a deal. Last night it was reported by Reuters that the two sides were just $70bn apart on discretionary spending levels, with the overall deal likely smaller in scope than what was first reported. While there was no deal when the sides went home, the tone from the top from Speaker McCarthy and President Biden is more encouraging than earlier this week. After the US close the Treasury disclosed their cash balances had fallen to $49.5bn, down from $76.5bn the day earlier and $140bn on May 12, so the clock is indeed ticking.
With that more positive backdrop to the talks, there were clear signs of market stress starting to ease again. For instance, the yield on the T-bill maturing on June 8 (so close to the potential X-date) came down by -32.4bps on the day to 6.48%, and it was a similar story for other bills around the X-date. Those moves were also in the opposite direction to the broader move toward higher yields yesterday, which further demonstrates how the debt limit was driving those moves. However, even with the growing optimism from yesterday, it’s worth noting that yields on bills around the X-date are trading with a 6 handle, which shows how investors are still wanting a premium to hold the Treasuries that might be affected by a potential default.
Just as better news was coming through on the debt ceiling, we also had a decent round of releases on the US economy that further supported risk appetite. One was the weekly initial jobless claims, which came in at 229k over the week ending May 20 (vs. 245k expected), and we also heard that the state of Massachusetts had downwardly revised three months of data due to fraudulent applications. Alongside that, it turned out that growth in Q1 was stronger than initially thought, having been revised up to a +1.3% annualised rate (vs. 1.1% previously), whilst core PCE inflation was revised up to +5.0% (vs. +4.9% previously).
With all that positive news coming through, it means that markets are putting increasing weight on the prospect of another rate hike from the Federal Reserve. By the close, futures had raised the chances of a June hike up to 54%, which is the first time since SVB’s collapse back in March, so it’s a prospect that investors are taking more and more seriously. At the same time, there’s been growing speculation that the Fed might skip a hike in June and move again in July, which means that if you look at the chances that we’ve had a hike by July, they’re now up to a very strong 94% probability. That’s a big shift from where we were after the Fed’s last meeting at the start of the month, when the consensus view was that they were done hiking, and the next move was more likely to be a cut than a hike.
As markets priced in more rate hikes, sovereign bonds sold off across the board once again. In the US, yields on 10yr Treasuries (+7.6bps) hit a post-SVB high of 3.817%, having now risen for 9 of the last 10 sessions. And the 10yr real yield (+7.9bps) closed above 1.5% for the first time since the SVB turmoil as well. In Europe yields were set to close lower than they did before a late comment from ECB board member Knot (a noted hawk) who said that rate hikes were needed over the next two months, that he was “open-minded” about September, and finally that the market pricing of rates cuts is “overly optimistic”. This resulted in yields on 10yr bunds (+5.0bps), OATs (+5.0bps) and BTPs (+5.9bps) all moving higher after being close to finishing just higher than unchanged. Overnight swap pricing is still nearly fully pricing in the next two hikes (97% for June and 80% for July ), while the chance of a rate cut in February of next year is now the lowest it has been in 3 weeks.
But it was gilts that saw the biggest declines once again, with the 10yr yield (+16.0bps) closing at 4.37%, which isn’t far off its closing high just after the September mini-budget, when it reached 4.50%. That comes as our UK economist has updated his call for the BoE, where he now thinks we’ll get another three 25bp hikes that take us up to a terminal rate of 5.25%. See his latest call here.
For equities, there were several factors at play yesterday, and the S&P 500 (+0.88%) ultimately ended the day in positive territory. But it’s worth stressing that this was down to incredible strength among tech stocks, with only just over 40% of the index actually ending the day in positive territory. In fact, on an industry basis, semiconductors were up +11.0% and software was up +3.6%, with transports the next best at +1.2%. 15 of the 24 other industries were lower on the day. So clearly tech outperformance was the big story with the NASDAQ recovering +1.71% after declining over the last couple of days. Nvidia (+24.37%) was one of the biggest outperformers, and was single-handedly responsible for most of the NASDAQ’s gains. In addition, the company’s strength meant that the FANG+ Index (+2.51%) extended its YTD gains to +55.19%. Elsewhere, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index was up +6.81%, and individual companies like Advanced Micro Devices surged +11.13%. Marvell kept the semi’s ball rolling after hours by reporting better-than-expected results and forecasting AI-related revenues to at least double for this fiscal year. Their stock was +16.74% higher after the close.
Overnight in Asia, the Nikkei 225 (+0.62%) and the Kospi (+0.17%) are advancing just as the Shanghai Composite (-0.14%) lags. Some of the gains continue to be driven by AI sentiment – IT is the best-performing sector in the Topix and companies like TSMC (+4.05%) and SK Hynix (+5.51%) are rallying further on Marvell’s earnings. In terms of economic data in the region, the Tokyo CPI slowed to 3.2% from 3.5% YoY, coming in below estimates of 3.4%. The yen has strengthened +0.23% against the dollar. In terms of US assets, Marvell’s $42bn market cap has done little to lift Nasdaq futures (-0.18%), with the S&P 500 (-0.18%) contracts also falling. Meanwhile, Treasury yields are down by at least 1bps across most of the curve.
In Germany, there was another round of weak data yesterday, as their Q1 GDP number was revised to show a -0.3% contraction, rather than a flat reading as initially thought. Given that the economy saw a -0.5% contraction in Q4, that means there were two consecutive contractions that meet the technical definition of a recession. So assuming the data isn’t revised further in future, it turns out there was a winter recession amidst the energy shock, despite hopes the country might have just about managed to avoid one.
To the day ahead now, and data releases from the US include PCE inflation for April, along with personal income and personal spending for April, preliminary durable goods orders for April, and the University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment index for May. Meanwhile in Europe, there’s UK retail sales for April. Otherwise from central banks, we’ll hear from the ECB’s Lane and Vujcic.
2 b) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)/ASIA REPORT
APAC mixed with focus on debt ceiling talks; UK Retail Sales & US PCE ahead – Newsquawk Europe Market Open
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 – 01:33 AM
APAC stocks traded mixed following the mild positive bias stateside where the tech sector surged on Nvidia’s blockbuster report
Nikkei 225 outperformed, US equity futures were rangebound, and European equity futures are indicative of a flat open
US President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy are said to be near a deal that would raise the debt ceiling for two years and cap spending
US House Speaker McCarthy said there was no agreement on Thursday and he will stay at the Capitol to continue to work this weekend
Looking ahead, highlights include UK Retail Sales, US PCE Price Index, Durable Goods, Speeches from ECB’s Lane, Enria & RBNZ’s Orr, Supply from the UK
2. Listen to this report in the market open podcast (available on Apple and Spotify)
3. Trial Newsquawk’s premium real-time audio news squawk box for 7 days
US TRADE
EQUITIES
US stocks finished somewhat mixed albeit with a positive bias as a debt limit solution appears increasingly likely and with the advances led by a surge in the tech sector after Nvidia (NVDA) ballooned its market cap by around 25% to approach near the USD 1tln club. In addition, the data releases were stronger than expected, which coupled with the increased optimism on the debt ceiling, put the onus back on the Fed and saw money market pricing edge towards a hike at the next FOMC meeting in June.
SPX +0.88% at 4,151, NDX +2.46% at 13,938, DJIA -0.11% at 32,764, RUT -0.70% at 1,754.
Fed Discount Window borrowing at USD 4.2bln on May 24th vs USD 9bln W/W, while Other Credit was at USD 192.6bln vs USD 208.5bln WW and BTFP lending was at 91.9bln vs 87bln W/W, according to Reuters.
US President Biden said he had several productive conversations on the debt ceiling with House Speaker McCarthy and it is time for Congress to act now, while Biden put forward a proposal to freeze spending for two years and said negotiations are about budget outlines. Biden added that he has a very different view to McCarthy of who should bear the burden of additional efforts to get the fiscal house in order and he will not agree to huge cuts on teachers, police, border patrol agents or increase wait times for social security claims and he believes they’ll come to an agreement.
US President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy are said to be near a deal that would raise the debt ceiling for two years and cap spending on most items other than military and veterans, while President Biden and Democrats are considering scaling back the boost in IRS funding as part of a budget deal, according to a US official cited by Reuters.
White House Communications Director said they are getting closer to a deal on the debt ceiling, while the White House earlier said President Biden’s team had productive debt ceiling talks and discussions continue.
White House and Republican debt limit proposals differ now by less than USD 70bln on discretionary spending, while the contours of a US debt limit deal are taking shape and the focus is primarily on the top-line number. Furthermore, negotiators are likely to agree on a slimmed-down agreement with just a few key numbers, according to Reuters sources.
US House Speaker McCarthy said there was no agreement on Thursday and he will stay at the Capitol to continue to work this weekend, while he added it is not easy and they will continue working until they get it done, according to Reuters.
US GOP Rep. Graves said work requirements are a sticking point in talks with the White House, according to Reuters.
US GOP Rep. McHenry said there is alignment on what they need to work on with the debt ceiling, while he responded that he doesn’t think so and they are not quite in that zone yet when asked if a deal could have been made yesterday, but noted the work they are doing centres on a shorter and shorter array of issues.
US GOP Rep. McHenry, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Yellen, said the Biden admin’s outbound investment proposal requires rigorous scrutiny by the Treasury and thorough oversight by Congress, while it is unclear that investment restrictions would be more effective than export controls or sanctions in regulating foreign investment.
US Treasury is preparing to change how the US processes federal agencies’ payments if the debt ceiling is breached whereby agencies would submit payments to the Treasury no sooner than the day before they are due and if the Treasury can’t make a full day’s payments, it would likely delay until it has enough cash, according to WSJ sources.
US regulator vowed to take a tough line on problem banks with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to consider taking corrective action against persistently weak banks including forcing them to exit certain businesses, according to WSJ.
APAC TRADE
EQUITIES
APAC stocks traded mixed following the mild positive bias stateside where the tech sector surged on Nvidia’s blockbuster report and with sentiment underpinned by firm US data and progress in debt ceiling talks.
ASX 200 was indecisive with price action rangebound and risk sentiment contained by disappointing Retail Sales data.
Nikkei 225 outperformed and reclaimed the 31,000 level with the index lifted by recent currency weakness and mostly softer-than-expected Tokyo CPI, while tech stocks benefitted from the ripple effect which stemmed from the rally in US counterparts.
Shanghai Comp. was subdued amid the closure of Hong Kong markets and Stock Connect trade but with the downside cushioned after the meeting between the US and China’s commerce chiefs where concerns were raised about recent actions taken against US companies in China, as well as US chip policy and export curbs.
US equity futures were rangebound as participants await further development in the debt ceiling negotiations and ahead of the Fed’s preferred inflation measure scheduled for release later today.
European equity futures are indicative of a flat open with the Euro Stoxx 50 flat after the cash market closed up by 0.1% yesterday.
FX
DXY marginally softened overnight but held on to most of its recent gains after printing a two-and-a-half-month high above 104.00 following a clean sweep of forecast-beating data releases which contributed to a shift in pricing towards a 25bps Fed hike next month.
EUR/USD attempted to nurse some of its losses but with the rebound limited after yesterday’s weak German data.
GBP/USD was off the prior day’s lows although lacked any meaningful strength and largely ignored comments from BoE’s Haskel who noted that further UK rate rises cannot be ruled out.
USD/JPY slightly pulled back after its brief incursion above 140.00 which coincided with moves in US yields.
Antipodeans were rangebound amid the mixed risk appetite and after flat Australian Retail Sales.
China’s major state-owned banks were seen selling dollars in the onshore spot FX market.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0760 vs exp. 7.0752 (prev. 7.0529)
FIXED INCOME
10yr UST futures languished near yesterday’s lows after having bear-flattened to their most inverted since mid-March as strong data and debt ceiling progress placed the onus back on the Fed.
Bund futures were subdued after the recent sell-off and hawkish comments from ECB’s Knot but with a floor around 133.00.
10yr JGB futures were pressured on spillover selling from global peers and amid the lack of additional BoJ purchases which instead offered to purchase commercial paper from May 31st, although losses were stemmed after mostly softer-than-expected Tokyo CPI data.
COMMODITIES
Crude futures were lacklustre after yesterday’s slide owing to the headwinds from a firm dollar and comments from Russia’s Novak who initially downplayed prospects of an OPEC+ output cut but has since stated that the group could make a decision at the June meeting.
Russian Deputy PM Novak said Russia and OPEC+ partners will decide on what is best for the oil market, while he added that OPEC+ can make a decision at the June meeting if necessary and that Russia will participate in OPEC+ talks.
Iraqi Oil Ministry said discussions with Saudi companies including Aramco about gas and oil investments have not reached a final agreement.
Spot gold marginally recovered as the greenback took a breather from its recent advances.
Copper futures notched mild gains in the aftermath of the firm US data and debt ceiling progress.
CRYPTO
Bitcoin traded indecisively overnight in which price action oscillated around the USD 26,500 level.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
US Commerce Secretary Raimondo met with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang in Washington and raised concerns about the recent spate of Chinese actions taken against US companies in China. Furthermore, China’s MOFCOM said Wang and Raimondo agreed to keep communication on trade concerns and that China expressed concerns on US chip policy and export curbs, while the meeting was candid and constructive, according to Reuters.
US official Ratner said China has not answered the US request for a defence ministers meeting.
US State Department said it is aware of recent activity by a Chinese-sponsored cyber actor to develop a presence in networks across US critical infrastructure and such attacks could include against oil and gas pipelines and rail systems.
China’s top server makers asked suppliers to suspend shipments of modules containing chips made by Micron (MU) following Beijing’s partial ban on Micron products, according to SCMP.
