GOLD PRICE CLOSED: UP 23.25 TO $2082,00

SILVER PRICE CLOSED: UP 20 cents AT $24.36

Access prices: closes 4: 15 PM

Gold ACCESS CLOSED 2076.95

Silver ACCESS CLOSED: 24.26

Our shorts are getting killed, while longs including many central banks are exercising Exchange for Physicals and taking possession of physical gold and silver. Also the USA is trying to extricate themselves from their 100 tonne short gold borrowing from the BIS. Should be an interesting few days.

First day notice is on Friday.

Shanghai gold closed last night at or $2084.82 /oz

Shanghai Gold Benchmark Gold Price in USD – AM Fix

Tuesday Dec 26/

SHANGHAI GOLD PREMIUM OVER NY: 20 DOLLARS

Bitcoin morning price:, 42,930 UP 797 DOLLARS

Bitcoin: afternoon price: $43,085 UP 853 dollars

Platinum price closing $998.50 UP $17,90

Palladium price; $1157.25 DOWN $20.50

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: $2,743,96 UP $16.12 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 2,795.90 CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//DEC 1 272023)

*BRITISH GOLD: 1623,04 DOWN 1.70 pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1655.17 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) OCT 2/2023

*EURO GOLD: 1870.47 DOWN 1.50 euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 1903.75 EUROS PER OZ//DEC 1.2023)

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EXCHANGE: COMEX

EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: DECEMBER 2023 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 2,058.200000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 12/26/2023 DELIVERY DATE: 12/28/2023
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED

159 C MAREX CAPITAL M 2
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 27
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 1
737 C ADVANTAGE 20 2
905 C ADM 23 4
991 H CME 11

TOTAL: 45 45
MONTH TO DATE: 15,094

JPMorgan stopped 0/45 contracts.

FOR DEC.:

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR DEC/2023. CONTRACT: 45 NOTICES FOR 4500 OZ or 0.1397 TONNES

total notices so far: 15,094 contracts for 1,509,400 oz (46.948 tonnes)

FOR DEC:

SILVER NOTICES 137 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 685,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 4028 for 20,140,000 oz

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END

BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES

GLD

WITH GOLD UP $23.25//

INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ : / HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: //A DEPOSIT OF 2.01 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//

INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.26 TONNES

SLV//

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 20 CENTS AT THE SLV// HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: V/ A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.374 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV//

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.

CLOSING INVENTORY: 438.265 MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED 636 CONTRACTS TO 131,408 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS HUGE SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR LOSS OF $0.14 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON TUESDAY. WE HAD A ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION WITH CONSIDERABLE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION (WITH SOME SHORT COVERING BUT AT LOWER PRICES) AT THE COMEX SESSION. WE HAD A STRONG 749 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 FRIDAY NIGHT: 749 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 $0.14), BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 689 OI CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

WE MUST HAVE HAD:

A SMALL SIZED 53 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 160,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP + 0 CONTRACTS OF EX. FOR RISK FOR 0 MILLION OZ EX. FOR RISK //NEW TOTAL STANDING 20.440 MILLION OZ.+0 MILLION OZ (EX. FOR RISK TODAY) + 6.5 MILLION EX. FOR RISK/PRIOR= NEW TOTAL OF 26.940 MILLION OZ

//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 26.940 MILLION OZ

//HUGE SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/ SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 906 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 – 252 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 18 days, total 12,774 contracts: OR 63.870MILLION OZ (709 CONTRACTS PER DAY)

TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 63.870 MILLION OZ

LAST 23 MONTHS TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED IN MILLIONS OF OZ:

MAY 137.83 MILLION

JUNE 149.91 MILLION OZ

JULY 129.445 MILLION OZ

AUGUST: MILLION OZ 140.120

SEPT. 28.230 MILLION OZ//

OCT: 94.595 MILLION OZ

NOV: 131.925 MILLION OZ

DEC: 100.615 MILLION OZ

YEAR 2022:

JAN 2022-DEC 2022

JAN 2022// 90.460 MILLION OZ

FEB 2022: 72.39 MILLION OZ//

MARCH 2022: 207.140 MILLION OZ//A NEW RECORD FOR EFP ISSUANCE

APRIL: 114.52 MILLION OZ FINAL//LOW ISSUANCE

MAY: 105.635 MILLION OZ//

JUNE: 94.470 MILLION OZ

JULY : 87.110 MILLION OZ

AUGUST: 65.025 MILLION OZ

SEPT. 74.025 MILLION OZ///FINAL

OCT. 29.017 MILLION OZ FINAL

NOV: 134.290 MILLION OZ//FINAL

DEC, 61.395 MILLION OZ FINAL

TOTALS YR 2022: 1135.767 MILLION OZ (1.1356 BILLION OZ)

JAN 2023/// 53.070 MILLION OZ //FINAL

FEB: 2023: 100.105 MILLION OZ/FINAL//MUCH STRONGER ISSUANCE VS THE LATTER TWO MONTHS.

MARCH 2023: 112.58 MILLION OZ//FINAL//STRONG ISSUANCE

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

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

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

JULY 85.745 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)

AUGUST: 171.43 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE HUGE //2ND HIGHEST ON RECORD

SEPT: 72.705 MILLION OZ (SMALLER THIS MONTH)

OCT: 97.455 MILLION OZ

NOV. 50.050 MILLION OZ

DEC. 63.870 MILLION OZ//THIS IS GOING TO BE A STRONG ISSUANCE OF EFP’S FOR THIS MONTH.

RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 636 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR SMALL LOSS IN PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//TUESDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMALL EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 53 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 160,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP /NEW TOTAL STANDING 20.440MILLION OZ//+0 MILLION EX. FOR RISK TODAY + 6.5 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK/PRIOR//NEW TOTAL 26.940 MILLION OZ.

NEW STANDING 26.940 million OZ /// WE HAVE A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 1190 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE THE LOSS IN PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A STRONG SIZED 749 CONTRACTS//CONSIDERABLE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE TUESDAY COMEX SESSION. THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE TUESDAY NIGHT (749 WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE., .

WE HAD 137 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 685,000 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 SMALL SIZED 753 CONTRACTS TO 491,343 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 58 CONTRACTS

WE HAD A SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI ( 753 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR $1.25 GAIN IN PRICE//TUESDAY. 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 1300 OZ QUEUE JUMP + 0 ISSUANCE OF EX. FOR RISK CONTRACTS // TOTAL GOLD STANDING FOR DEC SO FAR INCREASES TO 51.585 TONNES // ALL OF..THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $1.25 GAIN IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO TUESDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 1030 OI CONTRACTS (3.203) PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 1785 CONTRACTS:

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 491,343

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 1030 CONTRACTS WITH 753 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR SIZED 1783 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 1030 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 0 CONTRACTS EXCHANGE FOR RISK TODAYFOR 0.0 TONNES/EX FOR RISK PRIOR = 4.634 TOTAL //NEW TOTAL STANDING 46.951 TONNES + 4.634 TONNES= 51.585 TONNES.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A SMALL 906 CONTRACTS.

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (1783 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE SMALL SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (753) //TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 1030 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 1300 OZ QUEUE JUMP + 4.634 TONNES EX. FOR RISK PRIOR//NEW STANDING 51.585 TONNES / / 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AND CONSIDERABLE TAS LIQUIDATION WITH SMALL SHORT LIQUIDATION (COVERING) 4) VERY SMALL SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST LOSS/ 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: SMALL T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 906 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: 64,792 CONTRACTS OR 6,479,200 OZ OR 201.53 TONNES IN 18 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3599 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 18 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 201.53 TONNES

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

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 201,53/3550 x 100% TONNES 5.67% 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. 201.57 TONNES. A STRONG MONTH//

SPREADING OPERATIONS

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

SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF 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 ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED 636 CONTRACTS OI TO 131,408 AND CLOSER TO 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 452 CONTRACTS

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

MARCH 53 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 53 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI GAIN OF 1137 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 53 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,

WE OBTAIN A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 689 CONTRACTS

THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 3.232 MILLION OZ

OCCURRED DESPITE OUR $.14 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//

WEDNESDAY MORNING/TUESDAY NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 15.79 PTS OR 0.54% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 284.48 PTSOR 1.74% /The Nikkei CLOSED UP 375.39 PTS OR 1.13% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP .86% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN AT 7.1474 /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.1572 /Oil UP TO 74.33 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 80.24/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// 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 SMALL SIZED 753 CONTRACTS TO 491,401 DESPITE OUR SMALL GAIN IN PRICE OF $1.25 WITH RESPECT TO TUESDAY TRADING. WE MUST HAVE HAD ZERO LONG SPEC LIQUIDATIONS IN THE COMEX SESSION WITH FEW SPEC SHORT COVERINGS DURING TUESDAY’S RISE 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 1783 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : FEB 1783 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 1783 CONTRACTS

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 1030 CONTRACTS IN THAT 1783 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A SMALL SIZE LOSS OF 753 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS FAIR GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $1.25//TUESDAY COMEX. AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR TUESDAY NIGHT WAS A SMALL SIZED 902 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 (51.585 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. 46.951 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.585TONNES

THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT GAINED $1.25) //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 1030 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES. WE HAD A SMALL T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF TUESDAY’S TRADING . THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON TUESDAY NIGHT, WILL BE “PUT INTO THE BANK” TO BE USED AT A LATER DATE AT THE COLLUSIVE CHOOSING OF OUR BANKERS. WE ALSO EXPERIENCED CONSIDERABLE SPECULATOR SHORT COVERING

WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 3.384 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 1300 OZ QUEUE JUMP (FOR 0.0404 TONNES)//NEW TOTAL STANDING FALLS TO 46.951 + 4.634 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK : NEW TOTAL 51.585 TONNES../ ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $1.25.

WE HAD -removed 58 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 1030 CONTRACTS OR 103,000 OZ OR 3.203 TONNES.

Estimated gold volume today:// 128,305 dreadful

final gold volumes/yesterday 85,512 dreadful

//speculators have left the gold arena

DEC 27

/ /// THE DEC. 2023 GOLD CONTRACT

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory in oz*	nil
Withdrawals from Customer* Inventory in oz*	nil OZ .
Deposit to the Dealer* Inventory in oz*	nil
Deposits to the Customer* Inventory, in oz*	nil oz
No of oz served (contracts) today	45 notice(s) 4500 OZ 0.1397 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)	1 contracts 100 oz 0.00311TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	15,094 notices 1,509,400 oz 46.948 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 withdrawals

total withdrawals nil oz

Adjustments; 0

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DEC.

For the front month of DECEMBER we have an oi of 46 contracts having LOST 178 contracts. We had 191

contracts served upon MONDAY, so we GAINED or an additional 13 CONTRACTS OR 1300 OZ (0.0404 tonnes) will stand for delivery at the comex.

JAN. LOST 123 contracts FALLING TO 3079 contracts.

FEB LOST 1277 CONTRACTS FALLING TO 376,356

We had 45 contracts filed for today representing 4500 oz

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 0 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 45 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 0 notice(s) was (were) stopped ( received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account and 0 notice(s) received (stopped) by the squid (Goldman Sachs)

To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the DEC. /2023. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (15,094 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC. (46 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 45 x 100 oz per contract equals 1,509,500 OZ OR 46.951 TONNES + 4.634 TONNES EX. FOR RISK ISSUED/PRIOR/ (FOR DELIVERY HERE) = 51.585 TONNES.

thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the DEC. contract month: No of notices filed so far (15,094) x 100 oz + (XX) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (45) x 100 oz) which equals 1,509,500 oz standing OR 46.951 TONNES + 4.634 tonnes of ex. for risk = 51.585 TONNES

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR DEC: 51.585 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: 1,571,592.770 OZ 48.88 tonnes

TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 20,041,014.732 OZ

TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 10,252,592.558 (318,89 tonnes).

TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 9,788,422.174 OZ

REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 8,681.000 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 270,01 tonnes

END

SILVER/COMEX

DEC 27

//2023// THE DEC 2023 SILVER CONTRACT

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	8,165.420 oz oz Delaware Brinks .
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*	nil OZ
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	nil oz
No of oz served today (contracts)	137 CONTRACT(S) (685,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	60 contracts (300,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	4028 Contracts (20,140,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers* inventory this month*	NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer* inventory this month*

i) 0 dealer deposit

total dealer deposit: nil oz

i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal

total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz

We had 0 deposits customer account:

total customer deposits: nil oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 133.1390 million oz/275.543 million or 48.36%

Comex withdrawals 2

i) Out of Delaware 1039.700 oz
ii) Out of Brinks: 7125.72 iz

total withdrawals 8,165.420 oz

Adjustments; 1 all dealer to customer

v) Manfra 570,836.558 oz

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 44.193 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 275,543 million oz

CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:

silver open interest data:

FRONT MONTH OF DEC /2023 OI: 197 CONTRACTS HAVING GAINED 15 CONTRACT(S).

WE HAD 17 CONTRACTS SERVED ON TUESDAY, SO WE GAINED 32 CONTRACTS OR 160,000 OZ UNDERWENT A QUEUE. JUMP LOOKING FOR METAL OVER HERE ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND.

JAN LOST 128 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 1718 CONTRACTS

FEB GAINED 79 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 504

MARCH GAINED 563 CONTRACTS TO 108,928.

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 17 for 85,000 oz

Comex volumes// est. volume today 44,028// poor

Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 28,709 dreadful

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 4028 x 5,000 oz = 20,140,000 oz

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC. (197) and the number of notices served upon today 137 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

Thus the standings for silver for the DEC/2023 contract month: 4028 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of DEC. (197) – number of notices served upon today (137 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the DEC contract month equates to 20.440 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: 26.940 million oz.

There are 47.660 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!

DEC 27/WITH GOLD UP $23.25 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.01 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.26 TONNES

DEC 26/WITH GOLD UP $1.25 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.25 TONNES

DEC 22/WITH GOLD UP $17,85 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.25 TONNES

DEC 21/WITH GOLD UP $5.10 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT .58 TONNES OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.25 TONNES

DEC 20/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.60 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 877.67 TONNES

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

GLD INVENTORY: 880.26 TONNES

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

DEC 27/WITH SILVER UP 20 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.374 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 438.265 MILLION OZ

THIS IS THE 3RD STRAIGHT DAY THAT THE SLV HAS ENGAGED IN WITHDRAWALS

DEC 26/WITH SILVER DOWN 14 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.465 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 439.639 MILLION OZ

DEC 22/WITH SILVER UP 0 CENTS TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.289 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 441.104 MILLION OZ

DEC 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 2 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 443.393 MILLION OZ

DEC 20/WITH SILVER UP 28 CENTS TODAY:NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//////INVENTORY RESTS AT 443.393 MILLION OZ

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

CLOSING INVENTORY 438.265 MILLION OZ//

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES

1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey

END

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

END

3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA GOLD COMMENTARIES:

4. OTHER GOLD/SILVER //COMMENTARIES//PODCASTS

end

5 a. IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES /IRON ORE

Iron Ore Futs Hit Ten-Month High On Chinese Stimulus Efforts

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 04:15 AM

Iron ore futures hit a ten-month high on Monday, riding a wave of optimism from Chinese policymakers who rolled out new a fiscal stimulus package coupled with interest rate cuts at major state-owned banks. This move by Beijing is set to cushion the struggling property market.

Iron ore futures in Singapore soared to the highest intra-day level since late February, around $140 per ton. Prices have soared 40% since early August.

On Sunday, state-run media Global Times reported that Chinese policymakers planned to roll out 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) special bonds to boost investment and demand in 2024.

“Construction of the projects will improve China’s flood control system, emergency response mechanism and disaster relief capabilities, and better protect people’s lives and property, so it is very significant,” the National Development and Reform Commission wrote in a statement over the weekend, which it had identified 9,600 projects.

Just a few days prior, China’s top state-controlled banks reduced interest rates on certain deposits, signaling reduced lending at a time when Beijing is engineering a recovery.

Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies of the University of International Business and Economics, told the media outlet that Chinese policymakers still have additional fiscal and monetary tools to support recovery.

Bloomberg noted, “With heightened anticipation for better demand, steel mills that have depressed iron ore stockpiles to keep operations lean may now face restocking pressure should needs exceed supplies.”

“We maintain that Iron Ore futures should quite easily target $145-158 a ton at least by next quarter,” said Atilla Widnell, managing director at Navigate Commodities Pte in Singapore.

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 WEDNESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM

ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN AT 7.1475

OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 7.1572

SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 15.74 PTS OR 0.54%

HANG SENG CLOSED UP 284.48 PTS OR 1.74%

2. Nikkei closed UP 375.39 PTS OR 1.13%

3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL GREEN

USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 100/98 EURO RISES TO 1.1067 UP 25 BASIS PTS

3b Japan 10 YR bond yield:FALLS TO. +.604 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 142.60/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 DOWN TO +1.9060***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.473** /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 2.816…**

3i Greek 10 year bond yield DOWN TO 2.915

3j Gold at $2067.50 silver at: 24.06 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00

3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble DOWN 0 AND 19 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 91.46//

3m oil into the 75 dollar handle for WTI and 80 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 142,60// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.604% 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 0.8527 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9456 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: 3.894 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS…

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.002 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS/

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.287 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 29.40…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)

GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: DOWN 4 BASIS PTS AT 3.4825

end

2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge.

