FEB 26//B BLOG FOR MONDAY/GOLD CLOSED DOWN $8.90 TO $2029.90//SILVER CLOSED DOWN 44 CENTS TO $22.51//PLATINUM CLOSED DOWN $26.00 TO $879.0 WHILE PALLADIUM CLOSED DOWN $13.90//PROTESTS GALORE IN EUROPE ESPECIALLY IN POLAND BLOCKING IMPORTS FROM UKRAINE/EUROPE//ISRAEL VS HAMAS UPDATES//ISRAEL VS HEZBOLLAH UPDATES/HOUTHIS VS USA UPDATES//COVID UPDATES//VACCINE INJURY UPDATES/DR PAUL ALEXANDER//SLAY NEWS ETC//USA NEWS: NEW HOMES SALES FALTER//DALLAS FED ANOTHER DIASTROUS READING //VICTOR DAVIS HANSON//SWAMP NEWS FOR YOU TONIGHT///
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $54,505 DOWN 896 dollars
Platinum price closing DOWN $26.00 AT $879.05
Palladium price; DOWN $13.90 AT $955.55
END
SHANGHAI GOLD PREMIUM 25 DOLLARS/COMEX GOLD
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.
I will now provide gold in Canadian dollars, British pounds and Euros
4: 15 PM ACCESS
*CANADIAN GOLD: $2,744.22 DOWN $4.90 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 2,795.90 CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//DEC 1 2023)
*BRITISH GOLD: 1601.75 DOWN 5.75 pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1655.17 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) OCT 2/2023
*EURO GOLD: 1872.42 DOWN 8.80 euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 1903.75 EUROS PER OZ//DEC 1.2023)
DONATE
Click here if you wish to send a donation. I sincerely appreciate it as this site takes a lot of preparation
EXCHANGE: COMEX
JPMorgan stopped 598/934 contracts.
FOR FEB/2024
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR FEB/2024. CONTRACT: 12 NOTICES FOR 1200 OZ or 0.0373 TONNES
total notices so far: 19,909 contracts for 1,990,900 Oz (61.925 tonnes)
FOR FEBRUARY:
SILVER NOTICES 10 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 50,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 1304 for 6,520,000 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 DOWN $8.90//
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ : NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:
FROM THE GLD//MAKES NO SENSE
INVENTORY RESTS AT 827.81 TONNES
SLV//
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 44 CENTS AT THE SLV//
HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.065 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/.
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 428.603 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A SMALL SIZED 262 CONTRACTS TO 145,644 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS TINY SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR RISE IN PRICE OF $0.18 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON FRIDAY. WE HAD ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AT THE COMEX SESSION WITH AGAIN SOME SHORT COVERING AS THE PRICE OF SILVER ROSE BY A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT. WE HAD A HUGE 636 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 ON A DAILY BASIS
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: 636 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 $0.18), AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 782 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES BUT WITH A MUCH HIGHER PRICE.
WE MUST HAVE HAD:
A HUMONGOUS SIZED 990 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 40,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP TO LONDON //NEW TOTAL LOWERS TO ; 7.025 MILLION OZ
//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 7.025 MILLION OZ
/ TINY SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/HUMONGOUS SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 636 CONTRACTS)/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL -REMOVED A HUGE 377 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 17 days, total 10,792 contracts: OR 53.960 MILLION OZ (634 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 53.960 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 :63.960 MILLION OZ.
RESULT: WE HAD A SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 262CONTRACTS WITH OUR GAININ PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//FRIDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A HUGE EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 990 ISSUED FOR MAY 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 40,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTAL RISES TO 7.025 MILLION OZ
NEW STANDING 7.025 MILLION OZ /// WE HAVE A STRONG GAIN OF 728 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES WITH THE GAIN IN PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A VERY STRONG SIZED 636 CONTRACTS//HUGE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE FRIDAY COMEX SESSION/// WITH MAJOR SHORT COVERING FROM OUR SPEC SHORTS ( PRICE OF SILVER ROSE) . THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE FRIDAY NIGHT (636) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE//PROBABLY TODAY., .
WE HAD 10 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 50,000 OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A STRONG SIZED 5681 CONTRACTS TO 413,724 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,733 AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110, BUT WE ARE NOW CLOSER TO OUR ALL TIME LOW OF 390,000 CONTRACTS.
THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY: – REMOVED 29 CONTRACTS
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI ( 5481 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR $17.80 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 300 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTAL OF GOLD STANDING ADVANCES TO: 64.261 TONNES // ALL OF THIS HAPPENED DESPITE OUR $17.80 GAIN IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 11,845 OI CONTRACTS (36.84) PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A STRONG SIZED 6164CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 413,724
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A VERY STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 11,845 CONTRACTS WITH 5481 CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A STRONG SIZED 6184 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 11,845 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A GOOD SIZED 2278 CONTRACTS.
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD STRONG SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (6164 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE STRONG SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI (5481) //TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 11,845 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 300 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 64.261 TONNES. / 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION // 4) STRONG SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST GAIN/ 5) STRONG ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: GOOD T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 2278CONTRACTS//CONSIDERABLE SHORT COVERING AGAIN
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: 57,677 CONTRACTS OR 5,767,700OZ OR 179.39 TONNES IN 17TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3392 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 17TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 179.39 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 179.39/3550 x 100% TONNES 5.07% 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: 179.39 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 FELL BY A SMALL SIZED 262 CONTRACTS OI TO 145,644 AND CLOSER TO THE COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710(SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 6 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023
EFP ISSUANCE 990 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MAY 990 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 990 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI GAIN OF 115 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 990 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,
WE OBTAIN A HUGE GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 728CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 3.64 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//
MONDAY MORNING/SUNDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 27.86 PTS OR 0.93% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 91.12 PTS OR 0.54% / Nikkei CLOSED UP 135.03 PTS OR .35%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.11% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 7.1968 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.2067 /Oil DOWN TO 76.07 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN AT 81.08/ Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY ALL MIXED// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN WEAKER
1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A STRONG SIZED 5681 CONTRACTS TO 413,724 WITH OUR HUGE GAIN IN PRICE OF $17.80 WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY TRADING. ACCORDING TO OUR EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE, THE LOW COMEX GOLD OI WAS DUE TO THE CRIMINAL BANKS LEAVING THE GOLD ARENA AND USING THEIR “SKILLS” ON THE NEW FUTURES OF BITCOIN. WITH CENTRAL BANK BUYING PHYSICAL GOLD IN RECORD NUMBERS, IT WOULD BE FUTILE TRYING TO SELL NAKED CALLS AGAINST GOLD AS CB’S WOULD JUST TURN AROUND AND TAKE DELIVERY.
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB..… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A STRONG SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 6164 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : APRIL 6164 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 6164CONTRACTS
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A VERY STRONG SIZED TOTAL OF 11,845 CONTRACTS IN THAT 6164 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 5681 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR HUGE GAIN IN PRICE OF $17.80 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 GOOD SIZED 2278 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 (64.248 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: 64.248 TONNES (INCLUDES 1.723 TONNES EX. FOR RISK)
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT GAINED $17.80 //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A VERY STRONG SIZED GAIN OF11,845 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES WITH OUR HIGHER PRICE. WE HAD TO HAVE HAD ANOTHER HUGE EPISODE OF STRONG SHORT COVERING. WE HAD A GOOD 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 GAINED A TOTAL OI OF 37.860 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 1900 OZ QUEUE JUMP (0.0590 TONNES//NEW TOTAL STANDING 64.248: ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $17.80
WE HAD -REMOVED 325 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 11,845 CONTRACTS OR 1,184,500 OZ OR 36.84 TONNES. estimated volume today 123,616 poor
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
19,909 notices 1,990,900 oz 61.925 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: 3
i) Out of Brinks: 32,151.000 oz 1000 kilobars
ii) JPMorgan: 13,792.776 oz (429 kilobars)
iii) Out of Manfra; 964.930 oz (30 kilboars
total withdrawal: 46,908.306 oz 1.508 tonnes
we had 0 customer deposit
Adjustments: 2 all dealer to customer//comex in stress
i) Asahi: 5800.5238 oz
ii) Int. Delaware: 96.453 oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR FEB.
For the front month of FEBRUARY we have an oi of 209 contracts having LOST 931 contracts. We had 934 notices filed on Friday, so we GAINED 3 contracts or an additional 300 oz (0.00933 tonnes) 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 300 oz//New standing 62.538 tonnes + 1.723 tonnes = 64.261 TONNES
March LOST 46 contracts to stand at 3177
APRIL GAINED 3973 CONTRACTS RISING TO 321,380.
We had 12 contracts filed for today representing 1200 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 12 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 (19,909 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB. (209 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 12 x 100 oz per contract equals 2,010,600 OZ OR 62.538 TONNES + 1.723 Ex for Risk/prior = 64.261 tonnes
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the FEB. contract month: No of notices filed so far (19,909) x 100 oz + (209) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (12) x 100 oz which equals 2,010,600 oz (62.538 TONNES) + 54,400 oz (1.723 TONNES) ex. for risk/prior// NEW total standing OR 64.261 TONNES
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR FEB: 64.261 TONNES WHICH IS GREAT FOR AN ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR.
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 18,188,941.276 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 8,050.495.821 (250.40 tonnes).
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,138,445.455 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 6,696,110 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 208.277 tonnes/dropping like a stone
END
SILVER/COMEX
FEB 23/INITIAL
//2024// THE FEB 2024 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
nil oz
.
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
593,959.400 OZ ASAHI
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
286.296/800 oz
HSBC
No of oz served today (contracts)
10 CONTRACT(S) (50,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
12 contracts (60,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
1304 Contracts (6,520,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month
NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month
i) 1 dealer deposit
i)Into ASAHI 593,959.40 oz
total dealer deposit: 593,959.400 oz oz
i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal
total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz
We had 1 deposits customer account:
i) Into HSBC: 286,296.800 oz
total customer deposits 286,296.800 oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 129.806 million oz/281.893 million or 46.26%
adjustment: 1 customer to dealer ASAHI 1,798,415.330 oz
Comex withdrawals: 0
total withdrawal: 0 oz
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 49.109 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 281.852 million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF FEB. /2023 OI: 20 CONTRACTS HAVING GAINED 8 CONTRACT(S). WE HAD 0 NOTICES FILED ON FRIDAY SO WE GAINED 8 CONTRACT OR AN ADDITIONAL 40,000 OZ OF SILVER CONTRACTS WILL STAND FOR DELIVERY AT THE COMEX
MARCH LOST 10,316 CONTRACTS TO 30,491. WE HAVE 3 MORE 3 READING DAYS BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE.
APRIL SAW A GAIN OF 65 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 234
MAY SAW A GAIN OF 8441 CONTRACTS UP TO 93,011.
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 10 for 50,000 oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 94,463 excellent
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 1304 x 5,000 oz = 6,520,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB. (20) and the number of notices served upon today 10 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the FEB/2024 contract month: 1304 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of FEB. (20) – number of notices served upon today (10 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the FEB contract month equates to 6.580 MILLION OZ. + .445 MILLION OZ EX. FOR RISK PRIOR//NEW TOTAL 7.025 MILLION OZ
New total standing: 7.025 million oz.
There are 46.715 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!
