BLOG FOR TUESDAY FEB 20//GOLD CLOSED UP $16.15//SILVER WAS DOWN 33 CENTS TO $23.10//PLATINUM WAS UP $1.10 WHILE PALLADIUM WAS UP $34.15//GOLD COMMENTARIES TODAY FROM EGON VON GREYERZ AND PETER SCHIFF//CHINA LOWERS A KEY INTEREST RATE TRYING TO STIMULATE THEIR ECONOMY//ISRAEL VS HAMAS UPDATES//ISRAEL VS HEZBOLLAH UPDATES//WEST BANK UPDATES//HOUTHIS VS USA AND UK//UKRAINE LOSES A MAJOR CITY IN BATTLE WITH RUSSIA//USA DATA/COVID UPDATES//VACCINE INJURY UPDATE//DR PAUL ALEXANDER: PFIZER AND MODERNA TO STOP VACCINE PRODUCTION//SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT//
this week was China’s golden week. The crooks like to raid during this week. They tried and failed
Bitcoin morning price:, 52,350 UP 487 DOLLARS
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $51,984 UP 121 dollars
Platinum price closing $908.05 UP $1.10
Palladium price; $985.35 UP $34.15
END
SHANGHAI GOLD PREMIUM 53 DOLLARS/COMEX GOLD
SHANGHAI GOLD (USD) FUTURES – QUOTES
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.
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 2 657 C MORGAN STANLEY 5 661 C JP MORGAN 8 737 C ADVANTAGE 14 1 991 H CME 12
TOTAL: 21 21 MONTH TO DATE: 18,638
JPMorgan stopped 8/21 contracts.
FOR FEB.:
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR FEB/2024. CONTRACT: 21 NOTICES FOR 2100 OZ or 0,0653 TNNES
total notices so far: 18,638 contracts for 1,863,800 Oz (57.972 tonnes)
FOR FEBRUARY:
SILVER NOTICES 119 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 595,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 1185 for 5,925,000 oz
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Click here if you wish to send a donation. I sincerely appreciate it as this site takes a lot of preparation
END
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES//THEY ARE NOW RAIDING GLD AND SLV FOR PHYSICAL
GLD
WITH GOLD UP $16.15//
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ : HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .58 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/.
INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.39 TONNES
SLV//
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 33 CENTS AT THE SLV//
HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.385 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 435.008 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A GIGANTIC SIZED 2577 CONTRACTS TO 153,220 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS HUGE SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR HUGE RISE OF $0.53 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON FRIDAY. WE HAD ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AT THE COMEX SESSION BUT CONSIDERABLE SHORT COVERING AS THE PRICE OF SILVER ROSE APPRECIABLY. WE HAD A GOOD 409 T.A.S ISSUANCE AND THESE WILL BE USED FOR MANIPULATION LATER THIS MONTH/AS WELL AS TODAY. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CROOKS NEED A HIGHER SILVER T.A.S. TO CARRY ON THEIR CROOKED MANIPULATION.
CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT THAT THE CROOKS USE THE MID MONTH FOR MANIPULATION AS THEY SELL THEIR BUY SIDE OF THE CALENDAR SPREAD FIRST AND THEN KEEP THE SELL SIDE TO LIQUIDATE AT A LATER DATE. THUS WE HAVE TWO VEHICLES THE CROOKS USE FOR MANIPULATION AND BOTH ARE SPREADERS: 1) AT MONTH’S END/SPREADERS COMEX AND 2/ TAS SPREADERS, MID MONTH. TOTAL TAS ISSUED ON FRIDAY NIGHT: 409 CONTRACTS. DESPITE MANY COMPLAINTS THAT THE CROOKS HAVE VIOLATED POSITION LIMITS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE TAS ISSUED HAVE A VALUE OF ZERO (AS TO POSITION LIMITS FOR OUR CROOKED BANKERS). THE PROBLEM OF COURSE IS THAT THE CROOKS DO NOT LIQUIDATE THE TAS TOGETHER BUT SELL THE BUY SIDE FIRST AND THEN LIQUIDATE THE SELL SIDE TWO MONTHS HENCE. IT IS OBVIOUS MANIPULATION TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE BUT IT NATURALLY FELL ON DEAF EARS WITH OUR REGULATORS (OCC) WHEN THEY RECEIVED OUR COMPLAINTS. IT THUS LOOKS LIKE THE FED (GOV’T) IS BEHIND ALL OF THESE TRADES.
WE HAVE NOW SET ANOTHER RECORD LOW AT 114,102 CONTRACTS ///JULY 3.2023// OUR BANKERS WITH THE HELP OF SPECULATORS AND HIGH FREQUENCY TRADERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT ROSE BY $0.53), AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A GIGANTIC SIZED GAIN OF 3659 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES BUT WITH A MUCH HIGHER PRICE. THE SHORTS EXITED THEIR SHORTFALL AS FAST AS THEIR FEET COULD CARRY THEM.
WE MUST HAVE HAD:
A HUGED SIZED 1082 ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 3.535 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE) ACCOMPANYING A STRANGE 89 CONTRACT ISSUANCE FOR EX. FOR RISK FOR 445,000 OZ ON FIRST DAY NOTICE/ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTAL REMAINS THE SAME AT ; 6.98 MILLION OZ
//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 6.98 MILLION OZ
/ HUGE SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/HUGE SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) GOOD SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 409 CONTRACTS)/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL -REMOVED A HUGE 608 CONTRACTS //
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS FEB. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF FEB
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 13 days, total 7207 contracts: OR 36.036 MILLION OZ (554 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 30.625 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 : 78.655 MILLION OZ//
FEB /2024 : 36.036 MILLION OZ.
RESULT: WE HAD A MEGA GIGANTIC SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 2577CONTRACTS WITH OUR GAININ PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//FRIDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A HUGE EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 1082 ISSUED FOR MARCH 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 FEB. OF 3.535 MILLION OZ ACCOMPANIED BY FIRST DAY NOTICE OF 445,000 OZ EX. FOR RISK FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTAL REMAINS THE SAME AT 6.98 MILLION OZ
NEW STANDING 6.98 MILLION OZ /// WE HAVE A MEGA GIGANTIC GAIN OF 3659 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES WITH THE GAIN IN PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A GOOD SIZED 409 CONTRACTS//HUGE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE FRIDAY COMEX SESSION/// WITH MAJOR SHORT COVERING FROM OUR SPEC SHORTS (DRAMATIC PRICE OF SILVER RISE) . THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE FRIDAY NIGHT (409) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE//PROBABLY TODAY., .
WE HAD 119 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 595,000 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 STRONG SIZED 5,455 CONTRACTS TO 407,111 AND FURTHER FROM THE RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,733 AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110, BUT CLOSER TO OUR ALL TIME LOW OF 390,000 CONTRACTS.
THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY: – REMOVED 112 CONTRACTS
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI ( 5455 CONTRACTS) DESPITE OUR $8.60 GAIN IN PRICE//FRIDAY. WE ALSO HAD A RATHER LARGE INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR FEB. AT 49.773 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE ACCOMPANIED BY FIRST DAY NOTICE : 55,400 OZ EX. FOR RISK //THUS INITIAL STANDING FOR FEB: 51.494 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 900 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTAL OF GOLD STANDING LOWERS TO: 60.1149 TONNES // ALL OF THIS HAPPENED DESPITE OUR $8.60 GAIN IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A FAIR SIZED LOSS OF 3715 OI CONTRACTS (11.555) PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 1741CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 406,999
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED DECREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 3715 CONTRACTS WITH 5455 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR SIZED 1,741 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 3715 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A FAIR SIZED 3602 CONTRACTS.
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (1741 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE STRONG SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (5455) //TOTAL LOSS FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 3715 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 FEB. AT 49.773 TONNES PLUS FIRST DAY NOTICE OF 1.723 TONNE OZ EX. FOR RISK FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 900 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW STANDING LOWERS TO 60.1149 TONNES. / 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION // 4) STRONG SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST LOSS/ 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: GOOD T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 2728CONTRACTS//MAJOR SHORT COVERING
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023-2024 INCLUDING TODAY
FEB.
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF FEB. :
TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 44.024 CONTRACTS OR 4,402,400OZ OR 136.93 TONNES IN 13TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3523 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 13TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 136.93 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 136.93/3550 x 100% TONNES 3.85% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION
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: 291.76 TONNES (WILL BE MUCH GREATER THAN LAST MONTH.//3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EX FOR PHYSICAL)
FEB’24: 136/93 TONNES (SHOULD BE A WEAKER ISSUANCE MONTH)
SPREADING OPERATIONS
(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS
SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF FEB. 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 ROSE BY A MEGA HUMONGOUS SIZED 2577 CONTRACTS OI TO 153,220 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 6 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023
EFP ISSUANCE 1082 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MARCH 1082 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 1082 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 345 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 1082 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,
WE OBTAIN A MEGA GIGANTIC OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 4267CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 21.325 MILLION OZ
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 12.19 PTS OR .42% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 91.90 PTS OR .57% /The Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 106.77 PTS OR 0.28% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.02% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UIP 7..1943
//OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED UP TO 7.2035 /Oil UP TO 78.83 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN AT 82.76/ Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN STRONGER
1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 5455 CONTRACTS TO 406,999 DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $8.60 WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY TRADING. WE ARE GETTING AWFULLY CLOSE TO OUR LOW OI OF 390,000 CONTRACTS
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB..… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 1741 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : APRIL 1741 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 1741CONTRACTS
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE LOST THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 3715 CONTRACTS IN THAT 1741 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 5455 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $8.60 FRIDAY 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 FRIDAY NIGHT WAS A FAIR SIZED 2728 CONTRACTS. THROUGHOUT THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, THE BANKERS SOLD OFF THE LONG SIDE OF THE SPREAD WHICH OF COURSE CONTINUES TO MANIPULATE THE PRICE OF GOLD SOUTHBOUND. (THEY KEEP THE SHORT SIDE OF THE CALENDAR/T.A.S. SPREAD WHICH WILL BE LIQUIDATED IN DAYS HENCE//.
// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: FEB (60.1149 TONNES) ( ACTIVE MONTH)
HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 24 MONTHS OF 2021-2023:
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
DEC. 47.073 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.707TONNES
TOTAL 2023 YEAR : 436.546 TONNES
JAN ’24. 22.706 TONNES
FEB. ’24: 60.1149 TONNES (INCLUDES 1.723 TONNES EX. FOR RISK)
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT GAINED $8.60 //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A FAIR SIZED LOSS OF3715 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES BUT WITH THE MUCH HIGHER PRICE. WE HAD TO HAVE HAD A STRONG SHORT COVERING. WE HAD A STRONG T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF FRIDAY’S TRADING . THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON FRIDAY NIGHT, WILL BE “PUT INTO THE BANK” TO BE USED AT A LATER DATE AT THE COLLUSIVE CHOOSING OF OUR BANKERS.
WE HAVE LOST A TOTAL OI OF 11.555 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR FEB. (49.773 TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE ALONG WITH AN EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 1.7235 TONNES. THIS WAS FOLLOWED WITH TODAY’S 900 OZ QUEUE JUMP (0.0279 TONNES//NEW TOTAL STANDING 60.1149: ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $8.60
WE HAD -REMOVED 50 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)
NET LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 3715 CONTRACTS OR 371500 OZ OR 11.555 TONNES. estimated volume today 204,439 poor
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
18,638 notices 1863,800 oz 57.972 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 deposits:
total dealer deposits: nil oz
total customer withdrawals: 1
i) Out of Manfra: 89,315.478 oz (2778 kilobars)
total withdrawal: 89,315.478 oz
we had 1 customer deposit
i) Into Loomis: 52,084.620 oz
Adjustments: 1 dealer to customer
a) Out of HSBC: 593,14 oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR FEB.
For the front month of FEBRUARY we have an oi of 156 contracts having LOST 210 contracts. We had 219 notices filed on Friday, so we GAINED 9 contracts or an additional 900 oz will stand for delivery at the comex.
We also had 554 notices filed under exchange for risk on first day notice for a total of 55,400 oz or 1.723 tonnes to which must be added to the delivery cycle.
Thus initial standing for gold for February is 50.136 tonnes + 1.723 tonnes = 51.859 tonnes. This was followed with today’s QUEUE jump of 900 oz//New standing 58.3919 tonnes + 1.723 tonnes = 60.1149 TONNES
March LOST 108 contracts to stand at 2670
APRIL lost 7198 CONTRACTS FALLING TO 318,948.
We had 21 contracts filed for today representing 2100 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 21 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 8 notice(s) was (were) stopped ( (received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the FEB. /2024. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (18,638 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB. (156 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 21 x 100 oz per contract equals 1,877,300 OZ OR 58.3919 TONNES + 1.723 Ex for Risk/prior = 60.1149 tonnes
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the FEB. contract month: No of notices filed so far (18,638) x 100 oz + (156) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (21) x 100 oz which equals 1,877,300 oz (58.3919 TONNES) + 54,400 oz (1.723 TONNES) ex. for risk/prior// NEW total standing OR 60.1149 TONNES
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR FEB: 60.1149 TONNES WHICH IS GREAT FOR AN ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR.
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 18,423,576.351 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 8,133,938.383 (252.99 tonnes).
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,289,637.963 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 6,733,463 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 209.43 tonnes
END
SILVER/COMEX
FEB 20/INITIAL
//2024// THE FEB 2024 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
53,323.960 oz
CNT Delaware
.
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil OZ
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
1,997,825.152 oz
hsbc ASAHI
No of oz served today (contracts)
119 CONTRACT(S) (595,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
122 contracts (610,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
1185 Contracts (5,935,000 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 2 deposits customer account:
i) Into HSBC: 191,216.652 oz
ii) Into ASAHI 1,806,708.500 oz
total customer deposits 1,997,825.152 oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 129.806 million oz/280.137 million or 46.42%
adjustment: 0
Comex withdrawals: 2
i)Out of CNT 50,432.960 oz
ii) Out of Delaware 2891.400 oz
total withdrawal: 53,323.960 oz
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 42.868 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 280.137 million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF FEB. /2023 OI: 241 CONTRACTS HAVING GAINED 0 CONTRACT(S). WE HAD 0 NOTICES FILED ON FRIDAY SO WE GAINED 0 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL NIL OZ OF SILVER CONTRACTS WILL STAND FOR DELIVERY AT THE COMEX
MARCH LOST 433 CONTRACTS TO 67,739
APRIL SAW A GAIN OF 6 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 60
MAY SAW A GAIN OF 2863 CONTRACTS UP TO 65,701.
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 119 for 595,000 oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 120,567 huge
Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 91,453 huge//
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in FEB. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 1185 x 5,000 oz = 5,925,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB. (241) and the number of notices served upon today 119 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the FEB/2024 contract month: 1185 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of FEB. (241) – number of notices served upon today (119 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the FEB contract month equates to 6.5350 MILLION OZ. + .445 MILLION OZ EX. FOR RISK PRIOR//NEW TOTAL 6.9800 MILLION OZ
New total standing: 6.9800 million oz.
There are 42.868 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!
FEB20/WITH GOLD UP $16.15 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 0.58 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.89 TONNES
FEB16/WITH GOLD UP $8,60 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.73 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.31 TONNES
FEB15/WITH GOLD UP $11.70 TODAY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 841.92 TONNES
FEB14/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.75 TODAY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 841.92 TONNES
FEB13/WITH GOLD DOWN $20.15 TODAY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 841.92 TONNES
FEB12/WITH GOLD DOWN $4.80 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A STRONG WITHDRAWAL OF 1.74 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 841.92 TONNES
FEB9/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.60 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A STRONG DEPOSIT OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 843.66 TONNES
FEB8/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.70 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 5.47 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 842.22 TONNES:
FEB7/WITH GOLD UP $0.40 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 4.04 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD. / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 847.69 TONNES:
FEB6/WITH GOLD UP $8.50 TODAY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/ / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 851.73 TONNES:
FEB5/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.85 TODAY SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT OF .58 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 851.73 TONNES:
FEB 2/WITH GOLD DOWN $17.95 TODAY SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF .58 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 851.15 TONNES:
FEB 1/WITH GOLD UP $5.00 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.73 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 851.15 TONNES:
JAN 31/WITH GOLD UP $16.40 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.01 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 852.88 TONNES:
JAN 30/WITH GOLD UP $6.50 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.16 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 854.89 TONNES:
TOTAL IN LAST 18 DAYS WITHDRAWAL OF 14.12 TONNES
JAN 29/WITH GOLD UP $8.70 TODAYHUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.88 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD// / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 856.05 TONNES
JAN 26/WITH GOLD DOWN $0.10 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 858.93 TONNES
JAN 25/WITH GOLD UP $2.50 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 858.93 TONNES
JAN 24/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.75 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: / //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 858.93 TONNES
JAN 23/WITH GOLD UP $3.95 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.02 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/ //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 858.93 TONNES
JAN 22/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.00 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/ //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 860.95 TONNES
JAN 19/WITH GOLD UP $8.15 TODAY:NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD //://INVENTORY RESTS AT 862.10 TONNES
JAN 18/WITH GOLD UP $14.85 TODAY:HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.30 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//://INVENTORY RESTS AT 862.10 TONNES
JAN 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $23.25 TODAY: BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF .549 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD.;//://INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.40 TONNES
JAN 12/WITH GOLD UP $31.65 TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD; A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 4.61 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//://INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.99 TONNES
GLD INVENTORY: 837.89 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
FEB 20/WITH SILVER DOWN 33 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.385 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 435.008 MILLION OZ
FEB 16/WITH SILVER UP 53 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 1.235 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 438.393 MILLION OZ
FEB 15/WITH SILVER UP 56 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 437.615 MILLION OZ
FEB 14/WITH SILVER UP 24 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 437.615 MILLION OZ
FEB 13/WITH SILVER DOWN 60 CENTS TODAY SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A SMALL WITHDRAWAL OF 0.504 MILLION OZ OZ OUT OF THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 437.615 MILLION OZ
FEB 12/WITH SILVER UP 14 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.921 MILLION OZ OZ OUT OF THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 438.119 MILLION OZ
FEB 9/WITH SILVER DOWN 4 CENTS TODAY SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A SMALL DEPOSIT OF 600,000 OZ INTO THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.040 MILLION OZ
FEB 8/WITH SILVER UP 29 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 439.994 MILLION OZ
FEB 7/WITH SILVER DOWN 18 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 4.04 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 439.994 MILLION OZ//LAST 9 DAYS: 10.7598 MILLION OZ WITHDRAWAL
FEB 6/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: /INVENTORY RESTS AT 435.144 MILLION OZ//LAST 9 DAYS: 10.7598 MILLION OZ WITHDRAWAL
FEB 5/WITH SILVER DOWN 32 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.345 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // /INVENTORY RESTS AT 435.144 MILLION OZ//LAST 8 DAYS: 10.7598 MILLION OZ WITHDRAWAL
FEB 2/WITH SILVER DOWN 50 CENTS TODAY SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.58 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // /INVENTORY RESTS AT 438.489 MILLION OZ//LAST 7 DAYS: 14.105 MILLION OZ WITHDRAWAL
FEB 1/WITH SILVER UP 7 CENTS TODAY MEGA CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.19 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // /INVENTORY RESTS AT 438.947 MILLION OZ//LAST 6 DAYS: 10.3018 MILLION OZ WITHDRAWAL
JAN 31/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TODAY MEGA CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.7438 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // /INVENTORY RESTS AT 440.137 MILLION OZ//LAST 5 DAYS: 9.1118 MILLION OZ WITHDRAWAL
JAN 30/WITH SILVER DOWN 5 CENTS TODAY MEGA CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.876 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // /INVENTORY RESTS AT 442.699 MILLION OZ//LAST 4 DAYS: 7.368 MILLION OZ WITHDRAWAL
JAN 29/WITH SILVER UP $.37 TODAY MEGA CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.105 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // /INVENTORY RESTS AT 444.575 MILLION OZ
JAN 26/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.03 TODAY MEGA CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.556 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // /INVENTORY RESTS AT 446.680 MILLION OZ
JAN 25/WITH SILVER UP $0.03 TODAY MEGA CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.831 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // /
INVENTORY RESTS AT 448.236 MILLION OZ
JAN 24/WITH SILVER UP $0.44 TODAY MEGA CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: ANOTHER DEPOSIT OF 1.375 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // //INVENTORY RESTS AT 450.067 MILLION OZ
JAN 23/WITH SILVER UP $0.21 TODAY MEGA CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 16.201 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV(FAIRY TALES) // //INVENTORY RESTS AT 448.694 MILLION OZ
JAN 22/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.45 TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 458,000 OZ OUT OF THE SLV // //INVENTORY RESTS AT 432.493 MILLION OZ
JAN 19/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.11 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 458,000 OZ OUT OF THE SLV // //INVENTORY RESTS AT 432.493 MILLION OZ
JAN 18/WITH SILVER UP $0.13 TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: // //INVENTORY RESTS AT 432.951 MILLION OZ
JAN 17/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.38 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 779,000 OZ FROM THE SLV.: // //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.500 MILLION OZ
JAN 16/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.08 TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: // //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.500 MILLION OZ
JAN 12/WITH SILVER UP $0.62 TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: // //INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.500 MILLION OZ
CLOSING INVENTORY 435.008 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES
1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey
Why America Will Never Overcome Its Mountain Of Debt
Can America hope to climb past its mountain of $34 trillion of federal debt? With the staggering weight of unfunded liabilities in vital entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare reaching a staggering $212 trillion, any strategy for repayment is met with formidable obstacles. Our guest contributor examines these challenges and arrives at a sobering verdict: the magnitude of the debt renders the prospect of repayment virtually impossible.
