GOLD PRICE CLOSED: UP $12.15 TO $2038.15
SILVER PRICE CLOSED: UP 27 cents AT $24.04
Access prices: closes 4: 15 PM
Gold ACCESS CLOSED 2040.00
Silver ACCESS CLOSED: 24.04
DEC 13
Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price
USD oz gram kilo tola 
AM2030.75
PM2028.26
SHANGHAI GOLD PREMIUM OVER NY: 52 DOLLARS
Bitcoin morning price:, 42,889 UP 1270 DOLLARS
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $42,244 UP 1915 dollars
Platinum price closing $961.30 UP $9.50
Palladium price; $1232,75 UP $49.95
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: $2,720.60 UP $4.06 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 2,795.90 CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//DEC 1 272023)
*BRITISH GOLD: 1602.82 UP 0 pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1655.17 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) OCT 2/2023
*EURO GOLD: 1858.15 UP 3.12 euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 1903.75 EUROS PER OZ//DEC 1.2023)
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EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: DECEMBER 2023 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 2,026.300000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 12/18/2023 DELIVERY DATE: 12/20/2023
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
365 C MAREX CAPITAL M 20 20
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 53
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 2
661 C JP MORGAN 26
685 C RJ OBRIEN 40
737 C ADVANTAGE 34 13
991 H CME 32
TOTAL: 120 120
MONTH TO DATE: 14,030
JPMorgan stopped 0/120 contracts.
FOR DEC.:
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR DEC/2023. CONTRACT: 120 NOTICES FOR 12000 OZ or 0.3732TONNES
total notices so far: 14,030 contracts for 1,403,000 oz (43.639 tonnes)
FOR DEC:
SILVER NOTICES 127 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 635,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 3081 for 16,405,000 oz
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END
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES
GLD
WITH GOLD UP $12.15//
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ : / NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: /
INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.69 TONNES
SLV//
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 27 CENTS AT THE SLV// HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 2.747 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 443,393 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A GOOD SIZED 665 CONTRACTS TO 127,272 AND FURTHER FROM THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS GOOD SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR LOSS $0.09 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON MONDAY. WE HAD A SOME LONG LIQUIDATION WITH CONSIDERABLE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION (AND SOME SHORT COVERING) AT THE COMEX SESSION. WE HAD A VERY STRONG 919 T.A.S ISSUANCE AND THESE WILL BE USED FOR MANIPULATION LATER THIS MONTH/AS WELL AS TODAY.
CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT THAT THE CROOKS USE THE MID MONTH FOR MANIPULATION AS THEY SELL THEIR BUY SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD FIRST AND THEN KEEP THE SELL SIDE TO LIQUIDATE AT A LATER DATE. THUS WE HAVE TWO VEHICLES THE CROOKS USE FOR MANIPULATION AND BOTH ARE SPREADERS: 1) AT MONTH’S END/SPREADERS COMEX AND 2/ TAS SPREADERS, MID MONTH. TOTAL TAS ISSUED ON MONDAY NIGHT: 919 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 SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT FELL BY $0.09), BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A TINY SIZED LOSS OF 250 OI CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
WE MUST HAVE HAD:
A GOOD SIZED 375 ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 1,5 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE) FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 5,000 OZ EFPJUMP TO LONDON + 0 CONTRACTS OF EX. FOR RISK FOR 0 MILLION OZ EX. FOR RISK //NEW TOTAL STANDING 18.035 MILLION OZ.+0 MILLION OZ (EX. FOR RISK TODAY) + 6.5 MILLION EX. FOR RISK/PRIOR= NEW TOTAL OF 24.535 MILLION OZ
//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 24.535 MILLION OZ
//GOOD SIZED COMEX OI LOSS/ GOOD SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) VERY GOOD SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 919 CONTRACTS)/
0 CONTRACT EX.FOR RISK =0 MILLION OZ//NEW TOTAL FOR EX. FOR RISK + 6.5 MILLION OZ.
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL – REMOVED 156 CONTRACTS (the cme will no longer provide preliminary no to be except through a paywall)
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS DEC. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF DEC:
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 13 days, total 10,863 contracts: OR 54.315MILLION OZ (856 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 54.315MILLION 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. 50.050 MILLION OZ
DEC. 54.315 MILLION OZ//THIS IS GOING TO BE A STRONG ISSUANCE OF EFP’S FOR THIS MONTH.
RESULT: WE HAD A GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 665 CONTRACTS WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $0.09 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//MONDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A VERY GOOD EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 919 ISSUED FOR FEB AND 0 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS) WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX TO LONDON AS FORWARDS. WE HAVE A GOOD INITIAL SILVER OZ STANDING FOR DEC. OF 18.755 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 5,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP /NEW TOTAL STANDING 18.035MILLION OZ//+0 MILLION EX. FOR RISK TODAY + 6.5 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK/PRIOR//NEW TOTAL 24,535 MILLION OZ.
NEW STANDING 24.535 million OZ /// WE HAVE A TINY SIZED LOSS OF 250 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES WITH THE LOSS IN PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A VERY GOOD SIZED 919 CONTRACTS//CONSIDERABLE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE MONDAY COMEX SESSION. THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE MONDAY NIGHT (919 WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE., .
WE HAD 127 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 635,000 OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A TINY SIZED 231 CONTRACTS TO 477,275 AND FURTHER FROM RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,733 AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110.
THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY: -removed 101 CONTRACTS
WE HAD A SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI ( 231 CONTRACTS) DESPITE OUR $5.50 GAIN IN PRICE//MONDAY. WE ALSO HAD A RATHER LIGHT INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR DEC.. AT 44.914 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 8800 OZ QUEUE JUMP + 0 ISSUANCE OF EX. FOR RISK CONTRACTS // TOTAL GOLD STANDING FOR DEC SO FAR INCREASES TO 48.696 TONNES // ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $5.50 GAIN IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 2711 OI CONTRACTS (8.432) PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 2841 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 477,275
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 2610 CONTRACTS WITH 231 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR SIZED 2841 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 2610 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 0 CONTRACTS EXCHANGE FOR RISK TODAYFOR 0.0 TONNES/EX FOR RISK PRIOR = 4.634 TOTAL //NEW TOTAL STANDING 43.486 TONNES + 4.634 TONNES= 48.131 TONNES.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A FAIR 1579 CONTRACTS.
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (2841 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE TINY SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (231) //TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 2610 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 DEC. AT 44.914 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 8800 OZ QUEUE JUMP + 4.634 TONNES EX. FOR RISK PRIOR//NEW STANDING 48.696TONNES / / 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AND CONSIDERABLE TAS LIQUIDATION WITH SOME SHORT LIQUIDATION (COVERING) 4) TINY SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST LOSS/ 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: FAIR T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 1579 CONTRACTS
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023 INCLUDING TODAY
DEC
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF DEC. :
TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 53,799 CONTRACTS OR 5,379,900 OZ OR 167.33TONNES IN 12 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 4483 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 12 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 167.33TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 167.33/3550 x 100% TONNES 4,71% 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. 239.16 TONNES//WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH,
DEC. 167.33 TONNES. THIS MONTH MAY TURN INTO A WHOPPER OF E.F.P. ISSUANCE
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 DEC. 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 NOV HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB., FOR GOLD: AND MARCH FOR SILVER
YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (SEPT), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”
WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.
The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.
First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:
1.Today, we had the open interest at the comex, in SILVER FELL BY A GOOD SIZED 665 CONTRACTS OI TO 127,272 AND FURTHER FROM THE 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 375 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MARCH 375 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 375 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI LOSS OF 665 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 375 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,
WE OBTAIN A TINY SIZED LOSS OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 250 CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 1,45 MILLION OZ
OCCURRED WITH OUR $.09 loss 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//
TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 1,59 PTS OR 0.05% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 124.23 PTS OR 0.75% /The Nikkei CLOSED UP 460.41PTS OR 1.41% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.87 % /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN AT 7.1375 /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.1383 /Oil UP TO 72,26 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 77.61/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN EXCEPT LONDON// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER
A)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
outline
b) REPORT ON JAPAN/
OUTLINE
3 CHINA
OUTLINE
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
OUTLINE
7. OIL ISSUES
OUTLINE
8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES
9. USA
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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A TINY SIZED 231 CONTRACTS TO 477,275 DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $5.50 WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY TRADING. WE MUST HAVE HAD ZERO LONG SPEC LIQUIDATIONS IN THE COMEX SESSION WITH SOME SPEC SHORT COVERINGS DURING TODAY’S RUN UP IN PRICE.
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF DEC..… 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 2841 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : FEB 2841 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 2841 CONTRACTS
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 2711 CONTRACTS IN THAT 2841 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A TINY SIZED LOSS OF 130 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS FAIR GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $5.50//MONDAY COMEX. AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR TUESDAY NIGHT WAS A FAIR SIZED 1579 CONTRACTS. THROUGHOUT THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, THE BANKERS SOLD OFF THE LONG SIDE OF THE SPREAD WHICH OF COURSE CONTINUES TO MANIPULATE THE PRICE OF GOLD SOUTHBOUND. (THEY KEEP THE SHORT SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD WHICH WILL BE LIQUIDATED TWO MONTHS HENCE)//.
// WE HAVE A LIGHT AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: DEC (48.696 TONNES) ( 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: 18.7122 TONNES + 16.2505 EX. FOR RISK = 34.9627 TONNES
DEC. 44.062 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 48.696TONNES
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT GAINED $5.50) //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 2610 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES. WE HAD A FAIR T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF MONDAY’S TRADING . THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON MONDAY NIGHT, WILL BE “PUT INTO THE BANK” TO BE USED AT A LATER DATE AT THE COLLUSIVE CHOOSING OF OUR BANKERS. WE ALSO EXPERIENCED CONSIDERABLE SPECULATOR SHORT COVERING
WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 8.118 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR DEC. (44.914 TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE, FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 8800 OZ QUEUE JUMP (FOR 0.2737 TONNES)//NEW TOTAL STANDING FALLS TO 44,062 + 4.634 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK : NEW TOTAL 48.696 TONNES../ ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $5.50
WE HAD -removed 101 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 2610 CONTRACTS OR 261,000 OZ OR 8.118 TONNES.
Estimated gold volume today:// 137,484 poor
final gold volumes/yesterday 153,138 poor
//speculators have left the gold arena
DEC 19
/ /// THE DEC. 2023 GOLD CONTRACT
| Gold | Ounces |
| 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 oz | nil oz |
| No of oz served (contracts) today | 120 notice(s) 12,000 OZ 0.3732 TONNES |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 136 contracts 13,600 oz 0.4230 TONNES |
| Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month | 14,030 notices 1,403,000 oz 43.639 TONNES |
| Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month | x |
0 dealer deposit:
total dealer deposits: nil oz
customer deposits: 0
we had 0 customer withdrawals
Adjustments; 3
1 dealer to customer Manfra 96.453 oz
2 customer to dealer: Delaware 3999.25 oz and Int. Delaware 964.53 oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DEC.
For the front month of DECEMBER we have an oi of 256 contracts having LOST 102 contracts. .We had 190
contracts served upon MONDAY, so we GAINED or an additional 88 CONTRACTS OR 8,800 OZ (0.2737 tonnes) will stand for delivery at the comex
JAN. LOST 7 contracts FALLING TO 3252 contracts.
FEB LOST 2345 CONTRACTS FALLING TO 368,422
We had 120 contracts filed for today representing 12,000 oz
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 26 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 120 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 9 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 DEC. /2023. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (14,030x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC. (256 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 120 x 100 oz per contract equals 1,416,600 OZ OR 44.052 TONNES + 4.634 TONNES EX. FOR RISK ISSUED/PRIOR/ (FOR DELIVERY HERE) = 48.696 TONNES.
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the DEC. contract month: No of notices filed so far (14,030) x 100 oz + (256) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (120) x 100 oz) which equals 1,416,600 oz standing OR 44.052 TONNES + 4.634 tonnes of ex. for risk = 48.696 TONNES
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR DEC: 48.696 TONNES WHICH IS LIGHT FOR THE BIGGEST ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR. THEY PROBABLY KNOW THAT NO REAL GOLD IS PRESENT AT 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: 1,559,349.955 OZ 48.50 tonnes
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 20,066,011.741 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 10,259,659.462 (319,118 tonnes).
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 9,806,352,279 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 8,700,310 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 270,61 tonnes
END
SILVER/COMEX
DEC 15
//2023// THE DEC 2023 SILVER CONTRACT
| Silver | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory | NIL oz |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory | 18,860.161 oz CNT . |
| Deposits to the Dealer Inventory | 631,495.000OZ ASAHI |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory | 1,204,228.050oz CNT |
| No of oz served today (contracts) | 127 CONTRACT(S) (635,000 OZ) |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 526 contracts (2,630,000 oz) |
| Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) | 3081 Contracts (15,405,000 oz) |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month |
i) 1 dealer deposit
total dealer deposit: 631,495.000 oz
i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal
total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz
We had 1 deposits customer account:
i) Into CNT 1,204,228.650 oz
total customer deposits: 1,204,228.650 oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 133.1390 million oz/272.017 million or 48.89%
Comex withdrawals 1
i) Out of CNT: 18,860.161 oz
total withdrawals 18,860.161 oz
Adjustments; 0
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 46.129 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 272.017 million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF DEC /2023 OI: 653 CONTRACTS HAVING LOST 1 CONTRACT(S).
WE HAD 2 CONTRACTS SERVED ON MONDAY, SO WE GAINED 1 CONTRACTS OR 5000 OZ UNDERWENT A
QUEUE JUMP TAKING DELIVERY OVER AT THE COMEX
JAN GAINED 20 CONTRACTS UP TO 1824 CONTRACTS
FEB LOST 6 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 351
MARCH LOST 799 CONTRACTS TO 105,140.
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 127 for 635,000 oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 36,869// poor
Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 44,894 poor
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in DEC. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 3081x 5,000 oz = 15,405,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC. (653) and the number of notices served upon today 127 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the DEC/2023 contract month: 3081 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of DEC. (653) – number of notices served upon today (127 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the DEC contract month equates to 18.035 MILLION OZ. to which we add 0 million oz of exchange for risk today and then add prior exchange for risk of 6.5 million oz//
New total standing: 24,535 million oz.
There are 45.512 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!
DEC19/WITH GOLD UP $12.15 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.69 TONNES
DEC18/WITH GOLD UP $5.50 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. /A DEPOSIT OF 173 TONNES INTO THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.69 TONNES
DEC14/WITH GOLD UP $47.35 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. /A DEPOSIT OF 2.42 TONNES FROM THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 877.96 TONNES
DEC13/WITH GOLD UP $3.90 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. /A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.89 TONNES FROM THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 875,65 TONNES
DEC12/WITH GOLD DOWN $0.60 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. /A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.01 TONNES FROM THE GLD// INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.54 TONNES
DEC11/WITH GOLD DOWN $21.20 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. // / / // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.55 TONNES
DEC 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $30,80 TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. // / / // A WITHDRAWAL OF .28 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/// INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.55 TONNES
DEC 7/WITH GOLD DOWN $.20 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.83 TONNES
DEC 6/WITH GOLD UP $11.70 TODAY:SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.29 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.83 TONNES
DEC 5/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.85 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.30 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 881.12 TONNES
DEC 4/WITH GOLD DOWN $43.15 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.31 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.82 TONNES
DEC 1/WITH GOLD UP $32.05 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 876.51 TONNES
NOV 30/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.70 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.53 TONNES
NOV 29/WITH GOLD UP $7.20 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.73 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.55 TONNES
NOV 28/WITH GOLD UP $26.45 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 882.28 TONNE
NOV 27/WITH GOLD UP $9,85 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: // / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 882.28 TONNES
NOV 24/WITH GOLD UP $11.20 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 882.28 TONNES
NOV 22/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.45 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 883.43 TONNES
NOV 21/WITH GOLD UP $21.65 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD / / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 883.43 TONNES
NOV 20/WITH GOLD DOWN $4.15 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A MAMMOTH DEPOSIT OF 12.98 TONNES INTO THE GLD:/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 883.43 TONNES
NOV 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.85 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 870.45 TONNES
NOV 16/WITH GOLD UP $22.70 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/ / // // INVENTORY RESTS AT 870.45 TONNES
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 30/WITH GOLD UP $7.80 TODAY:HUGE 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
GLD INVENTORY: 879.69 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
DEC 19/WITH SILVER UP 27 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 2.747 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 443.393 MILLION OZ
DEC 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.794 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.646 MILLION OZ
DEC 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.00000 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.470 MILLION OZ
DEC 13/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A DEPOSIT OF 10.326 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 444.470 MILLION OZ
DEC 12/WITH SILVER DOWN 5 CENTS TODAY:BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 594,000 OZ FROM THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.144 MILLION OZ
DEC 11/WITH SILVER DOWN 19 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.735 MILLION OZ
DEC 8/WITH SILVER DOWN 80 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A DEPOSIT OF 1.648 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.735 MILLION OZ
DEC 7/WITH SILVER DOWN 15 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: // //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.090 MILLION OZ
DEC 6/WITH SILVER DOWN 25 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: // //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.090 MILLION OZ
DEC 5/WITH SILVER DOWN 34 CENTS TODAY:SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.305 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.090 MILLION OZ
DEC 4/WITH SILVER DOWN 90 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.7333 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.395 MILLION OZ
DEC 1/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.923 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.128 MILLION OZ
NOV 30/WITH SILVER UP 20 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/ //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 436.051 MILLION OZ
NOV 29/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV” A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 4.122 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 436.051 MILLION OZ
NOV 28/WITH SILVER UP 64 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.173 MILLION OZ
NOV 27/WITH SILVER UP 32 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV //:////A WITHDRAWAL OF 1,008,000 OZ FROM THE SLV. //INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.173 MILLION OZ
NOV 24/WITH SILVER UP 70 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV //:////A WITHDRAWAL OF 549,000 OZ FROM THE SLV. //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.181 MILLION OZ
NOV 22/WITH SILVER DOWN 21 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV //://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.730 MILLION OZ
NOV 21/WITH SILVER UP 32 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 2.794 OZ FROM THE SLV//://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.730 MILLION OZ
NOV 20/WITH SILVER DOWN 26 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 1,824,000 OZ FROM THE SLV//://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 438.936 MILLION OZ
NOV 17/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 1,832,000 OZ FROM THE SLV//://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 437,104 MILLION OZ
NOV 16/WITH SILVER UP 38 CENTS TODAY:SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 778,000 OZ FROM THE SLV//://// //INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.768 MILLION OZ
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
CLOSING INVENTORY 443.393 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES
1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey
Peter Schiff: Dow Jones Still Far From Record When Priced In ‘Real Money’
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/peter-schiff-dow-jones-still-far-record-when-priced-real-money
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 06:30 AM
The Dow Jones index hit record highs last week. But when you price the index in real money — gold — it remains far below record levels.
