NOV 15//GOLD CLOSED DOWN $1.00 TO $1961.25 WHILE SILVER CLOSED UP 39 CENTS TO $23.46/PLATINUM CLOSED UP $5.65 TO $898.60 WHILE PALLADIUM CLOSED UP $13/35 TO $1038.50//UPDATES ON THE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR INCLUDING ISRAEL ENTERING SHIFA HOSPITAL WHERE THEY FOUND HUGE WEAPONRY AND EXPLOSIVES IN THE EMERGENCY WARD: 5 TERRORISTS KILLED AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE HOSPITAL//HUGE RALLY OF 300,000 PEOPLE IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL IN WASHINGTON //LEBANON INCREASES ITS ROCKET FIRING OVER ISRAEL TO 20 AND THAT RISKS AN ESCALATION FROM THEM//ALSO HOUTHIS THREATENING TO BOMB ISRAEL SHIPS IN THE GULF OF OMAN//COVID UPDATES//VACCINE INJURY AND DEATHS//DR PAUL ALEXANDER//SLAY NEWS ETC//USA RETAIL SALES DECLINE//BEEF PRICES HIT RECORD HIGHS//TLAIB A MEMBER OF A SECRET FACEBOOK CLUB THAT GLORIFIES HAMAS//SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT//

November 15, 2023 · by · in Uncategorized · Leave a comment

GOLD PRICE CLOSED:  DOWN $1.00 TO $1961.25

SILVER PRICE CLOSED: UP 39 CENTS   AT $23.46

Access prices: closes 4: 15 PM

Gold ACCESS CLOSE 1960.00

Silver ACCESS CLOSE: 23.43

NOV 14

Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price

London Fixings…

Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price

USD  oz 

  PopupAM2001.82

PM2005.55

Historical SGE Fix

Investor Informa

SHANGHAI GOLD PREMIUM OVER NY: 35 DOLLARS

Bitcoin morning price:, 36,326  UP 1053 DOLLARS

Bitcoin: afternoon price: $37,710 UP 2437. dollars

Platinum price closing  $892.95 UP  $26.00

Palladium price;     $1025.15 UP $42.15

END

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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: $2,681.62 DOWN $5.80 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 2,782.61//OCT 272023)

*BRITISH GOLD: 1579.23 UP 0.50 pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1655.17) OCT 2/2023

*EURO GOLD: 1807.13 UP 3.11 euros per oz //* (NEW *ALL TIME HIGH/CLOSING//1898.24)//high.* OCT 27.2023

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EXCHANGE: COMEX

JPMorgan stopped 0/0 contracts.

FOR NOV.:

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR NOV/2023. CONTRACT:  0 NOTICES FOR 0 OZ  or  0.0000 TONNES

total notices so far: 1969 contracts for 196,900 oz (6.1244 tonnes)


FOR  NOV:

SILVER NOTICES  271 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 1,355,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 818 for 4,090,000 oz

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END

BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES

GLD

WITH GOLD DOWN $1.00//

INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL  (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ : / NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:

INVENTORY RESTS AT 870.45 TONNES

SLV//

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 39  CENTS  AT  THE SLV// NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.

CLOSING INVENTORY: 441.547 MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A MEGA- STRONG SIZED 690 CONTRACTS TO 134,826 AND CLOSER TO  THE  RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS STRONG SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR STRONG  $0.78 GAIN  IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON TUESDAY. WE HAD CONSIDERABLE  SPEC SHORT COVERING EPISODE IN TUESDAY’S COMEX TRADING.. TAS ISSUANCE WAS A VERY STRONG  SIZED 1,062 CONTRACTS. THESE WILL BE USED FOR MANIPULATION LATER THIS MONTH/AS WELL AS TODAY.THIS ENDS THE  MEGA HUGE ISSUANCES OF T.A.S.

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: 1062 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 WITH THE HELP OF SPECULATORS AND HIGH FREQUENCY TRADERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT ROSE BY $0.78). AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 731  OI CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES AS THE SPEC SHORTS TRIED AGAIN DESPERATELY TO COVER THEIR SHORTFALLS WITH ZERO SUCCESS.

WE  MUST HAVE HAD:

A  SMALL SIZED 41  ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN  INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 1.430 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE)  FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 1,350,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP  +0 EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE FOR 0 OZ//NEW EXCHANGE FOR RISK .245 MILLION:

//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 5.15 MILLION OZ + .245 (EX. FOR RISK) = 4.395 MILLION OZ.

//HUGE SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/ SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/VI) VERY STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF  T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 1062 CONTRACTS)/

 I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL – REMOVED A GIGANTIC   1139 CONTRACTS (the cme will no longer provide preliminary no to be except through a paywall)

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

TOTAL CONTRACTS for 11 days, total 3189 contracts:   OR 15.945 MILLION OZ  (289 CONTRACTS PER DAY)

TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR:  15.945 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: 171.43 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE HUGE //2ND HIGHEST ON RECORD

SEPT: 72.705 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THIS MONTH)

OCT: 97.455 MILLION OZ

NOV.  15.945 MILLION OZ (GOING TO BE QUITE SMALL THIS MONTH)

RESULT: WE HAD A MEGA STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 690  CONTRACTS WITH OUR STRONG GAIN  IN PRICE OF  $0.78 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//TUESDAY.,.  THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMALL  41  EFP ISSUANCE  CONTRACTS: 41  ISSUED FOR DEC AND 0 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS) WHICH  EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX  TO LONDON  AS FORWARDS.  WE HAVE A SMALL INITIAL SILVER OZ STANDING FOR NOV. OF  1.432 MILLION  OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 1,350,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP

NEW STANDING 4.150 OZ + .245 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK: NEW TOTAL 4.395 MILLION OZ///  /// WE HAVE A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 1869 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY:  A HUGE SIZED 1062 CONTRACTS//SOME FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED  DURING THE TUESDAY COMEX SESSION.   THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE TUESDAY NIGHT A HUGE (1062) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE., .

WE HAD 271  NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 1,355,000  OZ

THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.

GOLD//OUTLINE

IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A STRONG  SIZED 5123 CONTRACTS  TO 486,634 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,541 AND  PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110.

THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY:  – REMOVED  335 CONTRACTS (

WE HAD A STRONG SIZED INCREASE  IN COMEX OI ( 5123 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR  $16.35 GAIN IN PRICE//TUESDAY. WE ALSO HAD A RATHER STRONG INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR NOV. AT 4.3514 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 100 OZ QUEUE JUMP + TODAY’S 0 CONTRACT ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 0 TONNES//TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK PRIOR ISSUED: 3.1905 TONNES // TOTAL GOLD STANDING FOR NOV: 6.7340 TONNES + 3.191 TONNES (EX. FOR RISK) = 9.9240 TONNES // ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $16.35 GAIN IN PRICE  WITH RESPECT TO TUESDAY’S TRADING.WE HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN  OF 7599  OI CONTRACTS (23.64 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 2476 CONTRACTS:

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 486,634

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A VERY STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 7599 CONTRACTS  WITH 5123  CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR SIZED 2476 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS  TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 7599 CONTRACTS OR 23.64 TONNES. WE HAD 0 EXCHANGE FOR RISK 0 TONNES. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED):  A VERY STRONG 3415 CONTRACTS. 

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (2476 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE STRONG SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI (5123) //TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 7599 CONTRACTS. WE HAVE ( 1) NOW RETURNED TO OUR FORMER FORMAT OF BANKERS GOING LONG AND SPECULATORS GOING SHORT  ,2.) FAIR INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR NOV. AT 4.3514 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 100 OZ QUEUE JUMP: NEW STANDING 6.7340 TONNES + 3.1905 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK PRIOR /THUS NEW TOTAL FOR GOLD STANDING: 9.9240 TONNES // /// 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AND  STRONG TAS LIQUIDATION AND WE HAD ATTEMPTED   SPEC SHORT COVERINGS  DURING THE COMEX SESSION //4)  STRONG SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST GAIN/ 5)    FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6:  STRONG T.A.S.  ISSUANCE: 3415 CONTRACTS

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023 INCLUDING TODAY

NOV

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

TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED:  35,310 CONTRACTS OR 3,531,000 OZ OR 109.182 TONNES IN 11 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3210 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE  SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS :  THIS MONTH IN 11 TRADING DAY(S) IN  TONNES  109.182 TONNES

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

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS  109.182/3550 x 100% TONNES  3.07% 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:  195.28 TONNES (A STRONGER MONTH)//FINAL

SEPT: 254.709 TONNES (WILL BE LARGER THAN LAST MONTH AND A STRONG MONTH)

OCT. 248.09 TONNES. LIKE SILVER, THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE A STRONG E.F.P. ISSUANCE.

NOV.   109.182 TONNES//

SPREADING OPERATIONS

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

SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED   AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE  NEW  ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF 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 ROSE BY A STRONG SIZED 690  CONTRACTS OI TO  135,964 AND CLOSER TO  OUR COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710(SET FEB 25/2020).  THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET  IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD  WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER  5 YEARS AGO.  HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023

EFP ISSUANCE  41  CONTRACTS

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

DEC  41  and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE:  101  CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON.  IF WE TAKE THE  COMEX OI GAIN  OF 690 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 41  OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,

WE OBTAIN A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 731 CONTRACTS

THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN  ON THE TWO EXCHANGES  TOTAL 3.655 MILLION OZ  

OCCURRED WITH OUR     $0.78 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 UP 16.77 PTS OR 0.55%  //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 682.14 PTS OR 3.92%           /The Nikkei CLOSED UP 823.79 PTS OR 2.52% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP  1.52 %   /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP AT 7.2416   /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED UP TO 7.2493 /Oil DOWN TO 77.84 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT  DOWN AT 82.18/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN  TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE STRONGER

 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 ROSE  BY A STRONG SIZED 5123  CONTRACTS  TO 486,634 WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $16.35 ON TUESDAY TRADING.

EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE

WE ARE NOW IN THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV..…  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 2389  EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: :  DEC 2389 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 2389 CONTRACTS

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A STRONG SIZED TOTAL OF 7599  CONTRACTS IN THAT 2389 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 5123 COMEX  CONTRACTS..AND  THIS GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR STRONG GAIN IN PRICE OF $16.35//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 STRONG   3415 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)//. THIS ENDS THESE MEGA T.A.S. ISSUANCES!!

// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING:   NOV  (9.9240 TONNES  ( NON ACTIVE MONTH)

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: 38.855 TONNES(INCLUDING .6842 EXCHANGE FOR RISK)

SEPT: 15.281 TONNES FINAL

OCT.    35.869 TONNES + 1.665 EXCHANGE FOR RISK =37.0355 tonnes

NOV: 6.7340 TONNES + 3.1905 (EX. FOR RISK) = 9.9240 TONNES

THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT GAINED $16.35) //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY  SPECULATOR LONGS AS  WE HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 7599 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES. WE HAD A STRONG T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF TUESDAY’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 ALSO EXPERIENCED  SOME SPECULATOR SHORT COVERING WITH THE MASSIVE PRICE DECREASE.

WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 23.64 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL  GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR NOV. (4.3514 TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 100 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTALS STANDING:6.7340 TONNES +3.1905 EXCHANGE FOR RISK/PRIOR; NEW TOTAL STANDING: 9.9240 TONNES  ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE  TO THE TUNE OF $16.35.  FOR THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, THE SPECULATORS HAVE GONE MASSIVELY SHORT WITH OUR BANKERS NET LONG.  THE BIG QUESTION IS NOW HOW MUCH GOLD WILL THE BANKERS PULL FROM OUR SHORT SPECULATORS. SPECULATORS YESTERDAY ADDED TO THEIR HUGE SHORTS.

WE HAD  REMOVED –335   CONTRACTS  TO THE  COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 7599  CONTRACTS OR 759,900 OZ OR 23.64 TONNES.

Estimated gold volume today:// 151,969  poor

final gold volumes/yesterday   206,322 fair

//speculators have left the gold arena

NOV 15

/ /// THE NOV.  2023 GOLD CONTRACT

GoldOunces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz
 nil
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz

NIL
















 




















   






 







 




.

 








 









 
Deposit to the Dealer Inventory in oz
nil




 
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oznil
No of oz served (contracts) today0  notice(s)
1000 OZ
0.0311 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)  196  contracts 
  19,600 oz
0.6096 TONNES

 
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month1969 notices
196,900  oz
6.1244 TONNES
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this monthNIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this monthx

0 dealer deposit:

total dealer deposits:  0 oz

customer deposits: 0

total customer deposits:  nil  oz

we had  0 customer withdrawals

total withdrawals NIL oz

Adjustments; 1/ dealer to customer

i) Out of Brinks 7036.700 oz

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR NOV.

For the front month of NOVEMBER we have an oi of 196  contracts having LOST 9 contracts. We had 10 contracts filed on TUESDAY, so we gained 1 contract or an additional 100 oz will stand for delivery at the comex in this NON active delivery month of NOVEMBER.    Our short speculators have been met with physical delivery demands by the bank.  The only way they can obtain gold is through these EFP’s where delivery is taken in London on a T + 2 basis. 

December LOST ONLY 274  contracts DOWN to 228,244 contracts.(UNUSUAL//SOMEBODY WILLING TO TAKE DELIVERY IN DEC?.)

JAN. gained 49 contracts RISING TO 2416 contracts.

We had  0 contracts filed for today representing 0    oz  

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and  0  notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to  0   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 NOV. /2023. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (1969x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of  NOV. (196  CONTRACTS)  minus the number of notices served upon today  0 x 100 oz per contract equals 216,500 OZ  OR 6.7340 TONNES + 0 TONNES EX FOR RISK TODAY/3,1905 TONNES EX. FOR RISK/PRIOR//THUS  TOTAL STANDING:  9.924 TONNES

thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the NOV. contract month:  No of notices filed so far (1969) x 100 oz +  (196) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (0)  x 100 oz) which equals  216,500 oz standing OR 6.7340 TONNES + 3.1905 EX FOR RISK FOR MONTH = 9.9240 TONNES 

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING: 9.9240 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR AN ACTIVE BUT GENERALLY WEAK DELIVERY MONTH. (OCT). Somebody is after a considerable amount of gold from the comex. 

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: 1,844,946.179  OZ   57.38 tonnes

TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED:  19,883,985.468 OZ  

TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 10,060.788.902  (312.93  tonnes)..cme corrected

TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 9,823,196.566 OZ  

REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 8,215,842(REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 255.54 tonnes//dropping like a stone

END

SILVER/COMEX

NOV 15

//2023// THE NOV 2023 SILVER CONTRACT

SilverOunces
Withdrawals from Dealers InventoryNIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
1,975.480 oz

Delaware
HSBC



























































.














































 










 
Deposits to the Dealer Inventorynil oz 
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
37,031.205 oz
Delaware





 











































 











 
No of oz served today (contracts)271  CONTRACT(S)  
 (1,355,000  OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)13 contracts 
(65,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) 818 Contracts
 (4,090,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this monthNIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month

i)  0 dealer  deposit

total dealer deposit: 0

total: nil oz

i) We had  0 dealer withdrawal

total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz

We had  1 deposits customer account:

i) Into Delaware: 37,031.205 oz

total customer deposit  37,031.205   oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 134.441  million oz/266.540 million  or 50.43%

Comex withdrawals 2

i) Out of Brinks 960.860 oz

ii) Out of HSBC: 1014.620 oz

total: 1975.480  oz

adjustments: 0

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 39.391 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 266.56 million oz

CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR August:

silver open interest data:

FRONT MONTH OF NOV /2023 OI: 283   CONTRACTS HAVING GAINED 268  CONTRACT(S). WE HAD 2 NOTICES FILED ON TUESDAY, SO WE GAINED 270 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 1,350,000 OZ WILL  STAND FOR SILVER IN NOVEMBER AT THE COMEX 

DEC. LOST 2856  CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 64,474

JANUARY GAINED 186 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 885

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 271 for 1,355,000  oz

Comex volumes// est. volume today 82,623// very good

Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 92.882 very good

To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in NOV. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 818 x  5,000 oz = 4,090,000 oz 

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of NOV. (283) and the number of notices served upon today 271 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

Thus the  standings for silver for the NOV/2023 contract month:  818 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of NOV (283) – number of notices served upon today (271 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the NOV  contract month equates to 4.150 MILLION OZ + .245 MILLION OZ (EXCHANGE FOR RISK) =4.395 MILLION OZ 

There are 39.391 million oz of 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//

BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE MASSIVE FRAUDS!

NOV 15/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.00 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 870.45 TONNES

NOV 14/WITH GOLD UP $16.35 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/ / // //A DEPOSIT OF 2.3 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 870.45 TONNES

NOV 13/WITH GOLD UP $12.00 TODAY:SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/ / // //A DEPOSIT OF .87 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 868.15 TONNES

NOV 10/WITH GOLD DOWN $30.70 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 867.28 TONNES

NOV 9/WITH GOLD UP $12.50 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 867.28 TONNES

NOV 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $14.95 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 4.04 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 867.28 TONNES

NOV 7/WITH GOLD DOWN $14.70 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT OF 4.33 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 863.24 TONNES

NOV 6/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.90 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT OF 1.73 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 863.24 TONNES

NOV 3/WITH GOLD UP $5.75 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 861.51 TONNES

NOV 2/WITH GOLD UP $6.55 TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/ // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 861.51 TONNES

NOV 1/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.15 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 859.49 TONNES

OCT 31/859.49 TONNES//

OCT 30/WITH GOLD UP $7.80 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 861.80 TONNES

OCT 27/WITH GOLD UP $1.20 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 861.80 TONNES

OCT 26/WITH GOLD UP $2.90 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF 1.73 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// // INVENTORY RESTS AT 861.80 TONNES

OCT 25/WITH GOLD UP $9.00 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/: //: // INVENTORY RESTS AT 860.07 TONNES

OCT 24/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.30 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.17 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD//WHAT A MASSIVE FRAUD! //: //: // INVENTORY RESTS AT 860.07 TONNES

OCT 23/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.80 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE 15.00 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//WHAT A MASSIVE FRAUD! //: //: // INVENTORY RESTS AT 863.24 TONNES

OCT 20/WITH GOLD UP $14.50 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD //: //: // INVENTORY RESTS AT 848.24 TONNES

OCT 19/WITH GOLD UP $12.90 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 5.19 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: // INVENTORY RESTS AT 848.24 TONNES

OCT 18/WITH GOLD UP $32.55 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//: //: // INVENTORY RESTS AT 853.43 TONNES

GLD INVENTORY: 870.45 TONNES

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

NOV 15/WITH SILVER UP 39 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.587 MILLION OZ

NOV 14/WITH SILVER UP 78 CENTS TODAY:SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A DEPOSIT OF 183,000 OZ INTO THE SLV ////// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.587 MILLION OZ

NOV 13/WITH SILVER UP 5 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: ////// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.364 MILLION OZ

NOV 10/WITH SILVER DOWN 59 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF .733 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.364 MILLION OZ

NOV 9/WITH SILVER UP 17 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: //// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.631 MILLION OZ

NOV 8/WITH SILVER UP 13 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: //// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.631 MILLION OZ

NOV 7/WITH SILVER DOWN 59 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: //// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.631 MILLION OZ

NOV 6/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: //// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.631 MILLION OZ

NOV 3/WITH SILVER UP 41 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 0.638 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV///// /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.631 MILLION OZ

NOV 2/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.924 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV///// /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 439.993 MILLION OZ

NOV 1/WITH SILVER DOWN 11 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 916,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV///// /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.917 MILLION OZ

OCT 31/442.833 MILLION OZ///INVENTORY

OCT 30/WITH SILVER UP 46 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: /// /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 443.750 MILLION OZ

OCT 27/WITH SILVER UP 3 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 641,000 OZ FROM THE SLV/// /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 443.750 MILLION OZ

OCT 26/WITH SILVER DOWN 14 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/ /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 444.391 MILLION OZ

OCT 25/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/ /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 444.391 MILLION OZ

OCT 24/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 2.52 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/// /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 444.391 MILLION OZ

OCT 23/WITH SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:/ /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.871 MILLION OZ

OCT 20/WITH SILVER UP 50 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:.A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.658 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/ /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.871 MILLION OZ

OCT 19/WITH SILVER UP XXX CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:. A /// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 444.529 MILLION OZ

OCT 18/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:. A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.207 MILLLION OZ FROM THE SLV///// /.////INVENTORY RESTS AT 444.529 MILLION OZ

CLOSING INVENTORY 441.547 MILLION OZ//

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES

1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey

Peter Schiff: Investor Optimism Is At Odds With Reality

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 01:40 PM

Via SchiffGold.com,

Optimism is driving the markets. Most investors seem to believe the economy is strong. The consumer is resilient. Price inflation is easing. And most people think the Federal Reserve is finished hiking rates. In his podcast, Peter Schiff explained why this investor optimism is at odds with reality.

Stocks have been rallying, defying the fundamentals that would argue for significantly lower stock prices. Peter called it a “rather narrow” rally driven by a handful of stocks.

The generals are going but the troops are not coming along with them. All of this, I don’t think, is going to end well for the longs in the stock market.”

Peter noted that the Russel 2000, a broader measure of stocks, is at roughly the same level as it was in the summer of 2018 while the NASDAQ has nearly doubled in price.

The valuations are extremely stretched.”

So, what is driving this rally?

Peter said it’s the perception that the Federal Reserve is finished hiking interest rates after the central bank kept its finger on the pause button at the November meeting. In fact, the markets are pricing in 75 basis points in cuts during 2024. Peter said he thinks the markets will likely price in even deeper cuts moving forward.

If the Fed starts cutting rates, it’s because the economy is very weak — weaker than it already is — and potentially we have a banking crisis, a financial crisis, or something breaks, which will require the Fed to be far more aggressive than 75 basis points.”

Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell participated in a panel discussion and said the Fed isn’t even thinking about rate cuts. Peter said the markets clearly don’t believe him, and he thinks it’s “a lie on its face.”