FEB26/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.90 TODAY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 827.81 TONNES
FEB23/WITH GOLD UP $17 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.01 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 827.81 TONNES
FEB22/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.15 TODAY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD://INVENTORY RESTS AT 829.82 TONNES
FEB21/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.30 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 7.59 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 29.82 TONNES
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: 827.81 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
FEB 23/WITH SILVER DOWN 44 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.065 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 428.603 MILLION OZ
FEB 22/WITH SILVER DOWN 10 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV
// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 432.766 MILLION OZ
FEB 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 28 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.348 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 432.766 MILLION OZ
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) // /NVENTORY 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 428.603 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES
1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey
end
2.Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
END
THIS IS TELLING11
Jamie Dimon and Nine of His Top Executives at JPMorgan Chase Have Dumped Over $150 Million of their JPMorgan Stock in Last Two Months
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 26, 2024 ~
According to Form 4 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by corporate insiders, ten of the key executives at the largest bank in the United States, JPMorgan Chase, have dumped more than $150 million in common stock in the bank this year. The sales come as the bank’s stock has been hitting all time highs while the scandals at the bank are also hitting unprecedented levels.The largest seller by far was the Chairman and CEO of the bank, Jamie Dimon. According to his Form 4, on February 22 of this year, Dimon sold 737,420 shares of the bank’s common stock for $135 million.The newly promoted Troy Rohrbaugh, who is now Co-CEO of JPMorgan Chase’s Commercial and Investment Bank (CIB), sold 75,000 shares on February 22 of this year for $13.7 million.Stacey Friedman, General Counsel at the bank, sold 6,030 shares on February 22 for $1.1 million.Peter Scher, Vice Chairman, sold 1,812 shares on January 16 and another 1,810 shares on February 16 of this year for proceeds of approximately $626,000.Jennifer Piepszak, Co-CEO, Commercial and Investment Bank (CIB), on February 16, 2024, sold 1,648 shares for $295,000. Piepszak has been selling large chunks of the bank’s stock since 2019.Marianne Lake, CEO of the Consumer and Community Bank (CCB), on Feb 16 sold 4,459 shares for $798,000.Ashley Bacon, Chief Risk Officer (at a bank that is ranked by its regulators as the riskiest bank in the U.S.) sold 3,368 shares on February 16 of this year for approximately $602,856. Bacon has been selling large chunks of JPMorgan Chase stock since 2013.Mary Erdoes, who has been implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal at the bank, but remains CEO of the Asset & Wealth Management unit, on January 16, 2024 sold 4,814 shares for $861,664. Erdoes has also been selling large chunks of JPMorgan Chase’s stock since 2010. This is how the New York Times reported Erdoes’ role with Epstein in August 2019:”When compliance officers at JPMorgan Chase conducted a sweep of their wealthy clients a decade ago, they recommended that the bank cut its ties to the financier Jeffrey E. Epstein because his accounts posed unacceptable legal and reputational risks.”Yet Mr. Epstein, who had been charged with sex crimes and pleaded guilty in 2008 to solicitation of prostitution, remained a JPMorgan client until 2013.”The main reason, according to six former senior executives and other bank employees familiar with the matter, was that Mary C. Erdoes, one of JPMorgan’s highest- ranking executives, intervened to keep him as a client.”Other key executives at JPMorgan Chase selling the bank’s stock this year include:Lori Beer, Chief Information Officer, sold 3,920 shares for $716,000.Doug Petno, previously the head of the commercial bank, but now reporting to Piepszak and Rohrbaugh, sold 3,267 shares of common stock in January and another 3,266 shares this month for a combined $1.1 million.It does not appear that Daniel Pinto, JPMorgan’s president and chief operating officer, has sold stock yet this year. However, Pinto has been selling large blocks of JPMorgan Chase stock since 2013. For example, on May 11, 2023, Pinto sold 113,640 shares of the bank’s common stock for proceeds of $15.4 million.In most cases, when an insider executes a transaction, he or she must file a Form 4 with the SEC within two business days following the transaction date. Transactions in a company’s common stock as well as derivative securities, such as options, warrants, and convertible securities, are reported on the Form 4. We will watch to see if other key executives report sales and if Dimon increases his sale of common stock. Dimon initially reported that he would be selling 1 million shares of his stock.-END-
END
3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA GOLD COMMENTARIES: daily Dispatches
Bundesbank burns through its entire reserves to cover huge losses from higher interest rates
(London’s Financial Times/GATA)
Bundesbank burns through more than E20 billion to cover huge losses
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2024-02-23 12:08 Section: Daily Dispatches
Next stop: gold revaluation?
* * *
By Martin Arnold Financial Times, London Friday, February 23, 2024
The German central bank has burnt through the entire E19.2 billion of provisions it built up to cover financial risks as well as most of its E3.1 billion reserves to absorb the huge losses it made last year due to higher interest costs.
The Bundesbank warned it expected to make another “significant” loss this year, exceeding the E700 million of remaining reserves, as it reported today that it would have made a E21.6 billion loss had it not drawn down the funds set aside to cover financial risks.
The sharp downturn in the German central bank’s performance is embarrassing for one of the country’s most respected institutions, especially as it has been aggravated by the European Central Bank’s vast bond-buying program, which Bundesbank officials opposed.
end
In case you missed this on the weekend, I am repeating very important podcast
(Andrew Maguire/Kinesis/gata)
Maguire discounts gold confiscation, says bitcoin threat to dollar grows
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2024-02-23 20:54 Section: Daily Dispatches
8:54p ET Friday, February 23, 2024
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
On this week’s edition of Kinesis Money’s “Live from the Vault” program, London metals trader Andrew Maguire tells host Shane Morand that any attempt by the U.S. government to confiscate gold would collapse bullion banks and cause an explosive rise in the monetary metal’s price.
Maguire adds that there seems to be a big shift of investment from gold exchange-traded funds into bitcoin ETFs and that bitcoin is becoming as much a threat to the dollar as gold is.
The program is 39 minutes long and can be viewed at YouTube here:
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. CPowell@GATA.org
4. OTHER GOLD COMMENTARIES/PODCASTS/
END
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 SETTINGSMONDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN 7.1968
OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 7.2067
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 27.86 PPTS OR 0.93%
HANG SENG CLOSED DOWN 91.12 PTS OR 0.54%
2. Nikkei closed UP 135.09 PTS OR .35%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: MOSTLY ALL MIXED
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 103.69 EURO RISES TO 1.0853 UP 38 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +.677 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 150.56/JAPANESE YEN NOW FALLING AS WELL AS LONG TERM 10 YR. YIELDS RISING //EVENTUALLY THIS WILL BREAK THE JAPANESE CENTRAL BANK
3c Nikkei now ABOVE 17,000
3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning
3e Gold DOWN /JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: DOWN/ OFFSHORE: DOWN
3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA
Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.
3g Oil DOWN for WTI and DOWN FOR Brent this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund DOWN TO +2.3810***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.829* /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 3.264…**
3i Greek 10 year bond yield DOWN TO 3.304
3j Gold at $2033.20 silver at: 22.58 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 0 AND 98 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 91.87//
3m oil into the 76 dollar handle for WTI and 81 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 150.56// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.677% 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 0.8797 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9549 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: 4.235 DOWN 3 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.365 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.690 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 31.12…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: UP 4 BASIS PTS AT 4.140
end
2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge
Futures Flat After Record-Breaking Week
MONDAY, FEB 26, 2024 – 08:20 AM
After storming higher last week, culminating with their 15th ascent in the past 17 weeks…
… US equity futures indicated a pause for stocks which trade at their all-time highs as investors geared up for a busy week of data, including the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the core PCE. As of 8:00am, futures on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were fractionally in the red after Wall Street’s record-breaking rally stalled at the end of last week, weighed down by profit taking in megacap tech stocks. Treasuries climb, pushing 10-year yields down by 1bps to 4.24% while the dollar ticked lower.
In premarket trading, Berkshire Hathaway rose as much as 5.5% on track for a record high following its weekend earnings update, setting Warren Buffett’s conglomerate on course for a market value even closer to $1 trillion. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
Amer Sports shares jump 7.0% after a majority of brokers initiated coverage with buy-equivalent recommendations. Analysts highlighted the strength of its high-end outdoor apparel and equipment brand Arc’teryx.
HashiCorp shares jump 6.0% as Morgan Stanley raised the recommendation on the software company’s stock to overweight, noting that a resurgence in cloud is starting to benefit the company.
Intuitive Machines shares fall 33% after officials said on Friday the American-made lander that touched down on the moon likely landed on its side.
Li Auto ADRs jump 12% after the Chinese EV maker reported better-than-expected profitability and free cash flow for the fourth quarter.
Fidelity National forecast adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter; the guidance missed the average analyst estimate.
IBM said it is making changes to its reportable segments to reflect the way the company manages operations and allocates resources.
Walt Disney Co. should appoint a corporate chief technology officer and focus on technology “transformation,” according to one of the activist investors pressing the company for change.
Cathie Wood sold shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. for the first time in more than two years, adding to moves to cut exposure in the chipmaker’s key customer Nvidia Corp.
Investor focus this week shifts from earnings to a slate of economic data, including Thursday’s core PCE price index, which is closely watched by the Fed for inflation hints. Q4 US GDP numbers are also due Wednesday, while traders will track comments from a host of central bank officials for clues on the path for interest rates.
“There is a lot of economic data coming in this week, which will be more decisive for whether investors will stay in a risk-on mood,” said Tatjana Puhan, chief investment officer at Copernicus Wealth Management. “We should factor in the possibility that if the US economy remains strong for a few more months and US corporate earnings as well, we should see at least in the US market a further potential for positive momentum.”
On the outlook for equities, strategists at Goldman Sachs said stock markets have room to extend gains beyond their record highs if the economic outlook remains upbeat and investors pour money into recent laggards. The S&P 500’s run to an all-time peak has left investor positioning “extremely” concentrated in the so-called Magnificent Seven, the team led by Cecilia Mariotti wrote in a note. While that does create the risk of a pullback, there’s also “space for bullish sentiment and positioning to be further supported, especially if we start seeing a more meaningful rotation out of cash and into risky assets and laggards within equities,” Goldman wrote.
Meanwhile, as we first reported, the latest Goldman prime figures showed that after piling into tech stocks in the weeks before Nvidia’s earnings, hedge funds are now cashing out and selling at the fastest pace in seven months. Professional managers offloaded their positions for four straight sessions last week, including Thursday, the day after Nvidia posted results. The intensity of the selling ranks in the 98th percentile of the past five years. The data suggests traders are booking profits on their tech wagers after a six-week buying streak and putting that extra cash into less volatile stocks, such as consumer staples. Companies that make household products saw the most net buying in 10 weeks, according to Goldman’s prime brokerage (more here).
European stocks fell after closing at a record high on Friday. The Stoxx 600 is down 0.3%, led by declines in mining shares as iron ore prices drop to the lowest since October; financial services and insurance stocks are the biggest outperformers. Rio Tinto Plc and Anglo American Plc led declines in basic resources amid concerns over Chinese demand. Shares in UK homebuilders dropped after Britain’s top antitrust enforcer opened an investigation to probe potential information sharing between companies. Here are the most notable movers:
BASF rises as much as 2.2% on the back of results that suggest the German chemicals firm has overcome a slump and is poised for upside. Stifel analysts expect “substantial” earnings gains while Barclays analysts see volumes rebounding
Zealand Pharma shares jump as much as 20% in Copenhagen, the most since September 2022, after the company’s partner, Boehringer Ingelheim, published trial results on drug candidate Survodutide
IAG shares gain as much as 2.2% after Barclays raised its full-year Ebit estimate for the airline group, citing strong travel demand seen this summer. Deutsche Lufthansa falls after a downgrade to equal-weight at the broker
Idorsia surges as much as 45% to the highest since Sept. 21, with trading volume more than double the 3-month daily average
Wincanton shares gain as much as 11% after CMA CGM increased its final offer to 480p/share; ~6.7% higher than the original 450p/share bid
Nestle shares fall 1.5% after Stifel cut its recommendation on the Swiss food maker to hold from buy. “The magic is gone,” analysts said, citing waning performance and little confidence it will improve in the short term
Bank of Ireland shares were down as much as 11%, the most in almost two years, as the lender pointed to a weaker interest rate environment, saying they expect net interest income to be to be 5-6% lower than the fourth quarter
Bunzl shares fall as much as 5.1%, their sharpest drop in over four months, after the distributor downgraded its revenue outlook for 2024 following a slow start to trading in North America while warning that margins will tighten, according to analysts at Citi
PostNL shares dropped as much as 8.3%, the most since November, after the Dutch mail carrier’s forecast of normalized Ebit for 2024 missed the average analyst estimate
International Personal Finance Group’s shares drop as much as 14% after the consumer finance company delayed its full-year results pending a review of a letter from the Polish regulator
Earlier in the session, Asian equities traded in a narrow range, as the ongoing rally in Japanese shares helped offset declines in South Korea and China. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained as much as 0.4% before paring much of the advance, with Toyota among the biggest boosts while Tencent weighed on the gauge. Japan’s Nikkei 225 extended its climb after reaching a record-high last week, helped by gains in trading houses after Warren Buffett’s positive comments on the sector’s shareholder-friendly policies. Last week’s rally in Chinese stocks came to a halt, with the mainland benchmark CSI 300 Index on track to snap it longest winning streak since 2018 as investors booked profits. Korean stocks fell as the nation’s much-hyped “Corporate Value-up Program” aimed at improving governance standards and valuations was launched without concrete details or an enforcement plan.
Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. marginally declined with weakness seen in Hong Kong consumer stocks, while the mainland was also pressured amid ongoing frictions after China’s MOFCOM slammed the latest USTR report on China’s WTO compliance.
Nikkei 225 outperformed on its return from the long weekend and extended on record levels.
ASX 200 finished flat after failing to sustain its early gains with price action indecisive amid a slew of earnings.
Indian stocks fell for a second session, weighed down by declines in the nation’s largest paintmaker and IT stocks. The S&P BSE SENSEX Index fell 0.5% to 72,790.13 on Monday, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index declined 0.4%. Out of 30 stocks in the index, 25 fell and 5 rose.
“We are still in the early innings, so let’s see if the government releases more details in other dimensions outside what the Korea Exchange can do,” said Homin Lee, senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier. “As in Japan’s case, it takes time to convince investors that you are changing decades-old corporate governance culture.”
