Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price

USD oz AM1949.57

PM1952.06

Historical SGE Fix

New York price at the time: $1897.00

premium $53,00

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Bitcoin morning price:, $25,946 UP 70 Dollars

Bitcoin: afternoon price: $26,524 UP 648 dollars

Platinum price closing $935.70 UP $11.70

Palladium price; $1279.50 UP $18.50

END

Due to the huge rise in the dollar, we must look at gold and silver in currencies other than the dollar to understand where we are heading

I will now provide gold in Canadian dollars, British pounds and Euros/4: 15 PM ACCESS

CANADIAN GOLD: $2,593.72 UP 21.25 CDN dollars per oz (ALL TIME HIGH 2,775.35)

BRITISH GOLD: 1506.91 UP 15.67 pounds per oz//(ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1630.29)

EURO GOLD: 1764.34 UP 15.69 euros per oz //(ALL TIME HIGH/CLOSING//1861.21)//

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EXCHANGE: COMEX

EXCHANGE: COMEXCONTRACT: AUGUST 2023 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 1,896.400000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 08/22/2023 DELIVERY DATE: 08/24/2023

FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED

435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 17624 H BOFA SECURITIES 28
661 C JP MORGAN 9
737 C ADVANTAGE 4
905 C ADM 2

JPMorgan stopped 0 /30 contracts.

FOR AUGUST:

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR AUGUST/2023. CONTRACT: 30 NOTICES FOR 3000 OZ or 0.09331 TONNES

total notices so far: 11,240 contracts for 1,124,000 oz (34.9611 tonnes)

FOR AUGUST:

SILVER NOTICES: 1 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 5,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 951 for 4,755,000 oz

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END

GLD

WITH GOLD UP $21.35

INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD//HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.32 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD

INVENTORY RESTS AT 884.91 TONNES

Silver//

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 94 CENTS AT THE SLV// HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 826,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV//

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.

CLOSING INVENTORY: 450.547 MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A HUGE SIZED 1215 CONTRACTS TO 136,680 AND FURTHER FROM THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS HUGE SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR $0.12 GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON TUESDAY. TAS ISSUANCE WAS A STRONG SIZED 606 CONTRACTS. THESE WILL BE USED FOR MANIPULATION LATER THIS MONTH/AS WELL AS TODAY. 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 TUESDAY NIGHT: 606 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 FOR OUR CROOKED BANKERS). THE PROBLEM OF COURSE IS THAT THE CROOKS DO NOT LIQUIDATE THE TAS TOGETHER BUT SELL THE BUY SIDE FIRST AND THEN LIQUIDATE THE SELL SIDE TWO MONTHS HENCE. IT IS OBVIOUS MANIPULATION TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE BUT IT NATURALLY FELL ON DEAF EARS WITH OUR REGULATORS (OCC) WHEN THEY RECEIVED OUR COMPLAINTS. IT THUS LOOKS LIKE THE FED (GOV’T) IS BEHIND ALL OF THESE TRADES.

WE HAVE NOW SET ANOTHER RECORD LOW AT 114,102 CONTRACTS ///JULY 3.2023// OUR BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT ROSE BY $0.12). AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OF ANY SILVER CONTRACTS AS WE HAD A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 508 CONTRACTS ON BOTH EXCHANGES ALONG WITH SOME T.A.S.LIQUIDATION THROUGHOUT THE COMEX SESSION.

WE MUST HAVE HAD:

A STRONG ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS( 707 CONTRACTS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 3.105 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE) FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S NIL OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW STANDING REMAINS AT 4.655 MILLION OZ + OUR NEW CRIMINAL 0 CONTRACTS OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR NIL OZ + EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTAL MONTH = 5.20 MILLION OZ/// NEW TOTAL STANDING FOR SILVER IN OZ: 12.825 MILLION OZ/// // // HUGE SIZED COMEX OI LOSS/ STRONG SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/VI) STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE (606 CONTRACTS)/0 EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUED

I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL -411 CONTRACTS

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

TOTAL CONTRACTS for 17 days, total 21,433 contracts: OR 107.165 MILLION OZ (1260 CONTRACTS PER DAY)

TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 107.165 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 2022: 207.140 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: 112.58 MILLION OZ//FINAL//STRONG ISSUANCE

APRIL 118.035 MILLION OZ(SLIGHTLY GREATER THAN THAN LAST MONTH)

MAY 66.120 MILLION OZ/INITIAL (MUCH SMALLER THIS MONTH)

JUNE: 110.395 MILLION OZ//MUCH LARGER THAN LAST MONTH

JULY 85.745 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)

AUGUST: 107.165 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE VERY STRONG

RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 1215 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $0.12 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//TUESDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A STRONG EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 707 ISSUED FOR SEPT 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 AUGUST OF 3.105 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0 OZ QUEUE JUMP//NEW STANDING 4.755 MILLION OZ+ 8.07 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK// NEW TOTALS STANDING FOR SILVER: 12.825 MILLION OZ//// WE HAVE A SMALL LOSS OF 144 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A STRONG 606 CONTRACTS//SOME FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE TUESDAY COMEX SESSION . THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE TUESDAY NIGHT (606) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE., .

WE HAD 1 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 5,000 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 FAIR SIZED 1708 CONTRACTS TO 430,239 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: 1427 CONTRACTS

WE HAD A FAIR SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI ( 1708 CONTRACTS) DESPITE OUR $2.95 GAIN IN PRICE//TUESDAY. WE ALSO HAD A RATHER SMALL INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR AUGUST. AT 30.656 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 1000 OZ QUEUE JUMP + PRIOR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = (.684 TONNES) //NEW STANDING 35.493 TONNES + .684 EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 36.199/ + /A FAIR (AND CRIMINAL) ISSUANCE OF 1367 T.A.S. CONTRACTS /// ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED DESPITE OUR $2.95 GAIN IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO TUESDAY’S TRADING.WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 1458 OI CONTRACTS (4.535 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 3166 CONTRACTS:

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 430,239

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 1458 CONTRACTS WITH 1708 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR 3166 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 1458 CONTRACTS OR 4.535 TONNES. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A FAIR 1367 CONTRACTS)

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (3166 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE FAIR SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (1708) //TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 1458 CONTRACTS. WE HAVE ( 1) NOW RETURNED TO OUR NORMAL FORMAT OF BANKERS GOING SHORT AND SPECULATORS GOING LONG ,2.) FAIR INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR JULY AT 30.656 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 1000 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW STANDING 35.493 TONNES + .684 TONNES (EXCHANGE FOR RISK//PRIOR) NEW TOTALS: 36.199 TONNES/// 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION WITH ZERO TAS LIQUIDATION DURING THE COMEX SESSION //4) SMALL SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST LOSS/ 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: FAIR T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 1367 CONTRACTS

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023 INCLUDING TODAY

AUGUST

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

TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 47,674 CONTRACTS OR 4,767,400 OZ OR 148.28 TONNES IN 17 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 2804 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 17 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 148.28 TONNES

TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 148.28/3550 x 100% TONNES 3.91% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2021 TO 2023

JANUARY/2021: 265.26 TONNES (RAPIDLY INCREASING AGAIN)

FEB : 171.24 TONNES ( DEFINITELY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN)..

MARCH:. 276.50 TONNES (STRONG AGAIN/

APRIL: 189..44 TONNES ( DRAMATICALLY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN//GOLD IN BACKWARDATION)

MAY: 250.15 TONNES (NOW DRAMATICALLY INCREASING AGAIN)

JUNE: 247.54 TONNES (FINAL)

JULY: 188.73 TONNES FINAL

AUGUST: 217.89 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE.

SEPT 142.12 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE ( LOW ISSUANCE)_

OCT: 141.13 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE (LOW ISSUANCE)

NOV: 312.46 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE//NEW RECORD!! (INCREASING DRAMATICALLY)//SIGN OF REAL STRESS//SURPASSING THE MARCH 2021 RECORD OF 276.50 TONNES OF EFP

DEC. 175.62 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//

TOTALS: 2,578.08 TONNES/2021

JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL

FEB: 196.04 TONNES//FINAL

MARCH/2022: 409.30 TONNES //FINAL( 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

MAY: 236.67 TONNES (A VERY STRONG ISSUANCE FOR THIS MONTH)

JUNE: 172.667 TONNES (WEAKER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)

JULY: 151.69 TONNES (WEAKER THAN LAST MONTH)

AUGUST: 148.28 TONNES (A STRONGER MONTH)

SPREADING OPERATIONS

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

SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF SEPT. 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 (SEPT), 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 FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 1215 CONTRACTS OI TO 136,680 AND FURTHER FROM OUR COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710(SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 5 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023

EFP ISSUANCE A STRONG 707 CONTRACTS

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

SEPT 707 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 707 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 1215 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 707 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,

WE OBTAIN A STRONG LOSS OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 504 CONTRACTS

THUS IN OUNCES, THE LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 2.54 MILLION OZ

OCCURRED DESPITE OUR $0.12 GAIN IN PRICE …..

END

OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY

1a/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT

(report Harvey)

b, ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe,//GOLD COMMENTARIES

(Peter Schiff)

c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens

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//

WEDNESDAY MORNING//TUESDAY NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 41.93 PTS OR 1.34% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 54.91 PTS OR 0.31% /The Nikkei CLOSED UP 153.53 PTS OR 0.48% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP .29 % /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 7.2926 /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN DOWN TO 7.3008 /Oil DOWN TO 78.52 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 82.75 / Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MIXED// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER

a)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA

outline

b) REPORT ON JAPAN/

OUTLINE

3 CHINA

OUTLINE

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

OUTLINE

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

OUTLINE

6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES

OUTLINE

7. OIL ISSUES

OUTLINE

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

9. USA

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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS

GOLD

LET US BEGIN:

THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A FAIR SIZED 1708 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 430.239 DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $2.95 ON TUESDAY.

EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE

WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF AUGUST… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,

THAT IS 3166 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : DEC 3166 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 3166 CONTRACTS

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 1458 CONTRACTS IN THAT 3166 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A FAIR SIZED LOSS OF 1708 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $2.95//TUESDAY COMEX. 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 FOR TUESDAY NIGHT WAS A FAIR 1367 CONTRACTS. THROUGHOUT THE PAST WEEKS, THE BANKERS SOLD OFF 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: AUGUST (34.542) ( 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. 64.000 tonnes

(TOTAL YEAR 656.076 TONNES)

2023:

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

JUNE: 64.354 TONNES

JULY: 10.2861 TONNES

AUGUST: 36.145 TONNES (INCLUDING .6842 EXCHANGE FOR RISK)

THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT GAINED $2.95) //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A FAIR GAIN OF 1458 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES. WE HAD ZERO T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF YESTERDAY’S TRADING. THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON TUESDAY NIGHT WILL BE “PUT INTO THE BANK” TO BE USED AT A LATER DATE AT THE COLLUSIVE CHOOSING OF OUR BANKERS.

WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 4.575 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR AUGUST. (30.656 TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 1000 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW STANDING ADVANCES QUITE A BIT TO 35.493 TONNES + .6842 (PRIOR EXCHANGE FOR RISK) //NEW TOTAL 36.177 TONNES // ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $2.95.

WE HAD – REMOVED 1427 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 1458 CONTRACTS OR 145,800 OZ OR 4.535 TONNES.

Estimated gold volume today:// 167,863 awful

final gold volumes/yesterday 142,642 awful//speculators have left the gold arena

//AUGUST 23/ FOR THE AUGUST 2023 GOLD CONTRACT

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory in oz*	nil
Withdrawals from Customer* Inventory in oz*	96,678.057 OZ 3007 KILOBARS (Brinks 7 kilobars HSBC 1932 kilobars JPMorgan 1068 kilobars) .
Deposit to the Dealer* Inventory in oz*	nil
Deposits to the Customer* Inventory, in oz*	nil OZ
No of oz served (contracts) today	30 notice(s) 3,000 OZ 0.09331 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)	171 contracts 17,100 oz 0.5318 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	11,240 notices 1,124,000 OZ 34.9611 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

0 dealer deposit:

total dealer deposits: NIL oz

customer deposits: 0

total customer deposits: nil oz

we had 3 customer withdrawals

i) Out of Brinks 225.057 oz 7 kilobars

ii) Out of HSBC: 62,115.732 oz (1932 kilobars)

iii) Out of JPMorgan: 34,337.268 oz (1068 kilobars)

total withdrawals 96,678.057 oz 3.007 tonnes

Adjustments; 1..another doozy: 116,997.489 oz (3639 kilobars)

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR AUGUST.

For the front month of AUGUST we have an oi of 201 contracts having LOST 353 contracts. We had 363 contracts filed

on Tuesday, so we gained 10 contracts or an additional 1000 oz will not stand at the comex,

Sept gained 77 contracts to 3597.

Oct LOST 342 contracts to 323,649 contracts.

We had 30 contracts filed for today representing 3000 oz

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 9 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 30 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 AUGUST /2023. contract month,

we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (11,240 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of AUGUST (201 CONTRACT) minus the number of notices served upon today 30 x 100 oz per contract equals 1,141,100 OZ OR 35.493 TONNES the number of TONNES standing in this active month of AUGUST. + .684 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK/prior = 36.177 tonnes

thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the AUGUST contract month: No of notices filed so far (11,240) x 100 oz + (201) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (30) x 100 oz) which equals 1,141,100 oz standing OR 35.461 TONNES + .684 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK/prior = 36.177 TONNES

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 36.177 TONNES WHICH IS SMALL FOR AN ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION

NEW PLEDGED GOLD:

241,794.285 oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 5.94 TONNES

204,937.290 PLEDGED MANFRA 3.08 TONNES

83,657.582 PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690 tonnes

265,999.054, oz JPM No 2

1,152,376.639 oz pledged Brinks/

Manfra: 33,758.550 oz

Delaware: 193.721 oz

International Delaware:: 11,188.542 oz

total pledged gold: 2,110,978.535 OZ 65.66 tonnes

TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED: 21,656,086,703 OZ

TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD: 11,004,512,929 (342,28 tonnes)..

TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,651,574.694 OZ

REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 8,893,534 OZ (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 276.62 tonnes//dropping rapidly/

END

SILVER/COMEX

AUGUST 23

//2023// THE AUGUST 2023 SILVER CONTRACT

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	3020.18 oz Brinks Delaware .
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*	nil oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	nil
No of oz served today (contracts)	1 CONTRACT(S) (5,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	0 contracts (NIL oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	951 Contracts (4,755,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers* inventory this month*	NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer* inventory this month*

i) 0 dealer deposit

total dealer deposit: 0 oz

i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal

total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz

We had 0 deposits customer account:

total customer deposits: nil oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 139.276 million oz/277.505 million =50.18% of comex .//

Comex withdrawals 2

i) Out of brinks: 2013.190 oz

ii) Out of Delaware 1006.99 oz

total: 3020.18 oz

adjustments: 0

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 27.604 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 277.505 million oz

CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR JULY:

silver open interest data:

FRONT MONTH OF AUGUST /2023 OI: 1 CONTRACTS HAVING LOST 0 CONTRACT(S). WE HAD

0 NOTICES FILED ON MONDAY SO WE NEITHER GAINED NOR LOST ANY CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL NIL OZ WILL STAND IN THIS NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF AUGUST.

SEPT HAS A LOSS OF 3718 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 43,083

OCT LOST 1 CONTRACT TO STAND AT 507.

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 1 for 5000 oz

Comex volumes// est. volume today 112,921 huge

Comex volume: confirmed yesterday: 73,540 good

To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in AUGUST. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 951 x 5,000 oz = 4,755,000 oz

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of AUGUST (1) and the number of notices served upon today 1 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

Thus the standings for silver for the AUGUST/2023 contract month: 951 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of AUGUST (1) – number of notices served upon today (1 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the AUGUST contract month equates to 4.755 million oz.+ 2.870 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUED TODAY+ 5.62 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK PRIOR//NEW TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK: 8.07 MILLION OZ//NEW SILVER STANDING: 12.825 MILLION oz.

There are 27.604 million oz of registered silver.

Thus if we take today’s standing at 12.825 and add last month’s 30.9 million oz we have 43.725 million oz against only 27.604 million registered silver.

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

AUGUST 23/WITH GOLD UP $21.35 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.32 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 884.91 TONNES

AUGUST 22/WITH GOLD UP $2.95 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.87 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 889.23 TONNES

AUGUST 21/WITH GOLD UP $7.15 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF 2.60 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 890.10 TONNES

AUGUST 18/WITH GOLD UP $1.15 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 6.92 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 887.50 TONNES

AUGUST 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $12.80 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: //: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 894.42 TONNES

AUGUST 16/WITH GOLD DOWN $7.00 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES FORM THE GLD//: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 894.42 TONNES

AUGUST 15/WITH GOLD DOWN $7,45 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.76 TONNES FORM THE GLD//: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 895.87 TONNES

AUGUST 14/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.10 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.75 TONNES FORM THE GLD//: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 899.63 TONNES

AUGUST 11/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.10 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .31 TONNES FORM THE GLD//: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 903.31 TONNES

AUGUST 10/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.00 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 903.69 TONNES

AUGUST 9/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.75 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 903.69 TONNES

AUGUST 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.60 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.31 TONNES FORM THE GLD /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 903.69 TONNES

AUGUST 7/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.45 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: /// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 906.00 TONNES

AUGUST 4/WITH GOLD UP $7.25 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.18 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/// .///INVENTORY RESTS AT 906.00 TONNES

AUGUST 3/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.25 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD //: //: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 909.18 TONNES

AUGUST 2/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.45 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.75 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 909.18 TONNES

AUGUST 1/WITH GOLD DOWN $28.45 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.89 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.93 TONNES

JULY 31/WITH GOLD UP $9.50 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.89 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.93 TONNES

JULY 28/WITH GOLD UP $14.15 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 915,82 TONNES

JULY 27/WITH GOLD DOWN $21.80 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.74 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 917.26 TONNES

JULY 26/WITH GOLD UP $6.35 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: //: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 919.00 TONNES

JULY 25/WITH GOLD UP $2.45 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: //: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 919.00 TONNES

JULY 24/WITH GOLD DOWN $4.65 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 5.20 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 919.00 TONNES

JULY 21/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.80 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 913.80 TONNES

JULY 20/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.70 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.73 TONNES FROM THE GLD/ .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 913.80 TONNES

JULY 19/WITH GOLD UP $0.65 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .86 TONNES FROM THE GLD/ .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.07 TONNES

JULY 18/WITH GOLD UP $23.45 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.93 TONNES

JULY 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.60 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.73 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD.////INVENTORY RESTS AT 912.93 TONNES

JULY 14/WITH GOLD UP $0.75 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 914.66 TONNES

JULY 13/WITH GOLD UP $3.30 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.29 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 914.66 TONNES

JULY 12/WITH GOLD UP $24.50 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.31 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 914.95 TONNES

JULY 11/WITH GOLD UP $6.15 TODAY: BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.0 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 915.26 TONNES

JULY 10 WITH GOLD DOWN $1.35 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.60 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 916.26 TONNES.