DATA RECAP
Tokyo CPI YY (May) 3.2% vs. Exp. 3.9% (Prev. 3.5%)
Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food YY (May) 3.2% vs. Exp. 3.3% (Prev. 3.5%)
Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food & Energy YY (May) 3.9% vs. Exp. 3.9% (Prev. 3.8%)
Australian Retail Sales MM Final * (Apr) 0.0% vs. Exp. 0.2% (Prev. 0.4%)
GEOPOLITICS
White House said it has seen reports of the Russian-Belarus nuclear weapon arrangement and will continue to monitor.
US issued new Russia-related sanctions related to the Russian Wagner Group, according to Treasury’s website.
Japan is to place additional sanctions against Russia in which it will freeze the assets of 78 groups and 17 individuals in Russia as part of new sanctions, according to a government bulletin. Furthermore, Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno said Japan is to ban providing construction and engineering services in Russia, while they condemned Russia’s plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus as it intensifies the situation around Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Russian Defence Ministry said it deployed a fighter jet to prevent two US Air Force bombers from violating Russian state borders, according to TASS.
UK/EU
UK ministers look to reshape the pensions lifeboat fund to provide a boost to business, according to FT.
BoE’s Haskel prefers to lean against risks of inflation and said further UK rate rises can’t be ruled out, while he added that as difficult as current circumstances are, embedded inflation would be worse. Furthermore, Haskel believes it is prudent to reduce the focus placed on medium-term forecasts and put more weight on the near-term data, according to Reuters.
ECB’s Knot said there is no sign that underlying inflation is abating and ECB will hold rates at their peak for a significant time, while he added they need rate hikes of 25bps in June and July but is open-minded for September.
2 c. ASIAN AFFAIRS
ASIAN AND AUSTRALIAN CLOSINGS//EUROPE OPENING TRADING:
FRIDAY MORNING/THURSDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 11.24 PTS OR 0.35% //Hang Seng CLOSED /The Nikkei closed UP 115.18 OR .37% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.24 % /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP 7.0579 /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN DOWN TO 7.0685 /Oil DOWN TO 72.48 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT AT 76.87 / Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE STRONGER
2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
///NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA/
2e) JAPAN
JAPAN
END
3 CHINA /
CHINA//
CHINA/USA
END
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDAVIAN AFFAIRS
end
5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
financially, this would be devastating to all
(zerohedge)
Ukraine War Could Last For Decades: Medvedev
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 – 01:35 PM
Pentagon officials have already been on record as predicting the Russia-Ukraine war could take “years”. But on Friday a top Russian official and former president gave the longest prediction thus far.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev was quoted in Russian media as saying the war will last “decades, probably”.
“This conflict will last for a very long time. For decades, probably. This is a new reality,” he said as cited in RIA, while also describing that if Moscow agrees to a truce anytime soon the war would likely just erupt again.
At a moment the Ukrainian counteroffensive looms, though with doubts being expressed from Western officials that it could actually be successful, Kiev leaders have also voiced that they fear that any ceasefire would simply allow Russian forces to resupply and fortify their positions. Medvedev additionally explained:
“As long as there is such a power in place, there will be, say, three years of truce, two years of conflict, and everything will be repeated.”
But it should be remembered that President Putin has yet to actually issue a formal declaration of war and full military mobilization of society. Pentagon officials have also this week suggested a stalemated battlefield situation will persist.
Medvedev’s view on the prospect of negotiations, at a moment both China as well as African leaders are visiting mutual capitals to push for peace, is very bleak:
Negotiations, he said, with “the clown Zelenskyy” were impossible.
“Everything always ends in negotiations, and this is inevitable, but as long as these people are in power, the situation for Russia will not change in terms of negotiations.”
Medvedev, who cast himself as a liberal moderniser when he was president from 2008-2012, now presents himself as a fiercely anti-Western Kremlin hawk. Diplomats say his views give an indication of thinking at the top levels of the Kremlin elite.
He also in a fresh interview reiterated his concerns for nuclear escalation, warning that if Ukraine were ever given nukes, Moscow would launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike. This week saw Russia and Belarus sign a deal to formalize plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil, which President Lukashenko has hinted is a process that’s already begun.
“There are irreversible laws of war. If it comes to nuclear weapons, there will have to be a pre-emptive strike,” Medvedev said, adding that any possible nukes given to Ukraine would result in “a missile with a nuclear charge coming to them.”
“The Anglo-Saxons do not fully realize this and believe that it will not come to this. It will under certain conditions,” he stressed. However, there’s been no serious known proposal by any top Western officials to actually arm Ukraine with nukes.
END
MIDDLE EAST/USA
A good commentary on how sanctions has cost the USA its grip on the Middle East and thus USA hegemony is waning and that spells trouble for the USA dollar
(Mises)
Thanks To Sanctions, The US Is Losing Its Grip On The Middle East
Last Friday, members of the Arab League welcomed the Syrian regime back to the organization. Representatives from several Arab member states shook Syrian leader Assad’s hand and gave him, a “warm” reception according to several news outlets. Syria was suspended from the league in 2011, but on May 7 in Cairo the league agreed to reinstate the Assad regime.
This represents a reversal from years of isolation placed on the regime, and a break with US policy which remains staunchly opposed to Assad. Indeed, the League’s rapprochement with Assad should be seen as a repudiation of US policy, and especially as a sign of how Washington’s influence among Leage members—the most powerful of which are Saudi Arabia and Egypt—has waned.
Moreover, this is just the latest bad news for Washington’s influence in the region coming mere weeks after Iran and Saudi Arabia reestablished diplomatic relations.
In both cases, we find regimes that Washington had sought to isolate and sanction, but both states have instead been expanding their relations with other states in the region with the help of China. Meanwhile, both Beijing and Riyadh have increased their ties with Russia. These development help illustrate how growing US attempt to impose—or threaten to impose—hard line sanctions against a growing number of regimes has only accelerated a global movement away from the US dollar and away from Washington’s orbit.
Saudi Arabia Increasing Ties with Iran and Syria
In March of this year, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced a resumption of relations following a deal brokered by China. The Saudi regime—a longtime Washington ally—had apparently not told the Biden administration of the meetings with Iran and China. Shortly after the agreement was announced, the administration dispatched CIA Director William Burns to Saudi Arabia where he reportedly “expressed frustration with the Saudis,” telling “Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the U.S. has felt blindsided by Riyadh’s rapprochement with Iran and Syria.”
Although the White House now claims to be supportive of the new agreement between Riyadh and Tehran, this support is really just an admission that there’s not much Washington can do about it. After all, for decades, US policy has been to isolate Tehran and in recent years, Washington has imposed harsh sanctions, including Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” designed to cripple Iran even more. The Biden administration took no significant steps to reverse the Trump position. The Saudi regime’s newfound openness to Iran is thus contrary to US policy, and it is not plausible that Washington is in any way pleased with the change.
From Washington’s perspective, the situation got even worse this month when the Arab League readmitted Syria, also apparently without consulting Washington. Since 2011, the US has imposed draconian sanctions on Syrian in a manner similar to Iran. Syria’s newfound reintegration into the Arab League is thus also contrary to the US’s ongoing efforts to isolate the Assad regime which the US has repeatedly claimed must by subjected to “regime change.”
Growing Ties with Russia
New overtures by the Saudis toward both Syria and Iran also run afoul of Washington because both Iran and Syria are important allies of Moscow. With the US now inflicting harsh sanctions on the Russian regime, anything that helps Damascus and Tehran has the potential to help Moscow as well.
Both the Saudis and the Chinese have shown growing efforts to forge ties directly with the Russian regime as well. At a Chinese-Russian summit in February 2022, both regimes stated they plan to forge even closer ties. This has apparently not changed even after a year of heightened hostilities from the US and NATO aimed at Moscow. In fact, it is likely that Russia-China relations are closer than they’ve ever been in the post-Soviet era. This has clearly been a problem for Washington as China continues to provide an important market for Russian exports in the face of US sanctions. Both states have also made efforts to move away from the US dollar and settle international trade in other currencies.
This might all be dismissed as the scheming of foreign powers that were never reliable “partners” or allies of the US in the first place. But Saudi Arabia is another matter, and the Saudis are apparently willing to play nice with the Russians, Chinese, and other members of the latest supposed “Axis of Evil.”
The Saudi regime has grown closer to Moscow in the wake of US sanctions against Russia. For example, “Saudi Arabia and the UAE, traditional Middle Eastern allies of the United States, are not shying away from importing, storing, trading, or re-exporting Russian fuels despite American efforts to persuade them to join a crackdown on Russian attempts to evade the Western sanctions on its oil.”
In other words, US efforts to get the Arab world to isolate Russia are failing, and Russian ties with the Middle East are actually improving.
This can be seen in the fact that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)—which is dominated by its largest producer, Saudi Arabia—has shown no interest in helping the US in its sanctions war against Russia. Instead, OPEC has cut production levels to raise oil prices, which benefits Moscow. The US has opposed these cuts, and now some anti-Russia factions in the US are exploring ways to punish OPEC for its lack of enthusiasm in cooperating with US efforts against Russia.
At this point, a trend has clearly emerged: as the US further attempts to tighten its geopolitical grip on the global economy through economic sanctions, fewer and fewer states worldwide appear interested in playing along.
Indeed, the spread of US sanctions provides good reason for other regimes to increase efforts to forge close ties with other regimes as insurance against becoming the victims of US policy. After all, the US has been quite free and easy with threatening “uncooperative” countries with so-called secondary sanctions as a punishment for doing business with states like Syria and Russia. The US has been explicit in this and in February, as CNN reported at the time, “the United States is ramping up efforts to choke off Russia’s economy and it has set its sight on the Middle East. . . . A top US Treasury official arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday to warn the regional business hub that helping Moscow evade sanctions wouldn’t be without consequences.” China had already been “warned” in a similar fashion.
Yet, it appears that the US’s ongoing sanctions war against a growing percentage of the world population is having the opposite of its intended effect. The US threatens to sanction Saudi Arabia and China, and in return, both countries become even more willing to seek cooperation with some of the regimes Washington has attacked the most.
While Washington pursued a divide-and-conquer strategy throughout the Middle East, Beijing brokers deals to increase regional stability. While the US ratchets up efforts to isolate its many enemies, the Chinese, the Saudis, the Arab League, and OPEC all shrug and look to increasing international communication and trade. The Washington foreign policy establishment shows few signs that it is even noticing. The US regimes foreign policy “tool box” continues to be centered on sanctions, violence, and making demands on both its allies and its professed enemies. The rest of the world is moving on, however, and Washington may be among the last to accept the new reality.
end
UKRAINE//RUSSIA//USA//
Ron Paul on the stupidity of USA funneling huge amounts of dollars to the Ukraine in helping them in their war with Russia
(Ron Paul)
Ron Paul: Biden’s Running Out Of Ukraine Money? Good!
When the smoke finally clears, President Biden’s Ukraine debacle will go down – along with Afghanistan and Iraq – as one of the greatest foreign policy disasters in US history. Hundreds of thousands have been killed on both sides in the service of the US neocons’ long standing desire to “regime change” Russia.
And let’s not forget that $100 billion authorized by Congress to finance the neocons’ “Project Ukraine.”
With Russian control established in the strategic city of Bakhmut over the weekend, the neocon Ukraine project – like all neocon foreign policy projects before it – looks to be progressing rapidly toward failure. But that won’t stop the Biden Administration from attempting to extort more money from an America already teetering on the brink of economic collapse. And let’s not forget the battle over the “debt limit” raging in DC.
The Biden Administration’s profligate domestic spending is a battleground for Republican lawmakers, however when it comes to endless spending on Project Ukraine, with a few exceptions the two parties are in lockstep. At least when looking at Republican party leadership.
One thing is sure: we can count on Congress to throw good money after bad. After all, 20 years fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan got us…the Taliban in Afghanistan! With a cost of perhaps three trillion dollars. But the military-industrial complex and the think tanks pushing war and the mainstream media glorifying war all got paid well.
It may seem bleak, but this is where we have something to be optimistic about. As I’ve always said, you don’t need a majority to change the course of the country. A dedicated minority driven by the principles of liberty can produce incredible results.
The mainstream media is in a panic over the fact that of the $48 billion appropriated for Ukraine, only $6 billion remains. That won’t be enough to sustain “Project Ukraine” for more than a few weeks. With the tide of US public opinion turning overwhelmingly against throwing more money down the corrupt black hole called “Ukraine,” even unprincipled politicians are going to start listening to the emerging progressive/conservative alliance in Congress that’s had enough.
In Congress a principled multipolar minority is going to overtake a corrupt and mindless majority – bolstered by the American people. And that’s a good thing.
Election season is upon us, and although we would prefer to have recruited a majority of progressives and conservative/libertarians in Congress to our view that a hundred billion to Ukraine and possible World War III is not a good idea, we must nevertheless be satisfied that political realities are in our favor.
The communists talked about the “correlation of forces,” which took into account factors beyond military power to include politics and “soft power.” With that in mind, it seems likely that as the public mood in the US turns against sending endless billions to a corrupt Ukraine with the threat of World War III in the mix, the political animals in DC will begin abandoning the sinking ship.
With President Biden clearly flailing – and with the surprisingly strong primary challenge of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – we should look for lawmakers to begin abandoning “Project Ukraine” in droves. That movement, led by principled conservatives and progressives, will sink forever the neocon “Project Ukraine” and thus save us from global nuclear annihilation. Hopefully after this disaster, Americans will turn against neocons one and for all.
end
From Robert H:
UNKNOWN DISEASE PERMEATING UKRAINE
This is short report that is beyond scary that needs to be carefully be listened to. It is not a fiction as this is very real and several hundred people have already died. Ukrainians often travel back to Ukraine for cheap and readily accessible health care not prevalent in places like England and elsewhere at a fraction of cost. This easy unrestricted travel may well become a lot less likely as the threat of spreading this virus grows. And it clearly will affect people with comprised immune systems.