Last week, the Dow closed above 37,000 for the first time. On Friday, it set a record of 37,305. But during his podcast, Peter Schiff put that record into context.
If you take the price of gold at $2,000 an ounce, the Dow is priced at roughly 18.5 ounces of gold.
That’s not even close to a record high. In 1966, the Dow was priced at about 20 ounces of gold.
From the 1966 peak to today, in terms of real money, the Dow is actually lower than it was in 1966. In fact, it’s maybe lower than it was in 1929 in terms of gold.”
The record high for the Dow Jones priced in gold was 1999 when it took almost 42 ounces of gold to “buy” the Dow.
The Dow has never been more expensive priced in real money than it was in 1999. Now, that’s how big that bubble was during that decade.”
Today, the Dow is still 55% lower than that record.
The price of the Dow in gold would have to double from here in order to reclaim that record, so, it’s not going to happen.”
Why do you want to think of the price of the Dow in terms of gold?
Gold has real value. You can’t measure it in terms of the dollar. The dollar has lost 99% of its value relative to gold since the beginning of the Federal Reserve. Obviously, the price of everything is going to go up when you’re measuring it by something that’s gone down by 99%. So, you take that out of it and you look at the real value and it’s not a record.”
Even though it’s not at a record level, the Dow is historically expensive in terms of gold. Peter said the Dow does not deserve this high price.
I think the Dow should actually have a low price. There are so many problems looming on the horizon for the US stock market that it should be trading at a discount to its historic average, not at a premium. I think we have a long way to go on the downside for the real value of the Dow.”
But Peter said we may still see increases in the Dow and other US stock market indices in nominal terms. In fact, after the Fed surrendered to inflation last week, he said he expects the US stock market to keep rising.
Not for the right reasons, but for the wrong reasons. But it looks like the Dow is going to go up. I don’t recommend buying it because I think foreign stocks will beat the Dow. I think emerging markets will beat the Dow. I think gold stocks will beat it. So, I think there are better horses to be on.”
END
2,c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens, John Rubino
Three Wall Street Mega Banks Hold $157.3 Trillion in Derivatives – That’s $56.7 Trillion More than the Entire World’s GDP Last Year
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: December 18, 2023
At recent Congressional hearings on federal bank regulators’ newly proposed rules to force the largest banks in the U.S. to hold more capital against their riskiest trading positions (so that taxpayers aren’t on the hook for more bailouts), the banks and their sycophants holding Senate and House seats made it sound like it’s the American farmers who will be hurt because the derivatives they use to hedge against crop failures or price swings in their crops will become more expensive..
We knew this was a completely bogus argument because the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that “agriculture, food, and related industries contributed roughly $1.264 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021….”
In other words, U.S. farmers need to hedge less than $2 trillion while just three mega banks on Wall Street were holding $157.3 trillion in derivatives as of September 30 of this year – which is $56.74 trillion more than the GDP of the entire world last year. (See chart above.)
If the bulk of these derivatives aren’t being used by farmers and business owners to hedge against losses, what are they being used for? According to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the federal regulator of national banks, the trillions of dollars in derivatives at the mega banks on Wall Street are being used for trading – likely for the benefit of the banks themselves or their billionaire speculator clients, such as hedge funds and family offices.
According to the OCC, as of September 30, JPMorgan Chase (which lost $6.2 billion from its federally-insured bank in wild derivative trades in 2012) is still allowed to sit on $54.4 trillion in derivatives. Citigroup’s Citibank, which blew itself up in 2008 from derivatives and off-balance-sheet vehicles and received the largest bailout in global banking history, is sitting on more derivatives today than at the time of its crash in 2008. OCC data shows Citibank with $35.6 trillion in derivatives on September 30, 2008 (see Table 1 in the Appendix here) versus a staggering $51.3 trillion as of September 30, 2023. Goldman Sachs, whose federally-insured bank has just $538 billion in assets, has $51.6 trillion in derivatives. (In what alternative universe from hell would Goldman Sachs be allowed to own a federally-insured bank?)
Then there is the matter of concentrated risk. According to the FDIC, as of September 30, there were 4,614 federally-insured banks and savings associations in the U.S. – the vast majority of which found no need to involve the bank in derivatives at all. But, for some inexplicable reason, three banks with highly dubious histories have been allowed to establish insane levels of concentrated risk in derivatives. The $157.3 trillion in derivatives held by JPMorgan Chase Bank, Citibank and Goldman Sachs Bank USA represent 77 percent of all derivatives held by all 4,614 federally-insured financial institutions in the U.S. (See chart below.)
The chart at the top of this page shows how this derivative problem has grown since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. The repeal removed the ban of casino trading houses on Wall Street merging with federally-insured banks. Today, every giant federally- insured bank on Wall Street owns a trading house. In 1996, prior to the repeal of Glass-Steagall, derivatives at U.S. banks represented just 63 percent of world GDP. At the end of last year, derivatives at U.S. banks represented 189.92 percent of world GDP.
To prevent a replay of the banks blowing themselves up as they did in 2008 while their federal regulators were napping, federal banking regulators in July proposed to impose higher capital rules on just 37 banks – those significantly engaged in derivatives and other high-risk trading strategies.
The backlash has been fierce, with the mega banks even running television ads painting a bogus and distorted picture of what the capital increases would do.
Another critical question is who is on the other side of these derivative trades with the mega banks and may blow up if they took the wrong side of the trade?
According to federal researchers, there are both mega bank counterparties as well as “non-bank financial counterparties” – which could be insurance companies, brokerage firms, asset managers or hedge funds. There are also “non-financial corporate counterparties” – which could be just about any domestic or foreign corporation. To put it another way, the American people have no idea if they own common stock in a publicly-traded company that could blow up any day from reckless dealings in derivatives with global banks.
This is not some far-fetched fantasy. Wall Street has a history of blowing up things with derivatives. Merrill Lynch blew up Orange County, California with derivatives. Some of the biggest trading houses on Wall Street blew up the giant insurer, AIG, with derivatives in 2008, forcing the U.S. government to take over AIG with a massive bailout.
According to documents released by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), at the time of Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, it had more than 900,000 derivative contracts outstanding and had used the largest banks on Wall Street as its counterparties to many of these trades. The FCIC data shows that Lehman had more than 53,000 derivative contracts with JPMorgan Chase; more than 40,000 with Morgan Stanley; over 24,000 with Citigroup’s Citibank; over 23,000 with Bank of America; and almost 19,000 with Goldman Sachs.
According to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), derivatives played an outsized role in the spread of financial panic in 2008. The FCIC wrote in its final report:
“the existence of millions of derivatives contracts of all types between systemically important financial institutions—unseen and unknown in this unregulated market—added to uncertainty and escalated panic….”
We are asking our readers to do their part to stop Wall Street mega banks and their legions of lobbyists from gutting the proposed capital rules. Please contact your U.S. Senators today via the U.S. Capitol switchboard by dialing (202) 224-3121. Tell your Senators to demand that banking regulators hold firm on the stronger capital rules for the casino banks on Wall Street.-END-
END
3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA GOLD COMMENTARIES:
As pointed out to you, central banks buying gold like there is no tomorrow
(SCMP/GATA)
Asia’s central banks snap up gold in ‘new normal’ to reduce risk from U.S. dollar
Submitted by admin on Mon, 2023-12-18 13:27Section: Daily Dispatches
By Biman Mukherji
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
Monday, December 18, 2023
Gold’s lustre has endured timelessly for Asian buyers, and its central banks too are now following suit to snap up the commodity amid de-dollarisation — a move to reduce exposure risk to the U.S. dollar.
Fears about their assets being vulnerable, following the U.S. seizure of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves of US$650 billion in February last year, have triggered a buying wave by central banks, said a Sprott Asset Management report this month.
The report said it signalled a “strong desire to diversify away from the U.S. dollar and .U.S dollar assets.”
That in turn has provided a floor to gold prices, powering prices to near-historic highs of above US$2,000 per troy ounce, fuelled by expectations of interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve next year after a cycle of hikes over the past year and a half. …
… For the remainder of the report:
end
Huge demand for silver causing a structural deficit
(Ronan Manly)
Ronan Manly: Surging industrial demand for silver will increase ‘structural deficit’
Submitted by admin on Sat, 2023-12-16 21:08Section: Daily Dispatches
By Ronan Manly
Bullion Star, Singapore
Saturday, December 16, 2023
There has been a significant imbalance in the physical silver market for the last three years with annual silver demand exceeding annual silver supply.
This is a problem, since when silver demand is greater than silver supply, the extra demand (deficit) must be met by eating into the world’s finite and limited above-ground silver stockpiles.
This silver deficit has been so persistent and systemic that it is being described by the Silver Institute as a “structural deficit” — a prolonged deficit that is due to underlying “structural” factors (technological advances and a sharply growing industrial demand) in an environment where supply (mine production and recycling) is unable to adjust upwards to keep pace with demand. …
… For the remainder of the analysis:
END
Elliot and Associates gets permission to appeal loss to LME in the nickel case
(Bloomberg News)
Elliott gets permission to appeal loss to LME in nickel case
Submitted by admin on Sun, 2023-12-17 10:15Section: Daily Dispatches
By Pei Li
Bloomberg News
Sunday, December 17, 2023
Hedge fund Elliott Associates was granted permission to appeal its loss in court against the London Metal Exchange over a nickel squeeze, extending the legal battle over the latter’s decision last year to cancel billions of dollars worth of trades.
Elliott applied to the English Court of Appeal and was granted permission to appeal the judgment that went in the LME’s favor last month, according to a filing from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd., the parent company of London Metal Exchange.
The timing of the appeal, which it plans to contest, is yet to be determined, according to the disclosure today.
The LME was catapulted into the global spotlight last March and drew widespread criticism after it suspended the nickel market and retroactively canceled $12 billion of trades. Elliott sought to have the cancellation declared unlawful, claiming the decisions cost it more than $450 million. …
… For the remainder of the report:
END
4. OTHER GOLD/SILVER //COMMENTARIES//PODCASTS…
Huge news: LME will join forces with Shanghai gold exchange and use Shanghai gold prices in London
(Reuters)
Exclusive: LME plans new metals contracts using ShFE prices -sources
By Pratima
December 18, 20237:59 PM ESTUpdated 12 hours ago
Traders work on the floor of the London Metal Exchange in London, Britain, September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
LONDON/BEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters) – The London Metal Exchange (LME) is planning to launch new metals contracts using prices from the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), three industry sources familiar with the matter said, further increasing China’s influence on global metals markets.
Collaboration between the 146-year-old LME and ShFE was mentioned briefly by LME’s Chief Executive Matthew Chamberlain in October at the annual LME Week dinner, without any detail.
Two years ago the idea of China allowing an overseas exchange to use domestic prices would have been met with reluctance, but since then there has been a sea-change in strategic direction at Chinese exchanges, the sources said.
The change has come due to pressure on Chinese exchanges from the government to innovate and expand their influence to the rest of the world and China’s aim of domestic players having more control over commodity prices.
Known as cross-listing, the process would involve new LME metal contracts settling against ShFE prices, the sources said. The sources did not have a timeline for launch.
The LME, the world’s oldest and largest forum for metals trading, would pay ShFE a license fee and the new contracts would be cleared at the LME’s clearing house, the sources said.
“During LME Week this year we announced that we intend to further deepen our collaboration with SHFE in 2024, by working together in product innovation to better serve international participants in risk management and price discovery,” the LME said in response to a request for comment.
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority which regulates the LME declined to comment and ShFE did not respond to requests for comment via email.
It is not known which metals are involved in this initiative, but copper and aluminium are both high volume contracts on both ShFE and the LME, owned by owned Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0388.HK).
“If you want to trade a contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange today, it’s a long, costly and complicated process.” one industry source said, adding that other Chinese exchanges were already cross-listing.
China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) in early November signed a licensing agreement for a soybean oil futures settlement price with a Malaysian bourse.
Options for foreign firms wanting to trade contracts listed at Chinese exchanges involve setting up operations in China or trading via a broker on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
“With cross-listing, the LME would have a contract that settles against the ShFE price for its members. LME will be able to grow its volumes and income,” a second industry source said.
“There are downsides. The LME would not have control, Chinese regulators have a lot of oversight over prices and they do intervene frequently … What if ShFE decides to suddenly withdraw the license or refuses to renew it?”
However, even if LME members welcome the initiative, new contracts based on ShFE prices will need volume and liquidity to gain traction.
Most of the contracts launched by the LME in recent years have failed to gain traction.
Reporting by Pratima Desai; editing by Veronica Brown and David Evans
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
end
5 a. IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES /ORANGE JUICE/COCOA/COFFEE
Orange Juice, Cocoa, Coffee Are The Hottest Commodities
MONDAY, DEC 18, 2023 – 08:00 PM
Futures for orange juice, cocoa, and coffee have surged well into double-digit territory this year, standing out in contrast to the broader commodity market and the UN’s global food index, which have seen declines over the same period.
On November 22, orange juice futures topped more than 100% gains on the year. Supplies are in a severe shortage in Florida as the nation’s top-producing citrus state has been plagued with disease and storms.
At the end of November, cocoa futures were up 79% due to El Nino-induced weather disturbances that led to poor harvests in Ivory Coast and Ghana – some of the world’s largest cocoa producers.’
And in the coffee market, Arabica coffee futures are up 16% on the year due to severe drought conditions in Brazil. Also, supplies are dwindling as ICE-monitored arabica coffee stockpiles dropped to a 24-year low. Source: Bloomberg
When the three commodities, some popular with breakfast-lovers, are compared with the Bloomberg Commodity Index and UN’s FAO Food Price Index, food inflation appears sticky, and there is nothing central banks can do with their monetary wands to tame weather.
This is why elevated and prolonged food inflation is dangerous: Last month, Sara Menker, founder and CEO of Gro Intelligence, told Bloomberg that the current food crisis has already surpassed the one in 2007-08, which ultimately sparked the Arab Spring across the Middle East a few years later.
END
5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT
END
6.CRYPTOCURRENCY//DIGITAL CURRENCY// COMMENTARIES/
end
1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED UP AT 7.1375
OFFSHORE YUAN: UP TO 7.1383
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 1.59 PTS OR 0.05%
HANG SENG CLOSED DOWN 124.23 PTS OR 0.75%
2. Nikkei closed UP 460.41 PTS OR 1.41%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: MOSTLY GREEN
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 102.13 EURO RISES TO 1.0952 UP 28 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield:FALLS TO. +.598 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 144.42/JAPANESE YEN NOW RISING AS WELL AS LONG TERM 10 YR. YIELDS RISING //EVENTUALLY THIS WILL BREAK THE JAPANESE CENTRAL BANK
3c Nikkei now ABOVE 17,000
3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning
3e Gold UP /JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: DOWN// OFFSHORE: DOWN
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 UP for WTI and UP FOR Brent this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund UP TO +2.0240***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.673** /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 2.981…**
3i Greek 10 year bond yield UP TO 3.140
3j Gold at $2030.65 silver at: 23.99 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble DOWN 0 AND 29 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 90.35//
3m oil into the 72 dollar handle for WTI and 77 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 144,42// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.598% 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 0.8640 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9462 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.
USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.9050 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.019 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.418 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 29.09…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: UP 1 BASIS PTS AT 3.7025
end
2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge.
2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)
BoJ maintained settings & guidance, JGBs bid & USD/JPY near 145.00 – Newsquawk US Market Open
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 06:36 AM
- BoJ maintained policy settings & forward guidance, Ueda said little chance for BoJ to say policy will change in January
- Dovish reaction in fixed income with JGBs leading and global yields lower, USD/JPY testing 145.00 at best
- European bourses & US futures are firmer, ES remains sub-4800 and Monday’s 4802.25 best
- DXY pivoting 102.50 with Antipodeans once again outperforming with strength also in EUR & GBP
- Crude & European energy benchmarks softer on a breather from Red Sea tensions, but crude has since lifted on Euronav remarks
- Looking ahead, highlights include US Building Permits/Housing Starts, Canadian CPI, Japanese Trade Balance, NBH Announcement, Fed’s Bostic, Goolsbee; BoE’s Breeden.
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CENTRAL BANKS
- The BoJ maintained its policy settings, as expected. The rate was left at -0.1% via unanimous decision, forward guidance was untouched, BoJ maintained the yield target and 1.0% reference rate for 10yr JGB, with the decision on YCC unanimous. BoJ said the Y/Y rate of rise in CPI is slower than a while ago, mainly due to the effects of pushing down energy prices. BoJ reiterated that it will not hesitate to take additional easing measures if necessary. Click here for the full release.