GLD INVENTORY: 884.91 TONNES

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

AUGUST 23/WITH SILVER UP 94 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 826,000 OZ FROM THE SLV// /.////INVENTORY RESTS AT 450.547 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 22/WITH SILVER UP 12 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: /.////INVENTORY RESTS AT 451.373 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 21/WITH SILVER UP 59 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 917,0000 OZ FROM THE SLV//.////INVENTORY RESTS AT 451.373 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 18/WITH SILVER UP 4 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//.////INVENTORY RESTS AT 452.290 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 17/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//.////INVENTORY RESTS AT 452.290 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 16/WITH SILVER DOWN 13 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.275 MILLION OZ INTOTHE SLV/: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 452.290 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 15/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.275 MILLION OZ INTOTHE SLV/: / .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 452.290 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 0.459 MILLION OZ INTOTHE SLV/: //////INVENTORY RESTS AT 452.565 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 11/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 1.926 MILLION OZ INTOTHE SLV/: // OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 452.106 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 10/WITH SILVER UP 6 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 8,807 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV/: // OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 450.180 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 9/WITH SILVER DOWN 7 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 8,807 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV/: // OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 450.180 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 8/WITH SILVER DOWN 40 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: // OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 458.987 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 7/WITH SILVER DOWN 46 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: // OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 458.987 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 4/WITH SILVER UP 1 CENT TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.294 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 458.987 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 3/WITH SILVER DOWN 16 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 189,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 451.281 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 2/WITH SILVER DOWN 43 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 275,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 451.471 MILLION OZ

AUGUST 1/WITH SILVER DOWN 61 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 184,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 451.746 MILLION OZ

JULY 31/WITH SILVER UP 45 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 184,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 451.746 MILLION OZ

JULY 28/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 550,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 451.930 MILLION OZ

JULY 27/WITH SILVER DOWN 59 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 452.480 MILLION OZ

JULY 26/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: .////INVENTORY RESTS AT 452.480 MILLION OZ/

JULY 25/WITH SILVER UP 24 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A SMALL WITHDRAWAL OF 826,000 OZ FROM THE SLV..////INVENTORY RESTS AT 452.480 MILLION OZ/

JULY 24/WITH SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 453.306 MILLION OZ/

JULY 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 14 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.101 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 453.306 MILLION OZ/

JULY 20/WITH SILVER DOWN 38 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.468 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 454.107 MILLION OZ/

JULY 19/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 455.875 MILLION OZ/

JULY 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 19 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 455.875 MILLION OZ/

JULY 17/WITH SILVER UP 25 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.856 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV////////INVENTORY RESTS AT 455.875 MILLION OZ/

JULY 14/WITH SILVER UP 27 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.21 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV////////INVENTORY RESTS AT 455.875 MILLION OZ/

JULY 13/WITH SILVER UP 64 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 462.941 MILLION OZ/

JULY 12/WITH SILVER UP $1.00 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.881 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 462.941 MILLION OZ/

JULY 11/WITH SILVER DOWN 5 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF .020 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 464.822 MILLION OZ/

JULY 10/WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.672 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 464.802 MILLION OZ

CLOSING INVENTORY 450.547 MILLION OZ//

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES

1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey

Peter Schiff: BRICS Nations Will Blunt Western Dominance

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 12:25 PM

Via SchiffGold.com,

The BRICS summit is underway with talk of expanding the economic block and speculation about a “new currency.” Peter Schiff appeared on Real America with Dan Ball to talk about these developments, saying the BRICS nations will blunt Western dominance.

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa make up the BRICS block. It accounts for about 40% of the global population and a quarter of the global GDP. Peter pointed out that not only does the BRICS block supply a lot of goods to America, but it also loans the US a lot of money.

The interest that we have to pay on that debt is soaring.”

Peter noted that Treasury bond yields were at the highest level in 16 years. That’s a big problem when you have a $32.7 trillion national debt and massive budget deficits month after month.

This backup in the yield on the 30-year Treasury — mortgage rates are going to hit 8% pretty soon. Think about that for a minute. When was the last time anybody was looking at an 8% mortgage? Just a year ago, they were in the threes. So, everybody is going to be paying more.”

And things don’t appear to be on track to get any better.

We are broke as a nation, and the inflation genie is out of the bottle. We’ve had more than 10 years of reckless money printing. There’s no way these rate hikes are going to do anything about that. So, high inflation is here to stay. And it’s going to get even higher.”

President Biden keeps saying the economy is strong. Peter asked how he could make that assertion.

We’re the world’s biggest debtor nation. We have record trade deficits, record budget deficits, and inflation that’s about to run out of control. I don’t think the economy has ever been this weak.”

Given the current state and the trajectory of the economy, the US is ripe to fall from its perch as the world’s economic superpower. And the BRICS block is in a position to further undermine the American economy.

Dan said he thinks the West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed the BRICS nations into a corner and forced them to look more closely at an alternative to the US dollar. Peter said he agreed.

The blowback from those sanctions is going to be a disaster.”

When the Biden administration started imposing sanctions, we reported that there were possible long-term consequences for using the dollar as a tool for war — that it could accelerate de-dollarization globally and even threaten the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency. As Peter explained, this would be a gut punch for the US economy.

The US really depends on the dollar as the reserve currency. But what we did with those sanctions — we gave the world a powerful reason not to want to be a part of that system anymore because we demonstrated the downside, the risk that you take in holding dollars and being part of this dollar payment system. We gave everybody another reason, as if they needed more, to de-dollarize. So, that whole process has been sped up. The last thing we should have done was punish Russia for doing exactly what we wanted them to do. We wanted Russia to hold dollars because that benefits us. That keeps our prices down. That keeps our interest rates down. And then we punished Russia for doing exactly what we wanted them to do. Now, what kind of message are we sending to the rest of the world?”

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/peter-schiff-brics-nations-will-blunt-western-dominance

2 Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens//JAMES RICKARDS//JOHN RUBINO

END

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

SEE BELOW

Former JPMorgan gold traders get prison for ‘prolific spoofing’

Submitted by admin on Tue, 2023-08-22 22:28Section: Daily Dispatches

By Steve Stroth and Joe Deaux
Bloomberg News
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

The former head of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s precious-metals desk and his top trader today were sentenced to prison for spoofing, fraud, and attempted market manipulation.

Michael Nowak, who ran gold and silver trading at the bank, and trader Gregg Smith were sentenced in Chicago by U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang. Nowak received a term of one year and one day while Smith was given two years, the stiffest sentence yet in a recent government crackdown on questionable trading practices

Both men were convicted at a trial last year. Smith, 59, was described as “the most prolific spoofer that the government has prosecuted to date” while Nowak, 49, has been called “the boss” behind the scheme.

In imposing sentence, the judge said Smith and Nowak clearly knew what they were doing was wrong.

“This is a serious offense that you committed,” Chang said to Nowak. “What happened here was the equivalent of putting out lies — and many lies — into the market. Market integrity is a crucial component to the financial markets. These lies moved the market. It’s not like they had zero impact.”

The prison sentences were intended to “send a message” that market manipulation will be punished, the judge said. “I’m trying to deter all forms of financial fraud in the market,” he said.

Chang ordered Nowak to start his sentence on Oct. 23 and Smith on Jan. 15. Lawyers for both men said they planned to appeal their convictions. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-22/jpmorgan-s-most-prolific-spoofer-gets-two-years-in-prison

END

4, OTHER IMPORTANT GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES

THIS IS A SURPRISE! JAIL TIME FOR OUR TWO JPMORGAN KEY GOLD/SILVER TRADERS.

(zerohedge)

Ex-Head Of JPMorgan’s Precious Metals Desk Sentenced To Prison For Manipulation

TUESDAY, AUG 22, 2023 – 11:45 PM

It was not that long ago that a veritable army of trolls would emerge upon our merest mention that precious metal markets (like all other markets) are manipulated, whether by commercial or central banks, or by random assorted hangers on.

Today, we can table that particular debate in perpetuity, after US District Judge Edmond Chang sentenced the former head of JPMorgan’s precious-metals desk and his top trader to prison for spoofing, fraud and market manipulation.

Michael Nowak, whom we first highlighted back in 2019…

… and most recently profiled last year, and who once upon a time was not only an LBMA board member but also ran gold and silver trading at JPMorgan, as well as his top trader Gregg Smith were sentenced Tuesday in Chicago with Nowak receiving a term of one year and one day while Smith was given two years, the stiffest sentence yet in a recent government crackdown on questionable trading practices.

As we reported at the time, both men were convicted at a trial last year. Smith, 59, was described as “the most prolific spoofer that the government has prosecuted to date” while Nowak, 49, has been called “the boss” behind the scheme.
In imposing sentence, the judge said Smith and Nowak clearly knew what they were doing was wrong.

“This is a serious offense that you committed,” Chang said to Nowak. “What happened here was the equivalent of putting out lies — and many lies — into the market. Market integrity is a crucial component to the financial markets. These lies moved the market. It’s not like they had zero impact.”

Smith and Nowak “used their positions as some of the most powerful traders in the worldwide precious metals markets to engage in an egregious effort to manipulate prices for their benefit,” Acting US Assistant Attorney General Nicole M.

Argentieri said in a statement, adding the Justice Department was committed to holding “accountable those who engage in fraud and manipulation that undermines the investing public’s trust in the integrity of our commodities markets.”

As Bloomberg reports, the stiff (for a banker) prison sentences were intended to “send a message” that market manipulation will be punished, the judge said. “I’m trying to deter all forms of financial fraud in the market,” he said, clearly unaware of this thing called the Federal Reserve.

Chang ordered Nowak to start his sentence on Oct. 23 and Smith on Jan. 15. Lawyers for both men said they planned to appeal their convictions.

Prosecutors had initially sought sentences of six years for Smith and five years for Nowak, but on Tuesday said they were revising those down to around two years. Both men’s lawyers argued that they should be spared jail because neither gained personally from the spoofing. Of course, both main made millions in bonuses which would never have been paid had they not generated huge gains for Jamie Dimon’s criminal enterprise.

The JPMorgan case was part of a crackdown by federal prosecutors on illegal spoofing, where traders place bogus orders to move prices up or down and then quickly cancel them before they can be executed. Smith and Nowak used the technique to manipulate gold and silver prices from 2008 to 2016, or the entire duration of the period in which we said – and showed – that gold manipulation was rampant, for which were frequently mocked and ridiculed.

Convictions for Smith, Nowak and a third trader who was found guilty in November, Christopher Jordan, capped a string of wins by prosecutors in spoofing cases targeting some of Wall Street’s biggest banks, including Bank of America, Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley. Two former Deutsche Bank and two former Bank of America traders previously each received one-year sentences.

JPMorgan, the largest US bank and the biggest US financial criminal enterprise by far, agreed in 2020 to pay $920 million to settle the Justice Department’s allegations against it — the biggest fine by any financial institution accused of market manipulation since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Prosecutors also charged several members of the team Nowak led at JPMorgan. Three of them pleaded guilty and testified against Nowak and Smith. The witnesses described how Nowak and Smith routinely placed huge buy and sell orders they never intended to execute — part of their strategy to push prices in the direction that would profit the bank.

Christiaan Trunz, a former Smith protege and one of the traders who pleaded guilty and cooperated, told jurors that he learned to spoof by watching Nowak and Smith for years. When Trunz came under scrutiny for his own spoof trades, he said Nowak coached him to lie to compliance officials and later counseled him against pleading guilty as prosecutors were preparing criminal charges against top executives on the trading desk.

Trunz testified that Smith was so fast at placing and canceling bogus orders that his colleagues would joke that he needed to put ice on his fingers to cool them down.

“This was an open strategy on the desk,” said Trunz, who sat next to Smith and watched him click his computer mouse rapidly to place and cancel trades. “It wasn’t hidden.”

END

Why gold is the right thing to go to

(ALEX NEWMAN/EPOCH TIMES)

Efforts To Protect US Intensify Amid Global Shift From Dollar

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 05:00 AM

Authored by Alex Newman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

With inflation plaguing the economy as the U.S. dollar is increasingly being sidelined in international trade, potentially even at risk of losing its status as the global reserve currency, lawmakers in Washington and state capitals are touting gold and precious metals as the solution.

From congressional efforts that would once again back the U.S. dollar with gold to state-level initiatives to facilitate commerce in precious metals, proposals are proliferating. Some have already advanced.

Private-sector players are getting in on the action, too, arguing that gold can be a defense against economic calamity as foreign governments and central banks stockpile record amounts of precious metals.

In a series of interviews with The Epoch Times, state and federal lawmakers working to restore gold as money argued that this was the best way to defend the dollar, stabilize the economy, rein in government spending, and protect U.S. interests.

A bill introduced in Congress this year by U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.), dubbed the Gold Standard Restoration Act (H.R. 2435), would redefine the dollar in terms of a fixed weight in gold. The legislation would also require authorities to exchange paper currency for gold.

“How can you look at a country that’s 32 trillion in debt with out-of-control spending and think it’s the right standard to go by?” Mr. Mooney asked in a phone interview with The Epoch Times, warning of peril ahead for the dollar if its gold backing was not restored.

“Returning to the gold standard would bolster domestic and international confidence in the U.S. dollar because its value would be tied to something of actual worth, not just the ‘full faith and credit’ of the U.S. government,” added Mr. Mooney, who has been sounding the alarm throughout his political career. “This would preserve the U.S. dollar’s global reserve status.”

Meanwhile, in Texas, lawmakers concerned about the stability of the dollar and the U.S. economy are working to facilitate commerce in gold through the Texas Gold Depository.

“You have to look at history,” said Texas Rep. Mark Dorazio, a Republican who introduced the bill to facilitate intrastate trade in gold. “Over the last 6,000 years of history, gold and silver have kept their value and served as the standard.”

“It is the go-to in economic crisis and instability—everyone knows you go to gold,” the lawmaker told The Epoch Times in a phone interview.

“Everybody I talk to likes the idea of using our depository to conduct business,” he added. “Plus it would make money for the state. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Ron Paul, a longtime champion of the gold standard and sound money who spent decades in Congress attempting to draw attention to the issue and wrote a best-selling book called “End The Fed,” told The Epoch Times that gold is likely to play a major role in the future.

As what he called the “Mickey Mouse” dollar continues to lose dominance, “something will have to replace it, [and] now we are seeing that,” he said, warning that “the Chinese are buying a lot of gold.”

Dr. Paul ridiculed the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights and emerging central bank “digital” currencies without inherent value as potential alternatives, saying something tangible such as gold is what’s needed.

“If there’s a digital currency that is truly backed with gold, that might be helpful,” he said.

Ultimately, Dr. Paul said he would repeal legal tender laws, abolish the Federal Reserve, and allow the market to decide what should be used as money.

“Gold and silver became money spontaneously thousands of years ago, and metals have worked well,” he said, praising state and federal efforts on precious metals. “We need sound money.”

Despite his pessimism about the economy, Paul, who gained national prominence during his runs for president, celebrated the growing number of states declaring gold and silver to be legal tender.

“The Constitution is very much on their side,” he said.

Among other benefits, this can facilitate trade in precious metals by removing sales taxes and eliminating other obstacles, he said.

“This is a silent revolution going on at the grassroots level, passing legislation on this,” Paul said, adding that gold could protect countries, states, and even individuals. “That is a help in changing attitudes.”

As government debt and inflation continue to grow amid moves by U.S. adversaries to displace the dollar, interest in precious metals will continue to expand, multiple experts told The Epoch Times.

What Happened to Gold?

Until about 50 years ago, the U.S. dollar was still officially backed by gold. Because other currencies were mostly exchangeable for dollars on demand, the global monetary system was in effect underpinned by gold—at least in theory.

In fact, for thousands of years, precious metals have served as money. Economists say this is because they are durable, portable, scarce, and inherently valuable.

But with a series of major policy changes, beginning with the establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913 followed by a 1933 executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt limiting gold holdings, that began to change.

Under the leadership of President Richard Nixon, the U.S. government formally severed the dollar’s final link to gold in 1971, ending the ability of even foreign powers to exchange their dollars for gold.

That was a turning point. Conventional wisdom holds that the move by Nixon resulted in the end of the gold standard forever as most of the world was suddenly plunged into what is known as a “fiat” monetary system. Fiat means the currency has value by government edict, rather than any inherent value.

Economist John Maynard Keynes famously referred to the metal as a “barbarous relic,” a view that has proliferated in academia and in central banking circles.

But the world is now facing escalating economic and monetary turmoil. Just last week, Fitch downgraded U.S. debt in a historic blow as debt levels surge and the purchasing power of currencies worldwide plummets.

The problems with the dollar are growing. As reported in May, U.S. adversaries such as the Chinese Communist Party are actively working to reshape the global monetary system and replace the dollar.

Even traditional U.S. allies such as France and Brazil are now doing international deals in other currencies.

Multiple experts explained that Biden administration and Federal Reserve policies were contributing to the trend through high spending and loose monetary policy blamed for inflation.

Calls for major monetary reform at the international level have been steadily growing for decades, and have ramped up further in light of current events.

Numerous world leaders and central bankers, including the People’s Bank of China, have proposed an international reserve currency to displace the dollar, and senior U.S. policymakers have even flirted with the idea publicly.

But in the United States, more traditional options for drastic reforms involving metals are being explored, too. Indeed, developments are causing many experts and lawmakers to take a fresh look at the “barbarous relic.”

At the same time, reports that authorities in the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) will consider a gold-backed currency are fueling interest in monetary metals worldwide.

Non-Western central banks are buying gold in record quantities, according to the World Gold Council, 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 to clients in late May.

Gold Standard to the Rescue?

Several congressional Republicans who spoke with The Epoch Times pointed to current events to highlight what they say is the urgency of legislation to protect the dollar by once again tying it to gold.

Mr. Mooney of West Virginia, the chief sponsor behind the “Gold Standard Restoration Act,” explained that severing the link between the dollar and gold has produced extreme spending, inflation, and other problems.

“We need to learn from history,” he told The Epoch Times. “When President Nixon unfortunately took us off the gold standard, it made everything worse. He claimed at the time it was going to control inflation, but the opposite occurred.”

“It was a huge mistake,” continued Mr. Mooney, who introduced the bill in the last Congress as well. “Inflation is still out of control to this day.”

Because the dollar is no longer tied to gold, and because the federal government is rapidly losing the trust of Americans and people worldwide, the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency is at risk, he said.

“They keep playing monetary games at the Fed, with borrowing and printing money, and that makes the dollar less stable and more susceptible to international competition,” the congressman warned, adding that the Chinese Communist Party is taking full advantage.

But eventually, change may be forced upon the United States.

“If we get to the point where we literally can’t pay our debts anymore—where we default on our loans—it would force some fiscal restraint in our country, but it would also jeopardize the dollar and give a great opportunity for communist China and other countries to not use the dollar anymore as the standard,” he said.

Mr. Mooney also pointed to increasingly erratic U.S. foreign policy such as the Afghanistan withdrawal “debacle,” saying other governments were now reconsidering whether the United States is truly as stable as previously believed.

Aside from restoring the gold standard, Mr. Mooney said it was imperative for the U.S. government to come up with a plan to control spending. “Democrats have absolutely no plan to do that,” he said.

He also warned that if current trends continue, economic disaster is a certainty.

“I can’t tell you what the exact limit is, but I never thought we’d be able to get this far,” he said, blasting the $5 trillion in new debt added under the current administration as “totally irresponsible.”

The only answer is to get back to a real standard where the dollar is backed by gold, he said. “If we got back to the gold standard, at least we would have a restriction there in terms of government spending,” Mr. Mooney added.

