GOLD PRICE CLOSED: UP 0.95 TO $2027.80
SILVER PRICE CLOSED: DOWN 20 cents AT $22.92
Access prices: closes 4: 15 PM
Gold ACCESS CLOSED 2029.15
Silver ACCESS CLOSED: 22.96
Bitcoin morning price:, 48,658 DOWN 318 DOLLARS
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $46,737 DOWN 1921 dollars
Platinum price closing $935.10 DOWN $12.35
Palladium price; $981.50 DOWN $13.70
END
SHANGHAI PREMIUM OVER NY: $49.60
SHANGHAI GOLD (USD) FUTURES – QUOTES
Beginning Monday, April 1, 2024, CME Group settlement data will no longer be accessible through ftp.cmegroup.com and will have a delayed publication time of 12:00 a.m. CT on all cmegroup.com web pages. Learn about alternate ways to access the data in our FAQ.
AUTO-REFRESH IS OFF
Last Updated 09 Jan 2024 10:56:25 AM CT.
Market data is delayed by at least 10 minutes.
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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: $2,718.26 UP $10.80 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 2,795.90 CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//DEC 1 272023)
*BRITISH GOLD: 1597.16 UP 6.50 pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1655.17 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) OCT 2/2023
*EURO GOLD: 1856.71 UP 4.20 euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 1903.75 EUROS PER OZ//DEC 1.2023)
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EXCHANGE: COMEX
EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: JANUARY 2024 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 2,026.600000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 01/08/2024 DELIVERY DATE: 01/10/2024
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
363 H WELLS FARGO SEC 1
624 H BOFA SECURITIES 1
661 C JP MORGAN 3
737 C ADVANTAGE 1
905 C ADM 6
TOTAL: 6 6
MONTH TO DATE: 2,784
JPMorgan stopped 3/6 contracts.
FOR JAN.:
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR JAN/2023. CONTRACT: 6 NOTICES FOR 600 OZ or 0.01866 TONNES
total notices so far: 2784 contracts for 278,400 oz (8.659 tonnes)
FOR JANUARY:
SILVER NOTICES 36 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 180,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 552 for 2,760,000 oz
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END
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES
GLD
WITH GOLD UP $0.95
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ : /NO CHANGES AT THE GLD//. /
INVENTORY RESTS AT 869.60 TONNES
SLV//
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 20 CENTS AT THE SLV//
NO CHANGES AT THE SLV//
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 434.370 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A TINY SIZED 170 CONTRACTS TO 130,904 AND FURTHER FROM THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS TINY SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR LOSS OF $0.08 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON MONDAY. WE HAD ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION BUT WITH CONSIDERABLE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION (ALSO MINOR SHORT COVERING ) AT THE COMEX SESSION. WE HAD A HUGE 1122 T.A.S ISSUANCE AND THESE WILL BE USED FOR MANIPULATION LATER THIS MONTH/AS WELL AS TODAY.
CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT THAT THE CROOKS USE THE MID MONTH FOR MANIPULATION AS THEY SELL THEIR BUY SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD FIRST AND THEN KEEP THE SELL SIDE TO LIQUIDATE AT A LATER DATE. THUS WE HAVE TWO VEHICLES THE CROOKS USE FOR MANIPULATION AND BOTH ARE SPREADERS: 1) AT MONTH’S END/SPREADERS COMEX AND 2/ TAS SPREADERS, MID MONTH. TOTAL TAS ISSUED ON MONDAY NIGHT: 1105 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 $0.08), BUT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING SOME SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 110 OI CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
WE MUST HAVE HAD:
A SMALL SIZED 280 ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 6.650 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE) FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 17,500 OZ QUEUE. JUMP NEW TOTALS 6.005 MILLION OZ//
//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 6.005 MILLION OZ
//TINY SIZED COMEX OI LOSS/ SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) HUGE SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 1122 CONTRACTS)/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL – REMOVED – 137 CONTRACTS //
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS JAN ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF JAN
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 6 days, total 4847 contracts: OR 24.235 MILLION OZ (913 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 24.235 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. 66.140 MILLION OZ//
TOTAL 2023: 1,104.10 MILLION OZ/
JAN ’24 : 24.235 MILLION OZ
RESULT: WE HAD A SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 170 CONTRACTS WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//MONDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMALL EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 280 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 JAN. OF 6.665 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 17,500 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTAL 5.005 MILLION OZ TO WHICH WE ADD EX. FOR RISK ISSUANCE/PRIOR FOR 1.0 MILLION OZ //NEW TOTALS; 6.005 MILLION OZ/
NEW STANDING 6.005 million OZ /// WE HAVE A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 110 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE THE LOSS IN PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A HUGE SIZED 1122 CONTRACTS//HUGE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE MONDAY COMEX SESSION/RAID// WITH SOME SHORT COVERINGS FROM OUR SPEC SHORTS. THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE MONDAY NIGHT (1122) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE., .
WE HAD 36 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 180,000 OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A FAIR SIZED 3218 CONTRACTS TO 491,455 AND FURTHER FROM THE 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 857 CONTRACTS
WE HAD A FAIR SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI ( 3218 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR $16.85 LOSS IN PRICE//MONDAY. WE ALSO HAD A RATHER STRONG INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR JAN. AT 8.214 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 600 OZ QUEUE JUMP//NEW STANDING: 8.799 TONNES // ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $16.85 LOSS IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 247 OI CONTRACTS (0.768) PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 3465 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 491,455
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 247 CONTRACTS WITH 3218 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR SIZED 3465 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 247 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A MEGA MEGA MEGA HUMONGOUS SIZED 33,338 CONTRACTS. (A NEWLY MINTED RECORD ISSUANCE)
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (3465 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE FAIR SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (3218) //TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 247 CONTRACTS. WE HAVE ( 1) NOW RETURNED TO OUR FORMER FORMAT OF BANKERS GOING LONG AND SPECULATORS GOING SHORT ,2.) STRONG INITIAL STANDING AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR JAN AT 8.214 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 600 OZ QUEUE JUMP//NEW STANDING 8.799 TONNES. / 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AND HUGE TAS LIQUIDATION WITH ZERO SHORT LIQUIDATION// 4) FAIR SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST LOSS/ 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: HUMONGOUS T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 33,338 CONTRACTS
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023 INCLUDING TODAY
JAN.
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF JAN. :
TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 18,225 CONTRACTS OR 1,822,500 OZ OR 56.76 TONNES IN 6 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3038 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 6 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 56.76 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 56.76/3550 x 100% TONNES 1.29% 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. 213.704 TONNES. A STRONG MONTH//
TOTAL FOR YEAR 2023: 2,569.57 TONNES VS 2578 TONNES LAST YEAR
JAN ’24: 56.76 TONNES (WILL EQUAL LAST MONTH’S ISSUANCE)
SPREADING OPERATIONS
(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS
SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF DEC. WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF GOLD
HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR ;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB., FOR GOLD: AND MARCH FOR SILVER
YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (FEB), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”
WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.
The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.
First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:
1.Today, we had the open interest at the comex, in SILVER FELL BY A TINY SIZED 170 CONTRACTS OI TO 130,904 AND FURTHER FROM THE COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710(SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 5 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023
EFP ISSUANCE 280 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MARCH 280 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 280 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI LOSS OF 170 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 280 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,
WE OBTAIN A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 110 CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 0.550 MILLION OZ
OCCURRED DESPITE OUR $.08 LOSS IN PRICE …..
END
OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY
1a/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT
(report Harvey)
b, ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe,//GOLD COMMENTARIES
(Peter Schiff)
c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
b. Other gold/silver commentaries
c. Commodity commentaries//
d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
2.ASIAN AFFAIRS//
TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 5.71 PTS OR 0.20% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 34.43 PTS OR 0.21% /The Nikkei CLOSED UP 383.76 OR 1.16% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.95% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN AT 7.1648 /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.1752 /Oil UP TO 72.44 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 77.86/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL RED// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER
A)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
outline
b) REPORT ON JAPAN/
OUTLINE
3 CHINA
OUTLINE
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
OUTLINE
7. OIL ISSUES
OUTLINE
8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES
9. USA
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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A FAIR SIZED 3218 CONTRACTS TO 491,455 WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $16.85 WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY TRADING. WE MUST HAVE HAD SOME LONG SPEC LIQUIDATIONS IN THE COMEX SESSION WITH CONSIDERABLE SPEC SHORT COVERINGS.
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF JAN..… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A STRONG SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 3465 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : FEB 3465 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 3465 CONTRACTS
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 247 CONTRACTS IN THAT 3465 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A FAIR SIZED LOSS OF 3218 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS FAIR GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $16,85//MONDAY COMEX. AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR MONDAY NIGHT WAS A MEGA MEGA GIGANTIC SIZED 33,338 CONTRACTS. (SO MUCH FOR LAW AND ORDER AT THE COMEX). 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: JAN (8.799 TONNES) ( NON ACTIVE MONTH)
HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 12 MONTHS OF 2021-2022:
DEC 2021: 112.217 TONNES
NOV. 8.074 TONNES
OCT. 57.707 TONNES
SEPT: 11.9160 TONNES
AUGUST: 80.489 TONNES
JULY: 7.2814 TONNES
JUNE: 72.289 TONNES
MAY 5.77 TONNES
APRIL 95.331 TONNES
MARCH 30.205 TONNES
FEB ’21. 113.424 TONNES
JAN ’21: 6.500 TONNES.
TOTAL YEAR 2021 (JAN- DEC): 601.213 TONNES
YEAR 2022:
JANUARY 2022 17.79 TONNES
FEB 2022: 59.023 TONNES
MARCH: 36.678 TONNES
APRIL: 85.340 TONNES FINAL.
MAY: 20.11 TONNES FINAL
JUNE: 74.933 TONNES FINAL
JULY 29.987 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST:104.979 TONNES//FINAL
SEPT. 38.1158 TONNES
OCT: 77.390 TONNES/ FINAL
NOV 27.110 TONNES/FINAL
Dec. 64.000 tonnes
(TOTAL YEAR 656.076 TONNES)
2023:
JAN/2023: 20.559 tonnes
FEB 2023: 47.744 tonnes
MAR: 19.0637 TONNES
APRIL: 75.676 tonnes
MAY: 19.094 TONNES + 1.244 tonnes of exchange for risk = 20.338
JUNE: 64.354 TONNES
JULY: 10.2861 TONNES
AUGUST: 38.855 TONNES(INCLUDING .6842 EXCHANGE FOR RISK)
SEPT: 15.281 TONNES FINAL
OCT. 35.869 TONNES + 1.665 EXCHANGE FOR RISK =37.0355 tonnes
NOV: 18.7122 TONNES + 16.2505 EX. FOR RISK = 34.9627 TONNES
DEC. 47.073 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.707TONNES
TOTAL 2023 YEAR : 436.546 TONNES
JAN ’24. 8.799 TONNES
THE SPECS/HFT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT LOST $16.85) //// BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 247 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES. WE HAD A HUGE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF MONDAY’S TRADING . THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON MONDAY NIGHT, WILL BE “PUT INTO THE BANK” TO BE USED AT A LATER DATE AT THE COLLUSIVE CHOOSING OF OUR BANKERS. WE ALSO EXPERIENCED CONSIDERABLE SPECULATOR SHORT COVERING
WE HAVE GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 0.7682 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR JAN. (8,214 TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 600 OZ QUEUE JUMP (.0185 TONNES): NEW TOTAL STANDING 8.799 TONNES/ ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $16.85.
WE HAD – REMOVED 857 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 247 CONTRACTS OR 24,700 OZ OR 0.7682 TONNES.
Estimated gold volume today:// 222,033 231,450
final gold volumes/yesterday 273,442// T.A.S. VOLUME ERROR
//speculators have left the gold arena
JAN 9 INITIAL
/ /// THE JAN 2024 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 oz |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz | nil oz |
| No of oz served (contracts) today | 6 notice(s) 000 OZ 0.018666 TONNES |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 45 contracts 4500 oz 0.1399TONNES |
| Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month | 2784 notices 278400 oz 8.659 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; 2//DEALER TO CUSTOMER
I) BRINKS 41,571.243 OZ (1293 KILOBARS
II) JPMORGAN: 87,097.059 OZ (2709 KILOBARS)
TOTAL TONNES ADJUSTED 4.002 TONNES
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR JAN.
For the front month of JANUARY we have an oi of 51 contracts having LOST 4 contracts. We had 10 notices served on Monday, so we gained 6 contracts or an additional 600 oz will stand for delivery at the comex
FEB LOST 20,238 CONTRACTS FALLING TO 332,326
March gained 28 contracts to stand at 265.
APRIL GAINED 16,248 CONTRACTS RISING TO 101,358.
We had 6 contracts filed for today representing 600 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 6 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 3 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 JAN. /2023. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (2,784 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JAN. (51 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 6 x 100 oz per contract equals 282,300 OZ OR 8.780 TONNES
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the JAN. contract month: No of notices filed so far (2,784) x 100 oz + (51) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (6) x 100 oz) which equals 282,900 oz standing OR 8.799 TONNES
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR JAN: 8.799 TONNES WHICH IS GREAT FOR AN INACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR.
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: 1,513,553.330 47,07 tonnes
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 20,029,150.920 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 9,904,262.134 (308,06 tonnes).
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,124,888.786 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 8,390,709 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 260.986 tonnes
END
SILVER/COMEX
JAN 9/INITIAL
//2024// THE JAN 2023 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL
| Silver | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory | NIL oz |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory | 559,383.680 oz CNT Manfra . |
| Deposits to the Dealer Inventory | nil OZ |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory | 9992.673 oz Delaware |
| No of oz served today (contracts) | 36 CONTRACT(S) (180,000 OZ) |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 449 contracts (2,245,000 oz) |
| Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) | 552 Contracts (2,760,000 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 1 deposits customer account:
i) inro Delaware: 9992.673 oz
total customer deposits 9992.673 oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 133.1390 million oz/280.763 million or 47.34%
Comex withdrawals: 2
i)out of Manfra 196,124.200 oz
ii) Out of CNT: 363,259.480 oz
total withdrawals 559,585.680 oz
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 41.911 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 280.763 million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF JAN. /2023 OI: 485 CONTRACTS HAVING GAINED 34 CONTRACT(S). WE HAD 1 NOTICES SERVED ON MONDAY, SO WE GAINED 35 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 175,000 OZ WILL STAND FOR DELIVERY AT THE COMEX
FEB GAINED 4 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 639
MARCH LOST 1037 CONTRACTS TO 104,463
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 36 for 180,000 oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 42,039// POOR
Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 51,551 POOR
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in JAN. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 552 x 5,000 oz = 2,760,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JAN. (485) and the number of notices served upon today 36 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the DEC/2023 contract month: 552 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of JAN. (485) – number of notices served upon today (36 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the JAN contract month equates to 5.005 MILLION OZ. to which we add our exchange for RISK of 1.0 million oz//new total 6.005 million oz/
New total standing: 6.005 million oz.
There are 41.911 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!
JAN 9/WITH GOLD UP $0.95 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:
. INVENTORY RESTS AT 869.60 TONNES
JAN 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $16.85 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.61 TONNES FROM THE GLD. INVENTORY RESTS AT 869.60 TONNES
JAN 5/WITH GOLD UP $0.80 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:///. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 874.21 TONNES
JAN 4/WITH GOLD UP $7.60 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:///. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 874.21 TONNES
JAN 3/WITH GOLD DOWN $29.40 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.90 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 874.21 TONNES
JAN 2/WITH GOLD UP $1.50 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.11 TONNES
DEC 29/WITH GOLD DOWN $10.25 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.16 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 880.55 TONNES
DEC 28/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.35 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.45 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///. // INVENTORY RESTS AT 881.71 TONNES
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: 869.60 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
JAN 9/WITH SILVER DOWN 20 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV
:././/////INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.370 MILLION OZ
JAN 8/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 1,602,000 OZ INTO THE SLV//:././/////INVENTORY RESTS AT 434.370 MILLION OZ
JAN 5/WITH SILVER UP 20 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 916,000 OZ INTO THE SLV//:././/////INVENTORY RESTS AT 435.972 MILLION OZ
JAN 4/WITH SILVER UP 5 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/:././/////INVENTORY RESTS AT 435.056 MILLION OZ
JAN 3/WITH SILVER DOWN 78 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWALOF 2.294 MILLION OZ OZ FROM THE SLV././/////INVENTORY RESTS AT 435.056 MILLION OZ
JAN 2/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: A WITHDRAWALOF 915,000 OZ FORM THE SLV././/////INVENTORY RESTS AT 437.35 MILLION OZ
DEC 29/WITH SILVER DOWN 29 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: //////INVENTORY RESTS AT 438.265 MILLION OZ
DEC 28/WITH SILVER DOWN 25 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/: //////INVENTORY RESTS AT 438.265 MILLION OZ
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
CLOSING INVENTORY 434.370 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
Mathew Piepenburg…
More Golden (And Black-Gold) Proof: The Dollar Is Totally Screwed
TUESDAY, JAN 09, 2024 – 06:30 AM
Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com,
Ever since day-one of the predictably disastrous and politically myopic insanity of weaponizing the world reserve currency against a major power like Russia, we warned that the USD had reached an historical turning point of slow demise and increasing de-dollarization.
We also warned that this would be a gradual process rather than over-night headline, much like the slow but steady death of the USD’s purchasing power since Nixon left the gold standard in 1971:
But as we’ll discover below, this gyrating process is happening even faster than we could have imagined, and all of this bodes profoundly well for physical gold, yet not so well for the USD.
Bad Actors, Bad Policies & Predictable Patterns
Regardless of what the media-misled world thinks of Putin, weaponizing the USD was a foreseeable disaster which, naturally, none of DC’s worst-and-dimmest, could fully grasp.