In rates, treasuries are back to little changed as US session gets underway after paring gains. The 10-year yield trades 1bp lower at 4.234% vs session low 4.215%; bunds lag by around 2bp in the sector while gilts keep pace; curve spreads broadly remain within 1bp of Friday’s close. The week’s auction cycle, compressed and accelerated for Feb. 29 settlement, begins with $63b 2-year note at 11:30am followed by $64b 5-year note at 1pm, both record sizes; it ends Tuesday with $42b 7-year note. As Bloomberg notes, while US rates stand to benefit this week from month-end rebalancing into bonds following outperformance by equities, Monday’s session includes 2- and 5-year note auctions and a potentially heavy corporate new-issue calendar. Several Fed speakers are slated this week. IG credit issuance slate includes HSBC and SMFG offerings; about $60b is expected this week, and monthly haul stands at nearly $138 billion price, setting the stage for a second straight monthly gross issuance record to fall this year.
In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index edged lower, with Sweden’s krona and the euro leading gains against the greenback. The kiwi is the biggest mover among the G-10 currencies, falling 0.4% versus the greenback ahead of the RBNZ interest rate decision on Wednesday; the NZD fell against all Group-of-10 currencies as traders weighed the nation’s monetary policy outlook. NZD/USD dropped as much as 0.6% to 0.6162 as traders pared bullish positions on the kiwi versus the Australian dollar and the greenback ahead of the central bank’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday, according to Asia-based FX traders.
In commodities, oil prices declined again with WTI falling 0.4% to trade near $76.20. Spot gold is little changed around $2,035/oz.
Bitcoin is a touch firmer on the session after eclipsing USD 51k but is yet to convincingly move much higher with specifics light and general newsflow limited. Ethereum shot above $3100 over the weekend, hitting a fresh two year high.
The US economic data calendar includes January new home sales at 10am and February Dallas Fed manufacturing activity at 10:30am; later this week are durable goods orders, consumer confidence, 4Q GDP revision, personal income/spending and ISM manufacturing. Fed speakers for Monday include Schmid at 7:40pm; Barr, Bostic, Collins, Williams, Goolsbee, Mester, Williams, Waller and Kugler are slated to appear later this week.
Market Snapshot
U.S. MARKETS:
S&P 500 futures down 0.1% to 5,095.00
STOXX Europe 600 down 0.3% to 495.72
MXAP little changed at 172.87
MXAPJ down 0.4% to 526.78
Nikkei up 0.3% to 39,233.71
Topix up 0.5% to 2,673.62
Hang Seng Index down 0.5% to 16,634.74
Shanghai Composite down 0.9% to 2,977.02
Sensex down 0.4% to 72,852.56
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.1% to 7,652.84
Kospi down 0.8% to 2,647.08
German 10Y yield little changed at 2.37%
Euro up 0.1% to $1.0837
Brent Futures down 0.6% to $81.13/bbl
Gold spot down 0.1% to $2,032.84
U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 103.88
Top Overnight News
Citadel Securities was outbid by Ant for Credit Suisse’s investment bank venture in China. The surprise move will be subject to close regulatory scrutiny as China prefers a foreign buyer, people familiar said. Other bidders may still join the fray. BBG
Ukraine and its foreign partners could invite Russia to a future peace summit to discuss an end to Moscow’s two-year-old invasion on Kyiv’s terms, a senior Ukrainian official said on Sunday. Switzerland will host a summit to discuss a vision for peace by Ukrainian President Zelenskiy, which could be handed to Russia during a second meeting at a later date, said Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff. RTRS
The widespread drop in global house prices that hit advanced economies has largely petered out, according to a Financial Times analysis of OECD data, leading economists to predict that the deepest property downturn in a decade has hit a turning point. FT
Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile hit a record $167.6 billion last quarter as Warren Buffett decried a lack of meaningful deals that would give a shot at “eye-popping performance.” Operating earnings rose. Buffett again endorsed Japan trading firms, boosting their shares. BBG
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said congressional efforts to put together a spending package fell short over the weekend, leaving the US to “once again face the specter of a harmful and unnecessary government shutdown” starting March 2. BBG
Trump secures a strong victory in South Carolina, beating Haley by ~20 points (~60%-40%), relatively inline w/pre-election polls, and while Haley is staying in the race for now, she hinted at exiting after Super Tuesday. Politico
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday he hoped a “firm and final agreement” on a temporary Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages could be reached “in the coming days”, after progress in negotiations at the weekend. FT
Just two new supertankers are due to join the oil tanker fleet in 2024 — the fewest in almost four decades and about 90% below the yearly average this millennium. The shortage comes as the efficiency of the global fleet is faltering amid Red Sea disruptions. BBG
Last week US equities saw the largest net selling in 5 weeks, driven by Macro Products as well as Single Stocks. Net flows point to rotation out of Tech, HC, and Industrials, while all other sectors were net bought. After a 6-week buying streak, HFs unloaded Tech stocks at the fastest pace in 7+ months, as the sector was net sold for 4 straight sessions incl. Thurs post NVDA results. GSPB
Earnings
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) – Operating earnings rise, driven by gains in its insurance units; Q4 operating earnings USD 8.481bln (vs 6.625bln Y/Y); FY23 operating earnings USD 37.35bln (vs 30.853bln Y/Y). Berkshire held USD 167.6bln in cash (vs 157.2bln Q/Q). Berkshire made USD 2.2bln of share buybacks in Q4 (vs USD 1.1bln in Q3); FY23 total repurchases were around USD 9.2bln. In his letter, Warren Buffett cautioned about limited future growth prospects, citing scarce transformative deals. He emphasised the challenge of finding significant investment opportunities both domestically and internationally. On future leadership transitions, Buffett said Greg Abel, who runs all non-insurance operations for Berkshire, is ready to be CEO of Berkshire tomorrow. +4.5% in pre-market trade.
Broadcom (AVGO) – Broadcom is close to selling its end-user computing unit to private-equity firm KKR for USD 3.8bln, CNBC reports. KKR outbid other firms in the auction, and a deal may be announced soon, the report adds. +1.2% in pre-market trade.
Li Auto Inc (LI) Q4 2023 (USD): EPS 0.75 (exp. 0.29), Revenue 5.88bln (exp. 5.48bln). +11.5% in pre-market trade.
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
APAC stocks were mostly subdued amid a lack of fresh catalysts ahead of month-end and this week’s key data releases including the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, while weekend macro newsflow was light and dominated by geopolitical commentary. ASX 200 finished flat after failing to sustain its early gains with price action indecisive amid a slew of earnings. Nikkei 225 outperformed on its return from the long weekend and extended on record levels. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. marginally declined with weakness seen in Hong Kong consumer stocks, while the mainland was also pressured amid ongoing frictions after China’s MOFCOM slammed the latest USTR report on China’s WTO compliance.
Top Asian News
China’s Mofcom commented regarding the US report about China’s WTO compliance in which it noted that the US falsely claims China has created ‘overcapacity’ which fully reflects the US side’s ‘unilateralism and hegemonic behaviour’. Mofcom added the US side ignores the ‘great achievements’ made by China in fulfilling its WTO commitments and denies the important contribution made by China to the multilateral trading system and world economy, according to Reuters.
China’s Commerce Minister said China is willing to work with New Zealand to implement a free trade agreement and continue to strengthen cooperation in the process of joining the CPTPP.
US Deputy Treasury Secretary Adeyemo said on Friday that it is clear the Chinese economy is facing challenges from the property sector and demographics, while he is not concerned about headwinds from China’s economic challenges but has concerns about China’s excess production capacity flowing to global markets.
European bourses are a touch softer, Stoxx 600 -0.3%, following a similar APAC handover as newsflow remains light on broader macro themes despite a handful of interesting equity-specific developments. Sectors have a similar negative tilt, Basic Resource & Energy names lag given benchmark pricing. Housing names within the UK are lagging after the commencement of a CMA investigation into the market. DAX 40, +0.2%, the relative outperformer and in close proximity to record levels for both cash and future at 17443 & 17487 respectively. Stateside, futures are essentially flat ES -0.1%, with some modest underperformance in the RTY -0.3%; weekend focus on Berkshire Hathaway numbers/commentary around “limited future growth prospects, citing scare transformative deals”.
Top European News
ECB is reportedly close to agreeing on a new monetary framework that some officials hope will pave the way to an ultimate revival of the interbank market, according to people familiar cited by Bloomberg.
EU finance ministers reportedly clash over efforts to centralise markets supervision with Eurogroup President Donohoe noting there is a ‘strong diversity of views,’ and that member states disagree over the level of ambition to build a common supervisory regime as part of the roadmap to progress toward a capital markets union that the EU wants to settle by next month, according to Bloomberg.
Hopes of a reversal in the UK’s “tourist tax” in the upcoming budget are “diminishing” after the financial secretary to the Treasury warned of the complexities of such a move, according to The Times.
FX
DXY is a touch softer with the 103.79 trough just above Friday’s 103.76 base before downside support via the 200 DMA at 103.69. Newsflow for the USD light, week’s focal points are PCE & ISM Manufacturing on Thursday & Friday.
EUR benefitting from the softer USD with specifics light ahead of potential remarks from ECB’s Lagarde later in the session; while action is limited, the single currency has surpassed the 100- & 200-DMAs.
A similar story for GBP but with EUR/GBP action hitting Cable a touch, nothing from BoE’s Breeden or Pill thus far. Cable at 1.2675 and respecting Friday’s 1.2649-1.2702 bounds.
Antipodeans lag; no specific driver or catalyst, though potentially profit taking, positioning (RBNZ Wednesday) and the tepid risk tone weighing.
USD/JPY modestly higher but remains shy of Friday’s 150.77 best and by extension the YTD peak at 150.88; domestic CPI due afterhours.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1080 vs exp. 7.1998 (prev. 7.1064).
Fixed Income
Contained start with specifics light into ECB’s Lagarde. Bunds near the unchanged mark despite printing above Friday’s best at the start of the session. Since, EGBs have been fading and are modestly in the red at 133.06 at worst but well above Friday’s 132.05 base.
Gilts modestly outperforming, but action directionally and in terms of magnitudes in-fitting with Bunds but just a few hours behind given the lack of APAC trade for Gilts. Similarly surmounted Friday’s 98.17 best before fading though, again in-fitting with Bunds, are well above that session’s 97.10 base.
USTs firmer but off best. Specifics light and the docket thin to start a key week aside from 2yr & 5yr supply. Yield curve currently under modest pressure and slightly flatter.
Commodities
Subdued session for crude despite a slew of weekend geopols., though no major escalation thus far. WTI & Brent under modest pressure but have dipped below USD 76/bbl and tested USD 80.00/bbl respectively.
LNG somewhat uneventful though the complex is digesting an extensive weekend announcement from QatarEnergy (details below). Elsewhere, exports via the Wafa oil field in Libya have closed due to protests, via BBG citing sources.
Precious metals benefit from the tepid tone, softer USD and slightly weaker yields stateside in a quiet start to a key week of US data. By contrast, base metals are lower across the board given the general risk tone and thus far failing to benefit from the factors supporting precious peers.
US Treasury official said on Friday the US is encouraged by ‘significant progress’ in the second phase of the Russian oil price cap.
QatarEnergy CEO said Europe will continue to need gas as part of an energy mix for a very long time and Europe’s gas needs have not peaked, while QatarEnergy also stated that it may need to make additional orders of tankers to ship expanded LNG volumes.
Exports from the Wafa oil field in western Libya and a subsea natural gas link to Italy were closed following protests, according to Bloomberg citing a person familiar with the matter.
Geopolitics: Middle East
Israeli PM Netanyahu said that they are all working on a hostage deal but he cannot say if they will have it, while he added that they will be weeks away from total victory once they begin the Rafah operation, according to a CBS interview.
Israel’s army presented at the war council meeting a plan to evacuate residents from fighting zones in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera. It was also reported that Israeli PM Netanyahu’s spokesman said the war council approved a plan to supply the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid, according to Al Arabiya.
Israel’s Defense Minister said there will be no let up in Israeli action against Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, even if a ceasefire and hostage deal is secured in Gaza, according to AFP.
White House National Security Adviser Sullivan said Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the US came to a basic understanding of the basic contours of a hostage deal for a temporary ceasefire and the US is hopeful that an agreement could be reached in the coming days, although he noted that a deal is still under negotiation and there will have to be indirect discussions by Qatar and Egypt with Hamas. It was also reported that Egyptian security sources said Qatar will host mediated Hamas-Israel truce talks this week.
Hezbollah said they targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers in the vicinity of the Marj site with a volcano missile and achieved a direct hit, according to Al Jazeera.
US Central Command said Yemen’s Houthis launched one anti-ship ballistic missile likely targeting MV Torm Thor in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday although the missile impacted water causing no damage nor injuries, while US forces shot down two one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles over the southern Red Sea.