Moscow has directly communicated this to Washington
No one believes the balderdash emanating from Washington. Neocons want war and have lost all creditability on a world stage. Is it then any wonder why China does not communicate with Washington on any military subject?
We are headed into a Cuban like missile crisis or something far worse as fools speak of using tactical nukes to show strength. How does that show strength? All it says is that you condone the death of many at once and the quantity of dead defines your strength and willingness to kill. This is beyond stupid. However, such rubbish and shallow thinking does prevail certain corridors in Washington amongst Neocons. Should such an event occasion, one might assume Russians would not see that as strength but an act of war and respond with a mass strike to prevent any further attack. Fools with naive thoughts today preside over common sense which is sadly lacking.
Today, the world is witness to a demented old character of questionable repute masquerading as a President when he does not know where he is more often than not with foreign policy directed by blindness of personal vendetta of Neocons with no qualification for the positions they occupy.
Where is Elliott Ness or the Lone Ranger when sadly needed in a nation being altered by a small group of misfits?
Translation:Senior diplomats of the American diplomatic mission in Moscow, summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday, were strongly protested over the unacceptable statements of US national security adviser to Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan, who actually approved the UAF strikes on Russian territory, the Foreign Ministry said. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a Telegram statement that U.S. officials’ assurances that the U.S. does not encourage such attacks on Russia are false and hypocritical, especially given the supply of weapons from the Pentagon to Ukraine, which is subsequently used by Ukrainian militants for terrorist attacks. on the territory of our country. Russia emphasized that the United States had long been a party to the Ukrainian conflict, their hostile actions plunged bilateral relations into a deep and dangerous crisis.
Cheers
Robert
Anyone home?
Robert Hryniak
3:36 PM (50 minutes ago)
to
Repeatedly through this conflict we have seen various glimpses of modern Russian weapon systems that have been fine tuned by the conflict using a industrial base that has led to Russia in one year reinventing it’s forces from pure defense to a real strike capability.
Over this time Russia has also warned of consequences of escalation to fall on deaf or dumb ears, perhaps both.
While provision of F16’s is meaningless against the multi layered integrated defense systems Russia has. This is an escalation coupled with Sullivan’s blessing the Zelensky crowd to strike Russia proper. So while NATO or ukrainian pilots may fly these antiquated planes perhaps with nukes the missions for the most part will be suicide ones for the pilots.
Russia without exception is singular in possessing such advanced missile systems as Avanguard which comes in MACH20 and is virtually unstoppable. Even the CHinese are eager to buy or to steal such technology. They try both methods. And it has been demonstrated what Kinzhals and Zircons can accomplish.
At some point warnings and so called Red lines will be pointless and a real response warned about, will come. America is naive to think that Europe will be the sole recipient of pain.
Translation: The United States is greatly mistaken in believing that its self-preservation is ensured by the Atlantic Ocean. This statement was made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov in the program “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” TV channel “Russia 1”. A fragment of the interview was published on May 26 in the Telegram channel of journalist Pavel Zarubin. “Washington thinks that its self-preservation is ensured by the Atlantic Ocean, this is also a strong delusion if they are trying to bring the world to the brink of a third world war,” Lavrov said, commenting on the escalation due to the promised supply of F-16 fighters to Kiev. The minister added that for now, the United States is “inciting its European satellites against Russia”, believing that they will get away with everything.
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES/
GLOBAL ISSUES//MEDICAL ISSUES
Antibiotic-Resistant Bugs Will Kill As Many As Cancer By 2050; UN Report
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023 – 11:20 PM
Deaths from drug-resistant infections are set to skyrocket by 2050, according to the UN 2023 report ‘Bracing for Superbugs: Strengthening environmental action in the One Health response to antimicrobial resistance.’
Unless drastic action is taken to tackle the problem, it could also lead to a GDP shortfall of $3.4 trillion annually in the next decade and push 24 more people into extreme poverty.
As Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, according to recent estimates, in 2019, 1.27 million deaths were directly attributed to drug-resistant infections globally, while 4.95 million deaths were linked with bacterial AMR. That’s now well above the death counts of major killers HIV/AIDS and malaria, which were estimated to have claimed the lives of 860,000 and 640,000, respectively, that year. As the following chart shows, antibiotic-resistant infections could kill as many as 10 million people in just three decades – on par with the 2020 death toll from cancer.
Although the risks of AMR will impact people worldwide, Low-Income Countries (LICs) and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) are expected to see the highest death tolls. By region, Asia is predicted to see the highest number of AMR-related deaths per 10,000 population in 2050 (4,730,000), followed by Africa (4,150,000), Latin America (392,000), Europe (390,000), North America (317,000) and Oceania (22,000).
According to the report, AMR also exacerbates inequalities within societies and so groups including women, children, migrants, refugees, people employed in sectors such as agriculture or healthcare, as well as those living in poverty will be particularly vulnerable to drug-resistant infections.
end
AMAZING!
Man Paralyzed For 12 Years Walks Again Thanks To Brain, Spinal Cord Implants
Gert-Jan Oskam, a 40-year-old Dutchman, was paralyzed in his legs and partially paralyzed in his arms following a cycling accident 12 years ago during which he suffered spinal cord damage.
He was told he would never walk again.
However, after being fitted with a device called a “brain–spine interface,” Oskam regained the ability to voluntarily move his legs and feet just by thinking about it, according to a study published May 24 in the journal Nature.
He can now stand, climb stairs, and even traverse complex terrains with the help of a walking aid, according to researchers.
“I feel like a toddler, learning to walk again,” Oskam told the BBC. “It has been a long journey, but now I can stand up and have a beer with my friend. It’s a pleasure that many people don’t realize.”
An international team of researchers, led by Dr. Grégoire Courtine, Professor Jocelyne Bloch, and others from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, fitted Oskam with the brain–spine interface, which works by creating a direct link between “cortical signals and the analogue modulation of epidural electrical stimulation targeting the spinal cord regions involved in the production of walking,” according to researchers.
How the Device Works
Put simply, the device restored the neurological link between the brain and the spinal cord, which is typically severed during accidents such as Oskam’s.
The device was implanted into Oskam’s skull, meaning it is not visible to the naked eye. When Oskam thinks about walking, the implant detects electrical activity in the cortex, the outer layer of the brain, and sends brain waves wirelessly to a computer that Oskam wears in a backpack.
Oskam also underwent around 40 rehabilitation sessions using the brain–spine interface, after which he regained the ability to voluntarily move his legs and feet.
Researchers believe Oskam’s movements would not have been possible with spinal stimulation alone and that the training sessions “prompted further recovery in nerve cells” which were not completely severed during his injury.
As well as being able to walk while using the device, Oskam can also walk short distances without the device, provided he uses crutches.
The trend away from the U.S. dollar in global trade and finance is accelerating rapidly as inflation persists, government debt levels explode, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) roams the planet negotiating deals in other currencies.
The economic and political implications of the dollar’s possible loss of its prized status as global reserve currency are hard to overstate, according to experts.
In fact, such a development—if and when it occurs—could prove catastrophic to U.S. consumers as their spending power evaporates, economists are warning amid debt-ceiling negotiations that have sent tremors around the world.
Numerous analysts who spoke with The Epoch Times warned that the CCP and other U.S. adversaries were actively advancing the global effort to undermine the dollar.
However, current and former U.S. lawmakers and policymakers also placed much of the blame on the Biden administration, U.S. government spending, and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies.
“The dollar is clearly at risk from foreign enemies who wish to challenge American power and domestic fools who believe the American credit card has no limits on spending,” explained Kevin Freeman, host of the Economic War Room and an authority on economic warfare.
In comments to The Epoch Times, Freeman, who has briefed top U.S. military officials and policymakers, pointed to CCP strongman Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin as foreign adversaries seeking to undermine the dollar.
The Saudis and numerous powers across Africa and Latin America have joined the “anti-dollar cabal” in recent months, he added.
But the U.S. government deserves some of the blame for the developments, he said.
“Sadly, we are making it easy for them with massive debt increases, an erratic foreign policy, and Washington’s arrogance that ignores the threat,” said Freeman, who also serves as a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy.
Multiple members of Congress who spoke with The Epoch Times echoed the concerns about the Biden administration’s role in the accelerating shift away from the dollar.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) pointed to the president himself. “Joe Biden’s war mongering, runaway inflation, and irresponsible spending sprees have threatened our currency’s value,” he said.
A broad range of experts who spoke with The Epoch Times were divided on when or even if the U.S. dollar might lose its status as global reserve currency, and what that could mean for the U.S. economy and the American people.
While many are warning of calamity, some even said there may be a “silver lining” to the U.S. dollar losing its global position.
But regardless of when or how the saga plays out, the significance of the trends surrounding the U.S. dollar and its role in the world will be profound and highly disruptive at the very least, experts said.
De-dollarization
Thanks to the unchallengeable supremacy of the United States in the aftermath of World War II and the dollar’s nominal backing by gold at the time, and later its endorsement by oil exporters as the “petro-dollar,” the American currency has reigned supreme among currencies for over 70 years.
The dollar still benefits from what is known as the “network effect” as well as the fact that U.S. capital markets are the deepest and most liquid in the world, experts told The Epoch Times.
But if current trends away from the dollar and political instability continue, analysts say the American currency’s coveted status as the global reserve could be shaken or even lost for good. In fact, the process is already underway, some experts warned.
The dollar’s share of global reserves just two decades ago was at about 75 percent, according to experts and analysts. Today, estimates suggest it is under 50 percent and shrinking fast.
Speaking at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva highlighted the trend.
“There has been a gradual shift away from the dollar,” she said, adding that the euro, the British pound, and the CCP’s yuan were all gaining ground.
While Georgieva said she did not anticipate an imminent rise of a viable alternative as “we may migrate to central bank digital currencies massively,” that does not mean it will not come eventually.
Non-Western central banks are also buying gold in record quantities, and analysts expect that demand to remain strong.
“We think this trend of central bank buying is likely to continue amid heightened geopolitical risks and elevated inflation,” Swiss bank UBS said in a note.
“In fact, the US decision to freeze Russian foreign exchange reserves in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine may have led to a long-term impact on the behavior of central banks.”
Even traditional U.S. allies have been conducting deals in non-dollar currencies. In late March, for example, the French government completed its first cross-border liquified natural gas deal in Chinese yuan.
Also in March, authorities in Brazil—an economic powerhouse that historically has had close relations with the United States—also inked a deal with the CCP to trade in domestic currencies rather than the dollar.
The trends are accelerating. According to a recent note by prominent currency analyst Stephen Jen at Eurizon SLJ, the dollar lost market share in 2022 at 10 times the pace as during the previous 20 years—a trend he says most analysts have missed.
The speed at which this is happening is dramatic, too. “Adjusting for these price changes, the dollar, we calculate, has lost some 11 percent of its market share since 2016 and double that amount since 2008,” added Jen, who previously worked at Morgan Stanley.
Much of the recent acceleration has to do with U.S. policy on Ukraine. “This erosion in the USD’s reserve currency status has accelerated precipitously since the start of the war in Ukraine,” noted Jen, pointing to “exceptional actions” against Russia that “startled” large reserve-holding countries.
“What we witnessed in 2022 was sort of a ‘defund-the-global-police’ moment, whereby many reserve managers in the world disagreed with the conduct of both Russia and the US.”
CCP Agenda
Calls for a new global monetary system and reserve currency are not new, though. Even a decade ago, the CCP was promoting the idea through its propaganda machine.
“What may also be included as a key part of an effective reform is the introduction of a new international reserve currency that is to be created to replace the dominant U.S. dollar, so that the international community could permanently stay away from the spillover of the intensifying domestic political turmoil in the United States,” Liu Chang wrote in an opinion piece for Xinhua, a CCP propaganda and intelligence-gathering operation.
Analysts said the Xinhua editorial was undoubtedly approved by senior CCP officials and clearly reflected Beijing’s views.
One benefit of such a policy would be to “encourage Washington to play a much more constructive role in addressing global affairs,” the CCP piece continued, calling for a “de-Americanized” so-called “new world order.”
It was hardly the first time the CCP touted the idea. In a 2009 report by People’s Bank of China chief Zhou Xiaochuan dubbed “Reform the International Monetary System,” the CCP called for an “international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run.” The proposed global currency could be issued by the IMF, he said.
In other words, almost 15 years ago, the highest echelons of power in Beijing were plotting a global currency to replace the dollar as the world reserve.
When asked about the idea at a Council on Foreign Relations event, then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner shocked observers. “We’re actually quite open to that,” he said, causing the dollar to plunge.
Many of the same policymakers from the Obama administration in 2009 who were supportive of the idea remain in positions of influence in the Biden administration today.
Children’s Hospital has refused to conduct the transplant surgery; why this insanity at this time? how could these doctors place this child’s life at risk with a policy that has no data to support it
real criminals for what they did to law abiding citizens who simply wished to exercise their natural immunity; it was never ever a pandemic of the unvaccinated! Most dying today are VACCINATED!