While clearing the debt may be beyond reach, the US can still take decisive action to rein in spending and prevent further exacerbation of its dire financial predicament.
The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Peter Schiff or SchiffGold.
US fiscal realities are well known. Total federal debt outstanding has now reached $34 trillion, up from $98 billion in 1981, $5.67 trillion in 2000, $13.56 trillion in 2010, and $26.95 trillion in 2020. And at 120 percent of the US economy’s productive capacity (gross domestic product), the federal debt matches that at the end of World War II.
That $34 trillion, when spelled out, is the number thirty-four followed by twelve (count ’em) zeros separated by four commas. So it looks like this, a lot of digits and commas for the human brain to comprehend: $34,000,000,000,000.
These official debt figures do not even include the large unfunded liabilities inherent in the largest federal entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid, and several others that comprise about two-thirds of federal spending. We can, however, accurately forecast those liabilities over the next seventy-five years—the time horizon used by the trustees of the two funds that finance the programs—because the future beneficiaries have already been born and will expect their benefits when they become eligible. Unfunded liabilities are currently estimated at $212 trillion.
The two programs, Social Security and Medicare, are structured so that future workers will be paying sufficient payroll taxes to pay future benefits as the population ages. But the trustees of the two programs project that the trust funds do not currently contain sufficient resources to fully cover these future benefits past the middle of the next decade without congressional changes.
Outstanding Debt versus Federal Budget Deficits
Where did all this debt come from? In the simplest sense, it came from too much spending. There tends to be confusion between annual federal budget deficits and the total outstanding federal debt. We’re referring here to the debt, not simply to the annual budget deficits that continue to increase the debt every time the federal government spends more than it receives in tax revenue.
This deficit spending results every year that the legislative and executive branches of our federal government can’t seem to control their spending habits, which has been the case every year since the late 1990s when the federal government last ran a small surplus. Annual federal budget deficits currently run at the $1.7 trillion level, compared to the $34 trillion debt.
Motivation to Pay Off the Federal Debt
Is there any motivation to attempt a debt payoff? Many Americans appear to have been lulled into accepting some variant of modern monetary theory, which has infected the populace like a virus, and which a small fringe group of economists believe allows a sovereign nation with its own sovereign currency to spend without limit, being able simply to issue more of its own currency to pay off any debt with impunity. Though these believers do not outright state that there is no limit to the amount of debt that sovereign countries can take on with no concern about ever repaying, reading between the lines and watching their behavior certainly indicates this conclusion.
What Debt Payoff Might Look Like
If there is any motivation to pay off the federal debt, what would this payoff actually entail? In the simplest terms, dividing the current outstanding $34 trillion debt by the current US population of 334,233,854 (as of January 1, 2023) yields a one-time per capita payoff figure of $101,725.18 for every man, woman, and child in the US.
While this undoubtedly exceeds the average savings account owned by most Americans, it doesn’t look like an outrageously high figure. But, of course, we’re assuming no more annual federal budget deficits that increase the debt, which would be a difficult promise for Congress and any president to keep. But if such a payoff were possible, it would obviate the need to continue paying interest on the debt, an outlay that now runs about $1 trillion annually.
Another approach to pay off the federal debt over time might be to structure the debt payoff similarly to an amortized mortgage. As a hypothetical thought exercise, picture that you’ve taken on a $34 trillion mortgage to buy your ultimate dream house.
The interest rate on this hypothetical mortgage is the current average rate being paid to lenders who own the Treasury bonds that comprise the debt. After all, these lenders, which include both Americans and those in foreign countries such as China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and others, would expect to receive their interest payments during the next thirty years that you will be paying your hypothetical mortgage.
The average annual interest rate on the US debt, as of December 2023, is 3.11 percent, which is expected to increase over time. But if you can lock in this interest rate on your hypothetical thirty-year $34 trillion mortgage, 3.11 percent sounds like a pretty good deal, below current conventional mortgage rates.
Using an Excel spreadsheet for the calculations, the formula for the monthly mortgage payment is PMT (1,2,3), where three arguments are as follows:
Monthly interest rate expressed as a decimal (0.0311), divided by 12.
The number of mortgage payments, 360 in this example (thirty years times 12).
The mortgage loan amount ($34,000,000,000,000 here).
For readers who may want to try this at home, inserting these three arguments into the Excel PMT calculation, the monthly payment for 360 payments over thirty years at a monthly mortgage interest rate of 0.00259 (i.e., 0.259 percent, about one-quarter of 1 percent) would be $145,370,309,731.07 total, or $434.94 per capita.
That’s $145 billion and change every month for thirty years, or $434.94 per every American man, woman, and child. This is most likely more than every American could ever afford to contribute every month for thirty years to repay the federal debt. And again, this assumes no more continuing federal budget deficits that would increase the existing debt. Remember, we’re only trying to pay off the current outstanding debt of $34 trillion.
Yet these figures are worth contemplating for their astounding magnitude, just as the total outstanding federal debt is worth contemplating for its astounding magnitude. These figures are very difficult for the human brain to grasp.
Anyone reading this far must conclude that this is a fatuous exercise, that there is no achievable way to pay off the current federal debt within the lifetimes of Americans currently alive, and that the only possible remedy is to begin curtailing federal spending to avoid taking on additional debt. That’s why we occasionally hear a few politicians speaking of (or paying lip service to) “deficit reduction,” which in the current political environment is the only humanly possible pursuit. And accomplishing that is easier said than done, for political as much as for financial reasons.
And on a final note, when contemplating the US fiscal predicament, keep in mind that there are only four means by which government can capture resources for its own use:
Outright confiscation of property for public use, which is prevented by the US Constitution’s “taking clause” without just compensation of the property owner.
Taxation.
Debt issuance.
Inflation that erodes the nominal amount of the debt over time, harming lenders.
Some observers would argue that this fourth strategy is perhaps what we are beginning to observe in the US and some other countries around the world, but that is a topic for another day.
end
2.Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
EGON VON GREYERZ…
WAR + INFLATION = GOLD
Egon von Greyerz February 20, 2024
All the fundamentals are now in place for the above equation to be true:
Wars will sadly not go away but instead escalate since there is ZERO desire for peace from the US neocons or the weak Europeans.
Inflation and interest rates will increase rapidly, driven by deficits and exponential growth of debt.
Wars and inflation will lead to a major shift into GOLD by Central Banks, the BRICS as well as for wealth preservation purposes.
“Poverty is the parent of revolution, crime and war” is what Aristotle stated 2,300 years ago. I added “war” since this is often the consequence of poverty and bankruptcy for a nation in a desperate attempt to borrow more money and blame the war for the economic woes.
As the US is now totally losing its hegemony, we can on a daily basis follow the desperate actions that a failing super power takes.
As every empire and nation that fails, the US has followed the same pattern whether we talk about the Roman, Mongol, Ottoman, Qing or British Empires.
Initial economic success as well as military might lead to illusions of grandeur and infallibility.
Riches, often stolen from other nations, turn to deficits and debts, collapsing currencies and decadence. That leads to money printing followed by the collapse of the currency. At that stage wars are often started which generally have disastrous consequences.
The RISK OF A COLLAPSE OF THE global geopolitical and economic SYSTEM is crystal clear BUT the outcome is extremely murky.
So let us look at what is clear on the geopolitical side:
The US is not led by a visible leader but by an invisible and unaccountable group of neocons who only want war.And in Europe there is not a statesman to be found. Instead, weak European leaders follow the headless US.
The US Neocons want to crush Russia by any means, even if it leads to nuclear war. Thus the US has implemented sanctions against Russia and forced Europe to take their full part by also sending weapons, money and military expertise to Ukraine. The cost of these measures is destroying the European economy and making the US even more bankrupt than it is, by running a deficit approaching $2 trillion with total US debt at soon $100 trillion. Remember it was $1.7 trillion in 1971 when Nixon closed the gold window. See graph further down.
If the US war against Russia (carried out in Ukraine) escalates, Russia will have many friends on their side like China, North Korea and Iran. The US and NATO do not have the capacity to win a war on the ground so any war involving the West will be in the Air and very likely nuclear.
The US also wants to crush the Muslim/Arab world. Iran is currently the principal enemy. But the US is also supporting Israel against Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen. The Muslim world has no capacity for a major war against the West but they have a much more effective method of paralysing the West which is terrorism on a major scale. Most Western countries have well armed Muslim cells, most probably also with dirty nuclear weapons. So surprise attacks on strategic buildings or major shopping centres in the US, UK and rest of Europe are probable. That would totally paralyse the countries involved.
A cyber war is also very likely. Whether Russian and Chinese missiles can take out major communication satellite systems, as recently published, remains, to be seen. But they have well developed skills for cyber attacks anywhere.
The US has no desire for peace. They and other NATO countries are not sending a single peacemaker to Russia but only weapons and money.
The majority reaction to the recent Tucker Carlson 2 hour interview is typical for the propaganda led hatred for Putin. Most people in the West have been told by MSM to hate Putin and blame him for all evil acts and thus not listen to the interview. I am by no means saying that Putin is an angel because he definitely isn’t. But nor is any other leader of course. Nevertheless Sun Tzu, the Chinese General, strategist and philosopher told us 2,500 years ago: KNOW YOUR ENEMY.
So how can anyone in the West understand Russia or Putin when they are not prepared to listen to him calmly presenting the Russian side for 120 minutes?
Tucker Carlson – Biden interview. Some US politicians wanted to ban Tucker Carlson from coming back to the US after the interview. Instead I would suggest that Tucker would be given a 2 hour interview with Biden. Just like with Putin, there should be no advisors present, no crib sheets and no teleprompters.
Let the world thereafter compare the quality of the argument of the two leaders, their clarity and if they are both Compos Mentis. After all, these are the minimum requirements for a leader of a major power and someone who personally can press the nuclear button.
I have above covered the global geopolitical situation which is “crystal clear” from a risk point of view.
I have since the Ukraine war started been very clear that Ukraine can never beat Russia. After a lot of initial enthusiasm for the underdog and a lot of fake news that Ukraine was winning, the world now realises that this war is a human catastrophe with both sides reporting big losses for the enemy and minimal for themselves. Total deaths are probably well above 500,000 but we will never know.
The tragedy is of course that the leaders sit in their safe offices and send 100s of thousands of men to their slaughter with no resolution in sight.
How this war will play out in detail, we will of course only know afterwards. But in the end it will be seen as another futile war with no winners and one or several million losers, just like most wars that megalomanic leaders start.
THE RISK OF A COLLAPSE OF THE WESTERN ECONOMY IS CRYSTAL CLEAR
So let us now look at the global economic picture.
The risk of your wealth declining by 70-90% in the next 5-7 years is today probably greater than any time in history.
The US market is driven by a handful of tech stocks which are massively overvalued.
On any measure, US stocks are greatly overvalued and as the US debt disaster starts to dominate the discussion, markets will quickly realise that the US is bankrupt.
TOTAL US DEBT IS NOW GROWING EXPONENTIALLY
US debt has almost quadrupled this century.
As I have set out in several articles, the interest cycle bottomed in 2020 and we will now see a long term trend up for 20-30 years.
US Federal debt has doubled every 8 years on average since 1980. With the state of the US finances, the debt is likely to now grow super exponentially. Thus it is likely that $100 trillion Federal debt will be reached before 2036 as a mere doubling every 8 years would result in.
So with $100 trillion or more of Federal debt within the next 10-12 years, the US economy will default, especially if interest rates reach 10% or more. Remember they were around 20% in the late 1970s and early 80s.
Obviously, at that point, or more likely well before it, the US dollar will have collapsed and gold will be the only real money that central banks and ordinary investors will be willing to hold.
Yes, there will probably be a few rounds of other forms of fake money in between like CBDC’s issued by central banks, in the next few years. But they will fail as CBDC’s will just be another Fiat currency backed by debt and no assets.
So there we have it. Aristotle’s prediction is coming to pass. The US debt and deficit is the Poverty for the country as a whole and will rapidly spread to the people as the financial system implodes. Revolution or internal conflicts will follow both in the US and Europe. The truckers’ action in the US and in many European countries is the start of a form of Revolution. But it will get much worse. There will be conflict between various political fractions whether it is Trump supporters against the system or neo-Nazis against immigrants or just ordinary people against the wealthy. Extreme income and wealth inequalities, like we are currently seeing in the West, normally lead to conflicts or revolutions.
And anyone living in the WEST knows that Crime (as Aristotle said) is rampant and the prisons in most countries are full.
Anyone who doesn’t see that we are at the end of a major era, with massive calamities next, will soon have a rude awakening.
So overvalued stock markets will crash as will bond markets with interest rates surging.
SO WHAT ABOUT CASH IN A BANK– will that save investors?
Your cash in a bank belongs to the bank: And that is where most people keep their cash.
What people don’t realise is that your cash in the bank isn’t your money.
No, all you have is a claim on the bank as an unsecured creditor.
And as soon as the bank receives your electronic money, it lends it out up to 10X!
The consequence of that is if one borrower out of the ten can’t repay his loan, you have lost all your money.
This process is now happening slowly but just as debt is accelerating exponentially, so will defaults. I explain the process in this article.
Banca Rotta or Bankrupt: This expression comes from the Italian financial system in Florence in the 1600s when banking was conducted on a bench or desk. If the banker couldn’t honour his obligations, his bench was broken. And that is where the word Bankrupt (Banca Rotta in Italian) derives from.
So there we have it, a broken or rotten banking system is what the world is looking at now.
We had the first signs just under one year ago when four US banks had to be saved, starting with Silicon Valley Bank. Shortly thereafter Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second largest bank, had to be saved by the Swiss National Bank and government and then UBS were made an offer by the Swiss government that they weren’t allowed to refuse and bought Credit Suisse.
What we saw during the Ides of March last year (March 15 when Caesar was murdered), was the first warning signal for the world that the banking system is broken.
The pressure on the banking system continues. The number of companies that failed to meet required repayments increased by 83% in 2023.
US corporate debt has increased by 18% since 2000 and is now at $13.7 trillion.
Further deterioration is expected for 2024 due to higher rates. 40% of debt Rated B- or below is risking to be downgraded in 2024.
The market is hoping for lower rates in 2024 but as I have stated many times, inflation and continued deficits will put pressure on the debt markets.
Commercial property is a real timebomb with vacancy rates approaching 15% and rents under pressure. Office sales prices are also falling rapidly by between 20% and 66% (in San Francisco).
The commercial property market is likely to lead to major write-offs for the banks and eventually either rescue actions (=money printing) or defaults – Banca Rotta!
But let’s face it, the exponential growth of total US debt is unsustainable.
There are sources quoting up to $7 quadrillion derivatives but since I cannot prove it, I cannot make that claim myself. But since there are so many “bets” outside the banking sector and in the shadow banking sector, most of them uncollateralised, we will never know the true size until the system implodes. But whatever the sum is “only” $700 trillion or as much as $7 quadrillion, it is at least 8X global GDP which is enough to break the world financial system and collapse the world economy.
This is not a fantasy. It is a nightmare. Because when counterparties fail the gross outstanding derivates cannot be netted and the gross amount outstanding is due.
Initially governments will assist banks in turning the derivatives into on balance sheet debt but as the sheer weight of the debt becomes unmanageable and hyperinflation ravages, that’s when the system will fail.
Yes, central banks will issue CBDS (Central Bank Digital Currencies) and try to hide the debt but CBDS is just another form of fake money and will suffer the same fate as paper money.
Besides the risk of the financial system, governments and central banks around the world, have throughout history destroyed our money without fail.
Only since the early 1700s over 500 currencies worldwide have become extinct, the majority through hyperinflation.
Just take the dollar which has lost 98% of its purchasing power since 1971 and 86% since 2000.
If stocks crash there might be some short-lived gold sales but
GOLD IS ON THE CUSP OF A MAJOR MOVE AS:
Wars will continue to ravage the world.
Inflation will rise strongly due to ever increasing debts and deficits.
The world flees from stocks, bonds, and the US dollar.
The BRICS countries continue to buy ever bigger amounts of gold.
Central Banks buy major amounts of gold as currency reserves instead of US dollars.
Investors rush into gold at any price to preserve their wealth.
SO PLEASE DO NOT MISS THE GOLD WAGON BECAUSE IT WILL BE YOUR LAST CHANCE TO PRESERVE YOUR WEALTH
About Egon von Greyerz
Born with dual Swiss/Swedish citizenship, Egon’s education was mainly in Sweden. Egon von Greyerz began his professional life in Geneva as a banker and thereafter spent 17 years as the Finance Director and Executive Vice-Chairman of Dixons Group Plc. During that time, Dixons expanded from a small photographic retailer to a FTSE 100 company and the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U… More…
Egon von Greyerz Founder and Chairman
END
END
3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA GOLD COMMENTARIES: daily Dispatches
Mike Maharrey: Bank bailout program ends in March — then what?
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2024-02-16 12:14 Section: Daily Dispatches
By Mike Maharrey Money Metals Exchange, Eagle, Idaho Friday, February 16, 2024
The bank bailout program established by the Federal Reserve in the wake of last spring’s banking crisis is scheduled to shut down on March 11.
Then what?
There are a lot more questions than answers
For instance, will the Fed blink?
And if it doesn’t, how will the end of the bailout ripple through the financial system?
The Federal Reserve created the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last March, allowing banks to easily access cash “to help assure banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors.” …
JPMorgan to pay $350 million for trade-reporting lapses
Submitted by admin on Sat, 2024-02-17 09:29 Section: Daily Dispatches
By Hannah Levitt Bloomberg News Friday, February 16, 2024
JPMorgan Chase & Co. expects to pay more than $350 million to settle regulatory claims that it failed to feed information on trades into market-surveillance systems.
The biggest U.S. bank will pay about that much to two US watchdogs and is in advanced talks with a third, the company said today in an annual filing.
“The firm self-identified that certain trading and order data through the CIB was not feeding into its trade-surveillance platforms,” JPMorgan said, referring to its commercial and investment bank. “The firm does not expect any disruption of service to clients as a result of these resolutions.”
JPMorgan, which houses Wall Street’s largest trading shop, said in November it was cooperating with investigations into whether the firm had provided complete trading and order data as required and that som authorities had proposed penalties. …
JPMorgan Says Its “Trading Venues” Are Under Investigation While It’s Still on Probation for Prior Trading Crimes
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 20, 2024 ~
Last Friday, ahead of a three-day weekend when bad news could be expected to evaporate into the ether by the next news cycle, JPMorgan Chase dropped a bombshell in its 10-K (annual report) filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bank, which has admitted to an unprecedented five criminal felony counts since 2014, said its “trading venues” were under investigation by three unnamed regulatory bodies.
This is a very serious matter for this particular bank because three of its prior felony counts involved rigging markets. The bank admitted to rigging foreign exchange markets in 2015 and to rigging, for more than eight years, the precious metals and U.S. Treasury markets in an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in September 2020.
Two of the precious metals traders involved in the 2020 case, Gregg Smith and Michael Nowak, are sitting in federal prison today in Otisville, New York. Smith, of Scarsdale, New York, was sentenced to two years in prison and is scheduled for release on June 13, 2025. Nowak, of Montclair, New Jersey, was sentenced to one year and one day. Nowak is scheduled for release on July 30 of this year. Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, whose tenure has seen an unprecedented crime wave at the bank, received a $50 million bonus. (See our report: After JPMorgan Chase Admits to Its 4th and 5th Felony Charge, Its Board Gives a $50 Million Bonus to Its CEO, Jamie Dimon.)
In the 2020 criminal case, the bank was put on probation under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement for three years, starting with the date the “Information” (formal charging document) was filed. That document was filed on the court docket in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on September 29, 2020, meaning it should have expired on September 29, 2023. But in JPMorgan’s Friday 10-K filing for the period ending December 31, 2023, the bank states as follows:
“The Firm is subject to a Deferred Prosecution Agreement entered into with the Department of Justice on September 29, 2020, relating to precious metals and U.S. Treasuries markets investigations, as well as a cooperation obligation under a related order issued by the CFTC [Commodity Futures Trading Commission].”
Under the 2020 Deferred Prosecution Agreement, the U.S. Department of Justice had the right to extend the probation period on the following basis: “…in the event the Fraud Section and the Office determine, in their sole discretion, that the Company or the Related Entities have knowingly violated any provision of this Agreement or have failed to completely perform or fulfill each of their obligations under this Agreement, an extension or extensions of the Term may be imposed….”
The exact statement the bank made in its Friday filing with the SEC about the current investigations of its “trading venues” is as follows:
“Trading Venues Investigations. The Firm has been responding to government inquiries regarding its processes to inventory trading venues and confirm the completeness of certain data fed to trade surveillance platforms. The Firm self-identified that certain trading and order data through the CIB [Corporate and Investment Bank] was not feeding into its trade surveillance platforms. The Firm has completed enhancements to the CIB’s venue inventory and data completeness controls, and other remediation is underway. The Firm has also performed a review of the data not originally surveilled, which is nearly complete, and has not identified any employee misconduct, harm to clients or the market. While the identified gaps represent a fraction of the overall activity across the CIB, the data gap on one venue, which largely consisted of sponsored client access activity, was significant. The Firm is dedicated to maintaining rigorous controls and continuously enhancing the reliability of its trade infrastructure. The Firm expects to enter into resolutions with two U.S. regulators that will require the Firm to, among other things, complete its remediation, engage an independent consultant, and pay aggregate civil penalties of approximately $350 million. The Firm is also in advanced negotiations with a third U.S. regulator, but there is no assurance that such discussions will result in a resolution. The Firm does not expect any disruption of service to clients as a result of these resolutions.”