US and UK forces conducted 9 air strikes in Sanaa, according to Al Masirah TV cited by Reuters.
UKMTO received a report of a small fast boat behaving in an irregular manner 20NM east of UAE’s Khor Fakkan.
Syrian Defence Ministry said its forces downed seven drones that tried to target military positions and villages in the vicinity of Hama and Idlib, according to state media.
Palestinian Authority PM has submitted his resignation to the Palestinian President; “The next phase needs the administration of the PA for all Palestinian territories”.
Israeli strike targets Lebanon’s Easter Baalbek for the first time since the Gaza war, according to Reuters sources.
Geopolitics: Other
Ukrainian President Zelensky said he hopes a peace summit in Switzerland will take place in spring and a peace plan prepared with partners in Switzerland will be presented to Russia. Zelensky said that the current moment is the most difficult for Ukrainian unity and that improving troop rotations is critical to the war effort, while he also noted there is a clear plan for a new Ukrainian offensive but didn’t give details and said Russian forces will attempt another offensive in late May or summer.
Ukrainian President Zelensky said a US aid package is needed within a month and is essential to support troops on the battlefield, according to FT. It was separately reported that Zelensky and Canadian PM Trudeau signed a bilateral security agreement during a ceremony in Kyiv and Zelensky stated via Telegram that Canada is to provide more than CAD 3bln in financial and defence aid this year. Zelensky also signed a security agreement with Italian PM Meloni, while Meloni stated that Italy committed to military support for Ukraine and said peace cannot mean surrender, according to Reuters.
G7 Leaders’ statement stated they remain convinced that they can ensure Ukraine prevails in fighting for its future and will help Ukraine meet its urgent financing needs, while it added that Ukraine can count on their support for as long as it takes.
UK PM Sunak called for Western countries to be more aggressive in seizing frozen Russian assets and passing the proceeds on to Ukraine to finance its defence, according to Bloomberg.
Ukraine attacked Russia’s Novolipetsk Steel plant with drones which caused a major fire at the facility, according to Reuters.
Russian Defence Ministry said Russian forces took a more advantageous position near Avdiivka and rebuffed seven Ukrainian counterattacks, according to Reuters.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister said contact with the US over nuclear weapons in space has proven to be unproductive, while he added that the US has not presented any proof of allegations that Russia wants to put nuclear weapons in space.
US military aircraft intercepted a balloon over Utah on Friday which was said to be small and not manoeuvrable, while the balloon was allowed to continue flying as the US concluded the balloon was not a threat to civil aviation or national security.
G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bankers are reportedly expected to gold a meeting on 28th Feb to discuss strengthening sanctions against Russia, according to Kyodo.
US Event Calendar
10:00: Jan. New Home Sales MoM, est. 3.0%, prior 8.0%
10:00: Jan. New Home Sales, est. 684,000, prior 664,000
10:30: Feb. Dallas Fed Manf. Activity, est. -14.0, prior -27.4
Central Bank Speakers
19:40: Fed’s Schmid Gives Speech on Economy, Monetary Policy Outlook
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
end
From Europe
2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)
.
Equities slip & USD pressured modestly as newsflow slows after a busy weekend – Newsquawk US Market Open
MONDAY, FEB 26, 2024 – 06:37 AM
Equity bourses/futures under modest pressure with newsflow light after a weekend of heavy geopols & Berkshire numbers/commentary
DXY under modest pressure but above Friday’s base, EUR benefitting from the softer USD; antipodeans lag, USD/JPY firmer
Contained start with specifics light into ECB’s Lagarde for EGBs while USTs await US supply, Gilts modestly outperform
Crude subdued despite significant geopolitical rhetoric, though no major escalation thus far. LNG digests QatarEnergy & Wafa updates/reports while metals diverge
Looking ahead, highlights include US Dallas Fed Manufacturing Business Index, Japanese CPI, Comments from ECB’s Lagarde, Supply from the US.
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 are a touch softer, Stoxx 600 -0.3%, following a similar APAC handover as newsflow remains light on broader macro themes despite a handful of interesting equity-specific developments.
Sectors have a similar negative tilt, Basic Resource & Energy names lag given benchmark pricing. Housing names within the UK are lagging after the commencement of a CMA investigation into the market.
DAX 40, +0.2%, the relative outperformer and in close proximity to record levels for both cash and future at 17443 & 17487 respectively.
Stateside, futures are essentially flat ES -0.1%, with some modest underperformance in the RTY -0.3%; weekend focus on Berkshire Hathaway numbers/commentary around “limited future growth prospects, citing scare transformative deals”.
Click here and here for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow, including earnings from Post NL and updates for/from Housing, Airbus, Ryanair, Telecom’s & more.
DXY is a touch softer with the 103.79 trough just above Friday’s 103.76 base before downside support via the 200 DMA at 103.69. Newsflow for the USD light, week’s focal points are PCE & ISM Manufacturing on Thursday & Friday.
EUR benefitting from the softer USD with specifics light ahead of potential remarks from ECB’s Lagarde later in the session; while action is limited, the single currency has surpassed the 100- & 200-DMAs.
A similar story for GBP but with EUR/GBP action hitting Cable a touch, nothing from BoE’s Breeden or Pill thus far. Cable at 1.2675 and respecting Friday’s 1.2649-1.2702 bounds.
Antipodeans lag; no specific driver or catalyst, though potentially profit taking, positioning (RBNZ Wednesday) and the tepid risk tone weighing.
USD/JPY modestly higher but remains shy of Friday’s 150.77 best and by extension the YTD peak at 150.88; domestic CPI due afterhours.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1080 vs exp. 7.1998 (prev. 7.1064).
Contained start with specifics light into ECB’s Lagarde. Bunds near the unchanged mark despite printing above Friday’s best at the start of the session. Since, EGBs have been fading and are modestly in the red at 133.06 at worst but well above Friday’s 132.05 base.
Gilts modestly outperforming, but action directionally and in terms of magnitudes in-fitting with Bunds but just a few hours behind given the lack of APAC trade for Gilts. Similarly surmounted Friday’s 98.17 best before fading though, again in-fitting with Bunds, are well above that session’s 97.10 base.
USTs firmer but off best. Specifics light and the docket thin to start a key week aside from 2yr & 5yr supply. Yield curve currently under modest pressure and slightly flatter.
Subdued session for crude despite a slew of weekend geopols., though no major escalation thus far. WTI & Brent under modest pressure but have dipped below USD 76/bbl and tested USD 80.00/bbl respectively.
LNG somewhat uneventful though the complex is digesting an extensive weekend announcement from QatarEnergy (details below). Elsewhere, exports via the Wafa oil field in Libya have closed due to protests, via BBG citing sources.
Precious metals benefit from the tepid tone, softer USD and slightly weaker yields stateside in a quiet start to a key week of US data. By contrast, base metals are lower across the board given the general risk tone and thus far failing to benefit from the factors supporting precious peers.
US Treasury official said on Friday the US is encouraged by ‘significant progress’ in the second phase of the Russian oil price cap.
QatarEnergy CEO said Europe will continue to need gas as part of an energy mix for a very long time and Europe’s gas needs have not peaked, while QatarEnergy also stated that it may need to make additional orders of tankers to ship expanded LNG volumes.
Exports from the Wafa oil field in western Libya and a subsea natural gas link to Italy were closed following protests, according to Bloomberg citing a person familiar with the matter.
ECB is reportedly close to agreeing on a new monetary framework that some officials hope will pave the way to an ultimate revival of the interbank market, according to people familiar cited by Bloomberg.
EU finance ministers reportedly clash over efforts to centralise markets supervision with Eurogroup President Donohoe noting there is a ‘strong diversity of views,’ and that member states disagree over the level of ambition to build a common supervisory regime as part of the roadmap to progress toward a capital markets union that the EU wants to settle by next month, according to Bloomberg.
Hopes of a reversal in the UK’s “tourist tax” in the upcoming budget are “diminishing” after the financial secretary to the Treasury warned of the complexities of such a move, according to The Times.
EARNINGS
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) – Operating earnings rise, driven by gains in its insurance units; Q4 operating earnings USD 8.481bln (vs 6.625bln Y/Y); FY23 operating earnings USD 37.35bln (vs 30.853bln Y/Y). Berkshire held USD 167.6bln in cash (vs 157.2bln Q/Q). Berkshire made USD 2.2bln of share buybacks in Q4 (vs USD 1.1bln in Q3); FY23 total repurchases were around USD 9.2bln. In his letter, Warren Buffett cautioned about limited future growth prospects, citing scarce transformative deals. He emphasised the challenge of finding significant investment opportunities both domestically and internationally. On future leadership transitions, Buffett said Greg Abel, who runs all non-insurance operations for Berkshire, is ready to be CEO of Berkshire tomorrow. +4.5% in pre-market trade.
Broadcom (AVGO) – Broadcom is close to selling its end-user computing unit to private-equity firm KKR for USD 3.8bln, CNBC reports. KKR outbid other firms in the auction, and a deal may be announced soon, the report adds. +1.2% in pre-market trade.
Li Auto Inc (LI) Q4 2023 (USD): EPS 0.75 (exp. 0.29), Revenue 5.88bln (exp. 5.48bln). +11.5% in pre-market trade.
NOTABLE US HEADLINES
US Treasury Department issued a statement on the FSOC’s meeting on Friday in which it noted that it is to closely monitor CRE markets and OCC staff were briefed on real estate market developments.
Former US President Trump won the South Carolina Republican primary to defeat Nikki Haley in her home state, while Haley insisted that she is not giving up the fight, according to Sky News.
GEOPOLITICS
MIDDLE EAST
Israeli PM Netanyahu said that they are all working on a hostage deal but he cannot say if they will have it, while he added that they will be weeks away from total victory once they begin the Rafah operation, according to a CBS interview.
Israel’s army presented at the war council meeting a plan to evacuate residents from fighting zones in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera. It was also reported that Israeli PM Netanyahu’s spokesman said the war council approved a plan to supply the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid, according to Al Arabiya.
Israel’s Defense Minister said there will be no let up in Israeli action against Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, even if a ceasefire and hostage deal is secured in Gaza, according to AFP.
White House National Security Adviser Sullivan said Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the US came to a basic understanding of the basic contours of a hostage deal for a temporary ceasefire and the US is hopeful that an agreement could be reached in the coming days, although he noted that a deal is still under negotiation and there will have to be indirect discussions by Qatar and Egypt with Hamas. It was also reported that Egyptian security sources said Qatar will host mediated Hamas-Israel truce talks this week.
Hezbollah said they targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers in the vicinity of the Marj site with a volcano missile and achieved a direct hit, according to Al Jazeera.
US Central Command said Yemen’s Houthis launched one anti-ship ballistic missile likely targeting MV Torm Thor in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday although the missile impacted water causing no damage nor injuries, while US forces shot down two one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles over the southern Red Sea.
US and UK forces conducted 9 air strikes in Sanaa, according to Al Masirah TV cited by Reuters.
UKMTO received a report of a small fast boat behaving in an irregular manner 20NM east of UAE’s Khor Fakkan.
Syrian Defence Ministry said its forces downed seven drones that tried to target military positions and villages in the vicinity of Hama and Idlib, according to state media.
Palestinian Authority PM has submitted his resignation to the Palestinian President; “The next phase needs the administration of the PA for all Palestinian territories”.
Israeli strike targets Lebanon’s Easter Baalbek for the first time since the Gaza war, according to Reuters sources.
OTHER
Ukrainian President Zelensky said he hopes a peace summit in Switzerland will take place in spring and a peace plan prepared with partners in Switzerland will be presented to Russia. Zelensky said that the current moment is the most difficult for Ukrainian unity and that improving troop rotations is critical to the war effort, while he also noted there is a clear plan for a new Ukrainian offensive but didn’t give details and said Russian forces will attempt another offensive in late May or summer.
Ukrainian President Zelensky said a US aid package is needed within a month and is essential to support troops on the battlefield, according to FT. It was separately reported that Zelensky and Canadian PM Trudeau signed a bilateral security agreement during a ceremony in Kyiv and Zelensky stated via Telegram that Canada is to provide more than CAD 3bln in financial and defence aid this year.Zelensky also signed a security agreement with Italian PM Meloni, while Meloni stated that Italy committed to military support for Ukraine and said peace cannot mean surrender, according to Reuters.
G7 Leaders’ statement stated they remain convinced that they can ensure Ukraine prevails in fighting for its future and will help Ukraine meet its urgent financing needs, while it added that Ukraine can count on their support for as long as it takes.
UK PM Sunak called for Western countries to be more aggressive in seizing frozen Russian assets and passing the proceeds on to Ukraine to finance its defence, according to Bloomberg.
Ukraine attacked Russia’s Novolipetsk Steel plant with drones which caused a major fire at the facility, according to Reuters.