Covenant School, Church Allowed to Intervene in Public Records Lawsuits Seeking Shooter’s WritingsRead more…Cops Solve One of Quebec’s Highest-Profile Cold CasesRead more…BREAKING: GOP Reps. Demand J6 Pipe Bomber Update In Letter To FBI, Reveal Bureau Should Have Suspect’s License Plate NumberRead more…Watch James O’Keefe Expose Sen. Fetterman Special AssistantRead more…Oprah Winfrey Your Next U.S. Senator?Read more…Undercover Video: Fetterman OK With Eliminating 2nd AmendmentRead more…WATCH: Trump Mocks Glitch-Plagued DeSantis Presidential Announcement In Brief ClipRead more…Hunter Biden investigation: Comer skeptical of special counsel amid whistleblower claimsRead more…
Profiting from War and Death: The Organ Harvesting Business in Ukraine
May 25, 2023 3:53 pm
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has issued a plea to deal with the “big business” of organ harvesting and called for close international monitoring of these illegal activities in the combat zone of Ukraine. She stated: “The existence of this terrible bloody business is impossible without sponsorship at the highest government level.” Her plea came on the same day that the head of Russia’s private military Wagner Group, Evgeny Prigozhin, went public and stated that his private military forces lost around 20,000 soldiers during the fight for Artyomovsk, and that half of these deaths were from inmates recruited from Russian prisons. Ukraine has a long history of participating in organ harvesting and trafficking, even before the CIA-led military coup in 2014. One can’t help but wonder if the Wagner Group is also profiting from organ harvesting, as a single prisoner from Russia who dies fighting in Ukraine could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for their organs. In March this year (2023) we published a video of a Russian soldier who stated that they found a “baby factory” in Ukraine where young children are raised for the pedophile child brothels, or murdered to harvest their organs and sell on the Black Market. And yet many in the western media, even in the alternative media, are calling this “Russian propaganda” and “disinformation.” However, it is the western media that has reported for over a decade now that organ harvesting and trafficking in Ukraine is a very real and horrible problem, long before the current war started.
Mexico Deploys 1000s Of Troops As Popocatépetl Volcano Rumbles, Millions Warned Of Possible Evacuation
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023 – 06:00 PM
Popocatepetl volcano has been blanketing towns with ash and disrupting flights at Mexico City’s airport this week. Authorities are preparing for the possible evacuation of millions of people as thousands of troops were deployed to the region, according to NPR News.
On Tuesday, Mexico raised the alert level of Popocatepetl to “yellow phase three” from “yellow phase two,” one notch below the top “red” level. About 25 million people are living within 60 miles of the 17,797-foot volcano.
The country’s Defense Department said nearly 7,000 troops had been deployed to the region, located 45 miles southwest of Mexico City.
Troops are being positioned in case an evacuation is needed.
“There is no risk to the population at this time,” National Civil Defense Coordinator Laura Velazquez said earlier this week.
Velazquez noted, “We don’t know what’s going to happen. We are prepared for any scenario.”
Many are wondering if the next big eruption is imminent.
Servando de la Cruz Reyna, a senior geophysics researcher at the UNAM in Mexico, told AP News there are no signs that the current waves of rumblings, and minor eruptions could point to higher volcanic activity. He said:
“The probability that this continues as it has previously is far higher than the probability that this grows to much higher levels.”
However, Popocatepetl is a stratovolcano capable of a massive eruption. That is why Mexican authorities are preparing for any scenario by staging thousands of troops in the area because millions might need to be evacuated if a mega eruption is seen.
END
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS FRIDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSINGS
EURO VS USA DOLLAR:1.0757 UP 0.0033
USA/ YEN 139.68 DOWN 0.335 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT .50% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//
GBP/USA 1.2388 UP 0.0072
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3614 DOWN .0029 (CDN DOLLAR UP 29 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 11.24 PTS OR 0.35%
Hang Seng CLOSED
AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP .24% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL GREEN
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL GREEN
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 11.24 PTS OR 0.35%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.24%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 118.45 PTS OR 0.39%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN
Gold very early morning trading: 1952.90
silver:$23.17
USA dollar index early FRIDAY morning: 103.82 DOWN 36 BASIS POINTS FROM THURSDAY’s close.
The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE (CLOSED DOWN.(7.0652)
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)…. 7.0741
TURKISH LIRA: 19.97 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.416…VERY DANGEROUS
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 4 in basis points from THURSDAY at 3.848% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic
USA 30 yr bond yield 3.994 DOWN 2 IN BASIS POINTS
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.618% UP 13 in basis points.
USA dollar index, 104.32 UP 14 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 THURSDAY: 12:00 PM
London: CLOSED UP 56.23 points or 0.74%
German Dax : CLOSED UP 190.17 PTS OR 1.20%
Paris CAC CLOSED UP 89.91 PTS OR 1.24%
Spain IBEX UP 75.00 PTS OR 0.82%
Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 305.40 PTS OR 1.16%
WTI Oil price 72.81 12: EST
Brent Oil: 76.94 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN /// AT: 80.05/ ROUBLE UP 0 AND 11//100 RUBLES/DOLLAR
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.5345 UP 2 BASIS PTS
UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.3880 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA: 1.0728 UP 0.0015 OR 15 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2350 UP .0034 or 34 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.3715% DOWN 4 BASIS PTS
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 140.65 UP 0.624 //YEN DOWN 63 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3613 DOWN .0030 CDN dollar, UP 30 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 72.86
Brent OIL: 77.10
USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 4 BASIS pts to 3.798%
USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 3 BASIS PTS to 3.950%
USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 7 PTS AT 4.562%
USA dollar index: 104.15 DOWN 3 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 19.99 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP)
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 80.06 UP 0 AND 10/100 roubles
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 328.69 PTS OR 1.00%
US economic data surprised to the upside this week – but most notably in terms of inflation signals that showed no signs of trending lower…
Source: Bloomberg
And while core inflation NOWCAST did drop a smidge, it remains a mile away from The Fed’s mandated levels – and the drop has stalled…
Source: Bloomberg
That saw the market very hawkishly reprice the entire short-term rate curve with 100% odds of another hike by July and pricing in rates being only 25bps lower by Jan 2024 (from 125bps lower right after the FOMC)…
Source: Bloomberg
But, realistically, the drivers of action this week in markets were debt-ceiling headlines and the AI-bubble’s euphoria stage.
The Debt-Ceiling Fear-o-Meter soared to start the week but eased a little today (even though a deal remained absent)…
Source: Bloomberg
And that helped stocks a little into the weekend, but the real driver was NVDA and any mention of AI that sent Nasdaq literally to the moon
0-DTE traders were caught offside in NVDA with massive covering of puts this morning and then buying of calls late on…
Just one thing to remember, we’ve seen these massive hoarding orders of chips before (during COVID)…
Source: Bloomberg
And thanks to the knock-on from FOMO-chasing AI, Nasdaq is up over 5.5% from Wednesday’s close. The Dow ended the week down 1% with Small Caps and the S&P around unch…
On a side-note, 0-DTE traders were selling the whole day with massive negative-delta flow
Tech – obviously – massively outperformed this week, with only Consumer Discretionary joining them in the green. All other sectors were red on the week with Staples and Financials lagging….
Source: Bloomberg
This was the biggest weekly outperformance of Nasdaq over The Dow since early March (and this is the 5th week that Nasdaq has outpaced The Dow)…
Source: Bloomberg
The last time Nasdaq traded at more than 8x Small Caps did not end well…
Source: Bloomberg
The equal-weighted S&P 500 is now underwater for the year while the cap-weighted S&P is up around 10%…
Source: Bloomberg
This is the biggest divergence in at least 30 years for this time of year…
Regional Banks squeezed up to resistance but faded back later in the week ahead of tonight’s deposit data…
1D-VIX surged higher today, once again recoupling with VIX as the debt ceiling doubts remain…
Source: Bloomberg
Treasury yields were dumped all week, but today saw some buying come back into the long-end, leaving the short-end (2Y) up 30bps on the week while 30Y yields were up only 3bps…
Source: Bloomberg
And that shift led to the biggest weekly curve (2s10s) flattening since April 2022 to its most inverted since the peak of the SVB crisis…
Source: Bloomberg
Before we leave bond land, there’s this – the traditional relationship between higher yields and tech performance (long-duration equities) has completely blown up…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar rallied for the 3rd straight week (5 of last 6), but ended the week with selling pressure…
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin ended the week unchanged, hovering around $26-27,000…
Source: Bloomberg
Oil managed modest gains on the week but NatGas was clubbed like a baby seal as copper and PMs
Source: Bloomberg
Overall, commodities are screaming recession… stocks not so much (or are stocks screaming recession-implied QE?… in which case why aren’t commodities doing the same?)…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, as optimism builds of a debt-ceiling deal, remember, remember, the summer of 2011…
Source: Bloomberg
Will we get ‘sell the news’ next week on a short-term deal?… then a bounce, then a reality check that the short-term extension won’t last?
b) THIS MORNING TRADING // debt ceiling reports
EARLY morning
And they fought over this: a spending cut of .2%?
(zerohedge)
Breakthrough On Debt Deal Would Raise Limit, Cap Spending For Two Years – But Will Freedom Caucus Accept?
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 – 09:10 AM
With the X-date for potential US default now estimated at June 5, House GOP and White House negotiators appear to be settling on an agreement to raise the debt limit and cap federal spending for two years, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the discussions.
That said, while the two sides have whittled down their differences over the past several days, the details are tentative, and a final agreement is not yet in sight. The two sides have yet to agree on the amount of the cap, however under the emerging agreement, defense spending would be allowed to rise 3% next year, which is in line with President Biden’s budget request.
“We’re making progress and our goal is to make sure that we get a deal because default is unacceptable,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, who warned CNN that payments to Social Security beneficiaries, veterans and others would be delayed in the event of a default. “The president has committed to making sure that we have good-faith negotiations with the Republicans to reach a deal because the alternative is catastrophic for all Americans.”
The emerging deal would also include a measure to upgrade the nation’s electric grid to be able to handle the massive requirements of renewable energy, a key goal for Democrats, while speeding up permits for pipelines and other fossil fuel projects demanded by Republicans.
The deal would also cut $10 billion from an $80 billion increase for the IRS that the Biden administration included in the Inflation Reduction Act, after Republicans warned of a ‘wave’ of audits led by new agents. Democrats say the increase will pay for itself via less tax cheating.
As we noted earlier, putting this “deal” in context, the plan passed by the House GOP would reduce fiscal year ’24 spending by $130bn, or about 0.5% of GDP (setting aside the deficit saving from rescinding student debt forgiveness, which hasn’t been implemented yet and which may be struck down by the high court). At the other end, according to reports which indicate the White House may cap FY24 discretionary nondefense spending at FY23 levels would reduce spending by about 0.1% of GDP relative to a plausible baseline. So, the federal spending reduction for FY24 could range from 0.1% to 0.5% of GDP. The final “compromise” outcome – which may be announced as soon as Friday- will be a 0.2% spending cut.
Today’s daily update from Treasury showed that after a $25 billion benefits payment to Social Security, the Treasury’s cash balance dropped by $27 billion to $49.5 billion, the lowest since 2021.
That means that net of roughly $80 billion in extraordinary measures (this number will have its weekly update Friday after the close), the Treasury now has approximately $140 billion in accessible cash. Which brings us to the good news: even net of the sizable cash drain on June 1 (just over $100 billion in scheduled payments) the Treasury is likely to retain a sufficient cash balance on Jun 1, the date which Janet Yellen has previously said was the X-Date, to extend operations for at least several days without a technical default.
Will the Freedom Caucus accept the deal?
Given that what’s taking shape will be far less than Republicans’ opening offer – which called for raising the debt ceiling through March in exchange for 10 years of spending caps, House conservatives appeared to already be balking at the current framework. On Thursday, the House Freedom Caucus sent a letter to Speaker Kevin McCarthy demanding that he stand his ground.
“We know where our differences lie,” said McCarthy to reporters at the Capitol, adding that his team plans to work through the holiday weekend.
“We do not have an agreement yet. We knew this would not be easy. It’s hard, but we’re working. And we’re gonna continue to work till we get this done,” he said.
Jan Hatzius and Alec Phillips of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a note to investors that odds were highest for an accord to be reached on Friday. “Negotiators appear to be closing in on an agreement.”
Should a deal be reached soon, Tuesday is emerging as the likely day for a House vote. The Senate would then have to act quickly to send it to Biden’s desk before June 1, the date by which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said her department could run out of cash.
The following day sees a payment due to millions of Social Security beneficiaries, putting pressure on politicians to resolve the impasse.
One of the negotiators, Rep. Garrett Graves (R-LA) described progress as “slow” on Thursday night, adding that the White House was holding firm against GOP demands to add work requirements to the eligibility for Medicaid and other social welfare programs.
“We have a lot of hangups,” he said. “But that’s one of the bigger issues.”
When Republican negotiator Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina was asked Thursday evening what he would tell investors about the progress of talks, he shot back “Glad the market’s closed.“
On Wednesday, Fitch Ratings placed the US’s AAA credit rating on watch for a potential downgrade – which hasn’t happened since 2011, when Congress was at a similar impasse. According to the White House and the Treasury, Fitch’s move demonstrates the urgency of reaching a speedy solution to the stalemate, however McCarthy said that negotiators don’t need a ratings agency to convey the importance of getting this done.
END
AFTERNOON
II) USA DATA/
The Fed’s favourite indicator the PCE deflator accelerates
(zerohedge)
Fed’s Favorite Inflation Indicator Re-Accelerated In April
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 – 08:41 AM
One of The Fed’s favorite inflation indicators – Core PCE Deflator – disappointed the doves, printing hotter than expected (headline and core both +0.4% MoM vs +0.3% MoM exp), pushing the YoY inflation signals higher…
Source: Bloomberg
Even more focused, is the Fed’s view on Services inflation ex-Shelter, and the PCE-equivalent shows that is very much stuck at high levels…
Source: Bloomberg
However, while acyclical core inflation continued to slide, cyclical core inflation dipped very modestly but remains extremely high. Cyclical core PCE inflation, which tracks inflationary pressures that are linked to the current economic cycle, is at the highest on record going back to 1985.