There are two key points to note about the above statement: (1) The bank jumped the gun on waiting for its regulators to notify the public as to just how helpful JPMorgan was in reporting the problem to regulators and whether it, indeed, “self-identified” the problem as it claims. (This is, after all, the bank that laundered money for Bernie Madoff for years without filing the required Suspicious Activity Reports and is alleged by the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands to have done the same thing for sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Self- reporting is not exactly Jamie Dimon’s strong suit.) (2) The bank fails to specify the regulator that it has not come to an agreement with. If that’s the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice, that’s a big problem for a bank that is an unrepentant recidivist.
Exactly which “trading venues” are under investigation for not properly reporting trading activity is another dicey area for Jamie Dimon. In 2012, the bank was investigated by the FBI for using deposits from its federally-insured bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., to make dangerous bets in derivatives in London and lose $6.2 billion. The bank was not criminally charged but suffered serious reputational damage. The U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a 300-page report on the so-called “London Whale” case and held hearings. The bank paid its regulators $920 million to settle the matter.
During Senate hearings on the case, the late Senator Carl Levin, Chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said JPMorgan Chase “piled on risk, hid losses, disregarded risk limits, manipulated risk models, dodged oversight, and misinformed the public.” The late Senator John McCain, Co-Chair of the Subcommittee at the time, had this to say:
“This case represents another shameful demonstration of a bank engaged in wildly risky behavior. The ‘London Whale’ incident matters to the federal government because the traders at JPMorgan were making risky bets using excess deposits, portions of which were federally insured. These excess deposits should have been used to provide loans for main-street businesses. Instead, JPMorgan used the money to bet on catastrophic risk.”
The woman overseeing these massive, risky trades for JPMorgan Chase, Ina Drew, didn’t even have a trading license. (See Jamie Dimon’s Top Women and Their Missing Licenses.)
JPMorgan’s Dark Pools should be part of this current investigation. Wall Street On Parade has been questioning for years the legality of JPMorgan Chase (and other Wall Street mega banks) trading their own stock-exchange listed bank stock in their own Dark Pools. (See The SEC Is Allowing 5-Count Felon JPMorgan Chase to Trade Its Own Bank Stock in its Own Dark Pools.)
Another bombshell that was included in last Friday’s 10-K filing by the bank is that it had legal expenses in 2023 of an astounding $1.4 billion. That was a 426 percent increase over its legal expenses in 2022.
4. OTHER GOLD COMMENTARIES/PODCASTS
END
live from the vault; 160
5 a. IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES /
END
5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT
1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGSTUESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED UP 7.1943
OFFSHORE YUAN: UP TO 7.2035
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 12.19 PPTS OR ..42%
HANG SENG CLOSED UP 91.90 PTS OR 0.57%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 106.77 OR 0.28%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: MOSTLY ALL GREEN
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 103/99 EURO RISES TO 1.0804 UP 29 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +.720 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 150.09/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 UP CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: UP/ OFFSHORE: UP
3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA
Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.
3g Oil 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 +2.3815***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.865* /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 3.287…**
3i Greek 10 year bond yield DOWN TO 3.328
3j Gold at $2026.80 silver at: 23.11 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble DOWN 0 AND 1 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 92.36//
3m oil into the 78 dollar handle for WTI and 82 handle for Brent/
3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China// huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/
JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 150.09// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.720% 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 0.8818 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9527 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: 4.272 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.443 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.608 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 30.90…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: DOWN 5 BASIS PTS AT 4.096
end
2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge
2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)
European bourses mixed, US equities lower & RTY lags, Dollar softer & Antipodeans supported by the PBoC 5yr LPR cut – Newsquawk US Market Open
TUESDAY, FEB 20, 2024 – 06:05 AM
European equities are mixed, with mild outperformance in the CAC 40, lifted by post-earning gains in Air Liquide; US equity futures are entirely in the red, RTY lags
Dollar is modestly weaker and Antipodeans outperform, supported by the PBoC 5yr LPR cut
Bonds are firmer with specifics-light; Bunds unreactive to the latest ECB EZ negotiated wages metrics
Crude is softer alongside base metals, with Chinese stimulus efforts unable to lift sentiment
Looking ahead, Canadian CPI, US Philly Fed Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey, New Zealand PPI, Japanese Trade, Earnings from Walmart & Medtronic
2. Listen to this report in the market open podcast (available on Apple and Spotify)
3. Trial Newsquawk’s premium real-time audio news squawk box for 7 days
EUROPEAN TRADE
EQUITIES
European bourses, Stoxx600 (-0.1%), began the session on a weaker footing and trade throughout the morning has been choppy/mixed. The CAC 40 (+0.2%) outperforms, lifted by post-earning strength in Air Liquide (+5.9%).
European sectors hold a negative tilt; Chemicals outperform, with the sector lifted by Air Liquide. Basic Resources is hampered by poor BHP results, peers Anglo American and Rio Tinto lag.
US Equity Futures (ES -0.3%, NQ -0.4%, RTY -0.9%) are trading modestly weaker, with clear underperformance in the RTY, as it continues the prior session’s weakness; focus ahead on key retail earnings including Walmart (WMT)
In terms of stock specifics, Capital One (-4.5%) is to acquire Discover Financial Services (+14.6%) in an all-stock transaction valued at USD 35.3bln.
Click here and here for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow, including earnings from Air Liquide, Antofagasta, Barclays, IHG, Fresenius Medical Care and more.
Tight parameters (104.06-41) for the DXY with catalysts lacking. In recent trade, the Dollar has been making its way lower towards the round 104.00 mark, pressured by mild upside in G10 peers.
EUR is edging mild gains vs. USD but focus remains on whether the incremental move above 1.08 sticks or not, with EUR/USD having now surpassed the 21DMA at 1.0796. The ECB EZ wage metrics provided little impetus for the EUR.
JPY back on a 150.00 handle with the pair having chopped and changed around this in recent sessions. Focus remains on the 150.88 YTD peak.
CNH is around flat vs. the USD despite PBoC easing measures overnight. ING suggests this and the muted reaction to Lunar NY spending shows “expectations of a recovery in China’s growth sentiment will be gradual at best”.
Antipodeans are both a touch firmer vs. the USD with AUD supported by Chinese stimulus efforts and considerations of an RBA high in the latest minutes.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1068 vs exp. 7.2018 (prev. 7.1032).
USTs are a touch firmer after the President’s Day holiday. Newsflow has been limited thus far but the larger than expected PBoC LPR cut to the 5yr is perhaps having some influence given the US markets sensitivity to property/CRE-related updates; currently holds near highs at 109-30.
Bunds are bid as action picks up after Monday’s US holiday-induced lull. There was no reaction to the ECB negotiated wage metrics, which only incrementally lessened from the prior, therefore having little impact on market pricing for the April/June ECB decisions; Bund peak for today at 133.27 thus far.
Gilt price action is in-fitting with EGBs directionally and in terms of magnitude; firmer by around 50 ticks at 97.98 high, surpassing Friday’s 97.76 peak but stalling on approach to the figure
UK sells GBP 1.75bln 4.00% 2063: b/c 2.92x, average yield 4.518%, tail 0.6bps. No pronounced reaction
Germany sells EUR 4.138bln vs exp. EUR 5bln 2.50% 2026: b/c 1.91 (prev. 1.8x), average yield 2.79% (prev. 2.44%), retention 17.24% (prev. 17.40%). No pronounced reaction
Crude is subdued as China woes are reflected across commodities with one eye on geopolitics, with the situation in the Middle East expected to escalate in the coming month; Brent Apr currently holds below USD 83/bbl.
Precious metals see a mild upward bias in tandem with price action in the Dollar and awaiting the next catalyst ahead of tomorrow’s FOMC Minutes; XAU tests Monday’s high (2,023.07/oz) ahead of the 50 DMA (2,030.32/oz).
Base metals are mostly subdued, particularly for iron ore with traders citing ongoing woes surrounding China’s economy, whilst the PBoC’s 5yr LPR cut failed to provide relief.
Three tankers with Russian Sokol oil onboard started to move to ports in China and India after being stored for three months, while two of the tankers are under US sanctions and are heading towards China.
EU New car registrations: +12.1% in January 2024; battery electric 10.9% (prev. 9.5%) market share; Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) +11.5% Y/Y; Stellantis (STLAM IM/STLAP FP) +15% Y/Y; Renault (RNO FP) -2.9% Y/Y; BMW (BMW GY) +28.2% Y/Y; Mercedes-Benz (MBG GY) -7.5% Y/Y; Volvo Cars (VOLCARB SS) +34.9%
Goldman Sachs expects the BoE to begin cutting rates in June (prev. May)
BoE Treasury Select Hearing on the February MPR
BoE Governor Bailey says BoE is looking beyond the temporary period when it expects CPI to return to target this year; thinks economy is already showing distinct signs of an upturn. ECONOMY Good news that the economy is at full employment. Looking for more sustained progress on reduction of more persistent element of inflation. Seeing some signs pay growth is adjusting down in line with lower headline inflation. POLICY Do not need inflation back at target before cutting rates.
BoE Deputy Governor Broadbent says the question has moved on from one about the degree of policy restrictiveness to one about its duration; remains highly uncertain. The gradual easing in the tightness in the labour market is one indication that monetary policy is now restrictive. Doesn’t rule out a policy easing at some point this year. More persistent components of inflation (services and wages) may have peaked. One cannot be precise about how rapidly inflation will fall back. Timing of any adjustment can only depend on the actual evolution of the economic data, and in particular the three sets of indicators: 1. Tightness of the labour market. 2. Wage growth. 3. Services inflation
DATA RECAP
ECB Euro Area Indicator of Negotiated Wage Rates Q4 4.46% Q/Q (Prev. 4.69%).
Air Liquide (AI FP) – FY23 (EUR): Net 3.08bln (exp. 3.40bln), Op. 5.07bln (exp. 5.05bln), Revenue 27.6bln (exp. 27.7bln). Confirms its advanced financial objectives. Payment of EUR 3.20/shr will be proposed to shareholders for 2023, +8.5% Y/Y. Shares +5.9% in European trade
Antofagasta (ANTO LN) – FY (USUD): Revenue 6.3bln (exp. 6.3bln), EBITDA 3.08bln (exp. 3.08bln), PBT 1.97bln (1.73bln). Outlook for the Co. and shareholders is positive. Recommenced a 0.243/shr dividend. (Newswires) Shares +4.1% in European trade
Barclays (BARC LN) – Q4 (GBP): CIB revenue 2.39bln (exp. 2.55bln). NII 3.14bln (exp. 3bln). FICC 724mln (exp. 830.8mln). Sees 2024 rote above +10% (exp. +9.2%). Sees 2024 CET1 ratio 13-14% (exp. 14.2%). Plans to return at least GBP 10bln between 2024-2026. (Newswires)
IHG (IHG LN) – FY23 (USD): Adj. EPS 3.76 (exp. 3.76), Revenue 2.16bln (exp. 2.16bln, prev. 1.84bln Y/Y), Op. 1.02bln (prev. 828mln Y/Y), RevPAR +16.1% Y/Y, +10.9% vs 2019. To commence 800mln share buyback. (Newswires)Shares +5.9% in European trade
Mining names – BHP (BHP AT) – H1 (USD) profit after tax attributable 927mln (prev. 6.5bln Y/Y), underlying profit 6.6bln (prev. 6.6bln Y/Y), underlying EBITDA USD 13.9bln (prev. 13.2bln Y/Y), rev. 27.2bln (prev. 25.7bln Y/Y), lowers the H1 dividend by 20% to USD 0.72/shr. Says: The external operating environment in calendar year 2023 was relatively volatile. (Newswires) Shares fell 1.1% in Australian trade.
Fresenius Medical Care (FME GY) – Q4 (EUR): EPS 0.88 (exp. 0.33), EBIT 428mln (exp. 382mln), Revenue 4.99bln (exp. 4.94bln). Guides initial FY24 Revenue “grow low to mid-single-digit % Y/Y”, Op “grow mid to high teen % Y/Y”. Affirms FY25 Op. margin 10-14% (prev. guided 10-14%). (Newswires) Shares +4.6% in European trade
NOTABLE US HEADLINES
Capital One (COF) is to acquire Discover Financial Services (DFS) in all stock transaction valued at USD 35.3bln in which Discover shareholders will receive 1.0192 Capital One shares for each Discover share.
GEOPOLITICS
MIDDLE EAST
EU Foreign Policy Chief Borrell said 26 EU countries called for an immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza.
US proposed a rival draft UN Security Council resolution that would underscore ‘support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable’ and would determine that a major ground offensive into Rafah would further harm civilians and potentially displace them into neighbouring countries. Furthermore, it stated that a major ground offensive into Rafah should not proceed under current circumstances, while a senior administration official later said there was no rush to vote on the UN Security Council resolution on Gaza and the US intends to allow some time for negotiations, according to Reuters.
US President Biden’s top Middle East adviser Brett McGurt will visit Israel and Egypt, according to Axios.
Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked two US ships in the Gulf of Aden, while they also confirmed that they attacked a UK ship over the weekend which resulted in its sinking. In relevant news, UKMTO reported an incident with a vessel 90NM west of Jizan, Saudi Arabia and British maritime security firm Ambrey said a Marshall Island-flagged ship was physically damaged by an unmanned aerial vehicle in an attack 60NM north of Djibouti.
IAEA Chief said Iran continues to enrich uranium just short of weapons-grade level, according to Reuters.
OTHER
Ukrainian President Zelensky said the front-line situation is extremely difficult where Russian troops are concentrated and that Russia is exploiting delays in aid, while it was also reported that Ukrainian PM Shmyhal said Ukrainian forces are hampered by a lack of artillery and long-range munitions, according to Reuters.
China’s military said it organised front-line naval and air forces to closely monitor the Philippines’ ‘joint air patrol’ with foreign countries in the South China Sea on Monday, while it added the Philippine side ‘brought together extraterritorial countries to stir up trouble in the South China Sea’ and publicly hyped up the air patrol.
Taiwanese minister expressed regret at China’s coastguard boarding a Taiwanese tourist boat and said the incident harmed Taiwanese people’s feelings and triggered panic, according to Reuters.
CRYPTO
Bitcoin holds just shy of USD 52k, whilst Ethereum (-1.9%) gives back some of the recent advances.
APAC TRADE
APAC stocks traded with mild losses with price action contained following the US holiday lull.
ASX 200 was dragged lower by miners after BHP reported flat underlying profits and cut its dividend by 20%.
Nikkei 225 reversed its earlier advances as momentum stalled and the 1989 record high remained elusive.
Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were lacklustre as tech weakness in Hong Kong clouded over the gains in the energy sector, while the mainland was rangebound as participants digested the announcement of the PBoC’s latest benchmark rates in which the 1-year LPR was surprisingly maintained at 3.45% (exp. 5bps cut), but the 5-year LPR was cut by 25bps (exp. 10bps cut).
PBOC LPR REVIEW: 1yr maintained but the 5yr cut, likely designed to support the property sector. Click here for more details.
NOTABLE HEADLINES
PBoC 1-Year Loan Prime Rate (Feb) 3.45% vs Exp. 3.40% (Prev. 3.45%); PBoC 5-Year Loan Prime Rate (Feb) 3.95% vs Exp. 4.10% (Prev. 4.20%)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang told his Spanish counterpart that China is ready to maintain high-level exchanges with Spain and strengthen the synergy of development strategies, as well as deepen mutually beneficial cooperation. Wang said China regards the EU as an important force in the multipolar pattern and supports European integration, the development and growth of the EU, and realising strategic autonomy. Furthermore, he said as long as China and the EU strengthen solidarity and cooperation, bloc confrontation will not arise and they are ready to work with the EU to uphold the free trade system, practice multilateralism, promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and inclusive economic globalisation.
RBA Minutes from the February 6th Meeting stated that the board considered the case to hike by 25bps or hold steady, while the case to hold steady was the stronger one and appropriate given balanced risks to the outlook. The minutes also stated the data gave the board more confidence inflation would return to target in a reasonable timeframe although it would “take some time” before the board could be confident enough about inflation. Furthermore, the board agreed it was appropriate not to rule out another rise in rates and noted that hiking rates would not prevent it from cutting should the economy weaken.
2C ASIA AFFAIRS
TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 12.19 PTS OR .42% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 91.90 PTS OR .57% /The Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 106.77 PTS OR 0.28% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.02% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UIP 7..1943
//OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED UP TO 7.2035 /Oil UP TO 78.83 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN AT 82.76/ Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN STRONGER
2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
END
2e) JAPAN
JAPAN
END
3 CHINA
CHINA/
China as expected supercharges its stimulus with its biggest cut in interest rate, its mortgage reference
(zerohedge)
China Supercharges Stimulus With Biggest Cut In Mortgage Reference Rate On Record
MONDAY, FEB 19, 2024 – 09:54 PM
After the relentless jawboning in recent days, many were expecting some further easing today from the PBOC, and Beijing did not disappoint when China cut the 5-year loan prime rate (LPR) – which influences mortgage rate pricing – and is also known as China’s Libor (or rather SOFR since Libor no longer exists) by 25bp to to 3.95% on Tuesday, while holding the 1-year rate at 3.45%. The LPR cut is the largest since China revamped its loan pricing mechanism in 2019. China last trimmed the 5y LPR by 10bp in June 2023.
As UBS notes, market sentiment should get a boost from the larger-than-expected 5y rate cut, with a Reuters poll estimating 5-15bp after the PBoC-backed Financial News reported Sunday that there’s downside room for LPRs, especially for 5y as it will support the real estate market.
Furthermore as noted earlier, Premier Li Qiang had called for “pragmatic and forceful” action to boost confidence in the economy on Monday.
Elsewhere, the PBoC kept the medium-term lending facility (MLF) rate on hold Monday. LPRs and MLFs usually move in tandem, but UBS Economist Ning Zhang had noted that a LPR cut should a bit earlier and more than MLF rate cut, thanks to previous cuts of reserve requirement ratio and deposit rates.
Commenting on the larger than expected cut, Derek Tay, head of investments at Kamet Capital Partners said that Chinese banks’ cut of a key reference lending rate for mortgages is “deeper than expected and shows that authorities are following through on their vows to boost the market and the economy.” It’s “also a relief that the authorities are proceeding as they have been foretelling regarding support for the economy and the market.”
Others were a bit more skeptical:
Hao Hong, an economist at Grow Investment:
Loan demand is very weak. So even if there is a large cut it won’t stimulate new demand plus the existing loans are still on the old rate
Now the problem is not about interest-rate levels. The real estate sector continues to ail. It is the sector that used to generate much of the loan demand. New home sales in January tanked
Willer Chen, an analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia:
It’s a “good gesture from the commercial banks but now the property problem is not about the mortgage rate”
The move may “slightly boost the property demand but would not expect much”
In kneejerk reaction, China rates are largely unchanged so far; 5y yield is down 0.5bp on the LPR cut. USDCNH is a touch lower as optimism builds. Funding remains tight with local paying interest; tom/next is around +1. The curve should continue to flatten given elevated funding which would support the front-end points while the back end should head lower.
The Shanghai Composite is fluctuating with an upward trend so far this morning, while China properties are trading higher after banks cut the key reference lending rate for mortgages by the most on record.
END
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
EU
Just what the world needs: 75 million more migrants
(zerohedge/Watson/ModernityNews)
EU “Suicide Pact” Threatens To Flood Continent With 75 Million More Migrants
The EU has passed a migration pact dubbed “the suicide of Europe” which could lead to the continent being flooded with as many as 75 million new migrants.
The European Parliament’s LIBE committee passed the act on Wednesday, which formalizes the distribution of migrants to member states and punishes those that refuse to take them.
Because cultural enrichment and diversity is “our greatest strength,” countries that try to maintain their national identity without being subsumed by migrants will be hit with severe financial penalties.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of National Rally’s parliamentary wing, previously said the pact would lead to “the suicide of Europe,” adding that it was a deal with the devil and represents an “organized plan of submersion of Europe and the nations which compose it.”
Member states will be forced to accept migrants or pay a massive financial penalty of €25,000 per migrant.
This makes little sense given that we’re constantly reminded of how mass migration is such an economic boon and is both inevitable and vital to maintaining GDP levels.
However, it makes total sense when you understand that such claims are completely fraudulent.
“The next question is how many they will force on us. Now they are deciding that. So they are creating rules that give Brussels the right to say how many migrants they will distribute,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán last year.
“So, several countries have indicated that they do not agree. We do not want to implement it. In the end, we are facing a very unpleasant turn of events here.”
Orbán questioned why, if accepting migrants was so financially profitable, are western European nations trying to offload them onto Hungary.
Róbert Gönczi, an analyst at Hungary’s Migration Research Institute, pointed out that migrants distributed to Hungary normally end up leaving for Sweden or Germany, where they receive far bigger welfare payments.
“The redistribution system could also create intra-EU flows from the countries where these migrants have been relocated to the countries where they actually want to leave, as typically the destination countries have not changed,” said Gönczi.
“However, it would now be necessary for other EU countries to welcome these migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, he added. The real problem is that the reinforcement of the EU’s external borders would be less or not at all, which is what is really needed.”