This is because chest-puffing but math-illiterate neocons pushing policy from the Pentagon were pulling the increasingly visible strings of a Biden puppet at the White House.
In short, the dark state of which Mike Lofgren warned is not only dark, but dangerously dumb.
These political opportunists have forgotten that military power is not as wise as financial strength, which is why broke (and increasingly centralized nations) inevitably lead their country toward a state of permanent ruin preceded by cycles of war and currency-destroying inflation.
Sound familiar?
Despite no training in economics, Ernest Hemingway, who witnessed two world wars, saw this pattern clearly:
We also found “Biden’s” sanctions particularly comical, given that his former boss clearly understood the dangers of such a policy for the USD as far back as 2015:
The myopic (i.e., patently stupid) sanctions against Putin simply (and predicably) pushed Russia and China closer together while the BRICS+ nations increasingly began arbitraging gold for oil.
Or stated more bluntly, DC’s plan to weaken the Rubble has only served to put the USD at historical risk.
Does the Petrodollar Suck?
Throughout2022 and 2023, we warned of the weakening respect Saudi Arabia has for the allegedly Biden-“lead” US in general and its increasingly unloved UST and weaponized USD in particular.
Of course, we were specifically warning of the slow, gradual and yet again—inevitable—demise of the oh-so important Petrodollar which has been a critical “straw” of the milkshake theory’s faith in global demand for the USD.
But as the facts are now making increasingly clear, that “straw” is no longer sucking on a USD which much of the world now considers, well, a Dollar that sucks…
Three days after Christmas, the Wall Street Journal confessed what JP Morgan’s head of global commodities strategy had been tracking since 2015, namely that approximately 20% of the global oil bought and sold in 2023 was in currencies other than the USD.
Ouch.
That Dollar-straw appears to be losing its sucking-power, no?
Currently, this is because two nations all too familiar with American sanctions—i.e., Iran and Russia—just happen to have a lot of oil and have cranked up their oil selling in alternative currencies among willing buyers like China and India.
By the Way: This is All VERY Good for Gold
One, for example, can sell oil in London for gold, then transfer that gold to a Yuan trade hub where the gold is converted to CNY, and then use that CNY to buy oil outside of the USD.
Or stated more simply, gold will slowly be filling the delta in a BRICS+ oil trade once ruled by the USD, which mean’s gold’s price, hitherto controlled by NY and London, is about to return to actual fundamentals rather than OTC price fixing.
As gold traded on the Shanghai Exchange gathers greater and greater momentum (and premiums), the 200-day moving average of gold priced in USD will have to keep pace for the 200-day moving average in CNY…
Again, all of this was foreseeable but only now is the math finally making the headlines.
How Much Worse Can It Get for the USD?
Given the rapid pace and percentages of oil trading outside of the USD, the obvious next question is how much worse can it get?
The short answer: A lot worse.
Iran and Russia, for example, are playing hard-ball, but what happens if Saudi Arabia, which is now an official BRICS member (and more prone to fist-pumping Biden while shaking hands with Xi) decides to look more East than West in the coming years?
Saudi Arabia’s increasingly open relations with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS New Development Bank suggest that unlike former nations who tried to sell oil outside of the USD (think Iraq and Libya), the Saudi Crown Prince appears far less afraid of meeting the same coincidental fate of say, Saddam Hussein or Muamar Gaddafi…
As we’ve warned numerous times, once the US weaponized the USD, there was no turning back, as nations both friendly or not-so-friendly to the US would never trust a non-neutral reserve currency in the same way they had in prior times.
Thanks to folks like Nixon and now Biden, we are a looonnnggg way from the Bretton Woods USD…
Stated simply, broken trust has made the once tolerated USD less tolerable, and like a genie that can never be put back in the bottle again, the USD will never be fully trusted again, which means demand for that Dollar will never be the same again.
But What About the UAE and Saudi Dollar Peg?
Defenders of the Petrodollar (and hence milkshake theory) will rightfully point out that both the Saudi riyal and UAE dirham are pegged to the USD, which might suggest that both of these mega oil powers have a vested interest in seeing a stronger rather than weaker role of the USD in their critical oil markets.
It’s also worth admitting that Russian oil enterprises are slamming into liquidity issues with Indian rupees and Chinese yuan, which are not nearly as liquid as the USD, which despite its weak legs and twisted back, is still the best horse in the global currency glue factory.
These are fair, very fair points.
This is why we still maintain our belief that the USD’s supremacy, just like it’s post-1971 purchasing power, will die slowly by a thousand cuts rather than an overnight headline.
So yes, the riyal and dirham are both pegged to the USD, but as Luke Gromen recently observed, that’s only true “…for now.”
Gromen makes a compelling case that most investors are underestimating the ability by which both the UAE and Saudis have to de-peg their currencies from a weakening USD and re-peg “their energy to gold… while having their currencies APPRECIATE against the USD.”
Brent Johnson, who argues for a stronger USD, would counter such an argument by reminding us that OPEC considered cutting its link with the USD in 1975, and it never happened.
But like Gromen, I’d argue that we are not in 1975 (or Kansas) anymore.
Much has changed—including the distrust of that post-sanction USD, the subsequent rise of the BRICS+ nations, the aforementioned percentage of oil volumes trading outside the USD and the open decline of US monetary and foreign policy in recent years and headlines.
And like Gromen, I’d remind readers that even the hint of an OPEC link-cut in 1975 with the USD sent the gold price up by 5X in a period of less than five years.
This explains why the Fed of that same period hiked rates from 5.25% to over 18% to make the USD more attractive to OPEC.
BLACK Gold Colliding with Real Gold = A GREENback in the RED
But folks, with public US debt now racing past $34T, the current Fed has no ability to put such rate-hike lipstick on a high-debt pig of the current magnitude, which means Powell, unlike Volcker, simply can’t make the USD attractive to OPEC in 2024 like it could in the late 1970’s.
Or stated more simply, the USD, like the cornered US Fed, is running out of both credibility and options.
And This Again, Is Good for Gold
The implications and ripple effects of a now weaponized Greenback are nothing short of extraordinary as gold slowly rises to the status of an oil currency for the first time since Nixon welched on the gold standard in 1971.
And given the disconnect between current USD oil production (massive) and USD gold production (tiny), the potential for an historically significant repricing of gold is as powerful (and predictable) as good ol’ fashioned supply and demand.
After all, when a golden asset of infinite duration yet finite supply collides with spiking demand, the price of that asset skyrockets.
By contrast, when an unloved asset of finite duration yet infinite supply—like a UST—collides with tanking demand, the price of that asset sinks to the ocean floor…
Don’t Get Too Comfortable with Lower Rates and Defeated Inflation…
Thus, despite recent and openly desperate attempts by the FOMC to project reduced rates while declaring victory over inflation (after having engineered a deflationary, yet unreported and rate-hike-driven recession), we foresee a longer-term scenario of tanking USTs and hence rising yields, which means rising interest rates.
Such bond-market-determined (rather than Fed-set) rate hikes will also be colliding with a US Congressional Budget Office forecasting another $20T of UST issuance in the next 10 years.
This will be a perfect storm of more IOU issuance colliding with even higher rates and hence higher costs, which will in turn only be payable if the Fed prints even more trillions of USDs out of thin air to pay Uncle Sam’s bar tab.
Needless to say, such inevitable synthetic liquidity (i.e., QE to the moon) will lead to further rather than less debasement of an already debased USD (very good for gold…), proving that Hemingway’s predictions above make him a far more deserving recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics than Bernanke.
Ah, the ironies, they do abound…
Bernanke’s thesis of solving a debt crisis with more debt is far more deserving of a prize in fiction than math, but as per above, it was Papa Hemingway, the novelist, who understood history and math far better than this falsely idolized central banker…
All Signs Point to Gold
In 2023, we saw gold reaching record highs in all currencies including the USD despite a year marked by a relatively strong USD, positive real rates and spiking yields—all traditional headwinds for USD-priced gold.
This disconnect from traditional metrics is based upon the USA’s disconnect from sound monetary and foreign policies, all of which have left the USD, UST and US Government looking more like the island of misfit toys rather than a trusted land of the reserve currency.
Gold will continue to diverge from traditional metrics as its role as a net trade settlement among the growing BRICS+ nations makes the issue of positive or negative US real rates less relevant in a world turning away from, well…the US and its broken/dis-trusted currency.
These hard facts, combined with the inevitable return to mega QE to monetize massive and projected UST issuance (and hence debt) in the coming years, will further debase the USD to support the UST market.
Ludwig von Mises, Ernest Hemingway, and David Hume understood the philosophy of debt long before the first central banker was spawned. They warned that all debt-soaked and failing nations have and will sacrifice their currency to save their rotten “system.”
They were and are correct.
In blunt yet historically and math-confirmed terms, gold, priced in USDs, will continue to rise much higher for the simple reason that the USD, despite its powerful reserve status, will continue to debase itself in real terms.
END
3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA GOLD COMMENTARIES:
Gold still outshines stocks and bonds since the turn of the century
(GATA)
Gold still outshines stocks and bonds since the turn of the century
Submitted by admin on Sat, 2024-01-06 22:32Section: Daily Dispatches
By William Watt
Dow Jones, New York
via Morningstar, Chicago
Saturday, January 6, 2024
Stocks outpaced gold in 2023, but the yellow metal still has posted stronger annualized returns since the turn of the century, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices
No yield, no dividend, no problem?
That appears to be the case for gold when it comes to its performance against both stocks and bonds as the calendar flips ever deeper into the 21st century.
This chart —
— from S&P Dow Jones Indices shows the relative performance of the yellow metal, as measured by Dow Jones Commodity Index Gold, versus the S&P 500 SPX, between Dec. 31, 1999, and Dec. 29, 2023.
Unlike some stocks, gold — like other commodities — pays no dividends. Unlike bonds, it pays no coupon. That’s often described as raising the opportunity cost of holding gold versus assets that produce some sort of yield. Still, DJCI Gold, which is designed to track the market via futures contracts (GC00), has outpaced both since the turn of the millennium.
Going back to the start of the century, DJCI Gold produced a 7.8% annual return, compared to a 7% return for the S&P 500 during that time, said Brian Luke, head of commodities, real and digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a blog post this week.
Adjusting for volatility, gold has provided slightly better risk-adjusted returns than stocks, with a Sharpe ratio of 0.48 versus 0.45 for equities, Luke wrote. The ratio compares the return on an investment with its risk.
Bonds aren’t even close when it comes to annualized returns. The iBoxx USD Overall Index, which measures investment-grade government and corporate bonds, has seen an average return of 4.1% since 1999, according to Luke, though its Sharpe ratio is slightly better at 0.89.
To be sure, stocks played catchup in 2023, with the S&P 500’s stellar 26.3% return easily besting both bonds and commodities, including gold. The overall commodity index, the S&P GSCI, saw a return of negative 4.3%, with S&P GSCI Grains falling 15% last year and S&P GSCI Livestock flat amid falling inflation.
Gold, however, solidly outpaced the broader commodity index in 2023, with futures hitting a record high in December as DJCI gold posted a 12.8% return for the year.
* * *
END
4. OTHER GOLD/SILVER //COMMENTARIES//PODCASTS
end
5 a. IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES /WHEAT
5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT
END
6.CRYPTOCURRENCY//DIGITAL CURRENCY// COMMENTARIES/
end
1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN AT 7.1648
OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 7.1752
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 5.71 PTS OR 0.20%
HANG SENG CLOSED DOWN 34.43 PTS OR 0.21%
2. Nikkei closed UP 385.76 PTS OR 1.16%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL RED
USA dollar INDEX UP TO 102.18 EURO FALLS TO 1.0930 DOWN 22 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield:FALLS TO. +.586 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 144.12/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 +2.1855***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.851** /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 3.155…**
3i Greek 10 year bond yield UP TO 3.307
3j Gold at $2034.75 silver at: 23.13 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 1 AND 42 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 89.73//
3m oil into the 72 dollar handle for WTI and 77 handle for Brent/
3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China// huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/
JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 144,12// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.586% 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 0.8510 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9314 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.
USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 4.040 UP 4 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.199 UP 4 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.383 UP 4 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 29.94…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: UP 4 BASIS PTS AT 3.855
end
2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge.
Futures Fall As Tech-Led Rally Fizzles, Yields And Oil Rebound
TUESDAY, JAN 09, 2024 – 08:19 AM
US stock futures dropped amid a risk-off tone as Monday’s tech-fueled bounce fizzled and investors turned their attention to this week’s inflation print as well as the start of corporate earnings season. As of 7:40am ET, S&P futures were down 0.3%, and Nasdaq futures dropped 0.5% following European bourses lower. The tech rally in US stocks on Monday came as Nvidia surged after announcing new AI products for personal computers. The Nasdaq 100 jumped the most since November on Monday and the S&P 500 traded near a record high while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.2% — a level unseen since March 1990. Bonds are lower pushing the 10Y yield as high as 4.05% as oil bounced back from the largest drop in about a month on signs of a weaker physical market, including a deep pricing cut by OPEC+ leader Saudi Arabia; Brent traded near session highs around $78. The USD was flat while the yen reversed earlier gains. Bitcoin dipped after surging past $47,000 on bets that the US is set to approve the first spot ETF.
In premarket trading, Juniper Networks jumped 23% after the Wall Street Journal reported the company was in advanced talks to be sold to Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Tinder-parent Match Group gained 14% after the Wall Street Journal reported that Elliott Investment Management had built a stake of about $1 billion in the dating-app company. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
- CrowdStrike rises 2% after being upgraded at Morgan Stanley, which sees a better demand outlook for the software firm’s services.
- Eversource Energy slips 3% after saying it’s in advanced talks to unload its share in three offshore wind projects that it planned to build with Orsted A/S.
- GoDaddy advances 1.5% after Piper upgrades the web-platform firm, saying a re-acceleration in growth with 30%+ normalized Ebitda margin in 2024 could reverse a five-year trend of multiple compression.
- MaxCyte climbs 5% after posting preliminary 4Q revenue that’s higher than the year-ago period.
- Microchip Technology slips 3% after the chipmaker said its preliminary 3Q revenue is down sequentially about 22%, compared to its previous guidance of 15% to 20%.
- Netflix drops 2% as Citi cuts its rating on the streaming-video company to neutral, citing “lofty” expectations.
- PayPal dips 2% after the payments firm was cut to equal-weight by Morgan Stanley, which highlighted “slower-than-expected progress.”
The 10-year Treasury yield held above 4%, a level Bill Gross called “overvalued” even after it surged 17 basis points last week as robust labor-market data spurred traders to pare bets on rapid Fed easing. Long-dated Gilts were among the biggest decliners in Europe after the government sold 2.25 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) of 20-year debt. And speaking of bonds, BlackRock issued a warning about the dangers of debt-fueled government spending in an election year as government bonds slumped under supply from countries including the UK, Italy and Belgium. This echoed what we published last night in “Citadel Trader: “Fed Wants To Avoid Pain AT ALL COSTS Ahead Of Elections; This Will Lead To Epic Fiscal Irresponsibility.”
“The new year is already putting the 2023 Santa rally to the test,” said Evelyne Gomez-Liechti, a strategist at Mizuho International, citing pressures including unexpected US labor strength, an overextended rally and heavy supply of new government and corporate debt.
In other news, Investigators probing the fuselage blowout on a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane on Jan. 5 determined that the door plug moved upward before ejecting. In other news, a Chinese agency claims it has devised a way to identify users who send messages via Apple’s AirDrop feature as part of China’s broader efforts to root out undesirable content.
With CPI due Thursday, earning kicking off later this week and JPM’s influential Healthcare conference, this is the calm ahead of the proverbial storm. The major macro data points are CPI and PPI on Thurs and Fri, and prints may be market-moving as the bond market tries to determine the timing of the first rate cut among March, May, and June. Goldman claims the first cut will be in March while JPM maintains a call for cuts kicking off in June.
European stocks and US futures are on the back foot as oil prices bounce back from Monday’s steep fall. The Stoxx 600 is down 0.2% with miners and tech stocks among the worst-performing stocks, while energy and health care advance. Shares and bonds of Spanish blood plasma firm Grifols SA tumbled after short seller Gotham City Research LLC published a report criticizing the company’s financial reporting.
- Nexans rises as much as 6.1% after Berenberg starts coverage of the French cable manufacturer with a buy rating, saying the stock sits at an interesting entry point and the long-term outlook remains positive.
- DWS rises as much as 2.8% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the German asset management firm to buy, citing continued momentum and undervaluation.
- Pirelli gains as much as 3.5%, rising to the highest level in almost two years, after Italian investors in the Italian tiremaker agreed to boost their holding to more than 20%.
- Grifols plummets as much as 43%, a record drop since listing in 2006, after short seller Gotham City Research published a negative report on the blood plasma firm.
- Infineon and STMicro lead a drop in European chipmakers on Tuesday after US peer Microchip said its preliminary revenue for the quarter ending December fell by 22% q/q, worse than its guidance.
- Hays sinks as much as 19%, pulling peers PageGroup and Randstad down with it, after the company’s net fees fell sharply. The firm warns of challenging market conditions going forward.
- U-blox falls as much as 8% after Baader downgraded the Swiss wireless communications technologies provider to add from buy, saying it has lower short-term expectations.
- United Internet falls as much as 2.4% as UBS downgrades the stock, noting that shares are close to fair value after a rapid re-rating.
- Tecan slumps as much as 5.6% after the Swiss lab equipment maker released FY23 sales figures below expectations due to lower Covid-related sales and lower pass-through of material costs.
- Meyer Burger drops as much as 12% after Baader downgraded the Swiss solar-equipment manufacturer to reduce from buy, citing lack of visibility on the resilience bonus in Germany.