How could that possibly be true? How could the FOMC members not even be talking about rate cuts? Even if they don’t want to do it, how could they not be talking about it? After all, what do they do over there? They move interest rates. They move them up. They move them down. They’re either hiking them or they’re cutting them. How could they not talk about the prospect of cutting rates? Even if they’re going to reject it, clearly, they’re talking about it. Even if they don’t want to do it, they have to talk about doing it to decide that they don’t want to.”

Why would Powell even say they aren’t talking about cuts?

Because he really wants to make sure that the markets take seriously the tough talk about inflation. Because he keeps reiterating how far inflation is from their 2% target, how much higher it is, and how much further they have to go to bring it back down. So, part of that is to not even let the market think that they’re discussing rate cuts when, of course, they’re discussing rate cuts. This is all just BS. You’ve got to talk tough because, at the end of the day, they don’t have any stick at all, let alone a small stick based on how indebted the economy is — everybody, from the government, to the corporations, to the household sector.”

Powell also talked bout the “resilient consumer.” But is the consumer really resilient? Sure, people are still spending money. But they’re running up massive credit card bills to do it. And Peter pointed out that you have to ask why they’re spending.

It’s not like the consumer is resilient like Superman is resilient to bullets. You shoot Superman and the bullets just bounce off his chest. The consumer is not resilient like that. The consumer is getting shot, and those bullets are hurting. They’re doing damage. The consumer is bleeding and hurting, but he’s still breathing. He’s still alive. He’s badly wounded, but he’s resilient enough not to be dead. How is the consumer staying alive with all these bullets? Well, one way he’s doing that is by depleting his savings. … The other thing he’s doing is maxing out the credit cards.”

These “resilient” consumers are buying groceries with credit cards and paying nearly 21% interest on top of the higher food price.

So, I wouldn’t say that’s resilient. I mean, they’re surviving — barely. But it’s not really resiliency that is enabling it.”

The other thing that is keeping the consumer from completely bleeding out is taking on extra jobs. We see this with the record number of multiple job holders in the BLS data.

Eventually, there’s no way to survive. [The consumer] is mortally wounded. He’s just delaying death by all of these means he has at his disposal. But eventually, these lifelines are gone. Your savings are zero, so you can’t deplete that anymore. At some point, you max out your credit cards. At some point, you can’t borrow any more money because the credit card companies cut you off.”

And people can’t work 24/7. So, there is even a limit to moonlighting.

But Peter said there is one thing that has no limits – price inflation.

Prices are going to keep on rising because the budget budget deficits are skyrocketing. The money printing is going to continue. The inflation burden is going to be heavier, and heavier, and heavier. And this consumer, who has already been shot up, is going to get shot some more.”

The reality is the Fed hasn’t done enough to stop price inflation. They haven’t tightened enough to stop the borrowing. But they have tightened enough to break an economy that is rooted in artificially low interest rates.

So, all of this economic optimism is unwarranted. It is based on an illusion. But at some point, reality will break through.

end

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

END

end

END

3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA GOLD COMMENTARIES:

Bullion Star infographic dramatically illustrates gold price suppression by U.S.

Submitted by admin on Wed, 2023-11-15 13:14 Section: Daily Dispatches

From Bullion Star, Singapore
Wednesday, November 15, 2023

As the world’s preeminent money, now and throughout history, gold is seen by governments and monetary authorities as strategically critical and often a matter of national security.

Not least in the United States, where although the U.S. government and U.S. banks downplay gold, it is precisely because they are terrified of gold’s rise that these entities are heavily involved in the gold market in a nefarious manner.

This visually stunning new infographic from BullionStar puts the spotlight on the deep involvement of the U.S. government and Wall Street banks in the gold market, and their nefarious manipulation of precious metals prices, illustrating:

— The supposed size and location of the U.S. Treasury gold reserves but the fact that the U.S. gold has not been properly audited in over 70 years. What is the U.S. Treasury hiding?

— Five massive Wall Street banks dominate the gold market, trading gigantic trading volumes of Comex gold futures in a giant paper trading game.

— The international gold price is set by paper gold trading in New York and London, not by physical gold demand and supply, a flawed pricing that causes physical shortages and high premiums.

— Although Wall Street banks have been prosecuted for manipulating precious metals prices and their traders have been jailed, the same banks still continue to operate with impunity in the gold market.

— There is continual gold price suppression during New York trading hours, with returns during New York hours a fraction of returns outside New York hours. This is statistically impossible.

— A U.S. government group, the Plunge Protection Team (PPT), oversees interventions into markets. This PPT was infamously active in the U.S. silver market during February 2021, when it oversaw a “tamp down” of the silver price to prevent a financial system crisis.

— The U.S. government, Wall Street, and the U.S. mainstream media constantly work to prevent gold gaining in popularity. This is done to protect the U.S. financial system and the reserve status of the U.S. dollar.

— That this price manipulation can’t go on forever. When it fails the gold price will again be determined by the forces of supply and demand for physical gold. …

To see the infographic:

https://www.bullionstar.us/blogs/bullionstar/infographic-us-government-and-us-banks-in-the-gold-market/

end

Hong Kong ousts Dubai as biggest hub for Russian gold trade

Submitted by admin on Wed, 2023-11-15 12:20 Section: Daily Dispatches

By Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper and Eddie Spence
Bloomberg News
Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Shut out of London following the invasion of Ukraine, Russian gold trading switched to Dubai. Now it’s shifting again, to the bullion hub of Hong Kong.

The city has long been a key conduit for bullion entering the Chinese mainland — the world’s biggest consumer market — but since April, Russian shipments surged. Hong Kong imported 68 tons of Russian gold this year, four times as much as the whole of 2022.

The shift to Hong Kong was driven by U.S. sanctions on Russia’s top gold miners, as well as a crackdown by the United Arab Emirates on illicit activities in its bullion market, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The move east underlines the challenge faced by the West in curbing resource flows that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-15/hong-kong-ousts-dubai-as-biggest-hub-for-russian-gold-trading

* * *

END

4, OTHER IMPORTANT GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES/

Gold Is Hitting All Time Highs In Foreign Currencies – Andy Schectman

Chris Marcus – November 15, 2023

While the price of gold still sits below the $2,000 per ounce level in the US (although it’s about $20 closer to that level following this morning’s rally after the CPI was released), gold has been setting new all-time highs in many of the major foreign currencies.

The foreign gold pricing is indicative of the issues that are not only facing the US, like heavy debtloads and slowing economies, but are present around the world, and have contributed to record central bank gold buying throughout the first 9 months of the year.

Despite higher global interest rates, the gold price remains strong, as countries around the world are seeking out insurance against the weight of the past decade’s borrowing spree. Geopolitical tensions have also added to the demand for gold, and of course the de-dollarization movement has continued on, which is leaving citizens and investors across the world more concerned about that stability of our financial infrastrucutre than ever before.

So in today’s show Andy Schectman of Miles Franklin joins me to comment on the factors that are supporting the gold market, and what his clients are saying when they continue to buy gold and silver as insurance.

To find out more, click to watch this video now!

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5 a. IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES: 

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5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT

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6.CRYPTOCURRENCY//DIGITAL CURRENCY// COMMENTARIES/

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1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS WEDNESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM

ONSHORE YUAN:   CLOSED UP AT 7.2416

OFFSHORE YUAN: UP TO 7.2493

SHANGHAI CLOSED  UP 16.77 PTS OR 0.55%

HANG SENG CLOSED UP 682.14 PTS OR 3.92%

2. Nikkei closed  UP 823.77 PTS OR 2.52%

3. Europe stocks   SO FAR:   ALL GREEN

USA dollar INDEX UP  TO  104.06 EURO FALLS TO 1.0855 DOWN 22 BASIS PTS

3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +.793 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 150.43/JAPANESE YEN FALLING AS WELL AS LONG TERM 10  YR. YIELDS RISING //EVENTUALLY THIS WILL BREAK THE JAPANESE CENTRAL BANK

3c Nikkei now  ABOVE 17,000

3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning

3e Gold UP /JAPANESE Yen UP  CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: UP//  OFFSHORE: UP

3f Japan is to buy INFINITE  TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA

Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.

3g Oil DOWN for WTI and DOWN  FOR Brent this morning

3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund DOWN TO +2.6040***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 4.399*** /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 3.636…**

3i Greek 10 year bond yield FALLS TO 3.8000

3j Gold at $1971.60 silver at: 23.41 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00

3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 1  AND 16 /100        roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 89.43//

3m oil into the  77  dollar handle for WTI and 82  handle for Brent/

3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China//  huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/

JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 150.43//  10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.795% STILL ON CENTRAL BANK (JAPAN) INTERVENTION

30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the FRANC. It is not working: USA/SF this 0.8881 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF:   0.9643 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.

USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 4.4678 UP 4 BASIS PTS…

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.648 UP 3 BASIS PTS/

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD:  4.853 UP 4 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 28.67…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)

GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: UP 1  BASIS PTS AT 4.2185

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2.a  Overnight:  Newsquawk and Zero hedge:

Futures Extend Blowout Rally With Nvidia Rallying For Record 11th Day But Retail Sales Can Spoil The Party

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 08:16 AM

Wall Street looks set to add to Tuesday’s blistering post-CPI rally as futures gained and world stocks surged. As of 7:50am, S&P 500 contracts are up 0.4% reaching a new 2-month high after the index ended Tuesday with its biggest advance since April; mood was also lifted by progress in Congress on a avert a government shutdownand pass a temporary funding bill while investors welcomed cooler-than-expected inflation readings in the UKas evidence that central banks may be done with their aggressive interest-rate increases. Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index jumped, led higher by consumer product and mining stocks, MSCI’s Asia Pacific Index jumped over 2%, with all markets in the green.

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In premarket trading, retailers are broadly higher after Target reported adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter that beat the average analyst estimate and a decline in comparable sales that was less steep than expected. Target climbs as much as 15% premarket. Walmart rises 1.3% premarket, Dollar Tree +2.4%, Dollar General +2.2%, Best Buy +1.2% and Costco Wholesale +0.8%. Here are some other notable premarket movers:

  • Nvidia shares edge 0.7% higher, set to extend gains for a record 11th consecutive session. The stock has climbed 22% during its latest rally as of the last close, adding about $219 billion in market value.
  • Canadian Solar shares drop 1.8% after the solar module maker is downgraded to underweight from neutral at JPMorgan following Tuesday’s disappointing guidance, with the broker saying near-term visibility needs to improve.
  • Advance Auto falls about 5% after cutting its earnings per share guidance for the full year.
  • Arcturus Therapeutics rises 19% after reporting results and saying it should now have enough cash resources to last until the end of 2026.
  • Catalent rises 5% after reaffirming its adjusted Ebitda forecast for the full year.
  • Goodyear Tire & Rubber gains 8.6% after the company said it’s actively pursue strategic alternatives for its chemical business, the Dunlop brand and the off-the-road equipment tire business.
  • Varex Imaging slips 9.8% after the maker of X-ray equipment posted disappointing fiscal 4Q revenue and provided a 1Q profit and sales outlook that fell short of expectations.
  • ZIM Integrated Shipping falls 8% after cutting its adjusted Ebitda guidance for the full year.

Attention now turns to today’s data on US retail sales and producer prices for further confirmation that an economic slowdown will allow the Federal Reserve to stop tightening monetary policy. Fed swaps indicate the odds of another hike have fallen to almost zero — with the market pricing in a 50 basis-point rate cut by July.

“If the Fed is done hiking interest rates, there’s a sense of relief out there that this big headwind to market appreciation is being removed,” said Matt Stucky, chief equity portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management. However, if upcoming data, including retail sales, signal only a gradual economic slowdown, “what we’re likely to see is that the Fed continues to be on pause,” he added. 

Incidentally, the party may be about to end and a hangover is coming because according to BofA real-time credit and debit card spending data, a strong retail sales print is now on deck, which would spark renewed fears that the Fed may have to be hawkish for longer.

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European stocks also jumped, rising for a third day, led by UK shares after data showed inflation slowed more than expected in October. The FTSE 100 adds 0.9% while the Stoxx 600 rises 0.6%, with Infineon and Delivery Hero leading gains and Alstom posting the steepest declines. London’s FTSE 100 index gained 1% and the pound slipped after UK inflation slowed more than forecast, a similar outcome to Tuesday’s reading of US prices. That news strengthened optimism that the Bank of England is also finished raising rates.

  • Infineon rises as much as 2.9% as analysts say the German chipmaker’s FY24 guidance is reassuring given tepid investor expectations, after peers from Texas Instruments to ON Semiconductor signaled demand weakness in chips used for industrial applications
  • Delivery Hero climbs as much as 8.7%, extending post-earnings gains into a second session and notching the biggest two-day rise since November 2022
  • Experian shares gain as much as 6%, the most intraday since February, after the credit-data agency reiterated its organic revenue forecast for the full year
  • Siemens Energy gains as much as 8.9% as the German renewable firm’s stronger 4Q free cash flow and lower net debt figures encourage investors and reduce the risk of a capital raise, according to Citigroup
  • Prosus rises as much as 4.9% to a session high in Amsterdam trading after Tencent reported better-than-expected net income. Shares of its parent Naspers also extend gains
  • Siemens shares gain as much as 1.1% after the German industrial giant announced the acquisition of 18% in Siemens Ltd. India for a purchase price of €2.1 billion
  • Compass Group shares rise as much as 2.2% after the foodservice company was raised to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank, which said it expects growth, quality and further returns
  • ALK-Abello jumps as much as 17%, the most since 2009, after the Danish allergy drugmaker reported a significant beat to its higher-margin tablet sales in the key European market, beating expectations on both Ebitda and EPS
  • SSE rise as much as 2.7% to the highest since July, after the UK utility reaffirmed its adjusted earnings per share forecast for the full year
  • Genuit gains as much as 8.4%, the most in six months, as analysts say the plastic-piping system manufacturer is delivering against its strategy despite a tough operating environment
  • Alstom falls as much as 14%, the most in a month, after the French train and rail manufacturer reported full 1H figures and a new liquidity-boosting plan
  • Woolworths falls as much as 5.8%, the most since March 2022, after the retailer released a 20-week trading update that analysts said shows slower sales growth

Earlier in the session, MSCI’s gauge of Asian stocks rose more than 2% as China stepped up economic support. The People’s Bank of China injected the largest amount of cash into the banking system since 2016, offering 1.45 trillion yuan ($200 billion) of cash through its medium-term lending facility.

  • Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned after Chinese Industrial Production and Retail Sales topped forecasts, while sentiment was also supported by reports that China is mulling CNY 1tln of new funding to boost the housing market and after the PBoC conducted the largest MLF net injection in seven years.
  • Japan’s Nikkei 225 extended on gains after it gapped above the 33,000 level alongside the broad heightened risk appetite which helped markets shrug off disappointing preliminary Q3 GDP.
  • Australia’s ASX 200 was led higher by notable outperformance in real estate and tech following a decline in yields and with the index unfazed by the acceleration in the quarterly Wage Price Index.
  • India stocks posted the best day in 7 months; A key stock benchmark in India jumped the most since March, boosted by a rally in equities across Asia after soft inflation data in the US stoked optimism that the Federal Reserve’s rate hike cycle may be over. The NSE Nifty 50 Index rose 1.2% to 19,675.45 in Mumbai, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 1.1% to 65,675.93. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was up 2.3%, set for its best day this year.

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is flat. The pound has struggled, falling 0.3% versus the greenback and is the worst performer among the G-10’s. Money-markets close to completely erased the possibility of an additional 25bps hike from the Federal Reserve in December and now only price 2bps of tightening by year-end

  • GBP/USD slumped as much as 0.4% to 1.2454, reversing three sessions of gains, after UK inflation slowed to the lowest level in two-years; Gilts twist-steepened
  • EUR/USD dropped as much as 0.3% to 1.0846, partly paring its biggest daily gain since November on Tuesday; the ECB’s Centeno said there are concerns over whether Europe will see a soft landing
  • NZD/USD rose as much as 0.5% to 0.6040, with the New Zealand dollar leading group-of-10 gains against the dollar, as cooling inflation on both sides of the Atlantic bolstered global risk appetite; European stocks markets rallied, while US equity futures rose

In rates, yields higher by 1bp-2bp across the curve, with 10-year yields rising 2bps to 4.47% with bunds and gilts outperforming by 2bp and 0.5bp in the sector following weaker than expected October UK CPI data; curve spreads are within 1bp of Tuesday close levels, 5s30s around 18bp after exceeding 22bp in CPI rally. The Dollar IG issuance slate empty so far; three names priced deals on Tuesday, bringing weekly total to less than $5b vs dealer forecasts of $25b to $30bn. US economic data includes October retail sales and PPI and November Empire manufacturing (8:30am) and September business inventories (10am). Scheduled Fed speakers include Barr (9:30am) and Barkin (3:30pm). An auction for UK government bonds attracted the biggest-ever orderbook for a conventional bond sale, as investors rushed to lock in high rates while they still can.

In commodities, oil prices decline, with WTI falling 0.5% to trade near $77.80 but off session lows . Spot gold rises 0.5%

Looking to the day ahead now, and data releases include US retail sales and PPI for October, UK CPI for October, and Euro Area industrial production for September. From central banks, we’ll hear from the Fed’s Barr and Barkin, along with the BoE’s Haskel. Lastly, earnings releases include Target, and the EU Commission will release their latest economic forecasts.

Market Snapshot

  • S&P 500 futures up 0.2% to 4,521.00
  • MXAP up 2.3% to 161.01
  • MXAPJ up 2.6% to 504.56
  • Nikkei up 2.5% to 33,519.70
  • Topix up 1.2% to 2,373.22
  • Hang Seng Index up 3.9% to 18,079.00
  • Shanghai Composite up 0.5% to 3,072.84
  • Sensex up 1.1% to 65,631.10
  • Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 1.4% to 7,105.90
  • Kospi up 2.2% to 2,486.67
  • STOXX Europe 600 up 0.6% to 455.37
  • German 10Y yield little changed at 2.58%
  • Euro down 0.3% to $1.0846
  • Brent Futures down 0.6% to $81.97/bbl
  • Gold spot up 0.4% to $1,971.77
  • U.S. Dollar Index up 0.23% to 104.29

Top Overnight News

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

Asia-Pac stocks followed suit to the global risk-on mood after softer-than-expected US CPI data spurred dovish Fed repricing amid hopes that the Fed could be done with its hiking cycle, while the region also digested better-than-expected Chinese activity data. ASX 200 was led higher by notable outperformance in real estate and tech following a decline in yields and with the index unfazed by the acceleration in the quarterly Wage Price Index. Nikkei 225 extended on gains after it gapped above the 33,000 level alongside the broad heightened risk appetite which helped markets shrug off disappointing preliminary Q3 GDP. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned after Chinese Industrial Production and Retail Sales topped forecasts, while sentiment was also supported by reports that China is mulling CNY 1tln of new funding to boost the housing market and after the PBoC conducted the largest MLF net injection in seven years.

Top Asian News

  • PBoC announced CNY 1.45tln in 1-year MLF vs CNY 850bln maturing with the rate kept at 2.50%.
  • China’s stats bureau official said the foundation of the economic recovery is yet to be consolidated and noted expectations that China’s price situation to improve with no deflation seen. The stats bureau also said there will be twists and turns in the economic recovery with more efforts needed to promote continued economic recovery and that China’s manufacturers still face inadequate market demand. However, the official also commented that the property market is still in adjustment and transformation, while they expect consumption recovery to continue due to policy support and there is still strong demand for infrastructure investment.
  • US President Biden and Chinese President Xi will meet on Wednesday at 10:45PST (18.45GMT/13:45EST) and Biden will hold a press conference at 16:15PST (00:15GMT/19:15EST)
  • US President Biden said US and Chinese militaries need to be able to make contact and the US is trying to improve bilateral relations with China.
  • US and China reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement and agreed to restart the energy efficiency forum, while they will work together on a global and legally binding agreement to tackle plastic pollution.

European bourses are in the green, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.6%, with support across the board for benchmarks in a continuation of Tuesday’s trade with further impetus from favourable Chinese activity data. Sectors are mixed, with Telecom & Healthcare names underperforming while Consumer Products/Services perform well given their exposure to China. Stateside, futures are in the green with the NQ +0.5% continuing its outperformance despite a very modest uptick in US yields this morning.

Top European News

  • ECB’s Centeno says must be patient with policy. Inflation is falling faster. Data shows the global inflation is falling. Still expects a “good” inflation print for November. Do not see reasons to accelerate APP QT, via Bloomberg TV.
  • German Constitutional court rules that the transfer of unused pandemic debt into climate fund is illegal (Second Supplementary Budget Act 2021 is void). “The Court’s decision means that the volume of the Climate and Transformation Fund is reduced by EUR 60 billion. Insofar as the state has entered into obligations that it can no longer service as a result of this reduction, the legislator must compensate for this through other means.”. Click here for details, analysis & reaction.
  • EU Commission sees EZ GDP growth at 0.6% in 2023 (prev. 0.8%), 1.2% 2024 (prev. 1.3%); Sees EZ inflation in 2023 at 5.6% (prev. 5.6%); Says ECB interest rates and weaker external demand took heavier tool on EZ growth than expected.

FX

  • DXY is relatively contained after hovering in a tight 104.04-22 band in APAC and early European hours, before eking fresh highs of 104.31 after yesterday’s post-US CPI low of 103.99.
  • GBP/USD slipped from a 1.2499 high set overnight to a post-UK CPI low of 1.2458 at the time of writing, well within yesterday’s 1.2261-2505 parameter; EUR/USD holds onto a lion’s share of yesterday’s gains with large FX options expiries near the money.
  • Largely flat intraday trade in the Yen and Yuan, with the latter retracing the strength seen on the release of better-than-expected Chinese activity data overnight despite a lack of pertinent headlines in the European morning ahead of the Biden-Xi meeting.
  • The non-US Dollars see a mixed picture with the NZD outperforming, the AUD flat and the CAD lagging.
  • PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1752 vs exp. 7.2564 (prev. 7.1769).

Fixed Income

  • Core fixed income began the session in the green and towards the best levels printed on Tuesday in the wake of cooler than expected US CPI.
  • However, as the morning progresses and we near the commencement of US trade benchmarks have slipped from best within Europe, a move that is seemingly UST led in a slight paring of Tuesday’s significant action.
  • Cooler UK CPI drove Gilts above 97.00; though, alongside a broader pullback in benchmarks Gilts have lost the level and reside towards the 96.58 low.
  • Bunds received a circa. 15 tick boost on the German Constitutional Court ruling that the transfer of circa. EUR 60bln of unused COVID debt into the climate fund is illegal; though, the move was shortlived given the FY implications are limited between now and FY27.