As we previously highlighted, there is no appetite whatsoever for the EU simply to impose proper border controls.
The new leader of Frontex, the European Union agency tasked with securing borders, recently called for open borders and vowed to appease left-wing pro-mass migration activists.
“Nothing can stop people from crossing a border, no wall, no fence, no sea, no river,” said Hans Leijtens, which was a bizarre statement given that’s his one job.
END
HOLLAND
The Hague on fire/Saturday night
Devastation at the Hague as two migrant Eritrean gangs fight over nothing. One group, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front are a paramilitary communist group and there are tens of thousands of them claiming asylum in the UK and Europe. They have been in an actual war in Ethiopia and are cold-blooded killers
(zerohedge/Watson/Modernity//.news)
Watch: Mobs Of Violent African Migrants Riot, Attack Police In Holland
Mass violence broke out in the city of The Hague in The Netherlands Saturday night as hundreds of marauding African migrants attacked police, smashed property and set fires, in scenes that once again highlight the complete failure of multiculturalism.
Reports suggest that the violence flared up between two rival groups of rival groups during a ‘meeting’ of the Eritrean community in the city where the Dutch parliament is seated.
Eritrean African immigrants devastate The Hague and attack Dutch police.
Footage appeared to show protesters breaking into the Opera Zalencentrum event venue, with police using tear gas in a desperate effort to disperse them.
The rioters then began throwing bricks and bottles at police and attacking them with sticks.
Dutch News reports that four police officers were injured in the riots, and only a handful of arrests were made.
“Our colleagues were confronted with very serious violence which erupted out of nothing,” local police chief Mariëlle van Vulpen said told broadcaster NOS. “This is unacceptable.”
Eritrean African immigrants burn down The Hague, Netherlands. We need mass deportations now.
@RadioGenoa
Feb 17
Eritrean African immigrants devastate The Hague and attack Dutch police.
This is multiculturalism in action.
Quote
RadioGenoa
@RadioGenoa
Feb 17
Eritrean African immigrants burn down The Hague, Netherlands. We need mass deportations now. x.com/radiogenoa/sta…
·
888.5K Views
Acting justice minister Dilan Yesilgöz said in a statement “Attacking emergency service workers who are simply doing their jobs is totally out of order and there will be consequences.”
Here’s who devastated The Hague yesterday. We hope that this video can contribute to identification and deportation.
1.9M Views
Here's who devastated The Hague yesterday. We hope that this video can contribute to identification and deportation. pic.twitter.com/46Z9f1okxa
City mayor Jan van Zanen described the rioting as “disgusting and unacceptable”, adding that “We had received several reports about youngsters from the ‘Brigade Nhamedu’ looking for trouble.”
The same group also started riots in Sweden, Canada and the US, last year.
The Hague, Netherlands – Eritrean scum rioting. Tigray People’s Liberation Front are a paramilitary communist group and there are tens of thousands of them claiming asylum in the UK and Europe. They have been in an actual war in Ethiopia and are cold-blooded killers
Twitter.com/RonEng1ish/status/1758935347499577798
The cause of the Dutch riot is also thought to be EXACTLY the same as a month ago in London. Pro-government Eritreans were holding an event and anti-regime migrants got wind of it.
Violent clashes break out between Eritrean migrants and police in The Hague in Netherlands
·
2,676 Views
Violent clashes break out between Eritrean migrants and police in The Hague in Netherlands pic.twitter.com/q3YJBg3vO1
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.
5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
ISRAEL/HAMAS/GAZA/RAFAH/EGYPT
END
END
ISRAEL/.HAMAS/NASSER HOSPITAL/SATURDAY
IDF closing in on all of Hamas terrorists
(Jerusalem Post)
IDF arrests over 100 terrorists in Gaza’s Nasser hospital
Troops from the 98th Division operating in the Khan Yunis area arrested the terrorists in Nasser Hospital with the support of Shayetet 13 special forces embedded in the Division.
The IDF announced on Saturday morning that they had arrested over 100 terrorists in Nasser Hospital during operations in the Gaza Strip and that operations would continue for the foreseeable future.
Troops from the 98th Division operating in the Khan Yunis area arrested the terrorists in Nasser Hospital with the support of Shayetet 13 special forces embedded in the Division.
Simultaneously, troops from the Maglan and Egoz units eliminated terrorists around the area of the hospital.
Troops from the 7th Armored Unit raided several terror targets and found significant amounts of combat equipment, including explosives, grenades, and rifles.
IDF troops operating in Khan Yunis, February 17, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)
The 98th Division identified three terrorists traveling to an area suspected of being a launch complex and directed an airstrike against them.
Intense fighting in Khan Yunis
During intense fighting in Khan Yunis, the troops from the paratroopers’ combat team identified a terrorist squad nearby and eliminated them with close-range fire.
The Nahal Brigade’s combat team also eliminated a number of terrorists throughout the last day.
In one case, the brigade identified two Hamas operatives and directed a fighter jet to attack the terrorists and eliminate them.
END
ISRAEL/.HAMAS/NASSER HOSPITAL/SUNDAY
This is what Israel is dealing with: Hamas terrorists posing as doctors inside Nasser Hospital
(Jerusalem Post)
Hamas terrorists posing as doctors arrested in IDF hospital operation
Inside Nasser Hospital, Israeli forces found many weapons, including some hidden in a vehicle used by Hamas terrorists to conduct the massacre.
Israeli forces found boxes of medicine belonging to hostages kidnapped by Hamas as well as Hamas terrorists posing as medical staff in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said Sunday.
Hundreds of terrorists and suspected terrorists have been arrested from inside the hospital, including terrorists who took part in the October 7 massacre.
Inside the hospital, Israeli forces found many weapons, including some hidden in a vehicle used by Hamas terrorists to conduct the massacre. Additionally, a vehicle stolen from Kibbutz Nir Oz was found in the hospital area.
Boxes of medicine with the names of Israeli hostages on them were found in the hospital. The packages were closed and had not been transferred to the hostages, in violation of commitments made by Qatar to Israel.
“The IDF continues to invest all efforts, operational and intelligence, to return the abductees and will not let up until the mission is completed,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
Credible intelligence hostages were held in Nasser hospital
On Thursday, Israeli forces entered the Nasser Hospital saying that there was credible intelligence that Hamas held hostages in the hospital and that there may even be bodies of hostages in the building.
Hamas gear and weaponry found in Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, February 18, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
The IDF stressed that the patients and medical staff in the hospital have not been asked to evacuate the premises and that oxygen tanks and fuel for electricity have been provided to the hospital.
In the days before the forces entered the hospital, the IDF repeatedly called the hospital, warning them to cease military activity within the hospital.
end
ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH/LEBANON/SYRIA/SATURDAY
IDF bombs weapon depot in Syria as well as shelling Hezbollah in southern Lebanon
(Barnea/Jerusalem Post)
IDF bombs weapons depot in Syria, shells Hezbollah in southern Lebanon
The strikes were a response to rocket launches from Syrian territory toward the southern Golan.
FEBRUARY 17, 2024 11:49Updated: FEBRUARY 17, 2024 12:01
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon, as it seen from the Israeli side of the border, February 8, 2024(photo credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)
They also struck military buildings in the Bin Jbeil area.
Operational intensity has escalated in the North after Hezbollah killed an Israeli soldier on Wednesday and injured several others.
The Israeli response led to the deaths of several people and injured several more in Lebanon, according to local news.
Hasan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, said on Tuesday that the cross-border shelling into Israel would end only when Israel’s “aggression” against the Gaza Strip stops.Advertisement
THE GOLAN Heights is the region where Cabernet Sauvignon thrives; this is the Golan Heights Winery’s vineyard at Ein Zivan. (credit: GOLAN HEIGHTS WINERY)
24-hour operation
Both attacks have been part of a series of operations in the last 24 hours, which saw the IDF strike several areas in South Lebanon with artillery.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the IDF bombed a Syrian Army weapons depot in the area of the town Mhajjah near the Golan Heights.
The strikes were a response to rocket launches from Syrian territory toward the southern Golan, although they did not enter Israeli territory.
Rockets fired from Syria are relatively rarer than those from Lebanon; however, since the war in Gaza started, they have become more frequent, with Israeli strikes into Syria increasing in recent months.
IDF fighter jets hit a number of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon on Tuesday morning, the IDF stated.
Hezbollah rocket launch posts in the areas of Yaroun and Marwahin were targeted by the strikes, as well as other terror infrastructure in the areas of Dhayra and Yaroun.
Two additional military structures were struck in the areas of Houla and Blida.
Israel must now attack Hezbollah to the finish. They cannot tolerate tunnels into Israel
(Jerusalem Post)
‘Not just for invading Galilee’: Hezbollah’s monstrous tunnel network
Hezbollah has a secret tunnel network in Lebanon, more advanced than Hamas in Gaza. It reaches into Israel and possibly Syria, and poses a strategic threat.
By 104.5FM VIA MAARIV ONLINEFEBRUARY 20, 2024 16:59
In an interview on Radio North 104.5FM on Tuesday, the Alma Center’s director of research, Tal Be’eri, referred to a report by the French newspaper Liberation claiming that Hezbollah has a secret tunnel network. This tunnel network, according to the report, is even more advanced than that of Hamas in Gaza.
According to the report, Hezbollah has an underground infrastructure hundreds of kilometers long that reaches into Israel, and possibly into Syria as well.
“Our assumption is that everything we see in Gaza in the past few months – all this and more is happening in Lebanon,” Be’eri said. “Hezbollah started building in the 1980s, with the help of Iran and North Korea, who brought the professional knowhow. The result is a large system of tunnels under Lebanon.
“The tunnels are divided into different types,” Be’eri continued. “The types we are familiar with are the attack tunnels, whose purpose is to cross the fence and invade the Galilee area, but here we are also talking about strategic tunnels that allow people to move from place to place, spread over many kilometers. Unlike the attack tunnels, they allow for the movement of vehicles and even medium-sized trucks,” he added.
Hassan Nasrallah (credit: (Photo: MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images))
How large is Hezbollah’s secret tunnel network?
“I can estimate that this tunnel network is hundreds upon hundreds of kilometers, I don’t know the exact numbers,” he noted, “We follow what is happening in Lebanon and we see that civilian companies, companies owned by Shi’ites, build different infrastructural projects, especially water transfer projects. You see the ability and the knowhow, and to an outside observer, it is clear to everyone that this can result in a tunnel that can be used militarily.”
According to the report, the length of the tunnels is estimated at hundreds of kilometers and the length of one of the largest of them is 45 km. Some of the tunnels are very narrow and are intended for the infiltration of terrorists into Israel, and some are wider and are intended for Iranian Fateh-110 ballistic missile batteries.
In a report published this year, the Alma Center reported on tunnels filled with explosives dug under strategic points, which remained sealed and unused for several years. An explosion in a strategic location can cause disastrous rockfalls, a known tactic since the First World War.
end
ISRAEL HEZBOLLAH//LEBANON
Israel hits a major oil factory
(Jerusalem Post)
Lebanon fighting oil factory fire as Israel pummels Hezbollah
Earlier on Tuesday, IDF fighter jets hit a number of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon on Tuesday morning, the IDF stated.
Hezbollah struggled to contain flames that erupted on Monday evening after Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah weapons storage facilities, as well as an oil production plant, near the city of the Lebanese city of Sidon, local media reported on Tuesday.
The strikes, carried out in response to drones launched toward Israel’s Lower Galilee area, occurred in the region of Ghaziyeh, some 60 kilometers from Israel’s northern border.
Al-Akhbar, citing a source in the Lebanese firefighting forces, reported that the forces faced difficulty gaining control of the fire at the production plants due to the massive quantities of oil.
Israeli fighter jets pummel Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
Earlier on Tuesday, IDF fighter jets hit a number of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon on Tuesday morning, the IDF stated.
Smoke rises from a site hit by an airstrike near the town of Ghaziyeh, Lebanon February 19, 2024 (credit: AZIZ TAHER/REUTERS)
Hezbollah rocket launch posts in the areas of Yaroun and Marwahin were targeted by the strikes, as well as other terror infrastructure in the areas of Dhayra and Yaroun.
Two additional military structures were struck in the areas of Houla and Blida.
Later on Tuesday, IDF jets carried out additional attacks on terrorist infrastructure in the area of Blida along with Hezbollah military buildings in the Ayta ash Shab area.
The IDF also attacked in the Kafr Kila area, where a number of terrorists were identified along with other localities in southern Lebanon.
In an additional incident on Israel’s northern border, a UAV reportedly fell in western Galilee. The head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council, Moshe Davidovitz, said the drone had landed near his house.
Israel foils an attack on its troops and kills dozens of terrorists in west Khan Yunis
(Jerusalem Post)
IDF foils attack on troops, kills dozens of terrorists in western Khan Yunis
In central Gaza, the IDF operated over the previous day to eliminate terrorist forces. In one engagement, snipers successfully killed a terrorist within minutes of a positive identification.
The IDF, continuing its activities against Hamas across the Gaza Strip, successfully eliminated dozens of terrorists and struck a terror cell that was attempting to stage an attack on Israeli troops, the IDF stated.
Soldiers of the 7th Division’s combat team, operating in western Khan Yunis, killed tens of terrorists since Monday morning, the military added.
The troops reportedly directed combat aircraft to target and kill several of the terrorists.
Additional terrorists were eliminated through tank and sniper fire, the IDF said.
Close-quarters combat
Also, in Khan Yunis, IDF soldiers identified a number of terrorists wielding RPGs and Kalishnakovs before engaging and killing the opposing force in close-quarters combat.
IDF troop operates in Khan Yunis, Gaza, February 20, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
Separately in Khan Yunis, the Israeli Air Force, at the direction of forces on the ground, struck a Hamas weapons storage facility, the IDF said.
The military noted that secondary explosions at the site following the airstrike indicated the presence of a large number of weapons at the location.
In central Gaza, the IDF also operated over the previous day to eliminate terrorist forces. In one engagement, the IDF reported, snipers successfully killed a terrorist within minutes of a positive identification.
end
Israel concerned Sinwar fled to Egypt with Hamas hostages
IDF reveals footage of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a tunnel in Gaza
(IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
A security official claimed that Israel has information indicating that the Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar and his brother, recently managed to escape through tunnels between Rafah and Egyptian territory, with the main concern being that they fled with captives, the Saudi newspaper Elaph reported on Tuesday.
The same security source mentioned that Israel has been watching in recent years around ten large tunnels that can hold cars and small trucks in the area. It was also reported that in Israel, they believe that Hamas smuggled Iranian weapons, including missiles and technological devices, through these tunnels, in addition to smuggling terrorists through Sinai for training in Iran and Lebanon. The newspaper sought a response from an IDF spokesperson, who dismissed the allegations.
Israel demolishes the main tunnel spanning the length of Gaza and thus blocks escape routes
(Jerusalem Post)
‘Their fate is sealed’: IDF demolishes tunnel spanning length of Gaza
“We reached every hideout above and below ground in the Gaza Strip, and today, the terrorists know that there is no safe hiding place and that their fate is sealed,” Colonel Elad Shushan said.
Activities of the 646th Brigade in the Gaza Strip. February 20, 2024. (Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
The IDF’s 646th Reserve Brigade, during its operations over the past months, destroyed a “strategic” subterranean Hamas tunnel route that ran from northern to southern Gaza, the IDF stated on Tuesday.
The IDF has been conducting extensive work in the tunnels beneath Gaza in recent weeks. On Monday, the IDF published footage recovered from a tunnel showing footage of the kidnapping of the Bibas family. The footage was dated to the early days of the war.
Last week, in another Hamas tunnel, the IDF recovered footage of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as he fled with his family.
The brigade completed its mission in Gaza last week, the IDF noted.
Following the completion of its activities, the commanding officer of the 646th Reserve Brigade, Colonel Elad Shushan, stated, “We reached every hideout above and below ground in the Gaza Strip, and today, the terrorists know that there is no safe hiding place and that their fate is sealed.”
IDF Brigade 646 troops operate in the Gaza Strip. February 20, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
Over the course of its activities, in addition to destroying the key Hamas tunnel, troops in its brigade’s combat team have killed numerous terrorists and located weapons.
At the beginning of the 646th’s activities in Gaza, the brigade operated against terror targets in central Gaza areas, including el-Bureij, Nuseirat, and the “Towers” neighborhood belonging to Hamas members, the IDF stated.
Upon completing their missions in these areas, the brigade moved on to operate in southern Gaza and the Khan Yunis area.
During the 646th’s activities in the “Abasan” area, the brigade also completed an operation where it killed numerous terrorists, confiscated a large quantity of weapons, and detained dozens of terrorists who were hiding among the civilian populations, the military reported.
Embracing the bereaved and the wounded
“It is our duty to embrace and support the bereaved families and the wounded and to accompany them forward,” Colonel Shushan stated. “Dear soldiers, I am proud of you for the strength of spirit and resilience you have shown. I am sure that this is what our fallen would expect from us. We will continue with all our might. The mission is not yet complete, and I have no doubt that the brigade will stand ready whenever and wherever required.”
Last week, shortly before the completion of its mission in Khan Yunis, the 646th, operating in the city, directed aircraft to strike at and eliminate terrorists as IDF commandos operated nearby to raid terror targets.
end
ISRAEL/HAMAS
Hamas chief Sinwar’s health deteriorates, suffering from severe pneumonia – report
The country in question said it had heard the report from senior Hamas officials.
The barrier of fear among the residents is cracking. Sinwar(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, may be suffering from a complicated case of pneumonia, N12 reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous Arab country.
The country in question said it had heard the report from senior Hamas officials.
According to the N12 report, the country had been in contact with the terror group, asking Hamas to advance toward a ceasefire. Hamas subsequently responded that its situation was grave; it lacked ammunition, and its military structures were deteriorating.
Yahya Sinwar highlighted in a video published by the IDF on February 13, 2024 (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
Sinwar’s whereabouts unknown
On Tuesday, it was reported that Hamas’s leadership in Qatar and Gaza was unsure of Sinwar’s whereabouts, with the Saudi newspaper Elaph claiming the chief terrorist may have fled from the Gaza Strip to Egypt.
However, later on Tuesday, Kan News said that Sinwar had resumed communications with the Hamas leadership abroad.
Speculations on Sinwar’s fate come amid Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s statement that Hamas is in search of a replacement for Sinwar.
Last week, the IDF released a video dated October 10 of Sinwar walking in the Gaza tunnels, seen as proof that the Hamas head was in good health then.
Sam Halpern and Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this article.
END
ISRAEL/HAMAS/GAZA/SUNDAY
Hamas will replace ‘silent’ Yahya Sinwar, Gallant tells IDF commanders
“Hamas has no trust in its commanders,” Gallant said.”[Currently,] there is no one in control, and there is no one leading operations.”
YAHYA SINWAR waves to Palestinians last April at a rally marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) in Gaza.(photo credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)
Hamas is looking for a successor for Yahya Sinwar as communications with the Gaza chief broke down completely, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at a Sunday situational assessment.
“Hamas has no trust in its commanders,” Gallant said in a visit to the IDF’s Southern Command. “Hamas’s Gaza branch returns no answer – there are no leaders on the field to speak with.
“This means there is an auction happening to decide who runs Gaza…[Currently,] there is no one in control, and there is no one leading operations.”
Gallant: Hamas is losing its fighting spirit
Gallant further stressed that Hamas’s Khan Yunis division has been defeated, with the terror forces “no longer as an organized militant force in any form.
Yoav Gallant seen at an IDF security assessment on February 18, 2024 (credit: ARIEL HERMONI/DEFENSE MINISTRY)
“The deepening of our Khan Yunis operations continues to prove its worth,” Gallant told commanders at the security assessment. “Some 200 terrorists turned themselves in at Nasser Hospital, dozens more at al-Amal.
“This means Hamas is losing its fighting spirit,” Gallant asserted
ISRAEL WEST BANK
Senior Hamas terrorist arrested, Border Police officer wounded in West Bank
Overnight, a senior Hamas terrorist was arrested by Israeli forces in Ramallah.
Military vehicles drive on a street during an Israeli raid at Tulkarm, in the West Bank, February 18, 2024.(photo credit: RANEEN SAWAFTA/REUTERS)
A Border Police officer was seriously wounded in a firefight with terrorists as Israeli forces eliminated a senior terrorist in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Tulkarm on Sunday, according to a joint statement by the IDF, Shin Bet, and Border Police.
Undercover Border Police units operated under the guidance of Shin Bet intelligence and in cooperation with the IDF to arrest Ahmad Fayez Al-Awfi, a commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades suspected of being involved in several shooting attacks and the murder of Tulkarm residents suspected of collaborating with Israeli forces.
While attempting to arrest Awfi, a firefight erupted, during which the terrorist was eliminated. Israeli forces also exchanged fire with other terrorists during the raid, eliminating another terrorist identified by Palestinian media as Nabil Atta Muhammad Amer.
During the exchange of fire, a Border Police officer was seriously wounded and transferred to the hospital for medical treatment.
Weapons seized by Israeli forces in Tulkarm (credit: ISRAEL POLICE)
Senior Hamas terrorist arrested in Ramallah
Additionally, overnight, a senior Hamas terrorist was arrested by Israeli forces in Ramallah.
In Balata, near Nablus, IDF soldiers arrested two suspects, and in the area under the responsibility of the Yehuda Brigade, several suspects were questioned.
Since the beginning of the war, over 3,100 suspects have been arrested in the West Bank, including over 1,350 associated with Hamas.