- Games Workshop shares drop as much as 3.5% after analysts had mixed reactions to the company’s first-half results, despite reported growth in both revenue and profits.
- SCA falls as much as 2.4% after Handelsbanken cut its short-term recommendation for the Swedish forestry and paper firm to hold from buy ahead of its 4Q report, due on Jan. 26.
Earlier in the session, stock gains across Asia faded after tech shares surrendered opening strength. The Hang Seng Tech index turned negative after wiping out 1.6% rally, and the Kospi erases advance following a Samsung earnings miss. Japanese markets remain in the green following Monday’s holiday. Chinese shares eked out modest gains amid steadily growing expectations for a near-term policy easing.
In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index firmed while the Treasury 10-year yield rose as much as two basis points to 4.05%. Bloomberg Economics expects core US CPI Thursday to show disinflation continues to be very slow in supercore categories, while PPI data on Friday to reflect renewed supply-chain bottlenecks. The yen tops G-10 leaderboard with a 0.4% gain while Aussie reverses early uptick. Onshore yuan is marginally softer.
Treasuries slightly lower across the curve with losses led by long-end, steepening 2s10s, 5s30s spreads by 1.5bp and 1bp on the day. US yields cheaper by up to 2bp across long-end of the curve with 10-year sector trading around 4.05%. Bunds and gilts trade cheaper by 4.5bp and 4bp in the sector, as European supply skewed toward longer-end sales weighs. Swap spreads remain near top of Monday’s range, following surge wider on the back of weekend comments from Fed Dallas President Lorie Logan. JGB futures turned positive after BOJ kept long-end bond buying amount unchanged. Core European rates underperform, weighing on Treasuries as market participants brace for the first of this week’s auctions. Meanwhile, Treasury auctions resume at 1pm with $52b 3-year notes, followed by $37b 10- and $21b 30-year sales Wednesday and Thursday. The When Issued 3-year is at ~4.125% is 36.5bp richer than December’s stop-out, which tailed the WI by 1.7bp, and below auction stops since May
In commodities WTI crude oil futures higher by more than 2% on the day, paring a portion of Monday’s 4.1% drop and adding to cheapening pressure on Treasury yields; gold rises ~$5 to $2,033.
Bitcoin dipped after surging past $47,000 on bets that the US is poised to approve the launch of the nation’s first exchange-traded funds investing directly in the world’s largest digital asset.
To the day ahead now, and data releases include German industrial production for November and the Euro Area unemployment rate for November, whilst in the US there’s the NFIB’s small business optimism index for December, and the trade balance for November. From central banks, we’ll hear from Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Barr, and the ECB’s Villeroy.
Market Snapshot
- S&P 500 futures down 0.3% to 4,787.25
- MXAP up 0.2% to 165.53
- MXAPJ little changed at 511.29
- Nikkei up 1.2% to 33,763.18
- Topix up 0.8% to 2,413.09
- Hang Seng Index down 0.2% to 16,190.02
- Shanghai Composite up 0.2% to 2,893.25
- Sensex up 0.1% to 71,459.92
- Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.9% to 7,520.52
- Kospi down 0.3% to 2,561.24
- STOXX Europe 600 down 0.1% to 477.48
- German 10Y yield little changed at 2.18%
- Euro little changed at $1.0943
- Brent Futures up 1.6% to $77.36/bbl
- Gold spot up 0.4% to $2,036.05
- U.S. Dollar Index up 0.10% to 102.31
Top Overnight News
- Japan’s Tokyo CPI for December cooled more than anticipated on a headline basis (+2.4% vs. +2.7% in Nov and vs. the Street’s +2.5% forecast) while core was inline (+3.5% ex-food/energy vs. +3.6% in Nov and vs. the Street’s +3.5% forecast). BBG
- Saudi Arabia raised $12 billion in its biggest borrowing abroad since 2017. It’s been a record start to the year for emerging markets as issuers seek to lock in lower funding costs. BBG
- Microsoft’s $13 billion investment into OpenAI faces the potential of a full-blown EU merger probe, after a mutiny at the ChatGPT creator laid bare deep ties between the two companies. BBG
- Grifols tumbled after short seller Gotham City said the Spanish blood plasma firm artificially reduced leverage by consolidating earnings of units it doesn’t control and overstated profit. Grifols denied the allegations. BBG
- Israel is shifting away from major ground/air operations toward a more targeted phase of the war against Hamas and hopes to have the transition complete by the end of January. NYT
- Investors are warning governments around the world over “unmoored” levels of public debt, saying excessive pre-election borrowing promises risk sparking a bond market backlash. Government debt issuance in the US and the UK is expected to soar to the highest level on record in the coming year, with the exception of the early stages of the Covid pandemic. FT
- Congress on Monday began an uphill push to pass a new bipartisan spending agreement into law in time to avoid a partial government shutdown next week, with Speaker Mike Johnson encountering stiff resistance from his far-right flank to the deal he struck with Democrats. NYT
- Boeing slipped again premarket after United found loose bolts in some of its 737 Max 9 jetliners. Alaska Air said loose hardware was visible on some planes during inspections. The NTSB said it might widen its Max 9 probe beyond the model on which the accident occurred. BBG
- HPE is in advanced talks to buy JNPR for about $13 billion, in a bid to better position the nearly 100-year-old technology company in the era of artificial intelligence. WSJ
- The combination of low current valuations and a healthy economic outlook indicates that the Russell 2000 small-cap index should return roughly 9% in the next 6 months and 15% in the next 12 months. This compares with Goldman’s forecast that the large-cap S&P 500 will rise by 7% to 5100 at the end of 2024 (total return of 9% including dividends). In recent decades, nearly two thirds of the variation in Russell 2000 12-month returns has been explained by valuations at the start of each period and real US economic growth during the period. If Goldman’s 2024 US GDP growth forecast of 2% is realized, these historical relationships suggest small-caps should generate solid returns in coming months. GIR
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
APAC stocks traded higher as the region took impetus from the gains on Wall Street where tech outperformed as risk appetite was fuelled by a lower yield environment and a drop in oil prices. ASX 200 climbed above 7,500 with the index led by tech and consumer-related sectors owing to softer yields. Nikkei 225 printed its highest since March 1990 and rallied to just shy of 34,000 where it hit resistance. KOSPI was clouded after disappointing preliminary quarterly earnings from Samsung Electronics. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp initially benefitted amid the broad constructive mood and recent PBoC hints at tools to boost credit including RRR although the upside was reversed after the PBoC drained liquidity and with Chinese oil majors pressured by the recent fall in oil prices.
Top Asian News
- Taiwan’s ruling party presidential candidate Lai said Taiwan will build up defence deterrence and economic security, while he will maintain the status quo and current President Tsai’s policies.
- Japanese police are investigating a suspicious object which was discovered in front of the main gate of the national diet building, via NTV
- ByteDance is further scaling back its ambitions in the gaming industry and is in talks to sell game titles to several prospective buyers, according to WSJ
- China’s CPCA (auto industry) says China sold 2.37mln passenger vehicles in December, +8.3% Y/Y. 2023 retail passenger vehicle sales +5.6% Y/Y
- China’s CPCA says China’s auto exports set to overtake Japan as the largest in both volume and value terms in 2023
- “China’s economic growth in 2024 is forecast to continue to gain pace, with the estimated annual GDP growth rate to reach 5.3%, said a report by the Center for Forecasting Science under Chinese Academy of Sciences on Tuesday”, according to Global Times
- Chinese Commerce Ministry says China is looking to further suspend tariff cuts on products including agriculture, fishery, machinery, auto parts and textiles from Taiwan
European bourses, Stoxx600 (-0.3%), initially began the session on a firmer footing echoing APAC optimism before succumbing to selling pressure as sentiment dwindled. IBEX 35 (-1.7%) underperforms, dragged down by Grifols (-42%) following a Gotham City Research report which said “we believe shares are uninvestable, likely zero”; Grifols to hold a board meeting on Tuesday. European sectors hold a negative tilt; Energy holds at the top of the pile as it attempts to nurse the prior day’s hefty losses whilst Tech lags after outperforming yesterday. Recruitment names have been hit by a profit warning from London-listed Hays (-12%).
Top European News
- Hapag Lloyd (HLAG GY) says it deems the situation in the Red Sea as “still dangerous” and will continue to sail around the Cape of Good Hope; will take next decision as of January 15th
- ECB’s Centeno says the ECB will not have to wait until May to make policy decisions, via econostream.
- Barclays said UK December consumer spending rose 2.3% Y/Y (prev. 2.9%).
- French PM Borne resigned and will act as caretaker until a new government is named. It was later reported that a new French PM is to be named on Tuesday morning, according to AFP.
FX
- DXY is directionless and contained within a 102.10-41 range, with the 21DMA residing just below the trough at 102.07.
- EUR continues to oscillate around the 1.0950 mark in light of a lack of fresh catalysts; session low at 1.0934.
- Yen is the best G10 performer, looking to make up ground lost last week, but still some way from its 28th December base at 140.24.
- Australian Building Approvals and Retail Sales initially supported the AUD, though strength faded alongside weakness in Iron prices.
- PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1010 vs exp. 7.1502 (prev. 7.1006).
Fixed Income
- USTs are within yesterday’s bounds but pressured with concession ahead of a 3yr auction which is likely factoring; yield curve incrementally flatter thus far.
- Bunds are pressured but remain above the prior sessions respective 135.15 and 135.06 troughs. Overall, action appears to be influenced by concession as corporate supply remains in focus.
- Gilts were initially the relative laggard, given looming supply, though after the strong Gilt auction (record investor demand) the benchmark jumped back above 100.00, but shy of the initial 100.26 session high.
- Netherlands sells EUR 2.08bln vs. Exp. EUR 2.0-2.5bln 2.5% 2030 DSL; average yield 2.334% vs. prev. 2.950%
- UK sells GBP 2.25bln 4.75% 2043: b/c 3.62x, average yield 4.391%, 0.2bps tail.
- Italy to raise EUR 10bln from new 7yr BTP (demand was over EUR 73bln), and EUR 5bln from a tap of a 30yr, according to leads (demand was over UR 91bln).
- Saudi Arabia completes first issuance of USD international bonds worth USD 12bln, according to a statement.
Commodities
- Crude futures are largely retracing some of yesterday’s hefty losses coupled with added tailwinds from geopolitics – with recent reports suggesting three Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli strike.
- Spot gold is trading within recent ranges and trimming some of the prior day’s losses despite a relatively rangebound Dollar and quiet newsflow; Base metals show a mixed picture with the breadth of the market narrow.
- Motiva’s Port Arthur, Texas refinery (636k BPD) large crude unit and coker were shut on Monday.
- Hezbollah is reportedly attempting to target to target Israel’s offshore gas infrastructure “Karish” with drones, Saudi Al-Hadath reports citing sources via journalist Oseran; Aurora Intel clarifies a FPSO was targeted and not a gas rig.
Geopolitics
- Israeli officials said they will tell US Secretary of State Blinken that Palestinians will not return to northern Gaza unless Hamas releases more hostages, according to Al Jazeera.
- US Secretary of State Blinken said he found leaders in the Middle East determined to prevent a wider conflict but added they all recognised hurdles and nobody thinks anything will happen overnight.
- Three Hezbollah members were reportedly killed in a targeted strike on a vehicle in Ghandouriyeh in southern Lebanon, according to Reuters sources.
- Hezbollah says it attacked the Northern Command base with drones in retaliation for the killing of Arouri and the commander of the Radwan force, according to Walla News’ Elster.
US Event Calendar
- 06:00: Dec. SMALL BUSINESS OPTIMISM 91.9, est. 91.0, prior 90.6
- 08:30: Nov. Trade Balance, est. -$64.9b, prior -$64.3b
Central Bank speakers
- 12:00: Fed’s Barr Speaks on Bank Regulation
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
Morning from what promises to be a nice day here in Helsinki which has warmed up significantly to around -2C as I type. Markets also warmed up considerable yesterday to start a new week with the S&P 500 (+1.41%) posting its biggest advance since mid-November and taking it back to ‘only’ -0.13% YTD. Yields on 10yr Treasuries (-1.6bps) gave up most of their initial rally but still saw their biggest decline of 2024 so far. The equity move was buoyed by renewed tech optimism but otherwise it was a fairly quiet day, with sentiment supported by falling commodity prices along with some decent data releases, which collectively added to hopes that a soft landing could still be achieved.
The good data news came primarily from the New York Fed’s latest Survey of Consumer Expectations. This showed another decline in inflation expectations across several horizons, and 1yr expectations were down to 3.0%, which is the lowest since January 2021. In addition, 3yr expectations were down to 2.6%, which was the lowest since June 2020, and 5yr expectations came down to 2.5%, which is the lowest since March 2023. So plenty of good news from the Fed’s perspective ahead of US CPI on Thursday.
At the same time, yesterday brought some significant declines for oil and gas prices, with Brent crude down -3.35% to $76.12/bbl, whilst WTI fell by -4.12% to $70.77/bbl. So another positive tailwind on the inflation side, which followed Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut their oil prices for buyers in all regions. That decline was echoed among several other commodities too, with European natural gas (-7.89%) falling back, whilst soybean (-0.82%) prices fell to their lowest in over two years.
This backdrop proved supportive for equities, especially in the US, as the S&P 500 (+1.41%) had its best day since mid-November, while Europe’s STOXX 600 (+0.38%) posted a more modest gain. T ech stocks led the advance, and the NASDAQ (+2.20%) and the FANG+ Index (+2.75%) saw even larger gains. The tech rally was led by chipmaker Nvidia, which gained +6.43% after announcing new products aimed at making better use of AI on personal computers. The main exception from the equity rally were those companies affected by last week’s incident on an Alaska Airlines flight, when part of the fuselage came off the plane. The result was that Boeing (-8.03%) was the worst performer in the entire S&P 500, and there was also a big slump for Spirit AeroSystems (-11.13%), a supplier for Boeing. Boeing’s decline led to a notable underperformance for the industrial Dow Jones index of just 30 companies (+0.58%).
With inflation expectations falling back, it was a favourable day for bond investors, though we did see a substantial reversal of the bond rally in the latter half of the US session. This reversal was helped by comments from Atlanta Fed President Bostic (an FOMC voter this year) shortly after the European close who, while noting that inflation had come down by more than he expected, reiterated that he expected rate cuts to come only in Q3. Near the end of the session we also heard from Fed Governor Bowman, one of the most hawkish FOMC voices, who said that policy appeared sufficiently restrictive to hit the 2% inflation target but that “we are not yet” at the point of rate cuts becoming appropriate, and noted “the risk that the recent easing in financial conditions” could stall the progress on inflation.
On the back of this, fed funds futures slightly downgraded the prospects of imminent cuts. The chances of a Fed cut by March were down to 63% at the close, their lowest since the December FOMC, from 73% the day before (and an intra-day high of 76% shortly after the NY Fed’s consumer survey). Treasuries still rallied modestly on the day – with the 2yr yield down -0.5bps to 4.38%, whilst the 10yr yield fell -1.6bps to 4.03% – but these closing levels were 7-8bps above their intra-day lows. Overnight in Asia, yields on the 10yr USTs (-2.1bps) are slightly lower again, trading at 4.01% as we go to print.
Looking back at Europe, there was some data optimism as the European Commission’s survey offered a fresh signal that activity was bottoming out in December, with economic sentiment up for a 3rd consecutive month to 96.4. That takes it up to its highest level since May, whilst the final consumer confidence reading was revised up a tenth from the flash print to -15.0, which is the highest since February 2022. We did get some more mixed data out of Germany, with factory orders seeing a smaller than anticipated rebound in November (+0.3% vs +1.1% expected), but this subdued signal was offset by more encouraging export data for the same month (+3.7% vs +0.5% expected).
Otherwise in Europe, there was also a rally for sovereign bonds. That came even as the ECB’s Vujcic said that they were “not talking about cutting interest rates now, and probably won’t before summer”. So some fresh pushback on the idea of imminent rate cuts coming from one of the more hawkish ECB voices. Nevertheless, sovereign bond yields still fell on the day, with those on 10yr bunds (-2.1bps), OATs (-3.0bps) and BTPs (-3.0bps) all moving lower.
Asian equity markets are mostly advancing this morning after the tech led rally on Wall Street overnight. In terms of specific moves, the Nikkei (+1.1%) has reopened firmly after a public holiday while the Hang Seng (+0.16%), and the Shanghai Composite (+0.05%) are losing some momentum after a decent open on fresh hopes of PBOC easing (more below). Elsewhere, the KOSPI (-0.25%) is also reversing after index heavyweight Samsung Electronics slashed its earnings forecast for 4Q23. In overnight trading, US futures are seeing small losses with those on the S&P 500 (-0.10%) and NASDAQ 100 (-0.12%) slightly lower
On the topic of China policy, yesterday we heard from Zou Lan, the head of the PBOC’s monetary policy department, that the PBOC may use its monetary policy tools to provide support for the growth in credit. So a potential hint at more easing coming before too long.
Elsewhere, early morning data showed that Tokyo’s inflation rate slowed more than expected to +2.4% y/y in December (v/s +2.5% expected) from an upwardly revised gain of +2.7% in the previous month. Meanwhile, core inflation came in at +2.1% y/y in December, slowing for the second-straight month in line with expectations and down from November’s +2.3% increase, thus taking some pressure off the BoJ to rush into exiting its ultra-loose monetary policy. Other data showed that household spending fell -2.9% y/y in November (-2.5% in October), declining for a ninth consecutive months and worse than the market forecast for a -2.3% decline. The Japanese yen (+0.45%) is gaining for the second straight day and trading at 143.58 versus the dollar.
To the day ahead now, and data releases include German industrial production for November and the Euro Area unemployment rate for November, whilst in the US there’s the NFIB’s small business optimism index for December, and the trade balance for November. From central banks, we’ll hear from Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Barr, and the ECB’s Villeroy.