Futures Rise Ahead Of Nvidia Earnings Despite European PMI Bloodbath

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 08:17 AM

US futures have erased much of their earlier gains but were modestly higher, led by tech with NVDA higher premarket for the third consecutive day ahead of the chipmaker’s much anticipated earnings report after the close. As of 7:30am, S&P futures were up 0.2%, erasing an earlier gain of as much as 0.5%; Nasdaq futures were 0.1% higher. Asian stocks gained for a 2nd straight day despite China markets resuming their slump, while Europe tumbled after dismal service PMI data. Bonds are rallying around the globe as traders pare bets on additional rate hikes by the BOE and ECB after dismal PMI data from the UK and euro area which is also hitting the Euro. 10Y TSY yields drop to 4.26% from 4.32% (4.25% had been a support level). USD is strengthening with the global bond rally and commodities mixed with strength in metals, weakness in energy, and Ags mixed. Bonds gain as traders pare bets on additional rate hikes by the BOE and ECB after dismal PMI data from the UK and euro area. Both regions saw a surprise contraction in their respective service sectors while manufacturing remained in the doldrums. UK 10-year yields are down 12bps while German 10-year yields fall 10bps.

Today’s US Flash PMIs may highlight either the growth divergence among the G7 or, assuming a Services miss, that those long-and-variable lags may finally be taking hold potentially creating dovish risk to future CPI prints. In either case, Tech may benefit, acting as either a Cyclical or Defensive play. NVDA earnings are the main data point today and analysts are predicting that Nvidia’s second-quarter revenue may come in higher than the forecast it gave three months ago. The options market is also bracing for a move of about 10% following the results.

“The market is in a wait-and-see mode for the main catalysts this week: Nvidia earnings and Jackson Hole,” said Ulrich Urbahn, head of multi-asset strategy and research at Berenberg. “Given the strong yield increase since July, the Jackson Hole meeting is of particular interest for investors.”

Investors are looking for clues on the outlook for interest rates, after the Fed last month lifted them to a range of 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest level in 22 years. US PMI figures measuring August activity due later Wednesday will provide insights on the strength of the economy, before Powell’s remarks on Friday.

“One risk for the Fed of now arriving so close to its inflation target is that the bond market gets ahead of it and re-stimulates the economy with a big shift down in yields,” said Stephen Auth, chief investment officer for equities at Federated Hermes.

While Powell is unlikely to “surrender the hard-won credibility of the past year with a premature shift back to policy looseness,” it will be difficult for him to appear too hawkish, given inflation is clearly in decline and deflationary pressures are looming from China, Auth added.

In premarket trading, it has been a consumer bloodbath, with Foot Locker tumbled 32% after cutting its 2023 earnings forecast and pausing its dividend. Foot Locker suppliers including Nike (NKE) and Under Armour (UA) drop 3.5% and 2.9% respectively. Peloton plunged more than 30%, after giving a weak revenue forecast for the current quarter, signaling that a turnaround effort under Chief Executive Officer Barry McCarthy is bogging down. Here are some other notable premarket movers:

AMC Entertainment tumbles 18% with shares on track to suffer a third day of double-digit losses following a Delaware Supreme Court’s ruling that the company’s stock conversion can proceed.
Apellis Pharmaceuticals jumped 27% on Wednesday as analysts noted that rates of retinal vasculitis remains low after the biopharmaceutical company provided an update.
Arcus Biosciences and iTeos Therapeutics jumped after competitor Roche AG said data from a critical study of its new cancer medicine was accidentally released. Arcus is up 35% and iTeos surges 40% before the market open.
Urban Outfitters shares are up 4.9% after the clothing retailer reported second-quarter earnings per share that beat estimates. Analysts reacted positively to the results, highlighting the strength in the company’s Free People and Anthropologie segments, which offset weakness in the Urban Outfitters brand.

Wider markets are marking time ahead of a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium. A resilient US economy has prompted investors to position for the Fed to keep borrowing costs elevated. Treasury yields fell on Wednesday, tracking moves in Europe.

Europe led a rally in global bonds as signs of a quickening downturn in the euro area prompted traders to trim interest-rate hike bets. The Euro area composite flash PMI decreased by 1.6pt to 47.0, below consensus expectations, on the back of a further meaningful decline in services activity.

Across countries, the decline in the area-wide index was led by Germany and, to a lesser extent, the periphery, while the composite index in France remained unchanged. In the UK, the composite flash PMI decreased by 2.9pt to 47.9, also below consensus expectations. The euro tumbled after the region’s PMI data, while the Stoxx 600 stock benchmark trimmed gains led by gains in the real estate, utilities and insurance sectors. Here are the most notable European movers:

Roche gains as much as 4.8%, the most since September 2022, after data from its hotly awaited Skyscraper-01 cancer medicines study was inadvertedly released, showing promising results
Bavarian Nordic gains as much as 14%, the most since May 2022, after the Danish vaccines maker reported strong second-quarter numbers, driven by its smallpox and mpox vaccine Jynneos
Rotork shares rise as much as 4.2%, their biggest gain in four months, after the UK-based flow products maker was upgraded to buy from add at Peel Hunt. The broker cites confidence in the firm
JD Sports rises as much as 3.1% and is among Wednesday’s best performers on the FTSE 100, rebounding from a slide triggered by weak results at US peer Dick’s Sporting Goods
EQT falls as much as 5.6%, the biggest laggard on the Stoxx 600 benchmark, after a report in Swedish media highlighted that the expiration of a lock-up agreement might lead to a share sale
Alfen plunged after the Dutch energy-equipment company reported a 43% drop in first-half earnings, weighed down by challenges in electric-vehicle charging. Jefferies sees double-digit consensus cuts ahead
Autoneum drops as much as 4.9% after the Swiss car-parts supplier reported results. While 1H benefited from a strong recovery of car production, market volumes are expected to be flat in 2H
Sensirion shares fall as much as 3.5% after the Swiss maker of gas and liquid flow sensors published 1H numbers that Stifel says reflect a clear drop in its businesses while 2023 “looks bad”
XTB drop as much as 5.2% after Parkiet newspaper reported that Polish financial regulator KNF sees “benefits” of restricting marketing of contract-for-difference products in a similar way to Spain

Earlier in the session, Asian equities rose, on course for their first back-to-back gain this month, boosted by financial and technology shares. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index advanced as much as 0.3%, extending Tuesday’s 0.9% rise. Key gauges advanced in Taiwan and Australia. Hong Kong shares fluctuated while mainland China benchmarks fell following a puzzling late rally on Tuesday which saw the local plunge-protection team engaged.

Tech hardware stocks including TSMC extended climbs ahead of a key earnings report from US chipmaker Nvidia. Baidu, Kuaishou and Anta Sports all rallied in Hong Kong after results. In addition to Nvidia’s report, investors await a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Symposium later this week. The meeting comes amid a renewed surge in US Treasury bond yields that along with China’s economic woes has sapped global risk appetite.

China’s CSI 300 Index fell as much as 1.6%, extending losses in late trading, as foreign investors continue to dump onshore China stocks amid weak sentiment. A gauge of information technology stocks drops as much as 3%, leading declines, while a gauge of telecom services drops 2.2%. Foreign investors sold a net 10.7 billion yuan worth of Chinese shares via the trading link as of 2:33 p.m., on track for a 13th-straight day of outlfows. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index and Hang Seng China Enterprises Index are each up 0.3%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 pared opening losses although the upside was capped ahead of the 32,000 level after mixed PMI figures, and with Japan facing backlash from China and Hong Kong for its plan to release Fukushima water.
Australia’s ASX 200 was led higher by strength in consumer stocks and the mining sector, with the index unfazed by weaker PMI data from Australia which showed manufacturing at a 6th consecutive monthly contraction.
Stocks in India gained for a third consecutive session, tracking advances in Asian peers. State-run banks and capital goods companies were among key gainers. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.3% to 65,433.30 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.2%. Most Asian peers advanced boosted by financial and technology shares. “Investors confidence is very good,” said Rajat Agarwal, Societe Generale’s Asia equity strategist. India has so far received more than $16 billion of foreign flows this year, which is “disproportionate” compared to rest of emerging market peers in Asia excluding China and shows confidence investors have in local firms’ earnings growth, according to Agarwal.

In Fx, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index erases Asia-session declines and edges up 0.1% as the pound and euro suffered after dismal service PMIs (see above), weakening by 0.6% and 0.3% against the greenback. The yen is the best performer among the G-10s, rising 0.3%.

EUR/USD falls 0.3% to 1.0810, its lowest since mid-June; EUR/GBP down as much as 0.3% to 0.8493, before reversing losses. Traders are betting on a 40% chance of an ECB rate rise in September, down around 5 basis points before the PMIs release
The pound sank 0.5% against the dollar to 1.2672, lowest since Aug. 11. Traders pared wagers on further hikes from the Bank of England; money markets see a peak rate of ~5.90%, compared to more than 6% earlier.

In rates, bonds gained as traders pare bets on additional rate hikes by the BOE and ECB after dismal PMI data from the UK and euro area. Both regions saw a surprise contraction in their respective service sectors while manufacturing remained in the doldrums. UK 10-year yields are down 12bps while German 10-year yields fall 10bps. US treasuries advanced, boosted by wider gains across bunds. Outperformance of core European rates drags Treasury yields lower by 5bp to 7bp across the curve with gains on the day led by intermediates. US 10-year yields drop to around 4.26%, remain near lows of the day and richer by 6.5bp vs. Tuesday close; bunds and gilts outperform in the sector by 4.5bp and 6bp following wave of soft European economic data. Treasury auctions resume with $16 billion 20-year bond sale at 1pm New York, while $8 billion 30-year TIPS sale is scheduled for Thursday. US focus is on manufacturing PMI, while Treasury auctions resume with 20-year bond sale later in the session.

In commodities, crude futures decline, with WTI falling 0.9% to trade near $78.90. Spot gold rises 0.3%.

To the day ahead now, and data releases include the flash PMIs for August from the US and Europe, US new home sales for July, and the preliminary Euro Area consumer confidence reading for August. In the US, there’s also the preliminary benchmark revisions for nonfarm payrolls. Today’s earnings releases include Nvidia. Finally in the political sphere, there’ll be the first US Republican primary debate tonight.

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures up 0.6% to 4,424.00
MXAP up 0.4% to 158.75
MXAPJ up 0.2% to 497.07
Nikkei up 0.5% to 32,010.26
Topix up 0.5% to 2,277.05
Hang Seng Index up 0.3% to 17,845.92
Shanghai Composite down 1.3% to 3,078.40
Sensex up 0.4% to 65,453.15
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.4% to 7,148.42
Kospi down 0.4% to 2,505.50
STOXX Europe 600 up 0.6% to 454.61
German 10Y yield little changed at 2.53%
Euro down 0.2% to $1.0820
Brent Futures down 0.5% to $83.60/bbl
Gold spot up 0.3% to $1,903.73
U.S. Dollar Index up 0.19% to 103.76

Top Overnight News

The contraction of private-sector activity in the euro area intensified in August as services ceased being a bright spot and followed the industrial sector into a downturn
UK private sector firms suffered their first contraction in seven months, revealing the growing economic toll of higher interest rates and the squeeze on households
The leading association of global chip companies is warning that Huawei Technologies Co. is building a collection of secret semiconductor-fabrication facilities across China, a shadow manufacturing network that would let the blacklisted company skirt US sanctions and further the nation’s technology ambitions
Talks to avoid strikes at Australia’s biggest liquefied natural gas export terminal began Wednesday morning, as the threat to supply continues to rock global markets for the fuel

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks traded mixed amid a slew of earnings releases alongside the latest PMI data from the region, but with price action relatively rangebound heading closer to the Jackson Hole Symposium. ASX 200 was led higher by strength in consumer stocks and the mining sector, with the index unfazed by weaker PMI data from Australia which showed manufacturing at a 6th consecutive monthly contraction. Nikkei 225 pared opening losses although the upside was capped ahead of the 32,000 level after mixed PMI figures, and with Japan facing backlash from China and Hong Kong for its plan to release Fukushima water. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were mixed with trade in Hong Kong indecisive and the mainland subdued amid several earnings releases, and as participants await results from China’s big banks.

Top Asian News

US Commerce Secretary Raimondo met with China’s ambassador to the US Xie Feng and shared a productive discussion ahead of Raimondo’s upcoming trip to Beijing and Shanghai, while Raimondo raised issues of importance to the US, American businesses and workers, according to Reuters.
RBNZ Chief Economist Conway said he is mindful of the drop in NZD and said they would lower the OCR sooner than they have signalled if there was a more significant slowdown in China than the RBNZ expects.
Chinese regulators will continue to propel domestic companies to seek listing at overseas markets and further facilitate long-term overseas funds to invest in the A-share market, according to Global Times citing the CSRC Vice Chairman.

European bourses are firmer, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.5%, but off of pre-data highs as the morning’s dismal PMIs sparked selling pressure given the negative growth outlook; however, this proved short-lived amid the broader backdrop of a marked pullback in yields. Sectors are mostly in the green with Utilities, Real Estate and Basic Resources outperforming while Auto names lag modestly. Stateside, futures are firmer and attempt to claw back some of Tuesday’s pressure, ES +0.6%, directional action in-fitting with the above European moves given an absence of specific catalysts. Focus ahead includes a handful of data points before NVIDIA earnings after the bell, the name is currently +1.5% in pre-market trade after closing lower by 2.8% on Tuesday.

Top European news

British small businesses saw sales fall by over 20% over the past year, according to research by Sage cited by Bloomberg.
A mini-reshuffle among UK ministers is expected at the end of next week, according to GBNews’ Hope, Defence Secretary Wallace is expected to leave; a wider reshuffle is expected in October.

Buck benefits at the expense of the Euro and Sterling after dire PMIs.
DXY rallies to 103.840 as EUR/USD hovers between decent option expiries at 1.0830-25 and 1.0800, while Cable reverses towards 1.2650 from 1.2764 at best.
Yen outperforms as yields tumble and JPY crosses recede, USD/JPY down from 145.89 through importer bids at 145.50 and aiming for expiry interest at 145.00.
Aussie underpinned on 0.6400 handle vs Buck as iron ore continues to soar and Yuan via another much stronger than forecast PBoC fix, USD/CNY around 7.2900 and USD/CNH circa 7.3000.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1988 vs exp. 7.3050 (prev. 7.1992)

Fixed Income

Dire EU PMIs revive debt futures and trim the probability of ECB/BoE policy tightening.
Bunds up to 132.49 from 131.20 low, Gilts reach 93.74 from 92.38 at one stage and T-note towards the top of 109-16+/00+ range awaiting US PMIs and 20-year supply amidst busy PM agenda.
UK DMO to undertake gilt syndication via re-opening the 4.0% 2063 line, transaction planned for the week of September 4th.

Commodities

Crude benchmarks are under-pressure amid a firmer USD and factors on both the supply- and demand-side of the equation, WTI & Brent -1.0%.
On the demand side, PMIs noted a reduction in manufacturing output again in Germany alongside broader negative growth expectations. Supply wise, the resumption of flows on the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline serves as a headwind.
For LNG, Woodside is meeting unions for discussions later today though an exact time is not currently known, as a reminder the ballot opens on Thursday for Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone workers; more recently, Woodside said there is no update yet. A remark which came alongside renewed pressure in TTF.
In terms of metals, silver is the standout gainer with limited fundamental updates but desks are attentive to bullish technicals incl. the 50-DMA. While spot gold remains firmer despite the USD upside as it takes cues from the yield environment.
US Energy Inventory Data (bbls): Crude -2.4mln (exp. -2.9mln), Gasoline 1.9mln (exp. -0.9mln), Distillate -0.2mln (exp. +0.2mln), Cushing -2.2mln.
Woodside Energy (WDS AT) is meeting unions for talks as strike threats loom over Australian LNG facilities. Talks are expected to continue until the evening, according to Bloomberg.
More recently, Woodside Energy says there is no update yet on LNG strike talks.
Turkish Energy Minister says an agreement has been reached to resume the flow of oil from the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline, according to Sky News Arabia.
An oil tanker broke down at the northern entrance to the Bosphorus Strait, according to a shipping agency cited by Al Arabiya.
Iran’s Oil Minister Owji says crude output will reach 3.4mln BPD by end-September (3.19mln BPD in August), via SNN.

Geopolitics

Moscow airports suspended flights after Ukrainian drone attacks, according to TASS. Furthermore, Moscow’s Mayor said a drone hit a building in central Moscow and another drone was downed over the Moscow region, while the Russian military announced it downed three drones that tried to attack Moscow and the US State Department also commented that the US does not encourage drone attacks in Russia, according to Reuters.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Medvedev said Russia may annex Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, according to TASS.
China Coast Guard patrolled the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands, which is a disputed territory and also known as Japan’s Senkaku Islands, to conduct right-protection cruises, according to Reuters.
Brazilian President says “we are ready to join efforts for a cease-fire in Ukraine”, according to Al Jazeera.

US event calendar

07:00: Aug. MBA Mortgage Applications, prior -0.8%
09:45: Aug. S&P Global US Services PMI, est. 52.2, prior 52.3
09:45: Aug. S&P Global US Manufacturing PM, est. 49.0, prior 49.0
09:45: Aug. S&P Global US Composite PMI, est. 51.5, prior 52.0
10:00: Prelim. Benchmark Revision to Establishment Survey Data
10:00: July New Home Sales MoM, est. 1.0%, prior -2.5%
10:00: July New Home Sales, est. 704,000, prior 697,000

DB’s Henry Allen concludes the overnight wrap

Markets put in a pretty subdued session over the last 24 hours, with low volumes and a pause in the selloff of longer dated bonds, even as the ‘higher-for-longer’ narrative continued at the front-end. There weren’t really any new catalysts to drive things, but that should start to change as we move towards the end of the week and Fed Chair Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole. Indeed, we’ve got several events on the calendar happening today, including the August flash PMIs, Nvidia’s earnings after the US close, along with the latest revisions to nonfarm payrolls.

Those flash PMIs should offer an initial indication of how the global economy has fared so far this month, so all eyes will be on the US readings in particular to see if their economy maintains its recent strength. Overnight, we’ve begun to see some of the readings out of Asia, with Japan’s composite PMI ticking up to a 3-month high of 52.6, whereas Australia’s composite PMI fell back to a 19-month low of 47.1. So there’s not been an obvious trend so far at a global level. Later this morning we’ll get the European numbers, where the recent softening in the PMIs has been among the arguments in favour of a hard landing, particularly in manufacturing where the July PMI was at its lowest since the first Covid wave.

As we look forward to those releases, markets continued to price in a higher-for-longer rates view, with Fed pricing for the December 2024 meeting ticking up another +4.9bps to 4.41%, which is the highest so far this cycle. As a result, that meant that front-end Treasuries were one of the few bonds to sell off yesterday, with the 2yr Treasury yield up +4.5bps to 5.05%. That’s its second-highest close since the GFC, and the only day it’s closed higher in this cycle was on March 8, when they reached 5.07% just before the market turmoil surrounding SVB began.

But apart from front-end Treasuries, yesterday saw the relentless bond selloff finally ease up,with yields turning lower throughout the world. In the US, the 10yr Treasury yield closed -1.4bps lower at 4.32%. And in Europe the declines were even larger, with yields on 10yr bunds (-5.8bps), OATs (-6.8bps) and BTPs (-9.4bps) all falling back. That trend has continued overnight as well, with yields on 10yr Treasuries down a further -1.6bps to 4.31%.

For equities, there was also a relative outperformance in Europe relative to the US. The S&P 500 (-0.12%) was near flat on the day, with banks (-2.41%) in the index underperforming after the move by S&P to downgrade the rating of several firms. The textiles & apparel segment (-1.66%) also underperformed after an outlook downgrade by Dick’s Sporting Goods (-24.15% yesterday) weighed on the broader sports apparel sector. The NASDAQ was little changed (-0.06%), with chipmaker Nvidia (-2.77%) reversing some of Monday’s +8.47% jump ahead of its eagerly anticipated results after the close today.