- Ueda: Economy gradually picking up, must watch markets carefully, still need to gauge whether prices will rise, not yet confident on sustainable inflation ahead. Will place importance to both data and business surveys and interviews to determine strength of wage growth. Negative real wages are not an obstacle for policy shift if wage outlook points to positive real wages ahead. Generally speaking, any policy change could involve an element of surprise. There are no discussions on taking into account the impact of companies’ FY earnings (ending March) in the timing of any policy change. Says there is not much data before January meeting, little chance for BoJ to say that it will change policy next month. Click here for full remarks.
- Japan’s Chief Cabinet Hayashi says they expect the BoJ to conduct appropriate monetary policy to sustainable and stably hit the price target, accompanied by wage hikes.
- RBA Minutes from the December meeting stated that members considered whether to raise the cash rate target by a further 25bps or to hold the cash rate target steady; the board noted RBA staff forecast had inflation returning to the top of the band by the end of 2025. Click here for the full release.
- ECB’s Villeroy says from now, wages will increase faster than prices. ECB will not hike anymore, lowering should occur at “some time” in 2024.
EUROPEAN TRADE
EQUITIES
- European bourses are marginally firmer with dovish BoJ not having much sway on the broader tape; Stoxx 600 +0.3%.
- Sectors have a slight positive bias, but with Energy names lagging as benchmarks have spent much of the morning pressured after Monday’s upside.
- US futures are marginally firmer but the ES is sub-4800 and yesterday’s best of 4802.25; ahead of a handful of Fed speakers and data points.
- Click here and here for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow, including earnings.
- Click here for more details.
FX
- DXY has largely been swayed by JPY fluctuations, with USD/JPY the standout outperformer after the BoJ and in reach of 145.00 at best.
- The DXY itself remains within Monday’s parameters and for the most part has been fluctuating the 102.50 mark, EUR bid but capped by 1.0950.
- GBP firmer and inching above 1.27 with specifics light ahead of potential remarks from BoE’s Breeden.
- Antipodeans are once again the best performers with the AUD benefitting from the December RBA Minutes and NZD on trade data; climbing further above 0.67 and 0.62 respectively.
- PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0982 vs exp. 7.1347 (prev. 7.0933)
- Click here for more details.
- Click here for the Option Expires for the NY Cut.
FIXED INCOME
- JGBs outperform post-BoJ, lifting EGBs and USTs in tandem with specifics generally light thus far.
- Bunds and Gilts remain within Monday’s range, EGBs unreactive to the German 2024 issuance remit while Gilts experienced some fleeting pressure after the last DMO outing of 2023.
- USTs moving in tandem with the above and after remarks from Fed’s Daly on Monday; US yields bull-flattening currently.
- Japan’s MOF is to reportedly front-load reduction of 20-year bonds by JPY 200bln from January, reflecting waning investor demand amid rising interest rates, according to Reuters sources.
- Click here for more details.
COMMODITIES
- Crude is under modest pressure as energy benchmarks generally take a breather from Monday’s Red Sea related gains, Dutch TTF – 8.0%. Though, Euronav CEO announcing they will be avoiding the Red Sea has lifted WTI and Brent from their USD 71.85/bbl and USD 77.42/bbl toughs, benchmarks nearer to unchanged now.
- Spot gold unchanged despite lower global yields post-BoJ, with action in APAC hours and the European morning thus far minimal given specific/fresh drivers have been particularly light; session low of USD 2021.8/oz, above the 21- & 10-DMAs at USD 2018.45/oz & 2015.1/oz respectively.
- Base metals contained with specifics light though the slightly constructive European tone and contained USD has lent some support.
- Goldman Sachs said disruptions in the Red Sea are unlikely to have large effects on crude oil and LNG prices because vessel redirection opportunities imply that production should not be directly affected, according to Reuters.
- Maersk (MAERSKB DC) says out of safety, all vessels previously paused and due to sail through the Red Sea will be re-routed around the Cape of Good Hope.
- Euronav CEO says they will avoid the Red Sea until there are convoys to protect ships.
- Click here for more details.
NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES
- The EU is to suspend until the end of March 2025 retaliatory tariffs against the US regarding the steel/aluminium tariff dispute, according to an EU official journal cited by Reuters.
- German Finance Ministry says that in 2024 the government intends to issue a total of EUR 440bln in Federal securities; plans to raise a total of EUR 247.5bln vs exp. 240-250bln (prev. 291bln) on capital markets via auction.
DATA RECAP
- EU HICP Final YY (Nov) 2.4% vs. Exp. 2.4% (Prev. 2.4%); X F&E Final YY (Nov) 4.2% vs. Exp. 4.2% (Prev. 4.2%); X F, E, A & T Final YY (Nov) 3.6% vs. Exp. 3.6% (Prev. 3.6%)
- UK CBI Trends, Orders (Dec) -23.0 (Prev. -35.0); highest since September.
NOTABLE US HEADLINES
- BoC Governor Macklem sees the BoC cutting rates sometime in 2024 but needs to see several months of sustained downward momentum in core inflation first, according to Bloomberg.
- Apple (AAPL) reportedly plans a rescue for USD 17bln watch business in the face of a ban, according to Bloomberg; Apple engineers are said to be racing to develop fixes for patent issues.
- Tesla (TSLA) is reportedly planning a 10% or higher hourly pay rate increase for some workers at its Nevada battery factory in January, according to CNBC
- Click here for the US Early Morning Note.
GEOPOLITICS
- US and allies agreed to a Red Sea naval task force, according to the Associated Press.
- US Central Command said bulk cargo ship M/V Clara reported an explosion in water near their location; this attack is separate from the attack on Swan Atlantic, according to Reuters.
- US, Japan, and South Korea activate trilateral real-time data sharing for tracking North Korea missiles; establish a multi-year plan for trilateral exercises to begin in 2024, according to a statement.
- North Korean leader Kim said the country is ready to take swift action in the event Washington makes a misguided decision against North Korea, according to state media; nuclear force will be ready to quell any military crisis or war.
CRYPTO
- Bitcoin is a touch firmer and resides just above the USD 43k mark, specifics light since Monday’s Grayscale update.
APAC TRADE
- APAC stocks eventually traded mixed after a subdued start to the session with news flow light and the BoJ failing to induce any macro price action.
- ASX 200 was supported from the start by its Gold and Energy sectors, whilst no major move was seen on the release of the RBA minutes.
- Nikkei 225 was subdued at the start of the session but later shot higher on its return from lunch break after the BoJ opted to keep all settings unchanged unanimously in what was a straightforward meeting to round off the year.
- Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were softer throughout the session with the former dragged lower once again by its property sector, whilst the latter saw its losses cushioned by another sizeable liquidity injection via 7-day and 14-day reverse repos.
NOTABLE HEADLINES
- Japan to set FY 2024 draft budget of more than JPY 110tln, according to Asahi.
- Japan’s Economy Minister Shindo attended today’s BoJ policy meeting, according to Reuters citing the government.
- PBoC injected CNY 119bln through 7-day reverse repos at 1.80% and CNY 182bln via 14-day reverse repos at 1.95%; both rates maintained.
- China state planner spokesperson expects CPI to rise mildly next year, according to Reuters.
- China state planner said they approved 144 fixed-asset investment projects worth a total of CNY 1.28tln in January-November, according to Reuters.
- At least 118 people died after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck northwestern China, according to state media.
DATA RECAP
- New Zealand Trade Balance (Nov) -1.234B (Prev. -1.709B, Rev. -1.730B)
- New Zealand Exports (Nov) 5.99B (Prev. 5.4B, Rev. 5.37B); Imports (Nov) 7.23B (Prev. 7.11B, Rev. 7.10B)
- New Zealand ANZ Business Outlook (Dec) 33.2% (Prev. 30.8%); Own Activity (Dec) 29.3% (Prev. 26.3%)
2C ASIA AFFAIRS
TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 1,59 PTS OR 0.05% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 124.23 PTS OR 0.75% /The Nikkei CLOSED UP 460.41PTS OR 1.41% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.87 % /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN AT 7.1375 /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.1383 /Oil UP TO 72,26 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 77.61/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN EXCEPT LONDON// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER
2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
//
NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
END
2e) JAPAN
Yen plunges after Ueda admits it is extremely difficult to exit negatives rates. Thus normalization is hopeless
(zerohedge)
Yen Plunges After BOJ’s Ueda Admits It’s “Difficult To Exit Negative Rates”, Shattering Normalization Hopes
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 10:20 AM
Ahead of today’s BOJ decision, the latest “big” announcement by a major bank, expectations were hot and heavy that Japan, the country that introduced ZIRP, QE and NIRP to the world would magically abandon the only monetary policy that has prevented its bond market (of which the central bank owns over 100% of GDP) from collapsing into a fiscal singularity, and would if not hike rates after seven years of negative rates, then at least strongly guide to a January “normalization” liftoff. We, on the other hand, mocked market consensus, warning there was no way the BOJ would do this just as the Kishida government is on the verge of collapse, not to mention that real wages were at all time lows!
Just a few hours later we were proven right again and consensus dead wrong, when not only did the BOJ not unveil anything transformational, or even new, of note, but much more shockingly, Governor Ueda admitted what we had been saying all along, namely that “it is difficult to lay out a plan for an exit from the negative rate.“
Specifically, in an announcement that came very early in the day indicating there was little to no discussion or debate on the topic of normalization, the Bank of Japan left their policy settings unchanged overnight, and didn’t offer any guidance on when they might move away from their negative interest rate policy. Additionally, following the meeting that was unexpectedly attended by a cabinet minister (to make sure there are no deviations from the dovish script), the BOJ said it would “patiently continue” with monetary easing and laid out forward guidance was not only not skewed to more tightening, but to even more easing. Translation: forget anything about normalization or a rate hike any time soon, and certainly not during the Kishida government.
This was a problem because previously the BOJ had used both media leaks and direct jawboning, not to mention a series of explicit remarks hinting at liftoff, set expectations that the BOJ would signal a shift away from the policy over the months ahead (it was this meeting a year ago they made an unexpected adjustment to their yield curve control policy that took global markets by surprise). As a result, odds of a December rate hike hit a remarkable – and laughable – 40% at the start of the month, when the BOJ’s favorite mouthpiece, Nikkei Asia, published a report titled “BOJ lays groundwork for end of Japan’s negative rates“, which suckered in countless NPC lemmings into expecting a hawkish pivot by the BOJ, hilariously just as the Fed was about to flip dovish.
And while the meeting itself was bad for Yen bulls, it was Ueda’s presser shortly after that crushed any hope of further yen appreciation. Determined to keep his options open, Ueda (who naturally didn’t rule out policy normalization at any of the coming meetings as that would destroy what little credibility the Bank of Jokers has left) insisted he first needs to see more evidence that the BOJ will achieve its price stability target, and added that policymakers are unlikely to give an explicit warning of an impending rate hike, largely discounting the kind of telegraphing sometimes employed by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (spoiler alert: the reason why the BOJ will never give an “explicit warning” of a rate hike is because one will never take place).
“There isn’t much likelihood of us suddenly announcing that we’ll raise rates a month in advance,” Ueda said, having earlier remarked that surprises couldn’t always be avoided.
Some of his other comments are below:
- Ueda said at this point it’s difficult to lay out a plan for an exit from the negative rate. He noted that there’s a lot of uncertainty about the outlook and can’t yet see if the inflation target will be achieved
- Ueda said it’s too early to say price trends will meet the BOJ’s 2% inflation target. He needs to see more data to have enough confidence.
- Ueda said he will pay attention to not just data but also to what he hears from market participants (the same market participants that get confused by every contradictory statement issued by Ueda, that is).
- Ueda said he’s seen positive commentary on the outlook for wage hikes next year, and the chances of hitting the 2% inflation target are rising. And while he may be hopeful that next year’s spring wage hike negotiations yield some gains, the reality is that real wages in Japan are the lowest they have ever been (another reason why you can forget a rate hike every taking place).
- As a result his next comment was even more idiotic: “Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda says he’s hoping to see the impact of wage gains spread to consumer and services prices.” Well since real wages have never been lower, it’s kinda difficult to see “wage gains” spreading anywhere, isn’t it?
Puting it all together, the BOJ governor hilariously said that his remarks earlier this month about his job becoming ‘more challenging’ from year-end into next year were merely a general comment. In other words, all those who listened to what he said and traded accordingly, and were blown out in a flurry of stop losses, well, tough.
For speculators looking for more concrete hints of a January move, the decision and comments offered no support that view, especially since Ueda said it was too early to give specific details on any exit plans. This, coming at a time when Japan’s inflation is higher than the US, and set to tumble especially with the Fed now turning dovish, means that one can lose any expectations for normalization by the BOJ and instead just keep clipping that generous 5.5% carry that a long USDJPY position provides – which understandably shot up as much as 1.5% after the BOJ once again hammered yen longs…
… while awaiting a burst in capital gains once the $20TN carry trade finally does blow up and sends the Japanese yen cratering into the failed currency abyss (as described here) which now is just a matter of time.
The yen had touched a four-month high last week after the Fed signaled its policy pivot coming in 2024. Those earlier gains took had taken some of the pressure off Ueda, who faced the risk of sending the currency to a fresh three-decade low at recent meetings.
There is another reason why one can kill any speculation for tightening by the BOJ: as Bloomberg notes, the Fed’s dovish turn isaputting a bookend on the timing for a BOJ policy move. If an end to the BOJ’s subzero rate were to trigger a much stronger yen, it would rekindle deflationary pressure in the economy. Pulling the plug on the negative rate when other central banks are starting to ease policy may also spark more volatility in markets.
While Ueda ruled out the Fed as a factor, saying the BOJ wouldn’t rush its policy decisions based on what it thinks the Fed might do in three or six months’ time, economists remained unconvinced.
“There is no doubt the Fed’s pivot is chilling the BOJ’s blood over its normalization plan,” Kumano said. “If the Fed cuts rates, for instance, after the BOJ’s April meeting, foreign exchange rates would end up getting a double punch that would prompt the yen to gain. That’s something the BOJ wants to avoid.”
Benchmark 10-year JGBs fell as much as 5.5 basis points from its intraday high to 0.63% as expectations of a looming rate hike collapsed. That compares with a peak of 0.97% for the yield in the wake of the late October BOJ meeting when Ueda added more flexibility to yield curve control.
Commenting on the BOJ’s decision, and putting it in the context of recent central bank decisions elsewhere, Bloomberg’s Ven Ram said that global rates are on hold through at least March of 2024. Here’s why:
For all the expectations of a tweak in policy guidance from the Bank of Japan, we barely got any. That suggests benchmark rates in the major global economies will be on hold in the first quarter — even though market pricing doesn’t acknowledge that fully.
The BOJ vowed to “patiently continue with monetary easing while nimbly responding to developments in economic activity and prices as well as financial conditions”. There was no sense of urgency that the central bank is about to exit its negative rate anytime soon. That said, it’s worth noting this guidance (italics mine):
“…As a virtuous cycle from income to spending gradually intensifies, Japan’s economy is projected to continue growing at a pace above its potential growth rate…Meanwhile, underlying CPI inflation is likely to increase gradually toward achieving the price stability target, as the output gap turns positive and as medium- to long-term inflation expectations and wage growth rise.”
That reference on underlying inflation and output gap was about the most hawkish bits from the statement. The focus on wage growth indicates that policymakers are likely to wait for shunto wage negotiations — which take place annually in the spring — to play out before deciding on their course of action. Which is why any move before April seems premature.
Over in the US, even the more dovish-leaning Federal Reserve officials — from Austan Goolsbee to Mary Daly — have all pushed back on the notion that we could get a rate cut as early as March. Even so, the markets aren’t quite buying it, with Fed fund futures ascribing a 75% chance for the first reduction by then.
European Central Bank officials have been at pains to emphasize that traders shouldn’t be factoring in a rate cut by March. And pricing surrounding that meeting has responded much more to that guidance (32% now versus 64% after the ECB’s meeting last week) than in the US.
Meanwhile, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said overnight that he wants to see “not one or two months”, but “a number of months” of slowing inflation before we could get a rate cut. Even so, traders are more than fully pricing a reduction by April there.
From all indications, it looks like key interest rates around the major economies will stay put through the first quarter — but in some corners traders haven’t quite embraced that message yet.
3 CHINA
CHINA
end
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
EU/CHINA
EU/China summit goes nowhere!
(zerohedge)
EU-China Summit Goes Nowhere And Frustrates Beijing’s Plans
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 02:00 AM
Authored by Milton Ezrati via The Epoch Times,
China and the European Union (EU) recently held their first in-person summit since 2019. The tone in 2023 certainly points to the difference four years can make.
In place of the friendliness and calls for cooperation that emerged in 2019, recent meetings contained much tension and accusations. If Beijing had hoped to drive a wedge between Washington and Brussels at this summit, it failed. On the contrary, the meetings showed that Europe is pretty much in line with Washington’s approach to China.
Any memories of the earlier gathering reveal how much things have changed. Four years ago, the meetings, replete with smiling photo opportunities, produced a 3,000-word joint statement full of promises for Sino–European cooperation on matters like steel overcapacity. There was also talk of the joint development of 5G and efforts to ease tensions in the South and East China Seas.
In 2019, Brussels and Beijing both intoned support for the Minsk Accords to negotiate the differences between Russia and Ukraine and, more generally, to work together to secure human rights around the world, including in the Xinjiang region of China. Especially since just before the 2019 summit, the EU had designated China as a “systemic rival,” the friendly nature of that summit was taken as a strong signal of continued amity and cooperation.