2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)
Equities & Bonds are modestly weaker, Crude gains, DXY slightly firmer; Fed’s Barr due – Newsquawk US Market Open
TUESDAY, JAN 09, 2024 – 06:01 AM
- European equities and US futures are modestly weaker; Russell (-0.9%) underperforms giving back yesterday’s advances
- Dollar is incrementally firmer, Yen continues to make up ground
- Bonds are modestly pressured, Gilts got a slight boost after a strong Gilt auction
- Crude extends gains as it attempts to pare back the prior day’s losses and amid geopolitical tailwinds
- Looking ahead, US International Trade, Canadian Building Permits, Trade Balance, US RCM/TIPP Economic Optimism, Japanese Labour Wages, Fed Discount Rate Minutes, Speeches from ECB’s Villeroy & Fed’s Barr, Supply from US
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1. Subscribe to the free premarket movers reports
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EUROPEAN TRADE
EQUITIES
- European bourses, Stoxx600 (-0.3%), initially began the session on a firmer footing echoing APAC optimism before succumbing to selling pressure as sentiment dwindled.
- IBEX 35 (-1.7%) underperforms, dragged down by Grifols (-42%) following a Gotham City Research report which said “we believe shares are uninvestable, likely zero”; Grifols to hold a board meeting on Tuesday.
- European sectors hold a negative tilt; Energy holds at the top of the pile as it attempts to nurse the prior day’s hefty losses whilst Tech lags after outperforming yesterday. Recruitment names have been hit by a profit warning from London-listed Hays (-12%).
- US equity futures are lower, in tandem with price action in Europe; RTY (-0.9%) underperforms after strength yesterday, ES (-0.3%) NQ (-0.4%).
- Micrsoft’s (MSFT) ties with OpenAI said to face potential EU merger investigation, according to Bloomberg sources.
- Click here and here for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow, including earnings.
- Click here for more details.
FX
- DXY is directionless and contained within a 102.10-41 range, with the 21DMA residing just below the trough at 102.07.
- EUR continues to oscillate around the 1.0950 mark in light of a lack of fresh catalysts; session low at 1.0934.
- Yen is the best G10 performer, looking to make up ground lost last week, but still some way from its 28th December base at 140.24.
- Australian Building Approvals and Retail Sales initially supported the AUD, though strength faded alongside weakness in Iron prices.
- PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1010 vs exp. 7.1502 (prev. 7.1006).
- Click here for more details.
- Click here for the Option Expires for the NY Cut.
FIXED INCOME
- USTs are within yesterday’s bounds but pressured with concession ahead of a 3yr auction which is likely factoring; yield curve incrementally flatter thus far.
- Bunds are pressured but remain above the prior sessions respective 135.15 and 135.06 troughs. Overall, action appears to be influenced by concession as corporate supply remains in focus.
- Gilts were initially the relative laggard, given looming supply, though after the strong Gilt auction (record investor demand) the benchmark jumped back above 100.00, but shy of the initial 100.26 session high.
- Netherlands sells EUR 2.08bln vs. Exp. EUR 2.0-2.5bln 2.5% 2030 DSL; average yield 2.334% vs. prev. 2.950%
- UK sells GBP 2.25bln 4.75% 2043: b/c 3.62x, average yield 4.391%, 0.2bps tail.
- Italy to raise EUR 10bln from new 7yr BTP (demand was over EUR 73bln), and EUR 5bln from a tap of a 30yr, according to leads (demand was over UR 91bln).
- Saudi Arabia completes first issuance of USD international bonds worth USD 12bln, according to a statement.
- Click here for more details.
COMMODITIES
- Crude futures are largely retracing some of yesterday’s hefty losses coupled with added tailwinds from geopolitics – with recent reports suggesting three Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli strike.
- Spot gold is trading within recent ranges and trimming some of the prior day’s losses despite a relatively rangebound Dollar and quiet newsflow; Base metals show a mixed picture with the breadth of the market narrow.
- Motiva’s Port Arthur, Texas refinery (636k BPD) large crude unit and coker were shut on Monday.
- Hezbollah is reportedly attempting to target to target Israel’s offshore gas infrastructure “Karish” with drones, Saudi Al-Hadath reports citing sources via journalist Oseran; Aurora Intel clarifies a FPSO was targeted and not a gas rig.
- Click here for more details.
NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES
- Hapag Lloyd (HLAG GY) says it deems the situation in the Red Sea as “still dangerous” and will continue to sail around the Cape of Good Hope; will take next decision as of January 15th
- ECB’s Centeno says the ECB will not have to wait until May to make policy decisions, via econostream.
- Barclays said UK December consumer spending rose 2.3% Y/Y (prev. 2.9%).
- French PM Borne resigned and will act as caretaker until a new government is named. It was later reported that a new French PM is to be named on Tuesday morning, according to AFP.
DATA RECAP
- German Industrial Output MM (Nov) -0.7% vs. Exp. 0.2% (Prev. -0.4%, Rev. -0.3%); “production therefore decreased for the sixth month in succession.”
- French Trade Balance, EUR, SA (Nov) -5.943B (Prev. -8.597B, Rev. -8.455B); Imports, EUR (Nov) 55.395B (Prev. 58.268B, Rev. 58.200B); Exports, EUR (Nov) 49.451B (Prev. 49.671B, Rev. 49.745B)
- UK BRC Retail Sales Like-For-Like YY (Dec) 1.9% (Prev. 2.6%); Total Sales YY (Dec) 1.7% (Prev. 2.7%)
- EU Unemployment Rate (Nov) 6.4% vs. Exp. 6.5% (Prev. 6.5%)
NOTABLE US HEADLINES
- Fed’s Bowman (voter) said policy appears to be sufficiently restrictive to hit the 2% goal but noted important upside inflation risks remain and she will stay cautious in her approach to considering changes to the policy rate. Bowman also commented that inflation could fall further with the policy rate held steady for some time and that it will eventually become appropriate to lower the Fed’s policy rate should inflation fall closer to 2%, while she remains willing to raise the policy rate at a future Fed meeting should inflation progress stall or reverse.
- United Airlines (UAL) found loose bolts so far on close to 10 Boeing (BA) 737 MAX aircraft during inspection with the loose bolts all in the same location, while it was separately reported that Alaska Airlines (AAL) found loose hardware on some Boeing (BA) 737 MAX 9 planes.
GEOPOLITICS
- Israeli officials said they will tell US Secretary of State Blinken that Palestinians will not return to northern Gaza unless Hamas releases more hostages, according to Al Jazeera.
- US Secretary of State Blinken said he found leaders in the Middle East determined to prevent a wider conflict but added they all recognised hurdles and nobody thinks anything will happen overnight.
- Three Hezbollah members were reportedly killed in a targeted strike on a vehicle in Ghandouriyeh in southern Lebanon, according to Reuters sources.
- Hezbollah says it attacked the Northern Command base with drones in retaliation for the killing of Arouri and the commander of the Radwan force, according to Walla News’ Elster.
CRYPTO
- Bitcoin continues to give back some of the prior day’s advances, paring back below the USD 47k level.
APAC TRADE
- APAC stocks traded higher as the region took impetus from the gains on Wall Street where tech outperformed as risk appetite was fuelled by a lower yield environment and a drop in oil prices.
- ASX 200 climbed above 7,500 with the index led by tech and consumer-related sectors owing to softer yields.
- Nikkei 225 printed its highest since March 1990 and rallied to just shy of 34,000 where it hit resistance.
- KOSPI was clouded after disappointing preliminary quarterly earnings from Samsung Electronics.
- Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp initially benefitted amid the broad constructive mood and recent PBoC hints at tools to boost credit including RRR although the upside was reversed after the PBoC drained liquidity and with Chinese oil majors pressured by the recent fall in oil prices.
- Taiwanese Election (on January 13th) Primer can be found here.
NOTABLE HEADLINES
- Taiwan’s ruling party presidential candidate Lai said Taiwan will build up defence deterrence and economic security, while he will maintain the status quo and current President Tsai’s policies.
- Japanese police are investigating a suspicious object which was discovered in front of the main gate of the national diet building, via NTV
- ByteDance is further scaling back its ambitions in the gaming industry and is in talks to sell game titles to several prospective buyers, according to WSJ
- China’s CPCA (auto industry) says China sold 2.37mln passenger vehicles in December, +8.3% Y/Y. 2023 retail passenger vehicle sales +5.6% Y/Y
- China’s CPCA says China’s auto exports set to overtake Japan as the largest in both volume and value terms in 2023
- “China’s economic growth in 2024 is forecast to continue to gain pace, with the estimated annual GDP growth rate to reach 5.3%, said a report by the Center for Forecasting Science under Chinese Academy of Sciences on Tuesday”, according to Global Times
- Chinese Commerce Ministry says China is looking to further suspend tariff cuts on products including agriculture, fishery, machinery, auto parts and textiles from Taiwan
DATA RECAP
- Japanese All Household Spending MM (Nov) -1.0% vs. Exp. 0.2% (Prev. -0.1%); Japanese All Household Spending YY (Nov) -2.9% vs. Exp. -2.3% (Prev. -2.5%)
- Tokyo CPI YY (Dec) 2.4% vs. Exp. 2.5% (Prev. 2.6%, Rev. 2.7%); CPI Ex. Fresh Food YY (Dec) 2.1% vs. Exp. 2.1% (Prev. 2.3%); CPI Ex. Fresh Food & Energy YY (Dec) 3.5% vs. Exp. 3.5% (Prev. 3.6%)
- Australian Building Approvals (Nov) 1.6% vs. Exp. -2.0% (Prev. 7.5%, Rev. 7.2%); Retail Sales MM (Nov) 2.0% vs. Exp. 1.2% (Prev. -0.2%)
2C ASIA AFFAIRS
TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 5.71 PTS OR 0.20% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 34.43 PTS OR 0.21% /The Nikkei CLOSED UP 383.76 OR 1.16% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.95% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN AT 7.1648 /OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.1752 /Oil UP TO 72.44 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 77.86/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL RED// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE WEAKER
2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
END
2e) JAPAN
JAPAN
3 CHINA
end
CHINA
end
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
GERMANY
This will lead to higher inflation in Germany
(zerohedge)
German Truckers Team Up With Farmers To Raise Hell Over Disappearing Fuel Subsidies
TUESDAY, JAN 09, 2024 – 02:45 AM
German truckers joined farmers for a week of protests over a government plan to scrap tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture in order to ‘combat climate change,’ after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition announced plans last month to nix a car tax exemption for farming vehicles as well as diesel tax breaks.
Protesters in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin parked tractors and displayed signs such as ‘No farmer, no food, no future’.
The government announcement is part of a plan to try and fix a 17-billion-euro (US$18.6 billion) hole in Germany’s 2024 budget, AP reports.
On Thursday, the government walked back part of the plan, announcing that while the car tax exemption would remain, cuts in diesel tax breaks would be staggered over three years. This did not calm German farmers, whose Association demanded a full reversal, and said it would move forward with a “week of action” starting Monday, in which farmers used tractors to block entry roads to highways early in the day.
There was disruption due to convoys of tractors in and around some cities, too. Production at a Volkswagen auto plant in Emden in northwestern Germany was stopped because access roads were blocked, preventing employees from getting to work, German news agency dpa reported.
Among demonstrations across the country, several hundred tractors and other vehicles gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
The protests are under scrutiny after a group of farmers on Thursday prevented Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck from disembarking a ferry in a small North Sea port as he returned from a personal trip to an offshore island. -AP
And of course, authorities are warning that ‘far-right groups and others could try and capitalize on the protests. (Maybe Russia too!?).
Germany’s budgetary changes included the controversial cuts, which was ‘required’ after the country’s highest court annulled an earlier decision to redirect nearly US$66 billion originally meant to mitigate fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in order to combat climate change and modernize the country.
Surely this won’t lead to more rampant inflation.
END
5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
ISRAEL/HAMAS
Israel Begins To Scale Back Gaza War, But Still Expects Fighting To Continue All Year
MONDAY, JAN 08, 2024 – 06:00 PM
Israel is again welcoming US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for an official visit, but this time with a key announcement indicating its forces have “shifted” to a new, scaled-back phase of the war, in line with the Biden administration’s wishes. Blinken is in the region with a message to ‘limit’ the spread of war.
“The war shifted a stage,” IDF spokemsan Admiral Hagari told The New York Times, describing a planned reduction in both ground troops and airstrikes. “But the transition will be with no ceremony,” he said. “It’s not about dramatic announcements.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry has lately said the death toll after months of the Israeli military’s operation in response to Oct.7 has surpassed 23,000 – mostly civilian deaths. International outrage, particularly among Global South countries, has been steady. The White House has for weeks behind the scenes pressed Israeli officials to scale-back the mass killing, and to launch a more targeted campaign.
A big part of the pressure comes from the genocide case brought against Israel by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. To review of hearings which are set to be held Jan.11 and 12:
- South Africa alleges Israel’s actions in Gaza “are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part” of the Palestinian population in the enclave.
- Israel immediately rejected the case as “baseless,” but — unlike in previous cases at international tribunals — it decided to appear in front of the court because it’s a signatory to the Genocide Convention. Israel will be represented at the ICJ by the British barrister Malcolm Shaw.
Hagari said that operations in the northern half of the Strip have already begun to ebb, and that troop and reserve force reductions from the battlefield would continue. He also vowed the allowance of more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza from Egypt.
But amid the mass Palestinian suffering, he emphasized, “We were the ones who were butchered,” on Oct.7 – in reference to the about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, slaughtered by Hamas.
Meanwhile, controversy has abounded after more videos from the battlefield have been leaked, such as the following:
Israeli media describes:
Channel 12 airs a video ostensibly leaked by an IDF source showing a group of Palestinians stripped and bound after being detained by the Israeli military in northern Gaza.
One of the detainees is heard telling the troops, “For 17 years, we’ve lived under tyranny,” ostensibly referring to Hamas.
“When you arrived, we remained in our homes because we live in peace and love peace. If we were guilty of something, we would have left our homes and fled, but we live in our homes in peace,” he says.
And on the other side, Palestinian Islamic Jihad has released a new hostage ‘proof of life’ video, which Israeli officials say is part of their ongoing psychological warfare efforts…
On Sunday, the head of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said he foresees a fight in Gaza that will continue through the entire year.
“The year 2024 will be challenging. We will be at war in Gaza,” IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said. “I don’t know if it will be all year long. We will be fighting in Gaza all year, that’s for sure, and this will also hold the other arenas, certainly in [the West Bank], to a certain state of alertness,” he added.
END
ISRAEL HAMAS
(Jerusalem Post)
IDF shares bodycam footage of Gaza battles: ‘Throwing a grenade, terrorist down’
While scanning a tunnel shaft in the area, a group of terrorists emerged from it and threw explosives toward the soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire and eliminated the terrorists.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFhttps://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-781401
Commando Brigade troops operated in the heart of Khan Yunis against terror infrastructure and underground complexes, strengthening the operational hold on the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF said on Tuesday.
During their operations, the forces exposed dozens of tunnel shafts.
While scanning a tunnel shaft in the area, a group of terrorists emerged from it and threw explosives toward the soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire and eliminated the terrorists.
Troops from the Maglan Unit operated against terror targets, locating weaponry, engaging in close-quarters combat with terrorists, and dismantling Hamas infrastructure.
Footage of the IDF’s Duvdevan Unit on operation in Gaza, January 9, 2024 (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
Combat equipment in civilian residences
During their operations, the soldiers located combat equipment in civilian residences in the area, including guns, grenades, ammunition, intelligence materials, and Hamas combat doctrines.
Additionally, a sniper team from the Duvdevan Unit identified a group of terrorists in their vicinity. With a precision shot, the troops eliminated the terrorists.
Duvdevan soldiers have engaged and killed scores of terrorist operatives in battles inside the Gaza Strip. The troops have also guided aircraft to strike at terror targets, as well as joint operations with the Commando Brigade’s fire array and the precise “Steel Sting” armament.Go to the full article >
end
Israel To Blinken: Gazans Can’t Return To North Until Hostages Released
TUESDAY, JAN 09, 2024 – 10:20 AM
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel after previously speaking with Arab leaders in the region where he urged them to join the US in seeking to limit the spread of the Gaza war and to lessen the dire humanitarian impact.
“Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow,” he had stated in Qatar on Sunday. But just as Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday, Axios reported that the Israeli side is expected to say ‘no’… not until a new hostage deal is reached.
Axios writes, “Israeli officials will tell Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Tuesday that Israel won’t allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza if Hamas doesn’t agree to release more hostages,” based on two senior Israeli officials. Washington is expected to keep up some degree of pressure on Israel over the humanitarian situation given the Gaza health ministry has said there are over 23,000 deaths, which are mostly civilian.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have just announced entry into a new phase of the war after having largely pacified the north, but there’s heavy fighting expected to persist in the south and central areas of the Strip.
One of the Israeli government sources told Axios, “We are not going to allow Palestinians to go back to their homes in northern Gaza if there is no progress with the release of hostages.” A second official said, “There are Israeli and American hostages that are still held in Gaza. We think we will know within a few weeks whether a new deal to release them is possible or not.”
About 130 Israeli and foreign hostages are still being held by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the two sides haven’t so much as been close to striking a second major hostage swap.
The Israeli side wants to use the security situation, and the question of whether Gazans should be able to return to their homes, as leverage related to negotiations for the return of the hostages:
Israeli negotiators who are working on the issue believe the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza is significant leverage that Israel doesn’t want to give up as it tries to secure a new hostage deal, a second Israeli official said.
Regional media has underscored that last week’s assassination by drone strike against Hamas deputy political head Saleh al-Arouri has complicated efforts at reaching another hostage deal:
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met with the families of six Israeli and American captives in Doha on Saturday, Israeli media reported.