Over in Europe there was a much stronger performance, and the STOXX 600 (+0.68%) posted a second daily advance that was led by technology companies. That outperformance from Europe came in spite of a fresh rise in natural gas prices yesterday, which were up another +5.21% to €42.91 per megawatt-hour. That takes them to their highest closing level since April, and comes amidst a potential strike at a key LNG facility in Australia that could start on September 2. Today is an important day in the negotiations as well, since the Offshore Alliance who represent two of the unions, have said they would take strike action if an agreement weren’t reached by close of business today.

Overnight in Asia, we’ve seen some further equity declines this morning, with the CSI 300 (-0.72%) and the Shanghai Comp (-0.55%) both losing ground, along with South Korea’s KOSPI (-0.44%). That said, other indices have been more positive, with the Hang Seng up +0.35%, and the Nikkei up +0.15%. US equity futures are also pointing to a solid start, with those on the S&P 500 up +0.24%.

Looking ahead, another release to watch out for today will be the US Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) for Q1. Importantly for markets, they provide a benchmark for other data series, including the monthly nonfarm payrolls series. Our US economists have a preview of the release (link here), and they point out that the latest federal withheld income tax data suggests that this QCEW could point to a softer labour market relative to our current understanding from the monthly employment data. Recent months have already seen a slowing in the nonfarm payrolls numbers, with the two most recent figures running beneath 200k for the first time since 2020.

Elsewhere on the data side, we had a few US releases out yesterday. Existing home sales in July fell back to an annualised rate of 4.07m (vs. 4.15m expected), which is their lowest level in 6 months. Meanwhile, we received mixed regional activity surveys. The Richmond Fed’s manufacturing index for August came in at a 7-month high of -7 (vs. -10 expected), while the Philadelphia Fed’s non-manufacturing index fell from +1.4 to -13.1, largely reversing its improvement in July.

2 b) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)/ASIA REPORT

EUROPE/ASIA

Pronounced reaction to European PMIs, USD bid and yields lower; US data & NVDA due – Newsquawk US Market Open

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 06:16 AM

European bourses & US futures are firmer and back towards best as lower yields take precedence over European growth concerns
Germany’s PMI saw a marked contraction for services and a bleak accompanying GDP nowcast, input costs increased in the EZ for the first time in 11 months
USD benefits as EUR & GBP decline following dire PMIs while JPY outperforms as yields tumble
Mentioned data has trimmed the probability of ECB/BoE tightening, core benchmarks at highs with US yields lower across the curve
Crude is pressured by the USD alongside demand- and supply-side factors, metals remain underpinned
Looking ahead, highlights include US Flash PMIs, US MBAs, Canadian Retail Sales, Supply from the US. Earnings from NVIDIA Corp, and the BRICS summit.

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1. Subscribe to the free premarket movers reports

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EUROPEAN TRADE

EQUITIES

European bourses are firmer, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.5%, but off of pre-data highs as the morning’s dismal PMIs sparked selling pressure given the negative growth outlook; however, this proved short-lived amid the broader backdrop of a marked pullback in yields.
Sectors are mostly in the green with Utilities, Real Estate and Basic Resources outperforming while Auto names lag modestly.
Stateside, futures are firmer and attempt to claw back some of Tuesday’s pressure, ES +0.6%, directional action in-fitting with the above European moves given an absence of specific catalysts.
Focus ahead includes a handful of data points before NVIDIA earnings after the bell, the name is currently +1.5% in pre-market trade after closing lower by 2.8% on Tuesday.
Click here for more detail.
Click here and here for a recap of the main European equity updates.

FX

Buck benefits at the expense of the Euro and Sterling after dire PMIs.
DXY rallies to 103.840 as EUR/USD hovers between decent option expiries at 1.0830-25 and 1.0800, while Cable reverses towards 1.2650 from 1.2764 at best.
Yen outperforms as yields tumble and JPY crosses recede, USD/JPY down from 145.89 through importer bids at 145.50 and aiming for expiry interest at 145.00.
Aussie underpinned on 0.6400 handle vs Buck as iron ore continues to soar and Yuan via another much stronger than forecast PBoC fix, USD/CNY around 7.2900 and USD/CNH circa 7.3000.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1988 vs exp. 7.3050 (prev. 7.1992)
Click here for more detail.
Click here for the Option Expires for the NY Cut.

FIXED INCOME

Dire EU PMIs revive debt futures and trim the probability of ECB/BoE policy tightening.
Bunds up to 132.49 from 131.20 low, Gilts reach 93.74 from 92.38 at one stage and T-note towards the top of 109-16+/00+ range awaiting US PMIs and 20-year supply amidst busy PM agenda.
UK DMO to undertake gilt syndication via re-opening the 4.0% 2063 line, transaction planned for the week of September 4th.
Click here for more detail.

COMMODITIES

Crude benchmarks are under-pressure amid a firmer USD and factors on both the supply- and demand-side of the equation, WTI & Brent -1.0%.
On the demand side, PMIs noted a reduction in manufacturing output again in Germany alongside broader negative growth expectations. Supply wise, the resumption of flows on the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline serves as a headwind.
For LNG, Woodside is meeting unions for discussions later today though an exact time is not currently known, as a reminder the ballot opens on Thursday for Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone workers; more recently, Woodside said there is no update yet. A remark which came alongside renewed pressure in TTF.
In terms of metals, silver is the standout gainer with limited fundamental updates but desks are attentive to bullish technicals incl. the 50-DMA. While spot gold remains firmer despite the USD upside as it takes cues from the yield environment.
US Energy Inventory Data (bbls): Crude -2.4mln (exp. -2.9mln), Gasoline 1.9mln (exp. -0.9mln), Distillate -0.2mln (exp. +0.2mln), Cushing -2.2mln.
Woodside Energy (WDS AT) is meeting unions for talks as strike threats loom over Australian LNG facilities. Talks are expected to continue until the evening, according to Bloomberg.
More recently, Woodside Energy says there is no update yet on LNG strike talks.
Turkish Energy Minister says an agreement has been reached to resume the flow of oil from the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline, according to Sky News Arabia.
An oil tanker broke down at the northern entrance to the Bosphorus Strait, according to a shipping agency cited by Al Arabiya.
Iran’s Oil Minister Owji says crude output will reach 3.4mln BPD by end-September (3.19mln BPD in August), via SNN.
Click here for more detail.

NOTABLE US HEADLINES

Citi (C) cuts 2023 Global Economic Growth forecast to 2.4% (prev. 2.5%)
Teamsters ratified the historic UPS (UPS) contract in which the five-year contract protects and rewards more than 340k members, raising wages for full-time and part-time workers.
Click here for the US Early Morning Note.

NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES

British small businesses saw sales fall by over 20% over the past year, according to research by Sage cited by Bloomberg.
A mini-reshuffle among UK ministers is expected at the end of next week, according to GBNews’ Hope, Defence Secretary Wallace is expected to leave; a wider reshuffle is expected in October.

EUROPEAN DATA RECAP

EU HCOB Composite Flash PMI (Aug) 47.0 vs. Exp. 48.5 (Prev. 48.6); “… eurozone will shrink by 0.2% in the third quarter.” and the “rate of input cost inflation across both sectors edged higher for the first time in 11 months“.
EU HCOB Services Flash PMI (Aug) 48.3 vs. Exp. 50.5 (Prev. 50.9); Manufacturing Flash PMI (Aug) 43.7 vs. Exp. 42.6 (Prev. 42.7)
German HCOB Composite Flash PMI (Aug) 44.7 vs. Exp. 48.3 (Prev. 48.5); “Our GDP nowcast model, … now indicates a deeper fall of the whole economy than it did before, at almost -1%.” adding that “turning to prices, rates of input cost and output charge inflation ticked up for the first time in 11 and seven months respectively in August, driven in part by a rise in fuel prices.”
German HCOB Services Flash PMI (Aug) 47.3 vs. Exp. 51.5 (Prev. 52.3); Manufacturing Flash PMI (Aug) 39.1 vs. Exp. 38.7 (Prev. 38.8)
French HCOB Composite Flash PMI (Aug) 46.6 vs. Exp. 47.5 (Prev. 46.6); “… might be headed for a contraction in the third quarter.”
French HCOB Manufacturing Flash PMI (Aug) 46.4 vs. Exp. 45.0 (Prev. 45.1); Services Flash PMI (Aug) 46.7 vs. Exp. 47.5 (Prev. 47.1)
UK Flash Composite PMI (Aug) 47.9 vs. Exp. 50.3 (Prev. 50.8); “… August PMI data will add to speculation that rates could soon peak.” adding that the survey suggests inflation should moderate further ahead, but “cost pressures remain elevated, thanks mainly to rising wages“.
UK Flash Services PMI (Aug) 48.7 vs. Exp. 51.0 (Prev. 51.5); Manufacturing PMI (Aug) 42.5 vs. Exp. 45.0 (Prev. 45.3)

GEOPOLITICS

Moscow airports suspended flights after Ukrainian drone attacks, according to TASS. Furthermore, Moscow’s Mayor said a drone hit a building in central Moscow and another drone was downed over the Moscow region, while the Russian military announced it downed three drones that tried to attack Moscow and the US State Department also commented that the US does not encourage drone attacks in Russia, according to Reuters.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Medvedev said Russia may annex Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, according to TASS.
China Coast Guard patrolled the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands, which is a disputed territory and also known as Japan’s Senkaku Islands, to conduct right-protection cruises, according to Reuters.
Brazilian President says “we are ready to join efforts for a cease-fire in Ukraine”, according to Al Jazeera.

CRYPTO

Bitcoin is little changed on the session, holding around the USD 26k mark; though, the crypto does have a slight negative skew given the USD’s pronounced upside this morning on the back of European data prints.

APAC TRADE

APAC stocks traded mixed amid a slew of earnings releases alongside the latest PMI data from the region, but with price action relatively rangebound heading closer to the Jackson Hole Symposium.
ASX 200 was led higher by strength in consumer stocks and the mining sector, with the index unfazed by weaker PMI data from Australia which showed manufacturing at a 6th consecutive monthly contraction.
Nikkei 225 pared opening losses although the upside was capped ahead of the 32,000 level after mixed PMI figures, and with Japan facing backlash from China and Hong Kong for its plan to release Fukushima water.
Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were mixed with trade in Hong Kong indecisive and the mainland subdued amid several earnings releases, and as participants await results from China’s big banks.

NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES

US Commerce Secretary Raimondo met with China’s ambassador to the US Xie Feng and shared a productive discussion ahead of Raimondo’s upcoming trip to Beijing and Shanghai, while Raimondo raised issues of importance to the US, American businesses and workers, according to Reuters.
RBNZ Chief Economist Conway said he is mindful of the drop in NZD and said they would lower the OCR sooner than they have signalled if there was a more significant slowdown in China than the RBNZ expects.
Chinese regulators will continue to propel domestic companies to seek listing at overseas markets and further facilitate long-term overseas funds to invest in the A-share market, according to Global Times citing the CSRC Vice Chairman.

DATA RECAP

Japanese Manufacturing PMI (Aug P) 49.7 (Prev. 49.6); Services PMI (Aug P) 54.3 (Prev. 53.8); Composite PMI (Aug P) 52.6 (Prev. 52.2)
Australian Manufacturing PMI (Aug P) 49.4 (Prev. 49.6); Services PMI (Aug P) 46.7 (Prev. 47.9); Composite PMI (Aug P) 47.1 (Prev. 48.2)
New Zealand Retail Sales QQ (Q2) -1.0% vs Exp. -0.4% (Prev. -1.4%, Rev. -1.6%)

2 c. ASIAN AFFAIRS

ASIAN AND AUSTRALIAN CLOSINGS//EUROPE OPENING TRADING:

WEDNESDAY MORNING/TUESDAY NIGHT

2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/

////SOUTH KOREA/NORTH KOREA/

END

2e) JAPAN

JAPAN

3 CHINA /

CHINA/JAPAN

China retaliates over the dumping of Fukushima water dump: they block seafood Japanese imports. Correctly they state that nobody wants to eat

radioactive salmon

(zerohedge)

China Retaliates Over Fukushima Water Dump: Blocks Seafood Imports As Nobody “Wants To Eat Radioactive Salmon”

TUESDAY, AUG 22, 2023 – 06:25 PM

In July, the UN’s nuclear watchdog gave Japan the “greenlight” to dump ‘treated’ radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean. And now, the world braces for the first release of radioactive water on Thursday. What could possibly go wrong?

Tokyo Electric Power Company (better known as TEPCO) will begin discharging 1.34 million tons of radioactive water that has accumulated since the 2011 tsunami destroyed the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant. It’s part of a $150 billion clean-up effort after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cleared TEPCO for the Thursday release at a meeting of Cabinet ministers.

Kishida said at the meeting that the release of the water is essential for the progress of the plant decommissioning and Fukushima prefecture’s recovery from the March 11, 2011, disaster.

He said the government has done everything for now to ensure the safety, combat the reputational damage for the fisheries and to provide transparent and scientific explanation to gain understanding in and outside the country. He pledged that the government will continue the effort until the end of the release and decommissioning, which will take decades. –Bloomberg

The discharge of radioactive water will be released over three decades and has been filtered and diluted. But that hasn’t stopped China and Hong Kong, some of the largest buyers of Japan’s seafood exports, from issuing warnings about bans on seafood imports from 10 prefectures if the dump begins.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee stated this week that he had “immediately instructed” trade officials to impose import control measures to “protect Hong Kong’s food safety and public health.”

“The Japanese government insists on discharging nuclear wastewater into the sea.

“This unprecedented decision and practice of discharging a large amount of nuclear waste over 30 years — regardless of the inextricable risks to food safety and the irreversible pollution and damage to the marine environment — is an irresponsible imposition on others,” Lee wrote in a Facebook post.

In July, Hong Kong banned seafood imports from the Japanese regions of Tokyo, Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, and Saitama. Hong Kong is Japan’s second-largest market, after mainland China, for seafood exports.

Reuters spoke with Halry Yu, 42, owner of the Japanese restaurant Hassun in Hong Kong, who said more than 90% of seafood sent to the city is from Tokyo. He warned:

“If they ban imports that come via Tokyo, I think all sushi restaurants in Hong Kong will be in trouble. There are some seafood supplies from Osaka, but variety is limited.”

Meanwhile, Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Chinese state-run Global Times, posted a model of the radioactive water being released that could “Pollute China and the US in 3 years” and “Pollute the whole world in 10 years.” He asked: “Anyone wants to eat radioactive salmon?”

Oddly enough, there has not been a peep about this clear and present ocean disaster from either the original Greta, or her new and improved version for mass-consumption replacement, Sophia Kianni.

Both social media teams of Kianni and Greta are either bashing oil companies this week or promoting the world is burning — still nothing on Japan.

Amidst the climate alarmists, Greta and her upgraded version, Kianni (touted as Greta 2.0), seem strangely silent on Japan’s attempt to destroy the oceans with radioactive water. The conspicuous absence of outrage and coverage makes some realize these kids are just puppets, something we’ve known all along, in which they promote nonsense climate ‘news’ to distract from the real disasters.

We still remember Greta.

Where’s the coverage on Japan Greta and Greta 2.0?

END

CHINA

An excellent article from John Kemp of Bloomberg

(Kemp)

China’s Rainfall Is In The Wrong Place For Hydropower

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 05:45 AM

By John Kemp, senior market analyst

Typhoon Doksuri brought some of the heaviest rain on record to northern China at the end of July and the start of August, causing severe flooding in the province of Hebei and low-lying cities around Beijing. But in southern China, which accounts for most of the country’s total hydroelectric generation, the drought that began in the middle of 2022 has persisted, limiting hydro output and forcing increased reliance on coal.

China generated 121 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) from hydro in July 2023, down from 146 billion kWh in the same month a year earlier, and the lowest since 2015.

The gap was filled by thermal generation, mostly from coal, which increased to a record 600 billion kWh in July 2023, up from 556 billion kWh the year before.

China also boosted generation from wind farms (+16 billion kWh) and solar farms (+5 billion kWh) compared with July 2022.

But without the extra generation from thermal (+44 billion kWh) it could not have offset the drop in hydro (-25 billion kWh) while meeting growth in load (+40 billion kWh).

China continues to rely on its massive domestic coal reserves for energy security amidst a drought even as it ramps up the production of wind and solar power.

To ensure coal-fired generators had sufficient fuel on hand, domestic coal production increased to a record 2,672 million tonnes in the first seven months of 2023, up from 2,562 million tonnes in 2022.

Coal imports also surged to a record 261 million tonnes in the first seven months, up from 139 million tonnes in the same period in 2022.

SOUTH CHINA DROUGHT

Four-fifths of China’s total hydro generation comes from provinces along the Yangtze River system and further south.

The two southwestern provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan alone accounted for almost half (48%) of the country’s hydro power in 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Including other central and southern provincial-level areas like Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan, Fujian, Guangdong and Chongqing takes the total share to 80% (“China Statistical Yearbook”, NBS, 2022).

But the region has experienced much lower than average precipitation since the middle of 2022, severely depleting the volume of water behind the hydro dams.

Regional precipitation is concentrated in the months of July and August when the wet phase of the East Asian Monsoon peaks and brings around one-third of the total annual rainfall.

But precipitation across the region was unusually low in July and August 2022 and the pattern is repeating in July and August 2023.

At the city of Yibin, on the Sichuan-Yunnan border, precipitation totalled 79 millimetres in July 2023 and 45 millimetres in July 2022 compared with an average of 191 for the same month between 2014 and 2021.

Precipitation has totalled 102 millimetres so far in August, up from 84 millimetres in August 2022 but down from an average of 246 millimetres in the same month between 2014 and 2021.

Droughts in consecutive years will severely deplete the region’s hydro resources and depress generation until at least the middle of 2024.

Facing continued restrictions on hydro generation, coal-fired generation, coal production and coal imports will have to rise even further.

end

4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDAVIAN AFFAIRS

EUROPE/PMI

Yields tumble after disaster European PMI figures. As promised to you stagflation is accelerating

(zerohedge)

Yields Tumble After European PMIs Signal Stagflation Accelerating

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 08:17 AM

The contraction of private-sector activity in the euro area intensified in August as the composite flash PMI decreased by 1.6pt to 47.0, below consensus expectations (48.5), on the back of a further meaningful decline in services activity (offset only partially by an improvement in the manufacturing output index).

“The service sector of the euro zone is unfortunately showing signs of turning down to match the poor performance of manufacturing,” Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, said in a statement.

“Service companies reported shrinking activity for the first time since the end of last year, while output in manufacturing dropped again.”

The composition of the August report showed continued declines in the new orders, employment, and backlogs indices, but a small improvement in new export orders, although these remain in contractionary territory.

Worse still, firms’ future output expectations edged down further, reflecting a more pessimistic outlook in the services sector.

And even more problematic for central banks price pressures, both input and output price components ticked up for the first time since January.

“The PMIs were very weak and highlight the dire outlook for Europe’s largest economy and the risks ahead of the September ECB policy meeting,” said Valentin Marinov, head of G10 FX strategy at Credit Agricole.

Across Euro area regions:

France: The French composite flash PMI remained unchanged (on rounding) at 46.6, below consensus expectations. Across sectors, a decline in the services index was offset by an improvement in manufacturing output, although both remain in contractionary territory.
Germany: The German composite flash PMI decreased by 3.8pt to 44.7, well below consensus expectations. The decline in the composite index was broad-based across sectors, but skewed largely towards services, where the index fell sharply (by 5.1pt) to 47.3.
Periphery: The periphery composite PMI declined by 0.6pt to 49.5, driven by a meaningful decline in services—which is now only slightly above 50—that was offset partially by an improvement in manufacturing output, which remains in contractionary territory.