Compared with the tone of this recent summit, the language from 2019 sounds as if it comes from a different world. This year had none of the smiling photo opportunities of all participants. The gathering was much smaller than in the past, consisting of only four key players: China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, EU European Council President Charles Michel, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. While Xi referred to the EU as a “key partner” in trade and technological cooperation and asserted that the parties had no need to view each other as “rivals,” the Europeans pressed a considerable list of troubling economic and diplomatic issues.
Even before the meetings began, the EU had already sanctioned China over alleged abuses in Xinjiang and further announced an investigation into Beijing’s subsidies for electric vehicle production, something that could lead to the imposition of tariffs. Germany, the biggest economy in the EU by far, had moved toward expelling the Chinese company Huawei from its 5G network.
At the summit, Ms. von der Leyen dwelt on how Europe’s trade deficit with China has doubled in just the last two years to the equivalent of $400 billion. She blamed the flood of red ink on Beijing’s practices of limiting market access to foreign companies, giving preferential treatment to domestic operations, and, in some cases, how overcapacities in China have undercut European companies. She sounded almost a perfect echo of Washington’s complaints in 2018, when the Trump administration began to impose tariffs on Chinese goods, and still complains of today. Like Washington, she spoke of Europe’s need to de-emphasize China trade, though she used the word “de-risk,” whereas Washington used the word “de-couple.”
Rather than promote amity, the Europeans went beyond trade to more sensitive diplomatic matters. Both Mr. Michel and Ms. von der Leyen pressed Xi to use his influence on Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring a quick diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine. They each warned of “irreparable damage to EU–China ties” should Beijing arm Russia in that conflict or help Russia evade sanctions. They brought up human rights abuses against the Uyghurs and warned the two Chinese leaders against using force with Taiwan. Xi spoke of cooperation between his Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Europe’s parallel plan, called Global Gateway. The Europeans remained cool, no doubt, because their plan was put into effect precisely as an alternative to China’s BRI.
If Beijing had hoped to blunt Washington’s strident approach to China by creating a friendlier Europe, it failed. The Europeans showed themselves as suspicious of Beijing’s ambitions as Washington. They echoed many of Washington’s trade and investment complaints and accusations and used even stronger language about human rights and Taiwan. The summit failed to reveal Western division, as Beijing no doubt hoped it would, and instead produced an image of common Western hostility, if not unity.
5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
ISRAEL/HAMAS/
Watch: Gaza’s Terror Tunnels Big Enough To Drive A Truck Through
MONDAY, DEC 18, 2023 – 05:20 PM
Gaza’s ‘terror tunnels’ are in some instances literally big enough to drive a truck through, as several social media clips to emerge over the weekend show.
Israel’s military has been releasing more information on the tunnels, even recently giving Western reporters a tour of a pacified wing of the tunnel network, to show the world what it’s up against. Currently the IDF is still seeking to flood the tunnels, or at least significant sections of them, by pumping in seawater.
Reporters with the NY Times have seen some of the tunnels, and write: “The tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip is wide enough for a large car to pass through, reinforced with concrete and fitted with electrical wiring.”
“And at least one section of the tunnel — which Israel says is the largest it has discovered in Gaza so far — is within walking distance of an Israeli border crossing.”
This adds further context to help understand how Hamas terrorists were able to be so successful in rapidly infiltrating Israeli military bases and kibbutz communities during the events of Oct.7.
Another new to emerge video clip purports to show a senior Hamas commander having a casual drive inside a very wide and tall tunnel.
Hamas says top engineers have worked on these tunnels, and that they can sustain anticipated Israeli actions such as flooding with seawater from the Mediterranean.
The IDF’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, was quoted in the NYT as saying, “This tunnel had been built for years.”
“Millions of dollars have been spent on this tunnel, hundreds of tons of cement, a lot of electricity. Instead of spending all of them — the money, the cement, the electricity — on hospitals, schools, housing and other needs of the Gazans,” he added.
Israel has sought to underscore that Hamas steals and diverts international humanitarian aid for the sake of its tunnels, which serve a military and terroristic purpose.
This is part of Israel’s PR campaign to explain to the world why it has long limited and restricted aid trucks passing through the Rafah crossing from Egypt.
The Israel Defense Forces have publicized more footage of the tunnels in the following…
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-gazas-terror-tunnels-big-enough-drive-truck-through
Given not only the immense size of the tunnels, but the fact that the underground network stretches for miles, Israel will have an extremely tough time fully destroying Hamas, which Netanyahu has vowed to do. Israel has said it will not send ground forces into the tunnels, but will disable them by other means.
END
ISRAEL/LEBANON/HEZBOLLAH
Over 80,000 Israelis Near Lebanese Border Are Refugees In Their Own Country
MONDAY, DEC 18, 2023 – 08:40 PM
Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hangebi has said that Israel may have to go to war against Hezbollah, as he now fears a potential future attack by the Shia paramilitary group backed by Iran that would be worse than Oct. 7. “We can no longer accept (Hezbollah’s elite) Radwan force sitting on the border,” he said recently.
Commentary on his words in The New Arab concluded, “The Israelis are anticipating within the next six weeks to two months that if the diplomatic track isn’t working, they’re going to have to opt for some kind of military solution.”
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant estimated that over 80,000 Israeli citizens are still displaced from their homes, after border regions had to be evacuated en masse as a result of Hezbollah attacks, which have been daily since Oct.7.Via Reuters
The two sides have been engaged in a running tit-for-tat, but which has yet to spiral into full blown war:
“Over 80,000 citizens have been displaced, living as refugees in their own country… We will bring back the residents of the north to their homes in the border after full security will be restored,” Gallant told a news briefing.
The defense chief further said that literally “hundreds” of Hezbollah attacks had been conducted, resulting in five Israeli civilians killed. Likely many more IDF troops have been killed in these cross-border attacks too. Israel has responded by regularly bombing various locations across south Lebanon, sometimes dropping bombs and mortars on residential areas and civilian homes, resulting in Lebanese killed and wounded.
Israel has also launched attacks on Hezbollah ally Syria, including several attacks and missiles launched on sites in Damascus and in the south in the last 24 hours. Israel frequently attacks Syria from Lebanese airspace, as Lebanon doesn’t have an air force to speak of.
Hezbollah remains Israel’s most formidable foe, which has resulted in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issuing severe warnings of late. “If Hezbollah decides to open an all-out war, then with its own hands it will turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, which are not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis,” he said earlier this month while addressing IDF troops at base near the Lebanese border.
For now, it’s unlikely that Hezbollah will withdraw from the border anytime soon, and tens of thousands of Israelis won’t be able to return to their homes, as the following analysis also suggests:
Joshua Landis, Director of the Centre of Middle East Studies and the Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies at the University of Oklahoma, doubts Hezbollah will withdraw from the border.
The group, and the broader Iran-backed regional ‘Resistance Front’, also dubbed the ‘Axis of Resistance’, against Israel, has been given “new relevance and popularity” due to the Gaza war.
“With Syria in pieces, Lebanon facing both political and economic crisis, and Hezbollah’s reputation in the Sunni world badly damaged by its engagement on the side of Assad in the Syrian Civil War, the Resistance Front’s reputation was in below zero,” Landis told The New Arab.
“Now that the Arab world realizes the Palestinian issue is not going away, resistance is again on everyone’s lips,” he said. “Hezbollah will not want to appear cowed by Israel, nor will Iran.”
The consensus among regional analysts is that Hezbollah is far superior to Hamas’ capability in terms of numbers of fighters, missiles, and weaponry such as laser-guided anti-tank missiles. An all-out war scenario would be severe, but likely Lebanon would be devastated and come under Israeli bombs. For now it seems, neither side wants this.
END
ISRAEL/HAMAS/CENTRAL ISRAEL
Central Israel sees massive rocket barrage after days of quiet
Rocket sirens sounded across central Israel on Tuesday afternoon, in the biggest rocket barrage the region has seen in several days.
Affected areas included:
Yavne, Kiryat Ono, Rehovot, Ramat Gan, Be’er Yacov, Lod, Ness Ziona, Ramla, Tel Aviv – Jaffa, Or Yehuda, Bnei Brak, Givat Shmuel, Givatayim, Holon, Yehud-Monosson, Mikveh Israel, Savyon, Gan Raveh, Hevel Modi’in, Gezer, Sdot Dan, Brenner, Ganei Tikva, Rehovot, Nesher Industrial Zone (Ramla), Ahisemech, Irus, Be’er Yacov, Beit Hanan, Beit Oved, Ginaton, Gan Sorek, Yashresh, Lod, Matzliach, Neta’im, Nir Zvi, Ness Ziona, Ayanot, Ramla, Zrifin Industrial Zone, Achiezer, Ganei Hadar, Zeitan, Hemed, Yagel, Kfar Bilu, Mishmar HaShiva, Na’an, Sitria, Kiryat Ekron, and Ganot.
END
ISRAEL/HAMAS
IDF soldiers conduct a raid in the al-Attara area in Gaza
IDF soldiers conducting raids in the Gaza Strip have found weapons production sites, stockpiles, explosives, and missiles and rockets, the IDF said in a statement on Tuesday.
In the home of one Hamas operative, soldiers found a map showing a “significant” tunnel route.
IDF soldiers operate in Gaza.
They also found intelligence materials, and photos of armed children in Hamas uniforms.
In another building, soldiers found a rocket lathe with hundreds of missiles, as well as a truck designed for transporting the launchers, the statement said.
END
ISRAEL/HAMAS
this will hurt Hamas badly
IDF kills top Hamas financier in Gaza airstrike
Ferwana and his brother moved large amounts of funds to Hamas, which were used for terrorists’ salaries and the buildup of military equipment.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDECEMBER 19, 2023 11:38Updated: DECEMBER 19, 2023 12:30
Subhi Ferwana, who helped transfer tens of millions of dollars to benefit the Hamas terror organization, was recently killed in an IDF airstrike in Gaza, according to a Tuesday military statement.
In an operation in the city of Rafah, an IDF warplane under the guidance of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Military Intelligence Directorate took out the Hamas financier.
According to the IDF statement, Ferwana and his brother moved large amounts of funds to Hamas, which were used for terrorists’ salaries and the buildup of military equipment, among other things. They did this by funneling the money through their company, Hamsat.
How is Hamas getting this money?
“The ability of Hamas’s military wing to fight depends on the funds transferred to it through money changers,” the IDF statement read. “Without them, its ability is significantly impaired.”
Hamas uses these financiers and money changers to acquire funds from all over the world via money laundering, thus avoiding the use of closely monitored international banking systems, according to the IDF.
end
Hospital director admits he is a member of HAMAS and the Al Shifa hospital (and other hospitals) were used for terror purposes
(Jerusalem Post)
Hamas uses hospitals for terror purposes, Gaza hospital director admits
The director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital Kahlot said he joined Hamas in 2010 at the equivalent rank of a brigadier general.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBDECEMBER 19, 2023 15:30Updated: DECEMBER 19, 2023 18:02
The IDF’s interrogation of Kamaal Aduan Hospital head Ahmad Kahlot (IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
Kamaal Aduan Hospital head Ahmad Kahlot of Jabliya in Gaza has confessed to the Shin Bet that Hamas took over his hospital as a military operations center, it was revealed on Tuesday.
Kahlot told his interrogators that he joined Hamas in 2010 at the equivalent rank of a brigadier-general.
Next, he said that many of the hospital staff doubled as members of Hamas’s az-al-adin al-Qasam brigades. These include doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other staff.
More specifically, he said that the hospital had 16 staff members who doubled as terror operatives for Hamas.
Kahlot was arrested on December 12 and since then has explained in detail how Hamas concealed its weapons and wove its operations into the workings of the hospital.
Hostage IDF soldier held in hospital
In addition, he confessed that Hamas brought one of the IDF soldier hostages to the hospital and used ambulances to move around Israeli hostages’ bodies.
Further, he described Hamas as having its own separate offices, ambulances, and equipment with different colors and signs.
The IDF has put out general evidence of Hamas abusing nearly all of its 20-plus hospitals and specific evidence of more extensive abuse of a few hospitals, such as Shifa and Rantisi.
Shifa Hospital’s Director Muhammad Abu Salmiya was arrested by the Shin Bet on November 23 and his detention was extended for 45 days by a videoconference court hearing on November 27.
No agency has distributed any statements by Abu Salmiya to date and the Post understands that the defense establishment’s view is either he has not yet “cracked” in admitting a connection to Hamas or the extent of information he has requires a longer period of questioning.
end
Hamas is using suicide bombers – IDF soldier
“Hamas is using women suicide bombers… against us,” said one combat soldier • “You can’t know where a Hamas ‘surprise’ will come from.”
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDECEMBER 19, 2023 13:58Updated: DECEMBER 19, 2023 14:19
As the IDF continues its operations in the Gaza Strip, Hamas terrorists have continued to use non-traditional methods of warfare, according to a recent report from Maariv.
A combat soldier who served in Gaza told the newspaper on Tuesday that Hamas is using suicide bombers.
“Anyone who wasn’t inside doesn’t understand what we’re dealing with,” the soldier said. “There’s very heavy fighting in a built-up area, and you can’t know where a Hamas ‘surprise’ will come from when, at the same time, we’re trying to locate the hostages.”
“Hamas is using women suicide bombers, in traditional Muslim dress, against us. They’re covered from head to toe, and underneath, they have an explosive belt.”
Terrorist ambush at entrance to tunnel
The IDF located and exposed a Hamas terrorist ambush at the entrance to a tunnel shaft, using dolls and children’s backpacks in an attempt to lure soldiers in hopes of finding hostages, the Israeli military said Friday.
The items, which contained speakers playing crying sounds, were placed near a tunnel shaft that connects to a large network of tunnels extending over a school and a medical facility in the Gaza Strip, the military said.
end
Troops uncover Hamas weapons caches, manufacturing plants in northern Gaza
By EMANUEL FABIAN Today, 2:09 pm 0
A Hamas weapons cache found in northern Gaza in a photo released on December 19, 2023 (Israel Defense Forces)
Troops of the 261st Brigade’s 6651st Reconnaissance Battalion operating in northern Gaza’s Atatra and Jabaliya located Hamas weapons caches and manufacturing plants, the IDF says.
The IDF says the troops recovered a large number of firearms, rockets, and explosives.
The troops also raided nearby homes of Hamas operatives, locating further weapons there, and intelligence materials, the IDF says. The soldiers also found pictures of children in Hamas uniform, posing with weapons.
Pictures showing children in Hamas military uniforms, posing with weapons discovered by IDF troops in northern Gaza in a photo released on December 19, 2023 (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says the 6651st Battalion has ambushed and killed dozens of Hamas operatives in recent days. In one of the battles on Sunday, Master Sgt. (res.) Daniel Yacov Ben Harosh, 31, was killed.
END
Senior IDF officer: We’ve managed to ‘break operational abilities’ of Hamas’s northern Gaza City brigade
By EMANUEL FABIAN Today, 8:00 pm 0
The commander of the 162nd Division, Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen (center) walks with other officers in Gaza City’s Jabaliya, in a handout image published December 19, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
The commander of the 162nd Division, Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen, says his forces have managed to “break the operational abilities” of Hamas’s northern Gaza City brigade, as troops gain full control of the Jabaliya neighborhood.
“The 162nd Division has operational control in Jabaliya,” Cohen says. “Jabaliya is not the Jabaliya it used to be, we killed hundreds of terrorists in Jabaliya and arrested around 500 suspects in terror activities, some of whom took part in the events of October 7,” he says.
According to military assessments, some 1,000 Hamas operatives have been killed by troops in Jabaliya. Another 3,500 Palestinians have been captured by the IDF, of which at least 500 are suspected of being involved in terror, including the October 7 attacks on southern Israel.
At least 70 of the estimated 1,500 terrorists who carried out the October 7 attacks lived in Jabaliya, and so far 57 of their homes have been destroyed by the IDF.
The IDF says that some of the terror suspects who surrendered to troops in Jabaliya were holed up in civilian sites, including hospitals and schools.
Many Hamas sites, including training grounds, command centers, weapon production plants and tunnels, have been destroyed in Jabaliya, the IDF adds.
The 162nd Division has also located Hamas intelligence material during the operations in Jabaliya, which has helped further operations in the area.
Cohen says his division has “led to the dismantling of the military capabilities” of Hamas’s northern Gaza City brigade.
WEST BANK/ISRAEL
END
WEST BANK/ISRAEL
LEBANON/NORTHERN ISRAEL
IDF hits targets inside Lebanon, responds to direct impact on open area near Metula
The IDF attacked several locations in Lebanon with artillery fire this morning, the IDF said in a statement.
Some time later, a projectile, launched from inside Lebanon, landed in an open area near Metula, the statement said, adding that forces had fired on the source of the launch.
IDF carries out airstrike against terror cell on Lebanon border
The IDF says it carried out an airstrike against a cell operating on the Lebanon border, close to Hanita.
Tanks also shelled a Hezbollah site in southern Lebanon, and artillery shelled an area on the border near Yir’on to “remove a threat.”
Meanwhile, the Iron Dome intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon, setting off sirens in several communities, the IDF adds.
end
IRAN/HOUTHIS/ISRAEL/USA//
Houthis are threatening again the cooperation in the Red Sea. Will the doorknob Biden bomb these guys to smithereens
(zerohedge)
Houthis slam US-led naval force, threaten region – analysis
Houthis aim to derail economic cooperation between the United States, India, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as new railway transport corridor is announced.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANDECEMBER 19, 2023 12:21Updated: DECEMBER 19, 2023 13:18
The Iran-backed Houthis have responded to the announcement that the US will back a new naval force in the Red Sea. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a new multinational security initiative, while traveling in Bahrain on Tuesday.