Source: Bloomberg
Personal Income and Spending were both expected to rise significantly on MoM basis and did but spending soared 0.8% MoM
Source: Bloomberg
Spending and Income on a YoY basis both rose in April…
Source: Bloomberg
‘Real’ income – admittedly rough estimate, adjusted by CPI – rose marginally in April…
Source: Bloomberg
Breaking down the income side:
April Private wages up 5.6%, up from 5.3% in March
April Government wages up 5.3%, up from 5.1% in March
On an inflation-adjusted basis, spending (real) rose 0.5% MoM…
Source: Bloomberg
As a result of all that, and a number of revisions…
…the savings rate in April dipped to 4.1% from 4.5% as credit card use hits new record highs…
Source: Bloomberg
This is absolutely NOT what Powell and his pals wanted to see.
end
Core USA durable goods orders see an annual decline
(zerohedge)
Core US Durable Goods Orders See Annual Decline; Investment Proxy Soared
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 – 08:53 AM
US Durable Goods Orders were expected to decline 1.0% in preliminary April data, but instead it rose 1.0% MoM (after March was revised down from 3.2% MoM to 2.8% MoM)…
Source: Bloomberg
Core orders (ex-Transports) dropped 0.2% MoM (worse than the 0.1% drop expected), pushing the YoY core orders into the red…
Source: Bloomberg
Most notable was the value of core capital goods orders, a proxy for investment in equipment that excludes aircraft and military hardware, which soared 1.4% last month (although YoY was the lowest since Dec 2020)…
So, despite tumbling manufacturing PMIs, it seems headline orders are holding up – and none of that is disinflationary.
end
Not good: U. of Michigan inflation expectations remain at 12 month highs
(zerohedge)
UMich Inflation Expectations Remain At 12 Year Highs
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 – 10:07 AM
The most important segment of the UMich sentiment survey continues to be inflation expectations, and after the preliminary data showed medium-term expectations rising significantly, the final print for May was expected to drop modestly from 3.2% to 3.1% (while the rebound in short-term inflation expectations was expected to hold). Both inflation expectations dropped from the flash print, from 4.5% to 4.2% for 1Y and from 3.2% to 3.1% for 5-10Y. However, 5-10Y inflation expectations remain at their highs of the last 12 years…
Source: Bloomberg
The headline sentiment print was better than expected but still lower from April
Source: Bloomberg
Consumer sentiment slid 7% amid worries about the path of the economy, erasing nearly half of the gains achieved after the all-time historic low from last June. This decline mirrors the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, during which sentiment also plunged. This month, sentiment fell severely for consumers in the West and those with middle incomes.
Buying Conditions all dropped in May…
Source: Bloomberg
Interestingly, Republicans’ sentiment slipped most while Democrats’ confidence barely dipped…
Source: Bloomberg
UMich warns that the year-ahead economic outlook plummeted 17% from last month. Long-run expectations plunged by 13% as well, indicating that consumers are concerned that any recession to come may cause lasting pain.
end
U.S. trade deficit in goods leaps 17% as exports retreat
May 26, 2023 at 9:11 a.m. ET
MarketWatch
Rebound in imports from recent low points to steady consumer spending
The numbers: The trade deficit in goods shot up 17% in April to a six-month high of $96.8 billion, reflecting a rebound in imports and a broad decline in American exports.
The trade gap in goods rose from $82.7 billion in March, the Census Bureau said.
Larger deficits subtract from gross domestic product, the official scorecard for the economy.
An advanced estimate of wholesale inventories, meanwhile, showed a 0.2% decline in April. Retail inventories rose 0.2% in the month, according to an early estimate.
Higher inventories add to GDP, but the mixed results suggest little impact.
Key details: Exports dropped 5.5% to $163.3 billion. U.S. companies shipped fewer cars, food, consumer goods, oil and other industrial supplies.
Imports of goods rose 1.8% to $260 billion in April, mostly because of higher oil prices and strong demand among consumers for new cars and trucks.
Big picture: The rebound in imports suggests more capacity for consumers to spend. Car sales this year have been particularly strong as more models become available and dealers offer more discounts.
Auto sales fell last year to the lowest level in 11 years owing to a shortage of vehicles and record prices.
The slowdown in inventory growth, however, indicates businesses are unsure about future demand. They are hedging their bets and don’t want to get caught with excess inventory like they did last year.
III) USA ECONOMIC STORIES
A must read. Hanson decribes the lunacy of the left and how they have destroyed the USA in two years since taking control of the economy etc.
(Victor Davis Hanson)
Victor Davis Hanson: The Left Has Pushed The Envelope
Why are our government, corporations, and popular culture colluding in mass suicide… to the delight of our enemies like Communist China?
The Left is waging a full-fledged cultural revolution against traditional America. And the Maoist results are often as absurd as they are terrifying.
Special-counsel John Durham just issued his final report on wrongdoing within the FBI, CIA, and the Department of Justice.
The summary confirms that our premier investigatory and intelligence agencies interfered in the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
Directors and high-ranking FBI officials lied under oath. They misled Congress. They altered court documents and deceived federal judges.
The FBI hired a foreign national to gather dirt on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign—while he was being paid by the rival Hillary Clinton campaign.
The FBI contracted Twitter to suppress news stories. It kept the Hunter Biden laptop under wraps, even as former intelligence officials flat out lied it was likely “Russian disinformation.” That was a blatant effort to aid the 2020 Biden campaign.
The IRS just conceded whistleblowers were correct and the agency fired its entire multiyear audit team responsible for investigating Hunter Biden’s purported tax irregularities.
The agency claimed it was ordered to do so by the Department of Justice, headed by Biden’s appointee Merrick Garland.
California is facing a crushing $32 billion deficit. Yet it flirts with an $800 billion-dollar “reparations” payout to the state’s black residents.
No one has any idea where the money for that would come from. No one can define who would qualify. No one can explain why a state that never allowed slavery eight generations ago now owes selected Californians billions of dollars it does not have.
One of the reparations board leaders asserts blacks might be willing to accept an “installment” plan of payments.
The NAACP just issued a “travel alert” advising blacks not to visit Florida. The announcement was timed to draw negative attention to conservative Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ announcement of a presidential bid.
Chicago, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and Indianapolis—all outside Florida—have the highest black murder rates in the nation.
Florida in contrast, with a black population of 3.3 million, has the second largest number of black businesses in the nation. The chairman of the NAACP’s board of directors is himself a Florida resident!
Black Lives Matter has just announced it lost millions of dollars in investments and ran up huge deficits.
The culprit was its former corrupt leadership.
Its extravagant spending, plush homes, and family hangers-on have nearly bankrupted the advocacy group. It cannot account for the millions of dollars in corporate guilt and protection money it leveraged following the George Floyd riots in 2020.
In New York, a threatening subway career criminal with 42 prior arrests was subdued by a bystander and died during the confrontation. The criminal is now deified. The would-be Samaritan is charged with felony manslaughter.
The deceased’s uncle is vocal about his late nephew’s confrontation. But he himself was just arrested with stolen property and armed with a knife. He was mysteriously still roaming the streets despite 70 prior arrests and current active arrest warrants.
In almost every American city and town, biological males, with enormous advantages in size and musculoskeletal mass, routinely win women’s sporting competitions.
They are systematically destroying decades of progress that sought to ensure parity between men and women’s sports.
Corporate America has joined this cultural revolution hysteria. Companies are apparently now hellbent on destroying their brands, profits, and net worth.
Under pressure from the LGBTQ activists, the Los Angeles Dodgers reinvited the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” to celebrate Pride night at Dodger Stadium.
Catholics and Christians had objected to the invitation because the group’s notoriety hinges on its sexualized and often pornographic mockery of Catholic ritual, the Holy Trinity, and Christian faith.
The supposedly courageous group would never dare extend its street-theater blasphemy to other religious groups such as Muslims or Hindus.
The Dodgers apparently do not care that Greater Los Angeles may be home to 6 million Mexican American citizens and resident Hispanic immigrants. Most are Catholic and many were avid Dodger fans.
Anheuser-Busch has nearly destroyed its best-selling Bud Light brand by hiring transgender performance-art activist Dylan Mulvaney to hawk the brand—and his own transitioning—to America’s working classes.
The Disney corporation, for decades, has enjoyed multibillion-dollar concessions and a veritable 40-square mile private fiefdom gifted from the taxpayers of Florida.
No matter. Disney has rebranded its films, amusement parks, and television offerings to reflect radical transgendered, gay, and race advocacies.
The results so far are billion-dollar losses in Disney stock, subscribers, and viewers.
A woke CNN has all but destroyed its once-global audience. It now has fewer viewers than certain popular podcasts.
All these implosions are not just shocking but surreal. Why are our government, corporations, and popular culture colluding in mass suicide—to the delight of our enemies like Communist China?
END
I am surprised it is this high
(zerohedge)
The Public’s Trust In The Fed Is At Multi-Decade Lows
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2023 – 05:20 PM
Each year, Gallup conducts a survey of American adults on various economic topics, including the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.
More specifically, respondents are asked how much confidence they have in the current Fed chairman to do or recommend the right thing for the U.S. economy.
The data used in this infographic is also listed in the table below. Percentages reflect the share of respondents that have either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence.
Year
Fed chair
% Great deal or Fair amount
2023
Jerome Powell
36%
2022
Jerome Powell
43%
2021
Jerome Powell
55%
2020
Jerome Powell
58%
2019
Jerome Powell
50%
2018
Jerome Powell
45%
2017
Janet Yellen
45%
2016
Janet Yellen
38%
2015
Janet Yellen
42%
2014
Janet Yellen
37%
2013
Ben Bernanke
42%
2012
Ben Bernanke
39%
2011
Ben Bernanke
41%
2010
Ben Bernanke
44%
2009
Ben Bernanke
49%
2008
Ben Bernanke
47%
2007
Ben Bernanke
50%
2006
Ben Bernanke
41%
2005
Alan Greenspan
56%
2004
Alan Greenspan
61%
2003
Alan Greenspan
65%
2002
Alan Greenspan
69%
2001
Alan Greenspan
74%
Data for 2023 collected April 3-25, with this statement put to respondents: “Please tell me how much confidence you have [in the Fed chair] to recommend the right thing for the economy.”
We can see that trust in the Federal Reserve has fluctuated significantly in recent years.
For example, under Alan Greenspan, trust was initially high due to the relative stability of the economy. The burst of the dotcom bubble—which some attribute to Greenspan’s easy credit policies—resulted in a sharp decline.
On the flip side, public confidence spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was likely due to Jerome Powell’s decisive actions to provide support to the U.S. economy throughout the crisis.
Measures implemented by the Fed include bringing interest rates to near zero, quantitative easing (buying government bonds with newly-printed money), and emergency lending programs to businesses.
Confidence Now on the Decline
After peaking at 58%, those with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the Fed chair have tumbled to 36%, the lowest number in 20 years.
This is likely due to Powell’s hard stance on fighting post-pandemic inflation, which has involved raising interest rates at an incredible speed. While these rate hikes may be necessary, they also have many adverse effects:
Negative impact on the stock market
Increases the burden for those with variable-rate debts
Makes mortgages and home buying less affordable
Higher rates have also prompted many U.S. tech companies to shrink their workforces, and have been a factor in the regional banking crisis, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
END
FBI
The Whiteheads desribe the Gestapo tactics of the FBI
(The Whiteheads/RutherfordInstitute)
Rein In The FBI: Put An End To Their Gestapo Tactics
According to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the FBI repeatedly misused Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in order to spy on the communications of two vastly disparate groups of Americans: those involved in the George Floyd protests and those who may have taken part in the Jan. 6, 2021, protests at the Capitol.
Indeed, the FBI has a long history of persecuting, prosecuting and generally harassing activists, politicians, and cultural figures.
Back in the 1950s and ‘60s, the FBI’s targets were civil rights activists, those suspected of having Communist ties, and anti-war activists. In more recent decades, the FBI has expanded its reach to target so-called domestic extremists, environmental activists, and those who oppose the police state.
In 2019, President Trump promised to give the FBI “whatever they need” to investigate and disrupt hate crimes and domestic terrorism, without any apparent thought for the Constitution’s prohibitions on such overreach.
That misguided pledge sheds a curious light on the FBI’s ongoing spree of SWAT team raids, surveillance, disinformation campaigns, fear-mongering, paranoia, and strong-arm tactics meted out to dissidents on both the right and the left.
Yet while these overreaching, heavy-handed lessons in how to rule by force have become standard operating procedure for a government that communicates with its citizenry primarily through the language of brutality, intimidation and fear, none of this is new.
Indeed, the FBI’s love affair with totalitarianism can be traced back to the Nazi police state.
As historian Robert Gellately recounts, the Nazi police state was so admired for its efficiency and order by the world powers of the day that in the decades after World War II, the FBI, along with other government agencies, aggressively recruited at least a thousand Nazis, including some of Hitler’s highest henchmen.
Since then, U.S. government agencies—the FBI, CIA and the military—have fully embraced many of the Nazi’s well-honed policing tactics, and used them repeatedly against American citizens.
With every passing day, the United States government borrows yet another leaf from Nazi Germany’s playbook: Secret police. Secret courts. Secret government agencies. Surveillance. Censorship. Intimidation. Harassment. Torture. Brutality. Widespread corruption. Entrapment. Indoctrination. Indefinite detention.
These are not tactics used by constitutional republics, where the rule of law and the rights of the citizenry reign supreme. Rather, they are the hallmarks of authoritarian regimes, where secret police control the populace through intimidation, fear and official lawlessness on the part of government agents.
Consider the extent to which the FBI’s far-reaching powers to surveil, detain, interrogate, investigate, prosecute, punish, police and generally act as a law unto themselves resemble those of their Nazi cousins, the Gestapo.
Much like the Gestapo’s sophisticated surveillance programs, the FBI’s spying capabilities can delve into Americans’ most intimate details (and allow local police to do so, as well).
Much like the Gestapo’s ability to profile based on race and religion, and its assumption of guilt by association, the FBI’s approach to pre-crime allows it to profile Americans based on a broad range of characteristics including race and religion.
Much like the Gestapo’s power to render anyone an enemy of the state, the FBI has the power to label anyone a domestic terrorist.
Much like the Gestapo infiltrated communities in order to spy on the German citizenry, the FBI routinely infiltrates political and religious groups, as well as businesses.