During the meeting, Al Thani informed the families that Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri has complicated negotiations for the release of captives.
Blinken’s words emphasizing that Gazan civilians must be allowed to return to their homes is also pushback against top Israeli officials who are arguing that Gazans must be permanently displaced. “They cannot and they must not be pressed to leave Gaza,” Blinken had said in Qatar.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long said his government is entertaining the possibility. “Our problem is countries that are ready to absorb them, and we are working on it,” he had stated while media reports say that even some African countries might be willing. This potential policy has been met with widespread international condemnation, and as tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Some of Netanyahu’s more outspoken ministers have called for Israelis to be able to take over Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip.
end
LEBANON/HEZBOLLAH/ISRAEL/
Three Hezbollah leaders killed in Israel attack, terror group attacks IDF base
UAV warnings and rocket sirens sounded across Israel on Tuesday morning.
Three members of Hezbollah were killed in an Israeli UAV attack on a vehicle in southern Lebanon, according to media reports on Tuesday morning.
Two sources who spoke to Reuters said that the attack, which took place in Ghandouriyeh, was a targeted drone strike on a vehicle.
Israel has been expecting a Hezbollah response since the assassination of the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, Wissam al-Tawil, on Monday.
Hezbollah stated on Tuesday that they sent an attack drone to target the IDF’s Northern Command base near Safed.
Hezbollah drone falls into Israeli territory after attacking the city of Safed, January 9, 2024
Sirens alerting residents to a possible unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) intrusion sounded in the northern city of Safed and across northern Israel on Tuesday morning.
UAV warnings were sounded in Dishon; Yiftah; Malkia; Mevuot Hermon Regional Council; Ramot Naftali; Avivim; Bar’am and Yir’on.
Rocket sirens also sounded in northern Israel shortly afterward, including in Malkia and Ramot Naftali, communities that had just received aircraft intrusion alerts. There were reports of rockets falling in open areas in Israel. 
Smoke rises during an exchange of fire between the IDF and terrorists from the Hezbollah organization on the border between Israel and Lebanon, January 6, 2024. (credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)
Although Hezbollah has increasingly fired rockets and sent UAVs into Israeli territory from Lebanon since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War, sirens sounding as far south as Safed are rare. A second siren sounded in Safed shortly after the first.
Israel expected Hezbollah response
Israel has been bracing itself for a heavy response from Hezbollah since the killing of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri, the terrorist organization’s deputy leader outside Gaza, last Tuesday in an alleged Israeli drone strike in Beirut. Israel was also behind the assassination of the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, Wissam al-Tawil on Monday.
Some 80,000 Israeli civilians have been displaced since October and had to leave around 40 communities in the north. “Since Hezbollah began its attacks, the IDF has been responding by striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari noted in December. Go to the full article >>
end(
Jerusalem Post)
Hezbollah chiefs, head of drone operations killed in Israeli strike on car
UAV warnings and rocket sirens sounded across Israel on Tuesday morning.
By ALEX WINSTONJANUARY 9, 2024 09:45Updated: JANUARY 9, 2024 15:42
Three senior members of Hezbollah were killed in an Israeli UAV attack on a vehicle in southern Lebanon, according to media reports on Tuesday morning.
Two sources who spoke to Reuters said that the attack, which took place in Ghandouriyeh, was a targeted drone strike on a vehicle. As per Israeli media, one of those killed in the drone strike is the terrorist responsible for the organization’s drone operations.
Hassan Abeid al-Hussein Ismail, the head of Hezbollah’s drone operations in southern Lebanon, was reportedly responsible for the assaults of hostile UAVs into northern Israeli towns since October 7.
The targeted killing took Hezbollah’s total number of casualties up to 158, as per the terror organization.
Israel has been expecting a Hezbollah response since the assassination of the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, Wissam al-Tawil, on Monday.Hezbollah stated on Tuesday that they sent an attack drone to target the IDF’s Northern Command base near Safed. The IDF confirmed that a grounded UAV was detected at the base in the north of the country, with no damage and no casualties.
The IDF also stated that fighter jets attacked Hezbollah infrastructure in the village of Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon on Tuesday and that fighter jets were also dispatched to attack a squadron of UAVs launched from Lebanon.
Sirens alerting residents to a possible unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) intrusion sounded in the northern city of Safed and across northern Israel on Tuesday morning.UAV warnings were sounded in Dishon; Yiftah; Malkia; Mevuot Hermon Regional Council; Ramot Naftali; Avivim; Bar’am and Yir’on.Rocket sirens also sounded in northern Israel shortly afterward, including in Malkia and Ramot Naftali, communities that had just received aircraft intrusion alerts. There were reports of rockets falling in open areas in Israel.
Although Hezbollah has increasingly fired rockets and sent UAVs into Israeli territory from Lebanon since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War, sirens sounding as far south as Safed are rare. A second siren sounded in Safed shortly after the first.
Israel expected Hezbollah response
Israel has been bracing itself for a heavy response from Hezbollah since the killing of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri, the terrorist organization’s deputy leader outside Gaza, last Tuesday in an alleged Israeli drone strike in Beirut. Israel was also behind the assassination of the commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, Wissam al-Tawil on Monday. Some 80,000 Israeli civilians have been displaced since October and had to leave around 40 communities in the north. “Since Hezbollah began its attacks, the IDF has been responding by striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari noted in December.
end
SYRIA/ISRAEL/HAMAS
IDF kills Hamas rocket chief in Syria
By YONAH JEREMY BOBJANUARY 8, 2024 19:40Updated: JANUARY 8, 2024 19:41
The IDF on Monday night said it killed Hamas’s Syrian rocket chief Hassan Achasha in Beit Jan.
A statement said that Achasha had led rocket terror cells since the start of the war.
Further, the IDF said that it would not allow rockets to be fired into Israel from Syrian territory, even by militias, and that it would hold the Syrian government responsible.
It said it would act against any threat
END
LEBANON/SYRIA/ISRAEL/IRAN
(Times of Israel)
Syrian intel sources say Israeli strikes deadlier, more frequent since October 7
Multiple sources in country say recent strikes on Hezbollah, Iranian commanders have seen stepped-up intensity; one says: ‘They bomb everyone directly. They bomb to kill
Smoke billows above buildings after an alleged Israeli strike on the outskirts of Damascus on November 22, 2023. (AFP)
BEIRUT/AMMAN — Israel is carrying out an unprecedented wave of deadly strikes in Syria targeting cargo trucks, infrastructure, and people involved in Iran’s weapons lifeline to its proxies in the region, six sources with direct knowledge of the matter have told Reuters.
The sources, including a Syrian military intelligence officer and a commander in the regional alliance backing Damascus, said Israel had shifted strategies following Hamas’s October 7 massacres, when some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing around 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages — mostly civilians, and Israel’s subsequent military campaign aimed at destroying the Palestinian terror group.
Although Israel has struck Iran-linked targets in Syria for years, including areas where Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has been active, it is now unleashing deadlier, more frequent air raids against Iranian arms transfers and air defense systems in Syria, the sources said.
The commander in the regional alliance and two additional sources familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said Israel had abandoned the unspoken “rules of the game” that previously characterized its strikes in Syria, and seemed “no longer cautious” about inflicting heavy casualties on Hezbollah there.
“They used to fire warning shots — they’d hit near the truck, our guys would get out of the truck, and then they’d hit the truck,” the commander said, describing Israeli raids on arms transfers handled by Hezbollah before October 7.
“Now that’s over. Israel is now unleashing deadlier, more frequent air raids against Iranian arms transfers and air defense systems in Syria. They bomb everyone directly. They bomb to kill.”
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Smoke rises during an exchange of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah on the border between Israel and Lebanon, December 26, 2023. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in four civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of nine IDF soldiers. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
As of Sunday, Hezbollah had named 153 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 19 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 19 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.
The Israel Defense Forces did not respond to questions from Reuters about its escalating campaign. A senior Israeli official, briefing journalists on condition of anonymity, said Hezbollah had initiated this round of fighting with attacks on October 8, and that Israel’s strategy was one of retaliation.
Supporters of the Hezbollah terror group watch chief Hassan Nasrallah deliver a televised address on a large screen at a venue in Beirut on November 11, 2023 (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
Israel has warned it will no longer tolerate the presence of the terror group along the frontier, where it could attempt to carry out an attack similar to the massacres committed by Hamas on October 7.
Asked last month about a reported Israeli strike in Syria, Israel’s military chief said Israeli forces work throughout the region and take “whatever action necessary” to show the country’s determination to defend itself
Meanwhile, on Monday, the IDF said it eliminated a Hamas official in Syria who was responsible for launching rockets at northern Israel in recent weeks.
In a statement, the IDF said Hassan Akasha was killed in the southern Syrian town of Beit Jinn. It did not elaborate on how he was killed, though media reports suggested he was hit in a drone strike.
Iranian forces killed
Israel began striking Iran-linked targets in Syria years ago, but sources familiar with the strikes said it had appeared to avoid killing Hezbollah members if it could.
A regional intelligence officer said Israel feared a high casualty figure would prompt retaliation from Hezbollah in Lebanon against Israeli villages just across the border.
But with exchanges of fire now taking place on a daily basis following the October 7 attack, Israel is willing to be “less cautious and less restrained in killing Lebanese Hezbollah in Syria,” the officer added.
In a televised address on January 5, Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah said the group had lost “a number of fighters in Israeli shelling in Syria in several places in the last three months.”
“We had a formula before the [October 7] Aqsa Deluge operation — if they killed any of our brothers in Syria, we would respond on the Lebanon front — which was calm. Practically, this formula’s conditions have changed — why? Because the whole front is lit up now,” he said.
An image grab from Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV taken on January 5, 2024, shows the head of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised speech, with a picture of killed Hamas’s deputy chief Saleh al-Aruri to his left. (Al-Manar / AFP)
An alleged Israeli drone strike on December 8 killed three Hezbollah fighters planning possible operations in northern Israel, and another strike on Quneitra in southern Syria targeted two Hezbollah fighters responsible for weapons transfers, the commander in the pro-Syrian alliance said.
Four more were killed in late December in a strike on buildings and trucks being used by Iran-aligned militia groups along Syria’s eastern border with Iraq.
The strikes have also hit Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria. One in early December killed two Guards members, and another on December 25 killed a senior adviser to the Guards who was overseeing military coordination between Syria and Iran.
“He would never have been killed before the new reality that came into force after October 7,” said one source familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking and operations in Syria.
Threat to Assad
Others have hit infrastructure in southern Syria: one air defense base was struck on December 28 after an anti-aircraft defense system was also hit.
The Syrian intelligence officer said the strikes were hitting defensive equipment even before troops could install it. The airports in Syria’s capital Damascus and northern Aleppo, which Iran has used to transfer arms, have been rendered almost continually out of service by strikes.
Mourners attend the funeral of Razi Mousavi, a senior commander in the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who was killed on December 25 in an alleged Israeli strike in Syria, in Tehran, on December 28, 2023. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
“Israel is telling [Syrian President Bashar] Assad: you are allowing Iranians and Hezbollah to transfer weapons and entrench themselves — so we will disrupt your lifeline and you will find yourself in a tight spot,” the regional intelligence source said.
Israel has repeatedly said it does not seek a second war front in Lebanon or Syria.
Despite the intensification, the Syrian military — which leaned heavily on both Hezbollah and Iran while fighting rebels during its civil war — has not opened its own front.
“We don’t want to put ourselves in a state of confrontation or open war with Israel,” the Syrian intelligence officer said.
Assad himself was discouraged from taking any action in support of Hamas after he received threats by Israel, three sources with direct knowledge of the threat told Reuters.
Two of the sources said the threats of retaliation by Israel were delivered by the United Arab Emirates. A UAE official said such assertions were “baseless and unfounded.” There was no response from Syria’s information ministry to a request from Reuters for comment on the allegations.
The third source said the message resonated with Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah took that threat seriously, as it would have cost them everything they had built in Syria in recent years,” he said.
Emanuel Fabian and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
end
WEST BANK/ISRAEL/
Three terrorists killed in West Bank city of Tulkarm
(Jerusalem Post)
Three terrorists killed in Tulkarm, West Bank – report
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFJANUARY 9, 2024 02:16
Three terrorists were reportedly killed by IDF gunfire Monday night after reportedly being ambushed by the security forces, Israel Hayom reported, citing Arab media. Israeli forces are alleged to have entered the village of Akhtaba in the northern suburbs of Tulkarm and raided a house.
In the documentation of the incident distributed in the Arab media, six Palestinians were seen fleeing from the courtyard of the house when they met with IDF gunfire, from which three of them were killed.
Earlier in the evening, clashes and exchanges of fire developed in the town of Capin, north of Tulkarm. Tonight, several hundred residents of the city prepared for the funeral of the three terrorists and held a procession in which they recited Allah Akbar.
end
end
JORDAN/SYRIA/HEZBOLLAH
Jordan is now getting into the act as they launch strikes in Syria against drug smugglers
(Reuters)
Jordan launches strikes in Syria on Iran-linked drug smugglers — intel sources
By REUTERS
AMMAN — Jordanian jets conducted four strikes inside Syria early Tuesday in the second such raid within a week against suspected farms and hideouts of Iran-linked drug smugglers, regional intelligence sources say.
Jordan’s army has stepped up a campaign against drug dealers after clashes last month with dozens of people suspected of links to pro-Iranian militias, who were carrying large hauls over its border with Syria along with weapons and explosives.
Jordan and its Western allies have blamed Lebanon-based, Iran-backed Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian militia who control much of southern Syria as being behind the surge in smuggling.
Iran and Hezbollah have dismissed the allegations as a Western plot against Syria, which itself denies complicity with Iran-backed militia which opponents link to its security forces.
The sources confirm reports by Syrian newsportal Suwayda 24 that three strikes targeted leading drug dealers in the towns of Shaab and Arman in Sweida province near the Jordan-Syria border. The fourth strike hit a farm near the village of Malah.
Last Thursday, Jordan hit similar locations in Sweida, where officials suspect much of the cross-border smuggling operations take place.
END
USA/IRAQ/MILITANTS
USA has no plans on withdrawing troops from Iraq. They love their oil
(Reuters)
Pentagon says no plans to withdraw US troops from Iraq
By REUTERS
Illustrative: US Army soldiers stand outside their armored vehicle on a joint base with the Iraqi army, south of Mosul, Iraq, Feb. 23, 2017. (Khalid Mohammed/AP)
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says it’s not currently planning to withdraw its roughly 2,500 troops from Iraq, despite Baghdad’s announcement last week it would begin the process of removing the US-led military coalition from the country.
“Right now, I’m not aware of any plans (to plan for withdrawal). We continue to remain very focused on the defeat ISIS mission,” Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder tells a news briefing, using an acronym for Islamic State. He adds that US forces are in Iraq at the invitation of its government.
Ryder says he’s also unaware of any notification by Baghdad to the Department of Defense about a decision to remove US troops, and refers reporters to the US State Department for any diplomatic discussions on the matter.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office announced on Friday the moves to evict US forces following a US drone strike in Baghdad that was condemned by the government. The Pentagon said the strike killed a militia leader responsible for recent attacks on US personnel.
Sudani’s office released a statement saying a committee would be formed to “put arrangements to end the presence of the international coalition forces in Iraq permanently.”
“We stress our firm position in ending the existence of the international coalition after the justifications for its existence have ended,” Sudani was quoted as saying in the statement.
The US strike on Thursday, which came four years after another one in Baghdad that killed a prominent Iranian general, triggered outrage among Iran-aligned groups which demanded the government end the presence of the coalition in Iraq.
The strike was pre-authorized by US President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before the latter was admitted to a hospital on New Year’s Day, where he remains.
The US has 900 troops in Syria in addition to its troops in Iraq on a mission it says advises and assists local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large parts of both countries before being defeated.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, the US military has come under attack at least 100 times in Iraq and Syria, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones.
Sudani has limited control over some Iran-backed factions, whose support he needed to win power a year ago and who now form a powerful bloc in his governing coalition.
Last month, the United States also carried out retaliatory air strikes in Iraq after a drone attack by Iran-aligned militants that left one US service member in critical condition and wounded two others.
end
UKRAINE/RUSSIA
ROBERT H:
The propaganda that damned Ukraine – UnHerd
Good old American diplomacy at work sacrificing Germany’s industrialization for Russia’s benefit.
With friends like this who needs enemies? Today America is rudderless with a most incompetent group leading it to destroy decades of goodwill with zero understanding of what is happening.
Leads one to ponder whether one day America will wake up to find itself without friends.
end
Kiev-shit.jpg 893×890 pixels
The streets of Kiev overflowing with shit as sewers spill over. Meanwhile the kiev Major buys a 6MM pad in Germany for escape…. But yes they are winning the fight against Russia ..meanwhile innocent people are sent to die in Krynki on the Russian side of Dneiper River not because there is gain of territory but because they cannot allow the Russians to collect bodies as literally every square meter is covered with bodies and body parts.
It is a scene of a horror movie.
GLOBAL VACCINE/COVID ISSUES
Crooked New Zealand government fudged (hid) the huge injuries caused by the COVID vaccines
(Huber/EpochTimes//)
New Zealand Fudged The Data On How Kidneys Fare After COVID Vaccines
end
DR PAUL ALEXANDER
Did Lloyd ‘Darth Vader’ Austin (I wish well & speedy recovery & the Lord’s blessings) fall victim to his own vaccine mandate, using ineffective deadly mRNA technology (by Malone, Weissman, Kariko)
underpinning COVID mRNA vaccines (Bourla, Bancel, Sahin et al.)? Did he develop brain bleed, aneurysm? Did he develop clots due to the mRNA shot? Was his ‘secretive’ hospitilization due to mRNA shots?
| DR. PAUL ALEXANDERJAN 8 |
See Karen Kingston’s prior substack against the vaccine mandate by Lloyd Austin (Secretary).