Russian Defence Ministry said Russian forces took a more advantageous position near Avdiivka and rebuffed seven Ukrainian counterattacks, according to Reuters.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister said contact with the US over nuclear weapons in space has proven to be unproductive, while he added that the US has not presented any proof of allegations that Russia wants to put nuclear weapons in space.
US military aircraft intercepted a balloon over Utah on Friday which was said to be small and not manoeuvrable, while the balloon was allowed to continue flying as the US concluded the balloon was not a threat to civil aviation or national security.
G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bankers are reportedly expected to gold a meeting on 28th Feb to discuss strengthening sanctions against Russia, according to Kyodo.
CRYPTO
Bitcoin is a touch firmer on the session after eclipsing USD 51k in short order but is yet to convincingly move much higher with specifics light and general newsflow limited.
APAC TRADE
APAC stocks were mostly subdued amid a lack of fresh catalysts ahead of month-end and this week’s key data releases including the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, while weekend macro newsflow was light and dominated by geopolitical commentary.
ASX 200 finished flat after failing to sustain its early gains with price action indecisive amid a slew of earnings.
Nikkei 225 outperformed on its return from the long weekend and extended on record levels.
Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. marginally declined with weakness seen in Hong Kong consumer stocks, while the mainland was also pressured amid ongoing frictions after China’s MOFCOM slammed the latest USTR report on China’s WTO compliance.
NOTABLE HEADLINES
China’s Mofcom commented regarding the US report about China’s WTO compliance in which it noted that the US falsely claims China has created ‘overcapacity’ which fully reflects the US side’s ‘unilateralism and hegemonic behaviour’. Mofcom added the US side ignores the ‘great achievements’ made by China in fulfilling its WTO commitments and denies the important contribution made by China to the multilateral trading system and world economy, according to Reuters.
China’s Commerce Minister said China is willing to work with New Zealand to implement a free trade agreement and continue to strengthen cooperation in the process of joining the CPTPP.
US Deputy Treasury Secretary Adeyemo said on Friday that it is clear the Chinese economy is facing challenges from the property sector and demographics, while he is not concerned about headwinds from China’s economic challenges but has concerns about China’s excess production capacity flowing to global markets.
DATA RECAP
Japanese Services PPI YY (Jan) 2.1% vs Exp. 2.4% (Prev. 2.4%)
2C ASIA AFFAIRS
MONDAY MORNING/SUNDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 27.86 PTS OR 0.93% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 91.12 PTS OR 0.54% / Nikkei CLOSED UP 135.03 PTS OR .35%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.11% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 7.1968 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.2067 /Oil DOWN TO 76.07 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN AT 81.08/ Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY ALL MIXED// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN WEAKER
2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
END
2e) JAPAN
JAPAN
END
3 CHINA
CHINA/USA
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
POLAND/GERMANY/UKRAINE
Polish farmers continue to play havoc with their neighbours as they are totally against allowing cheap Ukrainian grain entering their country
(zerohedge)
Polish Farmers To Block Critical Border Road As Tusk Government Faces First Serious Challenge
SATURDAY, FEB 24, 2024 – 08:45 AM
Polish Farmers are planning to block a key frontier road into Germany as part of a growing protest over Europe’s green agenda and cheaper imports – primarily from Ukraine.
Protesters will block the main A2 highway from Warsaw to Berlin on Sunday for 24 hours, TRTWorld reports.
According to Dariusz Wrobel, a spokesman for the farmers’ protest movement, the EU’s so-called Green Deal on energy, transportation and taxation in a bid to reduce greenhouse emissions “is unacceptable in its current form.”
The farmers also oppose imports of agriculture products from countries outside the EU “that do not conform to European norms”, Wrobel said.
The highway protest at the German border would start at 1200 GMT on Sunday and would be just a warning.
“We expect results and we are ready to launch a much wider movement,” Wrobel said.
The farmers had planned a 25-day blockade but reduced it after talks with local authorities and business leaders. -TRTWorld
Meanwhile, as Remix News, sums it up – this is a major test for the Tusk government.
There is an old fable about succession. An old ruler leaves two envelopes for his successor and tells him to open the first one when a crisis arrives. The new ruler does just that and sees the advice, “Just blame everything on me,” with a footnote: “When the next crisis arrives, open the next envelope.” He follows the advice that gets him through the first crisis, but a second one eventually comes along, so he opens the second letter which reads, “Sit down right now, write two letters, and put them in envelopes.”
The Tusk administration has already opened up the first envelope in its response to the farmers’ protests by saying that their cause is just and that it was all the fault of the previous PiS government.
There is an element of truth in that claim. It was the PiS government that opened up the border in a gesture of solidarity that was in Poland’s self-interest, but it failed to stop the opening of the EU market to Ukrainian food and only introduced an embargo on Ukrainian grain when the horse had bolted and was roaming the fields.
It was also the PiS government that in 2019 had agreed to the EU’s “Fit for 55” climate policy, which contained the very measures farmers are currently protesting against. If it believed that it was trading EU funds in return for the policy, the EU establishment didn’t honor its side of the bargain.
But just blaming PiS will not be enough for the Tusk government. Farmers don’t want PR stunts involving ministers saying they support the protests, they want concrete measures to deal with the situation.
The problem is that the Tusk government cannot deliver these because the demands farmers are making are unacceptable to Brussels as they run counter to the climate dogma, the dogma that PiS does not agree with but failed to counter. Unfortunately for the farmers, the new government was supported by Brussels and is therefore hitched to it.
Tusk’s government also cannot introduce a blanket embargo on Ukrainian food products because that is an EU decision and also because of its political commitment to supporting Ukraine.
“Like A Warzone”: Farmers Surround EU Headquarters Building
MONDAY, FEB 26, 2024 – 08:55 AM
The mephitis of manure, melting tires and malodorous teargas pervaded downtown Brussels this Monday morning as angry farmers encircled the European Union’s headquarters. This protest coincides with a meeting of the bloc’s agriculture ministers. The farmers are expressing their anger over the EU’s disastrous green policies.
Things are heating up here at the farmers’ protests, with tires being set alight just a few buildings down from where EU Agri ministers are meeting pic.twitter.com/FPfskbZcoI— Natasha Foote (@NatashaFoote) February 26, 2024
According to Bloomberg, farmers are angry about bureaucratic hurdles, trade deals, climate-related rules, and efforts to help Ukraine dump cheap grain onto markets.
“There is a clear problem with the reduction of the import tariffs for Ukraine and massive imports of grain and poultry which depresses the prices,” said Guillaume Van Binst, secretary general of the Federation of Young Farmers.
Guillaume added: “The measures proposed by the commission are very weak and it is more passing the hot potato to member states.”
Today’s protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations by farmers across several EU countries, including France, Italy, and Spain. Blue-collar folks are also furious about imploding incomes and elevated inflation.
Meanwhile, EU leaders are scrambling to defuse this ticking timebomb of social unrest spreading across the bloc. They are taking steps to reduce red tape and delay some green rules.
“It can always go more quickly, But we’re already working faster than usually.” David Clarinval, Belgium’s agriculture minister, told reporters Monday.
Clarinval said, “One can understand the anger of the farmers. One can also understand that some are in a difficult situation. But aggression has never been a source of solutions.”
People check the destruction caused by overnight Israeli strikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 23, 2024, as battles between Israel and Hamas continue. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)
More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over a 24-hour period, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
It does not offer details on those killed, and does not as a rule differentiate between combatants and civilians in reporting deaths.
Israel says it only targets terror operatives, while acknowledging that civilian casualties are unavoidable as Hamas and other terror groups operate from within densely populated areas.
END
ISRAEL/.HAMAS/ZEITOUN,GAZA CITY/SATURDAY
IDF eliminate terror squads in Gaza city with massive airstrikes]
(Jerusalem Post)
IDF eliminates terror squads in Gaza City with airstrikes
During the raid on the Zeitun neighborhood, the troops killed many terrorists with airstrikes as well as in-the-field encounters.
IDF troops from the 162nd division engaged and killed Hamas terrorists in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City as well as across the south and central Gaza Strip over the past few days, the IDF stated on Saturday.
During the raid on Zeitun, the troops killed many terrorists with airstrikes as well as in-the-field encounters.
In addition, they located many weapons caches, including Kalashnikov rifles and cartridges, a ready-to-use explosive device, vests, and documents belonging to Hamas.
Fighters from the 401st Brigade’s combat team, using a drone, identified a terrorist squad that was preparing to launch an anti-tank missile at Israeli troops. A short time later, an aircraft was directed at the squad, and they were killed.
Eliminating terror squads
The Nahal Brigade battle team, fighting in the center of the Gaza Strip, killed several terrorists throughout the day. In one operation, the brigade’s fire team identified two terrorists who were walking around nearby with bags and an object suspected to be a military weapon. Within a few minutes, the terrorists were killed.
IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip. February 24, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
As part of an assault, fighters from the Givati Brigade‘s combat team killed many terrorists with precise sniper fire on Friday, the IDF added.
In Khan Yunis, fighters from the 7th Brigade’s combat team identified three terrorists approaching their position before eliminating them with the aid of a combat helicopter.
After a few minutes, four more terrorists were identified and killed via an aircraft attack. In addition, the fighters killed several terrorist squads that moved toward our forces by firing tank shells.
end
ISRAEL/GAZA/KHAN YOUNIS/SATURDAY
Footage shows airstrikes, tanks shelling Hamas operatives in Khan Younis
The IDF releases footage showing airstrikes and tank shelling on Hamas operatives who were spotted by drones operated by the Paratroopers Brigade in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.
According to the IDF, the gunmen were killed in the strikes.
Also in western Khan Younis, the IDF says the paratroopers located a Hamas weapons depot with a large number of explosive devices, mines, grenades, ammunition, rockets and other military equipment.
The brigade has killed many more Hamas gunmen in western Khan Younis recently, including in close-quarters combat and by ambushing the operatives with sniper fire, the IDF says.
END
ISRAEL/RAFAH/SUNDAY
Israel imminently heading into Gaza’s Rafah, will evacuate civilians, Netanyahu tells CBS
Netanyahu stated that the operation would include a plan to facilitate the evacuation of Palestinian civilians, as well as the assault on the local Hamas battalions.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to a discussion and a vote on the expulsion of MK Ofer Cassif at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024.(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an early Sunday morning interview with CBS, told the broadcaster that the IDF was heading into Gaza’s Rafah and that plans for such an operation would be approved that day, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stated.
Reporting on Netanyahu’s remarks in the CBS interview, Reuters noted that the operation would include a plan to facilitate the evacuation of Palestinian civilians, as well as the assault on the local Hamas battalions.
“We are working on a hostage deal. I want a deal to release the hostages, and I appreciate the efforts of the United States. I do not know if we will get a deal, but if Hamas comes down to a reasonable situation, there will be a deal,” Netanyahu said during the interview, Maariv quoted the PM as stating.
Speaking on the efforts to block a Palestinian state, the PMO added, “This week, we achieved a majority of 99 Knesset members in favor of my proposal against international recognition of establishing a Palestinian state. This is an unprecedented majority.”
Reuters added that the prime minister said that what may delay the IDF operation in Rafah is the possible hostage deal.
Troops of the Egoz commando unit operate in Khan Younis, in a handout image published February 25, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF releases new footage from the operations of the Egoz commando unit in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.
In one encounter, the IDF says Egoz troops using a drone spotted two gunmen hiding in a building. Following a lengthy gun battle, during which troops attempted to flush the suspects out of the structure with explosives, the two operatives were killed.
In another similar incident, Egoz troops spotted several Hamas operatives opening fire at them from a building and killed them following a gun battle, the IDF says.
In the building, the IDF says the soldiers found a cache of weapons.
END
Netanyahu wants war cabinet to approve IDF’s Rafah operation tonight
“That gets us a real, real distance towards the completion of our victory, and tha t- we’re not going to give it up,” Netanyahu said.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFFEBRUARY 25, 2024 16:37Updated: FEBRUARY 25, 2024 21:48
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to a discussion and a vote on the expulsion of MK Ofer Cassif at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024.(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked to the war cabinet Sunday to approve both a military operation into Rafah to destroy the final vestiges of Hamas and an evacuation plan for the over 1.3 million Palestinians crowded into that small area near Egypt’s southern border.
“I’ve asked the army to submit to me a double plan, first to evacuate to enable the evacuation of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and, obviously, second, to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions,” Netanyahu told CBS’s Face the Nations on Sunday.
“That gets us a real, real distance towards the completion of our victory, and that – we’re not going to give it up,” Netanyahu said.
“Once we begin the Rafah operation, the intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion, not months, weeks away from completion,” Netanyahu said, as he indicated that the Israel-Hamas war could be wrapped up this spring.