Separate data for the UK showed private-sector firms suffered their first contraction in seven months.

The UK composite flash PMI decreased by 2.9pt to 47.9, also below consensus expectations.

The decline in the composite index was broad-based across sectors as the services index fell into contractionary territory for the first time since January, while manufacturing output declined further to 43.3.

The press release attributed this weakness to a reluctance to spend among clients in the wake of higher interest rates and stretched disposable household incomes.

The composition of the August report showed broad-based declines across new orders, employment, backlogs, and new export orders indices.

The reaction was swift with bond yields tumbling…

…and stocks too…

Finally, Goldman see three main takeaways from today’s data.

First, Euro area growth momentum appears to be weakening by more than anticipated, due to a sharper deterioration in services activity. Country press releases attributed today’s weak print to a range of factors, including inventory de-stocking, weak foreign demand, and a squeeze on both household and corporate budgets.

Second, despite the weakening in activity, underlying price pressures are turning out to be more persistent. This is particularly true in Germany where the services price components ticked up for the second consecutive month.

Third, growth momentum in the UK also appears to be slowing on the back of weakening in demand, which is being accompanied by a moderation in inflationary pressures.

Rate-hike expectations slipped after the prints: “It strengthens the hands of those arguing for a ‘pause’ in September,” said Dirk Schumacher, an economist at Natixis SA. “The economy is clearly not doing well given these figures.”

END

GERMANY

ROBERT H TO US:

Germany will sour as investment potential

e Bundestag is preparing to throw the baby out with the water and ban the import of Russian ammonia and nitrogen fertilizers.

The effect of this decision, if it passes, will be staggering. Instead of saving Germany’s chemical industry, Scholz will also ruin Germany’s dying farmers. It will accelerate food inflation in the region, shaking out what’s left of German savings from bank accounts that burghers have been saving for their own old age. However, since Washington said “to the last producer,” it means that the European economy will continue to be rolled into autobahns in all directions.

The collapse of European farmers is again great news for Russia, because the price of Russian food includes the price of Russian fertilizers, which adds even more value to Russian domestic production, and is therefore more profitable than even selling Russian fertilizers and much more profitable than selling gas.

What happens to the remnants of German producers today? They are either already bankrupt and closing down, or are preparing to do so. For example, after BASF, SKW Stickstoffwerke Piesteritz GmbH is preparing to close its chemical plants in Germany.

And the European fertilizer market will be taken over by Russia and Belarus: either directly or through spacer countries – it is not so important at the moment. Just like India is taking over the European gasoline market and ruining European refineries thanks to fat Russian oil.

END

5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

RUSSIA/UKRAINE

Watch: Drone Smashes Into Central Moscow As Attacks Become Daily

⚡️The moment an explosion took place in central Moscow tonight, likely drone attack pic.twitter.com/30cZ7SOF6W
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) August 23, 2023

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 11:45 AM

Closter to the opening of the Ukraine war it seemed unthinkable that a scenario of foreign drones reaching deep inside Russian territory to strike Moscow would become ‘normative’ – but this is now what’s happening, as Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia become daily.

Overnight, a drone again reached central Moscow, slamming into a high rise building in the capital’s business district, authorities confirmed Wednesday, in what’s a sixth consecutive night of aerial attacks on Moscow.

This particular attack was caught on video from multiple angles. Though likely a small drone, the explosion upon impact was significant and left visible damage on one or more floors of the large building.

Russia’s defense ministry said it downed at least two other inbound drones, in the Mozhaisky district and one in the Khimki district of the heavily populated Moscow oblast.

Overnight, commercial air traffic was halted at all Moscow airports, including Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports, but operations later resumed as normal.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said of the fresh attack that “several windows were smashed in two adjacent five-story buildings.”

The somewhat meaningless attacks suggest growing desperation on the part of Ukraine forces, given the counteroffensive is now widely acknowledged to be a failure, and so the aim seems to be to put the Russian population on edge, and to disrupt ‘normalcy’ and stability of major cities like Moscow as much as possible.

But the cross-border attacks are likely to escalate Russia’s missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in return, at a moment the front-lines are largely stalemated, but with Russian forces for the most part in firm control of the four territories now declared part of the Russian federation, a key part of Putin’s objective.

END

Russia Fires General Who Ran Ukraine War, In Wake Of Wagner Mutiny Events

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 12:45 PM

After significant internet rumors emerged Tuesday, Russian state news agency RIA confirmed Wednesday that Gen. Sergei Surovikin has been fired as head of the country’s air force. He has been “missing” – or believed under house arrest, since the Wagner mutiny events of June 23-24. He had for months prior overseen Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.

“The ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces of Russia Sergei Surovikin has now been relieved of his post, Colonel General Viktor Afzalov, Chief of the General Staff of the Aerospace Forces, is temporarily acting as Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces,” RIA reported based on single unnamed source.

According to NBC, the news first emerged Tuesday after “The Izvestia newspaper, known for its pro-Kremlin view reported what it said was Surovikin resignation from the post, citing its own unnamed sources.”

Further based on the same reporting:

Alexei Venediktov, former head of the Ekho Moskvy, a prominent independent radio station that was shut down by authorities within days of the Ukraine invasion was the first to report that Surovikin had been dismissed on Tuesday, but said the general was being “retained by the defense ministry.”

The man known as ‘General Armageddon’ is believed to have come under Kremlin scrutiny as Putin cracked down on the military chain of command over handling of the short-lived rebellion led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. That’s when he was effectively ‘disappeared’ from public view.

In late June American intelligence officials told The New York Times that at the highest ranks of Russia’s military command, a key general had foreknowledge that an armed Wagner uprising was coming. In particular, the report claimed had Surovikin advanced awareness of the mutiny plot.

The anonymous US intel officials had taken the claims even further, suggesting potential active plotting and co-conspiracy within the defense ministry. “The officials said they are trying to learn if Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the former top Russian commander in Ukraine, helped plan Mr. Prigozhin’s actions last weekend, which posed the most dramatic threat to President Vladimir V. Putin in his 23 years in power,” said the June NYT report.

But some analysts pointed to red flags regarding the claims of US intel officials, as it seemed a coordinated attempt of Washington to sow distrust, paranoia, and further discord in the Kremlin.

Surovikin hasn’t been heard from publicly or in any online or official statement since then. His security detail has also not been seen. Given the prior reports of house arrest, his dismissal had been seen as likely or as imminent. He will reportedly be transferred elsewhere within the defense ministry or Russian government, but very little details are known.

END

Prigozhin presumed dead after his business jet crashes on its way to St Petersburg. The plane was either shot down by a missile or an onboard bomb detonated.

(zerohedge)

Wagner’s Prigozhin Presumed Dead After His Business Jet With 10 People On Board ‘Crashes’

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 01:09 PM

The internet has exploded with an avalanche breaking reports that Wagner chief Yvgeny Prigozhin’s business jet has crashed over Russia’s Tver region, northwest of Moscow.

Unconfirmed reports say anywhere from seven to ten people were on board, all presumed dead – but it was initially unclear if Prigozhin himself was on board at the time. Russian media sources are now confirming that he was on board the downed plane, and is presumed dead.

This has led to immediate speculation that the private plane could have been shot down upon Putin’s orders (or people in the military command placed a bomb?… or a sophisticated Western intel op?). Per FT’s Moscow correspondent: “Wagner-linked channels say Russian air defense *shot down the plane* – the same private jet Prigozhin regularly uses.”

The Kremlin has quickly issued confirmation that the aircraft did indeed belong to the controversial Wagner leader who led a mutiny against the defense ministry June 23-24. Per official news wires out of Russia

RUSSIA SAYS 10 PEOPLE KILLED AFTER PRIVATE JET CRASHES IN TVER REGION NORTH OF MOSCOW
RUSSIA SAYS EVGENY PRIGOZHIN COULD BE ON BOARD OF PLANE THAT CRASHED IN TVER REGION NORTH OF MOSCOW – TASS

Russian official sources are confirming, including RT…

KOMMERSANT: PRIGOZHIN HAS DIED IN THE PLANE CRASH IN RUSSIA’S TVER, RUSSIA’S FEDERAL AIR TRANSPORT AGENCY SAYS

Below is another video widely circulating of what is purported to be the Wagner chief’s plane going down. A plume of smoke is seen hovering midair as the aircraft plummets straight down, strongly suggesting either a missile shot it down or a bomb detonated mid-air.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/prigozhins-dead-after-his-business-jet-10-people-board-has-crashed

On-ground videos of the burning crash site have quickly circulated, included very graphic ones (not shown).

State news outlet RT writes in an update:

A private jet traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed on Wednesday in Russia’s Tver Region. The Russian Emergencies Ministry said all 10 people on board had died. Rosaviation has since said that Evgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Private Military Company, was listed among the passengers.

And additional statements are emerging:

Former Putin advisor Sergei Markov: “The murder of Prigozhin is the main achievement of Ukraine and all enemies of Russia will rejoice” — Al Jazeera

But then again…

⚡️Reports that Prigozhin's second aircraft is currently maneuvering over Moscow. pic.twitter.com/AZM7NfQulM
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) August 23, 2023

There are emerging reports that Russia’s security services are investigating whether Prigozhin’s jet crashed due to a terrorist attack.

This is a good moment to recall Joe Biden’s words on Yevgeny Prigozhin, issued July 13, 2023: “If I were he, I’d be careful what I ate. I’d be keeping my eye on my menu.”

developing…

END

UPDATES

Wagner Decries ‘Murder’ Of Prigozhin Amid Reports Anti-Air Missile Struck Plane

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 04:05 PM

Update(1605ET): At this point it’s looking like the entire top command of Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group was aboard the private plane that was downed northwest of Moscow hours ago. Wagner itself is confirming Yvgeny Prigozhin’s death, with Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel Grey Zone calling it a “murder”.

“The murder/assassination of Prigozhin will have catastrophic consequences. The people who gave the order do not understand the mood in the army and morale at all. Let this be a lesson to all. You always have to go to the end,” the Wagner channel statement reads.

The bodies of Prigozhin and his second-in-command Dmitry Utkin, have reportedly been identified, according to statements which have been quick to come out of Russian media. Russian news agency TASS has also made it official: “Evgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin were on board the crashed Embraer plane, the Federal Air Transport Agency reported.”

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1694407351552356820&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fprigozhins-dead-after-his-business-jet-10-people-board-has-crashed&sessionId=736d625b97c20477a28f66fafc3165d784a6a4d4&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=aaf4084522e3a%3A1674595607486&width=550px

Russian authorities have said eight bodies have been recovered thus far. FT has summarized the following details of emerging Wagner statements:

A post by Grey Zone, a Wagner-connected social media channel, claimed Russian anti-aircraft defences had shot down the plane. It said that residents heard “two bursts of characteristic air defense fire” before the crash. “This is confirmed by inversion traces in the sky in one of the videos,” it added. Mash, a news outlet on social media app Telegram, said locals had heard two loud bangs before the crash.

The same report cited a Western official to say it was an anti-aircraft missile that struck the private jet:

A western official said they had been told the plane had been brought down by a Russian anti-aircraft missile system but could not confirm whether Prigozhin was on board, adding: “Putin doesn’t take prisoners.”

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=true&id=1694433544305623161&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fprigozhins-dead-after-his-business-jet-10-people-board-has-crashed&sessionId=736d625b97c20477a28f66fafc3165d784a6a4d4&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=aaf4084522e3a%3A1674595607486&width=550px

Alicia Kearns, Chair of the UK’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee, has observed in the aftermath, “The speed at which the Russian Govt has confirmed Yevgeny Prigozhin was on a plane that crashed on a flight from Moscow to St Petersburg should tell us everything we need to know.”

President Biden (who is apparently already back on vacation) has been briefed this afternoon, and told reporters from Lake Tahoe that he’s “not surprised” when asked about Prigozhin’s reported death. “I don’t know for fact what happened, but I am not surprised,” Biden said according to Bloomberg. He then pointed the finger at the Russian President: “Not much happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind,” Biden added.

Suddenly some of the mainstream is calling Prigozhin a “dissident” – a very strange choice of words considering his complicated role in the Ukraine war…

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1694434458521292974&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fprigozhins-dead-after-his-business-jet-10-people-board-has-crashed&sessionId=736d625b97c20477a28f66fafc3165d784a6a4d4&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=aaf4084522e3a%3A1674595607486&width=550px

Speculation continues as to precisely what brought the plane down (whether missile or a bomb detonation)…

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-3&features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOltdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2ZvbGxvd2VyX2NvdW50X3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZm9zbnJfc29mdF9pbnRlcnZlbnRpb25zX2VuYWJsZWQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X21peGVkX21lZGlhXzE1ODk3Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3Nob3dfYmlyZHdhdGNoX3Bpdm90c19lbmFibGVkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdXNlX3Byb2ZpbGVfaW1hZ2Vfc2hhcGVfZW5hYmxlZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfbGVnYWN5X3RpbWVsaW5lX3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1694432486044979245&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fprigozhins-dead-after-his-business-jet-10-people-board-has-crashed&sessionId=736d625b97c20477a28f66fafc3165d784a6a4d4&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=aaf4084522e3a%3A1674595607486&width=550px

6.GLOBAL ISSUES//MEDICAL ISSUES

The letter fell on deaf ears

(EpochTimes)

Secret Letter To CDC: Top Epidemiologist Suggests Agency Misrepresented Scientific Data To Support Mask Narrative

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 08:50 AM

Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Documents recently obtained from the National Institutes of Health suggest public health officials used inaccurate information and misrepresented medical research to advance their policy objective that masks prevent severe COVID-19 and virus transmission—despite opposing scientific evidence received from experts.

In a recently obtained letter (pdf) sent in November 2021 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), top epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and seven colleagues informed the agency it was promoting flawed data and excluding data that did not reinforce their narrative.

The letter warned the agency that misrepresenting data on trusted websites such as the CDC and the COVID-19 Real-Time Learning Network—jointly created by the CDC and Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)—would “damage the credibility of science,” endanger public trust by “misrepresenting the evidence,” and give the public “false expectations” masking would protect them from the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

“We believe the information and recommendations as provided may actually put an individual at increased risk of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 and for them to experience a serious or even life-threatening infection,” Mr. Osterhom wrote.

The authors urged the IDSA to remove the suggestion that masking prevents severe disease from its website and asked the CDC to reconsider its statements about the “efficacy of masks and face coverings for preventing transmission of SARS-CoV-2.”

Osterholm also noted a pattern of selectively choosing data that supported the desired narrative that masks prevent severe COVID-19 disease and transmission—claims he said are unsupported by the scientific evidence provided by the CDC and IDSA on their websites.

The IDSA “Masks and Face Coverings for the Public” webpage appears to “focus on the strengths of studies that support its conclusions while ignoring their shortcomings of study design,” Mr. Osterholm wrote. “Studies that do not support its perspective are similarly downplayed.”

The COVID-19 Real-Time Learning Network was created in 2020 to share “accurate, timely information about COVID-19.” According to its website, the IDSA’s editorial team of infectious disease and public health experts synthesize clinical guidance, identify emerging scientific consensus and areas of ongoing uncertainty, and tackle “misconceptions and disinformation.”

Although partly funded by the CDC, the IDSA collaborates with numerous medical professional organizations that publish medical journals and make recommendations based on agency guidance, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists.

The letter was sent to CDC officials, the associate medical and associate digital editors of the COVID-19 Real-Time Learning Network, and IDSA board members, which included Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the former director of the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Experts Ask CDC and IDSA to Address ‘Serious Errors’ on Website

In his letter to the CDC, Mr. Osterholm asked the CDC and IDSA to address the “serious errors” published on its website regarding the efficacy of masks as soon as possible and strongly urged the IDSA to remove the suggestion that masking prevents severe COVID-19 from its website and a podcast where such “irresponsible claims were made.”

Furthermore, Mr. Osterholm recommended the IDSA reconsider statements about the efficacy of masks and coverings for preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, noting the IDSA’s website falsely suggests evidence of mask efficacy has strengthened throughout the pandemic.

“We do not agree that the evidence for their efficacy has strengthened throughout the pandemic, as the website suggests,” Mr. Osterholm said. “In fact, contrary to the conclusion on this website, the November 2020 Cochrane Review cited states this: ‘Compared with wearing no mask, wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu-like illness (9 studies; 3,507 people); and probably makes no difference in how many people have flu confirmed by a laboratory test (6 studies; 3,005 people).’”

Rand Paul On Return Of COVID Measures: “These People Have No Shame”

BY TYLER DURDEN

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 04:20 PM

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

In response to reports of COVID restrictions, including social distancing and masking being reimplemented by colleges and offices, Senator Rand Paul asserted that those pushing the measures again “have no shame.”

During a Fox News interview, Paul described the move as “hysteria” being pushed by the leftist media to financially benefit their corporate pharma owners.

“These people are so conflicted,” Paul said, adding “It’s so dishonest to put people like that on the air to promote a product that they make more money from … promote this hysteria. This defies all logic. It defies science, and it defies common sense.”

“To see this coming up again, these people have no shame,” Paul continued, pointing to Morris Brown College in Atlanta, a black private liberal arts college that has reinstated the measures as part of a “precautionary step.”

https://summit.news/2023/08/22/its-really-happening-mask-mandates-contact-tracing-re-implemented-at-colleges-offices/embed/

“That university that’s wanting to mask up and do all this testing — zero cases,” Paul urged, adding “But even worse than that, even when COVID was really more potent in 2020, the death rate for young, healthy people turned out to be close to zero.”

“We don’t know for sure because the CDC won’t release it, but we do know that Germany released all of their data, and not one young, healthy person died. So, it’s a crime to mandate masks. It’s a crime to mandate vaccines, which do have some risks for young, healthy people,” Paul further noted.

The Senator urged that Americans are “not going to lay down and take it again,”adding “there will be more resistance” this time.

“We will fight back, and we will point out that they are making money off of this. These are not high-minded people. They are making money off of us and making money off of generating hysteria,” the Senator asserted.

* * *

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GLOBAL ISSUES//BRICS MEETING

Putin: de dollarization is irreversible!!

(zerohedge)

De-dollarization “Irreversible” – Putin Tells BRICS Summit In Remote Address

TUESDAY, AUG 22, 2023 – 05:04 PM

Update(1704ET): In their inaugural day ‘family photo’, BRICS leaders posed without Russia’s President Putin, as FM Lavrov took his place given the ICC arrest warrant and Rome Statute would require the South African government to seek his arrest.

Putin addressed the summit remotely, and emphasized in the Russian-language speech that de-dollarization is “gaining momentum”. He said the dollar’s receding global centrality is an “objective and irreversible” process. As expected he struck an optimistic tone about the bloc’s future, also at a moment China’s XI is urging BRICS to become a geopolitical rival to the G7:

The Russian leader claimed the five BRICS members – Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa – are becoming the new world economic leaders, adding that their cumulative share of global GDP has reached 26%.

He noted that if measured by purchasing power parity, BRICS has already surpassed the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations – accounting for 31% of the global economy, compared to 30% for the G7.

Over the past 10 years, mutual investment between the BRICS member states has increased by six times. Their total investments in the world economy have doubled, while cumulative exports account for 20% of the global total, Putin said.

Putin also took a swipe at the US and West’s “Illegitimate sanctions… seriously weigh on the international economic situation,” and the “unlawful freezing of sovereign states’ assets” – in a message sure to be greeted positively among many aspiring Brics applicants. “We are consistently increasing fuel, food and fertilizer supplies to the states of the Global South,” he added, while also blaming international food shortages on the West’s “unlawful” sanctions.