Commodities

  • WTI Dec and Brent Jan are softer intraday after settling relatively flat yesterday despite the softer inflation data and subsequent slide in the Dollar.
  • As a reminder, the US weekly EIA data will be released in two parts today to account for last week’s data blunder – last week’s data will be released at the usual time of 15:30GMT/10:30EST whilst this week’s data is slated for 18:00GMT/13:00EST.
  • Spot gold topped yesterday’s USD 1,971/oz high around the time European cash markets opened, and irrespective of Dollar strength ahead of the Biden-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit, with the yellow metal eyeing the 7th November peak at 1,978.36/oz.
  • Base metals are firmer across the board following the upbeat Chinese activity data overnight, with 3M LME copper gaining ground above USD 8,250/t
  • US Private Energy Inventory Data (bbls): Crude +1.3mln (exp. +1.8mln), Cushing +1.1mln, Gasoline +0.2mln (exp. +0.6mln), Distillates -1.0mln (exp. -1.2mln)
  • Vitol said its expects a fairly balanced to slight surplus in the global oil market for 2024, while it added that non-OPEC supply has surpassed previous highs and continues to grow. Furthermore, it stated that it is premature to call for peak gasoline demand in China as gasoline car sales are still being added to the fleet.

Geopolitics

  • Israel conducted an operation against Hamas in Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital and it noted that its forces had undergone specified training to prepare for the complex and sensitive environment, while it called on all Hamas operatives in the hospital to surrender.
  • US, South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers said Russia-North Korea cooperation is a serious threat to international peace, while it was also reported that North Korea developed a new type of solid-fuel engine for intermediate-range ballistic missiles, according to KCNA and Yonhap
  • EU Commission has reportedly suggested fresh sanctions on Russia, via Politico citing documents; introducing a ban on diamonds and tightening other measures incl. oil price cap.

US Event Calendar

  • 08:30: Oct. Retail Sales Advance MoM, est. -0.3%, prior 0.7%
    • 08:30: Oct. Retail Sales Ex Auto MoM, est. -0.2%, prior 0.6%
    • 08:30: Oct. Retail Sales Ex Auto and Gas, est. 0.2%, prior 0.6%
    • 08:30: Oct. Retail Sales Control Group, est. 0.2%, prior 0.6%
  • 08:30: Oct. PPI Final Demand MoM, est. 0.1%, prior 0.5%
    • 08:30: Oct. PPI Final Demand YoY, est. 1.9%, prior 2.2%
    • 08:30: Oct. PPI Ex Food and Energy YoY, est. 2.7%, prior 2.7%
    • 08:30: Oct. PPI Ex Food and Energy MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.3%
  • 08:30: Nov. Empire Manufacturing, est. -3.0, prior -4.6
  • 10:00: Sept. Business Inventories, est. 0.4%, prior 0.4%

Central Bank Speakers

  • Nov. 14-Nov. 15: Fed’s Philip Jefferson and SNB’s Thomas Jordan Speak in Zurich
  • 09:30: Fed’s Barr Testifies on Oversight of Financial Regulators
  • 15:30: Fed’s Barkin Speaks About Housing

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

What a difference a tenth of a percentage point makes as markets have staged a remarkable rally across the board after the US CPI release. A (small) downside surprise led to increasing confidence that the Fed were done hiking rates, and that a cut was now more likely than another hike. Will this be seventh time lucky in this cycle in terms of pricing a dovish pivot? The other 6 have failed to materialise and although one will obviously do so at some point, is this it? The market thinks so and front-end Treasury yields saw their biggest daily decline since the banking turmoil in March, with the 2yr yield down by a massive -19.9bps on the day. And the prospect of lower rates proved great news for equities as well, with the S&P 500 (+1.91%) posting its strongest advance since April with the Russell 2000 (+5.44%) having its best day for over a year. Watch out for US retail sales today and the Xi-Biden meeting at around 7pm London time with a press conference 11:15pm London time.

When it came to the details of the CPI release, the main headline was that CPI came in at +0.0% in October (vs. +0.1% expected), whilst core CPI also surprised on the downside at +0.2% (vs. +0.3% expected). In turn, that meant the year-on-year CPI fell back to +3.2% (vs. +3.3% expected), and core CPI fell back to a two-year low of +4.0% (vs. +4.1% expected). So lots of positive momentum from the Fed’s perspective. Lower gasoline costs were a big part of the reduction, which fell -5.0% on the month, whilst shelter inflation (+0.26%) saw its joint-slowest print over the last two years as well. The most surprising areas of weakness relative to our econ team’s forecasts were lodging away from home (-2.4%) and airfares (-0.9%), whilst new vehicles (-0.1%) fell despite the workers strike. On airfares, today’s PPI component for this category feeds directly into core PCE so it is arguably more important for the Fed; and we’ll see if it confirms or contradicts the trend. Most other components were in line. For an in-depth review and breakdown of the inflation release see our economists’ note here.

With the weaker CPI print, investors moved to significantly pare back the likelihood of another rate hike in this cycle. For instance, futures had put the likelihood of another hike at 30% just before the CPI release, but by the close that had been priced out altogether. Instead, they moved to ratchet up the likelihood of a cut, with the prospect of a cut by May soaring from 23% on Monday to 86% by yesterday’s close. Today’s retail sales will be the next print to look out for, but remember that there’s still another jobs report and CPI report before the Fed’s next decision in December, so plenty of time for those numbers to shift in either direction. Richmond Fed President Barkin also struck a cautious note, saying that “I’m just not convinced that inflation is on some smooth glide path down to 2%”. Chicago Fed President Goolsbee indicated that while people are “coming back to the job market” there is still a ways to go. He pointed to housing costs as a key focus going forward, and added that “commercial real estate remains an area of concern.”

With investors pricing in a growing likelihood of rate cuts for 2024, US Treasuries rallied sharply across the curve, whilst the dollar index (-1.49%) weakened to its lowest closing level since August. In fact, the decline in the 2yr Treasury yield (-19.9bps) was the biggest since 22nd March, during the banking turmoil, back when there was a similar expectation in markets that the Fed could well have finished its rate hikes. The 10yr yield also saw a similar decline of -19.3bps, which was just smaller than on November 1, when we had another big rally thanks to the dovish-leaning FOMC outcome, along with the quarterly refunding announcement and the weak ISM manufacturing print. That said, it meant the 10yr yield closed at 4.447%, which is its lowest closing level since September. On a relative basis US yields are quiet in Asia moving just less than a basis point lower across most of the curve .

That bond rally was mirrored by a similar surge in equities, which saw the S&P 500 (+1.91%) post its strongest daily performance since April. In fact, even though we’re only half-way through November, the S&P 500 is now on track for its best monthly performance of 2023 so far, having risen by +7.20% since the start of the month .

Yesterday’s advance was incredibly broad-based, with every sector moving higher on the day, whilst the total number of companies moving higher in the index (467) was the fourth-highest number of 2023 so far. In addition, it means the equal-weighted S&P 500 (+2.83% yesterday) is now back in positive territory on a YTD basis again. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ (+2.37%) hit its highest level since early August, having now risen nearly 12% in just two-and-a-half weeks. The Russell 2000 (+5.44%) had its best day in just over a year and has now risen +9.86% over the last two-and-a-half weeks, but remains down -10.2% from its YTD highs from back in July .

In the meantime, sentiment was further boosted by growing hopes that a US government shutdown would be avoided, with the deadline now less than 72 hours away as we go to print. Last night saw the House vote on Speaker Johnson’s proposal pass with a 209-127 margin as it was voted on in an expedited process that required a two-thirds majority. Senate Majority Leader Schumer was “heartened” by the proposal and said he and Minority Leader McConnell “will figure out the best way to get this done quickly” as the bill moves to the Senate. The proposal would fund some parts of the government through Jan 19 and others until the first week of February .

Over in Europe, markets also performed very strongly yesterday, with bonds and equities rallying across the board. That meant yields on 10yr bunds (-11.3bps), OATs (-13.0bps) and BTPs (-15.3bps) all saw sharp declines, whilst the STOXX 600 also surged by +1.34%. Here in the UK, gilts saw a particularly strong rally, with 10yr yields down -16.2bps following the latest employment data. That showed that total wage growth was running at +7.9% in the three months to September, down from 8.2% in the three months to August. Furthermore, vacancies fell to 957k in the three months to October, which is their lowest in over two years. The UK CPI release is out shortly after we go to press, so that’ll be another one to look out for.

Asian equity markets have also surged this morning with the Hang Seng (+2.95%) leading gains, with the Nikkei (+2.54%) and the KOSPI (+1.96%) also soaring. China stocks are lagging behind a bit, possibly due to strong data (more below, reducing stimulus possibilities. The CSI (+0.67%) and the Shanghai Composite (+0.45%) are still higher though. S&P 500 (+0.30%) and NASDAQ 100 (+0.34%) futures are seeing the positive momentum continue.

Coming back to China, data showed that economic activity in the world’s second biggest economy perked up last month with industrial output growing +4.6% y/y in October (v/s +4.5% expected), recording its strongest growth since April while retail sales advanced +7.6% y/y in October (v/s +7.0% expected) and seeing the fastest growth since May. It accelerated from a +5.5% gain in September. This was accompanied by the PBoC injecting a net CNY600bn, despite leaving the one-year medium-term lending facility (1Y MLF) at 2.5%. Meanwhile, fixed asset investment for the first 10 months of the year grew by +2.9% from a year ago, missing market expectations for a +3.1% increase.

Elsewhere, Japan’s economy shrank at its fastest annualised quarterly pace in two years in the July-September period, contracting -2.1% (v/s -0.4% expected) after expanding by a revised +4.5% in Q2 as domestic inflation weighed on consumer demand. See our Japanese economists’ review of the surprise here.

To the day ahead now, and data releases include US retail sales and PPI for October, UK CPI for October, and Euro Area industrial production for September. From central banks, we’ll hear from the Fed’s Barr and Barkin, along with the BoE’s Haskel. Lastly, earnings releases include Target, and the EU Commission will release their latest economic forecasts.

end

2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)

Positive sentiment continues post-CPI, NZD bid & GBP lower; US Retails Sales due – Newsquawk US Market Open

Newsquawk Logo

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 06:20 AM

  • European bourses & US futures continue to build on post-US CPI gains; FTSE 100 outperforms on softer-than-expected UK CPI
  • Dollar finds some reprieve whilst Kiwi outperforms underpinned by encouraging Chinese activity data & GBP underperforms
  • Initial UK CPI-induced Gilt strength lost as core benchmarks pullback modestly
  • Crude subdued but both precious and base metals extend gains despite a slightly firmer Dollar
  • Looking ahead, highlights include US Retail Sales, Japanese Trade, Fed’s Barr, Biden-Xi Meeting. Earnings from Cisco

More Newsquawk in 3 steps:

1. Subscribe to the free premarket movers reports

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EUROPEAN TRADE

EQUITIES

  • European bourses are in the green, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.6%, with support across the board for benchmarks in a continuation of Tuesday’s trade with further impetus from favourable Chinese activity data.
  • Sectors are mixed, with Telecom & Healthcare names underperforming while Consumer Products/Services perform well given their exposure to China.
  • Stateside, futures are in the green with the NQ +0.5% continuing its outperformance despite a very modest uptick in US yields this morning.
  • Click here and here for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow, including earnings.
  • Click here for more details.

FX

  • DXY is relatively contained after hovering in a tight 104.04-22 band in APAC and early European hours, before eking fresh highs of 104.31 after yesterday’s post-US CPI low of 103.99.
  • GBP/USD slipped from a 1.2499 high set overnight to a post-UK CPI low of 1.2458 at the time of writing, well within yesterday’s 1.2261-2505 parameter; EUR/USD holds onto a lion’s share of yesterday’s gains with large FX options expiries near the money.
  • Largely flat intraday trade in the Yen and Yuan, with the latter retracing the strength seen on the release of better-than-expected Chinese activity data overnight despite a lack of pertinent headlines in the European morning ahead of the Biden-Xi meeting.
  • The non-US Dollars see a mixed picture with the NZD outperforming, the AUD flat and the CAD lagging.
  • PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1752 vs exp. 7.2564 (prev. 7.1769).
  • Click here for more details.
  • Click here for the Option Expires for the NY Cut.

FIXED INCOME

  • Core fixed income began the session in the green and towards the best levels printed on Tuesday in the wake of cooler than expected US CPI.
  • However, as the morning progresses and we near the commencement of US trade benchmarks have slipped from best within Europe, a move that is seemingly UST led in a slight paring of Tuesday’s significant action.
  • Cooler UK CPI drove Gilts above 97.00; though, alongside a broader pullback in benchmarks Gilts have lost the level and reside towards the 96.58 low.
  • Bunds received a circa. 15 tick boost on the German Constitutional Court ruling that the transfer of circa. EUR 60bln of unused COVID debt into the climate fund is illegal; though, the move was shortlived given the FY implications are limited between now and FY27.
  • UK receives a record GBP 93bln of demand for their 4.75% 2043 Gilt.
  • Click here for more details.

COMMODITIES

  • WTI Dec and Brent Jan are softer intraday after settling relatively flat yesterday despite the softer inflation data and subsequent slide in the Dollar.
  • As a reminder, the US weekly EIA data will be released in two parts today to account for last week’s data blunder – last week’s data will be released at the usual time of 15:30GMT/10:30EST whilst this week’s data is slated for 18:00GMT/13:00EST.
  • Spot gold topped yesterday’s USD 1,971/oz high around the time European cash markets opened, and irrespective of Dollar strength ahead of the Biden-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit, with the yellow metal eyeing the 7th November peak at 1,978.36/oz.
  • Base metals are firmer across the board following the upbeat Chinese activity data overnight, with 3M LME copper gaining ground above USD 8,250/t
  • US Private Energy Inventory Data (bbls): Crude +1.3mln (exp. +1.8mln), Cushing +1.1mln, Gasoline +0.2mln (exp. +0.6mln), Distillates -1.0mln (exp. -1.2mln)
  • Vitol said its expects a fairly balanced to slight surplus in the global oil market for 2024, while it added that non-OPEC supply has surpassed previous highs and continues to grow. Furthermore, it stated that it is premature to call for peak gasoline demand in China as gasoline car sales are still being added to the fleet.
  • Click here for more details.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

  • ECB’s Centeno says must be patient with policy. Inflation is falling faster. Data shows the global inflation is falling. Still expects a “good” inflation print for November. Do not see reasons to accelerate APP QT, via Bloomberg TV.
  • German Constitutional court rules that the transfer of unused pandemic debt into climate fund is illegal (Second Supplementary Budget Act 2021 is void). “The Court’s decision means that the volume of the Climate and Transformation Fund is reduced by EUR 60 billion. Insofar as the state has entered into obligations that it can no longer service as a result of this reduction, the legislator must compensate for this through other means.”. Click here for details, analysis & reaction.
  • EU Commission sees EZ GDP growth at 0.6% in 2023 (prev. 0.8%), 1.2% 2024 (prev. 1.3%); Sees EZ inflation in 2023 at 5.6% (prev. 5.6%); Says ECB interest rates and weaker external demand took heavier tool on EZ growth than expected.

EUROPEAN DATA

  • UK CPI YY (Oct) 4.6% vs. Exp. 4.8% (Prev. 6.7%); All Services 6.6% (prev. 6.9%); Core 5.7% vs. Exp. 5.8% (Prev. 6.1%)
  • UK CPI MM (Oct) 0.0% vs. Exp. 0.1% (Prev. 0.5%); Core 0.3% vs. Exp. 0.4% (Prev. 0.5%)

NOTABLE US HEADLINES

  • US House voted 336-95 to pass a temporary spending bill that would avert a government shutdown, while it was separately reported that Senate Majority Leader Schumer said the Senate would act quickly on the funding bill.
  • Click here for the US Early Morning Note.

GEOPOLITICS

  • Israel conducted an operation against Hamas in Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital and it noted that its forces had undergone specified training to prepare for the complex and sensitive environment, while it called on all Hamas operatives in the hospital to surrender.
  • US, South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers said Russia-North Korea cooperation is a serious threat to international peace, while it was also reported that North Korea developed a new type of solid-fuel engine for intermediate-range ballistic missiles, according to KCNA and Yonhap
  • EU Commission has reportedly suggested fresh sanctions on Russia, via Politico citing documents; introducing a ban on diamonds and tightening other measures incl. oil price cap.

CRYPTO

  • Bitcoin is modestly firmer on the session but overall action has been contained amid a lack of fresh catalysts as markets generally digest/settle from Tuesday’s US CPI release; currently, BTC holding just shy of the USD 36k handle where the session high also resides.

APAC TRADE

  • APAC stocks followed suit to the global risk-on mood after softer-than-expected US CPI data spurred dovish Fed repricing amid hopes that the Fed could be done with its hiking cycle, while the region also digested better-than-expected Chinese activity data.
  • ASX 200 was led higher by notable outperformance in real estate and tech following a decline in yields and with the index unfazed by the acceleration in the quarterly Wage Price Index.
  • Nikkei 225 extended on gains after it gapped above the 33,000 level alongside the broad heightened risk appetite which helped markets shrug off disappointing preliminary Q3 GDP.
  • Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned after Chinese Industrial Production and Retail Sales topped forecasts, while sentiment was also supported by reports that China is mulling CNY 1tln of new funding to boost the housing market and after the PBoC conducted the largest MLF net injection in seven years.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

  • PBoC announced CNY 1.45tln in 1-year MLF vs CNY 850bln maturing with the rate kept at 2.50%.
  • China’s stats bureau official said the foundation of the economic recovery is yet to be consolidated and noted expectations that China’s price situation to improve with no deflation seen. The stats bureau also said there will be twists and turns in the economic recovery with more efforts needed to promote continued economic recovery and that China’s manufacturers still face inadequate market demand. However, the official also commented that the property market is still in adjustment and transformation, while they expect consumption recovery to continue due to policy support and there is still strong demand for infrastructure investment.
  • US President Biden and Chinese President Xi will meet on Wednesday at 10:45PST (18.45GMT/13:45EST) and Biden will hold a press conference at 16:15PST (00:15GMT/19:15EST)
  • US President Biden said US and Chinese militaries need to be able to make contact and the US is trying to improve bilateral relations with China.
  • US and China reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement and agreed to restart the energy efficiency forum, while they will work together on a global and legally binding agreement to tackle plastic pollution.

DATA RECAP

  • Chinese Industrial Production YY (Oct) 4.6% vs. Exp. 4.4% (Prev. 4.5%); Retail Sales YY (Oct) 7.6% vs. Exp. 7.0% (Prev. 5.5%)
  • Chinese Property Investment YTD YY (Oct) -9.3% vs Exp. -9.1%
  • Japanese GDP QQ (Q3) -0.5% vs. Exp. -0.1% (Prev. 1.2%, Rev. 1.1%); Annualised (Q3) -2.1% vs. Exp. -0.6% (Prev. 4.8%, Rev. 4.5%)
  • Australian Wage Price Index QQ (Q3) 1.3% vs. Exp. 1.3% (Prev. 0.8%, Rev. 0.9%); YY (Q3) 4.0% vs. Exp. 3.9% (Prev. 3.6%)

END

2 c. ASIAN AFFAIRS

WWEDNESDAY MORNING/TUESDAY NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 16.77 PTS OR 0.55%  //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 682.14 PTS OR 3.92%           /The Nikkei CLOSED UP 823.79 PTS OR 2.52% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP  1.52 %   /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP AT 7.2416   /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED UP TO 7.2493 /Oil DOWN TO 77.84 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT  DOWN AT 82.18/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN  TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE STRONGER

2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
//

NORTH KOREA/

END

2e) JAPAN

end

3 CHINA

CHINA/USA

Interesting remarks from Xi to Biden. He probably did not understand the meaning of what Xi said.

Xi To Biden: “Unrealistic For One Side To Remodel The Other”

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 03:30 PM

Update(1530ET): Biden’s opening remarks before going into the closed door session with Xi were to be expected:

Biden also emphasized that the leaders had to ensure that competition should not veer into conflict, which echoed remarks administration officials have delivered in the past over the countries’ relations.

“I value our conversation because I think it’s paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication,” Biden said.

But Xi’s introductory words were more interesting:

The Chinese president said his country’s relationship with the U.S. has “never been smooth sailing” over the last 50 years “yet it has kept moving forward” with twists and turns.

“It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has terrible consequences for both sides,” he said. “The world at large is big enough for the two countries to succeed.”

Meanwhile, “China is objecting to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members incorporating sustainability and inclusivity into their trade and investment policies,” Reuters reports.

A post summit live press conference is expected to happen late in the afternoon local time. The conversation is expected to take hours.

* * *

4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS

EUROPE

Europe Is Burning

a good read

(/Kotkin/American Mind)

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 05:15 AM

Authored by Joel Kotkin via The American Mind,

The only lessons the Old World offers to America these days are cautionary.

Ever since the earliest days of the Republic, American intellectuals, artists, and statesmen looked to Europe for models. Conservatives felt attracted to the continent’s sense of continuity and tradition, and as the base for Christianity. More recently, progressives saw in European social democracy and globalist pacifism a role model to be embraced.

Yet today Europe seems not much of a model for much of anything outside of museums, charming cathedral towns, and terrific food. The notion that Europe represents the future, nurtured by the likes of Mitterrand advisor Jacques Attali, Jeremy Rifkind’s utopian European Dream, and the American journalist T.R. Reid’s 2005 The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy, seem utterly delusional.

A common theme in the early years of the millennium was that Europe was on the verge of global resurgence while America was in decline. Europe’s eventual stagnation, as many conservatives point out, can be in part traced to an ever expanding high-tax welfare state that generally absorbs roughly ten more percentage points of GDP than in the U.S. But this is not the only explanation. Some of the moderately better off European economies, like Denmark and Sweden, are welfare states but manage to outperform the rest.