The goal of the force, which involves key countries. such as the UK, France, the US and Italy, is to provide security in the Red Sea. The Yemen-based jihadist movement attacked numerous ships and escalated its attacks in recent weeks.
The Houthis have now responded. In several articles at Al-Masirah, which is aligned with the movement, the group articulated its views. First of all, the Houthis argue that “the American-formed coalition is to protect Israel.” They accuse the US of “militarization” of the sea, even though it is the Houthis who are attacking and trying to hijack ships.
“Yemen’s naval operations aim to support the Palestinian people in confronting the aggression and siege on Gaza and are not a show of force or a challenge to anyone,” the Houthis claim. The reality is that they have illegally attacked ships and that this led to an unprecedented crisis in the region.
It is clear that the Houthis are watching the formation of the new initiative closely. They know the US has an aircraft carrier that is now moving closer toward Yemen. They also know another US destroyer is in the Red Sea to back the USS Mason and USS Carney.
A Houthi fighter stands on the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea in this photo released November 20, 2023. (credit: Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS)
“The United States tried to include 40 countries in this coalition, but only nine responded to Washington, most of them countries allied with Washington,… the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles Islands, and Spain,” Houthi media said, adding that, “in addition, Bahrain’s participation is worthless, according to observers.”
This shows the Iran-backed Houthis are paying close attention to what comes next. They have gambled that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE likely won’t openly participate, and are willing to threaten these countries.
Houthis aim to sabotage economic ties in the Middle East
A second article in the Houthi-linked Al-Masirah shows their real goal. They reference previous reports about closer economic cooperation between Israel and countries in the region. During the G20 summit in September, an announcement was made about a new railway project.
The report at Globes noted that “At the G20 summit in New Delhi today, the US, India, EU, and Saudi Arabia announced the promotion of a major railway and sea transport corridor between India and Europe via the Middle East. The project includes a rail link between Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
“The summit was attended by leaders including US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and EU President Ursula von der Leyen, which demonstrates the importance that the leaders attach to the plan that would strengthen economic ties between Riyadh and Jerusalem.”
The Houthis want to sabotage this. The Hamas attack on Israel also sought to derail possible Israel-Saudi Arabia normalization. Iran’s hand is everywhere in this agenda. The Houthis now slam the Arab countries for enabling any transport via land that might help Israel.
They openly note that a route like this could “compensate for the Red Sea route that the Yemeni armed forces closed to enemy ships and ships heading to it.” Houthi media went on to claim that “this clearly indicates that this land bridge represents a manifestation of the alignment of the puppet regimes with the Zionists.”
This means the Houthis could expand their attacks against countries in the region. These attacks have already caused risks to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt because the Houthi drones and missiles have either overflown those countries or risked crashing into them.
END
Houthis Vow To Keep Up Attacks After US Unveils Details Of Ten-Nation Naval Force
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 01:05 PM
Houthi attacks out of Yemen on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and vital Bab al-Mandab Strait has become daily, resulting in the Pentagon unveiling a multi-nation naval task force to thwart the ongoing missile and drone assaults. But the Houthis say they’ll remain undeterred in operations meant as retaliation for the Gaza war, vowing to keep up the attacks.
“The American-formed coalition is to protect Israel and militarize the sea without any justification, and will not stop Yemen from continuing its legitimate operations in support of Gaza,” wrote Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam on X.
“Whoever seeks to expand the conflict must bear the consequences of his actions,” Abdel-Salam said, but noted these operations are not meant to directly challenge external powers outside the region.
The Houthis starting weeks ago declared war on any ship headed to Israeli ports or that’s linked to the country; however, a number of vessels have been targeted which apparently have no connection.
Abdel-Salam further stated that neutral Oman is currently engaged mediation efforts to safeguard Red Sea shipping. Interestingly, there doesn’t currently seem to be much in the way of Western efforts to engage Tehran, which is arguably the power with most direct sway over the Shia Houthi rebels.
There’s a growing list of major shipping and container companies which have temporarily halted transit through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea:
- Italian-Swiss giant Mediterranean Shipping Company
- France’s CMA CGM
- Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd
- Belgium’s Euronav
- oil giant BP
- Denmark’s A.P Moller-Maersk
- Taiwan shipping firm Evergreen
- Norway-based Frontline
A couple of these represent the bulk of traffic, for example Maersk accounts for 15 percent of global container freight and Frontline is among the world’s largest shipping companies. At this point we might say, who hasn’t halted operations in these ultra high risk waters at this point, as insurance premiums and risk related costs rise.
On Monday US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian – a new “multinational security initiative” involving the navies of ten coalition nations which will patrol the Red Sea. “Countries that seek to uphold the foundational principle of freedom of navigation must come together to tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor,” Austin said while on a trip to Israel.
The US defense chief identified the countries which will make up the coalition as follows:
Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain, to jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity.
“The Red Sea is a critical waterway that has been essential to freedom of navigation and a major commercial corridor that facilitates international trade,” Austin had emphasized. Given that US and UK warships have already intercepted drones and inbound rockets, there’s a high likelihood that these allied nations will see military action in the tense waterway.
end
UKRAINE/RUSSIA
Lt Col Richard Hecht
end
GLOBAL VACCINE/COVID ISSUES
DR PAUL ALEXANDER:
Lara Logan Releases New J6 Video with GOP Lawmaker and Crime Fighter Clay Higgins who TELLS ALL (GATEWAY PUNDIT); Investigative journalist Lara Logan released latest episode in her much anticipated
investigation into the January 6, 2021 “Fed-surrection” today on Truth in Media website. In her latest episode, Logan brings on former Louisiana police officer and current US Congressman Clay Higgins
| DR. PAUL ALEXANDERDEC 19 |
‘
The Naked Emperor’s Newsletter, excellent piece showing the fraud and hubris all at once of the BBC, they are puzzled for they know it is the mRNA vaccine making people sick & re-infected but afraid
to utter the words: “Tell Me Covid Vaccines Don’t Work Without Telling Me Covid Vaccines Don’t Work, The BBC Is Puzzled”; it’s a big con they are trying to pull off, slight of hand
| DR. PAUL ALEXANDERDEC 19 |
The Naked Emperor’s Newsletter
Tell Me Covid Vaccines Don’t Work Without Telling Me Covid Vaccines Don’t Work
The BBC looks at the ‘Why Covid is Still Flooring Some People’. Wait a minute, I thought Covid vaccines were not only supposed to stop people from getting Covid but if they were one of the very, very rare cases that did, supposed to stop them from getting ill…
a day ago · 136 likes · 49 comments · NE – nakedemperor.substack.com
‘The BBC looks at the ‘Why Covid is Still Flooring Some People’.
Wait a minute, I thought Covid vaccines were not only supposed to stop people from getting Covid but if they were one of the very, very rare cases that did, supposed to stop them from getting ill?
end
The curious case of Pfizer, SAGE HANNA, TURBO CANCER, and Seagen; what an informative piece again! Support SAGE & SAGE asks the key question: Is Pfizer saying it is getting BIG into cancer business to
help fix the very cancers its mRNA technology gene based injection vaccine cause? (Bourla, Bancel, Malone, Kariko, Sahin, Weissman et al.); what devious MISDIRECTION! support this scholarship
| DR. PAUL ALEXANDERDEC 19 |
Sage’s Newsletter
Promo Code: Steeelllaaaaaaaaa!! What is being SPARRED?Sage’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. SPARS was a Psy Op planning exercise about how to manage a “fictional” pandemic from a Public Relations and Propaganda standpoint. It was put on by Johns Hopkins C…
2 days ago · 90 likes · 68 comments · Sage Hana
Pfizer Completes Acquisition of Seagen and is now focused on treating Turbo Cancer and I think we are being SPARRED, y’all…
Calm down, victims. We are going to get Baddy Pfizer and Baddy Fauci and Baddy FDA. You’ll see. Do NOT look up and peer that Monster in the eyes.
‘SPARS was a Psy Op planning exercise about how to manage a “fictional” pandemic from a Public Relations and Propaganda standpoint. It was put on by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
As part of the planning, the aftermath “Calm the Marks” healing crap was anticipated.
end
SLAY NEWS
| The latest reports from Slay News |
| UN Demands Crackdown on Food Supply to ‘Fight Climate Change’The United Nations (UN) is demanding that governments around the world launch a coordinated crackdown on the global food supply in order to “fight climate change.”READ MORE |
| Photo Emerges of Bill Gates with Jeffrey Epstein VictimA previously unseen photo of Bill Gates has emerged that shows the Microsoft co-founder posing with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.READ MORE |
| Democrat Raises ‘Concern’ That Biden’s Unpopularity Will Sink Her 2024 Senate CampaignA Democrat U.S. Senate candidate has reportedly “expressed concern” that President Joe Biden’s unpopularity among voters will jeopardize her 2024 campaign.READ MORE |
| EU Launches Investigation into Elon Musk’s X for ‘Illegal Content’ and ‘Hate Speech’Unelected bureaucrats in the European Union (EU) have launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s Twitter/X.READ MORE |
| Conservative Reporter Facing Federal Charges for Covering Jan 6A conservative reporter has revealed that he is facing federal charges from the FBI for covering the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.READ MORE |
| Ramaswamy Slams Corporate Media, Tells CNN Host to ‘Shut the F*ck Up’2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has blasted the corporate media and its propagandist figures.READ MORE |
| ‘Woke’ Scientists Blame Human Breathing for Climate ChangeA group of “woke” scientists has claimed that human breathing is contributing to “climate change.”READ MORE |
| Kevin McCarthy: Removing George Santos from Congress Was a ‘Mistake’Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has declared that expelling former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from the House of Representatives was a “mistake.”READ MORE |
| Kansas Supreme Court Allows Challenge to Key 2021 Voting LawThe Supreme Court of Kansas has agreed to allow a legal challenge to a voting law that was passed in 2021. READ MORE |
| Popular Granola Bars and Cereals Recalled over Potentially Fatal ContaminationThe Quaker Oats Company has recalled more than two dozen types of granola bars and cereals over concerns of a potentially fatal contamination.READ MORE |
| Democrat Sen Fetterman Pushes Back against Radical Left, Insists He’s ‘Not a Progressive’Democrat Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has just broken a few hearts among the radical Left wing of his party by declaring that he is “not a progressive.” READ MORE |
EVOL NEWS
| Switzerland Suffers 73% Spike in Cancers Since 2020READ MORE… |
| LATEST NEWS: |
| FBI secretly taped James Biden in bribery probe concerning his DC…Read more…Dawn attack at Mexico holiday party leaves 12 dead: authoritiesRead more…Kings G League player Chance Comanche arrested, facing murder charge after woman’s death in Las VegasRead more…Langer, son win PNC title; Tiger, son finish T-5thRead more…BREAKING NEWS: Biden Unhurt As Car Crashes Into Presidential Motorcade VehicleRead more…CNN Town Hall Host Tries to Disrupt Vivek Ramaswamy as He Reveals Truth Behind J6Read more…WATCH President Trump: “They Will Pay A STEEP Price!”Read more…Car rams into Joe Biden’s motorcade leaving president looking stunnedRead more… |
NEWS ADDICT
LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES
MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK
7//OIL ISSUES//NATURAL GAS ISSUES//ELECTRICAL GRID ISSUES// RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES//USA AND GLOBE
LAST NIGHT
‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ – Pentagon Launches Expansive Naval Coalition To Defend Red Sea Passage
MONDAY, DEC 18, 2023 – 11:50 AM
Update(1150ET): A US-led naval coalition is finally coming together to protect international shipping transit in the Red Sea and vital Bab al-Mandab Strait, per a breaking development from Politico’s chief Pentagon correspondent: “The Pentagon is expected to announce tomorrow the formation of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a new task force to protect shipping from Houthi attacks in the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait and Red Sea, per DOD official,” writes Lara Seligman on X.
“The operation will be within the framework of the existing Combined Maritime Force 153, a partnership of 39 nations focused on counter piracy and counter terrorism in the Red Sea.”
Soon after this reporting, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “I am announcing the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, an important new multinational security initiative under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea.”
Days ago it was reported that the Pentagon was looking to cobble together the ‘broadest possible’ coalition task force, amid what’s now become daily Iran-backed Houthi attacks on commercial vessels. The Houthis have also launched rockets and drones into southern Israel at various times, triggering US warship intercepts.
Just hours ago, we reminded readers of Zoltan Poszar’s prediction of central-bank-analogized ‘military protection’ and said it’s soon to become a reality… and just like that, it has:
Protection is a conceptual counterpart to par. When you decide to take money out of a sight deposit, you expect the same amount back that you put in (par).
When you sail foreign cargo from port A to port B, you expect to unload the same amount of cargo that you onloaded.
Banks can deliver par on deposits most of the time. When not, central banks step in to help.
Commodity traders can deliver foreign cargo from port A to port B most of the time, but when not, the state intervenes again: not the monetary arm, but the military arm of the state.
What central banks are to the protection of par promises, the military branch is to the protection of shipments: foreign cargo needs to sail on sea routes and through choke points like the Strait of Hormuz, and “par” in this context means being able to sail from here to there freely, safely, and without undue delays…
It has also emerged that Australia is expected to play a major role in Red Sea operations in the context of deepening ties with the US related to the AUKUS deal.
Rabobank explains in the following…
Australia is reportedly in talks with the Pentagon over a US request to send an Australian warship to the Red Sea to assist in dealing with Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been disrupting commercial shipping in the region and launching missile and drone strikes against US targets and their allies. This request comes just days after Congress passed laws enabling the sale of Virginia class submarines to Australia under the terms of the AUKUS pact.
The agreement marks just the second time that the United States has shared nuclear secrets with another country (on purpose, at least), so it appears that there is an element of “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” going on here. This is not without its complications, as many members of Australia’s political establishment (particularly within the ruling Labor Party) still cling to dreams of ‘strategic autonomy’ of the kind that doesn’t even work for Europe.
Their fear is that AUKUS, and an Australian warship shooting down drones in the Red Sea, further locks Australia in as an organ of US foreign policy, which it probably does. But really, this is par for the course and probably just the modern incarnation of Australia’s long-running policy of having ‘great and powerful friends’. Quite aside from the diplomatic horse-trading that accompanies it, disruption of shipping in the Red Sea is a big problem, and Europe has the most to lose. 150 years of supply chain improvement risks being unwound as major shipping companies redirect vessels around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid traversing the region to pass through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.
* * *
Amid further attacks and reroutings…
…we look at the true scale of the Houthi attacks on MidEast tankers.
Oil prices are rising…
And given the extreme positioning in managed money…
And CTAs swinging short…
We suspect the market is underestimating the impact that S&P Global’s Jennifer Gnana, Kelly Norways, and Mohammed Al-ansare detail below,
- Cape transport option adds 40% to voyage distance
- Houthis targeting tankers, container, cargo shipping
- Container rates rise to 2023 high
Major shipping companies paused transiting the Middle East’s critical Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint for seaborne trade Dec. 15 after repeated attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militants threatened to upend global trade flows.
Danish shipping giant A.P Moller-Maersk — which accounts for 15% of the global container freight market — suspended voyages passing through the Bab al-Mandeb until further notice. Hapag-Lloyd — which controls 7% of the container market — also paused traffic through the Red Sea until at least Dec. 18 after one of its ships was attacked by Houthis.
Hapag-Lloyd’s Liberia-flagged Al Jasrah containership caught fire in the Red Sea on Dec. 15 after being hit by a missile from Houthi rebels in Yemen. The attack came a day after the Houthis attacked the Maersk ship Gibraltar on Dec 14 in a near-miss by a cruise missile.
The suspensions are the latest sign major ship charterers who in recent weeks have deployed armed guards to safeguard transit through Bab al-Mandeb are beginning to reconsider using the narrow strait through which 10% of global seaborne oil flows.
The Houthis have threatened to attack any ships with Israeli ownership or bound for one of the country’s ports. As a result, all commercial ships have come under attack, from car carriers to tankers and dry bulkers, including many with no obvious connection to Israeli trade.
“The pattern I see [in the] last few days is more attacks on all these container line big boys like MSC, Maersk, NYK Line, Hapag-Lloyd. If you scare them, then you stop hundreds of their ships,” Luv Menghani, a shipbroker with Dubai-based BluePeak Commodities and Shipping, said.
Maersk’s instruction to its ships to avoid the Red Sea “suggests an escalation in the response to the Houthi attacks,” Gregory Brew, an analyst with Eurasia Group, said.
“Yesterday’s attacks suggest the Houthis are broadening their attacks are becoming more indiscriminate, rather than focusing just on ships owned by Israeli companies or bound for Israeli ports,” he added.
Trade Flows
The 20-mile-wide Bab al-Mandeb — which lies between the Horn of Africa and Gulf peninsula — connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. It accounted for 8.8 million b/d of total oil flows in the first half of 2023, according to the US Energy Information Administration. LNG shipments through the strait were 4.1 billion cf/d during the same period, EIA data showed.
The suspension of the Red Sea route by the two shipping companies followed a notice to their fleets on Dec. 14 to use the longer Cape of Good Hope as an option, a move that adds 40% to the voyage distance.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East had already caused some carriers in the past few weeks to avoid the Suez Canal in the interest of security, with the accumulation of attacks from Yemeni rebels leading liner companies to re-route ships via the Cape of Good Hope (CGH) to avoid hostilities impacting container ship traffic in the Red Sea.
According to live AIS data tracking from S&P Global Commodities at Sea, Eastbound vessels MSC Diana and Zenith Lumos have traveled via the Cape of Good Hope as of Dec. 12, having trans-shipped in Tangier and Algeciras respectively.