S&P Futures Recharge For Last Santa Rally Push, Less Than 1% Away From All Time High

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 08:19 AM

US futures were flat in muted trading following yesterday’s gain which pushed the S&P to within fractions of an all-time high amid trader hopes that the Federal Reserve is getting close to cutting interest rates, even if it means sparking another violent bout of inflation. As of 8:15 am, futures on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 indexes flirted between small gains and losses; after rising 0.4% on Tuesday, the S&P is heading for a seven-week winning streak and resides within 0.5% of the record high reached early last year. 10Y yields slumped to session lows around 3.842%, down 5 bps from Tuesday’s close, while Brent also dipped about $1, sliding below $80.

In premarket trading, Coherus Biosciences rose 37% after the FDA approved its medication administered after chemotherapy to reduce infection risks. Cryptocurrency-related stocks also advanced as Bitcoin recouped some of Tuesday’s losses, and traded around $43,000 rebounding from Tuesday’s drop. Other major cryptocurrencies also gained. Here are some other notable premarket movers:

Cytokinetics (CYTK) soared 51% after a pivotal trial of its experimental heart drug aficamten showed statistically significant and clinically meaningful increase in the primary efficacy endpoint.
Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA) drops 28% after the FDA placed a clinical hold on a trial in response to a fatal adverse event potentially related to the non-myeloablative lymphodepletion pre-conditioning regimen.

Following the Fed’s shocking dovish pivot on Dec 13, bets that the Fed could start cutting rates as soon as March have pushed US stocks to levels that most consider overbought but that has not stopped them from continuing to rise. This is due to historic move in financial conditions which have eased more in the past two months than ever before, including the launch of QE1, QE2, QE3 and so on.

“S&P 500 buyers will certainly not back down before sending the index to a fresh high this week, or the next,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank SA. Still, “the market optimism is overstretched. The Fed will probably cut rates but not at the speed that’s currently priced in. Once the Santa high fades, the hangover will hit,” she said.

An index of manufacturing sentiment later on Wednesday and unemployment claims on Thursday might provide further clues about the economic and monetary-policy outlook.

Meanwhile, shares in Europe posted a modest advance to the highest level since January 2022 as trading resumed after the Christmas holiday break. The Stoxx Europe 600 index is set to end the year with a gain of more than 12%, and also approaching all time highs, after rallying in the past two months amid speculation the ECB and Federal Reserve are moving closer to rate cuts. Trading volumes were light on Wednesday, with only three trading sessions left in 2023. Technology stocks were among the biggest gainers as Prosus NV rebounded from a slump triggered by a selloff in Tencent Holdings Ltd. Anglo American Plc climbed as much as 4.3% after a report that it’s selling a minority stake in Britain’s $9 billion Woodsmith fertilizer mine. On the downside, AP Moller-Maersk AS fell 4.7% after saying it’s preparing to resume shipping through the Red Sea. Container-shipping peer Hapag-Lloyd AG slumped 4.3%. The stocks had rallied on expectations that the disruption caused by attacks on Red Sea container traffic would allow companies to raise the prices. Here are some other notable movers:

Vestas Wind Systems rose as much as 6.9% after the Danish wind-power manufacturer announced it has received two large orders projects in the US and in Australia.
AMG Critical Materials rises as much as 4.2% after the specialty chemicals firm announced it would buy the Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB) activities from JM Voith
Anglo American rises as much as 4.3% after the Times reported the mining company is preparing to sell a minority stake in Britain’s $9 billion Woodsmith fertilizer mine
AstraZeneca rises 1.8% after the British pharmaceuticals company agreed to acquire Chinese cell therapy developer Gracell Biotechnologies for as much as $1.2 billion
Naspers and Prosus rise, following Hong Kong-listed Tencent in recouping some Friday losses, on signs Beijing is softening its stance on new gaming restrictions
Shipping stocks fall after Maersk said it’s preparing to resume shipping through the Red Sea, thanks to a new multinational maritime task force to protect vessels

Asian stocks posted solid gains, rising 1.2% led by a rebound in mainland China where stocks reversed earlier losses, after data showed a quickening speed of growth in the country’s industrial profits, helped by favorable base effects. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained over 1%, hovering slightly below its previous high in July, after Bank of Japan board members discussed the potential timing of ending the negative rate policy during their meeting last week, with several members indicating they see no rush to make the move. The yen weakened and Japanese government bond yields fell after the release of the summary. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose to its highest since April 2022, fueled by gains in miners.

in FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed while the yield on policy-sensitive two-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 4.34%. The yen fell as much as 0.3% against the dollar after one board member indicated it is appropriate for the central bank to continue monetary easing. Another said the BOJ can wait until after it sees the results of the spring wage negotiations in March to decide if it should raise rates. “Removal of negative interest rate policy in January is off the table” after the central bank took a cautious approach at the December meeting, said Shoki Omori, chief desk strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo. The continuation of NIRP could maintain the rate differential with the US and weaken the yen against the dollar, Omori said.

In rates, treasuries held small gains in early US trading, though 2-year notes sold at auction Tuesday remain slightly cheaper than the auction yield, which was lower than anticipated on strong demand and the biggest stop-through since June. Yields are lower by as much as 3bp on the day and still inside past week’s ranges; 10-year 3.87% vs last week’s low 3.827%, reached following downward revision to 3Q GDP. European yields are sharply lower on their first trading day since Dec. 22; German two-year yield fell four basis points to 1.94%, nearing March’s low. Activity remains muted with treasury futures volumes through 7am were less than half 20-day average levels. Supply cycle continues with $58BN in 5-year notes auction at 1pm. WI 5-year yield of 3.865% is lower than 5-year auction results since May and more than 50bp lower than November’s sale following past month’s collapse in yields unleashed by signals from Fed that no further rate hikes are likely

In commodities, oil traded near its highest close in almost a month, with a new attack on shipping in the Red Sea underscoring why some vessels are avoiding the key route. Brent crude dipped 0.4% after rallying 2.5% on Tuesday when European markets were closed.

Bitcoin recovered amid renewed speculation that the US securities regulator is getting close to approving an exchange-traded fund investing directly in the biggest token. Bitcoin advanced as much as 2.1% and traded around $43,000 as of 12:10 p.m. in London, rebounding from Tuesday’s drop. Other major cryptocurrencies also gained. Bitcoin Cash, one of the early offshoots of the original digital currency, rallied as much as 14% after investors piled into an investment vehicle tracking the token.

Looking at today’s US economic calendar , we have the December Richmond Fed manufacturing index at 10am and December Dallas Fed services activity gauge at 10:30am. No Fed speakers are scheduled for remainder of year.

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures little changed at 4,824.25
Brent futures down 0.3% to $80.84/bbl
Gold spot little changed at $2,068.71
U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 101.41
STOXX Europe 600 up 0.3% to 478.82
MXAP up 1.2% to 167.13
MXAPJ up 1.2% to 521.00
Nikkei up 1.1% to 33,681.24
Topix up 1.1% to 2,365.40
Hang Seng Index up 1.7% to 16,624.84
Shanghai Composite up 0.5% to 2,914.61
Sensex up 0.9% to 71,991.58
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.8% to 7,561.22
Kospi up 0.4% to 2,613.50
German 10Y yield little changed at 1.94%
Euro little changed at $1.1052
Brent Futures down 0.3% to $80.84/bbl

Top Overnight News

BOJ board members discussed the potential timing of the nation’s first interest rate hike since 2007 during their meeting last week, with several members indicating they see no rush to make the move. RTRS
China’s November industrial profits posted double-digit gains as overall manufacturing improved, although soft demand continued to constrain business growth expectations, emboldening calls for more macro policy support. RTRS
The Chinese government on Wednesday threatened to place further trade sanctions on Taiwan if the ruling party “stubbornly” adheres to supporting independence, in a further escalation of the war of words as Taiwanese elections approach next month. RTRS
The EU is preparing a back-up plan worth up to €20bn for Ukraine, using a debt structure that sidesteps the objections of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán about funding the war-torn country. FT
Almost all of Russia’s oil exports this year have been shipped to China and India, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday, after Moscow responded to Western economic sanctions by quickly rerouting supplies away from Europe. Russia has successfully circumvented sanctions on its oil and diverted flows from Europe to China and India, which together accounted for around 90% of its crude exports, Novak, who is in charge of the country’s energy sector, told Rossiya-24 state TV. RTRS
In campaign documents and media interviews, Trump has floated placing a tariff of 10% on all imported goods and matching tariffs on trading partners with higher rates “an eye for an eye, a tariff for a tariff.” He wants to revoke normal trading relations with China, a legal step that would automatically raise levies on everything from toys and aircraft to industrial materials. WSJ
Israel is willing to consider the first stage of the Egyptian peace proposal for Gaza, which would see Hamas release hostages in exchange for Palestinians being held prisoner. WSJ
Tesla is preparing to roll out a revamped version of its smash hit Model Y from its Shanghai plant, according to people familiar with the matter, as domestic rivals accelerate product launches amid heated competition. BBG
Amazon received an FDA warning for allegedly selling products labeled as supplements or food that contained undeclared and potentially harmful ingredients. BBG

US Event Calendar

10:00: Dec. Richmond Fed Business Conditions, prior -9
10:00: Dec. Richmond Fed Index, est. -3, prior -5
10:30: Dec. Dallas Fed Services Activity, prior -11.6

2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)

2C ASIA AFFAIRS

WEDNESDAY MORNING/TUESDAY NIGHT

2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
//

NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA

END

2e) JAPAN

3 CHINA

This ought to be interesting! China’s economy is bad due to the implosion of its real estate market

(zerohedge)

China’s Spy Agencies Now Targeting The Country’s Economic Pessimists

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 11:30 PM

In a move that we wouldn’t be surprised to see take hold in the U.S., China is now reportedly cracking down on its citizens who have a negative opinion regarding the country’s economy.

A new Nikkei article detailed how the country’s spy agencies have turned their focus to the country’s financial naysayers.

“Various cliches that denigrate the Chinese economy have emerged. False theories about ‘China’s deterioration’ are being circulated to attack China’s unique socialist system,” the country’s Ministry of State Security said at China’s recent annual conference to set economic policy.

When the Ministry opened its WeChat account in summer of this past year, its first post on August 1 simply read: “We need to mobilize the entire Chinese society to crack down on and prevent espionage.”

The revelation that the spy agency has been so openly active on WeChat was unexpected, the report says. While its main functions include targeting spies and engaging in counterintelligence operations, protecting China’s economy is not typically within its scope.

However, the agency’s recent posts following the Central Economic Work Conference on December 11-12, along with similar communications after a significant economic policy meeting in late October, suggest that the ministry is broadening its range of responsibilities.

“How strange that China’s economic policies for next year, ones that have just been adopted, were first explained by the Ministry of State Security,” one Chinese economist told Nikkei.

The spy agency’s recent social media activity, coinciding with growing online skepticism about the government’s optimistic economic narrative, implies a crackdown on those providing objective yet critical analyses of China’s faltering economy.

Experts highlighting issues like the exodus of foreign companies and declining consumer confidence, often with detailed economic data, are particularly at risk. These analyses typically avoid directly contradicting the government’s assertion of achieving a 5% growth target, reflecting caution under China’s strict speech regulations.

The Ministry of State Security, traditionally focused on counterintelligence, is now venturing into economic discourse – a shift that suggests the Chinese government views overly realistic or negative economic assessments, which it considers influenced by foreign narratives of decline, as threats to national security. This indicates potential repercussions for those with pessimistic viewpoints, the report noted.

Read the full report here.

CHINA

END

4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS

A classic: Europe reaches a farcical debt reduction deal witch does nothing to reduce debt

(zerohedge)

“Another Masterclass In Can-Kicking”: Europe Reaches Farcical “Debt-Reduction Deal” Which Does Nothing To Reduce Debt

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 06:55 AM

One month ago, we reported that Europe, already sliding into a stagflationary recession, was about to unleash the same crushing austerity that brought the continent to the verge of collapse over a decade ago. That’s when the German government – one day after the German constitutional court ruled a decision to move €60BN from unused pandemic funds in 2021 into the Energy and Climate Fund, later renamed the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF), was unconstitutional and void – froze public spending for the rest of the year, dealing a blow to Europe’s recovery and efforts to beef up ~~Zelensky’s offshore bank accounts~~ Ukraine’s military and reduce carbon emissions. Which is why many were closely watching the outcome of last week’s European fiscal reform negotiations to see just how much worse Europe’s upcoming austerity could be.

The outcome: after months of haggling, EU finance ministers bowed to German pressure for tough debt-reduction rules, as part of a deal to phase in a sweeping overhaul of the union’s budget framework; the package as detailed by the FT, gives EU member states greater independence on agreeing debt and deficit plans with Brussels, but only within tight spending limits demanded by fiscal hawks.

The compromise agreed between EU member states built on original proposals from the European Commission, which sought to give countries more independence in setting debt reduction plans, yet in the end, it all again boils down to what Germany wants.

Under the framework, the commission will draw up national spending plans over four years ensuring debt is put on a declining path (which will never happen in a world where virtually all growth is now funded by debt). Countries can extend these up to seven years by committing to growth-enhancing reforms, which simply means that debt will grow to all time highs… then grow even more as politicians admit that there are no growth plans that can lead to a net reduction in debt/GDP.

Although high-debt states – which in Europe is pretty much all – were given some extra wriggle room as part of a transition period, the new framework included stricter overall limits on spending that were crucial to winning over Germany, which was deeply sceptical about the original reforms. The political deal, struck after the traditionally marathon negotiations between capitals, must still be agreed with the European parliament to become law.

Two fiscal benchmarks, which are included in EU treaties, remain unchanged: a 60 per cent debt-to-GDP ratio and a 3 per cent annual deficits limit. Ministers agreed to ditch a separate requirement to cut excess debt by 5% per year, simply because debt reduction in modern financial systems is no longer a possibility even in the realm of European political fables.

To improve enforcement, the ministers decided to introduce a yearly spending cap that will become main benchmark used to assess a country’s compliance with its fiscal plan. These plans will be flanked by two “safeguards” added at the behest of a group of countries led by Germany, who criticised the commission’s proposals as too lax.

Countries with debt ratios above 90% of GDP will be required to cut excess debt by one percentage point per year over the duration of their national spending plan. That target is halved for countries with debt ratios above 60 per cent but below 90 per cent of GDP.

Sanctions are strengthened under the deal, with countries missing spending plan targets falling into a so-called excessive deficit procedure, which would require them to reduce spending by 0.5% of GDP per year. In other words, a fiscal “debt brake” similar to the one that Germany almost had…. but quickly abandoned when it became clear that a flood of new debt is needed to kickstart Europe’s economy in the aftermath of the covid pandemic.

Hilariously, the commission has already said that a large number of draft budget plans for 2024 do not comply with the required thresholds and will be sanctioned after EU elections. But – once again confirming that no European “reform” is worth the paper it is printed on – a last-minute concession won by France ensured that countries subject to such a procedure will be able to discount debt interest costs in the period 2025-2027, effectively reducing the required spending curbs.

Realizing just how toothless the whole farce is, Italy finance minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who had earlier threatened to veto the proposals, ultimately told his colleagues he would relent “in the spirit of compromise.” Translation: the new debt-reduction rules are a joke, something which wasn’t lost even on Europe’s career ~~clowns~~ bureaucrats:

“The impression is that countries such as France and Italy have accepted some commitment that would not be binding on them in the short term, in the conviction that it will never be applied,” said Lucio Pench, the author of the commission’s original proposal, now a non-resident fellow with think-tank Bruegel.

Commenting on the outcome, TS Lombard analyst Davide Oneglia is laconic: “In classic EU style, member states have reached a last-minute agreement to reform the bloc’s fiscal rules – a complex compromise brokered by Germany and France that allows everybody to claim victory, even Italy. The new framework broadly follows the European Commission’s (EC) proposal, which tried to strike a balance among simpler but more easily enforceable rules, slower fiscal consolidation and more leeway for public investment. In so far as these goals have been partly fulfilled, the compromise is a step forward compared with the old rules – so strict (especially since Covid) to prevent implementation. However, negotiations have both improved and worsened the EC proposal, favoring incumbent governments by adding some short-term flexibility at the expense of tougher long-term commitments.”