Just as the Gestapo united and militarized Germany’s police forces into a national police force, America’s police forces have largely been federalized and turned into a national police force.
Just as the Gestapo carried out entrapment operations, the FBI has become a master in the art of entrapment.
Just as the Gestapo’s secret files on political leaders were used to intimidate and coerce, the FBI’s attempts to target and spy on anyone suspected of “anti-government” sentiment have been similarly abused.
The Gestapo became the terror of the Third Reich by creating a sophisticated surveillance and law enforcement system that relied for its success on the cooperation of the military, the police, the intelligence community, neighborhood watchdogs, government workers for the post office and railroads, ordinary civil servants, and a nation of snitches inclined to report “rumors, deviant behavior, or even just loose talk.”
In fact, borrowing heavily from the Gestapo, between 1956 and 1971, the FBI conducted an intensive domestic intelligence program, termed COINTELPRO, intended to neutralize domestic political dissidents. As Congressman Steve Cohen explains, “COINTELPRO was set up to surveil and disrupt groups and movements that the FBI found threatening… many groups, including anti-war, student, and environmental activists, and the New Left were harassed, infiltrated, falsely accused of criminal activity .”
Sound familiar? The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Those targeted by the FBI under COINTELPRO for its intimidation, surveillance and smear campaigns included: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, the Black Panther Party, Billie Holiday, Emma Goldman, Aretha Franklin, Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, Felix Frankfurter, John Lennon, and hundreds more.
The Church Committee, the Senate task force charged with investigating COINTELPRO abuses in 1975, denounced the government’s abuses:
“Too many people have been spied upon by too many Government agencies and too much information has been collected. The Government has often undertaken the secret surveillance of citizens on the basis of their political beliefs, even when those beliefs posed no threat of violence or illegal acts on behalf of a hostile foreign power.”
The report continued:
“Groups and individuals have been harassed and disrupted because of their political views and their lifestyles. Investigations have been based upon vague standards whose breadth made excessive collection inevitable. Unsavory and vicious tactics have been employed—including anonymous attempts to break up marriages, disrupt meetings, ostracize persons from their professions, and provoke target groups into rivalries that might result in deaths. Intelligence agencies have served the political and personal objectives of presidents and other high officials.”
Whether 50 years ago or in the present day, the treatment being doled out by the government’s lethal enforcers has remained consistent, no matter the threat.
The FBI’s laundry list of crimes against the American people includes surveillance, disinformation, blackmail, entrapment, intimidation tactics, harassment and indoctrination, governmental overreach, abuse, misconduct, trespassing, enabling criminal activity, and damaging private property, and that’s just based on what we know.
Whether the FBI is planting undercover agents in churches, synagogues and mosques; issuing fake emergency letters to gain access to Americans’ phone records; using intimidation tactics to silence Americans who are critical of the government; recruiting high school students to spy on and report fellow students who show signs of being future terrorists; or persuading impressionable individuals to plot acts of terror and then entrapping them, the overall impression of the nation’s secret police force is that of a well-dressed thug, flexing its muscles and doing the boss’ dirty work of ensuring compliance, keeping tabs on potential dissidents, and punishing those who dare to challenge the status quo.
The mayor of San Francissco, Breed has just been chased off by violent screaming mob. The venue was a junkie nest and the idiotic major was trying to denounce the drug epidemic
(zerohedge)
Mayor London Breed Chased Off By Violent, Screaming Mob During Presser In SF Junkie Nest To Denounce Drug Epidemic
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and the city’s board of supervisors were forced to retreat inside after a meeting they attempted to hold in a notorious open-air drug market was disrupted by jeers, shouting and a woman who hurled a brick into the crowd, according to a report.
On Tuesday, city leaders decided to hold the meeting outdoors in United Nations Plaza to highlight problems plaguing the area — including surging fentanyl overdoses — and to discuss potential solutions, KRON4 reported.
Breed and Supervisor Aaron Peskin took to the podium and proclaimed the city has been tolerating “illegal, out-of-control behavior for far too long.”
“Many San Franciscans do not feel safe,” Peskin said.
“Brazen drug dealing and deteriorating street conditions have exacerbated a humanitarian crisis on our streets.”
But less than 10 minutes after the meeting began, it was cut short as the crowd hurled insults at the mayor and supervisors until they just walked away from the podium, according to KRON.
Suffice to say, it didn’t end well.
Breed’s city has been turned into a crime- and homeless-infested hellhole on her watch. A feces-strewn open-air drug market in many quarters, where junkies, addicts, criminals, vagrants, and bums all gather together for their drug deals, panhandling, and shoplifting projects. This particular hellhole, at United Nations Plaza, has always been a center of mayhem — I remember it as a trash-strewn, urine-soaked junkie redoubt when I lived in the city 30 years ago.
It hasn’t changed any, except that an infusion of city money to NGOs to “help” the homeless has made it a lot nastier. Anyone who’s ever lived in that city would know that that’s not the place you go for a well heeled press conference announcing all the new government money you are going to be spending to end crime in the city.
You don’t go into a tiger’s lair to talk about how you’ll be taming the tigers. You don’t go into a terrorist den and denounce terrorism if you have anything resembling a brain. And you especially don’t go into an open-air drug market, full of dealers and their customers, to talk about how you’ll be ending the fentanyl crisis, putting junkies in compelled treatment, and shutting the scene down because “everyone” opposes this activity.
Actually, what should be news to Breed is that some people are for it — the dealers, their addicted clients, and the NGOs that thrive on “serving” and perpetuating the situation for the sake of winning more government funding.
This is their home. This is their habitat. This is the place they made, and they don’t want any changes, other than more money coming in. Like everyone else, they have “interests.”
Bad people exist, and in some places, they are all bad people.
A smart mayor would send in the cops and maybe the bulldozers with no warning.
The Department of Justice’s special counsel, Jack Smith, is continuing his work toward possible criminal charges against former President Donald Trump. While I continue to doubt the viability of criminal charges based on Trump’s speech before the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on Capitol Hill, I have repeatedly said that the Mar-a-Lago matter could present a serious threat for Trump.
However, a recent (and little-reported) decision by the DOJ may complicate the final decision in the case with new concerns over a double standard in charging decisions.
Last week, the Justice Department announced that it would not charge Rachael Rollins, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, despite a referral from the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which found evidence that she lied to investigators and may have improperly sought to influence an election. Rollins resigned from office on Friday.
The OIG released detailed findings against Rollins for allegedly seeking to influence a Suffolk County, Mass., district attorney election last year. She also was accused by the OIG of lying under oath during an investigation into the matter. The report states that “on December 16, 2022, pursuant to the Inspector General Act, 5 U.S.C. § 404(d), the OIG referred the false statements allegation to the Department for a prosecutive decision. On January 6, 2023, the Department informed the OIG that it declined prosecution.”
According to the OIG, Rollins sought to help Boston City Councilman Ricardo Arroyo in the Democratic primary for Suffolk’s district attorney by providing derogatory information to the Boston Globe and Boston Herald regarding his opponent, then-interim D.A. Kevin Hayden. The OIG said the information included “non-public, sensitive” DOJ material that Rollins acquired as a result of her federal position. The material suggested that Hayden was being investigated for public corruption.
The OIG further found that Rollins leaked more material after Arroyo lost to Hayden.
The OIG accused Rollins of violating a host of Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, including Section 2635.702 (the use “of public office for private gain”) and Section 2635.703 (the use “of nonpublic information”).
The most serious charge was that Rollins “falsely testified under oath … when she denied” providing the non-public information to the Herald reporter.
The investigation also found an array of other violations, including disregarding ethical warnings on political activities and soliciting expensive sports tickets.
What is most striking about the OIG report is that Rollins took some of these steps after barely being confirmed by the U.S. Senate because questions were raised over her judgment and partisanship. Rollins was confirmed in 2021 after Vice President Kamala Harris cast a tie-breaking vote due to all 50 Republican senators opposing her nomination. Every Democratic senator voted for her despite the concerns, including a video from January 2021 in which she threatened the arrest of reporters.
The DOJ’s declination of charges follows a similar pattern that suggests a higher threshold standard applied by prosecutors in charging one of their own.
Now, the Justice Department is considering charges against Trump for false statements given to investigators on classified material at Mar-a-Lago. (He also faces other possible legal action, of course, including potential state charges in Georgia for election law violations.)
With Rollins, after an investigation found that she lied to investigators, the DOJ refused to file any charges at all. It is unclear what the DOJ felt was lacking in those findings or the underlying evidence. However, as shown by prior declinations — in cases like the contempt referral against former Attorney General Eric Holder, or the determination that former FBI Director James Comey removed FBI material and, through a friend, leaked it to the media — the Justice Department often seems to find insurmountable problems when asked to charge a fellow prosecutor or investigator
The Rollins case could be raised by the Trump team with other declined criminal cases as evidence of selective prosecution, if Trump is indicted. Although some in the media will cry “whataboutism,” charging decisions are made in the context of other cases to ensure consistency and to avoid selective prosecution. While state and city prosecutors like Alvin Bragg and Letitia James may run for office on promises of selectively targeting Trump, federal prosecutors usually aspire to a higher standard.
The DOJ already has a full plate of previously declined prosecutions outside of the DOJ, from the Holder and Comey cases to the perjury allegations leveled against Obama national intelligence director James Clapper, and more. It also will face a reckoning over the classified documents found in President Biden’s various offices and residences; those documents were clearly divided and moved repeatedly, and Biden’s lawyers — like Trump’s — completed searches only to have more documents discovered in these locations.
If the past is any indication, most of the media would not delve too deeply into such contradictions if Trump is charged. And selective prosecution complaints are notoriously difficult to litigate. Even if the Justice Department did not secure a favorable judge for such a case, most judges are leery of adjudicating claims of motivation and bias.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has long maintained he is above politics and treats the DOJ’s targets equally without regard to political pressure. For some of us who supported his confirmation, he seemingly has shrunk in stature in office — but he has not disappeared. He will have to make the final decision in conjunction with any recommendation by special counsel Smith. Episodes like the Rollins case will only complicate that decision.
Jonathan Turley, an attorney, constitutional law scholar and legal analyst, is the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at The George Washington University Law School.
end
Corruption to the highest degree!
(ZEROHEDGE)
“I Don’t Want To Do Any Of This”: IRS Whistleblower Defies Biden Administration And The Media
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 – 10:35 AM
Earlier this week, an insider at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) came forward and revealed his identity for the first time after filing an anonymous whistleblower complaint about the agency’s handling of an investigation into Hunter Biden.
The original whistleblower complaint from Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency, was revealed in an April 19 letter to members of Congress. Since then, Shapley and his attorney, Mark D. Lytle, have alleged retaliation.
In an interview with CBS News that aired Wednesday night, Shapley identified himself as an IRS supervisory agent, who says he was assigned to an investigation in January 2020 – the subject of which he said he couldn’t legally identify due to tax secrecy laws, but which CBS said was the Hunter Biden case. Shapley and his legal team are simply calling it an “ongoing and sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject.”
Lytle says his client’s disclosures contradict sworn testimony by a “senior political appointee,” and involve “failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest.”
He added that the whistleblower disclosures show “examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected.”
According to Shapley, “When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past.”
In March, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the U.S. Attorney in Delaware had full discretion in pursuing the Hunter Biden tax investigation and was “not restricted in his investigation in any way.” Shapley, however, has claimed that, in his investigation, “there were multiple steps that were slow-walked—were just completely not done—at the direction of the Department of Justice.”
Shapley said he had never experienced “deviations” from the investigative process like those he has seen in this case.
“And each and every time it seemed to always benefit the subject,” he said. –Epoch Times
Shapley says he decided to file a whistleblower complaint following an Oct. 2022 meeting with federal prosecutors.
“It was my red-line meeting,” he said. “I don’t want to do any of this. I took an oath of office and when I saw the egregiousness of some of these things, it no longer became a choice for me,” he told CBS News. “It’s not something that I want to do. It’s something I feel like I have to do.”
Shapley has every reason not to want to do any of this.
After all, as President Joe Biden stated last year, “No one f–ks with a Biden.”
For years, a Democrat-controlled Congress refused to investigate Biden family influence-peddling, and the press dismissed people raising Hunter’s laptop as spreading “Russian disinformation.”
The media have worked hard to minimize the blowback after acknowledging the laptop’s authenticity and the growing evidence of millions in influence-peddling.
Part of this effort at “scandal implosion” has been to dismiss any criminal charges as relatively minor tax violations unconnected to the president.
Indeed, when the president recently agreed to a rare sit-down interview, the White House chose MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle.
Before asking about his son Hunter’s scandal, Ruhle emphasized it was “something personal” with “no ties to you.”
Many of us guffawed at the claim given multiple references on the laptop to President Biden, including possibly sharing in the proceeds from influence-peddling with foreign governments.
The problem is Shapley suggests some uncomfortable questions on how Biden’s administration may have worked to minimize charges against his son and, according to Shapley, “slow-walked” the investigation.
His interview explains why the Justice Department can indict figures like Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on a variety of fraud and money-laundering charges in a few months while spending years investigating Hunter Biden with no conclusion.
Shapley made clear he had never seen this level of interference in his long service at the IRS and said it was done “at the direction of the Department of Justice.”
And he said the interference began as soon as he “took control of this particular investigation”: “I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past.”
Shapley did not rush forward or leak to the media.
Rather, after watching decision after decision made to benefit Biden, Shapley reached a breaking point in what he called his “red-line meeting” when he and his team were removed from investigating the president’s son.
The interference came from a familiar source.
The Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland has been criticized for his refusal to appoint a special counsel to investigate the expanding allegations of Biden family influence-peddling — which include possible criminal charges from bribery to tax violations to money-laundering.
Biden associates are warned not to use Joe Biden’s name but to employ code names like “the Big Guy.”