As for Xi, international press reports took note of his already skipping an important meeting on day one, leading to speculation…

* * *

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in South Africa for the 15th BRICS summit, running from August 22-24, where he was greeted in Johannesburg by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is hosting the summit in the executive capital of Pretoria.

It is merely the Chinese leader’s second trip abroad this year, after in March he met his “dear friend” President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin will be absent for the BRICS meeting after South Africa signaled it was being pressured to enforce the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which would require the government to arrest the Russian leader.

Over 60 heads of state are expected in South Africa, with Foreign Minister Lavrov representing Russia in place of Putin, among other leading countries of Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

“I believe that this summit of the leaders of the member countries of the association will be an important milestone in the history of the development of the BRICS mechanism, that it will strengthen cohesion and cooperation among developing countries to an even higher level,” the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry cited Xi Jinping as saying just ahead of the summit’s first day.

According to the FT, “China will push the Brics bloc of emerging markets to become a full-scale rival to the G7 this week, as leaders from across the developing world gather to debate the forum’s biggest expansion in more than a decade.”

However, there’s reportedly fierce disagreement over whether to continue pursuing non-alignment for the economic interests of developing countries or to transform BRICS into a rival to the West.

Xi’s pre-summit statement also laid out that the members of the association have become “a constructive force that optimizes global governance and promotes the democratization of international relations.”

Illustrating the divide over the broader mission and scope of BRICS, FT cites further:

“If we expand Brics to account for a similar portion of world GDP as the G7, then our collective voice in the world will grow stronger,” said one Chinese official, who declined to be identified.

Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s foreign minister, said this month it was “extremely wrong” to see a potential Brics expansion as an anti-western move. However, western capitals are likely to regard the possible additions of Iran, Belarus and Venezuela as a move to embrace allies of Russia and China.

But some influential countries like Brazil under left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are likely to be in Beijing’s corner on this, given Lula has come out in favor of admitting for membership neighbors like Argentina and Venezuela – the latter a longtime enemy of Washington.

Some leaders also want to sea Saudi Arabia and the UAE admitted, which will trigger debate over conditions and criteria for expansion. Currently Saudi Arabia is the closest to becoming the newest member, given talks are ongoing. Over 20 more countries have sought and applied to join.

Shortly after Russian Foreign Minister’s arrival at the airport tarmac in Johannesburg…

Despite rumblings that some countries, Russia among them, are pushing for the end of the dollar’s dominance, the FT has cited diplomatic sources to note that a common currency is not on the agenda.

END

GLOBAL VACCINE/COVID ISSUES

DR PAUL ALEXANDER

‘BLOOD CLOTS – in the legs, lungs and hearts of young people (COVID-19 vaccinated) – Grammy winner Tori Kelly, NFL Cleveland Browns Marquise Goodwin – 25 new cases examined – it’s an epidemic’ Makis!

Makis lays his argument out in this blog & I wanted to share, it is important information.

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERAUG 23

READ IN APP

‘July 23, 2023 – 30 year old Grammy winning singer Tori Kelly collapsed at a dinner with friends, and was diagnosed with blood clots near vital organs!

Aug.19, 2023 – Ryan Crouser wins shot put World Title with blood clots in his leg

Aug.17, 2023 – 24 year old Austin Phyfe, basketball player Northern Iowa Panthers forward, missed all of the 2022-2023 season recovering from “blood clots in his lungs and legs”. He just announced his “medical retirement” from basketball.

Aug.16, 2023 – Lexington, SC – Victoria Hoult developed blood clots in her lungs, one of which collapsed her lung

Aug.14, 2023 – Hinckley, UK – Gemma Brookes developed a pulmonary embolism, after having many adverse events to AstraZeneca vaccines

Aug.13, 2023 – Hawaii – Dia Sol has an acquaintance, Linda, who had over 40 clots removed in a recent surgery.

Aug.11, 2023 – 59 year old Tim had blood clots in his heart 4 weeks after his last Pfizer vaccine

Aug.3, 2023 – Cleveland, OH – Rick Bub works at the Cleveland Clinic as a Patient Transportation Work Leader. He developed a pulmonary embolism

Aug.2, 2023 – Kernersville, NC – Tara Toney Tomlinson is an ICU nurse who believes she got pulmonary emboli after a recent bout with COVID-19

July 30, 2023 – Steve Buchanan’s wife died unexpectedly on an airplane, because of a blood clot in her lungs

July 30, 2023 – Summerville, SC – Ashley Thompson developed blood clots in the left leg and then more clots in her lungs. She had an IVC filter put in, in the hopes of stopping more clots traveling to her lungs and heart. She is having many complications.

July 29, 2023 – Wolverhampton, UK – Paul Bell developed massive blood clots in his lungs, heart, brain

end

The Hill: ‘A third of adults believe COVID-19 vaccines caused thousands of sudden deaths’, issue is, they would be CORRECT & the death number is even higher; mRNA technology Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech

gene based platform injection has killed, will kill, this is a bioweapon, slow kill almost binary type weapon; MUT be stopped! causes ‘died suddenly’, fraught with silent myocarditis, cardiac arrest

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERAUG 23

READ IN APP

https://www.yahoo.com/news/third-adults-believe-covid-19-090000023.html

‘Belief in misinformation about key health issues persists among a good chunk of adults, with false claims about COVID-19, vaccines and reproductive health garnering a substantial amount of support, a poll released Tuesday by KFF has found.

Whether or not they believed the claims, nearly all participants in the survey were aware of the misinformation, with 96 percent saying they had heard at least one of the 10 claims presented to them. The most widespread misinformation claims had to do with COVID-19 and vaccines.

The new polling data found that a third of adults believed the COVID-19 vaccines “caused thousands of sudden deaths in otherwise healthy people,” with 10 percent believing that claim to be “definitely true” and 23 percent saying it was “probably true.” Another 34 percent said it was “probably false,” and 31 percent said that claim was “definitely false.”’

end

What killed Former University of Houston Star Reggie Chaney who is now dead at 23, dying suddenly? What killed him? No cause of death was given & this gives me the answer right away! Was it the mRNA

technology COVID gene injection? Are we allowed to ask? Is there a question anymore? Was this silent asymptomatic myocarditis vaccine induced resulting in cardiac arrest? What?

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERAUG 23

READ IN APP

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2023/08/22/former-university-of-houston-star-reggie-chaney-dead-at-23/

‘Former University of Houston basketball star Reggie Chaney, a member of the Cougars 2021 NCAA Final Four squad, has died. He was 23 years old.

END

URGENT! Professor Angus Dalgleish, Professor of Oncology at St.George’s, University of London warns about COVID Vaccine induced turbo cancers (Dec.2022) “we must stop all the boosters immediately”

this was in December 2022 and now 8-9 months have passed and we are seeing the deaths begin, the TURBO cancers proliferate! Dalgleish says we must stop all boosters immediately! in December 2022

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERAUG 23

READ IN APP

COVID Intel – by Dr.William Makis

VIDEO – Professor Angus Dalgleish, Professor of Oncology at St.George’s, University of London warns about COVID-19 Vaccine induced turbo cancers (Dec.2022) “we must stop all the boosters immediately”

Watch now (2 mins) | …

FOXX? Did they cheat death & she just could not? Bronny James cheated death too, good for him, but not her; why? too much LNPs? mRNA or spike, spike 24/7? Silent vaccine-induced myocarditis?

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERAUG 23

READ IN APP

Reporting is that she had exercised some hours prior to her sudden death so is this cardiac arrest induced by some level of silent myocarditis, scarred heart muscle? Her 4 year old is reported to have found her. This is what we are seeing with the ‘dying in your sleep, dying at dawn’ phenomenon and of young people. Did this happen to her?

This is tragic. We need her vaccine status and myocarditis status. Why did her doctor if she took the vaccine, not advised her that exertional activity was not to be done? It is the flood of adrenaline due to exercise, activity, stress etc. (like in the cockpit of commercial airlines) onto the scarred heart muscle, that can induce a cardiac arrest and death. Testing post shot is critical for clots, heart damage etc. (D-DIMERS, high sensitivity Troponin, contrast chest MRIs etc.)

https://nypost.com/2023/08/16/olympic-swimmer-helen-smart-dies-suddenly-aged-43/

‘Former Olympic swimmer Helen Smart, who represented Great Britain at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, has died at age 43.

The professional swimmer also won bronze at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998 and worked as a school principal at the time of her death.

No cause of death is known at this time, however, Smart’s loved ones have described it as “sudden.”

Smart, then known by her maiden name Don-Duncan, made a name for herself in the swimming world after becoming the British backstroke champion in the late 1990s.

At 19 years old, she competed in the women’s 50-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke at the Summer Games in 2000.’

Former Olympic swimmer Helen Smart, who represented Great Britain at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, has died at age 43.

Smart represented Great Britain at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

SLAY NEWS

The latest reports from Slay News

Bill Gates: Every Person on Earth Should ‘Prove Their Identity’ with ‘Digital ID’Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is calling on nations around the world to adopt his “global solution” for “digital ID” to ensure that every single person on Earth “proves their identity.”READ MORE

Robert F Kennedy Jr Puts Biden on Notice by Surging in New Poll Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just put President Joe Biden on notice by surging among Democrat primary voters, a new poll has revealed.READ MORE

New Evidence Proves Biden Pressured Ukraine to Fire Top Prosecutor to Benefit Himself New evidence has emerged that proves Democrat President Joe Biden was acting against the wishes of the U.S. government when he pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor in 2015.READ MORE

Hawaii Resident: Biden Is a ‘Vile Human Being’ for Joking about Corvette When ‘There Were Children Who Were Incinerated Into Ash’Democrat President Joe Biden has provoked a severe backlash from Hawaii’s residents after he cracked jokes and talked about himself while visiting Maui on Monday.READ MORE

Major Hollywood Studio Brings Back Mask Mandate for Employees Major Hollywood movie studio Lionsgate brought back the mask mandate for nearly half of the company’s employees at its main office at 2700 Colorado Ave. in Santa Monica. READ MORE

Chicago Woman Arrested tor Threatening to Shoot Barron Trump ‘Straight in the Face at Any Opportunity I Get’A Chicago area woman has been charged with sending emails threatening to shoot President Donald Trump and his 17-year-old son, Barron, “straight in the face at any opportunity that I get.”READ MORE

Second Georgia Senator Moves to ‘Investigate and Take Action’ against Fulton County DA Fani Willis Republican Georgia State Sen. Clint Dixon has just become the state lawmaker to step forward and demand “action” over Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s attempts to target President Donald Trump.READ MORE

Biden Cracks Jokes during Hawaii Speech, Compares Maui Wildfires to Minor Kitchen Fire in His House Hawaiians have been expressing outrage after Democrat President Joe Biden reluctantly visited Maui in the wake of devastating wildfires.READ MORE

Democrat Katie Hobbs Calls on Arizona Prosecutors to Indict Trump Arizona’s Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs is calling on prosecutors to indict President Donald Trump.READ MORE

Corporate Media Promotes New ‘Eris’ Covid Variant, Pushes for Americans to Mask Up Corporate media outlets have unleashed a new fear campaign to promote the latest “Eris” Covid variant.READ MORE

Democrats Would Choose Michelle Obama over Biden in 2024 Primary, Poll Shows Democrat voters say they would choose former First Lady Michelle Obama over President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 primary matchup, a new poll has revealed.READ MORE

Chicago Democrat Unveils Plan to Tackle Violent Crime: Ask Gangs to Only Shoot People at Night A Chicago Democrat has unveiled a new plan to tackle violent crime as murder rates continue to spiral out of control in the Illinois city.READ MORE

Woman Catches Sex Offender Breaking into Her Home, Turns Tables and Shoots Him Dead An Arizona woman turned the tables on a registered sex offender when he made the fatal mistake of trying to break into her home.READ MORE

EVOL NEWS

Snowflakes Cancel 1 Legendary Queen Song – It Just Got Banned for Younger AudiencesREAD MORE…

LATEST NEWS:

Pfizer Admits Cover-up: ‘mRNA’ Covid Shots ‘Modify’ DNARead more…BREAKING: Judge rules against Antifa defendants in default, awards Andy Ngo $300,000 in damages over Portland attackRead more…Rutgers will still require COVID vaccine, mask mandateRead more…S&P downgrades multiple U.S. banks citing ‘tough’ operating conditionsRead more…Oliver Anthony’s ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ storms to No1Read more…JUST IN: Trump Confirms Thursday Surrender Date For Georgia CaseRead more…Two Trump Family Members to Attend First GOP Debate Despite 45’s AbsenceRead more…Democrats Would Choose Michelle Obama over Biden in 2024 Primary, Poll ShowsRead more…

NEWS ADDICTS

LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES

Pfizer Admits Cover-up: ‘mRNA’ Covid Shots ‘Modify’ DN Pfizer has revealed in an explosive admission that the pharmaceutical giant has been lying to cover up the fact that its so-called “mRNA” Covid shots actually “modify” human DNA.READ THE FULL REPORT

Kari Lake Applauds Donald Trump For Skipping ‘Being Attacked By the JV Debate Team’In a post today on X, Kari Lake applauded Donald Trump for his decision to skip any 2024 GOP presidential debates. Lake shared a clip of her during an interview with Steve Bannon and asked, “Why would President @realDonaldTrump sit at the kids table when he already had a seat at the biggest table in the world?” “Trump has nothing …READ THE FULL REPORT

Judge in Georgia Case Reveals Donald Trump’s Bond, Bail Conditions A Georgia judge revealed Monday that former President Donald Trump’s bond would be set at $200,000. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee also set release conditions that include restrictions on co-defendant or witness intimidation and a requirement not to communicate directly about the facts of the case with any co-defendant, unless through his lawyer. The intimidation restrictions specify that Trump will …READ THE FULL REPORT

A MAJOR ALERT! — US Embassy Urges American Citizens in Belarus to Depart the Country Immediately The US Embassy in Minsk, Belarus, has urged American citizens in Belarus to leave the country immediately. What’s going on? Why are they suddenly calling for urgent evacuations? This is from the Embassy in Minsk: Location: Belarus Event: The Lithuanian government on August 18 closed two border crossings with Belarus at Tverecius / Vidzy and Sumskas / Losha. The four …READ THE FULL REPORT

New Evidence Shows FBI Is Blocking the Release of FOIA Requests Tied to Seth Rich Once Again Once again, the FBI is preventing the disclosure of information connected to the death of Seth Rich. Another Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and another cover-up from today’s FBI. The number of lies the FBI has made about Seth Rich continues to add up. The most recent lie was that the Mueller team said Seth Rich played no part …READ THE FULL REPORT

end

MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK

end

7//OIL ISSUES//NATURAL GAS ISSUES/USA AND GLOBE

END

8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES

END

YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS WEDNESDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSINGS

EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0809 DOWN 0.0037

USA/ YEN 145.54 DOWN 0.239 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//

GBP/USA 1.2624 DOWN 0.01068

USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3573 UP .0074 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 74 BASIS PTS)

Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 41.93 PTS OR 1.34%

Hang Seng CLOSED UP 54.91 PTS OR 0.31%

AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.29 % // EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL MIXED

Trading from Europe and ASIA

I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL MIXED

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG UP 54/91 PTS OR 0.31%

/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 41.93 PTS OR 1.34%

AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.29%

(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 153.55 PTS OR 0.48

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 1903.50

silver:$23.82

USA dollar index early WEDNESDAY morning: 103.88 UP 41 BASIS POINTS FROM TUESDAY’s CLOSE.

WEDNESDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And now your closing WEDNESDAY NUMBERS 11: 30 AM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 3.214% DOWN 12 in basis point(s) yield

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.666% UP 0 AND 9//100 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.544 DOWN 9 in basis points yield

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 4.171 DOWN 15 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.5210 DOWN 13 BASIS PTS

END

IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR WEDNESDAY

Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM

Euro/USA 1.0852 UP 0.0006 or 6 basis points

USA/Japan: 144,47 DOWN 1.103 OR YEN UP 110 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.2704 DOWN 0.0027 OR 27 BASIS POINTS //

Canadian dollar UP .0001 OR 1 BASIS pts to 1.3548

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED (UP) …7.2760

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)…. (7.2885)

TURKISH LIRA: 27.21 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.666…VERY DANGEROUS

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 10 in basis points from TUESDAY at 4.226% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic

USA 30 yr bond yield 4.319 DOWN 10 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 WEDNESDAY: CLOSING TIME 12:00 PM

London: CLOSED UP 49.77 POINTS or 0.68%

German Dax : CLOSED UP 22.79 PTS OR 0.15%

Paris CAC CLOSED UP 5.74 PTS OR 0.08%

Spain IBEX UP 1.60 PTS OR 0.02%

Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 68417 PTS OR 0.24%

WTI Oil price 78.95 12: EST

Brent Oil: 83.33 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 94.32; ROUBLE DOWN 0 AND 2//100

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.5210 DOWN 13 BASIS PTS

UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.522 DOWN 20 BASIS PTS

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

Euro vs USA: 1.0866 UP 0.0020 OR 20 BASIS POINTS

British Pound: 1.2719 DOWN .0011 or 11 basis pts

BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.5010% DOWN 19 BASIS PTS//

JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: .663%

USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 144.85 DOWN 0.929 //YEN UP 93 BASIS PTS//

USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3531 DOWN .0020 CDN dollar, DOWN 20 basis pts)

West Texas intermediate oil: 78.73

Brent OIL: 83.05

USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 13 BASIS pts to 4.196%

USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 15 BASIS PTS to 4.284%

USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 8 PTS AT 4.965%

USA dollar index: 103.28 DOWN 19 BASIS POINTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 27.20 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/

USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 94.26 UP 0 AND 4/100 roubles

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 184.15 PTS OR 0.54%

NASDAQ 100 UP 239.09 PTS OR 1.60%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 16.10 DOWN 0.87 PTS (5.13)%

GLD: $177.89 UP 1.79 OR 1.02%

SLV/ $22.29 UP ,83 OR 3.87%

end

USA AFFAIRS

USA TRADING IN GRAPH FORM:

Bonds, Bitcoin, Big-Tech, & Bullion Soar As ‘Bad News’ Is Good News Again

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 04:00 PM

It’s been an ugly couple of days for micro- and macro- data in the US (and globally) as retailers signal a far more-stressed American consumer than the market would like to believe, and global PMIs scream stagflation with ‘sticky’ prices rebounding as new orders tumble and the false optimism of the Services sectors’ rebounds evaporates in a red mist of reality.

This week has seen the biggest set of ‘bad news’ since April…

Source: Bloomberg

And that bad news prompted a very aggressive bid for global bonds with USTs tumbling 8-12bps on the day, leaving the long-end down 9bps on the week (but 2Y +2bps still)

Source: Bloomberg

And in true US equity market fashion, that ‘bad news’ bid for bonds is ‘good news’ for long-duration stocks and we saw Nasdaq dramatically outperforming on the day (although all the majors were green today ahead of NVDA’s earnings). Some late-day profit-taking wiped some of the lipstick off with The Dow lagging…

The bad news prompted a dovish drop in the market’s Fed rate expectations, erasing the week’s hawkish drift…

Source: Bloomberg

And for those hoping for a hawkish Powell deja vu all over again, we note that financial conditions have actually been tightening in recent weeks both mechanically…

Source: Bloomberg

…and anecdotally with SLOOS showing tighter credit conditions, home mortgage applications collapsing to 1995 lows, Dallas Fed banking conditions significantly tighter, and Macy’s et al. commenting on surging credit card delinquencies.