On the positive side, the deal retains the key elements of the EC framework: a long-term debt-sustainability analysis (DSA) to evaluate member states’ progress on multi-year structural plans (4 years, extendible to 7) negotiated with the EC to ensure the projected “net expenditure path” (i.e. the growth rate of government spending, netted out for factors such as interest rate payments and cyclical unemployment spending) is consistent with gradual debt reduction. While the EC will run the DSA, this will now also need to be approved by the Council. Moreover, the annual minimum requirement of debt reduction to be achieved regardless of DSA’s results was revised so to start only once the deficit falls below 3% of GDP. To enhance flexibility, countries are allowed to deviate from the net expenditure path by 0.3% of GDP annually and by 0.6% cumulatively during a monitoring period.
On the negative side, Germany managed to impose two new “safeguards” that will haunt policymakers. First, countries reducing the deficit below 3% need to carry on with fiscal adjustments at a pace of 0.4% of GDP/year over 4 years or 0.25%/year over 7 years until the deficit falls below 1.5% to build a safety buffer. A very onerous requirement for countries like Italy, as it implies a primary structural surplus of 4% of GDP. Second, countries with debt/GDP ratio above 90% need to reduce it by 1%/year, while those with debt between 60% and 90% need to cut it by 0.5%. On paper this debt adjustment is less restrictive than that under the old rules, but tougher enforcement means constraining fiscal space in the long run.

Ultimately, high debt countries focused on short-term gains, meaning they will be allowed to build up even more debt leading to the next European debt crisis at which point Europe will pretend to make even more difficult decisions which will achieve nothing but put the continent even more in debt, requiring even bigger central bank bailouts and so on. As noted above, France obtained that countries with deficit above 3% will be able until 2027 (purely “coincidentally” the year of the next Presidential election) to exclude interest payments from the figures used to calculate the adjustment. Italy also obtained that the plan of investment and reforms agreed with the EC under the Recovery Plan will be enough to automatically secure a 7-year adjustment period.

Bottom line: another farcical deal that optically that papers over Europe’s insolvency (oh but look how late and hard these career politicians – who are paid only to pretend they work late and hard – worked to get it done, please clap), which is only able to exist day to day thanks to the generosity of the ECB’s illegal monetary financing apparatus, yet which continues to this day despite being illegal and in explicit violation of EU law.

No wonder that, as TS Lombard’s Oneglia summaries, “the deal is short-term positive for the EU economy and markets, but yet another masterclass in Brussels’s depressing can-kicking.”

END

5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

IRAN/HAMAS//ISRAEL

This is a big story: Iran now admits that the massacre was in retaliation for the Soleimani killing. Hamas refutes but Iran supplies all the money

(Jerusalem Post)

Iran claims Oct. 7 massacre was retaliation for Soleimani killing – report

Hamas denied Iran’s statement, saying: “The reasons for the operation of the Flood of al-Aqsa, and foremost are the dangers that threaten al-Aqsa Mosque.”

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, REUTERSDECEMBER 27, 2023 11:29Updated: DECEMBER 27, 2023 13:26

A poster of senior Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani is seen during a rally marking the annual Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran April 29, 2022.(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS)

The October 7 massacre in southern Israel was a response to the 2020 assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qassem Soleimani, according to Al Jazeera citing an IRGC statement on Wednesday morning.

The rest of the IRGC statement addressed the assassination of a senior IRGC adviser in Damascus on Monday, which local security sources and Iranian state media claimed was carried out by Israel.

The assassination was “an act of terrorism,” according to the IRGC statement as cited by Haaretz.

Hamas rejected Iran’s statement, saying:

“Hamas denies the validity of the remarks given by the spokesperson of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Ramadan Sharif, regarding the operation of the Flood of al-Aqsa and its motives.

A Hamas terrorist interacts with members of the International Committee of the Red Cross. (credit: Hamas Military Wing/Handout via REUTERS)

“We have repeatedly confirmed the motives and reasons for the operation of the Flood of al-Aqsa, and foremost are the dangers that threaten al-Aqsa Mosque.Advertisement

“We also confirm that all acts of Palestinian resistance come in response to the Zionist occupation and its ongoing aggression against our people and our holy sites.”

IDF statement after Damascus assassination

“I will not comment on various actions we take. The IDF is working together with other security organizations throughout the Middle East, within the borders of the state, around the borders of the state,” Herzi Halevi told reporters near Gaza when asked about the strike.

“We take whatever action necessary to make it very clear that we are very determined to defend the country, are willing to go far,” Chief of the General Staff Halevi said.

Sayyed Razi Mousavi

The adviser, known as Sayyed Razi Mousavi, was responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran. The Revolutionary Guards said Israel would suffer for killing Mousavi, who held the Guards’ rank of brigadier-general.

Senior IRGC commander Sayyed Razi Mousavi, killed in Syria on December 25, 2023 (credit: VIA WALLA/SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT)

“Undoubtedly, the usurper and savage Zionist regime will pay for this crime,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in a statement read on state TV. “This action is another sign of frustration, helplessness, and inability of the occupying Zionist regime.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry released a statement on Monday evening, warning that Tehran “reserves the right to respond at the appropriate time and place to the assassination” of Mousavi.

Tehran added that the suspected assassination “is a sinful and cowardly act and a sign of the terrorist nature of the Zionist regime.” Hezbollah released a statement on Monday night mourning the death of the IRGC official, whom the Lebanese terrorist organization called “one of the best brothers who worked to support the Islamic resistance in Lebanon for decades.”

This is a developing story.

end

ISRAEL/HAMAS/

Netanyahu Urges Troops ‘Do Not Stop’ While Calling Biden’s Post-Hamas Plan “A Pipe Dream”

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 04:50 PM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Tuesday visit to troops fighting in Northern Gaza delivered a message of “do not stop” in their mission to eradicate Hamas. The past weekend was particularly bloody for the Israel Defense Forces, as at least 17 Israeli troops were killed. Some 250 Gazans have been killed in the last 24 hours, according to regional reports.

Netanyahu vowed to see the operation through “to the end” – at a moment there are still some 130 Israeli and foreign hostages that remain held in the Gaza Strip. Domestic pressure and pushback against his administration has only intensified, led by kidnap victims’ families, who are angry that more hasn’t been done to secure their release in a possible second-round ceasefire.

Egypt on Monday proposed the most comprehensive peace plan of the Gaza war yet; however, Netanyahu followed this by publishing an op-ed written in English in The Wall Street Journal wherein he rejected the prospect of achieving a permanent peace so long as Hamas remains intact.Via AP.

In the op-ed, he laid out his three-fold plan for pacifying Gaza and bringing permanent peace, as Israel sees it. He said that for Israel to succeed: 1) Hamas must be destroyed, 2) Gaza must be demilitarized, and 3) Gaza must be ‘deradicalized’ and free of hardline Islam.

All of this strongly suggests that not only has Israel rejected the Egypt-proposed peace plan, but is also still resisting the Biden administration’s calls to allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to eventually govern Gaza after Hamas is defeated. The issue has remained an open point of contention, during which time Biden has issued some rare criticisms of Israel, including earlier this month highlighting the “indiscriminate” bombardment of civilian areas of Gaza.

In the WSJ op-ed, the Israeli leader is emphatic that the PA under Abbas will never be able to achieve demilitarization. Netanyahu wrote:

The expectation that the Palestinian Authority will demilitarize Gaza is a pipe dream. It currently funds and glorifies terrorism in Judea and Samaria and educates Palestinian children to seek the destruction of Israel. Not surprisingly it has shown neither the capability nor the will to demilitarize Gaza. It failed to do so before Hamas booted it out of the territory in 2007, and it has failed to do so in the territories under its control today. For the foreseeable future Israel will have to retain overriding security responsibility over Gaza.

Elsewhere in the op-ed Netanyahu appealed to Washington security concerns by underscoring that Hamas is a “key Iranian proxy.” This as Israel has just taken out an IRGC general in an airstrike on a Damascus suburb. Radhi Mousavi was reportedly assassinated in a Monday strike, and he was believed to be Iran’s top commander in Syria.

The prime minister explained that if Hamas survives, this will only empower Iran further, and “more war and more bloodshed” will be guaranteed…

First, Hamas, a key Iranian proxy, must be destroyed. The U.S., U.K., France, Germany and many other countries support Israel’s intention to demolish the terror group. To achieve that goal, its military capabilities must be dismantled and its political rule over Gaza must end. Hamas’s leaders have vowed to repeat the Oct. 7 massacre “again and again.” That is why their destruction is the only proportional response to prevent the repeat of such horrific atrocities. Anything less guarantees more war and more bloodshed.

He also took the opportunity to address growing international pressure related to the soaring death toll in the Strip. Palestinian sources say that deaths have surpassed 20,000 – a horrific and tragic figure mostly comprised of civilians.

“Unjustly blaming Israel for these casualties will only encourage Hamas and other terror organizations around the world to use human shields,” the prime minister wrote. “To render this cruel and cynical strategy ineffective, the international community must place the blame for these casualties squarely on Hamas. It must recognize that Israel is fighting the bigger battle of the civilized world against barbarism.”

He vowed ultimately to press forward undeterred until Hamas is no more. “Once Hamas is destroyed, Gaza is demilitarized and Palestinian society begins a deradicalization process, Gaza can be rebuilt and the prospects of a broader peace in the Middle East will become a reality,” Netanyahu wrote. However, this could take months or more likely even years, given Hamas numbers in the tens of thousands, and can hide in the extensive tunnel network under Gaza while waging a guerrilla campaign above.

end

IDF operating deep into Khan Younis

(Jerusalem Post)

IDF says commando troops operating ‘deep within Khan Younis’

By EMANUEL FABIAN Today

The IDF releases footage of the Commando Brigade’s Maglan, Egoz, and Duvdevan units operating in southern Gaza’s Khan

Younis.

According to the IDF, the commando units are fighting Hamas “deep within Khan Younis,” killing many operatives and destroying the terror group’s infrastructure in the process, including tunnel shafts.

It says the three units carried out dozens of strikes using guided munitions during their operations in Khan Younis.

The IDF releases footage of the Commando Brigade’s Maglan, Egoz, and Duvdevan units operating in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.According to the IDF, the commando units are fighting Hamas “deep within Khan Younis,” killing many operatives and destroying the terror group’s infrastructure in the process, including tunnel shafts. It says the three units carried out dozens of strikes using guided munitions during their operations in Khan Younis

The IDF releases footage of the Commando Brigade's Maglan, Egoz, and Duvdevan units operating in southern Gaza's Khan Younis.

According to the IDF, the commando units are fighting Hamas "deep within Khan Younis," killing many operatives and destroying the terror group's… pic.twitter.com/m0MtY8fvhs
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) December 27, 2023

ISRAEL/GAZA/Wednesday

what happened in Gaza today

(Jerusalem Post/Israel Times)

Three soldiers from same unit killed in Gaza, bringing ground op toll to 164

IDF announces deaths of Lt. Yaron Eliezer Chitiz, 23, Staff Sgt. Itay Buton, 20, and Staff Sgt. Efraim Jackman, 21, all of the Givati Brigade’s Shaked battalion

By EMANUEL FABIAN and TOI STAFFToday, 10:34 amUpdated at 10:55 am

The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday announced the deaths of three soldiers in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip the previous day, bringing the Israeli death toll in the ongoing ground operation in the Strip to 164.

Lt. Yaron Eliezer Chitiz, 23, a deputy company commander in the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Ra’anana.
Staff Sgt. Itay Buton, 20, of the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Petah Tikva.
Staff Sgt. Efraim Jackman, 21, of the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Neve Daniel.

Jackman studied at a yeshiva in the southern town of Yeruham and is the eighth student of that institution to have been killed since the war started.

The IDF, meanwhile, released an update on some of the close-quarters combat that troops experienced over the past day in northern Gaza.

In Gaza City’s Shejaiya — where Hamas’s battalion is believed to be largely defeated — reservists of the Yiftah Brigade identified Hamas operatives running between buildings, from which gunfire was previously directed at troops, the IDF said.

The reservists then called in an airstrike against the Hamas operatives, which the IDF said led to secondary blasts, indicating the area was booby-trapped.

Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released by the military on December 27, 2023 (Israel Defense Forces)

Also in northern Gaza, the IDF said troops of the 261st Brigade (the Bahad 1 officers’ school in wartime) spotted two Hamas operatives entering a vehicle and driving to a building used as a weapons depot.

The troops then called in an airstrike against the operatives, and later a fighter jet struck the building, the IDF said.

In the Gaza City neighborhoods of Daraj and Tuffah, the IDF said troops of the 401st Armored Brigade identified a Hamas operative wielding a short-range anti-tank missile.

Tanks in the area shelled the operative, before he could open fire, the IDF said.

Hamas’s Daraj-Tuffah battalion is believed by the IDF to be the last standing battalion in northern Gaza, as the military shifts most of its focus to the southern and central parts of the Strip.

The IDF said it had carried out strikes from the air, ground, and sea against some 200 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.

Terrorists, meanwhile, resumed their attacks on Israeli territory. After a lull of some 16 hours, rocket sirens sound in Nahal Oz near the Gaza border. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

The towns close to the border with the enclave have largely been evacuated of civilians since October 7, when Hamas carried out a devastating attack on Israel that killed over 1,200 people, sparking the war. Thousands of terrorists who burst through the border from Gaza in southern Israel also abducted at least 240 people to Gaza as hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at destroying Hamas, toppling it from power in Gaza and releasing the hostages.

An Israeli air force attack helicopter fires a missile while flying over the northern Gaza Strip near the border with southern Israel on December 27, 2023. (ACK GUEZ / AFP)

A UN human rights official accused Israel of working to push Gazans out of the Strip entirely as it expands its ground operation aimed at toppling Hamas.

Paula Gaviria Betancur, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, issued a statement claiming the IDF is attempting to deport Palestinians from Gaza “en masse.”

“As evacuation orders and military operations continue to expand and civilians are subjected to relentless attacks on a daily basis, the only logical conclusion is that Israel’s military operation in Gaza aims to deport the majority of the civilian population en masse,” Gaviria Betancur wrote.

Israel has denied reports that it sought to push Gazans into Egypt for the duration of the war, and has vowed it is not seeking any permanent population displacement.

end

Hamas may be holding Israeli hostages in central Gaza, IDF sources say

The IDF view is that the majority of the hostages are being held in southern Gaza, but that a smaller number may remain in central Gaza.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB

posts[i].image.ImageName (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip on December 27, 2023(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

Hamas may be holding hostages in central Gaza, IDF sources have said, as the military raises its campaign in the lower profile area.

If the focus of the war from late October until early December was in northern Gaza, and most of the focus shifted for this whole month to southern Gaza, central Gaza is not thought of as having as critical a role for Hamas.

Gaza City in northern Gaza was Hamas’s most important place for its rule, and Khan Yunis in southern Gaza was the second most important, but few Israelis are fluent with central Gaza areas, which IDF Division 36 has only started to work on clearing in recent days.

Rescuing the remaining hostages

While the general IDF view is still that the vast majority of the hostages are in southern Gaza, possibly in Khan Yunis along with Hamas’s leadership, there is also a view that some smaller number may remain in central Gaza, just as there were a few groups of hostages remaining in northern Gaza through mid-December.

In light of the December 15 incident when IDF soldiers accidentally killed three Israeli hostages who had escaped their Hamas captors (who themselves had been killed by the IDF five days earlier), the IDF is working very carefully in central Gaza anytime there is any hint of potential hostages.

The IDF would also say that this could slow down aspects of progress, but that trying to bring back the remaining approximately 130 hostages is a top priority, and that going slower does not mean they will let Hamas escape.

Deir al-Balah, Maghazi, and Bureij are three central Gaza areas where the IDF will focus initially in central Gaza, and where Hamas has four full battalions of around 1,000 terrorist fighters.

Go to the full article

END

IDF, Hamas terrorists clash in Gaza City orchards, as seen through bodycam

In Shejaia, shots were fired at IDF soldiers, who in turn directed an IAF aircraft to strike at the source of the fire.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDECEMBER 27, 2023 09:36Updated: DECEMBER 27, 2023 17:00

Israeli naval forces strike Hamas targets off the coast of the Gaza Strip overnight on December 26, 2023 (CREDIT: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT).https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-779694

Israeli forces encountered and killed a cell of Hamas terrorists that operated from orchards in the Gaza Strip where five rocket launchers were located, the IDF said Wednesday.

During the 50th Battalion operations in the Gaza City district of Tuffah, terrorists carrying rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and rifles began shooting at the forces before being gunned down by the IDF.

Two terrorists who were identified while attempting to sneak toward forces were killed by an IDF tank. The IDF released bodycam footage of the forces killing the Hamas terrorists.

Israeli security forces were highly active in central and northern Gaza overnight on Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, according to a Wednesday IDF statement.

In Shejaia, shots were fired at IDF soldiers, who in turn directed an IAF aircraft to strike at the source of the fire. The strike, per the statement, led to secondary explosions, indicating that the area was already trapped with explosives.

IAF fighter jet targets and kill Hamas terrorists in Shejaia on December 27, 2023 (CREDIT: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT).