The real problem is civilizational. Europeans are unwilling to preserve their industrial base and control their borders, leaving the continent increasingly weak and largely defenseless. The leaderless American empire may be creaking, but Europe is in worse shape, hemmed in by dismal demographics, high taxes, suffocating regulation, and an entrenched bureaucracy that makes California seem like a libertarian paradise.

Europe’s decline can be seen in its rapidly shrinking portion of the global economy. It is hard to find any indicator that the continent is gaining global market share as money continues to pour into the U.S. For the last 15 years, European wages have fallen while those in the U.S. have continued to rise; the eurozone economy grew about six percent, measured in dollars, compared with 82 percent for the U.S., according to International Monetary Fund data.

European quality of life is dropping, its industrial base eroding, and there seems little promise of future improvement. Europe now lags in virtually every major advanced industry, from software and space to automobiles. Of the top 50 tech firms only three are located in Europe; the list is dominated largely by the United States with China second. Foreign investment has plummeted and by 2022 accounted for $100 billion less than the U.S.

Much of this decline is self-inflicted, which suggests some valuable lessons for us. A critical problem lies in E.U. climate policy, which has tended to be more extreme, and widely implemented, than in a more divided, decentralized United States. These policies are already eroding food production and sparking higher prices. Developing nations need more food production from exporters, but by Europe’s banning or restricting critical fertilizers, or the enforced culling of herds, they will have to get it elsewhere. This comes at a time when Europe’s old African and South American colonies are losing interest in ties with France and Britain and increasingly look elsewhere, notably China and Russia, for capital, goods, and natural resource development.

Climate catastrophism has also cripped Europe’s energy supply. To meet utopian “net zero” standards, Europe seems, as one observer put it recently, on course for “energy suicide.” The effect of the Ukrainian war has already affected European natural gas prices, but the current conflict is adding more pain. The U.S. is now the world’s biggest liquid natural gas (LNG) exporter while green policies leave Europe ever more exposed. Since October 6, prices at the benchmark TTF gas hub in Holland have soared, selling for about $51 per million Btu. That same quantity of gas at Henry Hub in Louisiana sells for about $2.90. Where will Europe have to turn for future gas supplies? Some Europeans may prefer kowtowing to Qatar, the ally of Iran and Hamas, then bending down to unruly Texans.

The great bastion of European competence, Germany, is clearly unraveling. Germany’s strategy of dependence on U.S. military, Russian energy, and Chinese customers has blown up in their faces, as the U.S. faces defense overstretch, Russian gas heads to China and other more dynamic markets, and the Chinese, once seen as ideal customers for high-end German engineered products, are becoming both reluctant customers and stronger competitors. Germany is now on the verge of losing much of its industrial base, notably in chemicals and autos, including its vaunted mittlestand, in large part due to high energy prices and a diminishing workforce.

German industry must now cope with tech products and electric vehicles built in the world’s leading GHG producer. The power of technology to transform an economy—or leave it behind—also is apparent when comparing the trajectories of Germany and the U.S. over the past 15 years. During that period, the U.S. economy, driven by a boom in Silicon Valley, expanded by 76 percent to $25.5 trillion. Germany’s economy grew by 19 percent to $4.1 trillion. In dollar terms, the U.S. added the equivalent of nearly three Germanys to its economy over that period.

Yet perhaps even more troubling may prove Europe’s experience with immigration. Europe, like the U.S., is swamped with refugees, mainly from destitute countries. Opposition to this unregulated tide—what Le Figaro calls “Le menace islamiste”—is widely dismissed as racist and even criminal. Even before the outbreaks of pro-Hamas sentiment roiled Paris this month, violent protests already had become common and increasingly hostile to the secular state. It is now clear that some of these newcomers have brought with them a strain of Islamic fundamentalism and antisemitism that is far more threatening than anything experienced here.

In the short run, opposition to Israel from the Left, from neo-Marxists to Greens, seems likely to boost the political power of Islamism across Europe, notably in France, while further weakening national as well as European institutions. Across the continent, one sees the growth of ghettos that now contain a permanent underclass who embrace lawless nihilism, compounded by Islamist ideology. European cities were once largely safe and clean but are now dirty and graffiti-scarred, although still less lethally dangerous than their American counterparts. Some cities, like Marseilles, are now better known for random crime and decay than for their Mediterranean charm.

To a long-civilized people used to a degree of civility and respect for law, scenes of French off-duty cops being assaulted are an affront. The increased dominance of large cities by often violent, perennially angry youths, largely from Muslim countries, has the whole continent on edge. Even Sweden, long the Valhalla of progressive fantasies, has been forced to call out the army to tamp down violence in immigrant-dominated areas, where native Swedes are essentially barred.

The opposition to unrestrained immigration has terrible implications for the center-left, whose multicultural ideology in unraveling. The postwar dream that immigrants would relieve the continent of its labor shortages while gradually assimilating to local culture has not panned out. Immigrant workers either lack the skills or cannot penetrate the continent’s often difficult regulatory environment. Even famously liberal countries like Denmark are mandating integration, and openly seek to break up immigrant-dominated clusters by bulldozing social housing.

Immigration is also sparking a powerful right-wing resurgence. Victor Orban, the bete noire of progressive Europe, now has company in the form of Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and perhaps a future President Marine Le Pen. It has also nurtured an upsurge of far-right sentiment in Germany, where refugee populations are soaring.

The rise of the nationalist Right is widely denounced in the media, but it largely represents less  expansive chauvinism than a last desperate attempt to restore a semblance of traditional values, notably belief in the past and religion. As the Guardian noted five years ago, a majority of young adults in 12 European countries have no faith; one scholar noted that many young Europeans “will have been baptized and then never darken the door of a church again. Cultural religious identities just aren’t being passed on from parents to children. It just washes straight off them.” According to Pew, for example, Christianity will be the minority faith across Britain and in some other European countries by 2050.

Far more than the U.S., Europe is ill-suited for diversity, as these countries are closely tied to their indigenous population and tradition. The “melting pot,” also under assault in the U.S, never really worked in Europe since the growth of Middle Eastern Muslim immigration. And with extraordinarily low birthrates among indigenous Europeans, these unintegrated populations—the drivers of the current upsurge in antisemitism—will surely grow as a percentage of the population.

If there’s hope it lies in resurgent pushback, both on climate policies in many countries and on unrestricted immigration, both in Germany and on the eastern frontier of the E.U.

Given the struggles in Europe with the consequences of contemporary progressivism, Americans should think twice about adopting their current “solutions.” Without some radical readjustment, Europeans face a dismal future, one that we should not want to replicate on this side of the Atlantic.

The American Mind presents a range of perspectives. Views are writers’ own and do not necessarily represent those of The Claremont Institute.

END

UK

UK

END

5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

ISRAEL/HAMAS/

Tuesday night:  9 pm

(Jerusalem Post)

IDF enters Al-Shifa hospital as battle rages deep in Gaza Strip

BREAKING NEWS

IDF spokesman to CNN: ‘We are entering a specific place, maybe we will release hostages’

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFNOVEMBER 15, 2023 03:57

IDF English spokesman Peter Lerner told CNN Wednesday morning that the IDF entered Al-Shifa hospital to carry out a local and precise mission, “to possibly reach a place where we will defeat Hamas and release hostages.”

“We are not raiding the hospital, but targeting a specific place.”

end

(Reuters/7 pm)

Israel raids Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital, urges Hamas to surrender

By Nidal Al-Mughrabi

A satellite image shows Al-Shifa hospita

[1/6]A satellite image shows Al-Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza November 11, 2023. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

  • Summary
  • LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
  • Israel says it targets ‘specified area’ of hospital
  • Army spokesman calls Al Shifa ‘a central hub’ of Hamas operations, ‘perhaps even the beating heart and maybe even a centre of gravity’
  • Medical teams and Arabic speakers part of Israeli operation
  • Hamas says it holds Israel, US president fully responsible

GAZA, Nov 15 (Reuters) – The Israeli military said it was carrying out a raid on Wednesday against Hamas militants in Al Shifa Hospital, having urged them to surrender with thousands of Palestinian civilians still sheltering inside Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital.

Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the Gaza health ministry, told Al Jazeera television that Israeli forces had raided the western side of the medical complex.

“There are big explosions and dust entered the areas where we are. We believe an explosion occurred inside the hospital,” Bursh said.

Less than an hour earlier, around 1 a.m. local time (2300 GMT), a Gaza health ministry spokesman said Israel had told officials in the enclave that it would raid the Shifa hospital complex “in the coming minutes.”

Global calls for a humanitarian ceasefire have mounted in recent days, and the fate of Al Shifa has become a focus of international alarm because of worsening conditions in the facility, where thousands of patients, medical staff and displaced people have been trapped during the Israeli assault on Gaza in the past five weeks.

Israel has said that Hamas has a command centre underneath Al Shifa and uses the hospital and tunnels beneath it to conceal military operations and to hold hostages. Hamas denies it.

In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said: “Based on intelligence information and an operational necessity, IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa hospital.”

The military added: “The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians.”

Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told CNN the hospital and compound were for Hamas “a central hub of their operations, perhaps even the beating heart and maybe even a centre of gravity.”

The U.S. said on Tuesday that its own intelligence supported Israel’s conclusions.

Hamas said on Wednesday that U.S. announcement had effectively given a “green light” for Israel to raid the hospital. The group said it held Israel and U.S. President Joe Biden fully responsible for the operation. There was no immediate comment from the White House. Biden was due to speak at a fundraiser a few hours after the raid.

Israeli forces have waged fierce street battles against Hamas fighters over the past 10 days before advancing into the centre of Gaza City and surrounding Al Shifa.

Israel has sworn to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the militants’ cross-border assault into Israel on Oct 7. Israel says Hamas killed 1,200 people in the rampage and took more than 240 hostage.

In the West Bank, a separate Palestinian enclave not controlled by Hamas, Palestinian Authority Health Minister Mai Alkaila said Israel was “committing a new crime against humanity, medical staff and patients by besieging” Al Shifa.

“We hold the occupation forces fully responsible for the lives of the medical staff, patients and displaced people in Al Shifa,” Alkaila said in a statement.

DIRE CONDITIONS

Al Shifa is a sprawling complex of buildings and courtyards a few hundred metres from Gaza City’s fishing port. Buildings on the western side of the complex, which the Gaza official said was the site of the raid, include the internal medicine and dialysis departments.

Hamas says 650 patients and 5,000 to 7,000 other civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds, under constant fire from Israeli snipers and drones. Amid shortages of fuel, water and supplies, it says 40 patients have died in recent days.

Thirty-six babies are left from the neo-natal ward after three died. Without fuel for generators to power incubators, the babies were being kept as warm as possible, lined up eight to a bed.

Palestinians trapped in the hospital dug a mass grave on Tuesday to bury patients who died and no plan was in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators, Ashraf Al-Qidra, Gaza’s health ministry spokesman, said.

Qidra said there were about 100 bodies decomposing inside and no way to get them out.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply disturbed by the “dramatic loss of life” in the hospitals, his spokesman said. “In the name of humanity, the secretary-general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” the spokesman told reporters.

Medical officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 11,000 people are confirmed dead from Israeli strikes, around 40% of them children, and countless others were trapped under rubble.

Around two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been made homeless, unable to escape the territory where food, fuel, fresh water and medical supplies are running out.

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Israel’s move toward Shifa hospital has raised questions about how it would interpret international laws on protection of medical facilities and the thousands of displaced people sheltering there, U.N. human rights officials have said.

Hospitals are protected buildings under international humanitarian law. But allegations that Shifa is also being used for military purposes complicated the situation because that would also breach international law, U.N. officials have said.

Medical units used for acts harmful to the enemy, and which have ignored a warning to stop doing so, lose their special protection under international law.

Israel said in its statement on Wednesday that it had given Gaza authorities 12 hours to cease military activities within the hospital. “Unfortunately, it did not,” the military statement said.

Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director for Human Rights Watch, said before Israel’s raid that warning of an attack should provide a safe place for civilians to go and a safe way to get there.

“It’s very alarming because you have to remember hospitals in Gaza are housing tens of thousands of displaced persons,” he said.

Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Trevor Hunnicutt in San Francisco, Ahmed Tolba in Cairo and Reuters bureaux; Writing by Cynthia Osterman; Editing by Howard Goller & Simon Cameron-Moore

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

end

(zerohedge)

7 pm/Tuesday

Israeli Troops Storm Gaza’s Largest Hospital After Doctors Warn Of ‘Catastrophic Consequences’

TUESDAY, NOV 14, 2023 – 09:13 PM

Update(2113ET): In the overnight and early morning hours of Wednesday (local time), Israel’s military says it is moving against al-Shifa hospital, the Strip’s largest, while saying the assault “operation” is necessary to root out a Hamas command post there. 

Al Jazeera earlier reported that Israel announced the hospital would be raided in “minutes” – but the fate of worried doctors and patients has remained unknown since. According to the latest being reported in The Wall Street Journal: 

Israeli forces carried out a targeted operation against Hamas “in a specified area’’ of Gaza’s largest hospital, hours after the White House backed Israeli assertions that Palestinian militants are running military operations from the enclave’s hospitals.

The Israeli military said that it launched “a precise and targeted operation’’ in the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The White House had earlier cautioned Israel not to carry out airstrikes against the hospital. Hamas said in a statement that it holds Israel and President Biden “fully responsible” for the raid on Al-Shifa hospital.

On the ground Al Jazeera coverage is showing chaos unfolding at the hospital, which has already been site of mass death, given the IDF has had it surrounded for days and has reportedly fired at targets near the entrance. Fighting has also engulfed its environs, where tanks have the area surrounded.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has stated: “Dozens of [Israeli] soldiers entered the emergency department building in Al-Shifa Hospital Complex.”

Doctors interviewed by Al Jazeera say they plan to remain with the patients, who have been moved into interior corridors, as gunfire can be heard on the hospital campus. There are multiple thousands, including displaced refugees seeking shelter, still inside the besieged hospital. There are growing accusations that Israel’s operation is a clear war crime.

Below is the official IDF statement in English announcing the new offensive against al-Shifa:

Palestinian Minister of Health Dr. Mai Al-Kaila had earlier been cited in regional sources as warning ahead of the new assault, “Israeli forces are committing a new crime against humanity, medical staff, and patients by besieging and bombing the Shifa Medical Complex. We hold the occupation fully responsible for the lives of the medical staff, patients, and displaced people in the Shifa Medical Complex, and we warn of the catastrophic consequences of storming the medical complex.”

Israel says it got a green light for the raid on Shifa from the US, after the White House said it backs Israel’s narrative that it’s being used for military purposes.

* * *

Israel has been ramping up its global messaging campaign at a moment it faces increased isolation from Global South countries, and amid growing criticism from large powers like China, Russia, and major Latin American countries such as Brazil.  

But there have been signs of dissent even within the Biden administration as well, with pushback especially coming from the State Department of late, as US officials want to see the White House become more publicly critical of alleged Israeli war crimes, given also the immense death toll, at over 11,200 Gazans killed – with some half of these believed to be women and children.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now taking his message to the American public, in a Monday night appearance on Fox News’ Sean Hannity, warning that the US will be “next” if his military doesn’t decimate Hamas.Via AP

“We have to win not only for our sake, but for the sake of the Middle East, for the sake of our Arab neighbors. You know what, for the sake of Gazans who’ve been held by this dark tyranny that has brutalized and brought them nothing but bloodshed and poverty and misery,” Netanyahu introduced.

“We have to win to protect Israel. We have to win to safeguard the Middle East. We have to win for the sake of the civilized world. That’s the battle we’re fighting, and it’s being waged right now. There is no substitute for that victory.”

And that’s when he emphasized the potential dire repercussions for the West if Israel fails in its objectives. “If we don’t win now, then Europe is next and you’re next. And we have to win,” he added.

Netanyahu’s words carried a theme of a war between ‘barbarians’ and ‘civilization’, with an intent to make Americans believe what’s happening in the Middle East is “your fight” as well. According to Fox:

Netanyahu stressed that “our fight is your fight” and that there is “no substitute for victory.”

“We have to have the forces of civilization beat these barbarians because otherwise this barbarism will spread and will endanger the entire world,” Netanyahu said. “Every American, every civilized country will be under peril. We have to win. There is no substitute for victory. Total victory.”

Such messaging filled with a ‘good vs. evil’ motif was also heavily relied upon by the Bush administration and neocons in selling the Iraq War in 2003. Netanyahu has in past years also painted such simple contrasts when speaking about Iran and its supposed ‘nuclear threat’ as well.

Netanyahu may have been responding to rare words of restraint issued by President Biden on the same day. “I have not been reluctant in expressing my concerns about what’s going on and it’s my hope and expectation that it will be less intrusive action relative to the hospital,” Biden said Monday regarding the worsening humanitarian crisis at al-Shifa hospital in the center of Gaza City.

Zelensky’s playbook of “you’re next”?…

“So, I remain somewhat hopeful but the hospital must be protected,” he said. This was in response to growing international condemnation, including from the UN, of Israeli troops laying siege to the large Gaza hospital, amid reports that patients – including the very young – are dying, and as the hospital has run out of fuel to keep vital generators going.

end

JERUSALEM POST

Tuesday night (earlier)

IDF carrying out operations on Al-Shifa hospital

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have used Gaza hospitals to store weapons, hold hostages, and are prepared to fight the IDF from medical facilities, John Kirby said.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, REUTERSNOVEMBER 15, 2023 01:36Updated: NOVEMBER 15, 2023 03:05

Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, November 8, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/DOAA ROUQA)

Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, November 8, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/DOAA ROUQA)

The IDF is currently undergoing operations on Al-Shifa Hospital early Wednesday morning, according to an IDF statement.

“Based on intelligence information and an operational necessity, IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Al-Shifa Hospital,” the IDF statement said.

“The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians,” the statement continued.

“The operation was preceded by an effort to evacuate the hospital from the sick and homeless and even opened a special passageway from it. The hospital management was informed ahead of time about the (IDF) entrance to the complex… Incubators, medical equipment, and baby food are expected to be transferred to the hospital,” the statement continued.

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike near the Indonesian Hospital that ran out of fuel and electricity, in the northern Gaza Strip, November 12, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Anas al-Shareef)

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike near the Indonesian Hospital that ran out of fuel and electricity, in the northern Gaza Strip, November 12, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Anas al-Shareef)

Gaza’s health ministry spokesperson warned early Wednesday morning of a potential Israeli raid on the enclave’s Al Shifa hospital complex, saying Israel informed Gaza health officials that its forces would raid the facility – something the IDF statement seemed to confirm.

Al-Shifa Hospital’s terror infrastructure

United States National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have used some Gaza hospitals to store weapons, hold hostages, and are prepared to fight the IDF from medical facilities.

“We have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad used some hospitals in the Gaza Strip including Al-Shifa and tunnels underneath them to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages,” Kirby said.

“Hamas and the PIJ members operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa in Gaza City. They have stored weapons there and they are prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against that facility,” Kirby continued.Kirby: US has information Hamas, PIJ held weapons, hostages at Al-ShifaHamas and the PIJ members operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa in Gaza City, and they are prepared to fight the IDF from there, John Kirby said.By REUTERS, TOVAH LAZAROFF

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John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, answers questions during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, US, February 17, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN)

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have used some Gaza hospitals to store weapons, hold hostages, and are prepared to fight the IDF from medical facilities, United States National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday.

“We have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad used some hospitals in the Gaza Strip including Al-Shifa and tunnels underneath them to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages,” Kirby said.

“Hamas and the PIJ members operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa in Gaza City. They have stored weapons there and they are prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against that facility.

“We do not support striking a hospital from the air and we do not want to see a firefight in the hospital where innocent people, helpless people, sick people are simply trying to get the medical care that they deserve. 

“Hospitals and patients must be protected,” he said.

A satellite image shows Al-Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza November 11, 2023. (credit: MAXAR TECHNOLOGY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

A satellite image shows Al-Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza November 11, 2023. (credit: MAXAR TECHNOLOGY/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

“This just points out how challenging the military operation is. Hamas has deeply imbedded itself within the civilian population. Israel has an added burden given the way that Hamas operates,” Kirby said.

“Hamas actions do not lessen Israel’s responsibility to protect civilians in Gaza,” he said.

Kirby spoke as international protests have grown amid reports from the hospitals of patient deaths in light of the IDF’s push in northern Gaza to uncover and destroy Hamas installations in hospitals and to close the terror groups tunnels underneath them.  

Israel faces foreign backlash for bombing Gaza

The government of Belize suspended diplomatic ties with Israel on Tuesday, citing what it described in a statement as “unceasing indiscriminate bombing in Gaza.” 

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his Australian counterpart in a call that Israel’s targeting of hospitals and schools in Gaza amounted to an “open violation of international law,” a Turkish diplomatic source said.

Fidan also emphasized the urgency of achieving a full ceasefire as soon as possible and the need for unhindered access of humanitarian aid into the enclave, the source said.

Hamas has asserted that over 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in war related violence.

The IDF launched a military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza after the terrorist group infiltrated southern Israel on October 7, killing over 1,200 people and seizing over 238 hostages.

On Tuesday the global focus was on the fate of Al Shifa. Palestinians trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital were digging a mass grave to bury patients who died under Israeli encirclement, and said no plan was in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators.

Hamas, Gaza’s ruling Islamist group, denies fighters are present and says 650 patients and 5,000-7,000 other civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds, under constant fire from snipers and drones. It says 40 patients have died in recent days, including three premature babies whose incubators were knocked out.

A Hamas official in Beirut said 25 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals were out of use because of the Israeli army’s military action. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply disturbed by the “dramatic loss of life” in the hospitals, his spokesman said.

“In the name of humanity, the secretary-general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” the spokesman told reporters.

Ashraf Al-Qidra, Gaza’s health ministry spokesman, reached by telephone inside the hospital compound, said there were about 100 bodies decomposing inside and no way to get them out.

“We are planning to bury them today in a mass grave inside the Al-Shifa medical complex. It is going to be very dangerous as we don’t have any cover or protection from the ICRC,” he told Reuters, referring to the International Committee of the Red Cross/Crescent.

Thirty-six babies are left from the neo-natal ward after three died. Without fuel for generators to power incubators, the babies were being kept as warm as possible, lined up eight to a bed.