“We’ve already destroyed 18 of the 24 Hamas terrorist battalions. So we- we have– and four of them are concentrated in the Rafah. We can’t leave the last Hamas stronghold without taking care of it, obviously, we have to do it,” Netanyahu said as he defended the pending operation which has drawn worldwide condemnation even before it has begun.
Netanyahu spoke as Israel has expressed cautious optimism about the possibility of a deal for the release of the remaining 134 hostages out of the 253 Hamas seized during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the Gaza war.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on February 19, 2024. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Hostage deal will delay, not stop, Rafah operation
Those involved in the negotiations for a deal have used the pending military operation as a pressure lever to sway Hamas to make a deal before the Ramadan holiday, which begins on March 10.
“If we have a deal, it’ll be delayed somewhat. But it’ll happen,” Netanyahu said. He stressed, however, that “If we don’t have a deal, we’ll do it anyway. It has to be done. Because total victory is our goal, and total victory is within reach. Not months away, weeks away once we begin the operation.”
He spoke with the US network after CIA Director William Burns held a meeting in Paris on Friday night, that included high-level officials from Israel and the two countries mediating the deal: Egypt and Qatar.
Those participating in the meeting included Mossad Chief David Barnea, Shin bet Head Ronen Bar, Hostage Affairs Coordinator Nitzan Alon, the head of IDF Strategic Affairs Division Oren Sefer, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed al-Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Major General Abbas Kamel.
A lower-level Israeli delegation is expected to head to Qatar this week to continue the talks. Egyptian security sources said there would be more talks this week in Doha, with mediators shuttling between Hamas and Israeli delegates, and a follow-up round in Cairo. There was no immediate confirmation of that from Israel, Hamas or Qatar.
Hamas has in the past insisted that a deal could only occur if Israel agreed to a permanent ceasefire and to withdraw the IDF from Gaza. Israel has rejected both demands.
It’s widely understood that any deal would involve a pause to the war and the release of Palestinian security prisoners, including terrorists with “blood on their hands.”
Reports have circulated throughout about details of the deal, for which the two sides have yet to agree. According to Kan News, Israel has asked for a list of those hostages who are still alive as a trust-building measure to help the sides reach an agreement. Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu wants those terrorists responsible for killing Israel, who would be freed during the deal, to be exiled to Qatar, which is already home to the top Hamas leaders abroad. According to Channel 12, the Israeli delegation to the Doha talks has a limited mandate.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotirch (Religious Zionist Party) told the 21st Jerusalem Conference that he was opposed to “making a deal with the devil.”
He had supported the previous deal in November that saw the exchange of a female hostage or a child for three Palestinian security prisoners that were either female or minors. Smotrich noted that Israel had been asked to pay a higher price for this second deal when, due to its military success in Gaza, it should be looked at lower terms.
“I am against a deal where the keys [demands] are larger, the truce is longer. It makes no sense,” Smotrich stated.
In his conversation with CBS, Netanyahu said that Israel wants to free the captives and has “already brought half of them back” and was working with the US for the release of the rest.
“I can’t tell you if we’ll have” a deal, Netanyahu stated, as he blamed Hamas for the protracted talks.
“If Hamas goes down from its delusional claims and … can bring them down to earth, then we’ll have the progress that we all want. “
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed that Israel, Egypt, and Qatar had come to an understanding in Paris about the “basic contours of a hostage deal for a temporary ceasefire.”
There will now “be indirect discussions by Qatar and Egypt with Hamas because ultimately they will have to agree to release the hostages. That work is underway. And we hope that in the coming days, we can drive to a point where there is a firm and final agreement.”
With respect to the Rafah operation, Sullivan stressed the importance of the war cabinet’s passage of a viable plan for the evacuation of Palestinian civilians, noting that this was the only way to secure US support.
“We’ve been clear that we do not believe that a major military operation should proceed in Rafah unless there is a clear and executable plan to protect those civilians, to get them to safety and to feed, clothe and house them. And we have not seen a plan like that,” Sullivan said.
Netanyahu told CBS that Israel had already done more than any other nation would to preserve civilian life during its military operation to destroy Hamas. He spoke as Israel has defended itself against charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice due to the high fatality count in Gaza.
Hamas has asserted that close to 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza of which it has stated some 6,000 were combatants. Israel has claimed that some 11,00 combatants have been killed.
The war itself was sparked by the Hamas-led October 7 attack in which over 1,200 people were killed.
Netanyahu said, “This war has been forced upon us by a cynical enemy that not only targets our civilians, has raped, beheaded, burnt babies alive, killed children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children. This enemy not only targets civilians but hides behind civilians.”
If America had suffered a similar attack, Netanyahu stated, “You’d be doing a hell of a lot more” by way of a military response.“Israel has gone to extraordinary lengths, calling up people, civilians, Palestinians in Gaza, telling them leave your home, sending pamphlets, we have done that effort, Hamas tries to keep them at gunpoint, we’ll clear them out of harm’s way, we’ll complete the job and achieve total victory, which is necessary to give a secure future for Israel, a better future for Gaza, a better future for the Middle East, and a setback for the Iran terror axis.
“That’s in all our interests. It’s in America’s interest too,” Netanyahu stated.
A poster released by Hezbollah announces the death of Muhammad Alawiyah, reported to be a commander in the Maroun al-Ras area, after an Israeli strike. (Hezbollah)
The Hezbollah terror group announces the death of a member who succumbed to wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon nearly two weeks ago.
The IDF said on February 12 it had targeted a vehicle with Hezbollah operatives in it, in the village of Maroun al-Ras.
Muhammad Alawiyah, reported to be a Hezbollah commander in the Maroun al-Ras area, was seriously wounded in the strike, and has now died 11 days later.
Alawiyah’s death brings the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 212.
END
ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH/MONDAY
IDF says it killed senior Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon strike//another one
IDF says it killed senior Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon strike
hassan Hussein Salami, a Hezbollah commander, who was killed in an IDF strike on February 26, 2024 (Hezbollah)
The IDF says it eliminated a senior Hezbollah commander, Hassan Hussein Salami, in an airstrike in southern Lebanon earlier today.
Salami, whose rank is equivalent to a brigade commander, was targeted while driving in the southern Lebanon village of Majadel.
The IDF says Salami was the commander of a regional unit in Hezbollah and oversaw attacks on IDF troops and Israeli communities in northern Israel.
Recent attacks that Salami was involved in included anti-tank missile attacks on Kiryat Shmona and the 769th “Hiram” Regional Brigade’s base, according to the IDF.
Hezbollah announced his death earlier but did not call him a commander.
ISRAEL/Hezbollah/SUNDAY
Two Hezbollah members killed as Israel allegedly strikes Syria-Lebanon border
Several rockets fired at northern Israel after attack on truck near in Qusayr south of Homs, thought to be a Hezbollah stronghold
A truck in flames following an alleged Israeli airstrike near the Syrian town of Qusayr, February 25, 2024. (X screengrab: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Two members of the Hezbollah terror group were killed as Israel allegedly carried out an airstrike on a truck near the Syrian-Lebanon border Sunday morning.
Footage showed the truck engulfed in flames on a road outside Qusayr, a Syrian city south of Homs near the border with northern Lebanon.
Shortly after the strike, Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah announced that two of its operatives were killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes. It did not say where the two were killed.
The pair, named as Hussein al-Dirani and Ahmed al-Afi, were from Qsarnaba and Brital, two towns in the Baalbek District, adjacent to the Syrian region where the alleged Israeli strike took place.
Their deaths brought the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 214.
Shortly after the reported strike and throughout Sunday afternoon, several volleys of rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, all apparently landing in open areas, according to the Israel Defense Forces and police.
There were no reports of damage or injuries.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it targeted an army base near Margaliot and IDF positions near Kiryat Shmona. It also claimed to have targeted an army base in the Mount Dov region on the border.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the strike near Qusayr, an area identified in the past as a Hezbollah stronghold. There was no comment from Syrian authorities.
While Israel does not, as a rule, comment on specific strikes in Syria, it has admitted to conducting hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed terror groups attempting to gain a foothold in the country over the last decade. The Israeli military says it attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for those groups, chief among them Hezbollah. Additionally, airstrikes attributed to Israel have repeatedly targeted Syrian air defense systems.
Active hostilities between Israel and Iran-backed groups, especially Hezbollah, have escalated since October 7, when Palestinian terror group Hamas launched an onslaught into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 others. Israel has responded with a devastating military campaign in Gaza aimed at toppling Hamas and freeing the hostages.
Since October 8, Hezbollah has launched hundreds of rockets, drones and anti-tank missiles at northern Israel, drawing Israeli strikes in response.
A truck was reportedly targeted in an Israeli airstrike near the Syrian town of Qusayr, close to the Lebanon border.pic.twitter.com/9seno7BE1l
Syria alleged last week that an Israeli airstrike killed two people in an apartment building in the Kafr Sousa district in Syria’s capital Damascus — a neighborhood that hosts residential buildings, schools, and Iranian cultural centers and lies near a large, heavily guarded complex used by security agencies. Iran’s semi-official Student News Network said the attack did not kill any Iranian nationals or advisers.
Iran, which also backs Hamas, has sought to stay out of Israel’s war with the terror group directly even as its proxies have entered the fray from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria — the so-called “Axis of Resistance” that is hostile to Israeli and US interests.
So far, the skirmishes with Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border have resulted in six civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 10 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
END..
ISRAEL HEZBOLLAH MONDAY
Hezbollah fires barrage of 60 rockets at Golan Heights after IDF strike deep in Lebanon
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group says it fired a volley of rockets at an Israeli military base in retaliation for deadly Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s east.
“In response to the Zionist aggression near the city of Baalbek,” Hezbollah targeted the base in the Golan Heights “with 60 Katyusha rockets,” the group says in a statement.
Footage circulating on social media shows several rockets impacting and exploding close to a bus carrying passengers who quickly disembark to take cover.
There are no reports of injuries in the barrage.
Footage circulating on social media shows rockets launched from Lebanon impacting close to a bus in the Golan Heights. Hezbollah said it fired some 60 Katyusha rockets at an army base in the area. There are no reports of injuries in the barrage.
Houthi attack on freighter Rubymar caused significant damage to ship, US says
By REUTERSFEBRUARY 24, 2024 01:24Updated: FEBRUARY 24, 2024
An attack by Yemen’s Houthis on the freighter Rubymar on Sunday caused significant damage to the ship and an 18-mile oil slick, the US military’s Central Command said on Friday.
Yemen’s Houthis targeted the Rubymar in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, and it is now at risk of sinking, the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement the following day.
“The ship is anchored but slowly taking on water,” Central Command said in a statement regarding the Belize-flagged UK-owned cargo ship.
The Rubymar was transporting over 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it was attacked, the statement added.
COVID vaccine ‘adverse events of special interest’ more common than expected: CDC-funded study
Rep. Debbie Dingell developed a severe nerve condition from a mandatory swine flu vaccine, which initially made her “scared to death” to get a COVID-19 vaccine, she told a congressional hearing last week.
The Michigan Democrat might want to reconsider her now-unquestioning enthusiasm for COVID vaccines, including those made through traditional methods, in light of a massive international study of “adverse events of special interest” funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and set to be published in the peer-reviewed Elsevier journal Vaccine.
Members of the research team, which stretched from the Americas to Europe, China and Australia, said they identified “potential safety signal[s] of concern” following mRNA and adenovirus-vector vaccination when the “observed versus expected” ratio of a given AESI rose above 1 at the lower boundary of the 95% confidence interval and reached statistical significance.
Several AESIs exceeded the lower-boundary ratio of 1.5 “across neurological, haematological, and cardiac outcomes,” including Dingell’s Guillain-Barré syndrome and heart inflammation, in their study of Global Vaccine Data Network records of more than 99 million individuals vaccinated in eight countries.
Team members said they prioritized the 1.5 lower boundary “due to increased statistical evidence and the higher likelihood of being a true signal, based on expert opinion from the CDC” and collaborators in GVDN’s Global COVID Vaccine Safety Project, which the CDC fully funds.
The vast majority of the AESIs had narrow confidence intervals, reflecting more certainty about the effect, including a staggering mean ratio of 6.10 for Moderna’s second mRNA dose with myocarditis, which is heart muscle inflammation. The high mean ratios were most common for cardiovascular conditions, including the upper 2s for Pfizer’s primary series with myocarditis and 2.09 for the booster.
Wide confidence intervals for AstraZeneca’s third dose with pericarditis (mean: 6.91) and Moderna’s first dose with brain and spinal-cord inflammation (3.78) reflect the small absolute difference in observed versus expected events, just five each.
These specific “results should be interpreted with caution and confirmed in future studies,” the paper says, pointing to an ongoing GVDN “follow-up study” that focuses on “a demographic not included in our analysis.”
Atypically for COVID research published in high-profile journals, the researchers do not appear to have extolled the safety and efficacy of COVID vaccines anywhere in the paper.