Additionally, on Sunday, Israel Police entered Shuafat and sealed off the house of the terrorist who conducted the shooting attack near Bnei Re’im in southern Israel on Friday.
The commander of the police’s Jerusalem District, Doron Turgeman, instructed the relevant authorities to advance the procedures required to demolish the terrorist’s home as quickly as possible.
Additionally, on Sunday, Israel Police announced that three residents of the Silwan neighborhood in east Jerusalem who support Hamas were arrested in recent weeks.
The activities they are suspected of include, among other things, shooting fireworks, throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at security forces, and throwing explosives and stones at vehicles.
At the end of the investigation, a prosecutor’s statement was submitted in preparation for filing an indictment against them, the police added
END
Israel behind the major strikes on Iranian civilian infrastructure something that Biden refuses to do
Illustrative: Explosions seen in the Iranian city of Karaj on February 24, 2023. (Screencapture/Twitter: Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Israel was behind a pair of attacks on major gas pipelines inside Iran this week, which disrupted the flow of gas to millions of people, The New York Times reports, citing two Western officials and a military strategist affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
If confirmed, the strike would amount to an escalation by Israel, which has to take largely targeted military and nuclear sites, as opposed to civilian ones.
“The enemy’s plan was to completely disrupt the flow of gas in winter to several main cities and provinces in our country,” Iran’s oil minister, Javad Owji, told Iranian media in comments on the “sabotage and terrorist attacks.
He avoids publicly blaming Israel for the blasts, which he says were aimed at damaging Iran’s energy infrastructure and stirring public upheaval.
One Western official tells NYT that the strike was largely symbolic, causing minimal harm and being easy to repair.
The two Western officials say Israel was also behind another blast yesterday inside a chemical factory on the outskirts of Tehran.
The US says Iran wasn’t directly behind Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught against Israel but that it continues to fund, arm and train proxies who have been targeting the Jewish state.
END
USA/HOUTHIS/SUNDAY
USA carries out 5 defensive strikes on Houthis!!
(Reuters)
US says it carried out five self-defense strikes on Houthi areas of Yemen
File – Houthi fighters march during a rally of support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and against the US strikes on Yemen outside Sanaa on January 22, 2024. (AP Photo)
The United States conducted five self-defense strikes in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, US Central Command says.
It says it struck three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, one unmanned underwater vessel and one unmanned surface vessel yesterday.
“This is the first observed Houthi employment of a UUV since attacks began in Oct. 23,” CENTCOM says in a post on X.
Central Command says it had determined the missiles and vessels presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant ships in the area.
end
HOUTHIS/UK/SUNDAY
UK registered cargo ship under attack at the Bab al Mandab Strait opening. This occurs while Biden twiddles his thumbs
(Reuters)
UK-registered cargo ship reported under attack in Bab al-Mandab Strait
An armed Yemeni supporter of the Houthi movement sits on the back of an armored vehicle during an anti-Israel and anti-US rally in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa on January 22, 2024. (MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP)
British maritime security firm Ambrey says that a Belize-flagged, UK-registered, and Lebanese-operated open hatch general cargo ship reported being under attack in Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The ship was heading north, during its journey from Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates to Varna, Bulgaria, when the attack occurred, Ambrey says in an advisory note.
“The partially laden vessel briefly slowed from 10 to six knots and deviated course, and contacted the Djiboutian Navy, before returning to her previous course and speed,” the note reads.
Yemen’s Houthi group has launched repeated drone and missile attacks against international commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait since mid-November, saying it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel wages war on Hamas.
END
HOUTHIS/MONDAY
Crew Abandons Cargo Ship After Houthi Attack; US MQ-9 Reaper Downed By Rebels
MONDAY, FEB 19, 2024 – 07:25 AM
Attacks on Red Sea shipping from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis escalated overnight when missiles hit a commercial vessel and forced the crew to evacuate. There are also reports a US drone was knocked out of the sky by an anti-air missile.
Bloomberg reports missiles hit the engine room of “Rubymar,” a Belize-flagged cargo ship sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Rubymar reported severe damage after “an explosion in close proximity to the vessel,” the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center reported.
“Military authorities report crew have abandoned the vessel,” UKMTO said, adding, “Vessel at anchor and all crew are safe.”
This is the first instance the crew of a commercial vessel has been forced to evacuate due to damage sustained by rebel attacks.
Yahya Sare’e, the Houthis’ spokesperson, warned in a statement that Rubymar is “now at risk of potentially sinking.”
“The ship suffered catastrophic damages and came to a complete halt,” Sare’e continued.
He also said Yemeni air defenses shot down a US General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drone in the region “with a suitable missile while it was carrying out hostile missions against our country.”
Despite the US and UK having carried out hundreds of attacks on the country in an attempt to neutralize rebels, continued missile and drone attacks on the international shipping lane represent a failure by the collective West to bring peace and safety to the area.
end
HOUTHIS TUESDAY
Houthis Boast Of Fresh Attack On ‘Several’ American Warships
TUESDAY, FEB 20, 2024 – 02:20 PM
A military spokesman for Yemen’s Houthis has announced the group carried out fresh attacks Tuesday, as they continue keeping up the pressure on the US-led naval coalition patrolling the Red Sea.
Significantly, the spokesman announced in the new operation attacks using kamikaze drones “targeting several American warships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.”
The statement further said, according to a translation, “Simultaneously, Yemen targeted sensitive IOF military locations in the Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) south of occupied Palestine using kamikaze drones.”
“Additionally, the Yemeni naval forces targeted an Israeli ship MSC SILVER in the Gulf of Aden with anti-ship missiles,” the Houthi spokesman’s written statement said.
It’s as yet unclear whether the drones struck their intended targets. The latest Pentagon statement didn’t indicate this was the case. But a statement did confirm an attempt to strike the USS Laboon with an anti-ship cruise missile. On Tuesday US Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a list of at least five significant military actions and events from Monday into early Tuesday.
“On Feb 19, between 12:30 and 1:50 p.m., two anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward M/V Sea Champion, a Greek-flagged, U.S.-owned grain carrier in the Gulf of Aden. Minor damage and no injuries were reported. The ship continued toward its scheduled destination to deliver grain to Aden, Yemen. A surface to air missile launcher was located and destroyed by U.S. CENTCOM forces in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen at approximately 5 p.m.”
And more:
One additional anti-ship ballistic missile was launched at 6:40 p.m. but did not impact any commercial or coalition ships. At 7:20 p.m., a one-way attack (OWA) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) struck the M/V Navis Fortuna, a Marshall Islands-flagged, U.S.-owned, bulk carrier causing minor damage and no injuries…
At 8:15 p.m., U.S. CENTCOM forces destroyed a OWA UAV in Western Yemen prepared to launch at ships in the Red Sea.
Between 8 p.m. on Feb. 19 and 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 20, U.S. and coalition aircraft and warships shot down 10 OWA UAVs in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Additionally, at 12:30 a.m., Feb. 20, USS Laboon (DDG 58) identified one anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) headed in its direction. USS Laboon subsequently shot down the ASCM.
All of this follows US officials admitting that over the weekend that an MQ-9 Reaper drone was downed off Yemen’s coast (at least the second such US drone downing in several months). All of this demonstrates Houthi attacks are coming more frequently, and it is perhaps only a matter of time before a drone slips or missile through the Western naval coalition’s anti-air defense measures.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has issued new figures related to the ongoing economic impact of Red Sea transit being essentially closed to all major Western tanker companies.
He said in a fresh statement that revenues from the Suez Canal have “decreased by 40 to 50 percent” so far this year, according to Agence France Presse (AFP). Egypt is already gripped by a worsening financial crisis, and further the majority conservative Muslim population is increasingly outrage at what’s happening in nearby Gaza, and their own government’s failure to do anything about it.
RUSSIA/UKRAINE
Ukraine army retreats from the eastern city of Avdiivka
(zerohedge)
Major Victory For Russian Army As Ukraine Forces Flee Eastern City
SATURDAY, FEB 17, 2024 – 11:05 AM
Following a year that saw little change in control of territory, the Russian army has secured a major victory in its war in Ukraine as Ukrainian forces have retreated from the eastern city of Avdiivka.
Shortly after midnight Saturday in Ukraine, the country’s newly-installed top commander, General Oleksandr Syrsky, announced that he had ordered troops to evacuate the city.Surrounded in three directions by the Russian army, Ukrainian soldiers in the city found themselves in a rapidly-tightening noose.
“Based on the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen, I decided to withdraw our units from the city and move to defense on more favorable lines,” said Syrsky in a Facebook post.
A year of defense of #Avdiivka in 80 seconds. Thank you brothers and sisters for your courage and strength!
·
19.1K Views
While its authenticity can’t be confirmed, video circulating on social media purportedly shows Ukrainian armored vehicles executing a fiery but mostly orderly retreat:
Retreating Armored Vehicles from #ukraine near #Avdiivka . As you can see, while some are retreating while parts are on fire, it also needs to be noticed that the retreat seems to be orderly, with no incoming fire.
The capture of the city is the most significant triumph for Russia since it took Bakhmut last May. Situated nine miles northwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk, Avdiivka was was briefly controlled by pro-Russia separatists in 2014 before Ukraine retook the city, which had a pre-war population of 32,000.
Avdiivka city park now under Russian control. Given the territory inside the city that has been captured within 24 hours, it is high likely that Ukraine has completely left the center and east of Avdiivka.
·
232.3K Views
Russia’s victory is a new step toward a principal objective announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin when he ordered the “special military operation” — taking control of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. Together, the two territories comprise the heavily industrialized, coal-rich Donbas region, which has a majority Russian-speaking population. Russia has since expanded its territorial goals, and has taken huge swaths of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts, thus forming a land bridge to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Ukraine deployed one of its two specialized assault brigades — the 3rd Assault Brigade — to help cover the retreat. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who leads Ukrainian forces operating in southeastern Ukraine, described the dismal scenario faced by his troops in Avdiivka, which he characterized as the “hottest” zone along the entire 600-mile-long battlefront:
“In a difficult battlefield situation, when only ruins and a pile of broken bricks remain from the fortification, our priority is to save the soldiers’ lives…The enemy launches massive bomb attacks day and night, and does not stop attacking simultaneously from several directions.” He described Russia as “practically wiping the city from the face of the earth.”
The fall of Avdiivka came a day after President Biden tried using the death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny to pressure Congress into throwing billions more dollars into the war in Ukraine. “History is watching the House of Representatives,” said Biden. “The failure to support Ukraine at this moment will never be forgotten…The clock is ticking, and this has to happen, we have to help now.”
Then again, maybe it’s time to stop promoting the fiction that Ukraine has any hope of ejecting Russia from the approximately 20% of the country it has captured — and time to start earnestly pursuing a settlement that restores peace and ends a proxy war that has cost countless lives while only benefitting the military-industrial complex.
END
RUSSIA/TUCKER CARLSON
Sanctions have not touched Russia as food is plentiful with the Russian economy well intact according to Tucker Carlson
(Tucker Carlson/zerohedge)
Tucker Carlson Goes Shopping: Russian Economy Well Intact Despite Sanctions
MONDAY, FEB 19, 2024 – 11:00 PM
Western populations have been hearing for the past two years that NATO sanctions would have a devastating effect on the Russian economy, so much so that Vladimir Putin would be forced to back out of military operations in Ukraine almost immediately. The removal of Russia from the SWIFT network and the suffocation of its exports was going to cripple the nation’s banking sector and send it into an economic death spiral. Corporate media economists and Biden Administration representatives alike compared the financial warfare strategy to a kind of “cancel culture” action on a global scale. The very first modern cancellation of a country.
Well, needless to say, sanctions did not turn out the way the establishment expected. Initial reports in US and European media claimed that Russian businesses were struggling to stay afloat and some argued that the Russian populace might even revolt against the Kremlin in anger. But this was all a farce, much like the majority of reports suggesting Ukrainian victory was imminent.
Rather than imploding, Russian exports and imports are thriving. The nation printed an oil export surge at the end of 2023, as well as increased exports on a number of raw goods from oil seeds to grains in 2023. Most of the export rise can be attributed to closer trade ties with Asia, a move which western governments should have expected. In fact, the NATO tactic of using Ukraine as a proxy battleground has only driven eastern economies like China and India closer to Russia.
Tucker Carlson, one of the few western journalists reporting on the conflict without anti-Russian bias, took the opportunity while visiting the country to go shopping in a local retail mall. The experiment was meant to examine how much inflation and economic hardship was punishing the Russian public. What he found, in fact, was relatively low inflation and stable price averages compared to the US.
If you thought the warhawks on social media had a meltdown over Carlson’s interview with Putin, the response to the above segment was absolutely rabid. Critics attacked Carlson, accusing him of “trying to argue that Russia’s economy is better than the US economy.” They also ridiculed him for not taking Russian wages into account vs American wages in his analysis.
But, as usual, the mainstream media has missed the bigger picture.
While it is true that average American wages are substantially higher than Russian wages and the dollar has greater international buying power due to its world reserve status, the greenback is decidedly weak in its home country and this is a factor that many in the public do not yet realize.
The cost of living in dollars for one person in the US is approximately 400% higher across the board compared to one person living in Russia. Individual items vary – For example, a loaf of bread is 500% more expensive in the US than it is in Russia, while a bottle of coke is only 164% more expensive. A one bedroom apartment is 500% more expensive in the US, while a beer is only 233% more expensive.
Most of Carlson’s critics used the inflated average “household income” numbers in the US and compared them to single income numbers in Russia. This is an inaccurate methodology. US household wages average at $76,000 per year, but this involves multi-income families. The average US single earner makes only $40,000 per year. The point is, though Tucker Carlson may have overlooked the wage gap between Russians and Americans, the cost of living exercise in US dollars still showcases two things:
1) Americans have the world reserve currency at their disposal, yet, it doesn’t do them much good in America. The value of the dollar isn’t evident to most people in the US until they travel overseas. This is due to expansive monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve, which has greatly diminished the dollar’s buying power within the US economy and caused 30%+ higher prices since 2020 alone.
2) The more important takeaway from Carlson’s experiment is the lack of chaos in Russian markets. Despite the global sanctions leveraged against them, Russia has proven increasingly resilient. With their overall inflation rate expected to fall to 4.5% in 2024, it would seem the economic war against the nation has failed.
For the people who were expecting the Kremlin to be reduced to smoking ruins after a financial Apocalypse similar to Weimar Germany, this must be a disappointing realization. What we can learn from this outcome is that trade finds a way, and cancelling an entire country is not as easy as some might think.
END
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
“License To Play God”: Physician Group Files Brief Against Biden In COVID
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) filed an amicus brief against the Biden administration in a Supreme Court case, criticizing the government’s online censorship of COVID-19 information.
The lawsuit, Murthy v. Missouri, alleges that the administration engaged in coercing social media platforms to suppress COVID-19 content.
The American Medical Association (AMA) and other groups filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court supporting the Biden administration.
In its brief, AMA and its allies said that the federal government had a “compelling interest” in the case. They justified censorship by arguing that “combatting vaccine misinformation is, at its simplest, the government trying to prevent factually incorrect statements from costing people their lives.”
The AAPS filed its brief on Feb. 7, slamming AMA’s position.
“Our national motto is not ‘In Vaccines We Trust’, or even ‘In Government We Trust.’ The right to criticize vaccines and government mandates of vaccines should not be abridged” as sought after by the AMA and “other allies of the Biden Administration,” the brief said.
“Freedom to criticize is an essential safeguard against tyranny, and a First Amendment right … It is alarming that any professional organization would argue for censorship as the AMA Amici do in this case.”
The AMA amicus brief is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, and the American Geriatrics Society.
“The argument by the AMA Amici to declare a compelling interest in vaccination such that censorship of it would be allowed should be firmly rejected here,” AAPS said in its brief. For more than 50 years, there have not been any new categories of unprotected speech, it said.
“Criticism of vaccination is warranted in response to the exaggerations of benefits of vaccination and the denial of its proven harms, as illustrated by the AMA Amici brief here.
“A sharp decline in the prevalence of diseases cited by the AMA Amici began before the relevant vaccine became commonly used, thereby disproving the asserted cause-and-effect.”
The AMA brief also fails to reference the “immense harm” caused by several novel or contaminated vaccines, like the first polio shots, AAPS stated.
Allowing the federal government to censor vaccine criticism will open the doorway to “an unaccountable license to play God in tinkering with human biology.”
AAPS warned that by seeking to censor criticism of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, the AMA brief signers “implicitly seek censorship of criticism of anything that may be called a vaccine in the future under yet another redefinition of that term.”
Could Ban RFK Jr.
If adopted, AMA’s proposal would allow the government to censor presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose book “The Real Anthony Fauci” could also be banned by the administration, AAPS added.
“The same arguments made by the AMA Amici could be extended to other types of speech disfavored by the Biden Administration, such as criticism of transgender procedures and late-term abortion,” the group said.
“The requested censorship by or with government should be fully rejected here.”
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on March 18. The lawsuit was filed by the state of Missouri, Louisiana, several social media users, and the founder of the blog Gateway Pundit.
The Epoch Times reached out to the White House and AMA for comment.
Under President Joe Biden, the federal government is alleged to have engaged in censorship of COVID-19 vaccine-related discussions online.
In February 2022, then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the administration wanted “every platform to continue doing more” in calling out what the government deemed to be “COVID-19 misinformation.”
Facebook Faces Pressure
Last year, it was revealed that Facebook complied with requests from White House staff to throttle the reach of a 2021 video by Tucker Carlson that discussed COVID-19 vaccines.
Facebook was also pressured to censor content suggesting that COVID-19 could have been man-made, according to certain emails released last year.
In a message from July 2021, Nick Clegg, Facebook’s head of global affairs, asked colleagues why Facebook was “removing—rather than demoting/labeling—claims that Covid is man-made?”
An employee responded: “Because we were under pressure from the administration and others to do more.”
Earlier this month, newly disclosed emails showed that Biden administration officials pressured Amazon to censor some COVID-19 books.
In another amicus brief filed in the Murthy v. Missouri lawsuit, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) told the U.S. Supreme Court that “getting the correct answer in this case is extraordinarily important given the interconnected mosaic of First Amendment issues the Court is considering this Term.”
“A common thread running through these cases is whether the government actors may evade constitutional review by strategically claiming they are doing something other than speech regulation. The Court should not let them get away with it.”
The Biden administration is also facing another free speech lawsuit filed in December by the state of Texas and conservative media outlets The Federalist and The Daily Wire.
The lawsuit accuses the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and several officials from the department’s Global Engagement Center of intervening in the news media market by creating blacklists of outlets deemed to be spreading “disinformation.”
“These entities generate blacklists of ostensibly risky or unreliable American news outlets for the purpose of discrediting the disfavored press and redirecting money and audiences to news organizations that publish favored viewpoints,” the complaint said.
end
RFK Jr. Scores Big Win In Lawsuit Accusing Biden Admin Of Censoring COVID Vaccine Info
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has notched a victory in his legal battle against alleged government censorship of statements he made on social media that were critical of the COVID-19 vaccines.
A federal court has granted a preliminary injunction against the White House and other federal defendants in a lawsuit brought by Mr. Kennedy Jr. that accuses the Biden administration of orchestrating a campaign to pressure social media platforms to censor vaccine criticism.
Judge Terry A. Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued the ruling on Feb. 14, stating that Mr. Kennedy Jr. has demonstrated a strong likelihood of success in proving government infringement on his free speech rights.
The injunction prevents the defendants—which include the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the FBI—from taking any actions to coerce social media companies to remove or suppress content containing protected free speech.
The injunction remains on hold for the time being, however, as the proceeding in Mr. Kennedy Jr.’s lawsuit has been consolidated with the case of Missouri v. Biden, which is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The freeze will be in place for 10 days after the Supreme Court rules in Missouri v. Biden, which is based on the same evidence.
The defendants have, in prior public statements, denied illegally leaning on social media companies to stifle protected free speech.
Rather, they have said they only ever flagged objectionable content, such as that they claimed was “misinformation” and “disinformation” and that it violated the companies’ own terms of use.
‘Destructive, Coercive Threats’
Mr. Kennedy Jr., along with plaintiffs Children’s Health Defense and Connie Sampognaro, a health professional who says she was harmed by the government’s censorship campaign, have alleged in their class action complaint that the Biden administration violated their right to free speech.
They accuse President Joe Biden and other federal defendants of systematically and repeatedly using “destructive, coercive threats” to force social media platforms to censor protected speech.
The Biden administration is also accused of entering into “collusive partnerships” with social media companies and working with them to censor constitutionally protected expression.
Mr. Kennedy has argued that the defendants harmed him by censoring him on social media—in some cases deplatforming him entirely—and so preventing him from gathering vaccine-related news and passing it along to his hundreds of thousands of followers.
Children’s Health Defense has also made the same argument but, additionally, it claims that its many members were deprived of information and ideas about the safety and efficacy of alternative COVID-19 treatments.
Ms. Sampognaro has alleged that the Biden administration’s actions have harmed her as a health care policy advocate by depriving her of complete, accurate information about COVID-19 and possible treatments.
The complaint also asked the court to certify the case a class action to cover all people who consumed news related to COVID-19 or U.S. elections on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, at anytime from January 2020 to the present, and so who would have been harmed by government censorship of related facts.
‘Willingness to Coerce’
The lawsuit singled out several of the “countless examples” of the Biden administration’s alleged censorship campaign.