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-779694

IDF troops in Shejaia also identified two Hamas agents in a vehicle en route to a known weapons storage facility and instructed an IAF aircraft again to strike the vehicle. The fighter jet killed the Hamas terrorists and then struck the weapons storage facility.

Anti-tank missiles and naval fighting

In Daraj Tuffah, an area in northern Gaza, Israeli forces identified a terrorist preparing to fire a short-range anti-tank missile at them. IDF tanks took out the terrorist before he was able to fire the missile. Advertisement

IDF soldiers active in the Gaza strip on December 27, 2023. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

Also overnight on Tuesday, Israeli naval forces assisted IDF ground forces by striking suspects in a compound who posed a threat to ground troops in an undisclosed location in Gaza. The navy also struck several Hamas targets along the Gazan coastline.

WEST BANK/ISRAEL

END

WEST BANK/ISRAEL

Palestinian health ministry says 6 killed during IDF raid in West Bank’s Tulkarem

Smoke rises during an Israeli military raid in Tulkarem, in the West Bank, December 17, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)An IDF operation near Tulkarem in the northern West Bank leaves six people dead and several others wounded early this morning, according to the Palestinian ministry of health.“Six martyrs killed by the occupation [Israel] and some who were seriously wounded were transported to the Thabet Thabet government hospital in Tulkarem,” the ministry says in a short statement.There was no immediate comment from the IDF.

END

LEBANON/ISRAEL

Over a dozen rockets fired from Lebanon toward Israel

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

Some 18 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel’s Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra on Wednesday morning, according to local media. The IDF did not confirm an exact number of projectiles, but acknowledged the launches.

The Iron Dome intercepted several of the rockets, and others landed in open areas. There were no casualties and no significant damage to any civilian infrastructure.

Furthermore, according to the IDF, an Israeli fighter jet struck a Hezbollah military site in Lebanon overnight on Tuesday. The IDF struck additional areas in Lebanon on Wednesday morning

END

LEBANON/ISRAEL

Details on the northern border

(times of Israel)

IDF strikes in Lebanon after Hezbollah launches explosive-laden drones across border

By EMANUEL FABIAN Today, 4:30 pm 0

This picture taken from a position along the border in northern Israel on December 27, 2023, shows smoke billowing in the southern Lebanese village of Marwahin following Israeli bombardment amid ongoing clashes with the Hezbollah terror group. (Jalaa Marey/AFP)

Three Hezbollah explosive-laden drones launched from Lebanon hit the Mount Dov area on the border, where a number of IDF positions are located.

The IDF says it identified the drones, adding that the “incident is over.”

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the drone attack.

Several more projectiles were fired from Lebanon at several areas in northern Israel, landing in open areas, causing no damage, according to the IDF.

The IDF says it struck the launch sites.

The IDF says fighter jets also carried out a wave of strikes against targets in Lebanon, including military sites belonging to Hezbollah.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-strikes-in-lebanon-after-hezbollah-launches-explosive-laden-drones-across-border/

The strikes come in response to a barrage of rockets from Lebanon earlier today on Rosh Hanikra.

END

UN/ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS

Astonishing! In order for peace, the Palestinians must be de radicalized

(Gatestone)

How UNRWA Grooms Terrorists

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 02:00 AM

Authored by Bassam Tawil via The Gatestone Institute,

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was originally a small agency mandated to provide basic humanitarian relief for Palestinians, including a vote for renewal every three years. Seventy-three years and four generations later, and with more than 30,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $1 billion, it has astonishingly become one of the largest UN agencies.

In the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, UNRWA has, in fact, long been operating as the de facto government. By providing the residents of the Gaza Strip with various services, UNRWA exempted Hamas from its responsibilities as the governing body, such as creating a working economy that would pay for education and healthcare, and allowed it, instead, to invest resources in building tunnels and manufacturing weapons. If UNRWA were not there, Hamas would have been forced to fill the vacuum and, for example, build hospitals and schools and find solutions to economic hardship, including unemployment and poverty.

As senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk said, in explaining why no cement could be spared from terror tunnels to build bomb shelters for Gazan citizens:

“The tunnels were built to protect the fighters of Hamas from [Israeli] airstrikes. As you know, 75% of the residents of the Gaza Strip are refugees. It is the responsibility of the United Nations to protect the refugees.”

Hamas was effectively saying: We are responsible for what happens underground, while UNRWA is responsible for what happens above ground.

In addition to evolving into a monster-sized agency, UNRWA has also morphed into a very costly incubator for terror. UNRWA-run schools emphasize and promote the “right of return,” a euphemism for flooding Israel with millions of Palestinians and turning it into a Muslim-majority Islamist state backed by Iran.

More than 50% of UNRWA’s annual budget of $1.6 billion is dedicated to funding Palestinian schools. These schools have been fostering war-mongering hatred against Israel, and against Jews in general, from the youngest, most impressionable ages and onward throughout the school years, while predictably churning out their final product: terrorists and terrorist sympathizers.

“They [UNRWA] teach us that the Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to us [Muslims], that Palestine belongs to us,” said Atif Sharha, a student at a UNRWA school in the Shuafat refugee camp, north of Jerusalem.

“I hate the Jews,” said Yousef, another student at a UNRWA school in Kalandia refugee camp, south of Ramallah.

“Yes, they teach us that the Zionists are our enemy,” said Nur Taha, a third student from Kalandia. “We should carry out an [terror] operation against them [Zionists].”

Marcus Sheff, Chief Executive Officer at The Institute for Cultural Peace and Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) studying these hate-policies, laments:

“The Palestinian matriculation exams have become a finishing school in extremism. It is as if the Palestinian Authority is cramming as much hate into the tests as possible, to ensure the twelve previous years of indoctrination stay with them into adulthood.”

UNRWA then re-inserts many of these hate-infused people right back into its institutions, perpetuating what the UN is keen on blaming Israel for: “the cycle of violence.”

UNRWA schools have been the focus of media scrutiny on many occasions. UNRWA’s textbooks, compiled by the Palestinian Authority, have been blasted for showy, hate-provoking and terror-inciting material such as “a grammar exercise that encourages Palestinians to ‘sacrifice their blood to liberate Jerusalem.'”

Palestinian textbooks produced by UNRWA contain “antisemitic, hateful, and violent passages,” according to IMPACT-se. Some of these passages in an Islamic education drill include labeling Jews as inherently treacherous. A poem included in the educational content glorifies the killing of Israelis, and portrays dying as martyrs by killing Israelis as a “hobby.”

In a grammar exercise, Jews, it is implied, are impure and supposedly defile the Al-Aqsa Mosque. (They do not. The Jews peacefully tour the exterior grounds, called The Temple Mount, a plateau on which the Al Aqsa mosque now sits. The site is the third-holiest in Islam, but in Judaism the holiest. The plateau is where two Jewish Temples once stood, mentioned in the Bible, before they were destroyed — the first by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE; the second by the Roman Empire in 70 CE).

Despite years of considerable condemnation of the textbooks, newly produced editions, approved by UNRWA, are exponentially worse.

“Terrorist activities against Israeli civilians are also part of the struggle against the Zionist occupation of Palestine. Thus, the new books exalt Palestinian terrorists who participated in such actions. Dalal al-Mughrabi, for example, who was killed in a terrorist attack she had led against a civilian bus… in which more than 30 men, women and children were murdered, is mentioned in four books, all studied in UNRWA schools at present. In all of them she is described as a heroine and martyr of Palestine.”

According to the textbooks used in UNRWA schools, Jews have no rights whatsoever or any legitimate status in Israel. A Jewish presence in the country is denied historically, geographically and religiously. No reference is made in the books to the history of the Jews throughout the region, either in Biblical or Roman times. Any connection is also denied of the Jews to their ancient capital, Jerusalem, which is presented as an Arab city since its establishment thousands of years ago. The Jews’ presence in Jerusalem today is bewilderingly presented in the books as an aggression against the city’s Arab character.

Beyond the textbooks, both UNRWA administrators and teachers have proudly displayed their approval of terrorism and hatred on countless occasions, including Hamas’s recent October 7 massacre, according to a report published by UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights organization, as well as IMPACT-se.

UNRWA math teacher Adnan Shteiwi, for instance, glorified Diaa Hamarsheh, the perpetrator of the March 2022 Bnei Brak shooting attack — in which he murdered four Israeli civilians and one policeman — as a “martyr” whose name should “forever remain in letters of fire, might, and magnificence.”

UNRWA’s Asma Middle School for Girls B encouraged schoolgirls to ” liberate the homeland by sacrificing ‘their Blood’ and pursuing jihad.”

Roni Krivoi, one of the Israeli hostages recently freed from Hamas captivity, reported that he had been kept prisoner in an attic for more than a month and a half, mostly starved and medically untreated. His jailer was an UNRWA teacher.

In Gaza — as with Ahmad Kahalot, Director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, who admitted that he was the equivalent of a brigadier general for Hamas and that 16 of the hospital’s staff were also “terror operatives for Hamas” — the mesh of Hamas and UNRWA is also illustrated in the high-profile case of Dr. Suhail al-Hindi.

Al-Hindi served as both the principal of an UNRWA elementary school and as the chairman of the UNRWA employee’s union in Gaza. In 2017, UNRWA suspended al-Hindi after it received information that he had just been elected to the Hamas political bureau. UNRWA announced that al-Hindi no longer worked for the agency, but did not say whether he had resigned or been fired. Al-Hindi first said he “resigned” from UNRWA, but later clarified that he was taking early retirement.

The case of al-Hindi and other UNRWA employees suspected of supporting terrorism makes the point that UNRWA is “the money,” while thug terror-groups such as Hamas are “the muscle.”

UNRWA tries to keep up public pretense that its hands are clean, and has taken a belligerently defensive stance against these and other accusations, as it publicly claims that it has a “zero-tolerance policy for hatred.”

The Israeli news site Ynet , however, wrote recently about a UN Watch report:

“In it, some 47 documented cases of school staff promoting antisemitic material are recorded, as school staff openly violates the official UNRWA policy…

“It was only two years ago that UNRWA apologized for similar instances, claiming they were done erroneously and will not occur in the future, but with this latest report, that promise rings hollow.”

One UNRWA employee portrayed Adolf Hitler in a favorable light: “Wake up Hitler, there are people left to burn.”

In addition, as is well-documented, UNRWA has allowed its school buildings to be used by Hamas as storehouses for rocket and other weapons, terror tunnels, and to shelter jihadi terrorists. Hamas and other terror organizations have bet on the media frenzy that would ensue if Israeli forces strike a UN institution (or hospital, mosque, or even a church) that is being used for military purposes. Hamas has been launching rockets at Israel from alongside UNRWA schools, and, when possible, shooting from inside the schools, thereby taking advantage of the sanctuary that a UN institution, especially a “protected space” such as a school, ought to offer under legitimate circumstances.

Last week saw the media explode in condemnation of the Israel Defense Forces for blowing up an UNRWA school, despite the disclosure that the school had been used as a weapons depot and terror tunnels were found in its area.

UNRWA kindergartens have been discovered with weapons hidden inside toys or even in UNRWA bags, and UN officials are charged with being complicit in holding hostages, despite protestations to the contrary. It seems that “zero tolerance” had devolved into “zero oversight.”

When rockets were discovered in UNRWA schools in the past, UNRWA would reassure everyone that they had been turned over to “local authorities.” Those authorities, of course, were Hamas, who most likely relocated them to another equally inappropriate location.

Occasionally, UNRWA officials will make a minor fuss or put on a shocked and affronted façade for donors or the media, but reportedly do nothing in the way of changing the practice. In the upper echelons of UNRWA management, there have been accusations of serious breaches of ethics in the forms of nepotism, bullying, mismanagement of funds — as well as lack of accountability.

This is no small matter, considering that in 2022, annual worldwide contributions to UNRWA alone — not including direct donations to Palestinian governing agencies such as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, nor to the many NGOs and other Palestinian-specific aid agencies — from 68 donor nations, including the Holy See, was $1.1 billion.

Extensive reports released by UN Watch and IMPACT-se have highlighted the malignant influence of terror organizations such as Hamas, Fatah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on UNRWA institutions that either feign ignorance or offer enthusiastic complicity. The repercussions of these revelations are becoming an embarrassment.

Switzerland’s Parliament recently voted to stop funding UNRWA ($21 million annually), labelled Hamas a terrorist organization and unanimously banned it. “Hamas’ brutal terrorist attacks against Israel necessitate a clear position from Switzerland,” they said.

In 2018, the Trump administration, calling UNRWA an “irredeemably flawed operation,” completely cut America’s $300 million annual donation. The aid was reinstated by President Joe Biden almost immediately after he took office.

Many have called the very inception of UNRWA into question, as the UN already has an agency specifically designated for refugees: the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

UNRWA remains a refugee organization distinctly apart from UNHCR based upon two premises: first, that the Palestinians will “return” to their homes in Israel by means of a the “right of return“; and second, that there will never be a resolution not to “return,” thereby making these refugees an eternal stick in the eye to Israel.

The first premise would effectively destroy Israel by imposing a demographic shift: flooding millions of Palestinians, demonstrably none too peace-oriented, into Israel.

The second premise would, and has been, effectively enslaving Palestinians as the crying faces that keep the international “pity-cash” flowing into the coffers of both Palestinian and UNRWA leadership.

Perhaps this may be at least one answer as to why, when UNRWA recently cried for more aid money for Palestinians, the organization was found to have an entire warehouse “filled to the brim” with food. When Gazans stormed the warehouse in October, they discovered copious amounts of rice, lentils, flour and oil.

Whatever hopes that anyone may have held for the trustworthiness of UNRWA have long expired, and were arguably misplaced at the outset. UNRWA, in its current state, has proven itself irremediably defective, unworkable and yet another massive stain on the already scandalously stained UN [such as here, here, here, here and here.] The agency has perpetuated the issue of the “refugees” by keeping them in camps while providing them with basic services, only.

Worse, UNRWA has deliberately created new generations of “refugees” by insisting that the descendants of refugees inherit the status of “refugee” – which on its face is nonsense. It is high time for the international community and those who actually want a better future for the Palestinians to liquidate UNRWA and take actions that truly help the Palestinians move forward to a golden life.

end

Netanyahu Working To Find Countries To ‘Absorb’ Palestinians Who Want To Flee Gaza

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 09:45 AM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of his political party on Monday that he’s working to identify countries that are are willing to “absorb” Palestinians who want to leave the territory.

Netanyahu’s remarks in front of a group of Likud Party members came in response to a statement from Knesset legislator Shani Danon, who said:

“The world is already discussing the possibilities of voluntary immigration. The Canadian immigration minister said the things publicly and so did Nikki Haley. We must establish a team of the State of Israel to deal with this issue, and make sure that those who want to leave Gaza to a third country can do so. It needs to be settled. It has strategic importance for the day after the war.”

“Our problem is countries that are ready to absorb and we are working on it,” replied Netanyahu. The daily national newspaper Israel Hayom was first to report the exchange. Hayom is a conservative paper owned by the family of the late billionaire pro-Israel Republican Party benefactor Sheldon Adelson. Israel is rendering enormous areas of Gaza uninhabitable, turning the notion of “voluntary migration” into something of a cruel joke (screen shot from New York Times video)

Israeli officials’ talk of Palestinians engaging in “voluntary” migration must be scrutinized in light of conditions Israel is imposing on the 25-mile-long Gaza Strip.

Since the Oct. 6 military and terrorist attacks on southern Israel perpetrated by the militant arm of Hamas, the Israeli Defense Forces have been methodically decimating Gaza.

Nearly 21,000 Palestinians have died thus far, with more than 54,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Even those numbers understate the universal misery in Gaza — out of a population of approximately 2 million, more than 1.7 million are displaced from their homes.

Israel initially ordered the Palestinian population to abandon northern Gaza, including Gaza City, and move south of Wadi Gaza, a seasonal river. On Friday, the IDF declared the next section of Gaza off-limits to Palestinians. The area housed nearly 90,000 people before Oct. 7, plus another 60,000 who’d fled from the north.

The pattern prompted UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons Paula Vaviria Betancur to ask…

“Where will the people of Gaza have left to go tomorrow? As evacuation orders and military operations continue to expand and civilians are subjected to relentless attacks on a daily basis, the only logical conclusion is that Israel’s military operation in Gaza aims to deport the majority of the civilian population en masse.“

Many Palestinians who’ve obeyed the IDF’s orders to move to “safety” have died as bombs are dropped on the supposed safe zones too: A New York Times analysis of satellite imagery suggests that Israel has dropped more than 200 2,000-pound bombs in the area of South Gaza where it told Palestinians to flee. For perspective, the United States used only one such bomb in its entire campaign against ISIS.