They even warned the GVDN data may underestimate “the significance of potential safety signals” and include “false negatives, especially when detecting associations with lower confidence intervals below 1.5 that maintain statistical significance.”
Bloomberg, by contrast, began its report by claiming the vaccines “protect against severe illness, death and lingering long Covid symptoms” and have “sav[ed] over 1 million lives in Europe alone,” citing a 2023 press release by the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases on an unreleased World Health Organization study.
Brianne Dressen, cofounder of the vaccine-injury group React19, was injured in an AstraZeneca trial and recognized from the dais at the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing in which Dingell, 70, shared her vaccine injury.
Moderna and Northeastern University scientists acknowledged in the Springer Nature journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery last month that lipid nanoparticle “structural components, production methods, route of administration and proteins produced from complexed mRNAs all present toxicity concerns.”
The paper beyond the abstract is behind a subscription paywall, but mRNA vaccine pioneer-turned-critic Robert Malone extensively quoted from it in a critical review posted to his newsletter.
He said the “acknowledged toxicities” include hepatotoxicity from intravenous administration, “general liver and spleen toxicity,” immune responses to the lipid nanoparticle polyethylene glycol and “hypersensitivity reactions.”
Due to the fast development of mRNA COVID vaccines, “the once-waning nanomedicine field is reinvigorated,” according to a paragraph from the paper cited by Malone.
But the Moderna scientists warned that “serious concerns about the safety of any given mRNA-based drug could affect the entire platform,” just as one “lethal case of systemic inflammation after the intravenous administration of an adenovirus vector during a phase I trial […] halted progress in the entire gene therapy field for more than a decade.”
The Vaccine paper, accepted but not yet published, determined the expected rates for 13 AESIs whose “background rates were recently generated by GVDN sites,” the researchers wrote. They were based on “participating sites using pre-COVID-19 vaccination healthcare data stratified by age and sex,” and observed rates based on the same datasets following vaccine rollout.
They counted AESIs up to 42 days after administration of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
AstraZeneca crossed the lower boundary of the 1.5 ratio with Guillain-Barré (mean: 2.49), with 190 observed versus 76 expected events, and brain blood clots (3.23), with 69 versus 21. Moderna’s first (1.74) and fourth (2.64) doses crossed it as well with pericarditis, the swelling and irritation of heart membrane.
Ratios between 1 and 1.5 on the lower boundary were far more common, including AstraZeneca’s primary series for heart inflammation and AstraZeneca’s first dose with inflammation of the brain and spinal cord or just the spinal cord.
They also included every Pfizer dose with pericarditis, the fourth dose for both mRNA vaccines with myocarditis, first-dose mRNA with Bell’s palsy, and Moderna’s first and second doses with febrile seizures.
Asked why it continues to recommend one-size-fits-all COVID vaccination, regardless of age and underlying health, in light of the findings from the study it funded, the CDC gave Just the News a statement Thursday.
“The Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN) in collaboration with CDC studied 99 million people across eight countries who received COVID-19 vaccines. The study confirms what we know: vaccination remains the safest and most dependable strategy to build immunity and protection against COVID-19, with billions of doses safely delivered worldwide and millions of lives saved,” the statement says.
“The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination continue to outweigh any potential risks and serious reactions after COVID-19 vaccination remain rare. CDC and FDA will continue to closely monitor the safety of vaccines and will further explore the data from the study,” it says.
end
special thanks to Robert H for sending this to us:
Largest COVID Vaccine Study Ever: What You’re Not Being Told
A safe vaccine would be indistinguishable from a placebo. Does this look safe to you?
Quick summary of what the article would like you to believe
Here are the key points of the study which was funded by the CDC and HHS so no conflict of interest at all:
They looked at the medical records of 99,068,901 vaccinated individuals.
They compared observed vs. expected (“OE”) rates of “13 selected adverse events of special interest (AESI) across neurological, haematological, and cardiac outcomes.”
They only looked for 42 days after the shotssince everyone knows you can’t get adverse events after 42 days (I’m being sarcastic).
They didn’t evaluate mortality due to the shot since everyone knows the vaccines are safe and didn’t kill anyone (I’m being sarcastic).
They found clearly increased risk of the various AESI, but the end conclusion is that the risks after COVID infection are far higher, so people should take the shots. This is unbelievable. I don’t know a single cardiologist whose business dropped after the COVID vaccines rolled out. Do you?
As usual, they aren’t allowed to share the data so you have to take their word for it.
Nobody has been able to explain away that result. Nobody. Ever. They just don’t want to talk about it.
Why take a vaccine if the benefit is not measurable? That VA study was the perfect proving ground. The signal should have been large. There was no signal for either the COVID or flu vaccine. It was a stunning paper.
I always love it when a paper inadvertently blows the whole narrative out of the water and the medical community is completely clueless as to its significance.
secure our borders? How many American girls will be raped given the islamist medieval animal, the rapists & murderers from the Southern border who WILL rape her? Before we secure the border?
The wall must not be not slat fence, thats bull shit and Coulter was right, if Trump built the wall as he said, a massive high thick conrete wall we could see from space, he would have handled the steal at the polls, even the devastation of the fake non-pandemic lockdowns, he would have been re-elected and we would have given him a third term, and on Rushmore.
Trump must now in 2nd term close border for 10 years, get a full accounting of who is inside America, and move to deport, in one hour, every single illegal, anyone who came illegally into America, across the last 30 years. If you committed rape, murder, pedophilia while in the US, you must be deported and never to set foot on US soil again. If you came illegal. If you had children in America, they too must leave and apply at a US embassy from your shithole hell hole nation and they MUST be allowed back in…but they must apply….every single illegal must be removed from America. If you were born in US after parent came illegal, and you committed murder, rape, pedophilia, sold drugs that killed, you must be removed and never allowed back in.
Who came in Bush, Clinton, Obama, Biden, even Trump’s Presidency. All must be removed. This is the only way people get the message and America begins to be fixed. Else I am afraid the path it is on cannot be fixed. America would be doomed. The illegals and the murderers among them have set America on a destructive path, it is now circling the drain. There is no nation that has done more and does more for people, that helps, and gives. Americans are the most giving compassionate helpful people. The time has come for her now to close up and fix inside and get a full accounting.
Any senator or congressperson who opposes and moves against, find a way to recall vote and if they are in any matters that is against America, jail them. Trump must move to jail maybe half of the government, literally. Both sides. It is one party, do not be afraid.
not dissappear due to any vaccine & good science showed this; European polio dissappeared without polio mass vaccination & in 3rd world only 10% was immunized against polio yet dissappeared
Exposing The Darkness is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. One-time or recurring donations can be made through Ko-Fi: “…the American doctors would argue that the reason why Polio disappeared in this country was because of the vaccine, but then why did it disappear in Europe in the 1940s and 50s…
“…the American doctors would argue that the reason why Polio disappeared in this country was because of the vaccine, but then why did it disappear in Europe in the 1940s and 50s without mass vaccination?
…there is a new publication that references MS in later life to the early introduction of live virus vaccines like Measles and some others…in the present time I would recommend that anybody with MS or any of those degenerative neurological conditions of later life carefully review their vaccine history…”
MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK
END
7//OIL ISSUES//NATURAL GAS ISSUES//ELECTRICAL GRID ISSUES// RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES//USA AND GLOBE//GLOBAL SHIPPING
Oil Tanker Shortage Emerges After Red Sea Crisis Disrupts Global Trade
SUNDAY, FEB 25, 2024 – 11:05 AM
The Red Sea shipping crisis has been an explosive mess for the international shipping community and the global economy. With oil tankers increasingly steering clear of the southern Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb Strait, shipping capacity has rapidly tightened, pressuring daily rates higher.
Bloomberg reports only two new supertankers will join the global fleet in 2024, the fewest additions in forty years and about 90% below the yearly average over the last two decades.
“The impact of the diversions can be seen every day in shipping in general, and I would say crude oil and product tanker shipping,” specifically, Alexander Saverys, CEO of Euronav NV, one of the largest tanker owners in the world, told investors during an earnings call earlier this month.
Saverys said low deliveries and an aging global fleet are a perfect recipe for a positive outlook on tankers.
We have stated that Houthi attacks on commercial shipping are the “next supply-driven inflation shock.” As a result, a key Clean Tanker rate tracked by the Baltic Exchange has moved north of $100,000 per day due to the disruptions, caused longer sails, which tightens capacity on the seas.
The US and UK airstrikes on Houthi militants in Yemen were one of the major drivers that sent tanker rates soaring in the second half of January. Many of these tankers, hauling fuels like gasoline and diesel, have been forced to navigate around Africa.
Charts from the latest Goldman Oil Tracker (full report available to pro subscribers in the usual place) show flows through the Bab-El-Mandeb continue to deteriorate and remain down 1.8mb/d (or 27% on a 14DMA Basis) since disruptions started on December 18.
Goldman also shows tanker rates have surged.
“The situation is tight in the tanker market, in particular for crude oil tankers,” said Enrico Paglia, research manager at Banchero Costa, a shipping services firm. He warned, “It will be even tighter in the future.”
Bloomberg noted, “The tanker shortage comes as the efficiency of the global fleet is faltering. In addition to many vessels sailing around southern Africa instead of through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, a burgeoning dark fleet means that many ships are only available to certain customers.”
Meanwhile, data from Banchero Costa shows the tanker order book will be extremely low in the next couple of years: Only five new tankers are expected to join the global fleet in 2025. That compares with 42 ships delivered in 2022.
How long until the next tanker glut?
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 MONDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0853 UP .0038
USA/ YEN 150.56 UP 0.164 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//
GBP/USA 1.2687 UP .0025
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3515 UP .0029 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 29 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 27.86 PTS OR 0.93%
Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 91.12 POINTS OR 0.54%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.11% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: MOSTLY ALL MIXED
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: MOSTLY ALL MIXED
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED DOWN 91.12 PTS OR 0.54%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 27.86 PTS OR 0.93%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.11%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 135.03 PTS OR .35%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE RED
Gold very early morning trading: 2033.20
silver:$22.54
USA dollar index early MONDAY morning: 103.69 DOWN 17 BASIS POINTS FROM FRIDAY’s CLOSE.
Rate-cut expectations continue to slide (June is now a 50-50 for the start and 2024 now pricing in only 3 cuts)…
Source: Bloomberg
Two ugly bond auctions (2Y and 5Y) helped spur Treasury yields higher (as we note that February’s damage has come amid huge supply and a record $153 BN corporate bond sales). Yields were up around 3bps across the curve, erasing much of Friday’s decline in yields (especially at the short-end)…
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin soared up above $54,500 today, the highest since early Dec 2021…
Source: Bloomberg
As net inflows into BTC ETFs re-accelerated (and GBTC outflows slowed to a trickle)….
Source: Bloomberg
Ethereum also soared, getting within a tick or two of $3200, its highest since April 2022…
Source: Bloomberg
Mag7 stocks continued to limp lower after NVDA’s exuberance last week…
Source: Bloomberg
But ‘most shorted’ stocks were aggressively squeezed up to pre-President’s Day highs today…
Source: Bloomberg
Which helped pull Small Caps up today and lead the pack as S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq all faded into the red in the last hour…
The dollar was very quiet today once again ending practically unchanged for the second day in a row…
Source: Bloomberg
Gold closed marginally lower on the day, but bounced intraday to hold its 50DMA…
Source: Bloomberg
But oil surged, with WTI testing $78 intraday, erasing Friday’s losses…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, NVDA was only able to add a de minimum 0.6% today, losing momentum three times intraday and completing an inside day (lower high and higher low)…
Does make you wonder, eh?
Source: Bloomberg
Still, at least we have Bitcoin…
MORNING TRADING//
end
AFTERNOON TRADING/
II USA DATA
US New Home Sales Disappoint In January, Median Prices At 2 Year Lows As Supply Jumps
MONDAY, FEB 26, 2024 – 10:14 AM
New home sales rose in January, but less than expected.
After December’s 8.0% surprise jump was revised down to +7.2% MoM, January sales rose just 1.5% MoM (half the 3.0% expected). In fact all three of the last months’ data was revised lower…
The downward revision and disappointment reduced the YoY sales growth to just 1.8%…
Source: Bloomberg
The total new home sales SAAR rose from a downwardly revised 651k to 661k in January (well below the 684k expected)…
Source: Bloomberg
The median sales price of a home decreased to $420,700 in January from a year ago, marking the fifth-straight decline (up marginally from the $413,000 in December which was two year low).
Interestingly, the average price (NSA) soared from $493.4k to $534.3k)… which signals more higher-priced homes selling…
Source: Bloomberg
Mortgage rates are back on the rise, not exactly a good sign for new home sales as homebuilders margins collapse…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, new-home supply increased to 456,000 from the prior month, the most in over a year.