On Westbound trade, the Maersk Camden, Maersk Campton and MSC Virgo have all diverted via the CGH, despite recent historical vessel tracking showing previous movements have been through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
With the Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announcement, other carriers could be primed to follow suit in making public their stance against further Red Sea shipments whilst the situation is still volatile.
“Despite the complications it would cause with our shippers in terms of delivery and transit times, what is most important is the dialogue we have with our crew in our ships,” a carrier source told S&P Global Commodity Insights.
War risk
Freight forwarders are also increasing rates on shipments. For example, a container bound for the Middle East will now attract a war risk surcharge of $100/teu on dry and reefer cargo, according to a document seen by S&P Global.
Several carriers have begun to accrue war risk surcharges on passages through the Red Sea. Zim Integrated Shipping Services (Zim) — an Israeli carrier based in Haifa — has increased freight rates on its Asia-Mediterranean service to cover the rising costs of securing its vessels.
Container rates for key shipping lanes from North Asia westbound will likely be given increased support should more carriers follow suit. An estimated additional 10-15 days for delivery times could be seen in the market, stripping out already weak supply due to carriers pursuing aggressive blank sailing strategies in the build-up to the Lunar New Year period where demand increases.
Container rates for shipments from North Asia to the UK — a route which uses the Red Sea and Suez Canal — have hit record highs for 2023, according to assessments by S&P Global Platts.
The recent surge in attacks on the oil product tanker and container vessels moved the needle on oil prices. Platts-assessed Dated Brent up at $77.085/b on Dec. 15, up just under 1% on week.
Vandana Hari, founder of Singapore-based Vanda Insights said “shipping will often be the canary in the coalmine” with geopolitical tensions set to remain center-stage for 2024.
LPG flows
The threat to shipping has also impacted charterers bound on shorter routes for Yemen.
Sources told S&P Global that ship charterers contracted to deliver liquefied petroleum gas to Yemen — which has increased shipments of the fuel — are reluctant to set sail due to fear of attack.
For example, an LPG vessel carrying a 44,000-ton cargo bound for Yemen and chartered by a Dubai-based company recently refused to set sail amid safety concerns from the crew, said the sources.
The crew’s refusal to sail to Yemen comes amid an uptick in LPG buying by the war-torn country. Yemen received 46,000 tons of LPG in December, entirely from Iran, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea. The LPG import is nearly double the volume of the last shipment Yemen received in July, shipping data showed.
With the latest escalation, tanker rates for Yemen are also rising, a shipbroking source said.
“One vessel below 15,000-ton dead weight, old built, transporting gasoline from the UAE to Hodeidah in Yemen used to charge $12,000-$13,000 per day. Now they charge $16,000-$17,000 per day,” said the source.
* * *
* * *
Protection is a conceptual counterpart to par. When you decide to take money out of a sight deposit, you expect the same amount back that you put in (par).
When you sail foreign cargo from port A to port B, you expect to unload the same amount of cargo that you onloaded.
Banks can deliver par on deposits most of the time. When not, central banks step in to help.
Commodity traders can deliver foreign cargo from port A to port B most of the time, but when not, the state intervenes again: not the monetary arm, but the military arm of the state.
What central banks are to the protection of par promises, the military branch is to the protection of shipments: foreign cargo needs to sail on sea routes and through choke points like the Strait of Hormuz, and “par” in this context means being able to sail from here to there freely, safely, and without undue delays…
end
THIS MORNING
UK Navy Alerted To Incident Near Djibouti As Houthis Paralyze Red Sea Shipping
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 07:45 AM
International shipping in the Red Sea and vital Bab al-Mandab Strait is grinding to a halt with tankers, container ships, and other types of commercial vessels rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid missile and drone attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.
In a report that has become almost daily this week, Bloomberg states that the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations is monitoring a new potential incident involving a commercial vessel. This latest incident is said to have occurred around 80 nautical miles northeast of Djibouti.
On Monday, Houthi rebels attacked two commercial ships in the Red Sea. Full details of the attacks were not immediately known, but spurred a handful of major shipping companies to halt transit through the Red Sea.
At least seven major shipping companies, including Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen, Belgian tanker owner Euronav, energy giant BP Plc, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, and Mediterranean Shipping Company have paused all commercial vessel operations through the Red Sea that connects to Egypt’s Suez Canal.
Spillover risks of the Israel-Hamas war are quickly building, as the Red Sea is responsible for 10% to 12% of the world’s international trade. These mounting risks have forced London maritime insurers to demand war risk coverage for vessels that want to transit the Red Sea.
On Monday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin said the US and allies, including the UK, Canada, France, and others, are creating a new naval task force to protect critical maritime shipping lanes.
“This is an international challenge that demands collective action,” Austin said in a statement.
Politico’s chief Pentagon correspondent Lara Seligman wrote on X that the new task force to protect commercial vessels in the conflict area will be called “Operation Prosperity Guardian” and will be announced formally on Tuesday.
It has also emerged that Australia is expected to play a major role in Red Sea operations.
Rabobank warned in a note to clients that Red Sea disruptions “is a big problem” and the West has much to lose:
“150 years of supply chain improvement risks being unwound as major shipping companies redirect vessels around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid traversing the region to pass through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.”
Diversions have already begun.
Disruptions in the Red Sea are happening at a time when an El Nino-caused drought severely restricts the Panama Canal on the other side of the world.
END
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//
ICELAND
Volcano erupted near power plant
(zerohedge)
“Worst-Case Scenario” Volcano Erupts In Iceland Near Power Plant
MONDAY, DEC 18, 2023 – 10:00 PM
A volcano in the southwestern region of Iceland erupted on Monday, sending geysers of hot lava as high as 330 feet. The eruption was located near the Svartsengi geothermal power plant near the town of Grindavík, which was evacuated last month over an increase in seismic activity, the NY Times reports.
“We are looking at a worst-case scenario,” said Icelanding volcanologist, Thorvaldur Thordarson, adding “The eruption appears big, and only about two kilometers from major infrastructure.“
Over the past two months, thousands of earthquakes have been detected in Iceland, leading to the November evacuations as homes and roads were damaged by the events. The situation deteriorated so rapidly that authorities declared a state of emergency, evacuating Grindavík – home to more than 3,000 people who live near the volcano.
Recently, the Meteorological office warned of a “significant likelihood of a volcanic eruption in coming days.”
In just the past two years, there have been three eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland’s most populated corner and home to its capital. When Grindavik was ordered evacuated on Nov. 11, the authorities said in a statement that the country was “highly prepared for such events.” -NYT
“Iceland has one of the world’s most effective volcanic preparedness measures,” reads the local website.
Authorities also raised the aviation alert to orange due to dangers posed by the volcano to passing aircraft flying in the North Atlantic in the event ash is spewed in the sky.
In 2010, Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted after being dormant for nearly two centuries. While nobody died, the impact was significant as the resultant ash cloud grounded much of Europe’s air travel for over a week.
Iceland has around 400,000 residents and 130 or so volcanoes. In fact, since the 19th century, there hasn’t been a single decade without one erupting. According to the tourist website, eruptions are “entirely random.”
END
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0952 UP 0.0028
USA/ YEN 144.42 UP 1.727 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//
GBP/USA 1.2729 UP .0077
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3382 DOWN .0016 (CDN DOLLAR UP 16 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 1.59 PTS OR 0.05%
Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 124.23 PTS OR 0.75%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.317% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL MOSTLY GREEN EXCEPT LONDON
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL GREEN EXCEPT LONDON
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG DOWN 124.23 PTS OR 0.75%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 1.59 PTS OR 0.05%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.87%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 460.41 PTS OR 1.40%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN
Gold very early morning trading: 2029.00
silver:$23.94
USA dollar index early TUESDAY morning: 102,108 DOWN 18 BASIS POINTS FROM MONDAY’s CLOSE.
TUESDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS
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And now your closing TUESDAY NUMBERS 11: 30 AM
Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 2.724% DOWN 9 in basis point(s) yield
JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.602% DOWN 6 AND 7//100 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/
SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.965DOWN 9 in basis points yield
ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.652 DOWN 13 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.018 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS
END
IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR TUESDAY
Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM
Euro/USA 1.0978 UP 0.0056 or 56 basis points
USA/Japan: 143.59 UP 1,20 OR YEN DOWN 120 basis points/
Great Britain/USA 1.2745 UP .0092 OR 92 BASIS POINTS //
Canadian dollar UP .0055 OR 55 BASIS pts to 1.3344
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The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED (UP) …7.1297
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)…. (7.1262)
TURKISH LIRA: 29.10 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.602…VERY DANGEROUS
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 4 in basis points from MONDAY at 3.910% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.024 DOWN 4 in basis points ON THE DAY/12.00 PM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.444 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS.
Your 12:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: TUESDAY: CLOSING TIME 12:00 PM
London: CLOSED UP 23.55 POINTS or 0.31%
German Dax : CLOSED UP 93.86 PTS OR 0.50%
Paris CAC CLOSED UP 9.64 PTS OR 0.17%
Spain IBEX UP 51.80 PTS OR 0.52%
Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 122.51 PTS OR 0.41%
WTI Oil price 73.18 12: EST
Brent Oil: 78.66 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 90.45; ROUBLE DOWN 0 AND 45//100
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.0180 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS
UK 10 YR YIELD: 3.6705 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA: 1.0976 UP 0.0053 OR 53 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2721 UP .0069 or 69 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 3.706% UP 5 BASIS PTS//
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 0.608%
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 143.93 UP 1.229 //YEN DOWN 123 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3341 UP 0.0057 CDN dollar UP 57 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 73.58
Brent OIL: 79.43
USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 3 BASIS pts to 3.929%
USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 3 BASIS PTS to 4.041%
USA 2 YR BOND: UP 1 PTS AT 4.457 %
USA dollar index: 101.80 DOWN 40 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 29.10 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 90.34 DOWN 0 AND 29/100 roubles
GOLD 2040.00 3:30 PM
SILVER: 24.05 3:30 PM
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 251.96 % PTS OR 0.98%
NASDAQ UP 82.05 PTS OR 0.49%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 12.44 DOWN .12 PTS 0.96%
GLD: $189.13 UP 1.28 OR 0.68%
SLV/ $22.03 DOWN .23 OR 1.06%
end
USA AFFAIRS
TODAY’S TRADING IN GRAPH FORM:
Hedgies Hammered As Retail ‘Dash-For-Trash’ Accelerates; Oil & Gold Jump
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 04:00 PM
“What hath Powell wrought?”
Decoupling from reality?
The Atlanta Fed GDPNOW forecast jumped up to 2.7% for Q4… does that seem like it fits with The Fed’s dreams of rate-cuts galore priced in?
Source: Bloomberg
Dramatically easier financial conditions and lower mortgage rates supported a manic (surprise) surge in Housing Starts, which was the main macro data of the day… which lifted homebuilder stocks higher again. Are we about to see a massive ‘catch-up’ from the dismal housing data?
Source: Bloomberg
But The Fed has pivoted and the Dash-for-Trash continues as 12Mo Laggards soaring as financial conditions ease…
Source: Bloomberg
Early last week, we highlight that retail investors were the only buyers left, and while some questioned whether that would be enough to support stocks, MS Quant desk notes today, it is retail investors that have arguably been a big driver of the melt up given they have been buying at the fastest pace in over 18 months, coming in with over $60bn in total equity market demand over the last month on QDS estimates based on public data.
Retail is typically a buyer of ETFs, but the last month hit a record in dollar terms, likely helping the market rally.
Even more remarkably, SPY – the largest and most liquid S&P 500 ETF – has seen 4 straight days of massive inflows since Powell pivoted with Friday 15th seeing the all-time biggest inflow into the fund of almost $21BN (and over $40BN in the last four days)…
Source: Bloomberg
As Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas notes, the $21BN SPY inflow is an all-time world record for any ETF in one day flow.
In single-names the story is a little different though, and retail is likely less of a driver of price action compared to HFs – while retail has turned a single-stock buyer after 18 months of selling, retail volumes as a share of total are down slightly (although not historically low)…
… and that demand has never been more concentrated in a handful of Tech and Consumer names, and in aggregate only totals $15bn over the last month…
Looking forward, retail demand may slow into year-end before picking up again in January given seasonals – and while MS QDS is skeptical the pace of demand continues then given the narrow breadth, the potential is there for plenty of more buying given only a small piece of the selling from April 2022 through October this year has been reversed.
All the majors kept going higher today with Small Caps dramatically outperforming. Nasdaq was actually the laggard on the day…
The Dow is up 9 days in a row (it was up 12 in a row in July 2023). closing at a new record close.
‘Most Shorted’ stocks screamed higher today in another massive squeeze. ‘Most Shorted’ stocks are up a stunning 16% since The Fed last week (and MAG7 stocks up around 2%)…
Source: Bloomberg
Which broadly speaking, means L/S hedge funds ugly December, just got even uglier…
Source: Bloomberg
For context, this is the worst month for L/S hedge funds since Jan 2021 (and second worst month in at least 12 years)…
Source: Bloomberg
Before we move on from the chaos in stocks, it is worth noting that there is a small canary in the coalmine starting to croak. VVIX (vol of vol) remains significantly elevated relative to VIX – someone is hedging for a sudden VIXplosion?
Source: Bloomberg
Maybe because market gamma is starting to decline from record highs, unclenching its range-bound hold on markets…
Source: Goldman Sachs
Turning to bonds, they were very quiet today compared to stocks, with yields barely changed at all (perhaps a smidge lower). Since The Fed, all rates are basically down 27-30bps…
Source: Bloomberg
The 30Y Yield continues to try and test down to 4.00%… but not `quite make it…
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin extended yesterday’s gains up to $43,500 overnight before sliding back to find support at $42,000…
Source: Bloomberg
The BoJ’s utter failure overnight sparked JPY weakness, but EUR and GBP strength offset that and pushed the Dollar lower…
Source: Bloomberg
Oil bounced again today amid growing tanker tensions in the MidEast
Gold ripped back above Friday’s plunge levels…
Finally, we note that equity markets generally perform better as interest rates fall…
…as long as a recession is avoided.
AFTERNOON TRADING//
TUCKER CARLSON
Funny!
“Reality Is At Fault”: Tucker Sits Down With Babylon Bee’s Seth Dillon
https://WWW.ZEROHEDGE.COM/POLITICAL/REALITY-FAULT-TUCKER-SITS-DOWN-BABYLON-BEES-SETH-DILLON
MONDAY, DEC 18, 2023 – 07:20 PM
Tucker Carlson sat down recently with Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon – whose unfair ban at the hands of woke Twitter censors resulted in Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform and subsequent release of the Twitter Files – internal communications which revealed that the social media giant was essentially a government sock-puppet that controlled the flow of information.
According to Carlson, Dillon isn’t just a humorist, but as a modern-day prophet based on the sheer number of times that Babylon Bee headlines have come true (we recommend reading the actual articles too – as they’re absolutely hilarious).
“It turns out and we went through quite a few examples of the Babylon Bee’s parody stories that have come true in dozens, scores, nearly 100 cases,” said Carlson, who asked Dillon: “So when you see the news story that confirms what you thought was a pretty out there joke, what’s your reaction?”
“I mean, we’re getting accustomed to it at this point,” Dillon replied. “It’s reached a level where it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between what’s reported as facts by the news media and what someone with a dark sense of humor has made up.”
It’s tough to beat reality
Discussing the challenges of satire, Dillon quipped: “Imagine if your job is to write jokes funnier than what Democrats are doing in real life,” noting the inherent difficulty in satirizing clownworld.”Imagine if your job is to write jokes that are funnier than a Kamala Harris speech. It’s challenging. It’s actually very challenging.“
Predictive Parody: When Satire Precedes Reality
The pair then discussed the multitude of instances the Bee’s satirical headlines pre-empted actual news, like the electric car mandates during power shortages, or people collapsing after taking the Covid-19 vaccine which carried the headline, “Experts say they don’t know what thing is causing everyone to suddenly collapse, but it’s definitely not that one thing, or “Government Disinformation Board Determines All Criticism Of Government Disinformation Board To Be Disinformation.”
“It’s comical…we’re just reporting the news,” Dillon joked, underlining how satire, in its exaggeration, is often right on the mark.
Speaking of fact checkers, the two discussed the absurdity of the ‘fact checking’ industrial complex – with Dillon expressing both amusement and frustration with fact-checkers who take Babylon Bee’s satire at face value, indicating a broader issue with idiots in the media and their grasp of satire.
“You know, so you have these things…we’ll publish a joke that’s clearly a satirical joke, but everybody thinks it’s true,” Dillon said, adding “Reality is at fault for that.”
Of course, let’s not forget that the MSM loves to ‘play dumb’ for their ‘challenged’ audiences.
Elon Musk’s Rescue of The Babylon Bee
Dillon recounted Babylon Bee’s suspension from Twitter, and Elon Musk’s role in their reinstatement.
“Elon Musk is trying to message us, and we can’t get back to him,” Dillon said – referring to the old Twitter, before Musk stepped in to champion free speech on the platform.
Rachel Levine: The Controversial Man of the Year
The conversation got even more hilarious while discussing “Man of the Year” satire featuring Rachel Levine (after he received USA Today’s “woman of the year” award) – a joke which led to their Twitter suspension.
“Yeah. Yeah. Woman of the Year. So that headline itself, I think is comical. It’s funny. It’s it’s it seems like a parody, but it’s not. It’s real,” said Dillon – to which Tucker joked, “Ugliest woman in America…”
Watch below, and subscribe to the Tucker Carlson Network here:
AND
Tucker Carlson: “I Kind Of Like Vivek” For VP
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 01:45 PM
While many on the right see Tucker Carlson as a slam-dunk VP candidate for Donald Trump in 2024, Tucker – who we suspect wants nothing to do with the swamp as he grows his new empire – has different ideas.