Israel announced on Tuesday that it was offering portable, battery-powered incubators so the babies could be moved. But Qidra said that so far no arrangements had been established to carry out any such evacuation.

“The occupation is still besieging the hospital and they are firing into the yards from time to time,” he said.

Israel has denied that Al-Shifa hospital is under siege and says its forces allow exit routes for those inside. Medics and officials inside the hospital deny this and say those trying to leave come under fire. Reuters could not verify the situation.

Speaking at a news briefing, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Washington did not want to see any civilians, “certainly not babies in incubators” and other vulnerable populations caught in the crossfire. He added the US was in conversations with humanitarian organizations and third parties on the possible evacuation.

“We want there to be safe evacuation for patients in hospitals so they can get out of harm’s way. We would support an independent third party, a respected third party to conduct those evacuations,” Miller said.

“We know the government of Israel would support such a step as well… The question is will Hamas allow patients to be evacuated from hospitals or will they continue to use them as human shields?” Miller added.

He said Washington was in conversations with a number of humanitarian organizations about possible patient evacuations but did not say which ones or give further details.

Kirby said that the US continued to focus on expanding the extent of the humanitarian aid that enters Gaza from the Egyptian crossing at Rafah.

Britain’s minister of state for development, Andrew Mitchell, said on Tuesday that longer humanitarian pauses covering wider areas would be needed in the Israel-Palestine conflict in order to deliver aid to the region.

“Longer pauses that cover wider areas will be needed. We are discussing with the UN and other partners how best to achieve this,” Mitchell told lawmakers.

Humanitarian aid sent by Italy to Gaza is entering the area in these hours, the Italian foreign minister said on Tuesday.

“Italy has sent two C130 military aircraft carrying 16 tonnes of humanitarian aid, which are in transit towards Gaza in these hours,” Antonio Tajani told parliament’s joint Foreign Affairs and Defence committees, adding the aid travelled through the Rafah crossing, on the border with Egypt.

Separately the United States and Britain imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Tuesday targeting Hamas as they seek to cut off funding for the militant Palestinian group following its deadly attack on Israel last month.

The United States announced its third round of sanctions since the attack, targeting key Hamas officials and the mechanisms through which Iran provides support to Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), another militant group.

Britain added sanctions on four Hamas senior leaders and two financiers, the Foreign Office said in a statement, including the group’s political leader in Gaza and the commander of its military arm.

“The United States will continue to work with our partners, including the UK, to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds to carry out its atrocities,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

“Hamas’s actions have caused immense suffering and shown that terrorism does not occur in isolation. Together with our partners we are decisively moving to degrade Hamas’s financial infrastructure, cut them off from outside funding, and block the new funding channels they seek to finance their heinous acts.”Go to the full article >

end

On the hostages:

Empty Words? Biden Tells Family Members Of US Hostages In Gaza: “Hang In There, We’re Coming”

TUESDAY, NOV 14, 2023 – 08:50 PM

It was only on Sunday that the Bident administration belatedly revealed that an American toddler is among the some 240 Israeli and foreign hostages being held by Hamas. Though an exact figure is hard to come by, there may be a dozen or more dual US citizens among the captives. Last month, two were among the first to be released. Days ago, White House spokesman Jake Sullivan put the number at nine Americans missing.

But hopes are dwindling concerning the fate of the rest, given how violent the fighting in Gaza City has been. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Tuesday a new death of one of its soldiers in captivity: 19-year old Cpl. Noa Marciano. She had been kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct.7 terror raids, but then—

On Monday evening, Hamas published a propaganda video of Marciano, showing her speaking to the camera four days after being taken hostage, identifying herself and reciting the names of her parents and her hometown. The video then cut to showing her dead body.

Noa Marciano’s mother holds a sign with her picture in a media interview

Hamas sources have suggested she died as the result of an airstrike, while Israeli sources say that terrorists beat her to death, or executed her. The IDF has now confirmed her death in captivity.

This has sparked new fears over the worst case scenario for remaining hostages. On Tuesday reporters asked President Joe Biden about what’s being done to free the rest, and particularly the Americans. He told reporters that his message to the hostages and their families is “Hang in there, we’re coming.”

“I’ve been talking to the people involved every single day. I believe it’s going to happen, but I don’t want to get into any detail,” Biden said. These talks have centered on Qatar’s ability to mediate, given it communicates with Hamas leadership.

Sullivan over the weekend had told ABC News, “There are ongoing negotiations involving the Israelis, the Qataris, and we, the United States, are actively engaged in this as well because we want to make sure that we bring home those Americans who have been taken hostage as well as all of the other hostages.”

In addition to the negotiations track, it’s possible the White House could be preparing a military rescue “option”, but such an operation would of course be extremely risky and filled with uncertainty amid the evolving urban battlefield. 

It was previously confirmed that the Pentagon currently has elite special forces operators advising the Israelis. There are also rumors these US forces could be on the Gaza battlefield in limited numbers. 

end

JERUSALEM POST

Tuesday afternoon:

“No Ceasefire!”: Largest Pro-Israel Rally In World Held In D.C.

TUESDAY, NOV 14, 2023 – 09:40 PM

Tuesday saw a huge pro-Israel rally take over Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., which organizers say was in support of ongoing Israeli military efforts to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and towards denouncing antisemitism in the US and globally.

Some reports estimate the crowd was nearly 300,000 people, as it filled the National Mall and stretched for several blocks. Jewish organizations had been active in bussing activist groups from cities across the east coast.Image: Times of Israel

Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the crowd via live video feed. He said people from all over the US and world were in D.C. “to march for the babies, the boys and girls, women and men viciously held hostage by Hamas; to march for the right of every Jew to live proudly and safely in America, in Israel and all around the world.”

The march is being widely reported as the largest pro-Israel demonstration to occur anywhere since the killing of some 1,200-1,400 Jews in Hamas’ Oct.7 attacks:

Addressing the pro-Israel rally on Washington’s National Mall, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff says over 290,000 people are in attendance, making it the largest pro-Israel gathering in history.

He adds that more than 250,000 people have also been watching online and on C-SPAN.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke in person, receiving loud cheers when he denounced any talk of ceasefire. He actually called the very idea of ceasefire at this point “outrageous.” He emphasized, “Israel will cease their counter-offensive when Hamas ceases to be a threat to the Jewish state.” The crowd then broke out into chants of “no ceasefire!” 

Some critics said the march had the atmosphere of a “pro-war rally”…

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also addressed the rally, saying “When Hamas says from the river to the sea, they mean all the present-day Israel should be a Jewish-free land.” He said: “We stand with you, and we will not rest until you get all the assistance you need.”

Many Evangelical pastors and leaders were also present. The Evangelical movement, and particularly those who have ‘end times’ Biblical prophecy as a primary doctrinal focus, represent a significant base of Israel’s unwavering support in America. Arguably the most controversial pastor to address Tuesday’s rally was Christians United For Israel’s Pastor John Hagee, who is based out of San Antonio. 

“You, the leaders of Israel, and you alone, should determine how this war is going to be conducted and concluded,” Hagee told the cheering crowd. “You decide — no one else.”

He continued, “Choose Israel or Hamas,” and emphasized: “There is no middle ground in this conflict. You’re either for the Jewish people or you’re not.”

But Hagee has long been well-known to make incredibly controversial statements regarding the Jewish state, which he says Christians must support as a matter of dogma. For example:

Tuesday’s massive march comes after dozens of large pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the US and across major Western and global capitals have denounced Israel’s military operation as “genocidal”. These rallies have become particularly big in London. They have denounced Israel’s killing of well over 10,000 Palestinians (and now, the mostly civilian death has surpassed 11,200). However, strong supporters of Israel have often deemed these events ‘antisemitic’–and the Israeli government has also accused these marches of being “pro-Hamas”. 

The D.C. event was considered a ‘high security’ situation, and Metro police were out in force. Earlier in the day it was reported that “The Department of Homeland Security has designated Tuesday’s March for Israel in Washington, D.C., as a  ‘Level 1’ security event, the highest rating of risk assessment, sources tell ABC News.” But thankfully there appears to have been no significant security incident.

END

WEDNESDAY MORNING

Israel may come close to this deal to save some of the hostages.

(Jerusalem Post)//REUTERS

BREAKING NEWS

Qatar seeking Israel-Hamas deal to release 50 hostages and 3-day truce, sources say

By REUTERSNOVEMBER 15, 2023 14:39

Qatari mediators were on Wednesday seeking to negotiate a deal between Hamas and Israel that includes the release of around 50 civilian hostages from Gaza in exchange for a three-day ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

The deal, under discussion, which has been coordinated with the US, would also see Israel release some Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails and increase the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza, the official said.

It would mark the biggest release in hostages held by Hamas since the Palestinian militant group burst over the Gaza border, attacked parts of Israel and took hostages into the enclave.

Hamas has agreed to the general outlines of this deal, but Israel has not and it is still negotiating the details, the official said.

It is not known how many Palestinian women and children Israel would release from its jails as part of the agreement under discussion.

end

JERUSALEM POST

WEDNESDAY MORNING

5 Hamas terrorists killed inside Shifa. No sign of the hostages

(JERUSALEM POST)

Five Hamas terrorists killed as IDF battles into Shifa hospital

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have used Gaza hospitals to store weapons and hold hostages, and are prepared to fight the IDF from medical facilities, John Kirby said.

By YONAH JEREMY BOBNOVEMBER 15, 2023 01:36

Updated: NOVEMBER 15, 2023 11:42

Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, November 8, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/DOAA ROUQA)Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, November 8, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/DOAA ROUQA)

The IDF entered a specific area of Shifa Hospital early Wednesday morning while seeking to keep its exact goals, timing, and mission classified as the operation is still ongoing, as leaking certain details could endanger IDF forces.


The military also announced that they successfully delivered crucial medical equipment and supplies, such as incubators for babies and baby food.In foreign media, it was reported that IDF spokespeople hinted at the possibility of finding hostages held by Hamas, similar to having found a hostage holding area under Rantisi Hospital earlier this week.

However, the military has not said anything concrete about hostages being located at Shifa; as of 9:00 a.m., its main finding was a significant stash of Hamas weaponry.Smoke rises following an Israeli strike near the Indonesian Hospital that ran out of fuel and electricity, in the northern Gaza Strip, November 12, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Anas al-Shareef)Smoke rises following an Israeli strike near the Indonesian Hospital that ran out of fuel and electricity, in the northern Gaza Strip, November 12, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Anas al-Shareef)

Although the IDF killed five Hamas terrorists on its way into Shifa, it has not encountered any violent resistance within the hospital itself so far. The situation is dynamic, however, as the IDF plans to search other specific areas of what is a very large hospital complex.There are also vast underground tunnel networks under and around Shifa and it was unclear if this IDF operation would lead to penetrating those areas or if it might be more of an initial intelligence-collecting operation, much the way that there were three brief intelligence-collecting moves into Gaza in the days before the actual main invasion in late October.No IDF forces have been harmed so far in the current Shifa operation.

The military would not address foreign media reports that it had entered through some kind of side wall as opposed to through a designated entrance.

Shifa Hospital’s terror infrastructure

Communications for the hospital have not been shut down by the IDF, despite some foreign reports.The IDF identified the current operation as very precise and gradual, saying that it was unaware so far of the accuracy of a video surfacing on social media showing one woman inside the hospital wounded by some kind of shrapnel or other broken building materials.Since 2014, the IDF has said that Shifa served as Hamas’s wartime command center and refuge for its top leaders.

This is a developing story.

END

JERUSALEM POST

IMPORTANT:
IDF found Hamas weapons along with discarded Hamas uniforms. No evidence that hostages were underneath but they still have not gone into those tunnels.

Thus they are not sure where the hostages are located.

(Jerusalem Post)

IDF found Hamas weapons, tech in Shifa hospital, but no smoking gun

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have used Gaza hospitals to store weapons and hold hostages, and are prepared to fight the IDF from medical facilities, John Kirby said.

By YONAH JEREMY BOBNOVEMBER 15, 2023 01:36Updated: NOVEMBER 15, 2023 21:22

Hamas weapons and equipment found in Shifa hospital. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Hamas weapons and equipment found in Shifa hospital.(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

https://trinitymedia.ai/player/trinity-player.php?pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Fbreaking-news%2Farticle-773285&unitId=2900003088&userId=0984023a-6fcf-4b29-a5e6-1be85cfd6d0a&isLegacyBrowser=false&version=20231115_6fe9213672091aece0c29d503e33892caaebbfaa&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=140

IDF Chief Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari on Wednesday night presented Hamas weapons, military equipment, and intelligence technology which IDF soldiers found in more than 18 hours of searching Shifa Hospital since the early morning.

However, at press time, the IDF’s findings were not the same level “smoking gun” as the vast explosives, advanced weapons, and hostage holding room which it found at Rantisi Hospital just a few days earlier.

In addition, no senior Hamas officials were found, and other than five Hamas terrorists killed as the IDF entered the hospital, there was no dramatic gunfight on Wednesday as has occurred at other symbols of Hama’s rule.

Hagari noted that IDF intelligence indicated that after the October 7 slaughter of 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, around 200 Hamas terrorists returned to Shifa.

However, asked where they were now, Hagari was not able to provide an answer.

https://player.jpost.com/public/player.html?player=jpost&media=3625884&url=www.jpost.comIDF unveils military equipment it says was used by Hamas in Shifa hospital. (Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)

The IDF showed military equipment hidden behind an MRI machine, video cameras systematically covered up throughout the hospital, and large numbers of Hamas uniforms discarded, but did not find Hamas forces themselves or signs of hostages having been held there.

Hagari was asked if the IDF’s delay in taking Shifa had led to Hamas and possibly hostages being moved elsewhere, and responded, “we went at the right time for us…We evacuated many civilians,” noting that if more civilians had been at Shifa when the IDF finally went in, “this would have harmed our forces, their people,” and would have played into Hamas’s strategy since it wanted “the IDF harming patients in the hospital.”

The IDF spokesperson also promised more findings of Hamas infrastructure, saying “this will take time. It is a complex area and there are still lots of civilians around. However long it will take, there is no doubt that Hamas used it as an infrastructure of terror.”

Foreign reports noted the IDF arresting two persons, and questioning a large number of young adolescent Palestinians at gunpoint, but without any sizable number of arrests.

IDF sources said that inspecting Shifa’s underground tunnel network, where many of the key findings against Hamas regarding Rantisi Hospital were made, has still not started in earnest, and will take significant amounts of time.

But generally speaking, the dramatic battle or findings expected at Shifa has not transpired by press time.

The IDF’s entry into Shifa hospital

The IDF entered a specific area of Shifa Hospital early Wednesday morning while seeking to keep its exact goals, timing, and mission classified as the operation is still ongoing, as leaking certain details could endanger IDF forces.

The military also announced that they successfully delivered crucial medical equipment and supplies, such as incubators for babies and baby food.

In foreign media, it was reported that IDF spokespeople hinted at the possibility of finding hostages held by Hamas, similar to having found a hostage holding area under Rantisi Hospital earlier this week.

However, the military has not said anything concrete about hostages being located at Shifa; as of 9:00 a.m., its main finding was a significant stash of Hamas weaponry.

Although the IDF killed five Hamas terrorists on its way into Shifa, it has not encountered any violent resistance within the hospital itself so far. The situation is dynamic, however, as the IDF plans to search other specific areas of what is a very large hospital complex.

There are also vast underground tunnel networks under and around Shifa and it was unclear if this IDF operation would lead to penetrating those areas or if it might be more of an initial intelligence-collecting operation, much the way that there were three brief intelligence-collecting moves into Gaza in the days before the actual main invasion in late October.

No IDF soldiers have been harmed so far in the current Shifa operation.

The military would not address foreign media reports that it had entered through some kind of side wall as opposed to through a designated entrance.

Shifa Hospital’s terror infrastructure

Communications for the hospital have not been shut down by the IDF, despite some foreign reports.

The IDF identified the current operation as very precise and gradual, saying that it was unaware so far of the accuracy of a video surfacing on social media showing one woman inside the hospital wounded by some kind of shrapnel or other broken building materials.

Since 2014, the IDF has said that Shifa served as Hamas’s wartime command center and refuge for its top leaders.This is a developing story.

end

JERUSALEM POST

Shifa Hospital anticlimax – 200 Hamas forces evaporate into thin air? – analysis

Why did the IDF find more traces of hostages and more powerful weapons at the Rantisi Hospital only a few days ago?

By YONAH JEREMY BOBNOVEMBER 15, 2023 22:07Updated: NOVEMBER 15, 2023 22:09

Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, November 8, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/DOAA ROUQA)
Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, November 8, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/DOAA ROUQA)

https://trinitymedia.ai/player/trinity-player.php?pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Farab-israeli-conflict%2Farticle-773432&unitId=2900003088&userId=0984023a-6fcf-4b29-a5e6-1be85cfd6d0a&isLegacyBrowser=false&version=20231115_6fe9213672091aece0c29d503e33892caaebbfaa&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=140

Did 200 Hamas forces, who IDF intelligence claims were present at Shifa Hospital after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, vanish out of thin air?

All of the following could change radically if the IDF finds a larger smoking gun overnight Wednesday or on Thursday, but at press time, the IDF had presented a much weaker case to the world about Hamas’s presence at the hospital than expected.

The IDF announced zero arrests and even foreign media only mentioned two arrests, with five Hamas terrorists being killed just outside the hospital, but none inside – not even a single gunfight.

How did we get here?

This raises a number of issues, but before getting into those, how did we get here?

Since 2014, top defense officials had repeated that top Hamas officials spent the 2014 Gaza conflict and other conflicts hiding in tunnels under Shifa Hospital.

Hamas weapons and equipment found in Shifa hospital. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Hamas weapons and equipment found in Shifa hospital. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

Knowing this, there were high expectations from defense analysts once the Gaza invasion started in late October, that the IDF would make a priority of taking over Shifa Hospital to unmask it and Hamas’s vast tunnel network and military apparatus there as soon as possible.

For much of the last week, the IDF and Israel have suffered horrible press coverage globally and immense criticism from both standard critics and some allies for its siege of Shifa.Advertisement

What was unclear was when the IDF would finally go in, and what was holding it back.

Was it waiting to take over Shifa more because of global pressure or because of complex operational realities, such as the need to make extra detailed plans in case there were hostages on site and to avoid killing doctors and patients?

The answer to that question may only come at a later date, and prior to the IDF going in, several senior defense officials gave contradictory answers on the issue, showing how profoundly complex it was.

The IDF presented Hamas having thrown its uniforms on the ground, military equipment hidden behind an MRI machine, intelligence items, and surveillance cameras being covered to shield recording Hamas’s movements – but this is pretty meager evidence after the size of the IDF claims.

Did all of the Hamas forces flee? Or did they blend in with the civilian patients?

Why did the IDF find more traces of hostages and more powerful weapons, like rocket propelled grenades, at the Rantisi Hospital only a few days ago?

Did Hamas learn from the evidence it left behind for Israel there and do a better clean up job before fleeing Shifa?

If so, why did the IDF do Rantisi first? Did it not realize that Hamas might learn from that experience and clean up better at Shifa?

This raises some grand strategy issues and trends for the war.

Yes, the IDF has control of northern Gaza and all of the key buildings and symbols of Hamas’s rule, yes it has destroyed significant weapons, significant numbers of tunnels, and killed probably more than 5,000 Hamas terrorists between Gaza and the southern Israel battles.

But if Hamas has 30,000 fighters as the IDF recently said, the vast majority of Hamas’s forces have not been touched.

A week or so ago, the IDF could more credibly argue it would find most of them in tunnels in northern Gaza.

But at this point, after Hamas escaped Rantisi and Shifa, are they all in southern Gaza? Blended into the civilian population in both the North and the South? It is possible some have even escaped Gaza to other territories?

Did the IDF just miss the ball on this or was it hoping to scare most of Hams out of the North without too much fighting, or to focus more on breaking the symbols of its rule?

On the positive side, Shifa could have been a disastrous blood bath. Hundreds of civilians could have been killed and on camera in real time? The IDF can say it succeeded in intimidating Hamas into leaving to avoid the trap.

But if the vast majority of Hamas is still out there and hard to discern among the civilian population, maybe Hamas just decided to switch from war to insurgency hit and run tactics even before the great war happened?

Maybe it is just waiting until Israel lets its guard down, starts withdrawing its heavy weapons, and starts planting soldiers in stationary positions, before it starts to strike back.

The taking of Shifa was supposed to be the largest moment of the war, when Hamas was the most broken and possibly Hamas’s top leaders would be caught or killed.

Instead, taking control has raised more questions about whether Israel can achieve its primary objective of keeping Hamas down long-term, and that is without even getting near the question of rescuing hostages, which IDF commanders are still avoiding discussing more than five weeks after the hostages disappeared.

Then again, maybe the IDF will find its smoking gun on Thursday…

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Gallant: Israel will not stop until mission fulfilled. Notably, the meeting took place as the IDF was mid-operation inside the controversial Shifa Hospital in Gaza City

.By YONAH JEREMY BOB, JERUSALEM POST STAFFposts[i].image.ImageName (photo credit: ARIEL HERMONI)Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets with US Special Coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk, November 15, 2023(photo credit: ARIEL HERMONI)

“The State of Israel will not stop its operations in Gaza until our troops fulfill their missions –  destroying Hamas and returning our hostages home to their families,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated during a meeting with US Special Coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk on Wednesday.

Notably, the meeting took place as the IDF was mid-operation inside the controversial Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the center of large amounts of global media coverage of the war for much of the last week.

Despite intense global criticism, top US officials have backed Israel’s narrative that Hamas is abusing the hospital by storing weapons and having its forces stationed there, and McGurk’s meeting with Gallant mid-operation in the heat of the criticism also has significance.

Soldiers of the IDF's 162nd Division are striking Hamas infrastructure and its operational capabilities, November 14, 2023 (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)Soldiers of the IDF’s 162nd Division are striking Hamas infrastructure and its operational capabilities, November 14, 2023 (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

The defense minister’s publicizing his commitment to continuing the war, despite increased pressure from the US and EU allies for an extended humanitarian “pause” (rather than a ceasefire) was also an indication of the evolution of the two countries’ dialogue on the issue.