One was the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story on social media ahead of the 2020 presidential election, with the complaint calling it “an act of censorship that deprived Americans of information of the highest public interest” and that “may even have swung the outcome of that election.” Polling has indicated that many voters would have picked a different candidate had they been aware of the laptop’s contents, which included information suggesting President Biden was involved in his son’s overseas business dealings, contrary to his repeated denials.
Another was suppression of reporting or expression of opinion that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese regime lab in Wuhan.
The third example was online suppression of facts and opinions about COVID-19 vaccines “that might lead people to become ‘hesitant’ about COVID vaccine mandates, again depriving Americans of information and opinions on matters of the highest public importance.”
In his order, Judge Doughty found that Mr. Kennedy and the other plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits that the defendants colluded to influence the actions of private social media companies “by ‘insinuating’ themselves into the social-media companies’ private affairs and blurring the line between public and private action.”
He also sided with the complaint in determining that the Biden administration’s actions represented a “substantial risk of harm” to Mr. Kennedy and the other plaintiffs.
“And it is certainly likely that Defendants could use their power over millions of people to suppress alternative views or moderate content that they do not agree with in the upcoming 2024 national election,” Judge Doughty wrote.
He said that Mr. Kennedy has proven that the Biden administration has shown “willingness to coerce” or at least give significant encouragement to social media companies to suppress free speech with regard to COVID-19 vaccines, national elections, gas prices, climate change, gender, and abortion.
In July 2023, Judge Doughty also granted an injunction in the Missouri v. Biden case, which is now pending before the Supreme Court.
More than 50 officials in the Biden administration across a dozen agencies were involved in efforts to pressure big tech companies to censor alleged misinformation, according to documents released in 2022.
end
Bergman/Slay News
This is big!!
Pharmaceutical Companies Quietly Drop mRNA Vaccines as Sudden Deaths Soar
Frank Bergman7 Comments
As sudden deaths continue to soar around the world, pharmaceutical companies have been quietly dropping mRNA vaccines, which have been repeatedly linked to the phenomenon.
Since the public rollout of Covid mRNA shots in early 2021, sudden and unexpected deaths have been skyrocketing.
Massive spikes in heart failure, strokes, blood clots, cancers, and vaccine-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (VAIDS) – all of which are side effects of the mRNA injection – have caused global excess death numbers to soar.
Malone was unable to pursue them and the patents passed to pharmaceutical giant Merck.
Merck spent the end of the old century expensively failing to develop a product.
The idea might have remained in abeyance had it not been for 9/11 and the curious episode, immediately afterward, when letters laced with anthrax spores were posted to Senators and media outlets.
The letters, allegedly sent by a disaffected U.S. Army scientist, killed five people and infected 17 more.
At the time, the world was already shaken by planes being used as missiles and became anxious about the threat of bioterrorism.
Given the right conditions, the reborn virus-infected tissue culture replicates itself.
The potential to recreate smallpox became all too apparent.
It is widely believed, if not officially, that the COVID-19 pandemic began with the escape of a virus manipulated by collaborating U.S. and Chinese scientists.
Groundbreaking Global Study on 99 Million Vaccinated People Reveals Increases in Neurological, Blood, and Heart Conditions Associated with COVID-19 Vaccines
In a groundbreaking multinational study conducted by the Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN), researchers have shed light on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines among a cohort of 99 million vaccinated individuals.
The study, spanning multiple countries, aimed to evaluate adverse events of special interest (AESI) following COVID-19 vaccination, providing crucial insights into vaccine safety.
Some of the countries included in the study are:
Denmark
New Zealand
Argentina
Canada (Ontario and British Columbia)
Finland
Australia (New South Wales and Victoria)
Scotland
The study was published at the world’s leading scientific publisher and data analytics company for more than 140 years, Elsevier.
The study confirmed known safety signals for conditions such as myocarditis, pericarditis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, while also identifying potential new safety signals that warrant further investigation.
According to the result, the study covered 99,068,901 vaccinated individuals, analyzing the administration of 183,559,462 doses of Pfizer (BNT162b2), 36,178,442 doses of Moderna (mRNA-1273), and 23,093,399 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1) vaccines.
Experts chose thirteen health issues to keep a close eye on after people get their COVID-19 vaccines.
The health issues they’re watching were picked from a list made by a group called the Brighton Collaboration SPEAC Project. They chose these specific issues because they are the same ones for which recent data on how common they are (background rates) was collected by some research sites.
To identify these issues, they used a standardized system of medical codes called ICD-10. Among the issues they’re focusing on are several neurological conditions like Guillain-Barré syndrome (a rare nerve disorder), transverse myelitis (inflammation of the spinal cord), Bell’s palsy (sudden facial muscle weakness), acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (a brief but widespread attack of inflammation in the brain and spinal cord), and seizures (convulsions that can happen with or without fever). They’re paying special attention to these because there have been some reports of these issues after vaccination.
They’re also looking at blood clotting issues, including clots in the brain’s veins, clots in the abdomen’s veins, and lung clots, because these could be signs of a rare clotting problem linked to the vaccine. Low platelet counts (thrombocytopenia) and a specific immune response causing low platelets (immune thrombocytopenia) are also being watched due to their connection to this clotting issue.
Lastly, myocarditis and pericarditis, which are types of heart inflammation, are being monitored. Each of these conditions is being looked at separately to understand how often they happen after vaccination.
Here’s what the study found about how certain health issues showed up after people got their COVID-19 vaccines:
Neurological Conditions:
After getting the first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, there was a noticeable increase in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), where the body’s immune system attacks its nerves.
Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), a rare brain and spinal cord inflammation, also popped up more than expected after the first Moderna vaccine dose.
Other neurological issues like transverse myelitis (spinal cord inflammation), Bell’s palsy (facial paralysis), and seizures also occurred more than usual after some doses of these vaccines.
Blood Clot and Platelet Conditions:
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine first dose was linked to more cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a type of blood clot in the brain, than expected.
There were also more instances of low platelet counts and pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs) after some doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna vaccines.
Some vaccines also led to an increase in splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT), another type of blood clot, after certain doses, but these findings didn’t signal a major safety concern according to the study’s criteria.
Heart Conditions:
Cases of myocarditis (heart inflammation) were significantly higher than expected after the first, second, and third doses of mRNA vaccines (like Pfizer and Moderna).
Pericarditis (inflammation of the heart’s outer layer) cases also exceeded expectations after some doses of the Moderna vaccine and after the third dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
These heart-related findings were considered important safety signals that need attention.
What this means: The study noticed that after getting certain COVID-19 vaccine doses, some people experienced health issues like nerve and heart problems, or blood clots more than what was expected by the so-called experts.
The Gateway Pundit has been covering the vaccine study since the experimental vaccines were first released. You can find some the articles here.
ROBERT H
“So much for urban legends, it appears this is when free speech died in France. Be sure that capital flows will take note as totalitarianism takes root in France. It would appear that France may well have to visit history to find itself.”
French ‘Article Pfizer’ Bill Aimed at Punishing Vaccine Critics Becomes Law
A woman receives a dose of Comirnaty vaccine at a pharmacy in Ajaccio, France, on Oct. 5, 2023. (Pascal Pochard-Casabianca/AFP via Getty Images)
The passage of a controversial French bill now makes it a criminal offense to speak out against the COVID-19 shot, sending shockwaves among health professionals and free speech advocates throughout the country.
Article 4 of the new law, nicknamed “Article Pfizer” by critics, criminalizes “provocation to abstain from care,” according to a French news TKP report. The law, which passed the French Parliament by a vote of 182–137, also criminalizes the “request to discontinue or refrain from therapeutic or prophylactic medical treatment” as well as “the request to use practices that are presented as therapeutic or prophylactic,”
Health advocates claim the language specifically applies to anyone who advises against COVID-19 vaccines or other “medical treatments” and who are “obviously suitable according to the state of medical knowledge.” Those who suggested alternative therapies or medication would also be subject to penalty under the new law, which can mean up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 15,000 euros (about $16,100).
French politician Jean-François Coulomme, who was elected to the French National Assembly in 2022, applauded passage of the bill as a way to protect the people against being tricked into making choices that could be detrimental to their personal health, according to the French news agency LCP.
“The sincerity of this fight against sectarian excesses must not consist in sanctioning by law complementary care practices or the consumption of phytotherapeutic products,” said Mrs. Coulomme.
Arthur Delaporte, a member of the French Socialists, also praised passage of the law and said it would be used for “punishing incitement to abandon care,” telling reporters that “with this article, we are defending science.”
However, a French journalist who writes under the pseudonym Annie Arnaud due to fear of prosecution under the law, told The Epoch Times that the bill isn’t about public health or science, but is instead aimed at crushing voices of dissent.
“Article 4 is villainous, it allows doctors and citizens who have refused gene therapy to be silenced,” said Mrs. Arnaud, who writes for Freedom Train International. “We will no longer have the right to criticize a medical product if it is promoted by the government. This is a law to protect government charlatans who have lied about COVID vaccines and pushed for vaccination.”
“This is high-level piracy, because now the government believes itself protected against any attack,” she added.
Lawmakers in France initially deleted sections of the law after the opposition party expressed outrage over the loss of free speech, but was then reinstated it before making its way through the French National Assembly on Wednesday,
Mrs. Arnaud added that even before passage of the bill, doctors and health professionals who spoke out against the COVID-19 vaccine or proposed alternative therapies had been under increased pressure from authorities.
“It is a highly liberticidal article which will not tolerate any criticism of the therapeutic treatments which will be recommended or made obligatory by the state,” said Mrs. Arnaud. “Any person who dares to openly criticize these therapies will be liable to fines and imprisonment. Already, renowned doctors are being targeted, whom this article will silence.
The past two years have seen the COVID-19 vaccines become mired in controversy. The original COVID-19 vaccines were taken by more than 80 percent of Americans after officials pledged that the shots would effectively prevent contraction and stop the spread of the disease. However, once it was revealed that the shots didn’t work as promised, interest in the subsequent booster decreased dramatically.
Vaccines can also be attributed to widespread reports of adverse health outcomes believed to have been caused by the shots. COVID-19 vaccines have been named the primary suspect in over 1.5 million adverse event reports, according to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database. The numbers could be even higher. An FDA-funded study out of Harvard found that VAERS cases represent fewer than 1 percent of vaccine adverse events.
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a practitioner in Texas and founder of the Coalition of Health Freedom, told The Epoch Times that if American citizens aren’t careful, what has happened in France could happen in the United States.
“I believe there are powerful people in Washington who would be happy to implement a similar law,” said Dr. Bowden. “We need to keep the dialogue going to prevent this from happening. The pandemic emboldened infringements on free speech and bodily autonomy.
STAFF ARE LITERALLY PETRIFIED!! Sent anonymously shared with permission: I’m private messaging you from a friends phone! With her permission of course. I work in a NHS hospital. It’s evident we are seeing patients presenting with turbo cancers, strokes, Guillian Barre ! They are all So young with aggressive stage 4 ovarian/lung/liver metastasis and although Dr’s are passing comment nobody is really raising concern! We were pushed to take the vaccine and declined! Our jobs threatened and all colleagues turned their back on us ! We were moments from loosing our jobs until the mandatory vaccines withdrawn ! They are still moving around the hospital trying to give the vaccine ! Everyone so frightened to discuss it because most have had the jab ! Others don’t want to start the conversation and are scared of the consequences! So frightened for the future
·
1M Views
GLOBAL ISSUES
This is why you can never go on cruise ships; vaccinated have lack of immunity and you are in a locked in area
(zerohedge)
CDC Confirms Spread Of ‘Unknown’ Outbreak Aboard Cruise Ship
SATURDAY, FEB 17, 2024 – 09:35 PM
The CDC has confirmed that an “unknown” outbreak aboard a cruise ship is spreading, and has infected at least 154 people.
In an update this week, the agency said that so far 25 crew members and 129 passengers on the Carnival-owned Cunard Cruise Line’s Queen Victoria have fallen ill, after an initial 15 cases were reported weeks ago. The Queen Victoria has 1,824 passengers and 967 crew members aboard.
Those fallen ill have reported “symptoms of gastrointestinal illness,” however the CDC has yet to identify the exact illness.
“Cunard confirms that a number of guests had reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness on board Queen Victoria on voyage V405 which departed Florida on [Jan. 22] and arrived in San Francisco on [Feb. 7],” said Cunard Cruise Lines in a statement to news outlets. “They immediately activated their enhanced health and safety protocols to ensure the wellbeing of all guests and crew on board and these measures have been effective.”
According to CruiseMapper, the Queen Victoria is currently on a 55-day trip that will take it from Germany to Australia – with its final destination being Honolulu, Hawaii on March 4.
Last month, nearly 100 passengers aboard a Celebrity Cruises ship, the Constellation, fell ill with norovirus after departing in early January from Florida.
While the CDC report still hasn’t revealed the cause of the Cunard cruise ship’s outbreak, norovirus has been the most common source of illnesses on cruise ships in recent years. The agency reported 14 illness outbreaks on cruise ships in 2023, with norovirus being listed as the causative agent in all but one of the incidents.
Last year, for example, a norovirus outbreak sickened more than 170 people on a Celebrity cruise ship, with the main symptoms being diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and headaches.
In a normal year, according to the CDC, norovirus causes between 19 million and 21 million cases of vomiting and diarrhea, 109,000 hospitalizations, and 900 deaths across the United States. The virus also is associated with about 495,000 emergency department visits, mostly in younger children, the CDC says.
If there is a new strain of the virus, the CDC says, there can be upward of 50 percent more norovirus illnesses in a given year.
The CDC’s webpage for norovirus says the virus is very contagious and generally causes vomiting and diarrhea. “Anyone can get infected and sick with norovirus. Norovirus is sometimes called the ’stomach flu‘ or ’stomach bug,’” the agency says. “However, norovirus illness is not related to the flu.”
Other than cruise lines, norovirus outbreaks often occur in health care facilities, long-term care facilities, restaurants, child care centers, and schools. Noting the association between norovirus outbreaks and cruises, the CDC says that more than 90 percent of “outbreaks of diarrheal disease on cruise ships” are caused by the virus.
“These outbreaks often get media attention, which is why some people call norovirus the ‘cruise ship virus,’” the CDC says. “However, norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships account for only a small percentage … of all reported norovirus outbreaks. Norovirus can be especially challenging to control on cruise ships because of the close living quarters, shared dining areas, and rapid turnover of passengers.”
death penalty, then I say let it play out…if we find via prior legal inquiry, that judges say death penalty for wrongs in COVID, I say carry it out! Trump and Biden administration …people must pay
to this that Boris (BoJo) has more blood due to what he did & when you think seriously (if true) about Putin’s claim (in his recent Tucker Carlson interview) that Johnson derailed a peace deal
Former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the mainstream media are hotly denying Vladimir Putin’s claim (in his recent Tucker Carlson interview) that Johnson derailed a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine just a couple of months after the war commenced…
The Canadian Trucker operated how we all do, we have gut instinct something is not right, not working, so we decide against, so how come Medical doctors & scientists did not? You did not know?
So how we operate instinctively all along the Canadian Trucker knew and did operate and said NO, we don’t want it, yet the governments in Canada, USA, UK etc. went against them, the Prime Minister used power and a lie to punish them, to punish me, Hodkinson etc., Bridle, us standing with the Trucker, to malign us, so how come the Truckers knew? They were not doctors, they were not scientists, yet they were RIGHT, NOBEL for them…they were the only group that lost, were the only group that was the true Freedom Fighter…
doctors today and scientists cannot get amnesty, they knew what they were doing was wrong…they moved to protect their salary and research grants and power, so they must be punished legally and very hard…they costed lives! no forgiveness! Their actions, policies, positions, words KILLED people!
With the rulings of courts, if guilt is determined, we clean them out financially, we imprison them, we hang them, based on courts and judges and juries.
how will Freeland & Trudeau be held to account? Who can the truckers and protesters hurt by Trudeau’s crackdown sue? We were harassed, hurt, some arrested, lives destroyed, money seized…so who?
France Moves to Begin Jailing mRNA Vaccine CriticsLawmakers in France are pushing to introduce new laws that would allow the far-left globalist government to begin jailing critics of experimental vaccines such as Covid mRNA shots.READ MORE
Biden’s Transgender HHS Official: ‘Climate Change’ Is Racist Democrat President Joe Biden’s token transgender Health and Human Services (HHS) official “Rachel” Levine has issued a public statement claiming that so-called “climate change” is racist against black Americans. READ MORE
Insider Reveals ‘Horrible Thing’ Mitch McConnell Did to AmericansThe party’s Senate leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is being exposed by a prominent Republican senator regarding the latest foreign aid funding bill in the Senate. This bill aims to allocate tens of billions more in U.S. tax dollars to Ukraine. During a Twitter Spaces session, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) revealed that McConnell and over a dozen other Republican senators supported …READ THE FULL REPORT
MSNBC: It’s ‘Game Over’ for Fani Willis and Nathan Wade“Right? Don’t let the legalese fool you,” MSNBC legal analyst Caroline Polisi explained. “This is epic. This is monumental. If things are going in the direction, we think Fani Willis lied to the court, it’s game over for her. She will be disqualified if they had a relationship prior to when they represented to the court. It’s a huge deal. …READ THE FULL REPORT
LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES
WHO Working with Bill Gates & China to Unleash ‘Disease X’The World Health Organization (WHO) has been secretly working with Bill Gates and the Chinese Communist Party to unleash “Disease X” on the Western world as soon global leaders sign the United Nations “health” agency’s “Pandemic Treaty.”READ THE FULL REPORT
Iran was able to transport $2.8 billion in oil to customers in 2023 using insurance from a US-based company, despite sanctions imposed on Iranian oil sales by the US Treasury, an investigation published by TheNew York Times (NYT) on Friday has found.
The oil was transported aboard 27 tankers, using liability insurance obtained by the New York-based American Club. Tankers are typically required to have liability insurance to enter international ports, meaning the US Treasury could have blocked the sale of this oil by demanding the American Club revoke insurance for the tankers.
NYT says the 27 tankers were able to transport shipments across at least 59 trips during 2023. The Treasury Department did not respond to a question from the newspaper about whether it was aware the ships had transported Iranian oil while insured by the American Club.
To identify the shipments, NYT relied on tracking data provided by TankerTrackers.com, SynMax, and Pole Star.
The investigation showed the tankers were engaged in activities suggesting they may be involved in evading US sanctions. The ships are owned by shell companies, are older than average tankers, and use “spoofing” to obscure their locations.
In response to the investigation, Daniel Tadros, the American Club’s COO, said it was difficult for his firm to determine if a tanker was carrying Iranian oil and that the US government should play a more significant role in investigating activity that might violate its sanctions.
“It’s impossible for us to know on a daily basis exactly what every ship is doing, where it’s going, what it’s carrying, who its owners are,” Tedros said. “I would like to think that governments have a lot more capability, manpower, resources to follow that.”
A US Treasury spokesperson said in a statement: “Treasury remains focused on targeting Iran’s sources of illicit funding, including exposing evasion networks and disrupting billions of dollars in revenue.”
Lawmakers in the US have criticized officials in the White House for their failure to curb Iranian oil sales and for releasing billions of dollars of seized Iranian oil revenue as part of a prisoner exchange this summer.
Republican lawmakers claim that Iran has been able to use funds from released oil sales to support “terrorism.”
Meanwhile, let’s review other recent instances of Biden’s failed sanctions policy, and inability to enforce:
“A US refiner imported 10,000 barrels of Russian oil through a blending loophole at storage terminals in the Bahamas.
The crude, brought into Wilmington, Delaware in November, didn’t violate US sanctions because it was exported from Russia to the Bahamas prior to March 8, 2022, when the sanctions began, said Morgan Butterfield, an Energy Information Administration spokesperson. It was then commingled with other oil before being imported into the US, he said.”
We can now publicly reveal that Russian crude oil is en route to Venezuela after LIGERA (9237072), a frequent sanctions violator, received roughly 1.7 million barrels via 2 STS transfers in the Laconian Gulf, Greece. She is heading most likely to the Punta Cardon refinery. #OOTT
·
37.5K Views
Iran provides essential support to various armed groups throughout West Asia, collectively known as the Axis of Resistance, including in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen. These groups are committed to ending Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the US occupation of Syria, and US troop presence in Iraq.
“It is very concerning,” said Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat of New Hampshire, who has filed a bill to strengthen the enforcement of sanctions.
“The United States must use every tool at its disposal to identify, stop and sanction these bad actors,” she said. “These new revelations highlight the stakes.”
END
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//
PAKISTAN
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: 1.08904 UP .0029
USA/ YEN 150.09 DOWN 0.178 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//
GBP/USA 1.2604 UP .0017
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3473 DOWN .0026 (CDN DOLLAR UP 26 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 12.19 PTS OR .42%
Hang Seng CLOSED UP 91.90 POINTS OR 0.57%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED DOWN 0.02% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: MOSTLY ALL GREEN
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: MOSTLY ALL GREEN
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED UP 395.33 PTS OR 2.48%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 12.19 PTS OR .42%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED DOWN 0.02%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 329.30 PTS OR 0.86%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN
Gold very early morning trading: 2027.10
silver:$23.10
USA dollar index early TUESDAY morning: 103.99 DOWN 19 BASIS POINTS FROM FRIDAY’s CLOSE.
The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED UP AT 7.1919
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)…. (7.2001)
TURKISH LIRA: 30.92 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.733…
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 4 in basis points from FRIDAY at 4.251% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.430 DOWN 2 in basis points /12.00 PM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.576 DOWN 8 BASIS PTS.