“I kind of like Vivek,” the former Fox News host told an audience at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest event, referring to Vivek Ramaswamy. “Everyone beats up on Vivek for being ‘he’s a phony’ and all this stuff.”
“I’ve covered a lot of campaigns going back to 1992 and I’ve noticed this in many candidates and I noticed it in him – the process of running for president and speaking three times a day and having people throw hostile questions in your faces causes you to change – they all change during these campaigns for real, inside,” Carlson continued. “And I feel like Vivek’s positions have gotten much more sincere since the beginning of this.“
“I watch him with Nikki Haley and I’m like this is a guy who’s very offended by her views for real, he’s not attacking her because she’s a woman, he’s attacking her because he actually thinks her views are terrible for the country he lives in and I love that,” Carlson concluded.
Carlson sat down with Ramaswamy in October, where the two discussed how best to avoid World War 3.
According to Ramaswamy, America needs to “remember the mistakes we have made in our own past, in the last 20 to 25 years after 911,” adding “How did we end up in $6 trillion plus of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of American lives that we won’t get back.”
“Part of how we ended up there was in the era after 9/11, you remember it,” he continued. “The tolerance for debate was very limited. Shut up. Sit down and do as you’re told. Go along with the plan.”
According to Ramaswamy, the “elephant in the room” is the West’s lack of clearly defined objectives – without which there could be chaos.
“This a time to have a clearly defined objective. Instead we get histrionics from the likes of Lindsay Graham, or Nikki Haley or Mike Pence, offering histrionics at a time when we could use actual strategy,” he continued – to which Tucker replied: “Isn’t it amazing to get a moral lecture from people who’ve so diminished our country, and who are responsible for the deaths of so many Americans, lecturing you, from some high horse.
Ramaswamy continued: “What’s a better alternative to the plan as it currently exists, which is a non-plan, an invasion of Gaza without a clear objective?” he said, adding “We seem to analyze the mosquitoes on the elephant’s tail without talking about the actual elephant.”
So, to avoid WW3, Israel – and the West as a whole, need to clearly define a plan that will minimize a broader regional conflict.
As Modernity News notes, sources close to the former president said a Trump-Carlson ticket was being heavily pushed by Melania Trump, who believes Carlson would be “a powerful onstage extension of her husband.”
But for Tucker, it’s looking like Vivek all the way. (h/t Modernity.news)
II USA DATA
‘Renter-Nation’ Rout Looms? Powell Pivot Prompts Plunge In Multi-Fam Permits
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 08:42 AM
Despite a small bounce in homebuilder sentiment (and a tumble in mortgage rates), analysts expected housing starts and building permits to decline MoM in November (after unexpectedly rising last month).
But the picture was very different – Housing Starts exploded 14.8% MoM (-0.2% exp) with only a small downward adjustment in October (from +1.9% MoM to +0.2% MoM). That is the third monthly gain in a row.
Building Permits fell slightly more than expected (-2.5% MoM vs -2.2% MoM exp) and an upward revision in Octobe from +1.1% to +1.8% MoM.
Source: Bloomberg
On a SAAR basis, Housing Starts are near their highest since May 2022, while building permits are at their lowest since July…
Source: Bloomberg
Under the hood, the surge was all in single-family starts which soared 18% MoM. Single-family permits rose MoM for the 11th month in a row…
Source: Bloomberg
2023 has been the year to end ‘Renter Nation’ as single-family starts have soared while multi-family unit starts have tumbled…
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Bloomberg
Mortgage rates are down 100bps from their highs at the end of October, but it seems while homebuilders are starting homes at a furious pace (despite sentiment being low still)…
Source: Bloomberg
…the more forward-looking permits refuse to buy what The Fed is selling…
Source: Bloomberg
But, despite the drop in mortgage rates, there is still a massive gap between current and effective rates held by Americans…
Source: Bloomberg
Oddly, despite the regime shift lower in housing starts and completions, construction jobs (according to the BLS) are hitting new cycle highs…
Source: Bloomberg
More supply is good – no doubt – but we can’t help but feel like Powell’s latest pivot will simply create the next mega-bubble in single-family real estate… again! And worse still, send the ‘shelter’ aspect of CPI soaring once again.
III USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES
This is to be expected!
(zerohedge)
A Shocking 40% Of Student Loan Borrowers Missed First Payment After Pandemic-Era Freeze Expired
MONDAY, DEC 18, 2023 – 12:50 PM
In October, the number of Americans delinquent on subprime auto loans hit the highest rate on record, amid a rise in Google searches for “give car back” – while the number of people who are upside-down on auto loans is at the highest level since April 2020.
Now, according to data released Friday by the Biden administration, 40% of student loan borrowers skipped their payment in October, the first since the pandemic-era freeze on student debt expired.
Around 8.8 million out of 22 million borrowers who missed the October payment had failed to make their payment by mid-November, a sharp contrast to the October 2019 pre-pandemic period, when 26% of borrowers (still high!) missed their payments, Politico reports.
“While most borrowers have already made their first payment, others will need more time,” said James Kvaal, the undersecretary of education, said in a blog post which accompanied Friday’s data. “Some are confused or overwhelmed about their options. We want to make sure borrowers know that our top priority is to support student loan borrowers as they return to repayment.”
The Education Department emphasized on Friday that a majority of borrowers successfully paid their first monthly payment. About 60 percent of borrowers — some 13.2 million people — who owed a payment in October made the payment by the middle of last month, said the department.
The new data shows, for the first time, that millions of borrowers are availing themselves of the flexibility that the Biden administration has offered borrowers, which officials have dubbed the “on-ramp” to repayment.
These “on-ramp” include a suspension of reporting delinquencies to credit bureaus through the end of September next year and postponing aggressive debt collection methods like wage garnishment. However, these forbearance policies imply that most borrowers won’t face the consequences of delinquency until the end of 2024, with defaults not occurring until fall 2025 at the earliest.
The figures also don’t include borrowers who didn’t owe a payment in October because they’re still students, or because they’re in a grace period, or had another type of deferment or forbearance agreement.
Roughly 45 million Americans owe some $1.6 trillion in total.
END
ROBERT H TO US:
The Biggest Spike In Homelessness Ever Recorded Is A Sign That The U.S. Economy Is Plunging Into An Abyss Of Pain And Suffering
And you believe a nation with these social issues can lead?
https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/the-biggest-spike-in-homelessness-ever-recorded-is-a-sign-that-the-u-s-economy-is-plunging-into-an-abyss-of-pain-and-suffering/
IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM
This will be central to Trump’s campaign: the middle east is out of control due to Biden policies
(zerohedge)
Middle East “Totally Out Of Control” – Trump Says World Needs US Leader Who Can Negotiate Peace
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 10:00 AM
President Biden has said that US support to Israel is unconditional, and yet also recently chastised the close US ally for “indiscriminate” bombing of Gaza and the soaring civilian death toll there, in an unexpected about-face on the issue. Biden also refused to let the Pentagon respond directly to Yemeni Houthi attacks on both commercial shipping and US Navy vessels (some Pentagon officials described feeling handcuffed given US inaction), but then just this week belatedly reversed course again and set up a 10-nation naval coalition to counter Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
It’s obvious to anyone that the Middle East is in chaos and on edge. Apart from conflicts in Yemen and the Red Sea, and the still raging Israeli ground operation which has stretched into Gaza’s south of late, there could easily be a major war in Lebanon, as Hezbollah and Israel are exchanging fire on the northern border. But the commander-in-chief is sleepier than ever.
Former US President Donald Trump has seized on all this and has made it central to his campaign messaging, having told a recent campaign rally in Reno, Nevada that the Middle East is “out of control” under Joe Biden.Via Associated Press
He said the same on Truth Social in a post, and further touted that unlike Biden, he is capable of preventing a WW3 scenario and coming disaster if elected in 2024. He said the Gaza crisis could be “catastrophe” if not handled by a US commander-in-chief with “strength and precision.”
“I am the only candidate who can make this promise to you: I will prevent World War III,” he said. Trump further pointed out that Biden had squandered opportunities to push forward the landmark Abraham Accords which had made peace between Israel and several Arab states for the first time. The Trump-envisioned and brokered plan had as a chief goal the normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but it’s now fast unraveling.
He told the crowd in Reno that he would have “made peace” in the region on the basis of the Abraham Accords. The Oct.7 Hamas terror raids and resulting Israeli massive aerial and ground operation into Gaza has quashed hopes for a revived peace. Trump has featured this message in campaign events stretching back to last Spring.
Trump’s claims about the Middle East run parallel what he’s long said of the Russia-Ukraine conflict:
The former president is campaigning on the claim that, under his leadership, the conflict in the Middle East would not have erupted, and neither would the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he could stop the latter crisis in 24 hours. With Biden left in power for another four years after the 2024 election, the world faces an existential threat, Trump told supporters in Nevada.
In interviews in November and prior, Trump said he could solve the crisis in Ukraine within 24 hours if he’s re-elected. “If I tell you exactly, I lose all my bargaining chips,” he had told NBC, talking about plans to bring a rapid peace settlement.
“I would say certain things to Putin. I would say certain things to Zelensky” the Republican frontrunner said at the time, and added that he will “make a fair deal for everybody.” But whether in Gaza or in Ukraine, it’s very unclear exactly how he would go about negotiating a permanent settlement to these very complex conflicts which are expected to have a long duration.
end
Lindsay Graham on Biden’s failed middle east policies
(zerohedge)
Graham Says The ‘Biden Knew Nothing About His Son’s Activities’ Narrative Is Falling Apart
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 08:50 AM
Authored by Stephen Katte via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) believes the narrative being presented by Hunter Biden in response to the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is “falling apart.”Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in Washington on May 25, 2022. (Ting Shen/Pool/Getty Images)
Hunter Biden has been the subject of several ongoing criminal cases over his business dealings. His father is accused of directly being involved in his son’s activities and abusing his power by allegedly profiting from his father’s office as vice president, enabling bribery, and other high crimes. The White House and President Biden have both denied this. Hunter Biden’s attorney claims the whole affair is part of a political agenda.
During a Dec. 17 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Graham said Hunter Biden’s narrative that his father knew nothing about his business dealings had begun to unravel in the light of day.
“The idea that Joe Biden knew nothing about the business dealings is falling apart,” he said.
However, Sen. Graham also conceded the impeachment inquiry has a tall order ahead of it in actually proving the accusations against the president. He believes if there was any evidence showing the president had committed the crimes he is accused of, it would already be public knowledge.
“They have to prove that President Biden somehow financially benefited from the business enterprises of Hunter Biden. We’ll see,” he said.
“If there were a smoking gun, I think we’d be talking about it,” Sen. Graham added.
House Republicans released the 14-page measure to formalize the House impeachment inquiry of President Biden last week, which then passed on Dec. 13, 221–212. The action gives more power to the probe to investigate the actions of the president, the White House, and the Biden family. President Biden has publicly called the whole action a “baseless political stunt.”
Peace Efforts More Important than Impeachment
Despite expressing support for the impeachment of President Biden in the past, Sen. Graham says he is now more concerned with events in the Middle East. He claims to have not “paid that much attention” to the inquiry of late.
“I’m not worried about impeaching the president right now. You know what I’m worried about?” Sen. Graham said.
“Helping the president bring the Mideast to a better spot, trying to convince the Arabs and the Israelis to not let Iran get you off track, give Israel the space to destroy Hamas.”
Tensions in the Middle East have been at an all-time high since the Oct. 7 assault on Israel by Hamas. The death toll keeps rising, and there are fears the conflict could spread. Sen. Graham says this situation presents an “opportunity in the Mideast,” which may never come again, and that’s where the focus should be, in his opinion.
“In the middle of all this carnage, rape, murder, torture, heartbreaking visuals, there’s a chance to change things. That’s what I’m working on: changing things for the better at home and abroad,” he said.
Aside from the troubles in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine, Sen. Graham revealed that among his chief concerns at the moment is a possible attack on American soil, a fear shared by other lawmakers and authorities.
Last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed there had been a rise in the number of suspected terrorists trying to cross the southern border over the past five years. The U.S. border has been in chaos all year as the number of illegal immigrants attempting to cross into America has reached record-breaking levels. According to Sen. Graham, dealing with the border crisis is far more important than impeaching President Biden.
“I’m trying to find a way forward to secure our broken border before we’re attacked,” Sen. Graham said.
“I’ve never been more worried about a 9/11 than I am right now. Our border has been obliterated and we’re not going to give in on some Band-Aid fix,” he said of many in Congress.
FREIGHT ISSUES/USA
END
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
VDH
Victor Davis Hanson: We Are Well Beyond Hypocrisy
MONDAY, DEC 18, 2023 – 09:00 PM
Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,
The abject narcissism of the insular Left is startling.
They apparently believe the American public is amnesiac enough to forget what leftists once did, now that they’re doing the utter opposite.
And they assume we are to discount their hypocrisy and self-absorption simply because they self-identify as erudite and moral and assume their opponents are irredeemable and deplorable.
Impeachment
The Left is saturating the airwaves with outrage over the current House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry. They allege that formally investigating Joe Biden’s role in the family grifting operation is somehow a poor constitutional precedent, if not out-of-bounds entirely.
So we hear further arguments that it will be unwise to impeach a first-term president when he loses his House majority, that there is no reason to “waste” congressional time and effort when Biden will be automatically acquitted in the Democratically controlled Senate, and that the impeachment is cynically timed to synchronize with president’s reelection efforts.
All of these are the precise arguments many of us cited when Donald Trump was impeached in December 2019 (as his reelection campaign began, and immediately after being cleared of the 22-month, $40-million-special-counsel Russian-collusion hoax).
The Democrats tried to remove an elected president over a phone call without a special counsel’s report. So Trump was impeached only after the 2018 election led to a Democratic House majority, which went from eating up nearly two years of his administration in the Russian-collusion hoax straight into the impeachment farce. There was no concern about the cost to the nation of putting an elected government into a continual state of siege.
There is one difference, though, between the Trump impeachment and the Biden impeachment inquiry. Donald Trump was impeached because he accurately accused the members of the Ukrainian government of paying Hunter Biden, with his zero fossil fuel expertise, an astronomical sum to serve on the Burisma board—as the costly quid that earned the lucrative quo from his dad Vice President Joe Biden.
No one now denies that Joe Biden got prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired by threatening to cancel legislatively-approved U.S. aid. Shokin knew about the skullduggery through which the Biden family eventually received $6.5 million from Ukraine—and so Biden ensured his firing, and publicly bragged about it in performance-art fashion.
In sum, Trump had a perfect right as commander in chief to delay (he did not cancel) aid to Ukraine, to ensure that its government was not still paying off the Bidens for their lobbying efforts on its behalf.
It is also now clear that Biden serially lied about his ignorance of Hunter’s shake-down operation. In fact, he was, as Devon Archer emphasized, “the brand” central to Hunter’s scheme to coerce money from foreign governments. Joe was proverbially, in Hunter’s words “the man sitting next to me” and thus able to either punish or reward foreign interests, depending on the size of the checks they wrote to his various fronting family members.
Offspring subpoenas
The left is now furious that Hunter has been subpoenaed by the House to testify in private about how he earned his multimillion-dollar income, whether he fully paid taxes on it, and to whom he distributed his winnings.
Hunter has refused to testify. He is now being held in contempt of the U.S. Congress—to the silence of the usually self-righteous former senator Joe “pay your fair share” Biden.
We hear sanctimonious harangues that Joe is guilty of loving “his only son” Hunter too much, or that it is way out of bounds for a Department of Justice prosecutor to hound Joe Biden by going “after his family,” or that Republican congressional subpoenas and contempt findings should be summarily ignored.
Ask Peter Navarro or Steve Bannon whether one can simply ignore a House subpoena. Ask Ivanka Trump whether she was, or was not, subpoenaed to appear before the January 6 committee. Ask the Trump sons whether they could breezily say “no” to Letitia James’s subpoenas in her farcical real-estate-valuation suit against Trump.
Whistleblowers
Do we remember when, not long ago, whistleblowers were noble?
The alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella, an Obama holdover who had burrowed inside the Trump administration, had zero firsthand knowledge of the Trump phone call to Ukrainian president Zelensky. Ukrainian expatriate Lt. Col Alexander Vindman was on the call, as a member of the Trump national security team. He broke the law and apparently disclosed the classified call—in outrage that Trump was apparently too hard on his native Ukraine— to Ciaramella, and then hid the latter’s identity. Both met privately with Rep. Adam Schiff (D—CA) to engineer an impeachment writ.
This impeachment gambit was well-known to the media and the Democratic House. Both Vindman and Ciaramella were canonized as invaluable tools in wearing down Trump in a way that the failed Mueller prosecution had never done.
And whistleblowers now?
IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and 13-year Special IRS Agent Joe Ziegler never violated any statute or disclosed classified information. They did not leak a presidential phone call to a foreign leader.
Instead, both came forward as whistleblowers to testify before Congress about how the Biden Justice Department deliberately and carefully ensured that the mountain of evidence for the prosecution of Hunter Biden that they had presented had simply been ignored—at least long enough for the statute of limitations to run out on his most egregious crimes.
When they both made their case that facts proved the Biden family received huge sums for selling access to or action from Joe Biden, they were roundly trashed by Democrats in congress and pilloried as disgruntled politicos by a toady press.
Dictators
Never-Trumpers and leftists vie to predict the most nightmarish consequence of a 2024 Trump election win. Supposedly, he will commit every imaginable sin, from ending habeas corpus to jailing his enemies.