Gallant began the meeting, also attended by IDF Maj. Gen. Strategic Affairs Commander Eliezer Toledano, Defense Ministry Diplomatic-Security Chief Dror Shalom, and Brig. Gen. (res.) Professor Yitzchak Kreiss, by expressing his appreciation to the US administration for the ongoing support and deep partnership on all levels.  

Kreiss, besides being Director-General of Israel’s Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer and working extensively with the IDF, also worked with the Mossad extensively at the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic on mixed medical-national security issues. Including him in the meeting could be important in Israel helping McGurk interpret the various hospital controversies involved in the Israel-Gaza War.

Gallant also briefed McGurk on IDF operational developments in Gaza, and the complexities both of the hostage situation and of Hamas’s systematic use of mosques, schools, and other civilian locations, beyond the hospitals issue.


The two also discussed humanitarian aid efforts by Israel to Gaza’s civilian population.

A US National Security Council statement just before the trip said that in Israel McGurk would, “discuss Israel’s security needs, the imperative of protecting civilians in the course of military operations, as well as ongoing efforts to secure the release of hostages, and the need to rein in violent extremist settlers in the West Bank.”
 
“In the West Bank, Mr. McGurk will discuss the Biden Administration’s support for the Palestinian Authority and its essential role as the representative of the Palestinian people, as well as the need for reforms to promote long-term stability in both the West Bank and Gaza, and the aspirations of Palestinians to live with equal measures of freedom, security, and dignity in a state of their own,” added the statement.Go to the full article >>

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JERUSALEM POST…

ISRAEL/CANADA

The Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, has addressed Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, on social media, saying Israel would support Trudeau’s nation if it was under attack, and Israel expects the same in return.

Trudeau said on Tuesday that the “killing of women, of children, of babies” in Gaza must end.

In his message, Lapid said:

Prime minister Trudeau, Israel is defending itself in difficult conditions against a brutal terrorist organization while trying to rescue babies, children, women and men who are being held hostage by Hamas-ISIS Responsibility for this terrible situation rests with Hamas-ISIS.

Hamas launched this war, Hamas hides in civilian buildings and Hamas abuses Gazans as human shields. If Canada ever found itself under a sustained and brutal attack like the one we face now, you would find Israel by your side. We expect the same support.

Trudeau had said: “I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint. The world is watching, on TV, on social media – we’re hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who have lost their parents. The world is witnessing this killing of women, of children, of babies. This has to stop.”

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had already issued a rebuke for Trudeau’s comments overnight, saying: “It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust. While Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm’s way.”

More than 11,000 Palestinians are reported to have been killed in the Israeli campaign in the Gaza Strip

end

(ZEROHEDGE)

Rain & Bombs: Fears Of Flooding Adds To Gazans’ Misery As Infectious Diseases Soar

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 08:30 AM

At this point most of the over one million Palestinians who had been living in the northern half of the Gaza Strip have fled to the southern half. But Israel’s military has been reportedly ramping up its bombardment of the south too, despite for weeks urging Gazan civilians to make their way to this supposed ‘safe zone’ area – which it turns out is anything but.

There’s not just bombs to worry about, but the rain has been falling too, creating an additional crisis for the densely packed tent cities which have been popping up. Now there are fears of flooding, increasing the potential for the spread of disease.Image: Associated Press

The start of the rainy season and the possibility of flooding increased fears that the densely populated enclave’s sewage system will be overwhelmed and disease will spread,” an Al Jazeera correspondent reports Wednesday.

“At a U.N. shelter in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the rain brought dismay for displaced people who woke to find the clothes they put out to dry the night had been drenched by rain,” the report adds.

The temperature is also dropping, which adds to the mystery of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced refugees. Basic supplies, such as food and water, are in extreme shortage.

One eyewitness who is displaced described the spiraling situation as follows:

“We were in a house built of concrete and now we are in a tent,” said Fayeza Srour, who sought safety in the south after Israel began its military offensive in response to the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas fighters who entered southern Israel from Gaza.

“The nylon tarps, the tent and the wood will not resist any flooding… People sleeping on the floor, what will they do? Where will they go?“

Basic medicines are also in short supply, or else non-existent in some places, also as the hospital system throughout the north has collapsed, amid overnight reports that Israeli troops began storming some wings of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which is the Strip’s largest.

WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris has told reporters in Geneva that “We’ve already got outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases.” She said the organization has received reports of over 30,000 cases.

“We’ve got so much infrastructural damage. We’ve got a lack of clean water. We’ve got people very, very crowded together. This is another reason why we are begging for a ceasefire to happen now,” Harris said.

As for the rain, while some have expressed relief and happiness that water can be collected to drink, it also generally makes living conditions all the more miserable…

The Washington Post documented this week that “More than 11,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. While there is no breakdown between fighters and civilians, most of the dead are women and children.”

“In just a little over a month of war, that amounts to over 0.5 percent of Gaza’s more than 2 million people,” WaPo underscored.

end //

JERUSALEM POST…

Yemen/Israel//

sooner or later Israel will strike Yemen

Yemen’s Houthis threaten Israeli ships in Red Sea – analysis

Houthi threats against Israel come as Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria continue to target US forces in the Middle East.

By SETH J. FRANTZMANNOVEMBER 15, 2023 17:34

Israel Navy missile ships head to the Red Sea after several aerial intrusions by Houthi drones, November 1, 2023 (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)Israel Navy missile ships head to the Red Sea after several aerial intrusions by Houthi drones, November 1, 2023(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have increasingly escalated their threats to Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack on October 7. They have used drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

On November 14, the IDF said that after sirens were heard in Eilat, “a missile launch toward Israeli territory was identified and successfully intercepted by the Arrow Aerial Defense System in the area of the Red Sea.”  

Israel said that the target did not cross into Israeli territory, and was intercepted according to protocol. However, the Houthis now say they could expand their threats and attacks to target Israeli ships in the Red Sea.

Can the Houthis threaten Israeli ships in the Red Sea?

The website The New Arab reported that Houthi “Rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said the Iran-backed group was monitoring for Israeli vessels in the commercially vital waters, even those that do not have Israeli flags.” The Houthis leader also said on the Houthi television station Al Masirah that “our eyes are open to constant monitoring and searching for any Israeli ship.” He claimed they could also threaten ships at the Bab al-Mandab straits. This strategic chokepoint is important for ships entering the Red Sea. 

The Houthis have targeted ships in the past during their war in Yemen when the Saudis were involved in the war. They have not threatened Israeli ships as directly or publicly in the past. However, Iran-based drones have been used to attack ships in the Gulf of Oman.Armed men hold up their weapons as Houthi supporters rally to show support to Palestinian factions, in Sanaa, Yemen October 7, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)Armed men hold up their weapons as Houthi supporters rally to show support to Palestinian factions, in Sanaa, Yemen October 7, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)

Iran claimed in several incidents to target commercial ships that Iran believed were linked to Israel. The world of commercial shipping is complex and many ships do not sail under the same flag of the owner or manager of a ship. That means there are very few ships that actually fly an Israeli flag, and the ownership or management of shipping is often complex and global.

Nevertheless, Iran had shown in the past its willingness to target ships near the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf that it believed were linked to Israel. It has also targeted other ships, including those of western countries, Greece, South Korea and the UK.  Advertisement

Al-Ain media in the Gulf also reported the Houthi threats on Tuesday, November 14. “Al-Ain News revealed that the leader of the Houthi militia received ‘a preliminary assessment from military experts in Hezbollah stating that the Houthi missile bombardment with ballistic missiles or drones on Israel did not achieve any acceptable results, even on the moral side.’”

The Houthis apparently have evaluated their attacks over the last month and they realized that they needed to escalate. “The evaluation included many proposals, including the need for the Houthi militias to identify possible Israeli targets that have a greater impact on the Israeli local level, whether inside or outside Israel.” The sources told Al-Ain that the “militia leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi directed his senior military leadership to develop a plan to target Israel and its interests in the Red Sea, whether commercial or military.” 

The Houthi decision to threaten Israel is not entirely new. The organization calls for “death to Israel” and “curse the Jews” in its official slogan. It has threatened Israel in the past.

Several years ago it also hosted Iranian Shahed 136 drones. The drones were in Yemen in January 2021, according to analysis of satellite photos by foreign media. These drones can reach 2,000 km. and threaten Eilat. Iran then exported these types of drones to Russia in 2022 to support Putin’s war on Ukraine.

The Houthis used drones and long range missiles to threaten Saudi Arabia after Riyadh intervened in Yemen in 2015. However, Iran and Saudi Arabia reconciled this year under Chinese backing and the Houthis have toned down their anti-Saudi rhetoric. They have now sought to join the Hamas war against Israel. This is one of many Iranian-backed groups that sought to back Iran’s plan for a war in the Middle East.  

According to reports there were two more attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria over the last two days, bringing the overall number of attacks targeting US forces to around 55 since October 7. Al-Mayadeen, which is pro-Iran, said attacks targeted the Conoco facility in Syria and Assad base in Iraq. These are two areas where US forces are present. The US has carried out three rounds of airstrikes in response to more than 50 attacks.

END  

Times of Israel

Sara Netanyahu in letter to Jill Biden: Woman gave birth to baby in captivity, we must demand their release

Today, 7:16 pm  

US First lady Jill Biden speaks during a media preview, October 24, 2023, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Sara Netanyahu sends a letter to US First Lady Jill Biden stressing the plight of the Israeli children and babies held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and other terror groups.

Netanyahu writes that she is reaching out “first and foremost as a mother.”

She says that 32 children have been held captive in Gaza for more than five weeks, and “are surely suffering from untold trauma, not only by being kidnapped, but having witnessed the brutal murder of their parents and siblings.”

Netanyahu notes that one of the kidnapped women was pregnant and “she gave birth to her baby in Hamas captivity. You can only imagine, as I do, what must be going through that young mother’s mind as she is being held with her newborn by these murderers.”

She calls on Biden to “speak out on behalf of these children” and call for their immediate release.

EMD

operation summary

 Lt Col Richard  Hecht/ISRAELI ARMY

Operational Updates

Based on intelligence information and operational necessity, IDF special forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a defined area in the Shifa Hospital. This follows the persistent exploitation that Hamas makes of hospitals and civilian areas, which I’ve mentioned before. We saw what Hamas had under Rantisi Hospital and know this is a defined tactic. I also appreciated the Pentagon confirming that Shifa is being used for illicit purposes by Hamas.

Again, our war is not with the people of Gaza. Incubators, baby food and medical supplies brought by IDF tanks from Israel have successfully reached the Shifa hospital. Our medical teams and Arabic speaking soldiers are on the ground to ensure that these supplies reach those in need.

Yesterday, IDF ground troops located a Hamas training camp containing terror tunnel shafts, classrooms, intelligence material, and dozens of different types of weapons – including rockets and loaded RPGs.

An IDF UAV identified a terrorist cell that exited a building with an anti-tank missile launching post in the northern Gaza Strip. The terrorists were carrying suspected IEDs, which they planted in the area. The UAV struck two of the terrorists. I’m including a video of the strike below.

Last night, a missile launch toward Israeli territory was identified and successfully intercepted by the “Arrow” Aerial Defense System in the area of the Red Sea. The target did not cross into Israeli territory.

In the north, a number of launches were identified from Lebanon toward Israeli territory. No injuries were reported. Artillery struck the source of the launches.

Quote of the Day

“We have created conditions for dismantling the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas in Gaza City. Since the beginning of the war, the IDF forces and the 162nd Division forces have been dismantling Hamas’ centers and capabilities it had built over the years. Since the beginning of the ground operation, the division forces eliminated over 1,000 terrorists.”

– Lt. Col. Itzik Cohen, Commander of the 162nd Division

What I’m Reading
Hamas Must Go – The Atlantic
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her experience with Hamas in the past and why Hamas must be removed from power in Gaza

Incubators, baby food and medical supplies have reached Al-Shifa, IDF says. IDF medical teams and Arabic speaking officers are working were able to deliver aid to Shifa hospital in Gaza.

Wesley Clark: Israel Militarily has to do this – CNN

end

We can never forgive’: Knesset hosts second screening of October 7 doc

The documentary, which the IDF put together from footage from security cameras and body cams taken from terrorists who were killed and captured, includes uncensored footage of the Hamas’s massacre.

By ARIELLA MARSDENNOVEMBER 15, 2023 18:10Updated: NOVEMBER 15, 2023 18:32

A view of a weapon magazine on the floor of a house, following a deadly infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel, October 18, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA)
A view of a weapon magazine on the floor of a house, following a deadly infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel, October 18, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA)

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The Knesset hosted a second screening of the IDF’s October 7 documentary for current and past MKs on Wednesday.

The documentary, which the IDF put together from footage from security cameras and body cams taken from terrorists who were killed and captured, includes uncensored footage of the Hamas’s massacre of 1,200 people.

Among those who attended the screening on Wednesday were MKs Ayman Odeh and Ahmad Tibi from Hadash-Ta’al. None of the party’s MKs attended the first screening earlier this month.

Ra’am MK Iman Khatib-Yassin, who’s fellow party members attended the first screening, also attended after being suspended from the Knesset for a month because she denied that babies were slaughtered or that women were raped on October 7. At the time, she said her statement was backed up by the documentary, which she hadn’t seen, but she has since apologized.

Others present at the screening were Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Development of the Negev and Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, and MKs Michael Biton and Nissim Vaturi.

Iman Yassin Khatib, poised to become the first lawmaker in Israel's history to wear a hijab or head scarf, which she does as a Muslim, following results of her Arab Joint List party in Israel's election, participates in an interview in a radio show in Naz (credit: REUTERS)
Iman Yassin Khatib, poised to become the first lawmaker in Israel’s history to wear a hijab or head scarf, which she does as a Muslim, following results of her Arab Joint List party in Israel’s election, participates in an interview in a radio show in Naz (credit: REUTERS)

How did MKs react to the October 7 massacre documentary screening?

Khatib-Yassin and Tibi were reportedly crying when they emerged from the auditorium.

Odeh described what he saw as “horrific and unimaginable horrors.”Advertisement

“I cannot accept that in the name of the Palestinian people, innocents are murdered like that,” he said. “How can we take pride in the heritage of Islam that orders us not to harm babies, women, or even trees in wartime when things like that are done?”

“I cannot breathe,” said Vaturi at the end. “They show unimaginable horrors. The most painful thing is the children. I’m a father, and seeing a child scream ‘why am I alive?’ after his father jumps on a grenade to save him and his brother is very difficult. It’s horrendous, and we mustn’t forgive them forever. They reinvented evil.”

“It was difficult,” said Biton. “There were a few moments where I had to look down because it was too difficult. You cannot imagine it. Public figures, the media, leaders here and abroad, and ambassadors have to pluck up the courage to watch it. It explains what kind of monster was constructed on the other side of the fence.”

LEBANON/ISRAEL  TODAY.

Over 20 rockets fired from Lebanon toward Israel, IDF strikes Hezbollah

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a number of strikes along the Israeli-Lebanese border on Wednesday.

By TZVI JOFFRENOVEMBER 15, 2023 17:55Updated: NOVEMBER 15, 2023 18:11

Smoke and flares during an exchange of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah terrorists on the border between Israel and Lebanon, November 12, 2023. (photo credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)Smoke and flares during an exchange of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah terrorists on the border between Israel and Lebanon, November 12, 2023.(photo credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)

Over 20 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Kiryat Shmona, Matat, Shlomit, and other areas along the Lebanese-Israeli border on Wednesday, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. Hezbollah took responsibility for the rocket fire toward Kiryat Shmona.

The IDF responded to the rocket fire with artillery fire targeting several sites in southern Lebanon, including a Hezbollah observation point.

Hezbollah additionally stated that it targeted an IDF post along the border near Mount Dov, another post near Yir’on, another post near Meiss al-Jabal, another post near Rmaych, and an additional post near Boustane on Wednesday afternoon and evening. The IDF has not confirmed the reports as of yet.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib met with Iran’s ambassador in Lebanon Mojtaba Amani on Wednesday, telling him that “Israel is not defending itself today, but rather its obsession is blind revenge.”An Israeli air defense system intercept rockets fired from Lebanon as it seen from the Israeli side of the border, on November 7, 2023. (credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)An Israeli air defense system intercept rockets fired from Lebanon as it seen from the Israeli side of the border, on November 7, 2023. (credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)

UNIFIL works to contain escalation

On Wednesday, UNIFIL commander Aroldo Lázaro briefed representatives of countries that provided troops for the peacekeeping mission about the situation in southern Lebanon.

On Tuesday, Lázaro met with Lebanese Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, expressing his “deep concern” about the situation in southern Lebanon.

“UNIFIL’s priorities right now are to prevent escalation, safeguard civilian lives, and ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers who are trying to accomplish this,” wrote Lázaro on X (formerly Twitter). “Resolution 1701 is being challenged at the moment, but its principles of security, stability, and for a long-term solution remain valid.”Lebanon/Israel

END

SYRIA/IRAQ/USA

At Least 4 More Attacks On US Forces Since Latest US Airstrikes In Syria

TUESDAY, NOV 14, 2023 – 05:15 PM

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

US troops based in Syria have come under attack at least four times since the latest US airstrikes in eastern Syria were launched on Sunday, Task & Purpose reported on Monday.

The Pentagon announced Sunday that it launched strikes against facilities “used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-affiliated groups” in eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor province. It marked the third round of US airstrikes since US troops in Iraq and Syria have come under a spate of attacks in response to President Biden’s backing of Israel’s war in Gaza.al-Asad military base in western Iraq, via AP

A Pentagon official told Task & Purpose that US forces in Syria came under attack three times on Sunday after the US airstrikes and one time on Monday. The White House has said one purpose of its airstrikes is to “deter” further attacks on US troops, but it’s clear the strategy has failed.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it recorded six attacks on US forces on Monday alone, but the report is not confirmed. The four incidents confirmed by the US official brings the total number of attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria since October 17 to 52. The Pentagon has said at least 56 US troops have been wounded.

An umbrella group of Shia militias known as the Islamic Resistance of Iraq has taken credit for most attacks on US forces. Militia leaders have said they won’t back down unless Israel’s onslaught on Gaza comes to an end. Iran supports the Shia militias that operate in the region but denies any role in the attacks on US forces.

The US has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria, where it backs the Kurdish-led SDF. The occupation of eastern Syria is opposed by the government in Damascus, and the continued US military presence in Iraq is opposed by many elements in Iraqi politics.

Many observers have pointed out that with a crisis like the Gaza war, US troops occupying Syria are vulnerable as prime targets for Iran-aligned militias in the region…

After the US launched a drone strike in January 2020 that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad, Iraq’s parliament voted to expel US troops, but the US refused to leave. In an effort to placate anti-US factions, the US formally changed its presence in Iraq from a combat role to an advisory role in December 2021 but did not withdraw any troops.

end

FRANCE/SYRIA

(REUTERS)

BREAKING NEWS

France issues arrest warrants against Syria’s President Assad-source

By REUTERSNOVEMBER 15, 2023 13:54

French investigative judges have issued arrest warrants for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and two other senior officials over the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians in Syria, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

The arrest warrants — which refer to the legal qualifications of complicity in crimes against humanity and in war crimes — follow a criminal investigation into chemical attacks in the district of Eastern Ghouta in August 2013, which killed more than 1,000 people

END

LEBANON

Lebanon’s struggling hospitals could collapse if war escalates, doctors fear

The Lebanese government is no longer providing the monthly $20,000 USD needed to maintain the hospital generators.

By REUTERSNOVEMBER 15, 2023 15:25

Mounes Klakesh, director of Marjayoun hospital, stands as he attends an interview with Reuters at the hospital in Marjayoun, southern Lebanon November 13, 2023 (photo credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)Mounes Klakesh, director of Marjayoun hospital, stands as he attends an interview with Reuters at the hospital in Marjayoun, southern Lebanon November 13, 2023(photo credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)

From his office overlooking the border with Israel, Dr. Mounes Klakesh can hear the thump of artillery rounds and air strikes landing on nearby Lebanese towns. The increasing frequency of those strikes has the staff of his small hospital on edge.

“We’ve already had to treat 51 people wounded by explosions in the last month or so. Seventeen of those died or arrived dead. More than that and we’d be overwhelmed,” Klakesh said.

Klakesh, director of the Marjayoun Hospital in southern Lebanon, said it serves nearly 300,000 people in the area. It has 14 emergency beds and struggles to operate because of a lack of staff and, crucially, a lack of fuel

The hospital runs on generators 20 hours a day and has to pay up to $20,000 a month for the fuel. “None of that money comes from the government anymore. We rely on what funds the hospital has from one week to the next,” Klakesh said.Doctor Moussa Abbas performs a surgery in Tebnin governmental hospital, in Tebnin, southern Lebanon November 10, 2023. (credit: ALAA AL-MARJANI/REUTERS)Doctor Moussa Abbas performs a surgery in Tebnin governmental hospital, in Tebnin, southern Lebanon November 10, 2023. (credit: ALAA AL-MARJANI/REUTERS)

If the fuel runs out, the hospital closes. “We can’t just switch off part of the hospital.”

Dozens more public hospitals are in a similarly precarious state. Lebanon’s economic collapse in 2019 left them barely able to cope in peacetime.

Now, an escalating conflict on the southern border with Israel is pushing the healthcare sector into a new crisis. Doctors worry the latest Middle East war could stretch it beyond breaking point.Advertisement

Fighting broke out here after Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas went to war in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7.

Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel

The Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has fired rockets at Israeli troops and Israel has bombed and shelled areas along the border in increasing attacks that are fueling concerns of a widening conflict.

It is the deadliest violence here since Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating war in 2006 and has killed more than 70 Hezbollah terrorists, 10 Lebanese civilians and 10 Israelis, mostly soldiers. Shells land on Lebanese towns and villages on a daily basis.

The hilltop hospital in Marjayoun has had its share of worse humanitarian crises. Doctors evacuated patients under Israeli airstrikes during Israel’s 2006 operation in which hundreds died. In the 1980s another Israeli operation cut south Lebanon off from the rest of the country.