GOLD AT 3;30 AM 2026.80
SILVER AT 3;30: 23.02
Your 12:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: TUESDAY CLOSING TIME 12:00 PM//
London: CLOSED DOWN 9.83 PTS OR 0.13%
German Dax : CLOSED DOWN 16.06 PTS OR 0.09%
Paris CAC CLOSED UP 32.88 PTS OR 0.42%
Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 95.70 PTS OR 0.96%
Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 37.81 PTS OR 0.12%
WTI Oil price 78.82 12: EST
Brent Oil: 82.28 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 92.34; ROUBLE DOWN 0 AND 1//100
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.373 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS
UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.0785 DOWN 7 BASIS POINTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA: 1.0811 UP .0036 OR 36 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2624 UP .0037 or 37 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.087 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS//
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 0.726%
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 150.01 DOWN 0.258//YEN UP 26 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3522 UP .0023 CDN dollar DOWN 23 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 78.27
Brent OIL: 82.51
USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 2 BASIS pts to 4.272%
USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 1 BASIS PTS to 4.447%
USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 5 PTS AT 4.610%
USA dollar index: 103.93 DOWN 25 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 30.91 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 92.34 UP 0 AND 1/100 roubles
GOLD 2024.50 3:30 PM
SILVER: 23.00 3:30 PM
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: DOWN 64.190 PTS OR 0.17%
NASDAQ DOWN 139..88 PTS OR 0.79%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 15.38 UP 0.67 PTS OR 0.45%
GLD: $187.47 UP 1.13 OR 0.61%
SLV/ $21.07 DOWN .32 OR 1.50%
end
USA AFFAIRS
TODAY’S TRADING IN GRAPH FORM
Bonds, Bullion, & Big-Tech Fear Bid, Stocks Skid Ahead Of NVDA’s Big Day
TUESDAY, FEB 20, 2024 – 04:00 PM
After yesterday’s holiday – to celebrate dead (or nearly dead) presidents? – US markets stumbled to start the week (ahead of NVDA’s big earnings announcement tomorrow after the close). NVDA vols are a little ‘bid’ let’s say (with an implied move of +/-11% or a $200BN range of outcomes)…
Source: Bloomberg
That helped drag Nasdaq’s ‘VIX’ up to its highest since early November (but note that S&P ‘VIX’ remains below last week’s highs and Small Caps ‘VIX’ is at its highest since May 2023)….
Source: Bloomberg
Oddly, the media were not quite as fast to squawk about the fact that NVDA’s market cap fell back below that of AMZN and GOOGL’s…
Source: Bloomberg
What little macro data there was today disappointed(Philly Fed Services deeper into contraction, and LEI’s declining worse than expected for the longest streak since ‘Lehman’)…
Source: Bloomberg
That lifted expectations for 2024 rate-cuts very modestly…
Source: Bloomberg
Small Caps were the ugliest horse in today’s glue factory and the Dow the prettiest – though they all closed red. With about 30 mins left in the cash session, everything shit the bed (for no obvious HL-driven reason), which dragged the S&P and Nasdaq down further (but that was quickly bid back up)…
MAG7 stocks broke down, out of their flag pattern from last week…
Source: Bloomberg
‘Most Shorted’ stocks also tumbled…
Source: Bloomberg
Treasuries were mixed (mostly bid) with the long-end underperforming, 2Y leading. Notably, bonds were bid all night and thru to the European close…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar dumped today, erasing all the post-CPI gains…
Source: Bloomberg
Quite a ride for crypto today with BTC hitting $53,000; getting slammed back down to below $51,000; only to ramp back up above $52,000 and end the day green…
Source: Bloomberg
BTC ETF volumes were notably higher (with BTCW and HODL jumping bigly)…
Source: Bloomberg
Ethereum outperformed Bitcoin, topping $3,000 once again…
Source: Bloomberg
Oil prices declined today with the front-month WTI back with a $77 handle…
Source: Bloomberg
Gold extended its post-CPI-plunge rebound, erasing all the losses…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, deja vu all over again, anyone?
Source: Bloomberg
Did NVDA just go thru the same pre-ordering, panic-bid-esque behavior we saw in 2021 as the COVID lockdowns (supply bottlenecks) and crypto/gaming demand accelerated?
MORNING TRADING//
end
MORNING TRADING
II USA DATA
US Leading Indicators Disappoint, Equal Longest Losing Streak Since ‘Lehman’
TUESDAY, FEB 20, 2024 – 10:50 AM
The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) continued its decline in January, dropping 0.4% MoM (notably worse than the -0.1% MoM expectations), and December’s 0.1% declin e was revised down to a 0.2% decline.
The biggest positive contributor to the leading index was stock prices (again)at +0.10
The biggest negative contributor was average workweek at -0.18
This is the 22nd straight MoM decline in the LEI (and 23rd month of 25) – equaling the longest streak of declines since ‘Lehman’ (22 straight months of declines from June 2007 to April 2008)
“While the declining LEI continues to signal headwinds to economic activity, for the first time in the past two years, six out of its ten components were positive contributors over the past six-month period (ending in January 2024).
As a result, the leading index currently does not signal recession ahead.
While no longer forecasting a recession in 2024, we do expect real GDP growth to slow to near zero percent over Q2 and Q3.”
While the Conference Board seems optimistic, we are struggling to see any signs of hope! tumbling back below the peak in March 2006…
And on a year-over-year basis, the LEI is down 7.0% (down YoY for 19 straight months) – still close to its biggest YoY drop since 2008 (Lehman) outside of the COVID lockdown-enforced collapse (but starting to inflect)…
The annual growth rate of the LEI remains deeply negative and decoupled from Real GDP…..
Finally, the massive easing of financial conditions in the last few months suggests a turn in LEI is imminent…
And hence the ‘soft landing’ mission is accomplished… so no need for rate-cuts? (Except for the banking crisis that looms in March).
TUCKER CARLSON
III USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES
CALIFORNIA
Drug-Use, Robberies, & Public Sex: Cali Public Library Forced To Close Due To Rampant Illegal Activity
MONDAY, FEB 19, 2024 – 09:00 PM
In case you’re wondering whether or not libraries still have use in the age of the internet, they do. And we have Gavin Newsom’s state to thank in helping the nation get reacquainted with their new purpose.
That use appears to now be a designated place for drug use, robberies and public sex. At least, that was the case at the Contra Costa County Library’s Antioch Branch in California, according to a new NY Post article.
The city of Antioch is about 45 miles northeast of Oakland and is home to about 115,000 people.
That library has been forced to close its doors as a result of the illicit and illegal activity.
In a statement, the library commented: “During the closure, the Library will be working to implement further security measures so we can reopen as soon as possible.”
One representative for the Contra Costa County Library System said: “We’ve also had drug activity and drug use both inside the library and on library property.”
“People having sexual intercourse inside the library or on property in full view of patrons and staff. We found bullet casings on library property,” she continued.
One Antioch resident told the Post: “No one in the City of Antioch, including the police chief, was informed of safety concerns by Contra Costa County regarding the library.”
“We apologize for the short notice and the inconvenience but the safety of our patrons and staff is a top priority,” the branch said in a statement.
It was ultimately the county’s decision to close the library, the report concluded.
When it reopens, the library will have a 2nd security officer, repaired fencing and upgraded security cameras.
END
CHICAGO
Chicago Hit By Surging Violence From Criminals Out On Probation And Parole
One thing Chicagoans can’t help but notice when scrolling through news feeds: the number of violent crimes committed by defendants while they were out either on parole, probation or awaiting trial.
That’s not surprising given the long-term decarceration trend in Cook County that’s left the county’s jail population at the lowest level in 40 years. Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans started a no bail/low cash bail policy in 2017, resulting in a growing number of pretrial defendants out on bond who are then charged with new crimes, as we reported here. The state’s new SAFE-T Act has taken that policy even further. In September 2023, Illinois became the first state in the country to eliminate cash bail altogether, while the law also reduced the types of crimes for which defendants could be detained before their trial.
The big question in 2024 is how will the SAFE-T Act impact crime, everything else equal. It’s still far too early to determine whether there are more violent defendants out on the streets awaiting trial and, unfortunately, the government is far behind on releasing the relevant data on that, according to a recent BGA report.
Nevertheless, Chicagoans have a right to be concerned considering just how many stories there are of released defendants committing mayhem. Many make the news every day, but it’s hard to know just how prevalent they are among the sea of other crimes committed.
That’s why we’ve compiled a short sample list of defendants – those on parole, probation or awaiting trial – who’ve been accused of committing violent crimes since the start of the new year. Our source is CWB Chicago, which does a great job of tracking and publishing the city’s daily crimes.
January 2 – A 21-year-old man shot another man in the face while on bail for one gun case and on probation for another. According to CWB, he was the “30th person accused of shooting, killing, or trying to shoot or kill someone in Chicago in 2023 while awaiting trial for a felony.”
January 7 – A 31-year-old man and former CVS employee robbed a CVS while on probation for robbing and burglarizing a CVS.
January 14 – A 19-year-old gang member shot and critically injured another man in Little Village just three months after getting probation for head-butting a Chicago cop. Prosecutors also dropped a felony gun case on the day he pleaded guilty to the battery.
January 18 – A 19-year-old man killed his girlfriend while on probation for a gun charge.
January 27 – An 18-year-old man with gang ties gunned down an airport employee while on juvenile probation for gun possession.
February 4 – A 56-year-old man killed ex-girlfriend while on parole for strangling his previous partner.
February 6 – A 32-year-old man and previous 8-time felon burglarized a restaurant while on probation for burglarizing a nail salon.
February 6 – A 16-year-old male allegedly stabbed and killed a man while on parole for attempted murder. Earlier, he was found in possession of a stolen motor vehicle while on that same parole. That case was dropped.
February 7 – A 20 year-old man was charged with ‘brutal attack’ of a woman at Chicago Union Station after being released on similar charges under cashless bail law.
February 12 – A 33-year-old tow truck driver with two counts of attempted murder after he opened fire on two competitors over a job, while on felony pretrial release.
February 13 – A 19-year-old man was caught carrying three guns on CTA less than a month after being placed on “first-time weapon offender probation” for another felony gun case.
February 14 – An 18-year-old man killed an Uber driver while on juvenile probation for robbery. He also previously served time in the juvenile justice center for carjacking in 2021.
Commit a crime. Get released, either before or after your trial. Commit more crime “while on” release from previous crime. Repeat.
**************
Some are expressing hope in the latest crime numbers for 2024 (through early-February), which show major crimes down 18% and murders down 30%. But with just a little over a month behind us, it’s premature to make any conclusions given the city is coming off of post-covid record-high crime numbers.
Major crimes in 2023 were up over by 16% over 2022 and by 55% over 2019, before covid and the George Floyd.
As mentioned above, we’re going to have to wait for new data to reach any conclusions.
But from the data we do know since the SAFE-T Act was passed – the Cook County jail population is down 15%, electronic monitoring is down 10%, and detention appeals have skyrocketed – proponents of softer crime policies are getting what they want.
And, it appears, Chicago’s criminal class is getting what they want, too.
Home Depot Sales Slide For Fifth Quarter On Weak Housing Demand
TUESDAY, FEB 20, 2024 – 08:30 AM
HOME DEPOT
Home Depot’s sales fell for the fifth straight quarter as the country’s largest home improvement retailer felt the impacts of higher mortgage rates that have put a big freeze on the housing market.
Fourth-quarter revenue came in at $34.79 billion, down from $35.83 in the prior-year period. The figure still beat $34.61 billion that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected.
Comparable sales, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, fell 3.5%. The retailer predicted a 1% decline in comparable revenue for this year. Analysts have been expecting a rise of .2%.
Here’s a snapshot of fourth-quarter earnings (courtesy of Bloomberg):
Comparable sales -3.5% vs. -0.3% y/y, estimate -3.63% (Bloomberg Consensus)
US comparable sales -4% vs. -0.3% y/y, estimate -3.78%
Net sales $34.79 billion, -2.9% y/y, estimate $34.61 billion
And the fiscal 2024 forecast (courtesy of Bloomberg):
Sees comparable sales about -1%, estimate +0.18%
Sees sales about +1%
Sees operating margin about 14.1%, estimate 14.2%
Sees 53-week diluted EPS growth of about 1.0%
Shares of Home Depot are down 2% in premarket trading in New York.
CEO Ted Decker wrote in a statement: “After three years of exceptional growth for our business, 2023 was a year of moderation.”
Elevated mortgage rates have pushed mortgage applications to a multi-decade low.
Even with the ongoing slowdown in the housing market, Wall Street analysts maintain optimism about the retailer’s long-term prospects.
Just weeks ago, analysts at Wedbush Securities upgraded Home Depot from “neutral” to “outperform,” pointing to a “rebounding industry environment with healthy Pro and general employment, solid wage growth and homeowner spending power from continued home-price appreciation.”
end
Walmart Hits Record High After Earnings Beat, Despite Soft Guidance, Warning About “Choiceful” Consumers Spending Less
TUESDAY, FEB 20, 2024 – 10:17 AM
Walmart shares hit a new all-time high after the largest bricks and mortar retailer reported earnings that beat expectations despite providing guidance that was marginally softer, as choosy shoppers nevertheless kept buying in its stores.
Here is what the company report for the final quarter of 2023:
Adjusted EPS $1.80 vs. $1.71 y/y, beating estimate of $1.65
Total US comparable sales ex-gas +3.9%, estimate +3.2%
Walmart-only US stores comparable sales ex-gas +4%, estimate +3.12%
Sam’s Club US comparable sales ex-gas +3.1%, estimate +2.99%
Change in US E-Commerce sales +17%, beating estimate +15.5%
Adjusted operating income $7.25 billion, beating estimate $6.79 billion
Of the metrics reported, however, the most important one is that Walmart’s same-store sales (ex fuel), rose 4% YoY for US stores (of which net sales was 3.% and eCommerce added 17%). Wall Street was expecting 3.1% so the number was clearly a beat and was driven by “strength in grocery, health and wellness, offset by softness in general merchandise“, and was the result of higher transactions (+4.3%) offsetting average ticket prices, which dropped 0.3% YoY. Still, the number is a far cry from the 8.3% comp sales a year ago.
In keeping with the noted softness in general merchandise, the world’s largest retailer delivered softer guidance for the current fiscal year, as it expects consumers to be selective in their spending:
For full-year 2025, WMT sees net sales +3% to +4%, slower than growth from the prior year, and adjusted EPS $6.70 to $7.12, slightly disappointing vs the median consensus estimate of $7.09
For Q1, 2025, WMT sees ees adjusted EPS $1.48 to $1.56.
Commenting on customer “selectivity”, CFO John Rainey said that “they are being choiceful” as consumers continue to spend less per trip but have been shopping frequently, adding that the company expects some resilience to continue for the rest of the year.
There was more good news: Walmart is gaining share in nearly every category, according to Rainey, with e-commerce among the factors driving growth as the company trims losses associated with handling online orders. Furthermore, while deflation is still a possibility, the company expects it to be less likely based on what it observed during the latest quarter.
That said, while grabbing more spending with low-priced groceries and other basics, Walmart has been cautious in recent months about the health of the consumer amid persistent inflation and higher interest rates. As noted above, US consumers have been buying cheaper products and seeking value, as they pull back from discretionary products like general merchandise. That has resulted in softer sales for some retailers, including Target Corp. and Home Depot Inc. Other big-box retailers are set to report their quarterly earnings in the coming weeks.
As Bloomberg notes, the recent moderation in inflation is another challenge for Walmart and other retail operators that have passed down price increases to consumers over the past few years. This has contributed to higher dollar sales for companies, followed by an uptick in revenue during the pandemic when people bought more groceries and home goods. Such increases are slowing overall, though inflation remains stubborn in some areas like groceries and shelter.
Similar to all of its major competitors, Walmart has been beefing up automation in warehouses and stores in recent years, while remodeling locations to make them more modern. Pickup and delivery businesses continue to expand, driving share gains among upper-income households and fueling growth of the Walmart+ membership program.
Separately, Walmart said it agreed to buy smart-TV maker Vizio Holding Corp. for about $2.3 billion. The deal would accelerate the retailer’s advertising business, called Walmart Connect, and help Walmart and its advertisers engage more with customers. Walmart has been expanding Walmart Connect and other nonretail businesses that have faster growth and better margins. The deal announcement confirmed a Wall Street Journal report from last week. Vizio shares soared 15% in Tuesday premarket trading.
As for WMT, the Bentonville, after the stock gained 16% over the past year, it jumped another 5.7% on Tuesday rising to a new all time high as investors were clearly satisfied with what they saw.
IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM/WOKISM…
END
FREIGHT ISSUES/USA
They have had enough; Trump supporting truckers are going to paralyze New York today
by blocking entrances into the city..
“F**k Around & Find Out”: Truckers Warn Loads To NYC Will Be Rejected Starting Monday
SUNDAY, FEB 18, 2024 – 11:15 AM
Update (Sunday):
Trending on X this morning:
Google search trends for “trucker boycott” surging across nation:
And “boycott NYC”…
“I’m a trucker, and I stand with the boycott. Time to show the corrupt we run this country. Not them,” one X user said.
I’m a trucker, and I stand with the boycott. Time to show the corrupt we run this country. Not them #TruckersForTrump#Truckers
·
1,151 Views
Besides New York City, truckers on X call for drivers to boycott liberal cities.
What this country needs is a good old-fashioned trucker boycott of democrat-run cities. The left needs to be reminded of who really runs this country. #MAGA#Trump2024#TruckersForTrump
·
135.7K Views
“Liberals laugh at the thought of a trucker boycott of NYC. A few years ago, a trucker boycott brought the state of Colorado to its knees. MAGA patriots make this country run. Liberals make our coffee,” another X user said.
Liberals laugh at the thought of a trucker boycott of NYC A few years ago, a trucker boycott brought the state of Colorado to its knees. MAGA patriots make this country run. Liberals make our coffee. #MAGA#Trump2024#TruckersForTrump
Some American truckers appear to be adopting strategies similar to those used by European farmers in their fight against progressive elites aiming to shut down their farms.
* * *
Truck drivers transport between 70% to 73% of all freight in the United States. Therefore, when truckers begin discussing plans on social media to boycott loads to progressive hellhole New York City, it’s important to pay attention.
X user Chicago1Ray, who appears to be a Midwest truck driver, shared a video late Friday night detailing that a number of truck drivers will begin denying loads to NYC on Monday.
“I don’t know how far across the country this is – or how many truckers are going start denying loads to NYC – but I’ll tell you – you f**k around and find out,” Chicago1Ray said.
He continued: “We’re tired of motherf**king leftist f**king with Trump. Okay … Motherfu**ers start to get tired of this shit. Our bosses aren’t going to care if we deny loads. We’ll go somewhere else.”
“You know how hard it is to get in and out of NYC?” the trucker emphasized.
I’ve been on the radio for over an hour and I’ve talked to at least (10) Truckers who are gonna start refusing loads of Monday for (NYC) …I talked to (3) guys that I work with who texted the boss and told him no (NYC) Truckers are (95%) Trump… it’ll get overturned on appeal but you know how fucken hard it is to get one of these mfrs into (NYC) cut the bullshit I’ll cya down the road
Perhaps truckers in America have learned something from revolting farmers in Europe.
ALERT: Truckers across the country are staging a MASSIVE protest after Judge Engoron ordered Trump to pay $364 million to the state of New York. They are attempting to unite and refuse to deliver loads into New York City! Do you support this?
Patriot_45_ (@Brandon Johnson) posted: ALERT:
Truckers across the country are staging a MASSIVE protest after Judge Engoron ordered Trump to pay $364 million to the state of New York.
They are attempting to unite and refuse to deliver loads into New York City!
US January PPI 0.3% m/m & 0.9% y/y, 0.1% m/m & 0.6% y/y expected; Core PPI 0.5% m/m & 2.0% y/y, 0.1% m/m & 1.6% y/y expected
The ugly January PPI thwarted the February expiration upward manipulation.
Other US Economic Data released on FridayJan Housing Starts 1.331m, 1.46m exp., 1.562m prior revised from 1.46mJan Building Permits 1.47m, 1.512m exp., 1.493m prior revised from 1.495mFeb UM Sentiment 79.6, 80 exp., 79 priorFeb UM Current Conditions 81.5, 82.5 exp., 81.9 priorFeb UM Expectations 78.4, 77 exp., 77.1 priorFeb UM 1-year Inflation 3%, 2.9% expected & priorFeb UM 5-10-year Inflation 2.9%, 2.8% expected, 2.9% priorFeb NY Fed US Business Leaders Survey -7.3, -9.7 prior Fox’s @cvpayne: This is so odd – the Michigan Consumer Sentiment report declined for Democrats and surged for Republican consumers. Are consumers already factoring in a Trump victory?https://t.co/guXIRKsB6Q
NY Fed: Business Leaders Survey – Survey responses were collected between Feb. 2 and Feb. 9. Business activity declined for a sixth consecutive month in the New York-Northern New Jersey region, according to the February survey. The headline business activity index edged up two points but held below zero at -7.3. Twenty-four percent of respondents reported that conditions improved over the month and 32 percent said that conditions worsened. The business climate index rose six points to -24.2, suggesting that the business climate remains worse than normal… https://www.newyorkfed.org/survey/business_leaders/bls_overview
ABC News: Nike is cutting 2% of its global workforce — or a little over 1,600… https://t.co/1xOdUDf2X2
ESHs traded modestly higher in early Nikkei trading on Friday, but broke lower at 19:00 ET. ESHs hit a low of 5039.25 at 20:41 ET. ESHs then methodically rallied to a daily high of 5059.25 at 6:11 ET. The ugly US January PPI Report created a wicked A-B-C decline that took ESHs to a daily low of 5012.75 at 10:00 ET. But it was February options expiration; so, the usual suspects aggressively bought ESHs, driving them to 5050.25 at 11:58 ET.