At the same time, the president and first lady are said to have benefited from public office and received payments from Hunter.
The emails also contradict the president’s repeated public declaration that he had no knowledge of his son’s foreign dealings — including by photos with his business associates and an actual audio tape referring to the deals.
Garland refuses to appoint a special counsel who would then have the ability to write a report on the alleged massive influence-peddling operations the Bidens run.
It is all part of the “incredible shrinking Merrick Garland,” who promised to prevent any political influence over his department.
We now have multiple whistleblowers alleging interference from the Justice Department to slow-walk investigations or shield the president’s son.
We also have questions raised by IRS agents’ visit to the home of Matt Taibbi, who helped expose the government-Twitter censorship program.
They appeared on the very day Taibbi appeared before Congress and was attacked by Democratic members as a “so-called journalist.”
(The subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Delaware Stacey Plaskett, later called for Taibbi’s possible arrest.)
The IRS opened its probe of him on a Saturday — Christmas Eve last year, just weeks after his exposé.
With the GOP controlling the House, there will now be congressional investigation and oversight into these allegations.
But Shapley and other whistleblowers will soon learn that when it comes to many in the media and Congress, they also “don’t want to do any of this.”
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and a professor at George Washington University Law School.
END
Target realizing their error removed the offending clothes line from their stores and now Newsom is sparking a boycott of them!!
What an absolute joke!! Actually not a joke, Target stock is plummeting!
(zerohedge)
Did Governor Newsom Spark Target Boycott Among Liberals?
FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 – 09:50 AM
Target executives, embracing “woke” capitalism, were completely oblivious, or maybe just ignorant, to the “Bud Light moment.” After Bud Light pulled the plug on advertisements with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney because of damaging boycotts by conservative beer drinkers, the trans community launched a boycott of their own because the brewer abandoned Mulvaney. A similar situation is unfolding with Target as Democrats are furious with the retailer’s move to remove LGBTQ products from storefronts.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a diehard progressive, tweeted this week, “CEO of Target Brian Cornell selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists is a real profile in courage.”
Newsom appears furious with Cornell’s directive to a number of US stores to remove LGBT-themed products ahead of June Pride month. A Target insider told Fox News swimsuits for transgender people to gender-fluid coffee mugs, as well as many other LGBTQ+ products were either removed from the storefront or shifted to the back of stores to mitigate consumer boycotts.
“This isn’t just a couple of stores in the South. There is a systematic attack on the gay community happening across the country,” the governor said.
With a Twitter account of over 2 million, Newsom might have kicked off a boycott by Democrats.
This is precisely what happened to Bud Light when the brewer ditched Mulvaney, angering the LGBTQ+ community and triggering boycotts on both sides of the political aisle.
When will these corporate elites ever learn that diving into gender identity politics is a dangerous game?
END
let’s see them wiggle out of this one!
“It’s Time To Pay”: Democrat Voters Demand Fulfillment Of Past Promises From Reparations To Sanctuary Cities
Below is my column on the conflict in Democratic states over the fulfillment of prior political pledges from reparations to sanctuary cities. Democratic states like California cannot blame the opposing party for a failure to fulfill the pledge for cash reparations. That leaves them in a bind.
Small payments will belittle a commitment that was called a civic duty and moral imperative.
After years of campaigning on the issue, expectations are high and tensions appear to be rising.
Here is the column:
“It’s time to pay.” Those four words from Rep. Cori Bush (D., Mo.) are being heard a lot by Democratic politicians across the country this month. For Bush, the debt amounts to $14 trillion for reparations for every black American.
In California, activists are demanding as much as $5 million per black resident and asking Gov. Gavin Newsom “where’s the money.”
One member of Newsom’s Reparations Task Force demanded that the state pay its “sin bill.”
In New York and Chicago, mayors are balking at towering costs of migrants being shipping from the border to their “sanctuary” cities.
In Tampa, after demanding $3 million per black resident, a witness said that he and others were putting “white people on notice that we want our reparations.” Bills are coming due after years of political campaigning on these issues.
Reparations and sanctuary cities have long been the bread and butter of identity politics. For years, Democratic politicians have campaigned on these “moral imperatives” in passing sanctuary laws and setting up reparation task forces. It is the equivalent of a compounding interest on credit card debt. Each election Democrats used these issues for short-term political gains. Now those bills are coming due and Democratic leaders are balking.
President Joe Biden and Congress are in a potentially lethal game of chicken over the looming default over our debt. It would not seem an ideal time to demand an additional $14 trillion, but Bush declared “Black people in our country cannot wait any longer.” She was joined by members like Reps. Barbara Lee, Jamaal Bowman and Rashida Tlaib.
It is a view being voiced across the country by black citizens who were told that these payments are an undeniable moral obligation. The years of politicking on the issue have created a sense of entitlement to large cash payments. As one well-known California activist declared: “It’s a debt that’s owed, we worked for free. We’re not asking; we’re telling you.”
Task Force member Rev. Amos Brown said that they will not accept any excuses and that the state has to commit to the full amount and, if needed, “pay it over installments.”
Mario Cuomo famously said that politicians campaign in poetry, but they govern in prose. However, the “prose” of many Democratic leaders is not winning any prizes.
While many have denounced the busing of migrants to sanctuary cities, most privately admit that there is an element of poetic justice. For years, these cities have told undocumented migrants that they are welcome to come to their cities where they would be protected. Then they showed up. It was a political version of “Look Whose Coming to Dinner,” the movie about a liberal couple who are confronted with a visit of their daughter and her black fiancé.
The single most riveting moment came at Martha’s Vineyard where residents came out to clap and wave to the migrants . . . as they were shipped to a military base off the island. New York City has been shipping migrants to other cities, which are going to court to stop the relocation. Many of these towns point out that, unlike New York City, they have never declared themselves a sanctuary for undocumented persons.
Even though these cities have been sent a fraction of the influx of states like Texas, mayors in sanctuary cities like Chicago have expressed outage.
As with those expecting reparations, these migrants are understandably confused. They were told that Chicago was a “ciudad santuario.” Chicago reaffirmed this status in 2022 when it extended protections and benefits. At the time, politicians scrambled for cameras to declare, as did Alderwoman Rossana Rodríguez, that Chicago must be “a welcoming city for immigrants” and reaffirmed that “our city is responsible for acting with solidarity towards the people that are the most marginalized and the most impacted by a system that oppresses them.”
Then they showed up in greater numbers and the former Mayor Lori Lightfoot demanded that the migrants be sent elsewhere or kept in border towns overwhelmed by far greater numbers of migrants.
In some cases, there is no alternative but to try to quietly abandon prior campaigns that generated acclaim nationally and caused serious damage locally. For example, some of us criticized cities like San Francisco for declaring a boycott of states which did not adhere to their views on issues like transgender rights. I noted at the time that the boycott would cost the city dearly in cutting off 22 states by driving up costs. It did and the city quietly rescinded the boycott after losing millions. While the media paid far less attention to the rescission than the original decision, other reversals have come at a greater political cost on the left.
For example, cities that led efforts to defund the police are now refunding the police after soaring crime rates and high-levels of police retirements and resignations.
Activists in cities like Los Angeles called it a “slap in the face” given years of promises from Democratic politicians.
In the meantime, Newsom’s task force has demanded an assortment of other changes, including eliminating cash bail, abandoning the prosecution of certain crimes, subsidizing home purchases for black residents, and guaranteeing a “right to return” by taking over development projects to guarantee black housing ownership. Some of those reforms can be finessed by politicians, but there is no spin that will obscure the absence of a cash payment.
These are the creditors of the Democratic Party and they now seem intent on collecting on compounded interest of years of identity politics.
This column previously appeared on Fox.com
END
A must view:
Comer hits Wray with a bombshell letter threatening him with contempt
(Gateway Pundit)
Comer Drops $5 Million Biden Bribe Bombshell in Letter Threatening Wray with Contempt Over Subpoenaed FBI Whistleblower Document | The Gateway Pundit | by Kristinn Taylor
World’s Largest Real Estate Market (China) on the Brink of Collapse: Experts According to the April 2023 Financial Statistics Report released by China’s central bank on May 11, mortgages decreased by 241.1 billion yuan ($33.8 billion) in April. Among those, medium- and long-term household loans, mostly mortgages, decreased by 115.6 billion yuan ($16.2 billion), while short-term mortgages decreased by 125.5 billion yuan ($17.6 billion). Public statistics show that sales of previously owned homes in China’s largest cities all showed double-digit declines in April. Among them, Beijing fell 37.3 percent; Hangzhou fell 32.7 percent; Shanghai fell26.71 percent; and Nanjing fell 13 percent. The worst decline was in Hefei, which plunged by 40 percent. https://www.theepochtimes.com/worlds-largest-real-estate-market-on-the-brink-of-collapse-experts_5277134.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
Nvidia/Ai mania intensified on Thursday. Nvidia hit 399.50 at 8:20 ET.
Stocks Rise as AI Euphoria Outweighs US Debt Risks – BBG 9:46 ET McCarthy Says Issues Remain in Debt Talks, All Won’t Be Happy – BBG 9:39 ET
AI Shockwave Brings Penny-Stock Antics to Megacaps FOMO takes hold and triggers another stampede into Big Tech The frenzy is “more about FOMO in my view,” Kirkoswald Asset Management’s Diana Amoa said. “Markets don’t know what to do with equities.”… Wall Street has never seen a penny-stock moment involving a company like Nvidia… “So the valuations right now — it’s hard to say it’s based purely on fundamentals and more about investors being underinvested in equity markets and not wanting to miss out on the winners.”… https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-05-25/ai-shockwave-brings-penny-stock-antics-to-megacap-tech
“Cocaine is God’s way of saying that you’re making too much money.” — Robin Williams
Incontinent speculation is God’s way of saying that there is too much money in the system.
Traders Are Fully Pricing in Another Fed Rate Hike Once Again – BBG 9:01 ET The rate on swap contracts linked to the July gathering climbed to 5.34% on Thursday, more than 25 basis points above the current effective fed funds rate of 5.08%…
BBG’s @lisaabramowicz1: Yields on 2-year bonds are surging after jobless claims came in lower than expected. Labor markets are still strong, earnings are coming in resilient, banking crisis is almost off the radar. Traders almost fully price in a July rate hike.
Speaker McCarthy: “I have instructed negotiators to work 24 hours a day to get a debt ceiling deal.”
@SpeakerMcCarthy: I will stay with it until we solve the Democrats’ spending addiction.
BEA: Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2023 (table 1), according to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent.
Gross Domestic Product (2nd Estimate) Corporate Profits (Preliminary Estimate) 1st Quarter 2023 Current-dollar personal income increased $251.3 billion in the first quarter, a downward revision of $27.6 billion from the previous estimate. The increase in the first quarter primarily reflected increases in compensation (led by private wages and salaries) and government social benefits (table 8)… Real gross domestic income (GDI) decreased 2.3 percent in the first quarter, compared with a decrease of 3.3 percent (revised) in the fourth quarter… (More downward revisions!) Profits of domestic financial corporations decreased $25.4 billion in the first quarter, compared with a decrease of $59.0 billion in the fourth quarter. Profits of domestic nonfinancial corporations decreased $109.3 billion, compared with a decrease of $22.9 billion… https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2023-05/gdp1q23_2nd.pdf
Contributions to Q1 GDP: Personal Consumption Expenditures +2.52 (Goods 1.41, Services 1.11), Government +.89 (Federal .48), Intellectual Property +.28; Inventories -2.; Gross Private Investment -2.14
@LizYoungStrat: GDP was revised up to +1.3% in Q1, but GDI came in at -2.3%. They’re supposed to measure econ activity using different angles (i.e. spending vs income), so the divergence is weird. FWIW, averaging the two gives you negative growth in four out of the last five quarters…
Traders were so eager to buy stuff that they created peaks before the NYSE opening. Nvidia peaked at 8:20 ET; ESMs (4166.75) peaked at 9:03 ET.
By 10:23 ET, ESMs were at 4137.50, -29.25 from the high. Nvidia traded at 366.35 at 9:37 ET. NVDA rebounded sharply (to 385 then went inert); ESMs did not. Higher short-term interest rates, due to the omniscient market’s latest reversal on Fed rate hikes, weighed on stocks, bonds, and commodities. Mr. Market has been wrong on Fed rate hike policy for quite some time. PS – 6-month T-Bills hit 5.46%
An ESM rally began at 10:33 ET when a WaPo reporter tweeted: US House Leader Scalise: The Issues Are Narrowing in The Debt Limit Talks (Nvidia remained inert.)
The late morning ESM rally was fortified by the rally for the European close. Nvidia finally broke higher on buying for the European close. Alas, ESMs peaked at 11:15 ET and then fell into the European close. Traders affected a Noon Balloon due to a report that negotiators were less than $70B apart on discretionary spending. After a 30-minute retreat, ESMs surged higher when the afternoon arrived.
ESMs hit a new daily high of 4175.50 at 14:01 ET because The Big Guy said he put forth a plan to freeze spending for two years. ESMs then sank to 4152.00 at 14:46 ET. The last-hour manipulation commenced on schedule, abetted by reports that GOP negotiators gave ground on increasing military spending. ESMs peaked at 15:32 ET. ESMs and stocks retreated moderately into the close.
New car sales to surge 15.6% in May with higher prices still in play, report says J.D. Power, working with its partner LMC Automotive, projects total new-vehicle sales for May, including retail and non-retail transactions (such as fleet sales), to reach 1,337,700 vehicles, a 15.6% jump from a year ago. The report noted this May has 25 selling days, one more than May 2022, and without adjusting for the number of selling days, data show a 20.4% increase from 2022… https://finance.yahoo.com/news/new-car-sales-to-surge-156-in-may-with-higher-prices-still-in-play-report-says-141150900.html
Positive aspects of previous session Nvidia/AI euphoria generated a pre-NYSE opening surge in ESMs and some stocks The DJTA soared again on airline and trucker strength
Negative aspects of previous session Bonds declined sharply, short rates jumped because Mr. Market had to readjust his Fed policy projections
Ambiguous aspects of previous session The dollar rallied smartly while the yen/$ fell to 140.23, a 6-month. What gives?