But this time, Klakesh and doctors in other hospitals say they are ill-equipped to handle any more than current levels of violence, let alone another major war.

Lebanon has lurched from one crisis to another in recent years. The 2019 financial collapse and a devastating chemical explosion at Beirut port in 2020 left the state crumbling.

Government money dried up, thousands of doctors and nurses left the country and hospital budgets were slashed.

‘We expect strikes on hospitals’

Marjayoun Hospital is no exception. Many of its staff left for bigger cities or foreign countries, Klakesh said.

“We had four or five surgeons, bone doctors and women’s doctors, and we’ve maybe got one of each now which means they’re working long shifts on their own with no one to rotate in,” he said.

The Lebanese health ministry has said its budget can no longer meet demand. It rushed trauma kits to state hospitals this week, anticipating the worst. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it supplied fuel to hospitals including Marjayoun.

Emergency aid will only go so far if fighting intensifies, a surgeon at a private hospital in nearby Nabatieh said.

“Hospitals could maybe absorb 40 to 50 wounded a week, but if it’s more than that no hospital in Lebanon would cope properly,” Dr. Moussa Abbas said.

The Lebanese exodus after the financial crisis at least means there are fewer people left to treat, Klakesh said. But an influx of patients would clog the narrow driveway that feeds into the joint emergency room and reception area.

Klakesh equipped and renovated the hospital in the months before the financial crash, when government money was still available. He bought kidney dialysis machines and moved a laundry room to an outhouse to create more space to treat patients.

He worries that could all vanish in an airstrike and has watched with horror the failure to protect medical staff in Gaza. Hamas terrorists have set up bases of operations within hospitals in Gaza, often using ambulances to transport themselves and weapons. The use of human shields by the terror group is well recorded.

Israel’s Gaza bombardment has knocked out 25 hospitals in the besieged Palestinian enclave, Hamas officials say. Closer to home, Lebanese authorities said an Israeli shell hit a small hospital near the border last week.

“We don’t just worry about Israel hitting a hospital, we expect it. After what happened the other day we could be next,” he said.

END

GLOBAL VACCINE/COVID ISSUES

DR PAUL ALEXANDER:

Shocking, heartbreaking! What killed 15-month-old toddler Melody Rain Palombi-Malmgren who died 2 days after ‘well-visit’ vaccinations? Was it the vaccine (s)? Which one (s)? What did she get? mRNA?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says up to 10 vaccines are recommended for 15-month-olds and Melody’s medical records show she had three – for varicella, DTaP and Hib.

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERNOV 15
 
READ IN APP
 
https://bronx.news12.com/orange-county-15-month-old-dies-2-days-after-well-visit-vaccinations?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

‘Melody Rain Palombi-Malmgren was a happy toddler with an infectious smile and laugh. She loved to dance, cuddle, and sit in her swing. 

END

COVID & the insurance industry: the virus has not been killing young people yet deaths have surged in young employed people, so ask the COVID Taliban, mandarins, the Branch COVIDians, the lockdown

lunatics to explain that; they cannot! Dr. Mike Yeadon Comments on “Insurance Industry Execs ‘Alarmed’ by Surge in Deaths Among Young People (presented by LIONESS OF JUDAH MINISTRY)

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERNOV 15
 
READ IN APP
 

‘Finally, I would argue that this is eminently shareable with normies. Perhaps present them with the facts and ask their opinion as to what it might mean. If they say “It’s covid, obviously”, tell them that deaths in young people have increased the most in those in employment.’

Exposing The Darkness

Dr. Mike Yeadon Comments on “Insurance Industry Execs ‘Alarmed’ by Surge in Deaths Among Young People — But Stop Short of Blaming COVID Shots” by Mike Capuzzo

Exposing The Darkness is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. One-time or recurring donations can be made through Ko-Fi…

Read more

‘By Dr. Michael Yeadon November 7, 2023

END

Summer of “DIED SUDDENLY – MUSICIANS who died suddenly from June to Oct.2023 – 40 sudden deaths that have robbed the world of incredible talent and artistic beauty (MAKIS); my question, were these

deaths due to COVID mRNA technology (Weissman, Bourla, Kariko et al.) vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech)? Due to ‘silent myocarditis’? Where are needed autopsies? With staining for spike protein?

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERNOV 14
 
READ IN APP
 

see below:

‘

  • 7 died from aggressive cancer (Turbo Cancer most likely)
  • 7 died from heart attack or cardiac arrest
  • 3 collapsed and died
  • 2 died in their sleep
  • 1 was found dead in his car
  • 1 was found dead in a creek
  • 1 died from a brain aneurysm
  • 1 died from acute liver failure (history of alcoholism)’

Oct.23, 2023 – Bristol, UK – British Band “Massive Attack” confirmed the death of 62 year old guitarist Angelo Bruschini from aggressive Lung cancer diagnosed during the summer.

Oct.15, 2023 – New York – Musician and music teacher Steve Campagna died suddenly in the evening of Oct.15, 2023. No cause of death reported. He was COVID-19 mRNA Vaccinated

Image

Oct.3, 2023 – Sydney, Australia – 55 year old opera singer Jacqueline Dark died on Oct.3, 2023 after a one year battle with a rare form of cancer. She had beaten her cancer in March 2023 but the cancer returned

Image

Oct.1, 2023 – International star Soprano, 25 year old Patricia Janeckova Slovak Opera Singer, lost her battle with breast cancer after dx in Feb.2022 at age of 23

Sep.28, 2023 – 57 year old Stephen Ackles, Norwegian vocalist, pianist and songwriter was found dead in his apartment in Langhus, Norway on Sep.28, 2023. Heart attack according to family.

Image

Sep.28, 2023 – Cobb County, GA – 32 year old Madison Argo, music teacher & band director at Wheeler HS died unexpectedly on Sep.28, 2023. Cause of death unknown.

Image

Sep.22, 2023 – Italy – 35 year old violin teacher and music director Ivan Cavallo collapsed in the afternoon while at work and died suddenly on Sep.22, 2023. CPR didn’t work.

Image

Sep.16, 2023 – 43 year old singer Irish Grinstead died suddenly on Sep.16, 2023. She had been “battling serious medical issues since 2022”.

Sep.16, 2023 – Australia – 56 year old Paul Woseen, musician (bassist for the Screaming Jets) died suddenly on Sep.16, 2023.

Image

Sep.10, 2023 – El Paso, TX – 17 year old Daniel Esparza from Bowie High School, collapsed while playing drums for his school’s band during a football game. He struggled in hospital for 2 days but died on Sep.10, 2023.

Sep.7, 2023 – British Violinist Giles Broadbent, age 51, died suddenly on Sep.7, 2023 after a “short illness”.

Sep.4, 2023 – 56 year old Steve Harwell of Smash Mouth died of “acute liver failure”, shortly after entering into hospice care

Aug.29, 2023 – Los Angeles, CA – 68 year old Leonard Robert Krubsack, died suddenly on August 29, 2023. He was a music teacher.

Image

Aug.27, 2023 – 35 year old South African Idol singer and contestant Terra Cox was found dead in his home on August 27, 2023.

Image

Aug.26, 2023 – TURBO CANCER – 21 year old British Singer-songwriter Faye Fantarrow died suddenly on Aug.26, 2023 11 months after being diagnosed with a brain tumor

Image

Aug.26, 2023 – 45 year old Brazilian musician and DJ MC Marcinho died suddenly on Aug.26, 2023. “had been in the ICU since July 10 due to heart problems”

Image

Aug.24, 2023 – Nashville, TN – 29 year old singer & photographer Anne Lauren Fletcher, died suddenly on August 24, 2023 after a “brief and unexpected battle with cancer”.

Image

Aug.22, 2023 – 38 year old Peruvian DOCTOR (Obstetrician) & singer Yuliana Perea died suddenly from cardiac arrest on Aug.22, 2023 while under anesthesia for liposuction procedure.

Image

Aug.22, 2023 – 43 year old Christine Clements known as “Vaccine”, Dubstep music producer died suddenly on August 22, 2023.

Image

Aug.19, 2023 – Munich, Germany – 54 year old German singer Andrea Pancur died suddenly from a brain aneurysm on August 19, 2023

SLAY NEWS

The latest reports from Slay News
OB-GYN Testifies on Alarming Miscarriage Spike among Vaxxed WomenA leading American obstetrician-gynecologist, or OB-GYN, has testified before Congress regarding an alarming spike in miscarriages among women who have received Covid mRNA injections.READ MORE
Maricopa County Election Official Calls for Big Tech Crackdown on ‘Misinformation’The chairman of Arizona’s Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is calling on Big Tech companies to crack down on so-called “misinformation” ahead of the 2024 elections.READ MORE
Speaker Johnson ‘Wholeheartedly’ Endorses Trump: ‘I Am All-In’Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has announced that he is “wholeheartedly” endorsing President Donald Trump for the 2024 general election.READ MORE
Israel PM Netanyahu Warns West: ‘If We Don’t Win Now, You’re Next’Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the American people that the United States and Europe will be “next” if Islamic terrorist groups are not eliminated “now.”READ MORE
Hundreds of Biden Officials Sign Dissent Letter Rebelling against President’s Handling of Israel-Hamas WarHundreds of federal government officials have signed a dissent letter in rebellion against Democrat President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.READ MORE
Gov Hochul: NY Is Conducting ‘Surveillance Efforts’ on New Yorkers’ Social Media to Monitor for ‘Hate Speech’New York’s Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul has revealed that the state is conducting tyrannical surveillance measures to supposedly tackle so-called “hate speech.”READ MORE
8 Republicans Join Democrats to Block Impeachment of Biden’s DHS Chief MayorkasSeveral House Republicans crossed the aisle to join with Democrats in blocking a resolution to impeach Democrat President Joe Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.READ MORE
Georgia Democrat Found Passed Out Drunk in Street Outside Bar, Police Bodycam ShowsA Georgia Democrat has been found passed out drunk in the street outside a sports bar, shocking police video shows.READ MORE
McCarthy Uncertain about Future in House after Losing Speakership: ‘Going to Look at All Options’McCarthy Uncertain about Future in House after Losing Speakership: ‘Going to Look at All Options’READ MORE
Black Voters Abandon Biden for 2024: ‘He’s a Weak Old Man’Democrats are scrambling after a bombshell new report has revealed that black voters are overwhelmingly abandoning President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 electionREAD MORE
NBC ‘Fact-Check’: Only ‘Half True’ That DeSantis Flew Americans Back from Israel as He Didn’t Fly Planes HimselfNBC News has produced a shameless “fact-check” of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s claim that he arranged for hundreds of American citizens to be flown back from Israel after the Hamas terror attacks on October 7.READ MORE
Chipotle Unveils Plan to Launch Meat-Free Restaurant Chain Run by RobotsSteve Ells, the wealthy founder of the Chipotle restaurant chain, has unveiled his new plans to go ultra techno-woke.READ MORE

EVOL NEWS

Demand for ‘Unvaxxed Sperm’ from ‘Purebloods’ SkyrocketsREAD MORE… LATEST NEWS:CDC Admits Covid Shots Injured, Killed Thousands of ChildrenRead more…OUTRAGE: Biden Wants “Protection” For Gaza Hospital Used For Hamas HQRead more…BREAKING: Paul Pelosi testifies in federal trial of man accused of attacking him with a hammerRead more…Republican Pat Fallon to leave Congress and run for his old Texas Sen…Read more…These 8 Republicans Just Voted AGAINST Impeaching DHS Sec MayorkasRead more…DISGUSTING: Massachusetts Town Votes to Allow the Palestinian Flag to be Flown Over Their Town CommonRead more…Biden Expected to Greenlight Fresh $10 Billion for IranRead more…JUST IN: Comer Subpoenas ANOTHER Key Biden AideRead more…

NEWS ADDICT

LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIESCDC Admits Covid Shots Injured, Killed Thousands of ChildrenThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has admitted that tens of thousands of children have been injured, disabled, or killed by Covid mRNA shots.READ THE FULL REPORTDemand for ‘Unvaxxed Sperm’ from ‘Purebloods’ SkyrocketsDemand for sperm donations from unvaxxed “purebloods” is skyrocketing, according to reports.READ THE FULL REPORTBiden Expected to Greenlight Fresh $10 Billion for IranThe Biden administration is expected to grant approval for a sanctions waiver on Tuesday that would grant Iran access to a minimum of $10 billion in frozen funds previously held in Iraq.READ THE FULL REPORT‘He’s a Weak Old Man’: Black Voters are Abandoning Biden in DrovesIn the wake of a shocking new report indicating that black voters are abandoning President Joe Biden by an overwhelming margin in advance of the 2024 election, Democrats are in disarray.READ THE FULL REPORTJack Smith Speaks Out Against Trump Wanting Televised TrialsSpecial counsel Jack Smith’s office on Monday said that former President Donald Trump wants a “carnival atmosphere” at his March trial in the nation’s capital for accusations that his 2020 election challenges constitute “election interference.”READ THE FULL REPORT

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

“Some May Want To Buy Insurance On This Tiny 0.1% CPI Miss That Sparked A Faceripping Rally”

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 10:15 AM

By Bas van Geffen, Senior Macro Strategist at Rabobank

US CPI inflation came in softer than expected, inspiring a rally in virtually all asset classes. The inflation data had been flagged as the key number for the week, and it’s therefore not surprising that the faster-than-expected deceleration of consumer prices led to some repricing of future Fed policy rates. However, we’d argue the move was perhaps a bit outsized for what is essentially just a 0.1 percentage point surprise in CPI.

October CPI inflation came in flat on the month, as the core measure came in a bit softer than expected as well. Whereas the market consensus had expected the gradual decline in core inflation to stall at 4.1% y/y, a slightly softer 4.0% print means that the downtrend that started in March continued through October. The underlying categories give the FOMC no real urgency to resume their hiking cycle.image.png

Indeed, traders were quick to price out any remaining odds of rate hikes in December or January. At one point in time, both futures were even priced for exactly zero chance of a policy change in both months. As a by-product money markets also brought forward their expectations of the first Fed cut: traders are pricing almost one-third chance of a cut materialising by March, and they now expect that we’ll have seen two rate cuts by July. Yet, with inflation still very much above target, the FOMC will have to be patient; if the Fed doesn’t hike, it doesn’t mean they will cut.

This exuberance spread to other asset classes. Treasury yields fell sharply, and particularly the moves in the longer end of the curve were remarkable. The 10-year yield dipped some 15bp after the softer inflation report and the 30-year Treasury dipped some 12bp before recovering a few of these basis points. We flagged the rising term premium in these segments of the curve in earlier notes, and the fact that this reflects higher fundamental uncertainty about the future state of the economy. With that in mind, is everyone happily subscribing to the view that inflation may, in fact, not be permanent – after this one CPI release provides a mere 0.1 percentage point windfall?

Some may want to buy some insurance; especially seeing that this 0.1% undershoot seems insurance-related. The BLS reported a -34% y/y decline in health insurance costs! That hardly seems credible given the trends of ageing population and rising costs everywhere, including in medical care. Instead, the BLS changed its calculation methodology. Even at a weight of just 0.525%, that’s a 0.17 percentage point drag on headline CPI.

As expected, the prospect of lower yields did wonders to equities. The S&P 500 gained 1.9% on the day, while Europe closed 1.6% higher. And this wanting to believe isn’t limited to US markets. After the softer UK CPI release this morning, the SONIA market added to its bets that we will be seeing at least three cuts from the Bank of England in 2024. That said, the deceleration of UK inflation does in fact appear to be driven by lower services inflation – which is a positive sign for the Bank.

END

7//OIL ISSUES//NATURAL GAS ISSUES//ELECTRICAL GRID ISSUES// RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES//USA AND GLOBE

8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//

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:  1.0855 DOWN  0.0022

USA/ YEN 150.43 DOWN .050  NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN  STILL FALLS//

GBP/USA 1.2462  DOWN    0.0031

USA/CAN DOLLAR:  1.3688 DOWN .0017 (CDN DOLLAR  UP 17 BASIS PTS)

 Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED  UP 16.79 PTS OR 0.55%

 Hang Seng CLOSED UP 682.13  PTS OR 3.92%

AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 1.52%  // EUROPEAN BOURSE:  ALL GREEN

Trading from Europe and ASIA

I) EUROPEAN BOURSES:  ALL  GREEN

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG UP 683.14 PTS OR 3.92%  

/SHANGHAI CLOSED  UP 16.79 PTS OR 0.55%

AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP 1.52%

(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED  UP 823.77 PTS OR 2.52%

INDIA’S SENSEX  IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 1971.20

silver:$23.36

USA dollar index early WEDNESDAY  morning: 104.06 UP 15 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: 3.308%  UP 2  in basis point(s) yield

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.798% DOWN 5 AND  1//100   BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.649 UP 1  in basis points yield

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 4.427 UP 1 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.6265 UP 3  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 1.0862 DOWN  0.0016 or 16  basis points

USA/Japan: 150,93 UP .448 OR YEN DOWN 45 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.2438  DOWN  0.0055 OR 55  BASIS POINTS //

Canadian dollar UP .0039 OR 39 BASIS pts  to 1.3660

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The USA/Yuan,  CNY: closed    ON SHORE  CLOSED    (UP) …7.2474

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE:    (YUAN CLOSED (UP)…. (7.2544)

TURKISH LIRA:  28.68 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield  at +0.798…VERY DANGEROUS

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 9 in basis points from MONDAY at  4.553% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic

 USA 30 yr bond yield  4.685 UP 6  in basis points   ON THE DAY/12.00 PM

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.908  UP 9  BASIS PTS.

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 46.44  POINTS or 0.42%

German Dax :  CLOSED UP 23.93 PTS OR 0.33%

Paris CAC CLOSED UP 133.74 PTS OR 0.86%

Spain IBEX UP 12.40 PTS OR 0.18%

Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 122.50 PTS OR 0.42%

WTI Oil price  77.55    12: EST

Brent Oil:  81,70  12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE ///   AT:  89.46;   ROUBLE UP 1 AND  14//100      

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.6265 UP 3 BASIS PTS

UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.2455 UP 5  BASIS PTS

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

Euro vs USA: 1.0846  DOWN   0.0032   OR 32 BASIS POINTS

British Pound: 1.2411  DOWN   .0082 or 82 basis pts

BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD:  4.2650%  UP 7 BASIS PTS//

JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: .788%

USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 151.35 UP 868 //YEN  DOWN 87  BASIS PTS//

USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3684 DOWN 0.016 CDN dollar  UP 16   basis pts)

West Texas intermediate oil: 76.40

Brent OIL:  80.78

USA 10 yr bond yield UP 9  BASIS pts to 4.533%  

USA 30 yr bond yield UP 6  BASIS PTS to 4.681%

USA 2 YR BOND: UP 10 PTS AT  4.920 %

USA dollar index: 104.28 UP 37  BASIS POINTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 28.68 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/

USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE:  89.46  UP 1   AND  14/100 roubles

GOLD  1962.15 3:30 PM

SILVER: 23,45 3:30 PM

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE:  UP 163.51 PTS OR 0.47%

NASDAQ UP 4.70 PTS OR 0.03%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 14.11 DOWN 0.05 PTS (0.35)%

GLD: $181.64 DOWN 0.48 OR 0.26%

SLV/ $21.45 UP .28 OR 1.32%

end

USA AFFAIRS

USA TRADING IN GRAPH FORM

Crypto Jumps But Bonds Dump As FCI Doom-Loop Looms

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 04:00 PM

Today’s (better than expected) retail sales data plus yesterday’s (cooler than expected) CPI reading, suggest the growth outlook remains resilient. But, as Goldman’s Chris Hussey notes, if Tuesday’s CPI reading raised investors’ hopes that the Fed would begin cutting sooner-than-expected, today’s more resilient growth data partially reversed those hopes…

Source: Bloomberg

Yesterday’s massive surge in stocks and bonds (and weakness in the dollar) prompted one of the largest declines (easings) of financial conditions in the last few years. Critically, it has erased all of 2023’s ‘tightening’ (now at the same level as hen Fed funds were 150bps lower)…

Source: Bloomberg

…certainly not “doing The Fed’s job” as November is setting up to see the biggest monthly easing of financial conditions since Nov 2020, which is perhaps why we saw bonds reverse yesterday’s moves today.

Stocks managed to hold on to yesterday’s gains. The cash open saw stock rocket higher (squeeze) but it ran out of ammo quite quickly. The Dow outperformed on the day, and Nasdaq lagged, but both ended green…

Source: Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs points out the ‘FCI Loop is making a comeback’ – rising bond and stock prices prompt easier financial conditions which could plead to a reaccleration in growth, impeding progress towards the inflation target… which leads The Fed to jawbone (or take action) leading to tighter financial conditions and a retracement of stock and bond prices gains… rinse, repeat.

The end result of the FCI Doom Loop – a rangebound market that can’t get too hot or too cold, but must say just right or The real-world or The Fed will intervene…

Source: Bloomberg

The short squeeze in stocks continued at the open, with “most shorted” stocks up a stunning 13% from Monday’s cash close. But, we have seen this pattern before and it did not end well for the shorts…

Source: Bloomberg

Defensives and Cyclicals rallied tick for tick suggesting there is no discernment for now… just squeeze/catch-up flow…

Source: Bloomberg

Yesterday’s ‘Stocks Up, VIX Up’ move (after the initial thrust at the cash open) continued…

Source: Bloomberg

BUT… 0-DTE traders unwound their aggressive call-buying flow from yesterday, while put flows were stable…

Source: SpotGamma

While stocks were steady, clinging to yesterday’s gains, crypto ripped with Bitcoin bouncing back above pre-CPI levels…

Source: Bloomberg

And Ethereum rebounding to where it all started…

Source: Bloomberg

After yesterday’s panic-buying, bonds were offered today with yields higher (up around 7-9bps across the entire curve). 30Y yields did their best to recoup yesterday’s yield decline but all yields remain lower post-CPI. The belly (5-7Y) remains the best performer post-CPI…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar did not bounce back from yesterday’s losses…

Source: Bloomberg

Despite a flat dollar, Gold gave back around half of yesterday’s gains…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil prices extended their post-CPI-spike trend lower, with WTI back to a $76 handle, almost perfectly mirroring its move from Monday…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, is it possible? How many times have you said in the last 23 years “I would have known when to exit that wild ride in ’99…”

Source: Bloomberg

Do you feel lucky, punk?