After a slow rollover that lasted an hour, ESHs broke lower at 13:00 ET. After hitting 5033.00 at 13:11 ET, ESHs rebounded. There was an estimated $2.4 TRILLION of February options expiring, and impact players needed to keep or get their calls ‘into the money.’
After hitting 5053.75 at 14:10 ET, ESHs slowly rolled over until they began to tumble at 14:35 ET. There was no news; it was trader liquidation ahead of the long holiday weekend. After bottoming at 5024.75 near 14:48 ET, ESHs traded sideways until they broke lower after 15:42 ET. After hitting 5015.00 at 15:50 ET, ESHs moseyed up to 5019.75 at the NYSE close.
SF Fed President and uber liberal Mary Daly tried to talk up stocks on Friday afternoon. Daly said the Fed should not wait for inflation to reach 2% before cutting rates and she sees 3 cuts in 2024. For balance, Daly said the Fed should resist the temptation to cut rates ‘too soon.’
@zerohedge: So much for “it’s the weather.” From BofA – Spending (ex auto) came at -1.6%y/y in the week ending Feb 10. Overall, spending growth remains soft. This was despite the week ending Feb 10 not having any big weather disruptions, which were likely behind the weak Jan prints.
@GameofTrades_: Housing defaults have just hit the highest levels since 2013. This is now starting to look scary. https://t.co/IP2J3mCYHs
Goldman Boosts (CEO) Solomon’s Pay 24% after Firm Profit Slumps 24% – BBG 11:50 ET
Positive aspects of previous session The expiry manipulation produced a sharp late morning rally during NYSE trading
Negative aspects of previous session Copper and precious metals rallied sharply; oil & gas rallied moderately Bonds sank; Stocks tumbled early and late during NYSE trading
Ambiguous aspects of previous session What will Democrats and Team Obama do about Biden?
First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Down; Last Hour: Down
Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 5014.60 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 5038.70; 4999.52
Biden admin braces for possible Trump win, installs ‘roadblocks’ to stop him from reshaping government: Report (saving democracy?) https://t.co/eqVL5pFQPc
Ukraine withdraws from devastated town of Avdiivka, handing Russia key victoryhttps://t.co/Y007YmP0BD
Biden blames Congress aid snafu for fall of Ukrainian city, warns more may followhttps://t.co/TkvaZv8SkV
Putin pal threatens Armageddon nuclear attack on DC and London if Russia has to give back any Ukraine territory – Dmitry Medvedev, deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council and a former Russian president and prime minister…“Attempts to restore Russia’s 1991 borders will lead only to one thing — a global war with Western countries with the use of our entire strategic (nuclear) arsenal against Kyiv, Berlin, London, and Washington. And against all other beautiful historic places that have long been included in the flight targets of our nuclear triad,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram… https://t.co/uQVJgQlrzW
China’s Wang Says Time Isn’t Right to Talk Russia-Ukraine Peace Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said conditions are not right for peace talks to end Russia’s war on Ukraine — as Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba had been seeking a weekend meeting. Ukraine has been pushing for a high-level summit to be held next month, though the date is likely to slip to April or May due to the lack of commitment from world leaders… https://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-seeks-meet-china-minister-121552706.html
Israel rejects calls for Palestinian state, calling it a ‘reward’ for terrorism https://t.co/YOf6gUh9ru
Spineless Joe Biden is inching toward a full betrayal of Israel Large parts of the Democrats’ base made it clear they would not vote for him because of his support for Israel… Biden’s push for the creation of a Palestinian state rewards Hamas’ brutality and would result in perpetual war that could become a global conflict… https://nypost.com/2024/02/17/opinion/spineless-joe-biden-is-inching-toward-a-full-betrayal-of-israel/
@NBCNewsWorld: Dem leader Rep. Clyburn says that President Biden “feels about the way I feel” that Israeli PM Netanyahu’s “leadership is not good for Israel.”
Biden’s ex-envoy to Iran faces an inquiry from State Department’s inspector general: report Back in April of last year, the Diplomatic Security Service yanked his security clearance… Malley had long been a key figure in US foreign affairs, steering policy toward Tehran… The FBI also reportedly opened an investigation related to Malley last year… House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) publicly speculated that Malley “compromised classified information” pertaining to Iran… https://trib.al/VmEmyVh
Chinese stocks opened higher on Monday after the being closed for a week for the Lunar New Year. Chinese stocks quickly sank; but when major indices hit negative territory, someone decided to aggressively buy stocks. After a sizable bounce, Chinese stocks traded sideways until someone manipulated them higher during the final 30 minutes of trading.
Capital One to Buy Discover in All-Stock Deal Valued at $35.3B – BBG 18:47 ET
Global Markets on Monday Nikkei -0.04%, CSI 300 +1.16%, Shanghai Comp +1.56%, Shenzhen Comp +1.7%, Hang Seng -1.13% Euro Stoxx 50 -0.05%, FTSE +0.22%, CAC 0.0%, DAX -0.15%, IBEX +0.59%, MIB -0.18%
@Sino_Market: China’s central bank cuts the 5-year Loan Prime Rate LPR by 25BPs to 3.95% from 4.20% in February, the first cut since August, and the most on record. 1-year LPR at 3.45% unchanged.
Today – Nvidia reports results tomorrow. As most everyone knows, the Mag 7 has been keeping stocks buoyant in 2024. With AI euphoria at delusional levels, the usual suspects want to be long Nvidia and related trading sardines for Nvidia results. Ergo, some type of equity top could be formed tomorrow or shortly thereafter if Nvidia reports great results. If Nvidia disappoints, well, you know what will occur.
The S&P 500 Index low for Thursday is 4999.44; the Friday low is 4999.52. The usual suspects were determined to keep the S&P 500 Index above 5000 for the February expiry. Obviously, this is now important support. ESUs are -3.50 and USHs are -11/32 at 20:22 ET.
S&P Index 50-day MA: 4813; 100-day MA: 4591; 150-day MA: 4552; 200-day MA: 4485 DJIA 50-day MA: 37,729; 100-day MA: 35,912; 150-day MA: 35,555, 200-day MA: 35,091 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope)
S&P 500 Index ( 5005.57 close) – Trender trading model and MACD for key time frames Monthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4314.46 triggers a sell signal Weekly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4782.26 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4930.47 triggers a sell signal Hourly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5002.26 triggers a sell signal
Biden’s brother used his name to promote a hospital chain. Then it collapsed. Jim Biden played a major role in… Americore, which the government has accused of massive Medicare fraud… The consultant, Jim Biden, had no experience running hospitals… “This would be a perfect platform to expose my Brothers team to [your] protocol,” Jim Biden wrote to the CEO of a Tampa-area company that controlled licensing rights to an experimental cancer treatment the hospital operator wanted to offer. “Could provide a great opportunity for some real exposure.”… Jim Biden spoke of plans to give his brother equity in Americore, according to one former Americore executive, and install him on its board, according to a second. He also said that if Americore could find a winning business model for rural health care, his brother could promote the company in a future presidential campaign, a third former executive told POLITICO. All were granted anonymity to discuss a company mired in legal and political controversy… https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/18/the-biden-name-how-the-presidents-brother-became-embroiled-in-a-hospital-fiasco-00141868
@RealAmVoice: Trump NAILED Crooked Joe with one quote, “Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I will show you a crook.” – President Harry S. Truman. https://t.co/CobC78n6nc
@WBBMNewsradio: Alexei Navalny, the fiercest foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin who staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, died in prison today, Russian authorities said.
So, was The Big Guy just issuing more of his patented BS regarding Navalny or was he serious?
@cspan: President Biden on death of Alexei Navalny: “I’m literally both not surprised and outraged by the news…. make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.” https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1758548407881253264
@cspan: Q: You warned Vladimir Putin…of devastating consequences if Navalny died in Russia custody. What consequences should he and Russia face? POTUS: That was 3 years ago, in the meantime they’ve faced a hell of a lot of consequences…we’re contemplating what else can be done… https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1758552372320571668
@RNCResearch: According to The New York Times, a Secret Service agent is now “positioned at the bottom of the stairs” — even the short stairs — whenever Biden boards or disembarks to make sure he doesn’t trip. https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1758720477994856499
NYT: Inside Biden’s Protective White House Some of Mr. Biden’s key aides have gone from letting “Joe be Joe” to wrapping a presidential cocoon around him that is intended to shield him from verbal slips and physical stumbles… Mr. Biden has granted fewer interviews and delivered fewer news conferences than any of his predecessors dating back to President Ronald Reagan… The president started taking a short flight of stairs directly into the belly of Air Force One, rather than a tall stairway wheeled up to a higher point on the plane, after he tripped and fell over a sandbag during a commencement ceremony this past summer. Now, there is a Secret Service agent positioned at the bottom of the stairs when he disembarks… https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/10/us/politics/biden-white-house-aides.html
‘Dementia Joe You Gotta Go’: East Palestine residents protest Biden’s belated visit after train disasterhttps://t.co/qcsAyx10AK
@RNCResearch on Sat: Biden, on vacation in Delaware, calls on “Congress come home and pass the legislation funding NATO.” Ukraine isn’t in NATO — neither are Israel and Taiwan. https://t.co/VAdPBt7ZSS BIDEN: “[Putin] is paying the price already. Since 2000 when I made that statement, Russians have had sanctions imposed on them” (Joe “made that statement” in 2021.) https://t.co/cYtuqRtQX0
Hidin’ Biden AWOL as America faces crisis after crisis The commander-in-chief received Tuesday’s daily intelligence brief not in the morning but at 2:45 p.m… On Wednesday and Thursday, it was lather, rinse and repeat: no events on the schedule while Biden received the daily brief at 1 p.m. and 11:15 a.m., respectively. And Friday, Biden traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, to deliver remarks more than a year after a toxic train derailment sparked serious health fears among residents. The president then flew directly to Delaware for yet another long weekend at one of his multimillion-dollar homes… https://nypost.com/2024/02/18/opinion/hidin-biden-awol-as-america-faces-crisis-after-crisis/
@JesseBWatters: The DOJ is bringing felony charges against the “credible” FBI informant who said Joe & Hunter Biden were involved in a $10m bribery scheme with Burisma. Everyone who blows the whistle on the Biden’s seems to get locked up. https://t.co/QwjjbPe09a
@RNCResearch: CNN: “At this point in their presidencies, Obama did 422 interviews, Trump did 300 — Biden so far? 86.”https://t.co/xTluySdBCt
@RobertKennedyJr: During the 35 years that I’ve known Joe Biden, he’s always demonstrated his core decency. He has shown his affection and esteem for my family by displaying a bust of my father in the Oval Office. I suspect that the White House decision to deny me Secret Service protection — and many other more important decisions — are being made, not by the President himself, but by the anonymous men in lanyards who now seem to be running our government.
@TheBabylonBee: Trump Forces Judge to Grant Full Immunity After He Speaks Gibberish and Shakes Hands with The Air https://buff.ly/42Cplos
@EndWokeness: NY Judge Engoron has ordered Trump to pay $364 Million to NY state in the case brought against him by AG Letitia James. This case had 0 victims and the banks that Trump supposedly defrauded testified in defense of Trump Hotels. Letitia James promised to go after Trump. The entire fraud case is built on the insane premise that Mar-a-Lago is worth just $18 MILLION dollars.
Turley: Obscene award against Trump is testing the New York legal system’s integrity Engoron proved the perfect judge for the case. The opinion itself seems almost cathartic for the jurist who struggled with Trump inside and outside of court. In the judgment, Engoron fulfilled Oscar Wilde’s rule that the only way to be rid of temptation is to yield to it. He ordered everything short of throwing Trump into a wood chipper. The size of the damages is grotesque and should shock the conscience of any judge on appeal. Even if the Democrat-appointed judges on the New York Court of Appeals were to ignore the obvious inequity and unfairness, the United States Supreme Court could intervene… The impact on New York business is likely to be dire. New York is already viewed as a hostile business environment, with the top end of its tax base literally heading south as taxes and crime rises… In electing openly partisan prosecutors such as James and District Attorney Alvin Bragg, voters have shown a preference for political prosecutions and investigations… https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/4473974-obscene-award-against-trump-is-testing-the-new-york-legal-systems-integrity/
Kevin O’Leary slams Trump’s civil ruling as “un-American” and a shock to the entire real estate industryhttps://t.co/DzWaFO9xXz
The outrage and alarm among NY real estate developers and business leaders was so severe that NY Gov. Hochul felt the necessity to surface on Sunday morning to assuage them. But in doing so, Hochul admitted that the prosecution & persecution of Trump was isolated; it was just about getting DJT.
Hochul tells NY businesses not to fear about Trump verdict: ‘Nothing to worry about’ “I think that this is really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance that the law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about, because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior,” Hochul responded… This judge determined that Donald Trump did not follow the rules. He was prosecuted and truly, the governor of the state of New York does not have a say in the size of a fine, and we want to make sure that we don’t have that level of interference,” she said. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4474774-hochul-tells-ny-businesses-not-to-fear-about-trump-verdict-nothing-to-worry-about/
Dershowitz: Letitia James ‘Ought to Be Brought up Before the Bar’ “You should not have an elected prosecutor campaigning on the promise to get a particular defendant. Now if she didn’t get him. She would lose the election. This is a variation of Stalin and Beria back in the 1930s when the head of the KGB says to Stalin, show me the man, I’ll find you the crime…” https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/02/17/dershowitz-letitia-james-ought-to-be-brought-up-before-the-bar/
@JonathanTurley: You do not have to feel sorry or even sympathetic for Trump to see this award as obscene. The appeal will test the New York legal system to see if other judges can do what Judge Engoron found so difficult: set aside their feelings about Trump. https://t.co/W2sJ50xES0
Trump slams ‘corrupt’ New York for letting ‘the migrants come in and take over’ while he gets fined $355 million – as he warns the Democrat-run state ‘is gone and people are moving outhttps://t.co/9KJaqPXP3q
@Travis_in_Flint: The most expensive home in America was just listed for $295 million, a record in the US. It’s a 24,000 sq ft property in Florida. Mar-a-Lago is 62,000 Sq Ft, almost 3x the size.Judge Engoron and Letitia James said it’s only worth $18 million. Clearly this Judge and AG need to be investigated for this sham trial. How do they keep getting away with this?
@EricTrump: Judge Engoron is truly a cruel man — he knows that every single witness testified to the fact that I had absolutely NOTHING to do with this case (as INSANE as the case truly is). No other judge would ever have allowed my name to be dragged through the mud. This is not justice in America — this is political vengeance by a judge out to get my father, the frontrunner for President of the United States.
@StephenM: Democrats Lawfare is American Fascism. It is using raw political power to crush the political opposition. Freedom is dying before our very eyes.
GOP Sen. @JDVance1: Between this and Fani Willis’s testimony, the last 24 hours have revealed that too many American courts have become corrupt weapons of the Democratic Party. Yes, Trump will win on appeal. But a lot of money and time will be wasted in the meantime. This is disgraceful.
Trump-loving truckers refusing to drive to NYC after his $355 million fraud rulinghttps://t.co/kVFTH9hDve
Kamala Harris disregarded staff recommendation to investigate Herbalife — while husband Doug Emhoff’s firm repped the companyhttps://trib.al/wDw1peR
Seattle restaurant suffers 23rd break-in, owner admits he has ‘lost all faith’ in city leadershiphttps://t.co/pIYqHtXPnk
Two juveniles are charged in the shooting that killed one and injured 22 people at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade. – AP (They illegally possessed guns.)
Felon arrested for allegedly pocketing gun after Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting was ‘just trying to help,’ friend insistshttps://trib.al/nNW3zCe
Record 3,363 NYPD cops injured on job in 2023 – with over 1,200 hurt in struggles with suspects in last 3 monthshttps://t.co/aQcybXbdal
@ABC: Two police officers and one firefighter were shot and killed in Burnsville, Minnesota, on Sunday after responding to a “call of a family in danger,” officials say. https://t.co/jPuSseqKRF
@bennyjohnson: The shooter who killed two officers and a paramedic in Burnsville, Minnesota has reportedly been identified as Shannon Cortez Gooden. Gooden petitioned to have his gun rights restored after a 2008 felony assault conviction. Watch how fast this story disappears.https://t.co/8T0bt7xPL7
Pennsylvania judge Sonya McKnight charged after allegedly shooting ex-boyfriend in head as he slepthttps://t.co/gTPW8pjv2w
When is enough, enough regarding crime and violence?
Criticism grows after NYPD dance team performs at schools and events as migrant crime surges in Big Apple leaving residents despondenthttps://t.co/rwrMlIoGd5
Harvard professor says ‘all hell broke loose’ when his study found no racial bias in police shootings Roland Fryer said he lived under police protection during the fallout of his study The study found that police were more than twice as likely to manhandle, beat or use some other kind of nonfatal force against blacks and Hispanics than against people of other races. However, the data also determined that officers were 23.8 percent less likely to shoot at blacks and 8.5 percent less likely to shoot at Hispanics than they were to shoot at whites… Fryer, who became the youngest tenured Black professor at Harvard at age 30… https://www.foxnews.com/media/harvard-professor-all-hell-broke-loose-study-found-no-racial-bias-police-shootings
Illegal immigrant, deported 5 times, charged in hit-and-run death of Texas boyhttps://t.co/1npnSKs22f
@MrAndyNgo: The Hague, Netherlands — Clashing African migrant groups rioted and set fires. Eritreans who claim to be refugees in the West have been fighting each other at multiple riots across different cities for months. https://t.co/MKfZn5Y4PO
Immigration system isn’t broken, former immigration judge says; the laws are being ignoredhttps://t.co/y3l112SKCD
San Diego migrant center reaches its breaking point and is forced to CLOSEhttps://trib.al/dbGT9CM
Democrats increasingly sour over Biden’s border responsehttps://t.co/0Vkqd9t822 80% of U.S. adults say the government is doing a “very” or “somewhat” bad job of dealing with illegal immigration, when broken down by party, 89% of Republicans are critical of the federal response, while 73% of Democrats are, according to a new survey published last week by the Pew Research Center.
Kansas City mayor accuses governor of racial ‘dog whistle’ for calling Super Bowl parade shooters ‘thugs’ https://trib.al/R1hMVrd
London mayor under fire for reportedly snubbing queen statue in favor of art celebrating trans prostituteshttps://t.co/OKJdMlHj2o
Travis Kelce and Chiefs players’ intense partying drew fiery scrutiny online, as the reigning Super Bowl champions were labeled “children trapped in men’s bodies.” The antics that are drawing strong reactions.https://t.co/BOXahvahur
Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong is predicting political turmoil, civilian unrest, war and a big economic downturn in 2024 in a new report called “The Year from Political Hell.” It’s not just a US election year, but it is an election year for more than half of the world. This is a global phenomenon which no one can be sure of the outcome. Armstrong explains, “This is not just the United States election. This is what you hear on the news locally. However, step outside this country, and, for example, Indonesia just voted in a leftist government. You have the EU going for elections. You have on May 2nd all the local elections in Britian. You have Russian elections on May 7th. 60% of the world is going to the polls in 2024 to vote for a new government. You might as well throw them into a tumbler, shake well and see what comes out. I mean it’s all over the place.”
On the war front, get ready for more mass killing, and don’t be surprised if it goes nuclear. Armstrong predicts, “There will be nuclear weapons. The neocons keep telling people on Capitol Hill that Russia would never use a nuke because they know we would use them back. That is nonsense! If you are about ready to conquer somebody, and this is all they’ve got left, they are pushing the button. . . . These people, all they want is war. They don’t care. They really do not care. They don’t care about the economy. They don’t care about anything.”
Armstrong says the coming war will make the economy “crash in 2024” as people get scared, spend a lot less and save a lot more. Armstrong says, “What we are looking at is a contraction in spending because of uncertainty. This is what these neocons are creating, and they don’t want to listen to anybody, and it is just their agenda, and they don’t care what happens to the country. . . .We are looking for a contraction of 12% to 18%. GDP is not going to be rising, but you are going to find inflation still rising.”
Armstrong also says to look for “a rebellion in government debt” as people lose faith in governments around the world. This rebellion in government issued debt will include US Treasuries, according to Armstrong. This means interest rates will continue to trend upward and not downward.
On volatility in the markets, Armstrong predicts, “Look for volatility to start around July, and there may be some false flags too.”
Armstrong continues to say Trump is still looking like he can “win in a landslide in 2024,” but expect the Deep State to pull every dirty trick in the book to keep him out of office. Armstrong points out, “If Trump gets back in power, they are all fired. . . . They know they are losing power. Instead of reforming and doing the right thing, they clamp down and they think they can retain power by pressing us even more. Sorry, but that’s what creates revolution.”
In closing, Armstrong says, “Pretty much everything is going wrong for the Deep State. . . . confidence in government has collapsed everywhere.”
This is what makes the Deep State Dems, RINOs and Neocons very dangerous.
By the way, Armstrong says he would be a buyer of physical gold to hold as a core asset.
There is much more in the 1-hour and 4-minute interview.
7 Comments
Courageous Discourse™ with Dr. Peter McCullough & John Leake
harveyorganblog.com 