First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE open:Down; Last Hour: Up
Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 4148.92 Previous session High/Low: 4165.74; 4129.73
@RNCResearch: “…the president is going to Camp David this weekend, going to Delaware. Can you describe the sense of urgency that the president feels?” Karine Jean-Pierre: “There’s always been urgency!” Biden waited 97 days to discuss the debt ceiling.https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1661790695558987777
@RNCResearch: BIDEN: “I reduced the deficit, I said, 1.1— $1.7T my first two years without raising a cent—in raising taxes above anyone making less than $400,000.” (None of that is true) https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1661794540380999683
Team Biden’s lying and deceit is boundless because it is unchecked by the regime media.
@RNCResearch: Here are more than a dozen instances — going back to February — in which Karine Jean-Pierre insisted there would be no negotiations on the debt ceiling. Biden has brought us to the brink of default. https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1661748952495185920
How Google manipulates search to favor liberals and tip elections How about 6 million votes shifted to Joe Biden by Google in the 2020 election by manipulating what we read and see online? That’s the electoral impact Epstein, 69, claims Google secretly had in 2020, using biased algorithms which skewed search results towards positive links for Biden and negative links for Trump, as well as Get Out The Vote messaging on Google’s home page targeted primarily at Democrat voters. Preliminary results from Epstein’s new project, monitoring how Google’s massive psy-op istargeting children through YouTube and other products, show liberal bias is even more pervasive... The problem for the average person trying to guard against the manipulation is that you can’t catch Google in the act because its search results or YouTube suggestions are “ephemeral,” meaning they disappear once you click off onto one of the links provided, and can never be recovered… https://nypost.com/2023/05/24/how-google-manipulates-search-to-favor-liberals-and-tip-elections/
Fetterman torched after saying ‘whole reason’ for 14th Amendment is to be used during debt negotiations – ‘It’s not even the point of Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, much less the point of the entire 14th Amendment,’ one critic wrote… The 14th Amendment reads, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”… “How about this: we will take you seriously as a constitutional scholar when you stop dressing like an 11 year-old at a skate park,” former Trump adviser Stephen Miller wrote in a tweet… “Not sure this potato can even count to 14 without the help of cue cards and a prompter, but we’re supposed to believe he’s suddenly an expert on the intricacies of federal bankruptcy laws,” Sean Davis, the CEO and co-founder of The Federalist, quipped in a tweet… “The plain reading of Section Four is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the debt limit. Existing debts cannot be questioned; but raising the debt ceiling is for the purpose of creating new debts. Nothing in Section Four says Congress must create new debt to service older debt. A failure to raise the debt ceiling in no way questions the validity of existing debts,” Ilan Wurman, an associate professor of law at Arizona State University, told Fox… https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fetterman-torched-saying-whole-reason-14th-amendment-used-during-debt-negotiations
New Evidence FDA, CDC Hid Early Data on Myocarditis Spurs Questions of ‘Criminal Coverup’ According to Dr. Meryl Nass, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) knew about the myocarditis safety signal in February 2021, but “hid it until they got the vaccine authorized for 12-15-year-olds in May 2021,” and then “kept pushing” the vaccine on the highest-risk groups.”… https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fda-cdc-covid-vaccine-myocarditis-safety-signal/
Parents infuriated as migrants enroll in Chicago schools without health records after years of COVID rules – “Right now in the school district in which we live we have to provide residency, citizenship, health records and vaccination records on an almost annual basis. I have a child right now, and I must have five emails in my inbox stating that my child cannot return to school next year without a specific vaccine. So it’s certainly inconsistent with what they’re allowing for the migrant children coming into the Chicago Public Schools.”… “We are inviting in everyone like a magnet, ‘Everyone come here, collect all your freebies. We are going to give it to you.’ Every sucker in here is going to pay for it,”… https://www.foxnews.com/media/parents-infuriated-migrants-enroll-chicago-schools-without-health-records-years-covid-rules
WaPo: Prigozhin says war in Ukraine has backfired, warns of Russian revolution Fresh off his claim of victory in capturing the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, Russian mercenary boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin warned that Moscow’s brutal war could plunge Russia into turmoil similar to the 1917 revolution unless its detached, wealthy elite become more directly committed to the conflict… Citing public anger at the lavish lifestyles of Russia’s rich and powerful, Prigozhin warned their homes could be stormed by people with “pitchforks.” He singled out Ksenia Shoigu, the daughter of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was spotted vacationing in Dubai with her fiancé, Alexei Stolyarov, a fitness blogger…“This division might end as in 1917, with a revolution — when first the soldiers rise up, and then their loved ones follow.”… Prigozhin said that the grief of “tens of thousands of relatives” of killed soldiers might reach a boiling point, and the Russian government will have to contend with broader anger and discontent, exacerbated by economic disparity… https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/24/yevgeniy-prigozhin-war-backfired-revolution/
Fed Balance Sheet: -$20.505B; Loans -$15.598B; MBS -$4B; Reserves at Fed -$8.706B to $3.24T
Bloomberg: Republican and White House negotiators are moving closer to an agreement to raise the debt limit and cap federal spending for two years… defense spending would be permitted to rise 3% next year in line with Biden’s budget request… The two sides have narrowed differences in talks over recent days, though the details agreed to are tentative and a final accord is still not in hand…
Today – Normally the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend is lackluster. Despite the proclivity for Friday rallies, Nvidia’s splendid results and its subsequent moon shot with the stock closing 20 points below its high, suggest yesterday probably contained a short-term climax in AI euphoria.
The markets will remain on US debt ceiling/budget talks watch. The market is likely to perceive any delay in negotiations until after the Memorial Day Weekend as a negative.
ESMs are -9.00 at 21:45 ET, probably on traders taking profits ahead of the holiday weekend.
Expected econ data: April Personal Income 0.4%, Spending 0.5%, PCE Deflator 0.3% m/m & 4.3% y/y, PCE Core Deflator 0.3% m/m & 4.6% y/y; April Advance Trade Balance -$85.9B; April Wholesale Inventories 0.0% m/m, Retail Inventories 0.2% m/m; April Durable Goods -1.0% m/m, Ex-Trans -0.1%, Nondef Ex-Air -0.1%, Shipments +0.1%; May UM Sentiment 58
S&P 500 Index 50-day MA: 4095; 100-day MA: 4049; 150-day MA: 3999; 200-day MA: 3976 DJIA 50-day MA: 33,276; 100-day MA: 33,344; 150-day MA: 33,290; 200-day MA: 32,775 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope)
@paulsperry_: Special Counsel Durham found at least 371 Russian Yotaphone lookups involving IP addresses assigned to the Executive Office of the President during the Barack Obama presidency (Oct. 24, 2014 – Nov. 8, 2016). Hillary lawyer Sussmann camouflaged his representation of Joffe and another tech operative by referring to them in Perkins Coie retention letters (dated 4/2017) by the names of actors from “Gilligan’s Island,” according to the Durham report. He also gave them false addresses. Despite smoking-gun emails proving Joffe wrote bogus white paper FBI used to investigate Trump after pressuring fed tech contractors to frame him, Durham declined to prosecute Joffe claiming he lacked “motive.” Yet Joffe emailed colleague revealing Hillary offered a “top Job.”
@RNCResearch: A veteran IRS supervisory special agent says he personally witnessed interference by Biden’s DOJ in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation — contradicting AG Merrick Garland’s sworn testimony. https://t.co/ieKq6lvmdG
The FBI Knows What Car Was Used in J6 DNC Pipe Bomb, But Refuses to Identify Prime Suspect “One former FBI assistant director observed, ‘[i]t just doesn’t add up … there’s just too much to work with to not know who this guy is,’” the Judiciary Republicans wrote. Now lawmakers are seeking answers over the status of the investigation… “Given what we know about the FBI’s politically motivated malfeasance during the Trump era, the likelihood the pipe bomb story was another FBI hoax instead of a legitimate threat becomes more conceivable each day.”… https://thefederalist.com/2023/05/25/the-fbi-knows-what-car-was-used-in-j6-dnc-pipe-bomb-but-refuses-to-identify-prime-suspect/
@mirandadevine: “Bigo” Barnett gets 4.5 years in jail for putting his feet up on a desk in Nancy Pelosi’s office. But a Michigan man gets sentenced to community service for SHOOTING an 84-year-old pro-life campaigner. This is an orchestrated breakdown of law and order.
DeSantis Broke Twitter with His Launch, and There’s a Lot of Coping Going on in Response https://t.co/rjqPJFgP77
DeSantis raked in $8.2 million 24 hours after 2024 launch, campaign sayshttps://trib.al/dQzQ4Jn
@PhilipWegmann: Most aggressive response tonight from @RonDeSantis to Trump attacks. The Florida governor tells RCP Trump backed “omnibus” & “amnesty.” “I thought it was supposed to be America First policy to oppose amnesty, and yet he endorsed and tried to ram through an amnesty… He added almost $8 trillion to the debt in a four-year period of time…” https://t.co/CPfph0rgSe “He wanted omnibus. I opposed omnibus. He wanted amnesty. I opposed amnesty,” he says. “These are contrasts that I’m happy to discuss,” @RonDeSantis tells me.
DeSantis takes veiled swipe at Trump in campaign launch: “Government is not about entertainment, not about building a brand,” DeSantis said… “We must end the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party in recent years,” DeSantis told Twitter CEO and owner Elon Musk during the kickoff event… https://t.co/wqxODsiSyL
@RonDeSantis: “We have a responsibility to preserve the freedom that has been endowed to us by our Creator. We must restore a sense of sanity to our society, we must restore normalcy to our communities, and we must restore integrity to our institutions.”
@DeSantisWarRoom: DESANTIS: “The woke mind virus is basically a form of cultural Marxism.” “It’s an attack on the truth — and because it’s a war on truth, I think we have no choice but to wage a war on woke.”https://t.co/GKBQlnkfEp
@TheChiefNerd: Gov. Ron DeSantis Says Public Health Agencies ‘Need Major, Major Overhaul’ “When the data was becoming more and more apparent that the path, they were on was wrong, they doubled down and wanted to do it even more… I think the U.S. Government needs to acknowledge the failures and I think all of those agencies need to be cleaned out.”
@CurtisHouck: DeSantis on Trump saying there shouldn’t be any GOP debates: “[W]e should debate. I think the people want to hear it…Nobody’s entitled to anything in this world…You have to earn it….That’s exactly what I intend to do….[They’re] a big part of the process” https://t.co/8hbNsPnCAn (Long thread on DeSantis’ views at link) https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1661565396732764161
Victor David Hanson: The Left Has Pushed the Envelope – Why are our government, corporations, and popular culture colluding in mass suicide—to the delight of our enemies like Communist China? The Left is waging a full-fledged cultural revolution against traditional America. And the Maoist results are often as absurd as they are terrifying… Corporate America has joined this cultural revolutionhysteria. Companies are apparently now hellbent on destroying their brands, profits, and net worth… All these implosions are not just shocking but surreal. Why are our government, corporations, and popular culture colluding in mass suicide—to the delight of our enemies like Communist China? https://amgreatness.com/2023/05/24/the-left-has-pushed-the-envelope/
Professor no longer in the classroom after allegedly forcing Christian students to fund Planned Parenthood – Michigan State University student Nathan Barbieri said ‘We’re supposed to expose the bad things that happen and not just sit back and… be abused’… Barbieri is one of two students suing his former business marketing professor, Amy Wisner, who identifies as an “intersectional feminist.”… https://www.foxnews.com/media/michigan-professor-no-longer-in-classroom-after-forcing-christian-students-fund-planned-parenthood
Ron DeSantis has announced he’s running for president in 2024 despite the fact he’s being creamed by President Trump in the polls. Is the fix in to convict Trump and jail him in Washington D.C. with the hyped-up classified documents case? Remember, Hillary Clinton won Washington D.C. with 96% of the vote in 2016. So, the jury pool is nearly 100% Deep State Democrats. A stacked jury would find it easy to convict their arch enemy, Donald Trump, on phony charges just like the totally false Russia collusion case. Is DeSantis running revealing this is the RINO/Deep State Dem plan?
The phrase “died suddenly” is a common term used when referring to the CV19 bioweapon/vax deaths. It should be changed to “murdered suddenly” because that is really what it is. There is no stopping the debilitating injuries and awful deaths happening every week. The Lying Legacy Media (LLM) is ignoring this huge problem that has so far killed or injured 30% of the American workforce. The trend is unabating, and it appears it will continue for some time to come. The official numbers say more than 675 million CV19 bioweapon injections have been delivered in America alone. This is a murder program and not healthcare because bioweapons do not help a single person. It is that simple. Let’s start calling it what it is — murder.
Even if there is a new debt ceiling deal reached in Washington (and that is still a big if), the economy will continue to sink. All the charts show that the economy is clearly going down, and top bankers like Jamie Dimon are calling for even higher interest rates. The economy is doomed, so get ready for a much lower standard of living.
There is much more in the 48-minute newscast.
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he talks about these stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 5.26.23.
(Tech Note: If you do not see the video, know it is there. Unplug your modem and plug it back in after 30 sec. This will clear codes that may be blocking you from seeing it. In addition, try different browsers. Also, turn off all ad blockers if you have them. All the above is a way Big Tech tries to censor people like USAWatchdog.com.)
After the Interview:
Renowned radio host, filmmaker and artifact expert Steve Quayle will be the guest for the Saturday Night Post. The lives of everyone on the planet will change dramatically, and Quayle will explain ho
harveyorganblog.com 