The dollar dived on the dovish ‘bad news’ bias (after surging in the European session on weaker Euro)…

Source: Bloomberg

…which sent gold spiking back above $1900 (Spot)…

Source: Bloomberg

..and helped support crypto with Bitcoin bouncing back above $26,000…

Source: Bloomberg

The yield curve (2s30s) inverted deeper today, flattening back to last week’s lows…

Source: Bloomberg

…as the 2Y Yield tried to get back above 5.00% but failed notably…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil slipped lower on the PMIs signaling demand fears – although WTI did bounce off one-month lows…

Peloton was puked hard to a record low as Americans prefer the Ozempic shortcut to fat loss…

Foot Locker stunk – suffering its worst day ever as the stock fell to its lowest since 2010 (and along wioth it all of Cramer’s club members capital)…

Nike down for the 10th day in a row – its longest losing streak ever – falling to its lowest since Nov 2022…

Finally, NVDA bounced back to Monday’s lows – teetering on the brink ahead of earnings tonight…

0-DTE call-buyers provided the floor for NVDA today

Let’s hope this analogy finally snaps…

Because Nasdaq’s Advance/Decline line just hit a record low…

Go Jensen.

AFTERNOON TRADING//

II) USA DATA/

economy is stagnant but wage pressures galore: this signals stagflation

(zerohedge)

US PMIs Signal Stagflation: Service-Sector Slump, Price-Pressures Mount

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 09:54 AM

After Europe’s (and UK’s) disastrous PMIs this morning – showing stagflationary threats rearing their really ugly head – hopes were for some stability in US PMIs… but there wasn’t as the flash August print missed across the board:

Mfg PMI 47.0 Miss, Exp. 49.0, Last 49.0 – 6mo low
Services PMI 51.0 Miss, Exp. 52.2, Last 52.3 – 2mo low
Composite 50.4 Miss, Exp. 51.4, Last 52.0 – 6mo low

Source: Bloomberg

7 of the last 8 month have now been in contraction for Manufacturing and Services dropped to its weakest since June, catching down to Manufacturing.

Commenting on the data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence said:

“A near-stalling of business activity in August raises doubts over the strength of US economic growth in the third quarter. The survey shows that the service sector-led acceleration of growth in the second quarter has faded, accompanied by a further fall in factory output.

“Companies report that demand is looking increasingly lethargic in the face of high prices and rising interest rates. A resultant fall in new orders received by firms in August could tip output into contraction in September as firms adjust operating capacity in line with the deteriorating demand environment. Hiring could likewise soon turn into job shedding in the coming months after a near-stagnation of employment in August.

“Rising wage pressures as well as increased energy prices have meanwhile pushed input cost inflation higher, which will raise concerns over the stickiness of consumer price inflation in the months ahead. One upside is that weak demand is starting to limit pricing power, which should help keep a lid on inflation around the 3% mark.”

Is bad news, good news again?

end

Affordability is key here: home purchase applications plummet to 28 yr lows as nobody can afford to buy a home. Real trouble begins when millions have to refinance at the higher mortgage rates.

(zerohedge)

Home Purchase Applications Plummet To 28 Year Low As Nobody Can Afford To Buy A Home Anymore

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 09:58 AM

To all Americans hoping to be able to buy a home some time soon, or at least afford to do so once in their lifetimes, we have bad news.

On Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that US mortgage rates rose to the highest level since late 2000 last week, sending a key measure of demand down to the lowest in nearly three decades. The contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage increased 15 basis points to 7.31% in the week ended Aug. 18.

Separately, the MBA reported that its index of home-purchase applications fell for a sixth straight week to the lowest level since 1995, which dragged the overall measure of mortgage applications down further.

The MBA’s overall gauge of mortgage applications, which also includes refinancing, fell to 184.8, near the lowest level since 1996.

The reason for the collapse is simple: with housing affordability at or near the lowest on record, the average monthly mortgage payment – based on a median home price and average 30Y fixed-rate mortgage, assuming a 20% down payment – has exploded to a record $2,322 more than double from pre-covid levels.

And it’s about to get even worse: according to Mortgage News Daily, borrowing costs have continued to rise so far this week and on Tuesday the 30-year fixed rate hit almost 7.5%.

Mortgage rates are benchmarked to US Treasuries, and yields on those securities have been climbing as traders increasingly see a resilient economy keeping interest rates higher for longer. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak at the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole symposium later this week, and minutes from policymakers’ gathering last month showed most officials still saw significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further rate hikes.

As Bloomberg notes, that’ll keep mortgage rates elevated and, along with still-high home prices, put further strain on a residential housing market that had been showing promise earlier in recent months.

The latest housing data further illustrate the trend — homeowners are reluctant to move and take on a higher mortgage rate, so prospective buyers are seeking out new construction instead. As shown in the chart below, the average effective mortgage rate (on outstanding mortgages) is 3.6%, half of the actually 30Y mortgage, which means tens of millions of homeowners are trapped and unwilling to sell as they would have to refi into a sharply higher rate.

A report later Wednesday is expected to show new-home sales ticked up last month to hover near the highest level in a over a year.

end

New home sales soar to 17 month highs despite high mortgage rates

(zerohedge)

US New Home Sales Soar To 17-Month Highs In July As Mortgage Rates Spike

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 10:08 AM

After the disappointing (but not unexpected) decline in existing home sales, new home sales – of course – saw a big upward surprise 4.4% MoM surge in sales, leaving year-over-year sales up an astonishing 31.5%…

Source: Bloomberg

The divergence between new and existing home sales continues to gape wider…

Source: Bloomberg

As a reminder, we have seen huge downward revisions to new home sales figures this year…

Source: Bloomberg

Median new home sales prices rebounded in July – even as mortgage rates began to spike…

Finally, we note the dramatic gap between the current 30Y mortgage rate and the effective rates that borrowers are currently paying on their home loans…

Source: Bloomberg

The gap hasn’t been this wide since the early 1980s – which helps explain why inventories of existing homes for sale are so low… and thus ‘new homes’, subsidized by homebuilders, is the only option for many.

Are home-builder stocks starting to catch on?

But how long can homebuilders continue bleeding profitability to fill that gap?

end

III) USA ECONOMIC STORIES

Many retail outlets reporting consumer softness. Today it is footlocker after yesterday’s Dick’s Sporting Goods and Macy’s

(zerohedge)

Foot Locker Crashes On Chilling Echoes Of “Consumer Softness”

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 08:30 AM

One day after Dick’s Sporting Goods and Macy’s shares crashed as the consumer situation deteriorated, sneaker retailer Foot Locker plunged in premarket trading Wednesday in New York due to a cut in guidance amidst the chilling echoes of “consumer softness.”

Foot Locker slashed its adjusted earnings per share guidance for the full year, which missed the average analyst estimate. The company paused its dividend to “ensure that we have the flexibility to continue to fund our strategic investments appropriately,” CEO Mary Dillon wrote in a press release.

Here are the second quarter earnings highlights:

Comparable sales -9.4% vs. -10.3% y/y, estimate -8.94%
Adjusted EPS 4.0c vs. $1.10 y/y, estimate 4.1c
Sales $1.86 billion, -9.9% y/y, estimate $1.88 billion
Total location count 2,599, -7.1% y/y, estimate 2,633
Foot Locker US stores 739, -4.6% y/y, estimate 731
Kids Foot Locker stores 390, -5.8% y/y, estimate 404
Champs Sports stores 477, -6.8% y/y, estimate 458
Footaction stores 1, -93% y/y, estimate 2

The weakest sales were reported in North America.

Deteriorating Gross Margins

Highlights from the full-year forecast:

Sees adjusted EPS $1.30 to $1.50, saw $2 to $2.25, estimate $1.98 (Bloomberg Consensus)
Sees comparable sales -9% to -10%, saw -7.5% to -9%, estimate -8.02%
Sees sales -8% to -9%, saw -6.5% to -8%
Sees adjusted capital expenditures of about $290 million, saw about $305 million, estimated $287.8 million

“Our second quarter was broadly in line with our expectations, despite the still-tough consumer backdrop,” CEO Dillon wrote.

She added: “However, we did see a softening in trends in July and are adjusting our 2023 outlook to allow us to best compete for price-sensitive consumers, while still leaning into the strategic investments that drive our Lace Up plan.”

The dismal earnings report caused shares to crash in premarket trading, down nearly 29%.

Foot Locker’s downgrade of the full-year forecast is the second time this year — yet again blaming the weak consumer. It also plans to suspend the quarterly cash dividend beyond its recently-approved October payout of 40 cents per share.

It also noted promotions and retail thefts, otherwise known as “shrink,” weighed on profits:

Gross margin declined by 460 basis points as compared with the prior-year period, driven by an increase in promotional activity, which included higher markdowns, as well as occupancy deleverage and higher shrink.

What’s important to note is that about half (47%) of the retailer’s customer base is in the lower income bracket and might serve as more evidence that the weakest households continue to pull back on spending.

At other retailers, including Dick’s and Macy’s, the same story of sliding sales and thefts were reported on Tuesday. We noted “Dick’s Shrinkage Slams Stock” and “Macy’s Crashes As Consumer Situation Deteriorates.”

… and none of this should be surprising as the consumer credit card spending binge has ended while personal saving has drained. Consumers are reaching a breaking point with the highest interest rates in 22 years. Just wait until student debt payments restart at the end of next week.

END

Peloton crashes as sales tumble and most importantly: forecast clashes as slowdown intensifies

(zerohedge)

Peloton Crashes To Record Low As Sales Tumble, Forecast Slashed

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 09:05 AM

Peloton Interactive shares crashed to a record low in premarket trading on weak revenues for the fiscal fourth quarter and dismal outlooks for its bikes and treadmills while revealing the seat recall for bikes earlier this year severely impacted its business. CEO Barry McCarthy’s much-hyped turnaround strategy is crumbling faster than you can say ‘spin class.’

Peloton’s earnings fell short of analysts tracked by Bloomberg:

Revenue $642.1 million, -5.4% y/y, estimate $641.6 million
Connected fitness revenue $220.4 million, -25% y/y, estimate $210.2 million
Subscription revenue $421.7 million, +10% y/y, estimate $430.8 million
Connected fitness subscribers 3.08 million, +3.8% y/y, estimate 3.09 million
Adjusted Ebitda loss $34.7 million, -88% y/y, estimate loss $19.5 million
Loss per share 68c

Peloton said, “The slowdown exceeded our expectations through May and through the first three weeks of June as consumer spending shifted toward travel and experiences. Then eight weeks ago the trend reversed itself, and we began to see a reacceleration in hardware sales.”

It noted the recall of seats for Bikes announced in May “substantially exceeded our initial expectations, leading to an additional accrual of $40 million this quarter for actual costs incurred as well as anticipated future recall-related expenses. In addition, an estimated 15 to 20 thousand of our 2.2 million impacted Members elected to pause their monthly subscriptions in Q4 pending the receipt of a replacement seat post.”

Peloton barely achieved free cash flow:

For the second time in the turnaround of Peloton, we achieved positive free cash flow* in the most recent quarter, excluding the DISH legal settlement, and despite the impact of the seat post recall on Q4 sales revenue. Pro-forma free cash flow was $1 million, so barely positive and only positive on a pro-forma basis, which was not the goal we set for the business. Nevertheless, we achieved an important milestone in rightsizing the cost structure of the business.

… but that won’t last. The company warned:

We don’t currently expect to remain free cash flow positive in the two upcoming quarters, mainly due to seasonality of our hardware sales, timing of inventory payments, marketing spend as we invest for growth and prepare for the holiday season, and one-time cash outlay for seat posts; but we do expect to achieve this objective once again in the second half of FY24.

First-quarter forecasts were also dismal, missing average analysts’ estimates:

Sees revenue $580 million to $600 million, estimate $647.8 million (Bloomberg Consensus)
Sees adjusted Ebitda loss $10 million to $20 million, estimate profit $5.68 million
Sees connected fitness subscribers 2.95 million to 2.96 million, estimate 3.08 million
Sees gross margin 46.5% to 46.5%

The news sent shares to a record low, down 28% to $5-handle.

Why work out when you can take Eli Lilly’s fat drug “Ozempic.”

We’ve seen this game before: Queue the headline that says ‘Peloton buyout’ to squeeze shorts.

end

Another good article on how inflation is destroying us.

(Nick Giambruno/InternationMan.com)

How Inflation Destroys Civilization… And What You Can Do About It

TUESDAY, AUG 22, 2023 – 10:45 PM

Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,.

Thanks to rampant inflation, socialism – and the poverty it inevitably brings – could soon become irreversibly entrenched in the US, just like in numerous Third World countries.

Rapidly rising food, housing, medical, and tuition prices are squeezing Americans – many do not understand the actual cause of their falling living standards.

The explosion in the cost of living is a predictable consequence of the Federal Reserve’s ongoing currency debasement.

Since the Covid mass hysteria, the Federal Reserve has printed more money than it has for the entire existence of the US.

From the founding of the US, it took over 227 years to print its first $6 trillion. But during Covid, the US government printed over $6 trillion in a matter of months.

It’s important to put such large numbers into context.

A trillion is a massive, almost unfathomable number.

The human brain has trouble understanding something so huge. So let me try to put it into perspective.

If you earned $1 a second 24/7/365—about $31 million per year—it would take you over 31,688 YEARS to make $1 trillion.

So that’s how enormous a trillion is.

When politicians carelessly spend and print money measured in the trillions, you are in dangerous territory.

In short, the Fed’s actions during the Covid scam amounted to the biggest monetary explosion that has ever occurred in the US.

Initially, the Fed and its apologists in the media assured the American people its actions wouldn’t cause severe price increases. But unfortunately, it didn’t take long to prove that absurd assertion false.

As soon as rising prices became apparent, the mainstream media and Fed claimed that the inflation was only “transitory” and that there was nothing to be worried about. When the inflation was obviously not “transitory,” they told us “inflation was actually a good thing.”

Of course, they were dead wrong and knew it—they were gaslighting.

The truth is that inflation is out of control, and nothing can stop it.

Even after the most intense rate hiking cycle in US history, price increases remain persistent.

That’s not to mention that prices are never going back to the levels they were. We’re at a new baseline that only gets adjusted higher.

It’s like trying to run on a treadmill where the speed only ratchets up.

That’s why many people struggle to keep their heads above water. They simply cannot keep up with the rising prices.

Michael Saylor was correct when he said, “The road to serfdom consists of working exponentially harder to earn a currency that is growing exponentially weaker.”

Even though the media won’t tell you, the Fed’s currency debasement is the primary reason why most people are feeling the economic pain of inflation today. They know it’s becoming harder and harder to maintain their lifestyle—but many don’t understand why.

They’ll blame supply chain problems, Vladimir Putin, and greedy corporations… anything but the Fed as the source of inflation.

The media’s search for the real cause of inflation is like OJ Simpson’s search for “the real killers,” only more absurd.

The deliberate confusion created around inflation opens the door for opportunistic politicians who promise supposed freebies to ease the pain of inflation. Many, unfortunately, succumb to this siren’s call.

Perverse as it is, the policies offered to people suffering from inflation create even more inflation. In other words, inflation has a way of perpetuating itself, much like a heroin addiction, because people will keep wanting more and more of the very thing that is poisoning them.

For example, a Newsweek poll shows 63% of Americans “strongly support” government stimulus checks to combat inflation.

In other words, let’s fight the effects of currency debasement by engaging in even more currency debasement.

The more inflation reduces living standards, the more people push for misguided government policies like universal basic income, price controls, inflation relief stimulus checks, and a higher minimum wage… which creates a cycle of rising prices.

It’s only a matter of time before “fight for $15″—the rallying cry for a $15 minimum wage—becomes “fight for $20.” Then it’s “fight for $50,” “fight for $100,” and so forth.

People should really fight to end the Federal Reserve and the fake money they create out of thin air and force everyone else to use. It’s the only way to end this insidious cycle that impoverishes everyone except the politically-connected insiders closest to the money printing.

But, of course, that’s not going to happen.

Instead, the more likely outcome is that the US is headed straight into an inescapable downward spiral of a political-inflation cycle that follows a clear pattern and creates a self-perpetuating doom loop.

1. In a fiat currency system, the government will inevitably print an ever-increasing amount of currency to finance itself.

2. This makes prices and living costs rise faster than wages.

3. The average person feels the pain but doesn’t understand what’s happening.

4. More people support politicians who promise freebies to supposedly relieve the pain inflation causes.

5. In order to pay for the “freebies,” the government prints more currency.

6. This creates even more inflation, and the cycle repeats.

Most of America Depends on the Government

At this point, we have to ask ourselves whether the political situation in the US will improve. Unfortunately, the data points to a troubling but inevitable answer… “no.”

The reason is simple: a growing majority of US voters are receiving money from the government.

An estimated 47% or so of Americans already receive some form of government benefit. But I don’t think that accurately reflects the situation. At least, not when considering all the government employees and those in the nominally private sector who feed off the warfare state. This includes defense and other government contractors who win huge, no-bid contracts.

People involved in the military-industrial complex live off government slops as much or more than those who collect food stamps and other traditional forms of welfare. Yet they aren’t counted in the statistics. Any honest account of who depends on the government needs to include them.

When you count everyone who lives off political dollars instead of free-market dollars, we’re already well north of 50% of the US population.

In other words, the US has already crossed the Rubicon. There’s no going back.

The growing majority of voters who collect net benefits from the government is a built-in constituency to perpetuate policies financed by ever-increasing inflation.

That’s a big reason why I think currency debasement is inevitable.

What You Can Do

Unfortunately, most people have no idea how bad things can get when the political-inflation cycle spirals out of control, let alone how to prepare.

The price of groceries, medical care, tuition, rent, and everything else will only rise. The only question is, how fast will prices rise?

It’s an established trend in motion that is accelerating and approaching a breaking point.

We will likely see incredible volatility in the financial markets that could decimate many ordinary people’s life savings and retirement assets.

But I’m not just talking about a stock market crash or a currency collapse…

It’s something much bigger… with the potential to alter the fabric of society forever.

It’s created an economic situation unlike we’ve ever seen before, and it’s all building up to a severe crisis on multiple fronts.

It could all go down soon… and it won’t be pretty.

It will result in an enormous wealth transfer from savers to the parasitical class—politicians, central bankers, and those connected to them.

Countless millions throughout history were wiped out financially—or worse—during periods of profound change because they failed to see the correct Big Picture and take appropriate action.

Don’t be one of them.

That’s exactly why I just released an urgent new report with all the details, including what you must do to prepare. It’s called, The Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years… the Top 3 Strategies You Need Right Now. Click here to download the PDF now.

end

Wage inflation will escalate in the USA with this new national contract. People are now applying to become a UPS employee.

(zerohedge)

UPS Workers Overwhelmingly Approve “Richest National Contract”

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 11:05 AM

Unionized UPS workers ratified the Teamsters-negotiated labor deal reached last month, including wage increases, better working conditions, and air conditioners in all new package delivery vehicles. The five-year contract covers 340,000 employees and ends a labor standoff that could’ve crushed supply chains nationwide.

The agreement passed on Tuesday with the highest-ever contract vote in Teamsters’ history at UPS:

“Today, Teamsters voted by an overwhelming 86.3 percent to ratify the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS,” the union wrote in a press release.

“Our members just ratified the most lucrative agreement the Teamsters have ever negotiated at UPS. This contract will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien.

O’Brien continued, “Teamsters have set a new standard and raised the bar for pay, benefits, and working conditions in the package delivery industry. This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention.”

Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman said, “This is the richest national contract I’ve seen in my more than 40 years of representing Teamsters at UPS.”