Are we, am I unreasonable to ask this question, in this era of ‘DIED SUDDENLY’ after the COVID shot? Was Austin and his camp extremely reckless to not inform the White House as the White House claims? Given we have Russia-Ukraine, Israel-HAMAS, China moving on Taiwan, Iran threatening, Hezbollah threatening, Houthis firing missiles etc. and stopping Red Sea trade? All of these issues that on the best day, POTUS Biden does not know if he is standing or sitting or if he used Gorilla glue or fixodent for his dentures…is this not reckless? How do you see it? How reckless was/is this? Who is to be fired?
Is Biden INC. lying given the known fall-out given he, Austin, likely 100% took the mRNA Malone, Bourla et al. technology & vaccine?
I think we are living in the twilight zone…that the White House could say it does not know where or what’s happening with the Secretary of Defense who can take the nation to war etc. It is like telling me Bush could have investigated Cheney ‘fairly’ or you would trust your under-aged daughters with Bill Clinton at a sleep over, or that you would let you little sons go attend Michael Jackson’s sleepovers.
The Kingston Report
December 27, 2023: Following is a letter I was asked to write for Senator Ron Johnson to oppose the military vaccine mandate, specifically for the US Airforce Academy (USAFA). I sent the below letter on August 31, 2021. Excerpts from August 31, 2021 Letter…
END
If Biden wins a 2nd Term (& someone like Trump does not get in there to save America, the best option we got, like him or not), then Obama will serve his 4th term as POTUS; Obama runs America today;
you got to understand that Biden & Obama (Biden is completing Obama’s work) are ensuring that America is ‘transformed’! They both are doing it via North African & Middled Eastern islamists & Latinos
| DR. PAUL ALEXANDERJAN 8 |
| Biden INC. (Obama) is INVADING America, daily! A sitting POTUS is invading own nation, imagine that & republicans pull navel & toe flint; 30K Migrants Apprehended in Arizona in 2 weeks? Biden INC. is |
| DR. PAUL ALEXANDER·JAN 7 |
 |
| It is the ‘got-aways’ we must be concerned with’…near 2 million under Biden, we do not know their names or where they are in the US and among them, officials speculate at least 80 terrorists…already apprehended about 200 at the border trying to sneak in… |
| Read full storyEND COVID, the response, the mRNA vaccines (inception to deployment) was a military operation, operation warp speed (OWS) was a military operation; I was at HHS& as I look back today I can say, it was military, I was told they are there for logistics aspects of the roll-out; I was not ‘in the loop’ but I attended & saw enough to say it was MILITARY near 100%DR. PAUL ALEXANDERJAN 8 READ IN APP The floor that OWS ran out of in Washington was above my office, my floor and the persons I interacted with daily were near pure military, I mean full army and navy uniforms, arms etc. Full. Even scientists I spoke too were in military uniform.The military I dealt with were sound Americans, friends I made, I saw them doing their job, in earnest trying to fix the COVID madness; these people I dealt with wanted to save lives…my bosses, direct, wanted to save lives and I believe now were always out of the loop yet they ran things….I believe strongly that some bad people were orchestrating COVID, all of it, outside of the people who looked like the ones involved in the response, and used something they had created many years prior, that was already circulating, was not NOVEL, and used the over-cycled PCR process to detect something that they knew was there already, they released intentional or intentional accident, circulating beneath detection for was always operating with ILI, colds, flu (even causing deaths in high risk elderly which was expected and no one was the wiser, no case definition) & PCR was cycled so that 95% would be false positive and they knew it; they knew who was using the PCR, that they were shutting down society and the world and schools based on 95 of every 100 taken out of society and locked down were never ever positive for infectious, culturable, lethal consequential pathogen or anything…that is the key, I am not saying corona or not, but something they did and in some lab, I am not saying in Chapel Hill or Wuhan…I am leaning to Ukraine heavy. Some very bad people did something very bad, I think many players jumped into COVID for grift to make money, and some, to topple Trump…he was clueless as to the devastation of the response (lockdowns and closures that was coming that Fauci and Birx conned him into accepting) and the deadliness of the mRNA technology and subsequent mRNA vaccine…he did not know, he trusted, he was clueless yet blindly trusted. A mistake that hurt us. He has to own that and explain how his 2nd term will be different as to that, and how he would make people ‘whole’ again e.g. reverse liability protection under the PREP Act (Azar) and set up a victim compensation fund for those harmed by lockdowns and vaccine and ensure full accountability for any one linked to the vaccine and lockdowns that hurt American people.I have never and will not believe that he was ever nefarious. I even think they studied Trump and knew they could use this fraud of a non-pandemic, to topple him. Using the PCR process (never was a test), this was a PCR-manufactured false-positive asymptomatic lie of a non-pandemic that never ever was a pandemic. This was pure 100% fraud all along.ENDTrudeau, the menstruating tampon Prime Minister of Canada & his Canada now arresting reporters for asking questions that Trudeau’s government don’t wish to answer; Vigilant Fox on the case, big propshttps://twitter.com/i/status/1744513486997033263; reporter David Menzies ( @TheMenzoid) arrested because he asked Freeland a question…I will vote for the leader of Yemen before I vote liberalDR. PAUL ALEXANDERJAN 9 READ IN APP https://twitter.com/i/status/1744513486997033263Did you see any assault here? |
MARK CRISPIN MILLER
UK: NHS boss retires “due to ill health”; footballer Rikke Sevecke, 27, retires because of “heart condition”; Andrew Tate’s mother has a heart attack; BBC’s lolo Williams back on TV after heart attack
Sheffield Eagles full-back Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e “recovering from heart attack”; footballer Tom Holmes “diagnosed with rare form of cancer”; ITV soap “Emmerdale” adds cancer storyline
| MARK CRISPIN MILLERJAN 9 |
UNITED KINGDOM
NHS boss announces retirement due to ill health
January 8, 2024
The chief executive of a Staffordshire hospitals trust has announced she is to retire due to ill health.
News from Underground by Mark Crispin Miller is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Tracy Bullock, who will have led University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) for more than five years when she steps down in June, has had a 40-year career in the NHS.
She was diagnosed with a long-term health condition 18 months ago, and told colleagues she would be taking ill health retirement as a result.
She said she had given the decision considerable thought and that it had come with mixed emotions.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3gyll57ze0o.amp
Although Sevecke is Danish, she left her home country in 2020, to play in Britain:
Rikke Sevecke: Former Everton defender forced to retire because of heart issue
January 5, 2024
Former Everton defender Rikke Sevecke has been forced to retire from playing because of a heart condition.
The 27-year-old Denmark international joined the Toffees in 2020 before leaving last summer and then joining American side Portland Thorns.
In November, the Thomas said Sevecke would not be returning to the National Women’s Soccer League club in 2024.
“The past months I’ve had some tests done,” wrote Sevecke in a social media post.
“I recently got the results back which says that I have a heart condition.
“This means that I’m not allowed to continue playing professional football and I’ve therefore been forced to stop playing immediately.”
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/67890146
Andrew Tate loses bid to return to Britain after his mother suffered a heart attack
December 22, 2023
A spokesman for the brothers confirmed yesterday: ‘It is with heavy hearts that we share the urgent news that the mother of Andrew and Tristan [right, above] suffered a sudden heart attack this afternoon and was immediately rushed to the hospital. The situation is ongoing, and at this stage, it is our understanding that she will be undergoing emergency surgery.’ Paramedics were called to Eileen Tate’s home in Luton yesterday, just hours ahead of a crucial court hearing for Tate and his brother Tristan.
No age reported.
Winterwatch presenter returns to show a month on after heart attack
January 3, 2024
The Springwatch and Autumnwatch star has been a part of the Watches line-up since 2019, but he was forced to take a break after his health scare. He revealed his heart attack back in December, and admitted at the time that he was on a six-mile run when he started experiencing symptoms. After making it back to his car, Iolo managed to call the emergency services, but after being told about a lengthy wait, he then contacted wife Ceri to take him to hospital. The doctors were “mystified” about why he suffered a heart attack, and the nature expert continued: “It must have been some kind of fault that was in me anyway – but then why didn’t it manifest itself earlier? I just don’t know. Maybe getting older and still trying to push my body wasn’t the wisest thing to do, but it’s a run I’ve done twice a week for 15 years.”
No age reported.
Bradford Bulls’ Tom Holmes diagnosed with rare form of cancer
January 5, 2024
West Yorkshire – Bradford Bulls ace Tom Holmes [right] has announced via social media that he has been diagnosed with Subcutaneous Panniculitis-Like T-cell Lymphoma (SPTCL), a rare form of cancer. The 27-year-old – who has also played for Castleford Tigers, Featherstone Rovers & Huddersfield Giants among others – confirmed the diagnosis with a post on his Instagram account – @tomholmes96. Holmes wrote: “There’s been a lot of speculation recently about my health, so just wanted to let people know from myself personally what’s actually going on. I saw rapid decline in my health just as the season ended. After countless appointments, hospitals visits, biopsies & scans, the specialists told me to prepare for the worst & informed me that what we’re looking at is an extremely rare type of cancer (SPTCL) which would be treated by chemotherapy. This cancer effects less that 1% of people, so due to this, there is so much unknown still by the doctors themselves. There is still more testing I’ve got to go through & we’re working on a treatment plan. I’m trying to remain hopeful as the specialists are still looking at all options in the small hope that there’s something less sinister at play, however it’s looking less likely to be anything else at the moment & chemotherapy would have to start soon.”
Sheffield Eagles full-back Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e recovering from heart attack as Championship club issue statement
January 1, 2024
Sheffield Eagles full-back Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e has suffered a heart attack, and is now in the recovery process, with the Championship club this morning issuing a statement confirming the same. That statement – which came via their club website – reads as follows: “Over the Christmas break, QLT suffered a heart attack following a training session away from the club. Q has received excellent medical care and we are pleased to say that doctors were able to successfully sort the problem and he is now on the road to recovery.”
No age reported.
Art imitates life:
Emmerdale reveals heartbreaking cancer diagnosis for Chas
January 7, 2024
Emmerdale [ITV] has announced an emotional breast cancer storyline for Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter), who is devastated when she discovers a lump in her breast.
Chas’s diagnosis will be heartbreaking and frightening for her, especially since her mother Faith Dingle’s (Sally Dexter) from the same disease.
Over the coming weeks, the barmaid will be seen having a fun fling with the village doctor Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) until he tells her he has felt a lump in her breast.
His announcement shatters the mood, and once alone Chas is consumed with fear. Although Dr Liam does his best to reassure her that it could be a cyst or something benign and not cancer, he does insist she follow this up without delay by making an appointment to see her GP.
Following a trip to the breast clinic for diagnostic tests, Chas is given the nightmare news that she has triple negative breast cancer.
Distraught by the news, Chas initially decides to keep her diagnosis to herself. As a mother to young daughter Eve, she is keen to stay healthy, and with her mother’s history running through her mind, Chas is well aware of the potential implications.
END
END
SLAY NEWS
| The latest reports from Slay News |
| United Nations Demands $150 TRILLION to Fight ‘Climate Change’The United Nations (UN) is demanding that taxpayers around the world cough up a staggering $150 trillion to fight “man-made climate change” – a fabricated “crisis” that the unelected globalist organization helped to create.READ MORE |
| New Epstein Docs Confirm Blackmail Tapes Exist, Cleary Show Faces of Bill Clinton, Prince AndrewThe latest installment of the Jeffrey Epstein document dump dropped on Monday, revealing explosive new allegations.READ MORE |
| Farmers Rise Up, Bring Germany to a Standstill with Anti-Globalist ProtestsFarmers across Germany have risen up against their government’s globalist agenda by bringing the country to a standstill with massive nationwide protests.READ MORE |
| Mark Ruffalo Tries to Smear Trump with Fake AI Images, Blames Elon Musk When He’s Caught: ‘So Much Disinformation’Leftist Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo shared fake AI-generated images on social media in an effort to smear President Donald Trump and his supporters.READ MORE |
| Obama Panics, Calls on Biden’s Campaign to ‘Aggressively’ Target TrumpFormer President Barack Obama appears to be panicking over the 2024 election as he “worries” about the Democrats’ chances.READ MORE |
| Biden’s FBI Makes Three More Jan 6 ArrestsDemocrat President Joe Biden’s weaponized FBI is still arresting people over the Capitol protest of Jan. 6, 2021.READ MORE |
| More Evidence of Links Between Epstein and Clintons ExposedNew evidence has emerged that directly links Jeffrey Epstein with the Clinton family.READ MORE |
| Washington Post Doomed amid Failing Business Plan, Massive LossesThe Washington Post appears to be doomed as the left-wing newspaper continues to face major losses, a new report has revealed.READ MORE |
| FAA Grounds over 170 Boeing Jets after Alaska Airlines IncidentThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded more than 170 Boeing planes, sending shockwaves through the aircraft industry.READ MORE |
| ‘Caddyshack’ Star Cindy Morgan Dead at 69Actress Cindy Morgan, who was best known for her roles in “Caddyshack” and “Tron,” has died at the age of 69.READ MORE |
EVOL NEWS
| Nurse Confirms Hospitals Killed Patients to Boost Covid DeathsREAD MORE… |
| LATEST NEWS: |
| Lauren Boebert’s ex-husband calls cops on her for ‘FIGHTING’ himRead more…Trump Dominates DeSantis in 2 Florida County GOP Straw PollsRead more…Michigan GOP descends into chaosRead more…Largest U.S. radio company Audacy files for bankruptcy protectionRead more…First US moon mission in decades to launch with NASA science, human remains on boardRead more…Speaker Johnson announces top-line spending deal to avoid government shutdownRead more…Congressional leaders announce agreement on topline spending levels, a key step to averting shutdownRead more…Mike Pence Doesn’t Believe FBI Was Responsible For January 6thRead more… |
NEWS ADDICT
| Model Found Dead after Being Taken to ‘Epstein Island’ with Powerful Elites as a TeenA famous Russian model had been taken to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean to “meet” powerful elites and celebrities before she was found dead at the bottom of the New York City skyscraper, newly unsealed court documents have revealed.READ THE FULL REPORT |
| Kari Lake Calls On House Republicans to Do Whatever It Takes to Stop Border CrisisIn an appearance on Fox News this morning, Arizona GOP U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake called on Republicans in the House of Representatives to do whatever it takes to stop the border crisis.READ THE FULL REPORT |
| Pelosi Refuses to Answer Whether Trump Is ‘Eligible’ to Be President‘RNC Research’ shared a clip from ABC’s ‘This Week’ with host George Stephanopoulos.READ THE FULL REPORT |
| U.S Scientists Held Secret Meeting with Covid ‘Batwoman’ Right Before Start of PandemicShortly before the disastrous outbreak in her home Wuhan, the Chinese scientist who oversaw controversial research at the facility suspected of causing Covid attended a secret meeting with the US government to seek support for a project that would go on to supercharge coronaviruses. Zhengli, known as ‘Batwoman’ for her work on virus sampling and sequencing in the animals, has …READ THE FULL REPORT |
LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES
MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK
Office Space
TUESDAY, JAN 09, 2024 – 10:40 AM
By Philip Marey, Senior US Strategist at Rabobank
The 10 year US treasury yield has been moving sideways around 4.0% since Friday’s contradictory data releases from the US, with a stronger than expected Employment Report which was followed by a weak ISM services survey. We will probably have to wait until Thursday’s US CPI data for new direction.
Meanwhile, the office space vacancy rate in the US has reached its highest level since 1979. In the fourth quarter of 2023 19.6% of office space in major US cities was not leased according to data collected by Moody’s Analytics.
The increase in remote work since the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a large decline in demand for office space, despite increasing attempts to get Americans back in the office. What’s more, on the demand side the stock of office space in the US is the result of earlier booms in commercial real estate construction. The last boom took place between 2012 and 2017, when demand for commercial real estate loans strengthened. On the supply side, lending standards loosened between 2012 and 2015. This era coincides with a strong rise in the commercial real estate price index, which may have motivated banks to expand lending. Loan standards tightened during the pandemic, then loosened again when the economy rebounded, but have tightened since 2021.
Since the Great Recession, commercial real estate prices have more than doubled in nominal terms, but have moved sideways since 2021. This suggests that prices have reached a plateau. However, in recent years inflation has obscured the movement of commercial real estate prices in real terms, which shows a peak in 2021, but since then there has been a decline, almost to the level during the COVID-19 pandemic. In other words, commercial real estate prices are already failing to keep up with inflation. Is this an indication that the commercial real estate bubble is already deflating? With nominal commercial real estate prices remaining elevated, most of the nominal price correction is likely still to come. Since small banks are heavily exposed to commercial real estate, the enduring problems at small banks and the fragility of commercial real estate could provide a dangerous mix that could explode during a recession. For more details, we refer to The commercial real estate-small bank nexus.
Meanwhile, there is still the threat of a partial US government shutdown on January 19. On Sunday, Congressional leaders presented a deal on the top line figure for federal spending in fiscal year 2024 of $1.66 trillion. However, the deal between House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (Democrat) was not received well by the hardliners among the House Republicans. First of all, they would have preferred a substantial cut to the spending level. In addition, many complain that the deal does not include increased border security measures, while some would have liked the inclusion of anti-abortion measures as well. However, Johnson has taken a bipartisan approach and therefore the deal has been made attractive to moderate Democrats and Republicans. Congress now has to approve the 4 appropriations bills needed to avert a partial government shutdown on January 19. The next deadline follows on February 2, when the remaining 8 appropriations bills are due.