The exchange at Monday’s Likud meeting was just the latest indication of Israeli government interest in reducing or entirely expelling the Palestinian population of Gaza:

In October, a leaked Israeli intelligence ministry document revealed a proposal to systematically force all Palestinians from Gaza and into tents in the Sinai Peninsula. Some said the leak was used to gauge the Israeli public’s appetite for all-out ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
In November, two current members of Israel’s legislature took to the Wall Street Journal op-ed pages to declare that Western countries should start taking Gaza refugees.
Also last month, the Israeli intelligence minister wrote an op-ed for the Jerusalem Post pushing for so-called “voluntary resettlement” so the “people of Gaza [can] build new lives in their new host countries.”
ENDIsrael’s wartime government in crisis as Ben-Gvir fires prison chiefBen-Gvir accused the prison chief of being “soft” with Hamas-affiliated prisoners • Gantz set to give a statement on crisisBy TAL SPUNGINDECEMBER 27, 2023 18:47
Israel Prison Service chief Katy Perry, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir(photo credit: FLASH90)Israel’s emergency coalition was in danger of collapse on Wednesday evening after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir pushed through plans to end Israel Prison Service commissioner Katy Perry’s term next month.Ben-Gvir’s decision caused uproar among ministers from Benny Gantz’s National Unity faction, which argued that the decision violated the emergency government agreement signed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gantz in the wake of the October 7 massacre.Under the emergency government’s formation agreement, all political hires were to be delayed until after the conclusion of the IDF’s war on Hamas in Gaza.Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and Gantz hold emergency talksNetanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and Gantz met on Wednesday evening in hopes of reaching a solution to the conflict following a tussle between ministers on the subject in a cabinet meeting held earlier that day. Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz (credit: REUTERS)”Four days after the war broke, we formed an emergency government and agreed that all senior officials remain in their posts,” National Unity Minister Chili Tropper was quoted by Israeli media as saying at the cabinet meeting. “Violation of this agreement conveys that unity and security are less important. [It conveys that] political decisions take precedence over the people’s unity.”If there is an agreement, one must uphold it,” Tropper told Ben-Gvir, who argued in turn that the emergency government agreements were signed between Netanyahu and Gantz and do not apply to his realm of responsibilities as National Security Minister.”Unity means caring for everyone,” Ben-Gvir was quoted as saying. “One party cannot make a deal with a second party, which then tells a third party what to do,” he explained.AdvertisementBen-Gvir attacks prison chief: ‘Weak against Hamas prisoners’Ben-Gvir and the outgoing IPS commissioners traded blows this week after the former announced his intention to let Perry go. “The prison commissioner did not carry out her duties,” Ben-Gvir charged. “”She was soft with Hamas-affiliated prisoners,” Ben-Gvir said, claiming that Perry “held negotiations over improving their conditions, in complete opposition to my explicit and unequivocal stance, ” without his knowledge.Ben-Gvir also accused Perry of failing to protect female prison guards amid several sex scandals in Israeli prisons, including the Gilboa Prison “pimping affair” and the Ramon Prison sex scandal.According to Israeli reports, Shas head Arye Deri hit out at Ben-Gvir’s decision, warning Netanyahu that Perry’s removal during wartime could lead to the emergency government falling apart.United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni also voiced his displeasure at the recent government crisis, saying in a speech at the Knesset plenum that UTJ “opposes internal shocks during wartime and demands that agreements be respected.”Gantz was set to give a statement to the media at 7:00 p.m. local time.

IRAN/SYRIA/ISRAEL/

END

IRAN/HOUTHIS/ISRAEL/USA/INDIA

India now deploying 3 warships into the Red Sea to protect against Houthis

(the cradle)

India Deploys Three Warships To Waters Near Iran After Tanker Attack

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 08:00 PM

Via The Cradle,

The Indian Navy has deployed three guided missile destroyers to the Arabian Sea in response to an alleged drone attack on an Israeli-linked chemical tanker last week. New Delhi also uses long-range maritime patrol aircraft for “domain awareness,” the defense ministry reported Monday night.

On Saturday, the Liberian-flagged MV Chem Pluto, a Japanese-owned tanker traveling 370km off the coast of India, was reportedly hit by a kamikaze drone, according to the Pentagon.Illustrative: iStock photo

The Israeli-linked tanker had been on its way from Saudi Arabia to India, according to maritime security firm Ambrey. The Indian Navy says they are examining the specifics of the attack on the MV Chem Puto, which managed to anchor in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Although Indian officials say a preliminary evaluation suggests a drone strike, they emphasize that additional forensic and technical examinations are necessary to determine the exact method of attack.

Washington blamed the attack on Iran, saying the drone had been launched “directly” from the Islamic Republic. “We declare these claims completely worthless,” said Nasser Kanaani, spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, on Monday.

“Such claims are aimed at projecting, distracting public attention, and covering up for the full support of the US government for the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza,” he added.

Saturday’s drone attack came less than a week after the US announced the formation of the so-called Operation Prosperity Guardian, described by US officials as a new “coalition of the willing” that seeks to counter the threat posed by Yemen in the Red Sea.

Although the Yemeni armed forces have been conducting the attacks against Israeli-linked vessels of their own accord, the Pentagon insists Iran is somehow involved.

“The [Yemeni] resistance has its own tools […] and acts by its own decisions and capabilities,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri told Mehr News Agency on Saturday.

“The fact that certain powers, such as the US and the Israelis, suffer strikes from the resistance movement […] should in no way call into question the reality of the strength of the resistance in the region,” he added.

end

IRAN/RED SEA/HOUTHIS

Biden, the Magnificent still silent!

(Jerusalem Post)

Another Container Ship Attacked In Red Sea As Houthis Act With Impunity

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 03:05 PM

Another day, another tanker attack in the Red Sea, and Yemen’s Houthis are positively boasting about it as the Biden White House continues attempts to cobble together its much touted multi-national naval coalition, which is clearly taking some time getting off the ground.

“The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a targeting operation against the commercial ship, ‘MSC UNITED’ with appropriate naval missiles,” according to a Houthi statement.Illustrative file image, via EPA

The vessel was reportedly en route to Pakistan when it came under missile attack, however, there were no reported injuries to crew members, as damage is being assessed. The Houthis said the ship rejected three warning calls before it was fired upon.

Scant details have emerged, but Tuesday’s incident happened in parallel with a fresh Houthi missile attack on Israel. The Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea was cited in the following:

Sarea also said the group carried out drone attacks on the southern Israeli city of Eilat “and other areas in occupied Palestine”.

In a statement, the group said they “carried out a targeting operation against a commercial ship” and launched a number of “drones against military targets” in southern Israel.

Even as Washington has threatened increased intervention in waters off Yemen, these Houthis attacks have only increased.

The Yemeni rebel group has declared war on any vessel linked to Israel, or bound for Israeli ports. Tuesday’s attack follows fresh weekend incidents as well, described in the WSJ as follows:

The U.S. Navy said late Saturday that two more vessels had been attacked that day by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, bringing the number of commercial ships attacked near a crucial passageway between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East to 15. The Pentagon said earlier in the day that a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was struck by a drone launched directly from Iran, a claim Tehran denied.

The shipping attacks are part of a broader regional confrontation between Iran’s allies and the U.S. and Israel, and are increasing. A declassified document from the Defense Department shows Houthi attacks on ships escalated during the first half of December to eight incidents, compared with just three during the last half of November.

Several allies have meanwhile refused to join the US-led naval coalition…

US officials have long alleged that Iranian intelligence is complicit in these attacks. Both Israel and the US have said Tehran uses a spy ship that patrols the Red Sea to assist with Houthi targeting. Through this weekend, there have been over a dozen confirmed attacks on commercial ships this month alone. The US has said more than 100 drones and rockets have been launched over the last two months in repeat incidents.

U.S. Central Command reported that F/A-18 Super Hornets from the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group had a busy Tuesday.

However, Iran has rejected these allegations but has still openly encouraged ‘resistance’ to what it calls the forces of “Zionism.”

end

(JERUSALEM POST)

US intercepts over a dozen Houthi drones, missiles, IDF intercepts drone toward Eilat

India’s Navy deployed three destroyers to maintain a deterrent presence in various locations after an attack near India’s waters.

By TZVI JOFFREDECEMBER 26, 2023 08:04Updated: DECEMBER 27, 2023 00:06

People enjoy the water as a container ship crosses the Gulf of Suez towards the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal, in El Ain El Sokhna in Suez, east of Cairo, Egypt, September 5, 2015(photo credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

The US military downed 12 kamikaze drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land attack cruise missiles fired by the Houthis in the southern Red Sea within a period of just 10 hours on Tuesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced.

The USS Laboon and F/A-18 Super Hornets from the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group intercepted the projectiles. No damage or injuries were caused in the Houthi attacks.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported several incidents in the Red Sea throughout the day on Tuesday, with several vessels reporting sighting missiles, drones, and explosions nearby.

The Houthis announced on Tuesday evening that they had targeted the MSC United with missiles and fired several drones toward Eilat. The IDF said on Tuesday afternoon that it had intercepted a drone over the Red Sea that was headed toward Israel.

The Houthis reiterated their claim that they are only targeting Israeli ships and ships headed toward Israeli ports.

Houthi fighters open the door of the cockpit on the ship’s deck in the Red Sea in this photo released November 20, 2023. (credit: Houthi Military Media/Reuters)

On Tuesday afternoon, a drone was downed near the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Dahab, in the second such incident in a month, two security sources told Reuters.

India deploys Navy to guard ships after attacks

Also on Tuesday, India’s Navy announced that it had deployed three guided missile destroyers as well as a P-8I reconnaissance aircraft to maintain a deterrent presence in various locations.

In a speech on Tuesday, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh referred to recent drone and missile attacks against the MV Chem Pluto in the Arabian Sea and the MV Sai Baba in the Red Sea, saying that “India’s growing economic and strategic power has filled some forces with jealousy and envy.”

“The Government of India has taken the attacks on ‘MV Chem Pluto’ and ‘MV Sai Baba’ very seriously. Whoever has carried out these attacks, we will find them even from the bottom of the ocean, and strict action will be taken against them,” added Singh. “India plays the role of a Net Security Provider in the entire Indian Ocean Region. We will ensure that maritime trade in this region touches greater heights. For this, together with our friendly countries, we will keep the sea lanes secure. We have full confidence in the ability and strength of our Navy.”

On Saturday, the Chem Pluto was attacked off in the Arabian Sea just outside India’s exclusive economic zone by a kamikaze drone launched from Iran, according to the US Defense Department. Iran has denied its involvement in the attack. The Indian Navy said on Tuesday that an investigation into the attack was ongoing, with an analysis of the area of attack and debris pointing towards a drone attack.

END

Lt Col Richard Hecht

/RUSSIA//UKRAINE

RUSSIA/USA/UKRAINE

Pay attention to this; if USA confiscates Russian assets and gives it to Ukraine

(Robert Shiller/zerohedge)

Robert Shiller Warns Of ‘Cataclysm’ For US Dollar Reserve Status If Confiscated Russian Assets Given To Ukraine

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 07:30 PM

If the United States shifts frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, it would be cataclysmic for the US Dollar’s status as the global reserve currency, says Nobel Prize winning Yale professor, Robert Shiller.

“If America does this to Russia today… then tomorrow it can do this to anyone,” he told Italian news outlet La Repubblica in an interview published Sunday.

“This will destroy the halo of security that surrounds the dollar and will be the first step towards de-dollarization, which many are increasingly confidently leaning toward, from China to developing countries, not to mention Russia itself,” Schiller continued.

The US, EU, and allies have frozen some $300 billion of Russian foreign exchange reserve assets since last year after slapping the Kremlin with sanctions over the Ukraine war. Over the past year, various ideas have been tossed around regarding using the funds to aid Ukraine.

Earlier this month, the Financial Times described doing so as “a radical step that would open a new chapter in the west’s financial warfare against Moscow.”

“I can’t convince myself that this [confiscation of Russian assets] is the right way,” said Schiller, who received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2013, and is known for his expertise in behavioral economics and macroeconomics. He was named one of Bloomberg’s ’50 most influential people’ in global finance.

“In addition to the fact that this will be confirmation for the Russian leader that what is happening in Ukraine is a proxy war, it could paradoxically turn against America and the entire West,” he continued, adding that giving confiscated Russian assets to Ukraine would become “a cataclysm for the current dollar-dominated economic system.”

Russia has called the confiscation unlawful, and warned that any country considering participating in sanctions should expect a mirror response from Moscow.

END

end

GLOBAL VACCINE/COVID ISSUES

END

Dr Paul Alexander..

OVERALL body of evidence on the ineffectiveness & failure & toxicity of COVID face masks (assembled principally by myself with input from Oskoui, McCullough, Risch, Hodkinson, Tenenbaum et al.); The

prevailing view is that masks as they are worn now, & the masks that are in use, offer zero protection. None! They can be viewed as ineffective; have had zero impact on controlling spread of COVID

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERDEC 26

READ IN APP

COVID face masks overall BODY OF EVIDENCE December 2023: evidence showing total lack of effectivess, failure of mask mandates & the harms/toxicity of COVID face masks; they were NEVER ever effective

DR. PAUL ALEXANDER·DEC 23

Start here: My focus here is on COVID face masks and the prevailing science that we have had for nearly 36-42 months. Yet I wish to address this COVID FACE mask topic at a 50,000-foot level as I would and did on the lockdown restrictive policies in general. A pure failure, lockdown lunacy and face masks, as is/was the COVID mRNA technology gene based inj…

Read full story

END

Amplifying Conspiracy Sarah and Katherine Watt excellent scholarship: “Conspiracy Sarah is doing good reporting and analysis of Federal Register decrees by HHS Secretary-Dictator Xavier Becerra on

ebolavirus, marburgvirus, and acute radiation syndrome. Very useful for readers preparing to defy the next faked public health emergency and its anti-constitutional sequelae.

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERDEC 27

READ IN APP

Katherine Watt is an intellect I have come to learn, not to be sidelined, she brings deep understanding and bravey most do not have:

Support the work, even if free membership, of Conspiracy Sarah and Katherine Watt:

Bailiwick News

Conspiracy Sarah is doing good reporting and analysis of Federal Register decrees by HHS Secretary-Dictator Xavier Becerra on ebolavirus, marburgvirus, and acute radiation syndrome.

Orientation for new readers. Reconstitution starter pack…

9 days ago · 8 likes · Katherine Watt

‘Orientation for new readers. Reconstitution starter pack.

Conspiracy Sarah on Substack:

Dec. 17, 2023 – Covid Is Over. It’s Marburg Season. And Bundibugyo virus, Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Taï Forest virus, Ebolaviruses Season.
Dec. 17, 2023 – Turns Out, It’s Marburg AND Acute Radiation Syndrome Season.

Those two posts join three other recent Conspiracy Sarah posts unpacking PREP Act declarations and more:

SLAY NEWS

The latest reports from Slay News

mRNA Vaccine Inventor Raises Alarm about DNA in Food Supply Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of the mRNA technology used in Covid vaccines, has issued a warning to the public over traces of DNA that have been found in the food supply.READ MORE

Child Mask Mandates Only Cause Harm, Peer-Reviewed Study Finds A new peer-reviewed study has found that child masking efforts have had no positive effects and only caused harm to children.READ MORE

Biden Pushing ‘Wealth Redistribution’ to ‘Fight Climate Change’When the United Nations climate summit drew to its close in mid-December, globalist governments around the world were pledging billions of dollars in taxpayer money to fight the so-called “climate crisis.”READ MORE

Biden Close to Setting Record for Efforts to Expand Bureaucratic State Democrat President Joe Biden is now edging closer to setting a record for his efforts to expand America’s bureaucratic state.READ MORE

Putin: Western Globalists Are Destroying the Global Economic System Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Western countries are destroying the existing framework of global economic relations that they helped to build in the first place.READ MORE

Supreme Court Heard Arguments on Disputed Tax Provision Predicted to ‘Wreak Havoc’ on Taxes A challenge against the constitutionality of a provision of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax reform law recently reached the Supreme Court for oral arguments.READ MORE

Court Dismisses Case Against Doctors Who Euthanized Woman for Autism A judge has dismissed a civil case against the doctors who euthanized a patient with autism against the wishes of her family.READ MORE

EVOL NEWS

WEF: ‘ALL Humans Will Wear a Uniform’ by 2030READ MORE…

LATEST NEWS:

Mitch McConnell Gets Devastating News, Should He Just Call It Quits?Read more…Stalled out: Pistons’ 26th straight loss ties recordRead more…North Dakota Lawmaker Arrested, Police Bodycam Footage ReleasedRead more…Bidens Plan to Spend Christmas at Camp David, New Year’s in St. CroixRead more…Iranian Drone Strike Hits Oil TankerRead more…‘I’d Bet My House On It’ – Tucker Carlson Makes Shocking 2024 PredictionRead more…Trump asks appeals court to throw out 2020 election subversion chargesRead more…Taylor Lorenz To Skip Fourth Christmas In A Row, Blames ‘Selfish People’ Who Don’t Wear MasksRead more…Biden Scolds Media Coverage of Economy ‘‘Start Reporting It the Right Way’READ MORE… LATEST NEWS:Censored Study Exposes 17 Millions Deaths Among VaxxedRead more…California City Cancels Pride Month, Black History Month, Women’s History MonthRead more…A split in the Democratic party may help Republicans – and TrumpRead more…Biden orders strike on Iranian-aligned group after 3 US troops injured in drone attack in IraqRead more…Militia Leader Ammon Bundy Hints At Retaliation After Losing $52M Defamation SuitRead more…US Navy to Begin Allowing Recruits Use of Personal Cellphones in Basic TrainingRead more…Washington Democrats move to regulate tire standards to mitigate climate changeRead more…New York Times Publishes Op-Ed From A Member of HAMASRead more…

NEWS ADDICT

LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES

Censored Study Exposes 17 Millions Deaths Among Vaxxed A groundbreaking study has revealed that 17 million people died worldwide after the Covid mRNA shots were rolled out to the public.READ THE FULL REPORT

LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES

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

END

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

Extremely important

(zerohedge)

Why Oil Traders Shouldn’t Discard Israel-Hamas War Risk

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 09:25 AM

Authored by Simon Watkins via OilPrice.com,

Iran, has been looking to catalyse an expansion of the direct conflict between Israel and Hamas into a wider war between Islam and the Jewish state of Israel.
EU source: the Iranian-backed Houthis are not acting against vessels in and around the Red Sea without Beijing’s tacit approval.
If China did take its foot off the brake with Iran, then the chances of an embargo on oil exports first to Israel and then to its allies would dramatically increase.