The new contract means the average full-time delivery driver makes $170,000 annually in pay and benefits, while part-time workers will make upwards of $21 per hour. As a result of the new contract, Americans are panic searching how to become a UPS driver.

Zuckerman said, “There are more gains in this contract than in any other UPS agreement and with no givebacks to the company. But the hard work doesn’t end here. We will continue to fight like hell to enforce this contract and make sure UPS lives up to every word of it over the next five years.”

The bad news is UPS slashed its full-year revenue and margin forecasts “primarily to reflect the volume impact from labor negotiations and the costs associated with the tentative agreement.” Plus a souring outlook means the company won’t be hiring en masse anytime soon.

USA// COVID//VACCINE/

SWAMP STORIES

Gingrich Says Biden Behavior In Maui ‘Just Plain Frightening’ As MSM Triggered Over ‘Nodgate’

WEDNESDAY, AUG 23, 2023 – 02:05 PM

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News (emphasis ours),

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich encapsulated Joe Biden’s jaw droppingly disastrous fly by of Maui on Monday, calling it “beyond just being heartless.”

“I think this visit to Maui frankly is just plain frightening,” Gingrich said, adding “How can you have a commander-in-chief who is totally out of touch with reality, who makes up a story which is a lie, who has no understanding of the scale of the disaster which has occurred, who has literally has no empathy for the human beings around him. And I think, and of course as you point out, can’t even stay awake.”

Was Biden dozing off in Maui? pic.twitter.com/IkMrmQ8sDf— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 22, 2023

“This guy is nuts,” Gingrich urged of Biden, adding “He is out of touch with reality. How can you stand in Lahaina surrounded by death and talk about your ’67 Corvette?”

As we highlighted, Biden visited the scenes of the horrific blaze and was cracking jokes and comparing it to a small kitchen fire that happened in his house in 2004, quipping “I nearly lost my Corvette and my cat.”

“Frankly as an American, I am ashamed,” Gingrich stated, adding “to realize almost like Pompeii in Italy, you have families, entire families who were burned to death. I saw one report that firefighters are having a very hard time psychologically going from house to house because the scenes of little children, the scenes of families who had gathered in the bathtub and the shower trying to find one last place where there was water.”

Gingrich continued, “I think that people need to look at this not as a political problem but as a national problem.”

“We have a commander-in-chief, makes you wonder who’s making the decisions in the White House. I personally have a hunch it’s Barack Obama. You have to wonder how is the system running in a real crisis? How could Joe Biden decide anything? It would all be delegated,” he further asserted.

“It really worries me that this is the guy who’s commander in chief for the most powerful military in the world and believe me every leader on the planet watches Joe Biden collapsing and knows that the U.S. Is beginning to be available as the victim,” Gingrich emphasised.

“I would say he’s closer to being a sleeper-in-chief than he is to being a commander-in-chief,” he further proclaimed.

Here is Biden in January 2022 telling Colorado wildfire victims that he “almost” lost his home to a fire — also not true.pic.twitter.com/cfBDyo6KkT— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 22, 2023

Here is Biden in October 2022 telling the Summit on Fire Prevention and Control that a fire “came up through the ground” and destroyed “everything” in his home — still not true.pic.twitter.com/PRiQO7orQ3— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 22, 2023

* * *

[ZH]: And of course, the MSM – while completely ignoring Biden’s tone-deaf lie about his wife, car and cat, is pouncing on Biden’s apparent nodding off, insisting that he was ‘bowing his head solemnly.’

Morning Joe spends 6 mins praising Biden in Hawaii, insist he didn’t fall asleep but was just “moved”:

“The local people [were] thanking [him] .. saying it made such a difference that he & Jill were so empathetic, they were so giving, they gave them hope” pic.twitter.com/Mr5PMdafX5— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 23, 2023

No, Biden was not sleeping at the Maui memorial. He was bowing his head in solemnity. https://t.co/lHbOb2rvHA— Benjamin Ryan (@benryanwriter) August 23, 2023

Which were promptly mocked…

He is a prayer warrior.— David Vance (@DVATW) August 23, 2023

pic.twitter.com/tzQn9PVewN— Jackie (@jackie1321_67) August 23, 2023

end

THE KING REPORT

The King Report August 23 2023 – Issue 7060

Independent View of the News

S&P downgrades multiple US banks on growing liquidity worries
S&P on Monday cut its ratings on Associated Banc-Corp and Valley National Bancorp on funding risks and higher reliance on brokered deposits, while UMB Financial Corp, Comerica Bank and KeyCorp were downgraded, citing large deposit outflows and prevailing higher interest rates…
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/sp-downgrades-multiple-us-banks-citing-tough-operating-conditions-2023-08-22/

Barkin Says New Fed Inflation Target Would Risk Credibility (debunks a key Fed will pivot tenet)
The Federal Reserve could lose credibility if it were to consider changing its 2% inflation goal before achieving that goal, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-22/fed-credibility-at-risk-if-inflation-target-changes-barkin-says

3 Big Reasons Why Fed’s Powell Can Be Hawkish at Jackson Hole on Aug 25
Still-elevated inflation and strong activity data… “Labor market continued to be very tight”… https://seekingalpha.com/article/4630221-3-big-reasons-why-fed-powell-hawkish-jackson-hole-august-25

UPS workers approve massive new labor deal with big raises (The Fed despises wage inflation!)
Part-time workers will make no less than $21 an hour, up from a minimum of $15.50 currently… Full-time workers will average $49 an hour. Current workers will get $2.75 more an hour this year and $7.50 an hour more during the five-year contract. UPS drivers will average $170,000 in pay and benefits at the end of the five-year deal…
    The company cut its full-year revenue and margin forecasts, citing the “volume impact from labor negotiations and the costs associated with the tentative agreement.”…
    On Monday, American Airlines pilots ratified a four-year deal that includes roughly 46% increases in compensation… https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/22/ups-workers-approve-new-labor-contract.html

ESUs traded moderately negative, but sideways, during Asian trading. ESU commenced a rally after China’s 2 ET close that persisted until the US bond market opening at 8 ET. After a modest retreat, ESUs formed a double top of 4440.00 at 8:31 ET. ESUs then tumbled to 4402.50 by 10:33 ET.

Nvidia traded higher when it opened at 4 ET. NVDA surged to a high of 481.87 at 9:25 ET. It was a titanic Pump & Dump scheme. Nvidia plunged after the NYSE opening, hitting 453.33 at 12:15 ET.

We warned in Tuesday’s missive that the usual suspects had poured into Nvidia before its new chip showcase on July 18. After the new chip presentation, NVDA sank until August 14, falling from 478.96 to 403.11. An ESU Pump & Dump scheme appears almost daily. Larger trading entities utilize longer-term Pump & Dump schemes for earnings, events, expiry, and widely anticipated showcases.

The 2^nd Hour Reversal produced a 14-handle ESU rally; it ended near 11:00 ET. After a moderate decline, ESUs and stocks rallied a tad into the European close. ESUs then vacillated in a tight range until they broke lower at 11:43 ET. ESUs and stocks sank to new lows but bottomed at 12:16 ET.

The ensuing rally generated a 16-handle ESU gain; but the up leg ended at12:52 ET. ESUs and stocks sank to new minor lows at 13:15 ET. The ensuing rebound was modest and ended quickly. ESUs vacillated in a tight range until the pre-last hour rally began near 13:30 ET. It ended within 5 minutes.

ESUs spiked higher when the final hour arrived. It ended at 15:15 ET with ESUs at 4413.50. ESUs then tumbled to 4394.25 at 15:40 ET. After a bounce to 4402.00, ESUs eased lower into the close.

Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO highlights impact of organized retail crime: ‘It’s quite alarming what’s going on’ – “Organized retail crime and theft in general, is an increasingly serious issue impacting many retailers,” she said, during a conference call to discuss Dick’s Sporting Goods’ (DKS, -23.84%) second-quarter results. “Based on the results from our most recent physical inventory cycle, the impact of theft on our shrink was meaningful to both our Q2 results and our go-forward expectations.”…
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dicks-sporting-goods-ceo-highlights-impact-of-organized-retail-crime-its-quite-alarming-whats-going-on-96777183

Yes Virginia, retailers’ results are being negatively impacted by lax policing and minimal prosecution. The pernicious impact of crime and social degeneration on the US economy is escalating.

US July Existing Homes sales 4.07m (-2.2% m/m); 4.15m (-0.2%) expected; 4.16m prior

USUs rallied moderately in listless action. A rebound after Monday’s carnage was expected. However, yields at the short end of the curve rose. The 2-year hit 5.04%. This smells like traders, who played for a steeper yield curve, taking profits after the sharp yield steeping over the past several sessions. Booking profits and limiting exposure ahead of the Jackson Hole Summit is a sound decision.

Positive aspects of previous session
Bonds rallied moderately after Monday’s steep decline

Negative aspects of previous session
The US 2-year hit 5.04%.
Nvidia tanked; the general stock market declined in concert
The S&P 500 Index high occurred on the NYSE opening

Ambiguous aspects of previous session
Will the surge into Nvidia ahead of its results foster selling after the results?

First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Down; Last Hour: Down

Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 4396.30
Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 4418.59; 4382.77

CBS Declares Border Crisis ‘Out of Control,’ Hurting ‘Big Cities’ Now
Opining about the crisis, Duncan declared, “it’s time to pay attention” since now “it is in these big cities the way that it is.”… Translation: Not in my backyard. The liberal media were fine with illegal immigration and open borders hurting American in border towns, but now that it’s in their big cities it’s a problem…  https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2023/08/22/cbs-declares-border-crisis-out-control-hurting-big-cities

China’s Xi Attends BRICS Dinner but Skips Business Forum (Is something up/wrong?)
https://news.yahoo.com/china-xi-skips-scheduled-speech-164138747.html

Today –Nvidia is expected to report 2.07 after the close; NVDA bulls’ expectations are delusional. The NVDA Dump component of the week-long Pump & Dump scheme began yesterday. Late trading could be impacted by rumors, or advance knowledge, of Nvidia’s results.

Equities and bonds continue to struggle. There is no sense in being long into Jackson Hole. Citi closed at 41.02, its lowest price since October 13, 2023. What’s wrong? ESUs are +6.00 at 20:30 ET.

Citigroup – Fire in the hole?!

Expected: Aug S&P Global US Mfg PMI 49, Services 52, Composite 51.5; July New Home Sales 704k

S&P 500 Index 50-day MA: 4457; 100-day MA: 4305; 150-day MA: 4208; 200-day MA: 4136
DJIA 50-day MA: 34,650; 100-day MA: 34,079; 150-day MA: 33,765; 200-day MA: 33,707
(Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope)

S&P 500 Index – Trender trading model and MACD for key time frames
Monthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 3752.81 triggers a sell signal
Weekly: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 4618.60 triggers a buy signal
Daily: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 4456.52 triggers a buy signal
Hourly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4378.49 triggers a sell signal

John Solomon reports newly disclosed US State Department documents show Trump’s first impeachment was built on a bogus narrative designed to protect the Biden family.

Feds urged Biden to give aid to Ukraine before he held back to force Burisma prosecutor’s firing
Newly disclosed State Department memos conflict with the narrative Democrats crafted since 2019 impeachment…  U.S. officials faced pressure from Burisma emissaries in America to make the corruption allegations go away and feared the energy firm had made two bribery payments in Ukraine as part of an effort to get cases settled.
       A top U.S. official in Kyiv blamed Hunter Biden for undercutting U.S. anticorruption policy in Ukraine through his dealings with Burisma… One of the top U.S. officials in the Kyiv embassy told then-Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch at the end of the Obama administration that Hunter Biden had, in fact, impacted the U.S. anti-corruption agenda in Ukraine. “The real issue to my mind was that someone in Washington needed to engage VP Biden quietly and say that his son Hunter’s presence on the Burisma board undercut the anti-corruption message the VP and we were advancing in Ukraine b/c Ukrainians heard one message from us and then saw another set of behavior with the family association with a known corrupt figure whose company was known for not playing by the rules,” embassy official George Kent wrote to Yovanovitch in the Nov. 22, 2016, email marked “confidential.”
https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/hdfeds-urged-biden-give-ukraine-loan-guarantee-he

Turley: Democrats aren’t laughing about the Hunter Biden debacle anymore
The New York Times, which has spent years downplaying the Hunter Biden scandal, has published an internal account of the investigation. The Times reported that US Attorney David Weiss was actually preparing to let Hunter walk “without requiring a guilty plea on any charges.” However, that “changed in the spring, around the time a pair of IRS officials on the case accused the Justice Department of hamstringing the investigation. Mr. Weiss suddenly demanded that Mr. Biden plead guilty to committing tax offenses.”  In other words, according to the Times, those two mocked whistleblowers prompted the Justice Department to prosecute…
https://nypost.com/2023/08/21/democrats-arent-laughing-about-the-hunter-biden-debacle-anymore/?s=02

Lindsey Graham seeks to boot special counsel Weiss from ‘botched’ Hunter Biden probe
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/lindsey-graham-seeks-boot-special-counsel-weiss-botched-hunter-biden-probe

RNCResearch: Biden tells Maui wildfire victims, “I don’t want to compare difficulties, but…” then tells a made up story about losing his house to a fire. According to a 2004 AP report, it was “a small fire…contained to the kitchen” that “was under control in 20 minutes.” (Joe repeatedly tells this lie!)
https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1693783865993973931

Biden sparks outrage by comparing Hawaiian blaze that killed at least 114 to a KITCHEN fire at his house https://t.co/3umazUrrpM

@KUSINews: President Joe Biden (mouth agape) appears to forget where he is while speaking in Maui. You can hear Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz suggest Biden take a sip of water before leaving the podium.
https://twitter.com/KUSINews/status/1693768909512712383

Furious Hawaiians scream ‘f-you!’ to President Biden as he arrives for firestorm tour that killed 114 before sparking outrage by making tone-deaf ‘hot ground’ joke to rescuer https://t.co/D85MEineXR

‘Children Were Incinerated to Ash’: Livid Hawaiians Slam Biden for Cracking Jokes, Lying about Wife https://www.zerohedge.com/political/children-were-incinerated-ash-livid-hawaiians-slam-biden-cracking-jokes-lying-about-wife

Biden appears to fall asleep at meeting with Maui survivors.
https://twitter.com/TheFirstonTV/status/1694009871924924777

@greg_price11: Joe Biden was on vacation when the Hawaii wildfires happened, his first words on hundreds of dead Americans were “no comment,” he then went on a second vacation to a liberal billionaire’s (Tom Steyer) mansion while calling for more aid to Ukraine, he then finally traveled to Maui two weeks after the fires, joked about how hot the ground was, mispronounced the names of every Hawaii elected official, told a complete lie about how his house once almost burned down, joked about how he knows what they are feeling because he almost lost his corvette, fell asleep while meeting with Maui residents and is now going back on vacation. (The MSM spiked The Big Guy’s Maui madness!)

Nevada officials investigating Biden’s rental of billionaire Tom Steyer’s home
https://nypost.com/2023/08/21/nevada-officials-actively-investigating-biden-stay-at-billionaire-democrats-home/

@JesseBWatters: Joe Biden doesn’t want to investigate why the Hawaii fires started. Biden just wants to throw money at the island and blame climate change, just like the governor. Democrats only blame climate change for their own incompetence and there was a lot of it.
    The firefighters didn’t have enough water, because the deputy director of water resources, Kaleo Manuel, delayed the release because of his equity water philosophy. The Hawaiian electric company dangerously neglected to clear invasive, highly flammable, non-native grasses. And Maui never even set off their emergency sirens, because they said the sirens would confuse people.
https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1693793553397248161

@ggreenwald: The ongoing concealment by the FBI and Nashville PD of the manifesto left by the Nashville killer means that we are still unable to identify and understand who or what radicalized this person to murder for this cause, which increasingly appears to be the goal of the concealment.

END

GREG HUNTER INTERVIEWING DR SHERRY TENPENNY

Deep State Pressing CV19 Fear Button for Control – Dr. Sherri Tenpenny

Deep State Pressing CV19 Fear Button for Control – Dr. Sherri Tenpenny

By Greg Hunter On August 22, 2023 In Political AnalysisNo Comments

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny is still on the frontlines of truth sounding the alarm on the CV19 “vaccine” and the death and disability from injecting it into billions of people around the world. It looks like a new round of control from another CV19 bioweapon/vax pandemic scam is already brewing. Dr. Tenpenny points out, “Now, with the reactivation with what they are trying to do with this new (CV19) variant, it’s nonsensical stuff. Oh my gosh, we already have colleges that are shutting down and putting on masks, social distancing and self-quarantining. I just hope that in the last 2 ½ years between what you have done and I have done . . . and on and on and on, we have been saying masks don’t work. Social distancing is a high school girl’s science project nonsense. Cramming Q-tips up the nose of healthy people is a sign of mental illness. All of the deaths associated with these shots and all of the disability that Ed Dowd says disability is 11 standard deviations above the norm. We have colleges doing this all again. They have notified the TSA we all have to start wearing masks again. They are going to try to shut down businesses and further cripple and destroy this country. I think it is time that at least 50 million people are going to stand up this time and say no, we are not doing it. I am not going to put on a face diaper, I am not going to lay off my staff and close my business again. I am not doing it.”

Dr. Tenpenny says this is not about saving lives or real medicine. It is 100% about control. Dr. Tenpenny explains, “It was an open door that there was no blowback from anybody and not even the generally really strong patriotic sovereign types of people in America. When America rolled over, they said ‘power down.’ Now is the time to move in the entire global economy: one world religion, one world government, one world money. Now is the time because we have a window of opportunity, and we are going to take every inch we can get, and they did. This is just the next level of wondering how much more control can they get. Are there still going to be people that are still going to roll over? . . . . The powers that be are going to push the ‘fear button’ over, over and over again to see how many are going to go along with their propaganda. Unfortunately, it will probably be more than a few.”

Dr. Tenpenny recently had her medical license in Ohio suspended (but not revoked). Dr. Tenpenny is quick to point out she employs other doctors in good standing to treat patients and is STILL very much in business at her clinics in Ohio and California. Dr. Tenpenny did not hurt anybody, but there are more than 300 mysterious complaints that the Ohio Medical Board will not show her. The Ohio Medical Board says Dr. Tenpenny’s license was “suspended” because she did not comply with their “investigation.” Dr. Tenpenny says that’s a lie, and she says she did comply and did everything they asked. The medical community, some of the same people who want to start a new round of covid crazy control, really just want people like Dr. Tenpenny to shut up while they work evil on “We the People.” Tenpenny says, “They are working really hard to make life miserable and to get me to shut up. I am one of the kingpins out there talking about Covid and vaccines and all this stuff for 23 years. If they can intimidate me into submission, then who is going to come on behind me? What other physicians are going to take a stand to say NO, I am not going to do that.”

Dr. Tenpenny also talks about treatments that work for vax injuries such as zeolite and Ivermectin. She also explains why people should resist the upcoming round of Deep State Covid control when they press the “fear button” again.

There is much more in the 30-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, who is still one of the good medical doctors telling everyone NOT to get this CV19 bioweapon injection for 8.22.23.

(https://usawatchdog.com/deep-state-pressing-cv19-fear-button-for-control-dr-sherri-tenpenny/)

After the Interview:

For lots of free information, go to DrTenpenny.com.

There is more information on Dr. Tenpenny’s Substack called Dr. Tenpenny’s Eye on the Evidence.

Dr. Tenpenny’s Christian Substack is called Dr. Tenpenny – Walking With God.

SEE YOU THURSDAY