END
7//OIL ISSUES//NATURAL GAS ISSUES//ELECTRICAL GRID ISSUES// RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES//USA AND GLOBE
END
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//
ARGENTINA/
END
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0930 DOWN .0019
USA/ YEN 144.12 DOWN .102 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//
GBP/USA 1.2719 DOWN .0022
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3365 UP .0015 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 15 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 5.71 PTS OR 0.20%
Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 34.43 PTS OR 0/21%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.95% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL RED
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL RED
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG DOWN 34.43 PTS OR 0.21%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 5.71 PTS OR 0.20%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP .95%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 385.26 OR 1.16%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN
Gold very early morning trading: 2034.55
silver:$23.12
USA dollar index early TUESDAY morning: 102,18 UP 25 BASIS POINTS FROM MONDAY’s CLOSE.
TUESDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS
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And now your closing TUESDAY NUMBERS 11: 30 AM
Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 2.925% UP 2 in basis point(s) yield
JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.586% DOWN 2 AND 2//100 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/
SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.147 UP 2 in basis points yield
ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.838 UP 2 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.1815 UP 4 BASIS PTS
END
IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR TUESDAY
Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM
Euro/USA 1.0918 DOWN 0.033 or 33 basis points
USA/Japan: 144.31 UP 0.087 OR YEN UP 8 basis points/
Great Britain/USA 1.2699 UP .0041 OR 41 BASIS POINTS //
Canadian dollar DOWN .0053 OR 53 BASIS pts to 1.3404
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The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED (DOWN) …7.1568
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)…. (7.1859)
TURKISH LIRA: 29.94 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.586…VERY DANGEROUS
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 2 in basis points from MONDAY at 34.016% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.174 UP 1 in basis points ON THE DAY/12.00 PM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.362 UP 2 BASIS PTS.
Your 12:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: MON
DAY: CLOSING TIME 12:00 PM
London: CLOSED DOWN 8.82 PTS OR .11%
German Dax : CLOSED DOWN 28.49 PTS OR 0.17%
Paris CAC CLOSED DOWN 22.49 PTS OR 0.30%
Spain IBEX CLOSED DOWN 140.70 PTS OR 1.38%
Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 123,11 PTS OR 0.40%
WTI Oil price 71.52 12: EST
Brent Oil: 76.98 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 89.89; ROUBLE UP 1 AND 25//100
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.1818 UP 4 BASIS PTS
UK 10 YR YIELD: 3.8035 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA: 1.0928 DOWN 22 0.0022 OR 22 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2705 DOWN .0037 or 37 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 3.8190% UP 4 BASIS PTS//
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 0.590%
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 144.47 UP 0.234 //YEN UP 23 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3395 UP 0.0044 CDN dollar DOWN 44 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 72.14
Brent OIL: 77.52
USA 10 yr bond yield UP 2 BASIS pts to 4.016%
USA 30 yr bond yield UP 1 BASIS PTS to 4.181%
USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 1 PTS AT 4.366%
USA dollar index: 102.26 UP 33 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 29.92 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 89.89 UP 1 AND 25/100 roubles
GOLD 2029,45 3:30 PM
SILVER: 22.97 3:30 PM
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: DOWN 157.85 PTS OR 0.42%
NASDAQ UP 28.88 PTS OR 0.17%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 12.89 DOWN .19 PTS 1.45%
GLD: $187.94 UP .07 OR 0.037%
SLV/ $21.00 DOWN .13 OR 0.62%
end
USA AFFAIRS
TODAY’S TRADING IN GRAPH FORM
Bonds, Bullion, & Big-Tech Quiet As Data-Deluge Looms
BY TYLER DURDEN
TUESDAY, JAN 09, 2024 – 04:00 PM
Ahead of Thursday’s CPI print and Friday’s bank earnings, bond markets were quiet today, stocks were choppy, but the S&P ended unchish. Gold was also unch and crypto trod water.
The S&P 500 ended lower, Nasdaq outperformed as the cash open saw BTFDing from the overnight losses, but even the tech-heavy index only managed only very small gains thanks to a last second pop on the day. The Dow and Small Caps lagged…
MAG7 stocks extended yesterday’s rip – up to almost unchanged YTD…
Source: Bloomberg
As ‘most shorted’ stocks squeezed off the opening gap-down for the 3rd day in a row. But late-day saw selling pressure hit…
Source: Bloomberg
Gold ended unch…
Source: Bloomberg
Swap Spreads were flat…
Source: Bloomberg
Rate-cut expectations for 2024 were basically flat on the day…
Source: Bloomberg
The yield curve was flat…
Source: Bloomberg
A solid 3Y auction at 1300ET supported yields overall as they declined 1-2bps broadly speaking. Yields are lower on the week, led by the belly…
Source: Bloomberg
10Y tested down to 4.00% and bounced again…
Source: Bloomberg
2Y Yield range was extremely narrow – just 4bps from high to low…A very ‘inside’ day…
Source: Bloomberg
…one of the smallest ranges in years…
Source: Bloomberg
Ethereum decoupled completely (lower) from Bitcoin today as the world anticipated the SEC approving spot ETFs on the latter…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar rallied almost non-stop from the late-Asian session…
Source: Bloomberg
While the dollar was higher and gold flat, crude oil actually managed a rally today with WTI back above $72…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, there was some life in vol-land as the rest of the week is pricing in at least ‘some’ event risk…
Source: Bloomberg
Of course, that’s just another opportunity for 0-DTE traders to sell-the-straddle and stoke their Sharpe Ratios to the moon.
END
MORNING TRADING//
end
AFTERNOON TRADING
II USA DATA
END
III USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES
Secretary Of Defense Lloyd Austin Must Resign
MONDAY, JAN 08, 2024 – 11:00 PM
Authored by Joe Buccino via RealClear Wire,
The news that the U.S. Department of Defense failed to inform the American public that its Secretary of Defense was hospitalized in Walter Reed for four days represents a stunning breach of transparency standards. It is also a measure of reputational damage from which Secretary Lloyd Austin will never recover. He must be forced to resign.
The original admission – dropped at the end of a Friday to minimize exposure – that the Secretary received multi-day treatment for an unidentified elective surgery introduced immediate and intense scrutiny from national security reporters. It drew a formal admonishment from the Pentagon press.
The issue may have died there, but the subterfuge further grew the story. Additional reporting revealed some critical details not released by the Pentagon in its Friday announcement: Austin was in in-patient intensive care, generally reserved for those in immediate danger. Meanwhile, his Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, was vacationing in Puerto Rico.
Many questions now must be answered: Who was adjudicating the Pentagon’s support for the war in Gaza? Who was coordinating with Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant on behalf of the U.S. military? Who approved the Jan. 4 strike into Baghdad that killed a militia leader believed responsible for attacks on American troops? Who coordinated that strike and its aftermath with defense officials in the Middle East? These are the kinds of actions that require leadership from inside the Pentagon. Why did the Deputy Secretary of Defense remain on vacation with the Secretary incapacitated?
Further, still – what is the health status of our Secretary of Defense? Only a severe condition would introduce multi-day hospitalization amidst multiple crises in the Middle East, a log-jammed war in Ukraine, and new Chinese threats against Taiwan. The statement Austin released late Saturday in an attempt to tamp down the controversy reveals he is “on the mend” – whatever that means – and looks forward to “returning to the Pentagon soon.” How long is he out? This seems much more serious than elective surgery – the line the Pentagon press officers are sticking with. What is his medical status at age 70?
More questions still: What did the Pentagon press officers know, and when did they know it? Surely, they are aware of the protocol for publicly announcing medical procedures for cabinet officials. Who was in on the deception? The Secretary of Defense travels with an entire operations center around him at all times: note-takers, communications experts, and intelligence analysts. These people all report to defense officials, who report to other defense officials. It’s hard to believe the Pentagon’s press office was unaware that the Big Boss was in the hospital. In fact, hiding the Secretary of Defense during a tumultuous work week for the American military surely involved the collusion of multiple senior officials.
The Pentagon could have avoided all these questions and all of this controversy with a press statement upon Austin’s entering the hospital and updates throughout. U.S. Air Force Major General Pat Ryder held two press briefings during Austin’s hospital stay – he could have provided updates on his boss’ condition from behind the podium. More importantly, he should have told us who was running the Pentagon. It’s unclear how the nation is to believe anything coming out of the Pentagon press office in the coming months.
The American Secretary of Defense walks the earth with the most essential information any of us can have. He renders decisions on behalf of this country that kill many people in other countries. Lloyd Austin represents American power to much of the world. He runs an enterprise that costs American taxpayers north of $840 billion and employs more than three million workers. We get to know where our Secretary of Defense is at all times. We get to know when he’s on vacation. We get to know when he’s in the hospital.
Lloyd Austin cannot recover from this breach of trust. In fact, he cannot be trusted any longer. If he wants to keep his hospital visits private, he should be allowed to do so – as a private citizen.
Joe Buccino is a retired U.S. Army Colonel public affairs officer and the former communications director of U.S. Central Command. He also served as the spokesman for Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan.
END
IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM/WOKISM
END
FREIGHT ISSUES/USA
END
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
Victor Davis Hanson: A Culture In Collapse
MONDAY, JAN 08, 2024 – 07:00 PM
Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,
In the last six months, we have borne witness to many iconic moments evidencing the collapse of American culture.
The signs are everywhere and cover the gamut of politics, the economy, education, social life, popular culture, foreign policy, and the military. These symptoms of decay share common themes.
Our descent is self-induced; it is not a symptom of a foreign attack or subterfuge. Our erosion is not the result of poverty and want, but of leisure and excess. We are not suffering from existential crises of famine, plague, or the collapse of our grid and fuel sources. Prior, far poorer, and war-torn generations now seem far better off than what we are becoming.
What is happening to us is not due to an adherence to a too strict conservative tradition but is almost exclusively the wage of the progressive project.
In short, we are seeing fissures that America has not experienced in our cultural history since the Civil War. The radical Left apparently feels such chaos, anarchy, and nihilism are necessary to topple past norms and customs and thereby adhere to a socialist, equity agenda that no one in normal times would stomach.
Some of the decay is existential and fundamental; some anecdotal and illustrative. But either way, while decline came about gradually over decades, its sudden and abrupt chaos during the three years of Biden’s presidency has shocked Americans.
Financial Implosion
As long as interest rates were de facto zero, both parties ran up gargantuan debt. Now the national debt has hit $34 trillion. But two odd things have also happened under the Biden administration that are beginning to undermine the very existence of the U.S. financial system:
1) Interest rates have soared from de facto zero and are on a trajectory to 5.5%—meaning that the interest on the debt, in theory, in the not too distant future will require 20 percent of the annual budget, squeezing out both entitlements and defense.
2) Yet the upcoming rendezvous with economic Armageddon has not slowed a Biden administration intent on borrowing nearly $2 trillion in the current fiscal year.
The public is baffled: is the Left playing chicken with us? Is the strategy to “gorge the beast,” thereby demanding even higher federal taxes, which, combined with many state taxes, now exceed 50 percent of one’s income?
Is the goal massive “redistribution” by ensuring “equity” by gouging the middle class and rich? Or is the left’s goal more nihilistic: to force a remedy for insolvency by ensuring high inflation, renouncing government debt, or government appropriation of private capital?
Military Crises
Americans have lost deterrence abroad.
Confusion reigns among the public over why the Biden administration fled from Afghanistan, leaving behind billions of dollars of munitions and equipment in the hands of Taliban terrorists. Why did it allow a Chinese spy balloon to traverse the continental U.S. with impunity?
And why did Biden signal to Russia when preparing an invasion of Ukraine that our reaction would depend on the magnitude of Putin’s offensive? Why has military recruitment cratered, shorting the Pentagon of thousands of soldiers?
Why do Iranian proxies attack almost daily U.S. installations abroad and ships in the Red Sea, apparently without fear of reprisal? Why did Hamas slaughter Israelis on October 7? What explains our indifference or ennui?
Is the answer a deliberate effort to curb supposed American “arrogance” by once more leading from behind? Are we rebooting the Obama Administration’s bankrupt idea of empowering an Iranian crescent from Teheran to Damascus to Beirut to Gaza to ensure “creative tension” between Israel and the moderate Arabs and Persian-led theocratic Shiites?
Why do our officer classes rotate in and out of lucrative military consultantships, lobbying billets, and board membership on corporate defense contractors—as if their innate talents rather than their lifelong contacts with current serving procurement officers earned their exorbitant fees?
Why did our retired four stars with disdain violate the uniform code of military justice by serially and publicly trashing the commander in chief? Why has the Pentagon revolutionized the entire system of recruitment, promotions, and tenure in the armed forces by predicating them in large part on race, gender, and sexual orientation rather than merit or battlefield efficacy? Did we learn anything from the old Soviet commissariat system? Would we prefer to lose a war by promoting equity than win one by ensuring liberty?
Why did the top brass go after supposedly “insurrectionist” white males (who died at twice their demographics during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan) in the military, only to discover from their own internal investigations that no such cabal of “domestic terrorists” existed, and only to drive out thousands more of the maligned by stupidly requiring COVID vaccinations from those with naturally acquired immunity?
In sum, the U.S. will either undergo a post-Vietnam-like revolution in the military or, in late Roman imperial fashion, our armed forces will be unable to defend the interests or indeed, the very safety, of the U.S.
Race
Why, when so-called non-white ethnicities and races were achieving parity with or exceeding the majority population in per capita income and when racial intermarriage was commonplace, did we blow up the values of the civil rights movement and revert to precivilizational tribalism? Who were the sophists who convinced us that racially segregated dorms, safe spaces, and graduations, or using race as an arbiter of admissions and hiring, were not racist?
When did we lump together an entire cadre of diverse ancestries, ethnicities, religions, politics, classes, and values and dub them all “white,” and then smear them collectively in stereotypical fashion? When did we calibrate race as the chief determinative factor in our identities? Have we become premodern tribal people—feuding clans right out of the Norse sagas, ghosts of the Balkans nursing ancient grievances and hatreds? Since when in history has a nation’s “diversity” ever been preferable to its “unity”?
The Sexes
Did anyone in, say, 2004 believe that in just twenty years, the Left would try to mainstream the previously rare medical malady of gender dysphoria into a transgendered civil rights issue by insisting on three rather than two sexes?
Would anyone have believed that leftists, gays, and feminists would have done their best to destroy a half-century of female athletic achievement by allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports and thereby erase the record performances of three generations of women?
Would anyone have believed that a feminist and accomplished swimmer like Riley Gaines would be cornered, swarmed, threatened, and barricaded in at a university for the crime of daring to state the obvious: that transgendered women are still, in terms of their musculoskeletal physiques and frames, males and thereby have no business competing in women’s sports?
Would anyone have believed that a gay senate aide would have engaged in passive, unprotected sex in a public and hallowed Senate chamber, filmed in graphic detail his act of sodomy, had it circulated among friends and social media, and then, when outrage followed, claimed victimhood by accusing those offended of being homophobic toward him and his active homosexual partner?
Lawlessness
We are witnessing the steady erasure of jurisprudence, both civil and criminal. Does the law as we knew it a mere decade ago still exist? Massive looting with impunity is now largely exempt from justice in our major blue-state cities. In Compton, a van slams into a Mexican bakery as waiting crowds swarm, loot, and destroy the business. And for what? Some free pies and cakes? Or the nihilist delight in ruining the livelihood of a hardworking family business?
Such smash-and-grabs rob stores of billions of dollars in revenue each year. Can we even comprehend that employees and security guards are now ordered to stand down, as if the apprehension of such thieves might in some way seem illiberal or racist?
Does anyone even care that pro-Hamas protestors—many in America as guests on green cards and student visas—shouted support for the October 7 massacre of Jews, screamed for the destruction of Israel and the Jews in it, shut down the Manhattan and Golden Gate Bridges, defiled the Lincoln Memorial and White House gates, and disrupted Christmas celebrations in our major cities with complete exemption? Is storming the California legislature, and disrupting it in session, now a felony in the manner of those convicted after January 6, or do we have two sets of laws, dependent on ideology, race, and party affiliation?
In one of the most chilling videos in memory, Las Vegas Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus was recently violently attacked by an unshackled career felon defendant (with three prior violent felony convictions and facing additional new felony counts). The assailant, Deobra Redden, leaped over the justice’s bench with ease and began beating her and pulling her hair before two bailiffs, with great difficulty, managed to restrain him. Why was Redden out on parole given his violent record, and why was he not shackled given his toxic past? His self-admitted effort to kill the judge, his ability nearly to pull it off, and the record of past leniency accorded him are a commentary on a sick society.
But then again, in our major cities, George-Soros-subsidized prosecutors have all but destroyed civil society. They have been systematically releasing felons with violent criminal records on the same day they are arrested, freeing convicted felons early from prisons and jails, and sabotaging the law by arbitrary enforcement on the grounds that it is inherently either unfair or racist.
The post civilization civil bookend to that precivilizational subterfuge was a systematic legal effort, for the first time in American history, to remove in an election year the leading primary and general election candidate Donald Trump from various state ballots. The Soviet-like charge was that he was guilty of “insurrection,” a crime he has never been charged with, much less convicted of. Meanwhile, three state prosecutors and one special federal counsel—all leftists and some previously bragging in their own election campaigns of their intention to destroy Trump—have charged candidate Trump with an array of felonies. The vast majority of Americans agree Trump would never have been so charged had he just not sought to seek reelection—or had been a liberal Democrat.
Education
In ancient times, the President of the Harvard Corporation was a signature scholar and intellectual, befitting Harvard’s own self-regard as the world’s most preeminent university. No longer.
Now-resigned president Claudine Gay’s meteoric career was based on a flimsy record of a mere 11 articles—the majority of them plagiarized. Her entire career was fueled by the tired pretext that the privileged Gay was somehow deserving of special deference given her race and gender.
Confronted with such corruption, the Harvard Corporation, its legal team, and 700 faculty sought to downplay Gay’s intellectual theft. Indeed, they smeared her critics as racist—only then to deal with her new billet as a professor of Political Science with a long record of plagiarism that was exempt from the sort of punishments dealt out to students and faculty for less egregious defenses.