EARLY MORNING TRADING//

TUCKER CARLSON

II USA DATA

US Retail Sales Declined As Student Debt Payments Resumed In October

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 08:40 AM

Is more ‘good news’ on its way? According to BofA, who have been mysteriously all-knowing for months, this morning’s US retail sales print will be better than expected (positive)…

Ahead of retail sales: BofA real-time debit and credit card data indicates a big beat to consensus, especially on headline pic.twitter.com/4iFSdIj4Cz— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 15, 2023

However, Goldman warned last month that retail sales could stumble hard because “the largest effects of the hit from the resumption of student loan payments will come in October.”

After last month’s big upside surprise, consensus was for a 0.3% drop MoM in retail sales but the actual print came in better than expected, declining just 0.1% MoM (the first decline in 7 months)…

Source: Bloomberg

Both headline and core retail sales YoY growth slowed in October…

Source: Bloomberg

Retail sales ‘control group’ (which excludes food services, automobile dealers, building materials and gasoline stations) and is used for GDP calculations, rose 0.2% MoM in Oct.

Furniture, Motor Vehicles, and Miscellaneous Stores saw the biggest MoM declines…

Miscellaneous Store Retailers continues to swing around violently..

As a reminder, last months big jump was ‘seasonally adjusted’. Un-adjusted sales dropped over 5% MoM. In October, sales NSA rose 2.3% MoM…

Source: Bloomberg

Not exactly the ‘great news’ everyone was expecting but still a ‘beat’.

end

PPI drops: PPI is a good indicator of future inflation

(Market Watch)

Headline producer price index drops 0.5% in October, largest decline since April 2020

Nov. 15, 2023 at 8:37 a.m. ET

MarketWatch

The numbers: The producer price index fell 0.5% in October, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That’s down from an 0.4% increase in October and the largest decrease since April 2020.

Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.1% advance.

The core producer price index, which excludes volatile food, energy prices, and trade services rose 0.1% in October, down from an 0.3% gain in the prior month.

Over the past year, headline PPI is up 1.3% in October down from 2.2% in the prior month.

Core prices are up 2.9% from a year earlier, up/down from 3% in October.

Key details The cost of goods fell 1.4% in October after a 0.8% gain in the prior month.

The cost of services was flat last month, down from 0.2% gain in September.

Energy prices fell 6.5% in October, down from a 3.1% gain in the prior month.

Wholesale food prices fell 0.2% after a 0.7% rise in the prior month.

Big picture: The data was flattered by a drop in energy and food prices. But inflation in the pipeline is looking soft.

-END-

III) USA ECONOMIC STORIES

US Beef Prices Hit Record High As Nation’s Cattle Herd Expected To Shrink Through 2025

TUESDAY, NOV 14, 2023 – 11:45 PM

Brazilian processor Marfrig Global Foods SA warned the US cattle herd will continue shrinking through the midpoint of the decade. Less supplies will pressure meatpackers and keep the prices of steak and hamburgers at elevated levels. 

During a conference call, Tim Klein, the head of Marfrig’s North American operation, explained the availability of fattened animals for meatpackers to slaughter and process should trough between 2025 and 2026. He said this is because ranchers have not yet started keeping cows for breeding.

As we’ve noted, years of drought and high feed costs forced ranchers across the Midwest to send the cows to slaughterhouses, leading to a sharp reduction in the nation’s overall herd size. In January, the beef cow herd size was the smallest since 1962. 

Tight supplies of cattle have hurt the profits of meatpackers, including Tyson Foods Inc. and JBS SA: 

National Beef Inc., Marfrig’s US unit, saw adjusted earnings before items such as taxes and interest more than halve in the third quarter from a year ago to $150 million, according to a statement from the company on Monday. Tyson Foods Inc. and JBS SA posted results earlier that were largely affected by lower profits in their US beef operations. -Bloomberg 

Declining cattle numbers also sent US beef prices at the supermarket to record highs.

Also, US beef exports are forecasted to slide 14% this year from 2022 to 3 billion pounds, the lowest since the early days of the Covid pandemic when plant closures crushed meatpackers. The USDA warned US beef production is expected to decline further next year. 

Last week, Pete Bonds, a Texas-based cattle producer, told Reuters, “The future of this industry is not here in the United States.” 

Food inflation remains sticky. And soon, beef will be a luxury only the rich can afford. As for the working poor, Tyson plans to build a new insect plant in 2025. 

END

FREIGHT ISSUES/USA

END

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

USA// COVID//VACCINE/

end

SWAMP STORIES

No surprise here: Rashida Tlaib is a member of a secret facebook grup that glamorized Hamas.

She should be removed from congress.

(zerohedge)

Rep. Rashida Tlaib Member Of Secret Facebook Group That “Glamorized” Hamas

WEDNESDAY, NOV 15, 2023 – 09:55 AM

Fresh off her house censure, it has been revealed that ‘squad member’ Rep. Rashida Tlaib is part of a secret Facebook group that has “glamorized” Hamas amidst the terrorist group’s ongoing battle with Israel.  

The Democratic representative from Michigan belongs to the Palestinian American Congress group on Facebook, a private group not visible to non-members and not searchable on the platform. However, Fox News managed to access it.

Maher Abdel-qader, the group’s creator with strong connections to Tlaib and other progressive politicians, has previously faced criticism for his antisemitic posts on social media. These include posts that cast doubt on the occurrence of the Holocaust, according to Fox News.

Fox News reported that the Palestinian American Congress group, which includes Tlaib as a member, has displayed posts supporting Hamas following the lethal attack on Israel on October 7. On October 12, a member of the group posted a message stating, “We don’t want to throw you in the sea…we want you to ride it back from where you came,” alongside an image showing an elderly Israeli woman held by a Hamas fighter.

On October 19, a different member of the group mentioned the “successes” of the “resistance in Northern occupied Palestine,” citing the deaths of numerous Israeli soldiers. This post also featured an image of a Hamas combatant, the report said. 

Addressing American media, one post on October 10th read: “Since yesterday I have been attached to the TV watching the news. You, and the people directing you, are the problem, you created it almost 100 years ago, made it official 75 years ago and you have been feeding its flam ever since.”

It continues: “You consider Hamas a terrorist organization and I am not going to argue with you at the same time you have been broadcasting that they have been killing women and children, guess that is what terrorists do at the same time no mention to the killing of Palestinian women, children and entire families killed on a daily basses (sic) by the [peace-loving] state of Israel using American gifts of weapons and jet fighters.”

“Yesterday I didn’t see Hamas I saw the grand kids (sic) of the refugees that ethnically cleansed from their homeland attacking the grand kids (sic) of the colonists whom sent them to diaspora,” it says. 

Throughout the year, before the attacks, various members of the group have also shared messages and images that endorse Hamas.

As Fox reports, Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, faced a House vote censuring her for anti-Israel comments after the Hamas conflict, with the House voting 234-188 for censure.

Her ties with Abdel-qader, founder of the Palestinian American Congress group known for promoting antisemitic theories, are longstanding. He once shared a video labeling Jews as “satanic” and doubting the Holocaust’s death toll, but later retracted these statements.

Abdel-qader, a significant fundraiser for Tlaib, has donated over $6,500 to her campaigns since 2018 and served as her finance committee chair in 2018. He was acknowledged by Tlaib with a medal in April 2018 for his campaign support.

Recently, Abdel-qader promoted a Chicago fundraiser for Tlaib and Rep. Summer Lee, emphasizing their support for the Palestinian cause.

You can read Fox’s full report here. 

end

THE KING REPORT

The King Report November 15, 2023 Issue 7119Independent View of the News
We noted several weeks ago that we positioned our fixed income holdings to account for a probable Team Obama-Biden rig that would lower interest rates into the November 2024 Election – and that there would be hell to pay in 2025 for the fiscal and monetary abuse that would be utilized to get Biden reelected.
 
The very political BLS validated our view when it reported unfathomably lower CPI (0.0% m/m & 3.2% y/y) and Core CPI (0..2% m/m & 4% y/y) than expected, by one thin tenth, despite beaucoup consumer and voter surveys that show very strong inflation angst and corporations’ incessant inflation lamentations.
 
The known world expected healthcare inflation to jump by at least 1% due to a BLS change in computing healthcare costs.  But, healthcare DECLINED 2.0% y/y because health insurance tumbled 34% y/y!  This is pure BS and an insult!  Yet people invest and trade trillions of dollars on this blatant fraud!!!
 
@Hedgeye: EXPOSING #CPILies Did anyone’s healthcare insurance costs fall significantly last month??
Didn’t think so. Today’s CPI report showed Healthcare was -34%, which took about 18 bps off the Headline number, essentially accounting for today’s so-called “beat.” The U.S. government and Fed will manipulate any data necessary to make it appear consumers are doing fine. Real-world inflation is higher than what is being reported, and it is still being felt by Americans.
    We’ve seen this fudging of numbers in the last NINE jobs reports (when a Non-Farm Payroll number is reported, only to be revised a month later). Now, the manipulation is creeping into CPI reports as well. Just check out the numbers below. We can assure you won’t see CNBC or any #OldWall Media source reporting this…  https://twitter.com/Hedgeye/status/1724524200524763196/photo/1
 
Do you think that healthcare insurance premiums are the only CPI component that was fudged?
 
After the suspiciously and conveniently 0.1 lower than expected October CPI Report was released, numerous people threw the BS flag on the BLS.
 
Mathematician @BartsQuandry: US inflation data is so rigged now that CCP data is looking more reliable. By my estimations that –34% decline in health insurance costs we got today changed that CPI print from what should have been already rigged 3.6% down to 3.2%.
 
@amlivemon: Never will I criticize the Chinese about fake financial data when we have clowns in this administration putting out -34% healthcare and 6% rent figures.
 
The NY Post’s @mirandadevine: How do they get away with fake CPI data?
     @imyourmoderator: Same way they got away with fake elections. Everyone is scared to admit the truth and there are great rewards for perpetuating the lie.
     @EllinLevy: Seriously, how do they get away with the lies? Guess “they” don’t shop for groceries and other essentials….
 
Minsky Moment @BP_Rising: Bureau of Doctored Labor Statistics is at again with CPLie. Josiah Stamp would be very proud of the adjusted calculations used to manipulate a temporary algorithmic push into overbought territory. https://twitter.com/BP_Rising/status/1724469097121898636
 
@KeithMcCullough: #CPI LIES US Government reported that Health Insurance was DOWN -34% year-over-year…  REALLY? That shaved -18bps off the CPI headline
 
@checker36663: It may happen that the CPI report will be conveniently revised a few months from now, in the dead of the night, and away from prying eyes – but – the damage is done.  None can reverse the astronomical capital flows used to rally this market. The Old Wall is victorious today.
 
@RobertKennedyJr: Nearly two-thirds of voters say they’ve cut back on non-essential spending because of inflation. But what’s really alarming is that half have cut their spending on necessities. Think about what that means.
 
Wall Street Reacts to Today’s CPI Shocker Which Was the Biggest “Market Surprise” Of 2023
Bloomberg’s Chris Antsey made a good point: “if the Fed does stay on hold in December, then by the January meeting, it will have been on hold for half a year. At that point, you would have to assume any move to raise rates again would be effectively a new cycle. Hard to see how they would think one 25 basis point increase would do the trick. We’d be in another cycle of tightening.”
     And we will be, just as soon as China panics and injects trillions into the economy to avoid a full-blown revolt, sometime in late 2024 just in time to send commodities soaring to record levels ahead of the US election…  (Don’t forget, US spending is scheduled to increase by about $2 trillion!)
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wall-street-reacts-todays-cpi-shocker-which-was-biggest-market-surprise-2023?s=02
 
That last time Team Obama-Biden spent like crazy, the worst inflation since 1980 appeared.  Guess what’s coming, Virginia?  Did the Moody’s US debt downgrade induce Team Obama to fudge CPI?
 
@KeithMcCullough: CPI – Not that anyone in Perma Bull (s***) media is going to mention it but … The Fed’s preferred inflation definition (Core Services Ex-Shelter) ACCELERATED +11bps to +3.85% Y/Y
 
Yesterday, the Atlanta Fed reported its Sticky-Price CPI (items that change price slowly) increased 4.3% annualized and 4.9% y/y in October.  https://www.atlantafed.org/research/inflationproject/stickyprice
 
For the past few weeks, Fed officials have stridently claimed that higher bond yields were doing the Fed’s tightening.  What will these Fed clowns stridently claim about lower bonds rates?
 
Investors have never been this confident bond yields are headed lower: BofA survey
BofA’s monthly fund managers survey showed some 80% of respondents see bond yields falling in 2024, the most ever captured by the firm… https://t.co/ZoWyaVMm3r
 
@BartsQuandry: Another 236B in unscheduled short term bill auctions announced today for Wed/Thur. How does a 1/4 trillion in treasury auctions just pop out of nowhere?
https://twitter.com/BartsQuandry/status/1724460245391724730
 
Electric heat to cost 77 percent more than natural gas, federal agency says
U.S. Energy Information Administration said a home that uses electricity will pay 77 percent more or an average of $462 this winter, compared to a household that uses natural gas… (Team Obama-Biden wants Americans to replace natural gas with electricity!)  https://denvergazette.com/news/business/federal-agency-predicts-a-77-jump-in-electric-heating-costs/article_3a39bdae-803c-11ee-9763-6babdd47599f.html
 
Biden bashed for claiming to see economy ‘through the eyes’ of Scranton, not Wall Street: ‘Your economy sucks’ – Democrats have called on Biden to abandon the use of the term ‘Bidenomics’
     “He looks at the economy through the eyes of a Socialist with dementia,” podcast host Dr. Mark Young explained… Actor Matthew Marsden argued, “You have literally been in congress most of your life. Now ask yourself is the country better since you took office? You look at the economy through the eyes of a corrupt old fool who has run the country into the ground.”…
https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-bashed-claiming-see-economy-eyes-scranton-not-wall-street-economy-sucks
 
Hyundai is going to hike wages for non-union production workers at its Alabama plant by 25% https://reut.rs/3SFujOt
 
ESZs and stocks hit momentum peaks at 11:16 ET.  After a 20-handle decline that lasted until 14:07 ET, ESZs and stocks made daily price peaks at 14:14 ET.  ESZs declined 18 handles by the NYSE close.
 
USZs hit momentum and price (115 23/32) peaks at 9:39 ET and then traded within a 17-handle range.
 
Positive aspects of previous session
Stocks and bonds soared on a blatantly bogus October CPI Report
 
Negative aspects of previous session
Team Obama-Biden will keep crafting bogus US economic data because Wall St reacts positively to it
There will be hell to pay in the future for the fiscal & monetary abuses for Election 2024
Stocks are bubbling up and bonds are soaring, greatly loosening financial conditions
The dollar got crushed, which will eventually foment inflation
The US has banana republic economic data – and possibly banana republic elections
 
Ambiguous aspects of previous session
Did the Moody’s US debt downgrade induce Team –Biden to rig October CPI?
 
First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Up; Last Hour: Down
 
Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 4487.78
Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 4508.67; 4458.97
 
Feds keep hidden books on vaccine injury reports, barely follow up: investigation
Pfizer has about 1,000 more full-time employees than CDC doing “vaccine surveillance,” British Medical Journal estimates. House COVID subcommittee expresses concern – Federal public health agencies are reportedly withholding the most accurate and up-to-date reports of vaccine injury from the public, allegedly to protect privacy. Patients don’t necessarily see it that way, and it’s not clear the feds told Congress… https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/feds-keep-hidden-books-vaccine-injury-reports-barely-follow
 
GOP Sen. @JDVance1: Those of us who called for peace negotiations early in the Ukraine war have been vindicated. The only question now is how many more Ukrainians should die for the fantasies of people who’ve been wrong about everything.
 
Biden seeks to calm relationship with Xi amid global crises
The two will hold their high-stakes meeting Wednesday… China’s ties to Iran have become a more urgent priority… https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-seeks-calm-relationship-xi-153523618.html
 
Bloomberg: President Joe Biden’s meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) with Chinese President Xi Jinping is one of high stakes and low expectations.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-11-14/biden-s-meeting-with-xi-aimed-at-reopening-dialogue-between-rivals
 
Early Tuesday night, 209 Dems (all but 4) joined 127 (of 221) GOP Reps to pass Speaker Johnson’s stopgap fund plan. Schumer & McConnell have voiced support for Johnson’s plan. 
 
@IDF 7:05 PM ET: IDF forces are carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital… The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians being used by Hamas as human shields…
 
Today – A major risk for bulls is that someone, or more, in a position of influence calls out the BLS for its 34% decline in healthcare premiums and people in positions of power demand answers from the BLS.  Some reporter, economist, analyst, or Congressperson should ask Fed officials if they believe healthcare premiums tumbled 34% y/y.  What would occur if Powell, or a high Fed official, or a US Senator asked the BLS to explain its 34% y/y tumble in healthcare premiums?  If a critical mass of people have an epiphany that US economic data is bogus…
 
JPMorgan’s Dimon Says Inflation ‘Might Not Go Away That Quickly – BBG 16:54 ET
People are over-reacting to short-term numbers “and they should not be doing that.”…
 
ESZs are +5.25 and USZs are +4/32 at 20:45 ET.
 
Expected economic data: Oct PPI 0.1% m/m & 1.9% y/y, Core PPI 0.3% m/m & 2.8% y/y; Oct Retail Sales -0.3% m/m, ex-Autos -0.1%, ex-Autos & Gas +0.2%; Nov Empire Mfg. -3.0; Sept Business Inventories 0.4%; Fed VCEO for Supervision 9:30 ET, Richmond Fed Pres Barkin 15:30 ET
 
Expected retailer earnings: TGT 1.47, TJX 1.00
 
S&P 500 Index 50-day MA: 4336; 100-day MA: 4404; 150-day MA: 4337; 200-day MA: 4261
DJIA 50-day MA: 33,816; 100-day MA: 34,281; 150-day MA: 34,060; 200-day MA: 33,822
(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 3828.58 triggers a sell signal
Weekly: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 4425.18 triggers a buy signal
Daily: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4337.63 triggers a sell signal
Hourly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4430.45 triggers a sell signal
 
@RNCResearch: “Can you address the hostages directly and give them a message of hope?” BIDEN, angrily: “Yes I can, I’ve been talking with the people involved every single day.” https://t.co/OJxWKgPQUu
 
Here’s why most Republicans detest GOP politicians: GOP Rep. @repdarrellissa tweeted at 8:35 PM ET on Mon, Nov 13, 2023: I can’t wait to testify at the Mayorkas impeachment – worst Homeland Secretary ever.   Moments later, Issa voted AGAINST impeaching Mayorkas!
 
@MicaSoellnerDC: (GOP Rep) MTG calls out House Rs who voted to kill her resolution to impeach Mayorkas:  “How many more people have to die before 8 Republicans can decide to have the courage to vote yes for impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas?” She particularly calls out Rep. Issa by name.
 
@MonicaCrowley: If Republicans can’t even get it together to impeach Mayorkas over his egregious dereliction of duty re: the criminal illegal invasion at the wide-open border, what CAN they do?
 
McCarthy accused of shoving Republican who helped oust him: ‘Cheap shot from behind’
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., claims former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy deliberately elbowed him in a congressional hallway  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mccarthy-accused-shoving-republican-helped-oust-him-cheap-shot-from-behind
 
@itsSpencerBrown: Teamsters boss/keyboard warrior Sean O’Brien challenged Sen. Markwayne Mullin to a fight “anytime, anywhere” on X. Mullin (an MMA fighter) called O’Brien’s bluff in a Senate HELP hearing, and it was legendary. (Bernie Sanders intervenes.)
https://twitter.com/itsSpencerBrown/status/1724489460820087062
 
Anti-violence advocate hit storekeeper with baseball bat during robbery, prosecutors say (Chicago)
Lewis gave the police a much different story, according to a statement filed by CPD detectives. It said he was “task[ed] as an anti-violence advocate” and he “claimed he worked for the alderman.”… Lewis’s criminal background includes a 10-year sentence for manufacture-delivery of cocaine in 2014, three years for being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2008, and 12 years for second-degree murder in 1994. He was found not guilty of murder and kidnapping in 2005, according to Cook County court records.  https://cwbchicago.com/2023/11/antiviolence-advocate-charged-baseball-bat-shakedown-robbery-chicago.html
 
@ChristinaPushaw: Nikki Haley asserts that allowing people to post on social media anonymously is a “national security threat”. She promises that as president, she will force “every person on social media” to be “verified by their name.”  I am no lawyer but isn’t this blatantly unconstitutional? Free speech includes anonymous speech.   https://twitter.com/ChristinaPushaw/status/1724524144954380794
 
This Georgia lawmaker is suing her county for firing her after she was found passed out drunk in the streets and then shrieked like a banshee at the medics who responded (Not a parody)
https://notthebee.com/article/this-georgia-lawmaker-is-suing-the-county-for-firing-her-after-she-was-caught-on-tape-hammered-drunk-abusing-medics-in-the-ambulance
 
Turley: Absolute Nonsense: Obama Again Claims to be First Amendment Absolutist While Supporting Censorship – The First Amendment is not synonymous with free speech. It is only a restriction on government action… Obama is fully aware of the distinction and has often stressed that you can support both the First Amendment and censorship…He analogized corporate censors to meat inspectors protecting the health of the nation…
    As someone often called a free speech absolutist, I find Obama’s self-characterization maddening. He has been no friend to the free speech community… However, as I testified before Congress, the level of government involvement and support for these corporate censorship programs could well violate even the First Amendment by creating a “censorship by surrogate” approach.  Later, that is precisely what a federal court found in issuing an injunction against the Administration…
    While claiming to be a First Amendment [near] absolutist, Obama has supported massive censorship on social media and called for the media to frame news to better educate citizens and shape public opinion. For those of us in the free speech community, those positions make Obama’s recurring claim nothing short of absolute nonsense.
https://jonathanturley.org/2023/11/14/absolute-nonsense-obama-again-claims-to-be-first-amendment-absolutist-while-supporting-censorship/
 

GREG HUNTER 

SEE YOU THURSDAY

H

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