The rise in the benchmark Brent oil price from just over US$72 per barrel (pb) to above US$80pb in a week highlights that the risk premium attached to the Israel-Hamas war is still very much in play in the global oil markets. Although other factors played a part in the oil price rise, a significant part of the increase was due to the rising danger posed to tankers moving oil from the Middle East to Europe via the Red Sea. This has long been the shortest and generally cheapest method to move oil via ships from east to west. However, several vessels – supposedly linked in some way to Israel, but some are not at all connected – have been seized by Yemen’s Houthi militants. The group remains overtly backed by Iran and covertly backed by Iran’s own sponsors, most notably in this instance Russia, but also China. Given the crucial importance of this transit route and the area surrounding to the global oil markets, things may become a lot worse very fast.

In many ways, the problem for ships of countries seen as aligned to the U.S. travelling through the Red Sea begins before the Red Sea is reached – in fact, somewhere east of the Oman coast of the Arabian Sea, which then flows into the Gulf of Aden, on the south coast of Yemen. It is at this juncture that ships must pass through the crucial chokepoint of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. This 16-mile-width waterway flows between the west coast of Yemen on the one side, and the east coasts initially of Djibouti and then of Eritrea on the other, before it joins the Red Sea. As it stands, never has the literal translation of the chokepoint’s name from Arabic – ‘The Gate of Grief’ – been more apposite than it is now. From the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War that effectively began on 7 October, the Middle East’s leading Shia Islamic power, Iran, has been looking to catalyse an expansion of the direct conflict between those two protagonists into a wider war between Islam and the Jewish state of Israel, which it thinks could draw the U.S. and its allies into another no-win war in the region. Tehran’s attempts to mobilise Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants – a much bigger force than Hamas, which Iran also supports with money, weapons, and training – into a simultaneous full-scale war against Israel have so far been unsuccessful, due in large part to the extraordinarily accomplished diplomacy of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his team. Similarly unsuccessful – and for the same reason – has been Iran’s call for an embargo on the exports of oil by Islamic states to Israel.

One of the elements that has proved particularly effective in the efforts of Blinken and his team has been China’s avoidance – so far – of doing anything to encourage a broader escalation of military hostilities by Iran and its Middle East allies against Israel and its allies. Beijing maintains a very high degree of influence over Iran through the all-encompassing ‘Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement’, as first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article on the subject and analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. China’s reluctance to fan the flames of conflict in Israel or the Middle East as a whole is mainly due to its own precarious economic position, which would be made even worse if oil prices suddenly spiked much higher and/or the U.S. went back into full-scale Trade War mode with it. Although it can buy oil and gas at 30 percent or more discounts from its key Middle Eastern suppliers through various deals agreed in the past few years, the economies of the West remain its key export bloc, with the U.S. still accounting for over 16 percent of China’s export revenues on its own. According to a senior source in the European Union’s (E.U.) energy security complex spoken to exclusively by OilPrice.com recently, the economic damage to China – directly through its own energy imports and indirectly through damage to the economies of its key export markets in the West – would dangerously increase if the Brent oil price remained over US$90-95 pb for more than one quarter of a year. Beijing’s lack of appetite for an outright superpower showdown in the Middle East right now was signaled clearly by the recent visit to the U.S. of its President, Xi Jinping – his first in six years.

This said, according to the E.U. source, the Iranian-backed Houthis are not acting against vessels in and around the Red Sea without Beijing’s tacit approval. In brokering the stunning 10 March relationship resumption agreement between the Middle East’s major Sunni power, Saudi Arabia, and Shia counterpart, Iran, as also analysed in depth in my new book, China cemented the control it had over the key oil transit routes in the region. The previous 25-year deal with Iran gave Beijing influence over the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 30 percent of the world’s oil travels. The same deal also gave China a hold over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (controlled on the Yemen side by the Iran-backed Houthis), and on the other side by Djibouti and Eritrea (both of which owe money to Beijing as part of ‘Belt and Road Initiative’-related loans made to them). It should not be forgotten that prior to the seizure of the Galaxy Leader cargo ship on 19 November – supposedly for being ‘Israeli-owned’ – Iranian forces also took two other oil tankers in a week at the beginning of May around the Strait of Hormuz. Neither of them were anything to do with Israel. Instead, said the E.U. source at the time, Iran seized them to demonstrate that it still had control over that transit route and, perhaps even more importantly, it was done with the full blessing of Beijing. “Although Xi [Jinping] doesn’t want a full-blown confrontation with the U.S. at the moment, he does want China to stay relevant to what’s going on there [in the events adjunct to the Israel-Hamas War] and having a role in this Red Sea problem achieves that,” he added last week.

The danger here for oil markets, of course, is if China changes its broadly cooperative posture towards Western interests as the Israel-Hamas War rages on. Such a change could come if Beijing felt that the U.S. an its allies were trying to push China back out of the geopolitical gains it has made in the Middle East in the past five years, as also analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. A spark for this might come from any notable expansion or extension in ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ – a new multinational security initiative announced last week by the World Shipping Council. This came shortly after the U.S. Department of Defense stated that the initiative was being launched under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153. The Force so far comprises only countries allied to the U.S., including the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain.

If China did take its foot off the brake with Iran, then the chances of an embargo on oil exports first to Israel and then to its allies would dramatically increase, bringing with it the prospect of a re-run of the events of the 1973 Oil Crisis, as examined in detail in my new book. This saw oil prices spike around 267 percent, from about US$3 per barrel (pb) to over US$11 pb, and stoked the fire of a global economic slowdown, especially felt in the net oil importing countries of the West. A broader oil embargo of the sort that Iran still wants would have similarly disastrous effects, if not worse. According to a recent assessment by the World Bank, a loss in global crude oil supply of 6-8 million bpd – which it refers to as a “large disruption” scenario comparable to the 1973 Oil Crisis – would result in a 56-75 percent increase in prices to between $140 and $157 a barrel. However, a broadening out of the embargo on Israel by the Islamic members of OPEC, as called for by Iran, would likely lead to a much bigger loss of global oil supplies than the World Bank has calculated.

The Islamic members of OPEC are Algeria, with an average crude oil production rate of around 1 million barrels (bpd), Iran (3.4 million bpd), Iraq (4.1 million bpd), Kuwait (2.5 million bpd), Libya (1.2 million bpd), Saudi Arabia (9 million bp), and the UAE (2.9 million bpd). This totals just over 24 million bpd – or about 30 percent – of the current average total global production of about 80 million bpd.

END\

Hapag-Lloyd Warns Red Sea ‘Still Dangerous’ Amid Maersk’s Resumption Plans

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 11:00 AM

In recent days, Denmark’s shipping giant Maersk announced it would resume sending container ships through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden following the Pentagon’s new security operation to safeguard the waterway. But on Tuesday, another commercial vessel was attacked, with regional war risks across the Middle East rising.

The critical waterway that connects to the Suez Canal, which sees roughly 10% to 15% of global trade – and 30% of containerized trade – remains unstable despite the Pentagon’s Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect commercial vessels.

On Tuesday, Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked MSC United VIII while en route to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia.

Later in the day, the US Central Command posted on X that a US destroyer and F/A-18 fighter jets shot down 12 attack drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two cruise missiles in the Red Sea region.

Despite Maersk preparing to send vessels through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shipper Hapag-Lloyd AG said Wednesday that its container ships will continue avoiding the Red Sea and be diverted around the Cape of Good Hope.

HAPAG-LLOYD STILL SEES RED SEA, SUEZ CANAL ROUTE AS DANGEROUS
HAPAG-LLOYD REROUTING VIA CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, WILL REVIEW FRIDAY

Several major shipping companies, including Taiwanese container shipping line Evergreen and Belgian tanker owner Euronav, continue rerouting ships around the Cape of Good Hope.

Bloomberg data shows container ships with Asia, Europe, and the US destinations are avoiding the Red Sea.

Maersk said it would “not hesitate to reevaluate the situation and once again initiate diversion plans if we deem it necessary for the safety of our seafarers.”

END

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

END

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

EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.1067 UP .0025

USA/ YEN 142.60 UP 0.101 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//

GBP/USA 1.2755 UP .0029

USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3200 UP .0004 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 4 BASIS PTS)

Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 15.74 PTS OR 0.54%

Hang Seng CLOSED UP 284.48 PTS OR 1.74%

AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP .86% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL ALL GREEN

Trading from Europe and ASIA

I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL GREEN

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG UP 284.48 PTS OR 1.74%

/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 15.74 PTS OR 0.54%

AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP .86%

(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 375.39 PTS OR 1.13%

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 2069.00

silver:$24.10

USA dollar index early WEDNESDAY morning: 100.98 DOWN13 BASIS POINTS FROM TUESDAY’s CLOSE.

WEDNESDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And now your closing WEDNESDAY NUMBERS 11: 30 AM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 2.603% DOWN 6 in basis point(s) yield

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.601% DOWN 3 AND 6//100 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.829 DOWN 5 in basis points yield

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.497 DOWN 5 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 1.9045 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS

END

IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR WEDNESDAY

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

Euro/USA 1.1106 UP 0.0064 or 64 basis points

USA/Japan: 142.42 DOWN 0.070 OR YEN UP 7 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.2780 UP .0054 OR 54 BASIS POINTS //

Canadian dollar UP .0025 OR 25 BASIS pts to 1.3208

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED (UP) …7.1415

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)…. (7.1513)

TURKISH LIRA: 29.40 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.601…VERY DANGEROUS

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 5 in basis points from FRIDAY at 3.837% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic

USA 30 yr bond yield 3.991 DOWN 5 in basis points ON THE DAY/12.00 PM

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.266 DOWN 2 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 27.44 PTS OR .36%

German Dax : CLOSED UP 35.89 PTS OR .21%

Paris CAC CLOSED UP 3.00 PTS OR .04%

Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 9.90 PTS OR .10%

Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 68.22 PTS OR .22%

WTI Oil price 74.99 12: EST

Brent Oil: 80.50 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 91.30; ROUBLE UP 0 AND 36//100

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +1.9045UP 6 BASIS PTS

UK 10 YR YIELD: 3.4885 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

Euro vs USA: 1.1105 UP 0.0063 OR 63 BASIS POINTS

British Pound: 1.2795 UP .0069 or 69 basis pts

BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 3.4710% DOWN 5 BASIS PTS//

JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 0.612%

USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 141.80 DOWN 0.685 //YEN UP 69 BASIS PTS//

USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3213 UP 0.0017 CDN dollar UP 17 basis pts)

West Texas intermediate oil: 74.11

Brent OIL: 79.56

USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 10 BASIS pts to 3.790%

USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 10 BASIS PTS to 3.949%

USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 12 PTS AT 4.234%

USA dollar index: 100.63 DOWN 47 BASIS POINTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 29.39 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/

USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 91.77 UP 0 AND 39/100 roubles

GOLD 2077.00 3:30 PM

SILVER: 24.24 3:30 PM

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 111.78 % PTS OR 0.30%

NASDAQ UP 28.34 PTS OR 0.17%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 12.48 DOWN .51 PTS 3.93%

GLD: $192.59 UP 0.87 OR 0.45%

SLV/ $22.28 UP .03 OR 0.14%

end

USA AFFAIRS

Massive ‘Safe-Haven’ Panic Bid In Bonds, Gold, & Swissy Sparks Dollar Exodus

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 04:00 PM

Somebody knows something…

Dollar pukefest, Swiss Franc panic-bid, bond yields plunge-gasm, gold surge-plosion… and stocks UNCH.

Looking at stocks today you could be forgiven for thinking that today was a typical ‘meh’ mid-week between Xmas and NYE day with all the US majors hovering around unchanged (until the last second idiocy from algos)…

BUT, It was far from it in every other asset class as the dollar dumped while gold, bonds, swiss franc, and crypto all ripped higher as Magnificent 7 stocks were liquidated shortly after 10amET.

Source: Bloomberg

Notably, 0-DTE call-covering was very heavy as the Magnificent 7 was sold around 10am (after 0-DTE call-buying dominated at the open)…

Source: SpotGamma

The Swiss Franc soared today by over 1% against the USD – the second biggest ‘ultimate safe-haven’ gain of the year outside of FOMC/ECB days…

Source: Bloomberg

That lifted Swissy to its strongest since the SNB intervention in Jan 2015. 2023 has seen the Swiss Franc’s strongest annual gains against the dollar since 2010…

Source: Bloomberg

2Y yields crashed today, gapping down by 8bps this morning as a wave of safe-haven buying hit multiple asset-classes.

Source: Bloomberg

But the entire curve was lower in yield on the day (down 10-11bps) thanks to a strong 5Y auction also…

Source: Bloomberg

The bond rally today snapped the 30Y yield down to unchanged for 2023 (the rest of the curve is all lower in yield for 2023 already)…

Source: Bloomberg

Put another way, Fed Funds are up 100bps on the year and the rest of the curve is flat or lower in yield…

Source: Bloomberg

The S&P 500 surged on the strong 5Y auction (as yields declined) but reversed all that back to unchanged. The market then exploded higher in the last 2 minutes of the day on the back an almost $3BN MoC sell imbalance…

The dollar plunged at around 7am after drifting lower all night…

Source: Bloomberg

That smashed the greenback to its lowest since July…

Source: Bloomberg

Dollar’s loss was Gold’s gain as the precious metal jumped to

Source: Bloomberg

And closed at a new record closing high…

Source: Bloomberg

Elsewhere it was a big day in crypto with Ethereum dramatically outperforming (as Solana faded)…

Source: Bloomberg

That pushed ETH/BTC up to recent key resistance, where it stalled again (for now)…

Source: Bloomberg

…as Bitcoin extended its roundtrip rebound back up to $43,500…

Source: Bloomberg

Despite the dollar weakness, oil prices fell today, erasing most of yesterday’s spike gains ahead of tonight’s API inventory data…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, in case you wondered, only one thing matters still – global liquidity. As macro funny-mentals have deteriorated, stocks have soared in line with global liquidity….

Source: Bloomberg

And, while the last two months have seen real yields declining as P/Es rise, they remain dramatically decoupled from their prior regime…

Source: Bloomberg

This level of S&P 500 forward valuation implies a negative real-yield… is it any wonder that gold and crypto are rallying too?

TODAY’S TRADING IN GRAPH FORM

MORNING TRADING//

a drop in long term yields signify trouble in the economy

(zerohedge)

US 30Y Yield Tumbles Back Below 4.00%, Financial Conditions Loosest Since May 2022

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 09:08 AM

Despite resilience in US data, 30Y Yields have plunged back below the 4.00% Maginot Line this morning…

Source: Bloomberg

The last few weeks have seen US macro data reverse its recent trend of disappointment…

Source: Bloomberg

The long-end of the curve is outperforming…

Source: Bloomberg

But, ‘do not fight The Fed’ seems to be the narrative and expectations for a March rate-cut are rising once again…

Source: Bloomberg

And the market is pricing in over 160bps of cuts for next year…

Source: Bloomberg

Financial Conditions are now at the same level of looseness as of May 2022…

Source: Bloomberg

That is 300bps of Fed rate-hikes ago!!! Is that really what The Fed wanted?

end

AFTERNOON TRADING

WTF Just Happened?

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 11:19 AM

The markets just shit the bed…

Gold and Swissy are soaring (ultimate safe-havens) along with USTs as the dollar dives.

This looks like some massive capital re-allocation trade away from USDollar and Magnificent 7 Stocks and into safe-havens.