This fearmongering has no basis in fact, especially given that the nation has already experienced a Trump administration for four years. And it saw none of the weaponization of the CIA, FBI, DOJ, and IRS that we have seen under the Biden and earlier Obama administrations. There was no concerted effort to destroy the 2020 Biden campaign in the manner of the 2016 Russian-collusion caper, no FBI suppression of evidence as we saw in the case of the Hunter laptop, no warping of a FISA court, no paying social media corporations FBI money to suppress news unfavorable to Trump. And so on.
The Burden of Familial Indictments?
Suddenly yet another new narrative emerges: Joe Biden is unduly preoccupied, bearing the enormous burden of Hunter’s indictments. Apparently, we have never appreciated the supposedly unnecessary and cruel encumbrance on a president when his son is indicted.
So, we are told that a son’s legal exposure is an unfair weight on a president.
Have we again forgotten the subpoenaed Trump children, much less the four weaponized indictments of Trump himself? Does anyone wish to compare the drug-addicted, prostitute-hiring, gun-losing, pornographic-photo-taking, shake-down grifting of Hunter with the conduct of the five Trump children?
What would Biden think if the next Republican Secretary of State had once tried to ruin him by rounding up “51 intelligence authorities” to blatantly lie that a Trump son’s incriminating laptop was not his own, in order to affect the 2024 election —all in the manner of the Antony Blinken 2020 ruse? Or imagine a future National Security advisor who had once tried, in Jake Sullivan’s 2016 way, to concoct a malicious yarn that Hunter was engineering a computer ping correspondence from Biden headquarters to Moscow. Would those be burdens on Biden? Were they on Trump?
It may well be unwise to impeach a president in his first term when he loses his House majority. It may certainly set a bad precedent to subpoena the children of presidents. It may be regrettable that whistleblowers are either unduly demonized or sanctified. And it is of course wrong to smear a president as a veritable Hitlerian dictator.
But the left does not see such absolutes. Instead, once a supposedly morally-superior agenda is enunciated, then any means necessary are justified to obtain it.
And that alternate reality ensures that impeaching a president, indicting him, subpoenaing his kids, praising or libeling whistleblowers, or smearing a president as a dictator become good or bad things only by determining whether they prove useful to the progressive project.
end
USA// COVID//VACCINE/
end
SWAMP STORIES
Media matters sues Texas AG in Maryland over the investigation
(zerohedge)
Media Matters Sues Texas AG in Maryland Over Investigation Of Its Report On Musk’s X
MONDAY, DEC 18, 2023 – 07:40 PM
Authored by Melanie Sun via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Media Matters for America is suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in federal court, arguing that reporting by its senior investigative reporter on Elon Musk’s X app is being “chilled” by the AG’s announced investigation.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the launch of an antitrust investigation into large tech companies outside of the Supreme Court in Washington on Sept. 9, 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Media Matters, a progressive watchdog group, filed its lawsuit Tuesday. It had reported last month that, according to its analysis, X was a platform hosting bigots and that it had paid far-right extremists, warning advertisers that their content was running beside pro-Hitler and anti-Semitic content.
The report was then cited by major companies, like Apple, Disney, Sony, and Fox Sports, who announced they were boycotting the platform from their advertising campaigns. This triggered Mr. Paxton to announce on Nov. 21 an investigation into Media Matters “for potential fraudulent activity” in its report, after X responded to the allegations saying that the progressive group had manufactured its results.
X has sued Media Matters for defamation over the report in a Texas federal court, citing advertising data showing that report author Eric Hananoki was among only two users to see an Apple ad next to the hateful content, while explaining that content follows the search history of users.
“Attorney General Paxton was extremely troubled by the allegations that Media Matters, a radical anti-free speech organization, fraudulently manipulated data on X.com (formerly known as Twitter),” the Office of the Attorney General in Texas said in announcing its investigation following X’s comments.
Meanwhile, the state of Missouri has also launched an investigation.
Back to Texas…
Mr. Paxton argued that his case was to protect the First Amendment rights of Texans. X has come under attack from progressive groups after Mr. Musk’s takeover of Twitter and the release of internal communications that revealed the company censored speech in favor of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in the run-up to the 2020 election.
Mr. Paxton’s office explained in its statement that it was pursuing its investigation of Media Matters’s report under the Texas Business Organizations Code and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which allows his office to “vigorously enforce against nonprofits who commit fraudulent acts in or affecting the state of Texas.”
“We are examining the issue closely to ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations who would like nothing more than to limit freedom by reducing participation in the public square,” Mr. Paxton said of the negative publicity directed at X since Mr. Musk’s takeover and efforts to reform the platform in favor of free speech for all Americans, regardless of political view.
Founded in 2004, Media Matters calls itself a “progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.”
Media Matters is asking a judge in a federal court in Maryland to permanently block Mr. Paxton’s investigation, arguing that the AG office’s request to “rifle through their most sensitive journalistic and organizational documents” would be a violation of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Mr. Paxton’s investigation didn’t request Media Matters to stop publishing its findings, although Media Matters said in its court filing, “Draft articles [Mr. Hananoki] intended to publish about violent extremism on X were cut for fear of further retaliation from Paxton.”
“Hananoki wishes to continue writing and publishing articles about how Musk’s ownership of X has enabled political extremism on the platform but Defendant Paxton’s actions demanding unbounded disclosure of Hananoki’s newsgathering sources and means have chilled his speech,” it claimed.
Maryland is the home state of Media Matters senior investigative reporter Mr. Hananoki, who authored the report. Media Matters in its filing also argued that Maryland and the District of Columbia, the only regions that the reporter has worked from, have “shield” laws that protect journalists from being compelled to disclose statutorily protected, confidential sources.
It also alleged that the Texas AG’s efforts were “a baseless and arbitrary government investigation in a state to which they have no relevant connection.”
Mr. Musk had welcomed Mr. Paxton’s probe, saying on X, “Fraud has both civil & criminal penalties.”
X is also suing Media Matters for unlawfully interfering in its relationship with advertisers.
Meanwhile, Missouri AG Andrew Bailey earlier announced his own investigation into Media Matters for “potentially unlawful business practices.”
Mr. Bailey’s letter accused the progressive organization of doing so “in an attempt to defame the organization and cause advertisers to pull their support from the platform, thus harming free speech.”
“Radicals are attempting to kill Twitter because they cannot control it, and we are not going to let Missourians get ripped off in the process,” Mr. Bailey said in a release. “I’m fighting to ensure progressive tyrants masquerading as news outlets cannot manipulate the marketplace in order to wipe out free speech.”
Earlier in the week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that he had sent letters to 18 company CEOs about their decision to boycott X while continuing to do business with the China-owned social media platform TikTok.
“I’m just asking for a little consistency,” he said in a statement reported on by Fox Business. “If these corporations are boycotting X out of concern for their reputation, then I expect them to maintain that standard on all social media platforms.”
“If these companies are truly interested in safeguarding their brand, they should immediately boycott TikTok, which is controlled by Communist China and overflowing with hateful content.”
end
ROBERT H TO US;
Chuck Callesto on X: “BREAKING REPORT: Judge orders release of sealed documents NAMING 177 PEOPLE involved with Jeffrey Epstein, offering new insights into the late financier’s sex trafficking activities. Numerous high-profile individuals associated with Jeffrey Epstein are poised for an unexpected… https://t.co/TNTzsqZOOk” / X
Release day a popcorn day
https://twitter.com/ChuckCallesto/status/1737127279723987342
end
Way to go , Joe!! you destroyed your country
(zerohedge)
Eagle Pass, Texas “Completely Overrun” With Illegals As Encounters Hit New Records
TUESDAY, DEC 19, 2023 – 12:20 PM
The Biden administration’s southern border crisis worsens by the day. New figures from Fox News field reporter Bill Melugin show US Customs and Border Protection encounters on the border in the last 24 hours have smashed a new record high.
“Per CBP sources, there were more than 12,600 migrants encountered at the southern border in the last 24 hours, the highest single day total ever recorded,” Melugin wrote in a post on ‘free speech’ platform X.
He continued:
“The true number is *significantly* higher because there are thousands still waiting to be processed in Eagle Pass and they do not count in the numbers until they are put into the computers. The official numbers yesterday include over 11,000 Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal immigrants and more than 1,600 migrants encountered at CBP ports of entry. This breaks the record of 12,000 encounters that was set just two weeks ago.”
Melugin posted images showing Eagle Pass, Texas, “is completely overrun with mass illegal crossings.”
A video posted by the journo shows a staging area near the border with thousands of illegal migrants.
“This admin is allowing the border patrol to be pushed to a breaking point..CBP sources on the ground..say this is an unmitigated disaster,” US Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. wrote on X.
New shocking stats and a video of Eagle Pass being overrun came right after CBP halted freight train activity on two railway bridges connecting Texas and Mexico.
If it weren’t for Elon Musk’s X, leftist corporate media outlets and the Biden administration would have covered up the worsening border crisis via a mass censorship campaign. This is why Democrats are freaking out because they no longer have control of the news cycle narrative.
THE KING REPORT
| The King Report December 19, 2023 Issue 7142 | Independent View of the News |
| The suddenly ubiquitous Goolsbee on CNBC disingenuously claimed that he was ‘confused a bit by the markets’ reaction to the FOMC Communique. He also tried to insinuate that the Fed did NOT discuss rates cuts; and he claimed that the markets see more rate cuts than the Fed’s SEP projections show. Fed’s Goolsbee says he was ‘confused’ by last week’s market reaction “It’s not what you say, or what the chair says. It’s what did they hear, and what did they want to hear,” said Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “I was confused a bit — was the market just imputing, here’s what we want them to be saying?”… “We don’t debate specific policies, speculatively, about the future. We vote on that meeting,” he said. “The market expectation of the number of rate cuts is greater than what the SEP projection is,” Goolsbee said… https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/18/feds-goolsbee-says-he-was-confused-by-last-weeks-market-reaction-.html Obama acolyte Goolsbee and his ilk, after braying for Fed largess over the past several weeks, are now trying to walk back their dovish pleadings and the market euphoria over them. Are Obama stooges at the Fed embarrassed and alarmed by the tsunami of articles, stories, and comments from pundits and reporters that the Fed’s rhetoric and coming rate cuts are intended to boost the feeble Biden? Fed sparking irrational market optimism over potential rate cuts, former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair warns – “The focus still needs to be on inflation,” Bair told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Thursday. “There’s a long way to go on this fight. I do worry they’re [the Fed] blinking a bit and now trying to pivot and worry about recession, when I don’t see any of that risk in the data so far.”… https://t.co/XSBqBo5OLS ESHs traded higher but flat during the first hour of Nikkei trading. They then commenced a rally the endured until a 10-handle decline began just before the 3 ET European opening. ESHs then intractably rallied until they hit a daily high of 4802.25 at 14:21 ET. They had an A-B-C decline into the close. Fangs soared on Monday, while the other major indices were mixed. Meta, Amazon, Netflix, and Nvidia led the rally; each posted gains of around 3% at some point in the session. There was no impact news. Because Fangs are over-weighted in the S&P 500, the index and related futures contracts rallied sharply. @charliebilello: The Magnificent Seven stocks (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Nvidia, Meta, & Tesla) are trading at a forward P/E ratio of 33x versus 21x for the remaining 493 companies in the S&P 500. https://twitter.com/charliebilello/status/1736525429937443158 @RNCResearch: FOX: Authorities are “suspending railway operations” at the southern border to free up agents to help with the flood of illegal immigration. “In other words, they’re shutting down international commerce in order to help speed up processing of these migrants.” https://t.co/2B8Ho0kyna Positive aspects of previous session Fangs soared, driving Nasdaq, the Nasdaq 100, and S&P 500 Index higher Negative aspects of previous session Bonds were -13/32 at the NYSE close Gasoline rallied as much as 2.5% and has rallied over 20% since the FOMC Communique release The DJTA declined 53.07 points; ESHs sank 8 handles during the final 4 minutes of trading. Ambiguous aspects of previous session Are Obamaites on the Fed retreating on rate cuts because most everyone knows their scheme? 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]: 4738.55 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 4749.52; 4725.58 Biden is unharmed after a car plowed into a presidential motorcade vehicle. (Deceptive headline) The sedan hit a U.S. Secret Service vehicle being used to close off intersections as a visibly stunned President Biden was walking from the campaign office to his waiting armored SUV. The sedan then tried to continue into a closed-off intersection, before Secret Service personnel surrounded the vehicle with weapons drawn and instructed the driver to put his hands up… https://trib.al/L1huGPd @rawsalerts: Clearer footage of the Presidential motorcade incident shows the moment when Joe Biden was walking out of his campaign headquarters and about 9 seconds into the footage, you can hear the crash as a car collides with his motorcade. The driver of the car is reportedly cooperating with Secret Service Agents. https://twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1736582885543485878 Fox News: Number of attacks on U.S. forces tops 100 since start of Israel-Hamas war US launches Operation Prosperity Guardian to defend Red Sea shipping lanes from Houthi attacks The new defense, named Operation Prosperity Guardian, builds on the power of the Combined Maritime Forces, a 39-member international coalition… https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/18/us-to-expand-red-sea-defense-as-houthis-disrupt-trade.html Fed Official Says Rate Cuts Could Be Needed Next Year to Prevent Overtightening – WSJ 6:17 pm ET – Central bank must make sure ‘we don’t give people price stability but take away jobs,’ says San Francisco Fed president (Mary Daly, calls Yellen ‘her mentor’, and is another leftist Obamaite) Today – The usual Monday Rally was confined to Fangs. This indicates that most of the short covering panic after the Fed Day is over; few investors want to buy stocks at these historically overbought levels; and various classes of traders believe Fangs will continue to bubble up despite being grossly overbought. The BoJ ends its two-day meeting. The market expects no change in policy; but the risk is that key BoJ officials signal an end to its NIRP in early 2024. PS – Japanese media reports that Japan Economic Minister Yoshitaka Shindo will attend today’s BoJ Policy Meeting for the 1st since 2020. Expected economic data: Nov Housing Starts 1.36m, Permits 1.46m; Atlanta Fed Pres Bostic 12:30 ET ESHs are -3.50 (Ignoring Mary Daly); USHs are +8/32; and Feb AU is +.90 at 20:30 ET. S&P 500 Index 50-day MA: 4437; 100-day MA: 4431; 150-day MA: 4408; 200-day MA: 4321 DJIA 50-day MA: 34,693; 100-day MA: 34,604; 150-day MA: 34,408; 200-day MA: 34,094 (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 3919.56 triggers a sell signal Weekly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4424.99 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4655.93 triggers a sell signal Hourly: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 4725.52 triggers a sell signal Americore Gave James Biden $600k Loan on Promise He’d Deliver Funding from Middle East, Trustee Says – Carol Fox, an Americore Chapter 11 trustee, told the House Oversight Committee on Monday that the now-bankrupt healthcare company previously provided a $600,000 loan to James Biden on the promise that he could bring in funding from the Middle East that never materialized… https://www.nationalreview.com/news/americore-gave-james-biden-600k-loan-on-promise-hed-deliver-funding-from-middle-east-trustee-says/ @mirandadevine: James Biden’s business partner, Michael Lewitt, pulled money belonging to elderly Americans from an investment fund and “transmitted it to Americore, which turned around and paid James Biden. James Biden on the same day cut a check to Joe Biden for the exact same amount as James Biden received from Americore.” Per @GOPoversight transcribed Interview with Carol Fox, U.S. Trustee for Americore’s Chapter 11 proceedings. @TonySeruga: Mitt Romney’s son Tagg and Paul Ryan were indirectly involved in this too. They are using SPACs to hide their involvement in certain investments. But this is their equity firm, Solamere was founded in 2008 by Romney’s son, Tagg Romney, along with Eric Scheuermann and Spencer Zwick. The firm makes direct investments in operating companies and partners with other private equity and venture capital investors. Paul Ryan became a partner in late 2019 early 2020. Hunter, Tagg and Ryan intersect over and over again personally and in business as does Hunter’s uncle James who is the brains behind the Biden Crime Family. Dementia Joe is just an asset, plain and simple. https://www.solamerecapital.com/team/ GOP Sen. @BasedMikeLee: POTUS to Republicans in Congress: “If you’ll give me $106 billion for Ukraine etc. I’ll finally stop the madness at the border. I’ve had the authority all along, but his time I’ll REALLY do it.” Americans to Republicans in Congress: “If you fall for that line you’re all fired.” @CBSEveningNews: Officials say the driver who crashed into President Biden’s motorcade Sunday night in Wilmington, Delaware, has been charged with driving under the influence. @JeffClarkUS: Now, the leak of the Dobbs opinion worsens. NYT publishes *details* of the deliberations leading up to the decision. We used to have to wait for these kinds of details until notes or diaries of the Justices were released after long intervening periods of time to help the judgment of history and not the passions of politics form. But nope. Tradition and confidential deliberations on the Court being destroyed before our very eyes. But I will say that if this report is true, Justice Kavanaugh comes off quite well. He seems to have been subjected to a strong internal pressure campaign to reaffirm Roe, including by Breyer, but he came out the right way and stuck to his guns. NYHT: Behind the Scenes at the Dismantling of Roe v. Wade This is the inside story of how the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. https://web.archive.org/web/20231215102420/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/us/supreme-court-dobbs-roe-abortion.html Numerous pundits have noted that the unfathomable and historic leaks from the SCOTUS began about one month after Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed to the Supreme Court. In historic first, Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed to Supreme Court April 7, 2022 https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/04/in-historic-first-ketanji-brown-jackson-is-confirmed-to-supreme-court/ Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows May 3, 2022 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473 | |
GREG HUNTER I
SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY
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