How did Ivy League degrees so quickly become mostly certifications of ideological and woke orthodoxy? Or is it worse than that? Does a Stanford history major or Yale literature graduate know anything, respectively, about the Civil War or Shakespeare’s plays? Do they even know that we, the public, know that they don’t know?
Was Elizabeth Warren really Harvard’s first law professor of color? Was Claudine Gay truly an impressive and respected scholar of political science? Are the governing members of the Harvard Corporation the nation’s best and brightest?
How in less than five years did our elite universities destroy meritocracy, abolish SAT requirements, require DEI oaths and pledges, and mirror the worst commissariat institutions of the old Warsaw Pact nations and Soviet Union? How and why these elite universities blew themselves up in a mere decade will baffle historians for decades to come.
The End of Sovereignty
The Biden administration has shattered federal immigration law, as some 10 million illegal entries will have crossed unlawfully and with impunity in the first Biden term—all by intent. The southern border is not merely porous; it no longer even exists.
Did the Left want new constituents? New entitlement recipients to grow government and raise taxes on the clingers and deplorables?
Did it want a larger DEI base to replace the steady exodus of non-whites from left-wing agendas? Does it shun sovereignty, preferring a global village without arbitrary borders? Do these utopians in Malibu and Martha’s Vineyard similarly feel their own yards and grounds need no walls, no barriers, and no boundaries to deny the underprivileged their rights to enjoy what the predatory classes possess?
In this new America of ours, Joe Biden is hale and savvy, while Hunter did nothing wrong.
Our heroes are Dylan Mulvaney, Gen. Rachel Levine, and the two Sams, Bankman-Fried and Brinton.
In today’s America, Karin Jean-Pierre is truthful, while Alejandro Mayorkas is honest. An innocent and saintly George Floyd was randomly murdered; his death proof of systemic police racism. And defunding the police brought calm and quiet, in the way our border is secure and the homeless are mere victims.
Dr. Jill is an impressive academic. Oprah and LeBron are the downtrodden and victimized. Gen. Mark Milley is a brave maverick, and so is Adam Schiff. The flight from Afghanistan marked a brilliantly organized retreat.
The Chinese balloon really did not take too many pictures of sensitive areas. January 6 was an armed insurrection, preplanned by fiery conspirators and revolutionaries. Ashli Babbitt deserved to be blasted in the neck for entering a broken window.
Kamala Harris is a wordsmith. Russian collusion really happened. So did Russian laptop disinformation. Christopher Steele’s dossier was mostly true, in the fashion of Claudine Gay’s dissertation and Barack Obama’s memoir. And 51 former intelligence authorities bravely came forward to offer their expertise in certifying that Hunter’s laptop was cooked up in Moscow.
With all this, what do we think the Iranians, Putin’s Russians, the communist Chinese, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas now think of the United States?
That we are the nation that won World War II or fled from Afghanistan? Did the eight million who broke our laws and simply walked across our border respect us, fear us, admire us, or come here to manipulate and use us? Did Hamas appreciate the hundreds of millions of dollars we gave them, in the same way Iran was friendlier after we lifted the sanctions?
In sum, American civilization has been turned upside down, and we have a rendezvous soon with the once unthinkable and unimaginable.
end
USA// COVID//VACCINE
END
SWAMP STORIES
Corruption to the highest degree!
(zerohedge)
Atlanta Trump Prosecutor Accused Of Secret, Disqualifying Romance With DA Fani Willis
TUESDAY, JAN 09, 2024 – 08:15 AM
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis hired her secret lover to serve as special prosecutor in the Georgia racketeering case against Donald Trump and 18 other defendants, according to a Monday filing on behalf of Mike Roman, a defendant who led election day operations for the 2020 Trump campaign:
“[T]he district attorney and the special prosecutor have been engaged in an improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency of this case, which has resulted in the special prosecutor, and, in turn, the district attorney, profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers.”
The prosecutor is Nathan Wade, a private attorney in the midst of a divorce who “has little to no experience trying felony cases, much less complex RICO actions,” according to the 127-page filing which seeks to have the charges against Roman dropped and both Willis and Wade disqualified from further participation in the case.
According to the complaint, Wade has raked in at least $653,000 and upwards of $1 million for handling the high-profile case. By virtue of their relationship, that pile of taxpayer money benefits Willis, as they’ve traveled together to Florida, the Caribbean and Napa Valley, California, adding that Wade has also bought tickets for the pair to travel on Norwegian and Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
In addition to his $250 hourly rate, Wade has also billed Fulton County for thousands of dollars in air travel and hotel stays, according to invoices attached to the filing. He categorized them as interview and research trips.
The filing also alleges that Willis contracted with Wade contract without proper approval, as such a move requires a vote by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Roman’s lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant tells the Wall Street Journal her search of board meeting minutes found no indication his appointment was ever discussed, much less voted upon.
The timing of the transaction was rich: Wade filed for divorce the very day after his first contract with Willis began. The divorce is still pending, and Wade managed to have the proceedings sealed — for now. Merchant is asking for them to be unsealed.
Monday’s filing sums up the shadiness of the dealings nicely:
On the day before Wade filed for divorce, [Willis] entered into an agreement to pay Wade far above what any other prosecutor in her office was being paid, and she hid this agreement from Fulton County, despite Wade being the single biggest expenditure in her office for professional service contractors for both 2022 and 2023.
…
Wade is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to prosecute this case on her behalf. In turn, Wade is taking Willis on, and paying for vacations across the world with money he is being paid by the Fulton County taxpayers and authorized solely by Willis.
“It’s a bad look and it’s potentially criminal—again, assuming everything is true,” former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons tells the Journal. However, while Willis’s procurement of Wade’s services may have been illegal, Timmons doubts it would affect the indictment.
Willis has yet to comment on the accusations, and a spokesman says a response will come “via a filing with the court.” The filing contains plenty of documentation about Wade’s hiring and billings, but no evidence of the romantic relationship, beyond citing “sources close” to the couple.
Four defendants have pleaded guilty in the Fulton County case that alleges a conspiracy to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. Roman faces seven charges, including conspiracy to commit forgery, conspiracy to file false documents and racketeering.
And just when you thought it all couldn’t get any shadier, there’s also this gem in the heap of exhibits attached to the filing…
end
THE KING REPORT
| The King Report January 9, 2024 Issue 7155 | Independent View of the News |
| BOJ turned ‘net seller’ of stocks in 2023 A first since central bank started buying ETFs more than a decade ago The Bank of Japan… likely became a net stock seller in 2023 in a first since launching the measure in 2010… https://t.co/6MxQXA2CWq Oil drops sharply as Saudi price cuts overshadow Middle East tensions Brent crude falls by nearly 4% https://www.ft.com/content/44f94e0f-1e85-4ef3-a078-9b59b5bec26d @nglinsman: This chart strongly suggests that every time super=core PCE (core services less housing) falls far below US wage growth, as in 2009, it rebounds sharply thereafter. We see upside risks to US inflation going forward. To find out more, go to: https://t.co/GJbVKwqaRZ Consumer Credit Shocker: November Debt Soars After Second Biggest Surge In Credit Card Debt On Record- In November, consumer credit exploded higher by $24.75BN, blowing away expectations of a “modest” $9BN increase after the surprisingly subdued $5.8BN (upward revised from $.5.1BN) in October and the $4.3BN average of the past 6 months. This was the biggest monthly increase since last November, and was the first $20BN+ print since Jan 2023… https://t.co/r9Dz74tC8y Housing confidence jumps to highest level in 20 months Fannie Mae’s gauge of housing sentiment jumped 2.9 points in December to 67.2, its highest level since April 2022… https://t.co/VdUD1MJAK2 The NY Fed: Consumer inflation projections hit lowest in 3 years ( A lagging indicator) Inflation one year from now is expected to be at 3%, the lowest reading since January 2021, versus a projection of 3.4% in November, the regional Fed bank said in its latest Survey of Consumer Expectations. Poll respondents saw inflation three years from now at 2.6%, compared to 3% in November, while price pressures five years ahead were at 2.5% versus 2.7% in November… https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-consumers-see-smaller-inflation-160558328.html Fed Governor Bowman after the close: My view has evolved to consider the possibility that the rate of inflation could decline further with the policy rate held at the current level for some time. Should inflation continue to fall closer to our 2 percent goal over time, it will eventually become appropriate to begin the process of lowering our policy rate to prevent policy from becoming overly restrictive. In my view, we are not yet at that point. And important upside inflation risks remain… There is also the risk that the recent easing in financial conditions encourages a reacceleration of growth, stalling the progress in lowering inflation, or even causing inflation to reaccelerate… I remain willing to raise the federal funds rate further at a future meeting should the incoming data indicate that progress on inflation has stalled or reversed. Restoring price stability is essential for achieving maximum employment and stable prices over the longer run… https://t.co/6grBvJjBXq ESHs traded modestly higher during early Nikkei trading on the usual Sunday night buying. At 21:00 ET, ESHs commenced a decline that took ESHs to a daily low of 4796.00 at 4:34 ET. ESHs then began a rally that persisted, with only two modest interruptions, until they hit a daily high of 4803.00 at 15:54 ET. Fangs led the rally; the NY Fang+ Index soared 3.35%. Nvidia jumped 6.43% because it unveiled three new desktop graphic chips that purportedly allow designers and gamers to better utilize AI. Positive aspects of previous session Another instance of Nvidia AI hype induced manic buying of Fangs and trading sardines Abetted by Nvidia, the Monday Rally appeared Negative aspects of previous session Bonds declined modestly Ambiguous aspects of previous session How long can AI hype and hope drive stocks higher? First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Up; Last Hour: Up Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 4742.62 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 4764.54; 4699.82 BOJ Move Suggests Cut in Monthly Buying of Super-Long Bonds Maintaining the same amount of buying after it reduced the frequency of operations to three a month this quarter from four last quarter suggests the BOJ will decrease purchases for super-long debt for January as a whole if that pace is kept… https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-move-suggests-cut-monthly-015339614.html @RyanDetrick: It is quite rare for stocks to be lower during the Santa Claus Rally and first 5 days of a new year. ’24 is about to see it. Full yr up less than 3% on avg. There were some good returns in there, but something to consider. https://t.co/4Q1swM3wIJ Today – The Monday Rally, abetted by yet another bout of AI delusions, occurred. The usual suspects will try to extend the rally. We opined in yesterday’s missive: traders would play for the Monday Rally, stocks were extremely oversold on a trading basis, and the window for being fearlessly bullish would be open until traders position themselves for the release of the December CPI on Thursday. The S&P 500 500 Index low on Monday was 4699.82. This is near the triple bottom support that we highlighted a few times in recent missives. Ergo, this level has enhanced technical importance. ESHs are -4.00; USHs are -5/32; and Feb AU is +7.30 at 21:22 ET. Expected economic data: Dec NIB Small Business Optimism 91; Nov Trade Balance -$65.0B; Fed VCEO for Supervision Barr 12:00 ET S&P Index 50-day MA: 4551; 100-day MA: 4462; 150-day MA: 4457; 200-day MA: 4373 DJIA 50-day MA: 35,733; 100-day MA: 34,893; 150-day MA: 34,786; 200-day MA: 34,433 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope) S&P 500 Index – Trender trading model and MACD for key time frames Monthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4026.83 triggers a sell signal Weekly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4494.54 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 4783.04 triggers a buy signal Hourly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4720.56 triggers a sell signal @RNCResearch: CBS POLL: 75% of Americans “see the situation at the U.S./Mexico border as either a ‘crisis’ or a ‘very serious situation’” — a “notable increase” from previous survey. https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1744031054405464480 @EndWokeness: Biden’s approval on immigration stands at a record low 26%, his worst issue based on most polling data. Even the most liberal towns and cities are melting down over the crisis… They know this issue is hurting them politically. So why don’t they care? Because it’s a long-term investment. 8M illegals crossed since Biden took office (that we know of), which is more than the population of 38 states. Illegal crossings outnumber births in America right now. Every time an illegal migrant gives birth on US soil, that child automatically has the right to vote in 18 years due to birthright citizenship… There will come a time when Dems control Congress. This gives them the power to grant amnesty to tens of millions of illegals living here… They don’t care about what you think because they’re importing a new electorate of loyal voters. @elonmusk: Accurate analysis. This is illegal voter importation. Plain and simple. Family of pro-Trump rioter Ashli Babbitt hits US government with $30 MILLION lawsuit over her January 6 shooting death after Capitol police officer who shot her was exonerated Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt’s husband, Aaron, has filed a $30million lawsuit accusing the government of ‘wrongful death, assault and battery and various negligence issues’ She was shot and killed inside the Capitol building by then-Lieutenant Michael Byrd of the US Capitol Police. The lawsuit claims she was unarmed and had no unlawful purposes… https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12933419/Trump-rioter-Ashli-Babbitt-lawsuit-January-6-shooting.html @DC_Draino: Biden gave a speech at a black church in South Carolina where he was heckled and booed. Even when his team handpicks the venue, he still gets humiliated on national tv. https://twitter.com/DC_Draino/status/1744425042237128728 BBC: Biden seeks to rebuild black support at South Carolina church https://t.co/4GLUGYxWVc Biden reiterated several of his routine lies and this egregious whopper: “I’ve spent more time in the Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Delaware… than most people I know, black or white, have spent in that church because. That’s where I started a civil rights movement… No, I’ serious (when they were audible gasps from the congregation) …” (Where is the MSM on this lie?) https://t.co/AkAorH4UPj Each time Bill Clinton got ‘in trouble’ he ran to a black church; and like Biden, transparently pandered by bemoaning racism and/or white supremacy. Nikki Haley says Biden shouldn’t be ‘lecturing’ her about her Civil War gaffe as he ‘palled around with segregationists’ and ‘made racist comments’ and rips his ‘politicized’ speech at site of Charleston mass shooting https://trib.al/ENzfXg9 Fox’s @PhilipWegmann: Nikki Haley team sends timeline of Biden’s comments on race: “Before the media rubber stamps Biden’s politicized racial speech, it should take a look at his long and controversial record,” said @nachamasol. If a Republican “made the same comments…the media would lose its mind.” https://twitter.com/PhilipWegmann/status/1744425043352793416/photo/1 DeSantis rips Trump for saying Civil War ‘could have been negotiated’ https://t.co/vC5zGKTtKs Howard Stern who has gotten eight Covid shots & boosters & still wears masks, just got Covid and he can’t understand how it happened. https://t.co/YvXwJ6OslS Susan Sarandon joins NYC pro-Palestinian protest that blocked bridges, tunnel; over 100 arrested https://t.co/tS2YjvQDdh @DonutOperator: “Protestors” in NYC have now shut down the Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and The Holland Tunnel simultaneously while everyone is on their way to work. How should this be handled? (More severely than Jan 6 protestors that ‘trespassed’!) https://twitter.com/DonutOperator/status/1744387472430191033 @libsoftiktok: The FBI was warned about the trans Iowa shooter before the shooting. He had been posting disturbing messages on Discord and someone reported it to the FBI. The FBI never responded. https://t.co/4InYrGh4id Elon Musk says random drug tests didn’t find ‘even trace quantities’ for 3 years after report claiming illegal use https://t.co/VtJLFOEPZP Internal Secret Service records undercut another key J6 committee Democrat narrative Contradicting an oft-repeated narrative, the Secret Service plan for January 6 did not include a stop at the Capitol, Secret Service documents show… “The Committee’s principal concern was that the President actually intended to participate personally in the January 6th efforts at the Capitol, leading the attempt to overturn the election either from inside the House Chamber, from a stage outside the Capitol, or otherwise,” the committee wrote in its final report in December 2022 … All presidential trips are highly scripted because of the need for security. The Secret Service places assets at all locations where a president may go. That did not happen at the Capitol, according to the Secret Service records reviewed by Just the News, suggesting Trump’s alleged statements to the presidential aides two days earlier did not result in a change of plan… https://justthenews.com/government/congress/internal-secret-service-records-undercut-another-key-j6-committee-democrat Biden administration to tear down William Penn statue, make historic park more ‘welcoming’ and ‘inclusive’ – Penn – a Quaker – founded the province of Pennsylvania in 1682 in an attempt to provide a place that offered religious freedom since the Quakers were persecuted… “Like all Quakers, he was a pacifist, and he was adamant that his new colony would avoid the bloodshed and war between Indians and other English colonists that had occurred in New England and Virginia.”… http://dlvr.it/T14n9s @KeeleyFox29: Breaking Update: William Penn statue not being moved from the park on site of where Penn’s home stood in Old City Philadelphia. “No changes to the William Penn statue are planned.” The National Park Service has withdrawn the review of draft proposal to rehabilitate Welcome Park & closed public comment period. “The preliminary draft proposal was released prematurely & had not been subject to a complete internal agency review & is being retracted.” Victor David Hanson: A Culture in Collapse – In the last six months, we have borne witness to many iconic moments evidencing the collapse of American culture. The signs are everywhere and cover the gamut of politics, the economy, education, social life, popular culture, foreign policy, and the military. These symptoms of decay share common themes… We are seeing fissures that America has not experienced in our cultural history since the Civil War. The radical Left apparently feels such chaos, anarchy, and nihilism are necessary to topple past norms and customs and thereby adhere to a socialist, equity agenda that no one in normal times would stomach. Some of the decay is existential and fundamental; some anecdotal and illustrative. But either way, while decline came about gradually over decades, its sudden and abrupt chaos during the three years of Biden’s presidency has shocked Americans… In sum, American civilization has been turned upside down, and we have a rendezvous soon with the once unthinkable and unimaginable. https://victorhanson.com/americas-culture-in-collapse/ | |
GREG HUNTER
SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY
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