Swissy spiked above the July highs to its strongest against the USD since the Jan 2015 SNB ‘revaluation’…

As a reminder, UBS trading desk notes that G10 FX is trading with roughly 70% of standard liquidity – up to about $200 mn but then depth starts to dry up quickly

2Y yields gapped down almost 8bps!!!

The whole of the bond curve (yields) is also falling

Gold (spot) pries jumped to $2080…

The dollar is dumping…

…to its lowest since July…

For now, stocks haven’t noticed broadly BUT MAG7 names were dumped at the same time as the bid for safe-havens hit…

Someone knows (or is worried) about something big!

TUCKER CARLSON

II USA DATA

Richmond Fed Manufacturing Survey Slumps, Shouts Stagflation

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 10:13 AM

For the second month in a row, the Richmond Fed Manufacturing survey tumbled more than expected, sliding from -5 to -11 (considerably worse than the small bounce to -4 expected)…

Source: Bloomberg

That is a swing from April 2022 highs in September to post-COVID lows in December.

All three component indexes were lower:

shipments fell from −8 to −17,
new orders decreased from −5 to −14, and
employment edged down from 0 to −1

Worse still, the average growth rates of prices paid and prices received increased in December, and expected price changes over the next 12 months also increased slightly.

Stagflation?

END

LATE IN THE AFTERNOON

Yields Plunge, Stocks Soar After 5Y Auction Stops Through Most Since May

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 01:23 PM

With yields tumbling for reasons not exactly known all morning, and pushing the 10Y from 3.90% to 3.82% ahead of today’s final for 2023 5Y auction, moments ago the Treasury announced the results of today’s $58BN 5Y auction, which contrary to expectations for a tail (due to the zero concession), stopped through mightily pricing at a yield of 3.801%, which was not 61bps below November’s 4.425% and a whopping 107bps below the October auction (which priced at 4.880%), but also stopped through the When Issued 3.815% by a whopping 1.4bps, tied for the biggest stop through since May (the January 2023 was “tailier” at 2.4bps).

The bid to cover rose to 2.50 from 2.46 (and well above the 2.36 in October), tied with the 6-auction average also at 2.50.

The internals were even more solid, with Indirects taking down 70.6%, the highest allocation to foreign buyers since September’s 71.2%. And with Directs awarded 15.4%, or the lowest since Dec 2021, Dealers were left holding 14.0%, the lowest since Sept.

The auction results sent 10Y yields sharply lower, sliding below 3.80%, and well below where the 10Y paper started the year…

… and with yields tumbling, stocks didn’t think twice about what this means for the future (surely not a recession but merely a soft landing) and spoos surged to fresh 2023 highs and now just a hair away from new all tim ehighs.

The good news for bond buyers – who clearly can’t get enough of the same bonds that everyone shunned just two months ago – is that there is be an avalanche of supply on deck, and while nobody is paying attention today, in a few days the biggest topic of discussion will be that US debt has jumped above $34 trillion in just a few months…. and is on pace to hit $40 trillion within a few years, if not less.

III USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES

He is not going to catch all of them!

(zerohedge)

17 Individuals On FBI Terror Watch List Caught Attempting Entry At Southern Border

TUESDAY, DEC 26, 2023 – 11:00 PM

Authored by Melanie Sun via The Epoch Times,

Border Patrol officers in the month of November identified 17 individuals on the FBI’s terror watch list attempting to illegally enter the United States outside an established port of entry on the southern border.

The 17 were processed by law enforcement agents after crossing into the United States, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). There has been an increasing trend in the number of known terrorists found to be entering the U.S. southern border beyond ports of entry, with a record 169 individuals detected in Financial Year 2023.

A record number of individuals of interest on the watch list have also been attempting entry at U.S. ports of entry on either the northern or southern border, with 564 individuals detected at ports in FY 2023.

The 17 individuals last month add to 13 entries by individuals on the watch list caught outside a port of entry in October. Another 49 individuals were apprehended attempting entry at a U.S. port of entry since October for FY 2024.

The federal dataset maintained by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center includes the identifying information of known and suspected terrorists and terrorist groups, as well as the information of their affiliates.

“Encounters of watchlisted individuals at our borders are very uncommon, underscoring the critical work CBP Agents and Officers carry out every day on the frontlines,” the CBP website says.

The increase in individuals on the terror watch list attempting to enter the United States is of concern, as they only represent the ones processed by Border Patrol. It is possible that other individuals on the list may have attempted entry and evaded law enforcement, being among the many “gotaways” getting through the porous and underresourced border.

The terror watch list figures also come as Members of Congress voice concern about a heightened risk of terrorists entering the United States following Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the resulting war.

Illegal Immigration Crisis

FY23 broke the record for illegal immigrant encounters.

Over 242,000 illegal immigrants were processed by Border Patrol at the southern border in November—the third-highest monthly record. Nearly 80 percent of these apprehensions were for border crossings outside of legal ports of entry.

Historic CBP data indicates U.S. border officials had never logged more than 80,000 encounters in any given November prior to 2022.

Of the 191,113 November Title 8 apprehensions, more than 6,300 were illegal immigrants attempting another entry to the United States after already being removed by law enforcement for failing to meet the necessary requirements for asylum.

These figures do not include the 43,000 immigrants who followed the U.S. immigration process and have been granted parole through the CBP One app.

December totals are expected to easily surpass the November totals, as agents have been consistently overwhelmed by more than 12,000 encounters each day at the southern border, particularly at the Ports of Entry in Lukeville, Arizona, and Eagle Pass, Texas.

The Department of Homeland Security itself warned in its October threat assessment that, with agents reporting an increasing number of attempted entries from the terror watch list, there is a greater risk that “terrorists and criminal actors may exploit the elevated flow and increasingly complex security environment to enter the United States.”

“Individuals with terrorism connections are interested in using established travel routes and permissive environments to facilitate access to the United States,” the assessment also said.

Funding for Border Security

Congress is currently negotiating a $105 billion supplemental funding bill that ties together funding for the border with funding for Israel’s war against Hamas and support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The Biden administration has allocated $14 billion towards beefing up border personnel and staff to process asylum claims. However, Republicans want to see the Biden administration act on border security without conditions, and in a manner that tackles what they say are the underlying problems causing the mass surge in illegal immigration. They are pushing for stricter border security measures, completion of the border wall in gaps between ports of entry, and limits on the use of humanitarian parole, as well as policies to dissuade illegal border crossings and frivolous asylum claims.

“We are facing a serious challenge along the southwest border and CBP and our federal partners need more resources from Congress—as outlined in the supplemental budget request—to enhance border security and America’s national security,” senior official performing the duties of the commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement on the need for immediate border funding.

END

This tells you the state of the uSA economy

(zerohedge)

Banks Terminate 60,000 Workers In One Of The Bleakest Years For The Industry Since 2008

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 05:45 AM

The collapse of three US regional banks – First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank – marked some of the largest failures in the banking system since 2008. Central banks contained the “mini-crisis” earlier this year with forced interventions and the mega-merger of Credit Suisse and UBS. Despite the interventions, global banks still axed the most jobs since the global financial crisis.

A new report from the Financial Times shows twenty of the world’s largest banks slashed 61,905 jobs in 2023, a move to protect profit margins in a period of high interest rates amid a slump in dealmaking and equity and debt sales. This compared with the 140,000 lost during the GFC of 2007-08.

“There is no stability, no investment, no growth in most banks — and there are likely to be more job cuts,” said Lee Thacker, owner of financial services headhunting firm Silvermine Partners.

FT noted that corporate disclosure data and its independent reporting did not include smaller regional bank cuts, indicating total job loss could be much higher.

At least half of the job cuts came from Wall Street lenders struggling with Western central banks’ most aggressive interest rate hikes in a generation.

The most significant cut of any single bank was at Switzerland’s UBS.

Morgan Stanley reduced jobs by 4,800, Bank of America by 4,000, Goldman Sachs by 3,200, and JPMorgan Chase by 1,000. As a whole, Wall Street cut 30,000 workers this year.

“The revenues aren’t there, so this is partly a response to overexpansion. But there is also a simpler explanation: political cost-cutting,” said Thacker.

Gaurav Arora, global head of competitor analytics at Coalition, warned: “We expect full-year 2024 to be a continuation of the story of 2023.”

Arora’s view of further turmoil aligns with our two recent notes: Banks’ Usage Of The Fed’s Bailout Facility Soars To New Record High and Large Bank Deposits Rise As Money-Market Outflows Accelerate, Small Banks Still Stressed.

“We see banks getting more conservative,” Arora concluded.

END

Nobody wants EV cars

(MishShedlock)

The EV Graveyard Reckoning, Hardly Anyone Wants To Buy A Used One

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 08:35 AM

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

The market for used EVs is plummeting. What will car rental companies do with the used ones? Problems started in China but have spread to Europe and the US.

China’s Abandoned, Obsolete Electric Cars Are Piling Up in Cities

Bloomberg notes China’s Abandoned, Obsolete Electric Cars Are Piling Up in Cities

A subsidy-fueled boom helped build China into an electric-car giant but left weed-infested lots across the nation brimming with unwanted battery-powered vehicles.

On the outskirts of the Chinese city of Hangzhou, a small dilapidated temple overlooks a graveyard of sorts: a series of fields where hundreds upon hundreds of electric cars have been abandoned among weeds and garbage.

Similar pools of unwanted battery-powered vehicles have sprouted up in at least half a dozen cities across China, though a few have been cleaned up. In Hangzhou, some cars have been left for so long that plants are sprouting from their trunks. Others were discarded in such a hurry that fluffy toys still sit on their dashboards.

The cars were likely deserted after the ride-hailing companies that owned them failed, or because they were about to become obsolete as automakers rolled out EV after EV with better features and longer driving ranges. They’re a striking representation of the excess and waste that can happen when capital floods into a burgeoning industry, and perhaps also an odd monument to the seismic progress in electric transportation over the last few years.

Shenzhen-based photographer Wu Guoyong was one of the first people in China to document the waste that results from frenetic development, taking striking drone shots of the piles of abandoned bicycles in 2018. In 2019, he filmed aerial footage of thousands of electric cars in empty lots around Hangzhou and Nanjing, the capital of China’s eastern Jiangsu province.

“The shared bikes and EV graveyards are a result of unconstrained capitalism,” Wu said. “The waste of resources, the damage to the environment, the vanishing wealth, it’s a natural consequence.”

Hoot of the Day

“EV graveyards are a result of unconstrained capitalism.”

Mercy!

The Chinese government literally forced people to buy the damn things. Biden is attempting the same in the US.

That article is from August. Let’s flash forward to December 21 to see how things are going in Europe.

No One Wants Used EVs, Making New Ones a Tougher Sell Too

What started in China is not limited to China. A second Bloomberg article reveals No One Wants Used EVs, Making New Ones a Tougher Sell Too

Because most new vehicles in Europe are sold via leases, automakers and dealers who finance these transactions are trying to recover losses from plummeting valuations by raising borrowing costs. That’s hitting demand in some European markets that were in the vanguard of the shift away from fossil fuel-powered propulsion. Some of the biggest buyers of new cars, including rental firms, are cutting back on EV adoption because they’re losing money on resales, with Sixt SE dropping Tesla models from its fleet.

The problems are expected to intensify next year, when many of the 1.2 million EVs sold in Europe in 2021 will come off their three-year leasing contracts and enter the secondhand market. How companies tackle this problem will be key for their bottom lines, consumer confidence and ultimately decarbonization — including the European Union’s plan to phase out sales of new fuel-burning cars by 2035.

“There isn’t used-car demand for EVs,” said Matt Harrison, Toyota Motor Corp.’s chief operating officer in Europe. “That’s really hurting the cost-of-ownership story.”

“One has to slash prices significantly just to get customers to look at EVs,” said Dirk Weddigen von Knapp, who heads a group representing VW and Audi dealers.

Biden Struggles to Convince People to Buy EVs, Only 12 Percent Seriously Considering

On April 18, I reported Biden Struggles to Convince People to Buy EVs, Only 12 Percent Seriously Considering

On July 13, I noted Despite Huge Incentives, Supply of EVs on Dealer Lots Soars to 92 Days

On August 20, I reported Clean Energy Exploitations and the Death Spiral of an Auto Industry

On October 16, I commented Wake Up Mr. President, Consumers Want Hybrids, Not EVs

More accurately, that should read Wake Up Mr. President, Consumers Don’t Want EVs.

GM Decreases EV Investment in Favor of Buybacks

And on December 2, I noted To Shore Up Share Price, GM Decreases EV Investment in Favor of Buybacks

Last month, GM said it would push back the opening of an electric-truck factory in suburban Detroit by a year. It also scrapped an earlier goal of producing 400,000 EVs over a roughly two-year stretch, through mid-2024.

Slam Dunk Ford Project Now Unclear

Ford’s EV plan is similarly distressed. Ford pauses and then scales back proposed Michigan facility backed by government funding.

Manchin Blasts Biden’s Definition of “Foreign Entity of Concern”

In the you can’t make this up department, Biden’s EV Subsidy Rules Leave Room for Chinese Suppliers

Depending on the definition of “foreign entity of concern” a number of things are floating in the wind including $7,500 tax credits.

Officials worked for months to define a foreign entity of concern but failed. It is not even clear if Ford buyers are eligible for tax credits. “Licensing technology, might be permissible under the rules,” officials said.

Who wants to buy a new EV on the basis a $7,500 credit “might” be allowed?

Q&A on What’s Delaying the Definition

Q: Why the struggle on the definition of “Foreign Entity of Concern”?
A: Ford wants to use Chinese technology but GM wants to block it.

For discussion, please see An Epic Battle: Ford to Use China’s Battery Technology, GM Wants it Blocked

My comment then was “Biden is guaranteed to upset someone. That’s what happens when you interfere in the free markets, taking sides.”

Biden is avoiding a firm definition hoping the problem will go away. But it won’t.

Green Fantasy

In the real world, The Green Fantasy Ends Because Consumers Don’t Want to Pay for It

EVs are not selling because despite massive subsidies to both the manufacturers and consumers, the latter via tax credits, consumers don’t want them.

But here we are, blaming this mess on capitalism. “It’s a natural consequence.“

What a hoot.

END

IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM

Austrian university severs ties with Harvard over antisemitism concerns

Presidents from MIT, Harvard, and UPenn testified following a Department of Education investigation into rising antisemitic incidents since the Hamas terror attack on Israel.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFDECEMBER 26, 2023 22:06Updated: DECEMBER 27, 2023 06:13

Buildings in Harvard Yard are reflected in frozen puddle at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 20, 2015. (photo credit: REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER) — Buildings in Harvard Yard are reflected in frozen puddle at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 20, 2015.(photo credit: REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER)

The Lauder Business School, a notable institution in Vienna catering to a diverse student body, including Israelis, has recently announced the cessation of its collaboration with Harvard University. This decision arose amidst concerns regarding the escalation of antisemitism on the Harvard campus and the perceived lack of appropriate response from its leadership.

According to a statement on behalf of the Austrian university, the partnership, which commenced in 2014 as part of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, symbolized Lauder Business School’s “dedication to global educational collaborations.” However, the unfolding events at Harvard have prompted a reevaluation. “In light of the recent developments, Lauder Business School has decided to withdraw from this network, thereby expressing solidarity with the Jewish student community at Harvard,” the school stated.

Earlier this month, Harvard University President Claudine Gay did not provide a clear condemnation of the concept of Jewish genocide during a Congressional hearing.

Five-hour congressional hearing

In the five-hour congressional hearing on antisemitism on campuses, presidents from MIT, Harvard, and UPenn testified following a Department of Education investigation into rising antisemitic incidents since the Hamas terror attack on Israel. The hearing, which focused on the inability of university presidents, including UPenn’s, to unequivocally condemn calls for the genocide of Jews, led to President Liz Magill’s resignation after pressure from donors and criticism over her testimony and prompted a US House of Representatives committee to investigate the three involved universities.

Emphasizing the importance of ethical alignment in partnerships, a statement on behalf of the school expressed, “Our university is proud to create partnerships, but these must consistently align with our moral standards and criteria.”

Harvard University President Claudine Gay attends a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled ''Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism'' on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2023. (credit: KEN CEDENO/REUTERS) — Harvard University President Claudine Gay attends a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled ”Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism” on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2023. (credit: KEN CEDENO/REUTERS)

Julius Demm, the rector of Lauder Business School, conveyed his institution’s stance in a press release: “We have been engaged in long-standing collaborations with Israeli universities. Since 2014, our partnership with Professor Mike Porter at Harvard University represented a significant aspect of our international engagements. However, given the recent incidents, we are announcing our withdrawal from the Harvard network and are expressing our unwavering support for the Jewish student community at Harvard.”

The Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School is designed to be taught at selected universities around the world.AdvertisementLauder Business School, an English-language business school in Vienna, operates as a “University of Applied Sciences” within the Austrian education system. Established in 2003 with financial backing from Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, the school currently enrolls approximately 400 students in various programs, creating an international educational atmosphere.

end

FREIGHT ISSUES/USA

END

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

end

USA// COVID//VACCINE/

end

SWAMP STORIES

Trump Stays On Michigan Ballot After State Supreme Court Ruling

WEDNESDAY, DEC 27, 2023 – 10:20 AM

The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Donald Trump can remain on the state’s primary ballot, rejecting an attempt to remove the former president under the US Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban.”

The decision comes just over one week after the Colorado Supreme Court made the bombshell ruling that Trump should be removed from the state’s 2024 GOP primary ballot for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.

The challengers have argued that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump from holding federal office if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution after taking an oath to protect it.

Last week, a federal judge in West Virginia similarly rejected a bid to remove Trump from the state’s ballot.

The question will ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court, which constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley says “will be overturned because it is wrong on the history and the language of the 14th Amendment.”

As I have previously written, the disqualification of Trump is based on the use of a long-dormant provision in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

After the Civil War, House members were outraged to see Alexander Stephens, the Confederate vice president, seeking to take the oath with an array of other former Confederate senators and military officers.

They had all previously taken the same oath and then violated it to join a secession movement that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

That was a true rebellion.

January 6, 2021, was a riot.

Unlike with Colorado, the Michigan case challenging Trump’s eligibility was dismissed early on in the process and never reached trial, after a Court of Claims judge who first got the case ruled that state law doesn’t give election officials the ability to police the eligibility of presidential primary candidates. The Judge also ruled that the case shouldn’t be decided in the courts – a decision which was upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which wrote “At the moment, the only event about to occur is the presidential primary election. But as explained, whether Trump is disqualified is irrelevant to his placement on that particular ballot.”

According to the Michigan Supreme Court, the anti-Trump challengers “have identified no analogous provision in the Michigan Election Law that requires someone seeking the office of President of the United States to attest to their legal qualification to hold the office.”

END

THE KING REPORT

The King Report December 27, 2023 Issue 7147

Independent View of the News

US holiday sales below forecast, grew less compared to last year: Mastercard U.S. holiday sales grew by 3.1% compared to the same time period last year…Mastercard had predicted in September that retail sales over the holiday season would grow by 3.7%. Last year’s holiday shopping report from Mastercard showed that sales increased 7.6% compared to 2021… Online sales also grew at a slower rate from last year, with 6.3% growth in 2023 compared to 10.6%. In-store sales increased 2.2% in 2023 compared to 6.8% in 2022.
https://t.co/v7M0SWRaMh Japan issues business improvement order to four non-life insurersJapan ordered four major non-life insurance companies to improve business practices in connection with anti-competitive activity that aimed to keep premiums high, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday. The order was issued to Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, Sompo Japan Insurance, Tokio Marine & Nichido and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, Suzuki said…https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-issues-business-improvement-order-four-non-life-insurers-2023-12-26/ October home prices post biggest gain of 2023, despite higher mortgage rates, says S&P Case-Shiller – Home prices rose 4.8% nationally in October compared with October 2022, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index. That’s a jump from the 4% annual increase in September and marks the strongest annual gain seen in 2023. The 10-city composite rose 5.7%, up from a 4.8% increase in the previous month. The 20-city composite rose 4.9%, up from a 3.9% advance in September… https://cnb.cx/4aAMtYb US Economic Statistics Released on TuesdayNov Chicago Fed National Activity Index 0.03, prior -0.66 revised from -0.49Dec Philadelphia Fed Non-Manufacturing Index 6.3, prior -11Oct FHFA House Price Index 0.3% m/m, 0.5% m/m expectedS&P CoreLogic 20-City house prices 0.64% m/m & 4.87% y/y, prior 3.97%Dec Dallas Fed Mfg. Activity -9.3, -17.0 expected, -19.9 prior ESHs opened 5 handles lower on Monday night but rallied 11 handles by 18:42 ET. After a moderate retreat, ESHs rallied steadily until the 3 ET European opening. ESHs then declined 9 handles by the 7 ET US repo market opening. ESHs then rallied on traders buying for the start-of-the-week rally, the pump & dump for the NYSE opening, and the Santa Rally. ESHs hit a daily high of 4820.00 at 10:27 ET. The dump pushed ESHs down to 4813.50 at 10:51 ET. ESHs then commenced another rally. ESHs plodded upward and eventually went into a parabolic ascent. ESHs hit a daily high of 4834.50 at 15:26 ET. However, parabolic rises usually end with a sudden descent. ESHs sank to 4822.00 at 15:57 ET. ESHs then rallied 4 handles into the close. Bonds rallied moderately due to a solid 2-year auction ($57B): 4.314% vs. 4.321% WI. USHs rallied to a high of 234 20/32, +27/32 for the day. However, they fell to 124 4/32 (+11/32) near the NYSE close. Positive aspects of previous sessionUS stocks rallied moderatelyUSHs were +11/32 at 15:00 ETThe NY Fang+ Index closed +52.213 or +0.6% Negative aspects of previous sessionOil and gasoline rallied sharply; gold rallied 10.70 (near NYSE close)ESHs and stocks tumbled during the final hour of trading.Apple has declined for 4 straight sessions Ambiguous aspects of previous sessionAre stocks setting up for a sharp reversal in January? 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]: 4772.64Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 4784.72; 4758.45 California Pizza Hut Lays Off Every Delivery Driver (>1200) as Wages (law) Rise to $20https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/california-pizza-hut-lays-off-every-delivery-driver-as-wages-rise-to-20/ar-AA1m3Kts Democrats turn on Biden SEC chair over increased regulation (Dems have 2024 election angst)One Democrat called Gensler ‘a politician masquerading as a regulator’https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/democrats-turn-biden-sec-chair-increased-regulation @BEA_News: The latest blog from BEA Director Vipin Arora discusses three different—and, in principle, equivalent—statistics to estimate the value of final goods and services produced in the U.S.: gross domestic product, gross value added, and gross domestic income. https://t.co/nc3C2oHiIg @Bank_of_Japan_e: Summary of Opinions at the Monetary Policy Meeting on December 18 and 19, 2023 http://boj.or.jp/en/mopo/mpmsch WSJ: Iran Adds to Pressure on U.S. With Nuclear Program AccelerationU.N. says Tehran has increased output of near-weapons-grade uranium after summer slowdown U.S. officials have said it would take Iran less than two weeks to convert enough 60% material into a form that could be used in a nuclear weapon. Experts say Iran already has a sufficient stock of highly enriched uranium to fuel three weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for purely peaceful civilian use… https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-adds-to-pressure-on-u-s-with-nuclear-program-acceleration-9ce226c5 @visegrad24 on Mon, Dec 25, 2023: The Ukrainian Army just blew up the Russian Novocherkassk landing ship off the coast of Crimea. U.S. launches air strikes against Hezbollah in Iraq after attack on troopsThree military personnel injured during Christmas Day attack. Defense Lloyd J. Austin III… “Today, at President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq,”… https://justthenews.com/government/security/us-launches-air-strikes-against-hezbollah-iraq-after-attack-troops @CBSEveningNews: Israel says it is engaged in a multi-front war, including against Iranian-backed militia, even as the battle with Hamas in Gaza intensifies. The escalation poses a significant threat, potentially widening the scope of the war across the region.https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1739799563773309024 Samsung delays chip production at Texas plant as Biden slow to hand out CHIPS fundsLast year, President Biden signed the CHIPS Act with the promise of spending $100 billion to support new semiconductor plants in the US. However, the government has so far made one grant — of $35 million, Bloomberg reported…https://nypost.com/2023/12/26/business/samsung-delays-chip-production-as-biden-slow-to-hand-out-chips-funds/ @GunjanJS: SPY(S&P 500 ETF) has drawn around $40 billion in inflows in December, on track for the biggest monthly haul since it began trading in *1993* https://twitter.com/GunjanJS/status/1739691423719456769 Today – The Santa Rally window is open. Absenteeism will be high, so a determined few can greatly impact the markets. Traders want to push the S&P 500 Index above its 4818.62 intraday record high. Though the week between Christmas and the first few days of the New Year (Santa Rally window) are not the time of year for reversals of strong trends, robust November through December rallies often reverse in January. @AlmanacTrader: Last 3 Days of Year Weak Link in Santa Claus RallyLast trading day of the year NASDAQ has been down in 17 of the last 23 years. And it’s the weakest performing day, on average, of the Santa Claus Rally https://twitter.com/AlmanacTrader/status/1739776937050935641 DJIA and S&P 500 also exhibit a bearish bias over the last 36 years. Russell 2000’s record very closely resembles NASDAQ, gains every year from 1979 to 1999 and only six advances since. ESHs are -0.50; USHs are +1/32; and Feb AU is +7.60 at 20:20 ET. Expected economic data: Dec Richmond Fed Mfg. Index -3; Dec Dallas Fed Services -11.6 prior S&P 500 Index 50-day MA: 4477; 100-day MA: 4441; 150-day MA: 4427; 200-day MA: 4340DJIA 50-day MA: 35,064; 100-day MA: 34,702; 150-day MA: 34,544; 200-day MA: 34,213(Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope) S&P 500 Index – Trender trading model and MACD for key time framesMonthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 3919.56 triggers a sell signalWeekly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4480.05 triggers a sell signalDaily: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4686.74 triggers a sell signalHourly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4748.13 triggers a sell signal Pro-Palestinian protesters lug mock Nativity scene, chant ‘Christmas is canceled’ in NYC https://trib.al/K7FQF0L @MrAndyNgo: Manhattan, NYC — Pro-Palestine rioters attacked police and shut down the streets in midtown at the Christmas Day direct action. The coalition of far-left radicals, Muslim fundamentalists & Palestine ultra-nationalists seeks to disrupt the holiday season.https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1739671690894815603 @Rightanglenews on Christmas: The New York Police Department is responding to a level three mobilization, with level four being the worst, after clashes erupted between police and pro-Palestine protesters at a major demonstration in Midtown Manhattan. Officers have reportedly sustained multiple injuries during the altercations, although the extent of the injuries is currently unclear. Additionally, there have been reports of multiple arrests made by the police. Fox News: Trump shares Christmas message for opponents on Truth Social: ‘May they rot in hell’https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-shares-christmas-message-opponents-truth-social-rant-may-they-rot-in-hell @toddstarnes: Can you imagine the mainstream media outrage if Christians or Jews bullied and harassed Muslims on their holy days? The anti-Jewish, anti-Christian targeting in NYC, SF, Collierville, Tenn. and other areas of the nation is clearly coordinated. @Geiger_Capital: Imagine doing this on Christmas… Filling America with people who don’t share our most basic values isn’t a strength. Alexander Hamilton and Teddy Roosevelt both warned us about this. University of Wisconsin campus sued by diversity director who says she was driven from job for being white (Not a parody)https://notthebee.com/article/wisconsin-university-sued-after-diversity-staffer-was-allegedly-driven-from-job-for-being-white @nytimes on Thu, Dec 21, 2023: Robert Solow, who won a Nobel in economic science in 1987 for his theory that advances in technology, rather than increases in capital and labor, have been the primary drivers of economic growth in the U.S., died on Thursday. He was 99. ‘A Wave of Violence Terrorizes Mexico as Criminals Kill with Impunity’– NYTLess than 4 percent of criminal investigations are ever solved in Mexico, studies show, and about 92 percent of crimes went unreported in 2022…https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/world/americas/violence-mexico-killings.html

GREG HUNTER

SEE YOU TOMMORW

Shanghai Gold Benchmark Gold Price in USD – AM Fix

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR DEC/2023. CONTRACT: 45 NOTICES FOR 4500 OZ or 0.1397 TONNES

total notices so far: 15,094 contracts for 1,509,400 oz (46.948 tonnes)

FOR DEC:

SILVER NOTICES 137 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 685,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 4028 for 20,140,000 oz

Iron Ore Futs Hit Ten-Month High On Chinese Stimulus Efforts

S&P Futures Recharge For Last Santa Rally Push, Less Than 1% Away From All Time High

China’s Spy Agencies Now Targeting The Country’s Economic Pessimists

“Another Masterclass In Can-Kicking”: Europe Reaches Farcical “Debt-Reduction Deal” Which Does Nothing To Reduce Debt

Iran claims Oct. 7 massacre was retaliation for Soleimani killing – report

Hamas denied Iran’s statement, saying: “The reasons for the operation of the Flood of al-Aqsa, and foremost are the dangers that threaten al-Aqsa Mosque.”

IDF statement after Damascus assassination

Sayyed Razi Mousavi

Netanyahu Urges Troops ‘Do Not Stop’ While Calling Biden’s Post-Hamas Plan “A Pipe Dream”

IDF says commando troops operating ‘deep within Khan Younis’

Three soldiers from same unit killed in Gaza, bringing ground op toll to 164

IDF announces deaths of Lt. Yaron Eliezer Chitiz, 23, Staff Sgt. Itay Buton, 20, and Staff Sgt. Efraim Jackman, 21, all of the Givati Brigade’s Shaked battalion

Hamas may be holding Israeli hostages in central Gaza, IDF sources say

The IDF view is that the majority of the hostages are being held in southern Gaza, but that a smaller number may remain in central Gaza.

Rescuing the remaining hostages

IDF, Hamas terrorists clash in Gaza City orchards, as seen through bodycam

In Shejaia, shots were fired at IDF soldiers, who in turn directed an IAF aircraft to strike at the source of the fire.

Anti-tank missiles and naval fighting

Palestinian health ministry says 6 killed during IDF raid in West Bank’s Tulkarem

Over a dozen rockets fired from Lebanon toward Israel

IDF strikes in Lebanon after Hezbollah launches explosive-laden drones across border

How UNRWA Grooms Terrorists

Netanyahu Working To Find Countries To ‘Absorb’ Palestinians Who Want To Flee Gaza

India Deploys Three Warships To Waters Near Iran After Tanker Attack

Another Container Ship Attacked In Red Sea As Houthis Act With Impunity

US intercepts over a dozen Houthi drones, missiles, IDF intercepts drone toward Eilat

India’s Navy deployed three destroyers to maintain a deterrent presence in various locations after an attack near India’s waters.

India deploys Navy to guard ships after attacks

Robert Shiller Warns Of ‘Cataclysm’ For US Dollar Reserve Status If Confiscated Russian Assets Given To Ukraine

GLOBAL VACCINE/COVID ISSUES

OVERALL body of evidence on the ineffectiveness & failure & toxicity of COVID face masks (assembled principally by myself with input from Oskoui, McCullough, Risch, Hodkinson, Tenenbaum et al.); The

prevailing view is that masks as they are worn now, & the masks that are in use, offer zero protection. None! They can be viewed as ineffective; have had zero impact on controlling spread of COVID

Amplifying Conspiracy Sarah and Katherine Watt excellent scholarship: “Conspiracy Sarah is doing good reporting and analysis of Federal Register decrees by HHS Secretary-Dictator Xavier Becerra on

ebolavirus, marburgvirus, and acute radiation syndrome. Very useful for readers preparing to defy the next faked public health emergency and its anti-constitutional sequelae.

Support the work, even if free membership, of Conspiracy Sarah and Katherine Watt:

‘Orientation for new readers. Reconstitution starter pack.

LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES

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

Why Oil Traders Shouldn’t Discard Israel-Hamas War Risk

Hapag-Lloyd Warns Red Sea ‘Still Dangerous’ Amid Maersk’s Resumption Plans

Massive ‘Safe-Haven’ Panic Bid In Bonds, Gold, & Swissy Sparks Dollar Exodus

US 30Y Yield Tumbles Back Below 4.00%, Financial Conditions Loosest Since May 2022

WTF Just Happened?

Richmond Fed Manufacturing Survey Slumps, Shouts Stagflation

Yields Plunge, Stocks Soar After 5Y Auction Stops Through Most Since May

17 Individuals On FBI Terror Watch List Caught Attempting Entry At Southern Border

Illegal Immigration Crisis

Funding for Border Security

Banks Terminate 60,000 Workers In One Of The Bleakest Years For The Industry Since 2008

The EV Graveyard Reckoning, Hardly Anyone Wants To Buy A Used One

China’s Abandoned, Obsolete Electric Cars Are Piling Up in Cities

Hoot of the Day

No One Wants Used EVs, Making New Ones a Tougher Sell Too

Biden Struggles to Convince People to Buy EVs, Only 12 Percent Seriously Considering

GM Decreases EV Investment in Favor of Buybacks

Manchin Blasts Biden’s Definition of “Foreign Entity of Concern”

Q&A on What’s Delaying the Definition

Green Fantasy

Austrian university severs ties with Harvard over antisemitism concerns

Presidents from MIT, Harvard, and UPenn testified following a Department of Education investigation into rising antisemitic incidents since the Hamas terror attack on Israel.

Five-hour congressional hearing

Trump Stays On Michigan Ballot After State Supreme Court Ruling

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