Source: Bloomberg
Is reality about to set in for the US housing market? Or will Powell step in (with a banking crisis excuse) to save all that ‘wealth’?
end
“There’s An Odd Chill In The Air” – Dallas Fed Respondents Warn Of “Pending Doom”
BY TYLER DURDEN
For the 22nd straight month, The Dallas Fed’s Manufacturing Survey headline indicator was negative in February.
Despite it’s bounce from January lows, the headline remained at -11.3 (while the six-months-ahead forecast also surged to +11.8 – highest since Feb 2022)…
Source: Bloomberg
Under the hood, everything seemed positive too…
Labor market measures suggested growth in employment, Wage and input costs continued to increase this month, while selling prices remained flat. The new orders index – a key measure of demand – shot up 18 points in January to 5.2. The raw materials prices index retreated five points to 15.4, falling further below average and indicative of more modest cost growth than usual.
Source: Bloomberg
So, labor good, prices down, new orders awesome – sounds great right?
Let’s ask the business owners in the Dallas area how they feel…
“There’s an odd chill in the air that we can’t determine if it’s election related, general economic malaise or fear of pending doom. It’s very strange. Things are status quo with a bit of negative undertone, which is somewhat disturbing for business owners.”
“Turmoil at the federal level is impacting funding.”
“Sales were below projections for January and February; March does not look encouraging.“
“The shortage of labor that was critical during the pandemic and after has turned to being merely very tight—meaning very difficult to find qualified personnel. Job jumping has ground to a halt.“
“I have no idea what is going to happen.“
“The economy is hurting the trucking business. The uncertainty is bothering people.“
“Please lower interest rates.“
So, ‘the data’ is positive, but ‘the anecdotes’ are a shitshow.
We’ll let Jeff Bezos explain which to pay more attention to…
“The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right.
There’s something wrong with the way you are measuring it.”
One can’t help but see the glaring gap between private reality and managed data’s sense of it – makes you wonder if there’s an agenda at work.
Even Goldman recently admitted that there is vast divide between how happy we should all be based on government-supplied data versus how we actually feel…
Bidenomics!?
TUCKER CARLSON
TUCKER CARLSON INTERVIEW STEVE KIRSCH ON THE COVID VACCINE DEATHS
Apparel retailer express moving towards bankruptcy
(zerohedge)
Apparel Retailer Express Moving Toward Bankruptcy
FRIDAY, FEB 23, 2024 – 06:00 PM
During the company’s last earnings call in November, recently appointed CEO Stewart Glendinning acknowledged the company made some missteps: Among other factors, there was a misalignment between its assortment and customer demand, Retail Dive‘s Nate Delesline reports.
Express took a hit during the pandemic as its core offering — business casual — fell out of favor as work-from-home surged.
“Unfortunately, my previous assessment of Express’ fragile financial situation leading to a possible bankruptcy due to declining revenue, gross margin profits and ballooning debt of $280 million is a foregone conclusion,” Shawn Grain Carter, a retail industry consultant and professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology at the State University, said in an email to Retail Dive. “With high-interest rates, the retail company must decide between the ‘lesser of two evils.’ Moreover, until they fix the waning consumer demand for their merchandise and elevate the brand and product mix, financial wizardry will not resolve their retail woes.”
Over the past several years, the company has undergone a number of changes as it works to improve its performance. Last January, WHP Global closed on a strategic partnership with Express. The two entities formed an intellectual property joint venture under which WHP contributed $235 million for a 60% stake, while Express retained the remaining 40%. The two entities in November announced plans to expand Express internationally, including in Indonesia and Paraguay, and grow its presence in Central America and Mexico.
And after the New York Stock Exchange warned of a potential delisting in late March, Express executed a 1-for-20 reverse stock split, which decreased outstanding shares to 3.7 million from 74.9 million. That stock split enabled Express to regain listing compliance with the New York Stock Exchange. Around the same time, Express said it planned to cut 150 jobs by the end of the third quarter.
The company also expanded its portfolio last year through a deal with WHP to acquire Bonobos from Walmart for $75 million. That acquisition helped guide the retailer to a 5% year-over-year uptick in Q3 net sales to $454.1 million from $434.1 million a year earlier. However, comparable sales for Express stores and e-commerce fell 4% and net loss grew to $36.8 million from $34.4 million in the year-ago period. Inventory was also up 14% for the quarter, rising to nearly $481 million from $422.7 million a year earlier.
“Express has the right building blocks in place with a strong portfolio of brands, a high-potential partnership with WHP and a premier omnichannel platform,” Glendinning said in the earnings announcement. “Our efforts to unlock our full potential and improve our performance are already underway.”
The apparel retailer in late November lowered its full-year 2023 guidance, now expecting net sales to be between $1.84 billion and $1.87 billion, with Bonobos driving $150 million in net sales.
Finally, on Friday, Bloomberg reported that at least one lender to Express has approached the retailer to put aside a pool of money for expenses tied to a potential future bankruptcy filing.
A demand to set aside so-called cash reserves, if enforced, could push Express into Chapter 11 as it would eat into limited liquidity available for necessary payments to vendors, landlords and other parties.
Creditors have been growing increasingly antsy and considering whether to push the company to file for bankruptcy, Bloomberg previously reported.
Express, which is burning through a short supply of cash as it attempts to fix troubled operations, is looking to avoid any move to fund reserves for as long as possible, other people familiar with the matter said. The retailer lost over $150 million in three quarters through late October as it faced an escalating competitive threat from fast-fashion rivals.
IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM/WOKISM…
One state prosecutor and one civilian plaintiff have already won huge fines and damages from Donald Trump that may, with legal costs, exceed $500 million.
Trump awaits further civil and criminal liability in three other federal, state, and local indictments.
There are eerie commonalities in all these five court cases involving plaintiff E. Jean Carroll, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, federal special counsel Jack Smith, and Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.
One, they are either unapologetically left-wing or associated with liberal causes.
They filed their legal writs in big-city, left-wing America—Atlanta, New York, Washington—where liberal judges and jury pools predominate in a manner not characteristic of the country at large.
Two, they are overtly political.
Bragg, James, and Willis have either campaigned for office or raised campaign funds by promising to get or even destroy Donald Trump.
Carroll’s suit was funded by left-wing billionaire Reid Hoffman.
Smith sued to rush his court schedule in hopes of putting Trump on trial before the November election.
Three, there would not be any of these cases had Donald Trump not run for the presidency or not been a conservative.
Carroll’s suit bypassed statute of limitation restrictions by prompting the intervention of a left-wing New York legislator. He passed a special bill, allowing a one-year window to waive the statute of limitations for sexual assault claims from decades past.
Until Trump, no New York prosecutor like James had ever filed a civil suit against a business for allegedly overvaluing real estate assets to obtain loans that bank auditors approved and were paid back in full, on time, and with sizable interest profits to the lending institutions.
Alvin Bragg bootstrapped a Trump private non-disclosure agreement into a federal campaign violation in a desperate effort to find something on Trump.
Smith is also charging Trump with insurrectionary activity. But Trump had never been so charged with insurrection, much less convicted of it.
Willis strained to find a way to criminalize Trump’s complaints about his loss of Georgia in the 2020 national election. She finally came up with a racketeering charge, usually more applicable to mafiosi and drug cartels.
Four, in all these cases, the charges could have been equally applicable to fellow left-wing public figures and officials.
Joe Biden, like Trump, was accused of sexual assault decades earlier by former staffer Tara Reade. Yet Reade was torn apart by the media and the left for inconsistencies in her memory. By contrast, the wildly inconsistent and amnesiac E. Jean Carroll won $83 million from Trump.
Jack Smith created the precedent of charging former president Trump for unlawfully removing classified files to his private residence.
But the government simultaneously did not charge Joe Biden for similar offenses. Yet Biden had removed files not for two years but for more than 30. He stored them not in one location but several.
His rickety garage was a mess, not a secure family compound like Trump’s estate. Moreover, Biden did so while a senator and vice president, without any presidential authority to declassify almost any presidential document he wished.
Biden never came forward to report the crime for over thirty years—until Trump was charged. Indeed, he was caught on tape six years ago, admitting to his ghostwriter that he possessed classified files but never reported it.
Bragg might have noticed that both Hillary Clinton (fined $113,000) and Barack Obama (fined $350,000) broke campaign financing laws. Neither was subject to federal criminal charges by local prosecutors.
An array of left-wing celebrities, politicians, 2004 House Members, former Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams have all recently challenged elections. They sought either to delay or redo ballot counting or, on the federal level, to sidetrack electors to ignore popular votes in their respective states.
These lawfare cases are part of other efforts that were highly partisan and without merit. Recall the Trump “Russian collusion” hoax and the “Russian disinformation” laptop farce.
In another first, some blue states are suing to take Trump’s name off the ballot for “insurrection,” a crime for which he has never been charged.
Total up the deaths, damage, and length of the summer 2020 Antifa/BLM riots. Then compare the tally to the one-day January 6 riot.
The former proved far more lethal, long-lasting, and destructive. Yet very few of the 14,000 arrested rioters in 2020 were ever prosecuted, much less convicted.
By contrast, the Biden administration sought to jail hundreds for crimes allegedly committed on January 6, such as “illegal parading.”
We are entering a dangerous era in America.
Ideology and party affiliations increasingly determine guilt and punishment. Opponents are first targeted, and then laws are twisted and redefined to convict them.
The left is waging lawfare with the implicit message to silence political opponents: either keep quiet or suffer the consequences.
END
SWAMP STORIES
FANNIGATE
New cell phone records prove the DA Willis affair and thus they are going to kick her “fanny” out of politics.
The lawyers for President Trump have Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade’s cell phone records. And it’s bad for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The official story from the Fulton County DA and her former lover Nathan Wade, made through sworn filings and sworn testimony, was that their “personal relationship” started in 2022.
In a February 2, 2022 filing, DA Willis submitted Wade’s affidavit to the Court which stated: “In 2022, District Attorney Willis and I developed a personal relationship.” DA Willis and Wade both testified that the relationship started sometime in early 2022.
But Wade’s cell phone records disprove their official story. In a filing this morning from President Trump’s attorneys, records indicate that the “relationship” between DA Willis and Wade was romantic well-before Wade’s November 1, 2021 appointment by Willis as Special Prosecutor.
Trump’s attorneys were able to obtain, by subpoena to AT&T, Wade’s cell phone records from 1/1/2021 through 11/30/2021. Wade’s location data was analyzed by an investigator hired by the attorneys – an analytical tool which generated geolocation data that pinpointed Wade’s presence at DA Willis’s South Fulton Condo during that time period.
Here are the highlights:
Wade and Willis exchanged “over 2000 voice calls and just under 12,000 texts messages” from January 1, 2021 through November 30, 2021.
Geolocation data indicates Wade was at DA Willis’s condo “at least 35 occasions”. The data revealed he was “stationary” at the condo “and not in transit.”
Wade’s visits to DA Willis’s condo were corroborated by texts and phone calls. According to the report: On November 29, 2021, “following a call from Ms. Willis at 11:32 PM, while the call continued, [Wade’s] phone left the East Cobb area just after midnight and arrived within the geofence located on the Dogwood address [the condo] at 12:43 AM on November 30, 2021. The phone remained there until 4:55 AM.”
On September 11, 2021, Wade arrived at the condo address at approximately 10:45 PM. He left the address at 3:28 AM and arrived at his Marietta residence at 4:05 AM. He then texted DA Willis at 4:20 AM.
It’s important to note that Trump’s investigator is under a serious time constraint, due to the nature of the proceedings before Judge Scott McAfee, and wasn’t able to analyze all of the Wade/Willis data, which he described as voluminous. The two visits listed above – those are just a small fraction of the 35+ trips that Wade made to DA Willis’s condo. If his review continues, then more revelations will follow.
The extensive communications between DA Willis and Wade – the thousands of calls and tens of thousands of texts – indicate something more than what they described as a friendship. And combined with the late-night visits, with Wade appearing at her apartment for a few hours before heading home, this is definitive proof that their romantic relationship started long before what they told the Judge.
We don’t like to go out on a limb – but these records are a game changer. Previously, we discussed whether Judge McAfee would determine whether there was an appearance of impropriety, given the conflicting testimony from witnesses about the romantic relationship.
Now?
These records are sufficient to erase any doubt in Judge McAfee’s mind. They support the testimony of Robin Yeartie, DA Willis’s former friend who testified that there was “no doubt” the relationship started before Wade became Special Prosecutor. They contradict the testimony from DA Willis and Wade. In other words, these records – which will likely be more thoroughly analyzed to show more damning late-night visits – make disqualification a likelihood, not just a possibility. (Although a likelihood still is guaranteed.)
But disqualification would just be the start.
Wade’s cell phone records also increase the exposure of DA Willis and Nathan Wade for criminal charges charges – including perjury/false statements, depending on the prosecutor. (Easy to imagine that a Democrat prosecutor wouldn’t take the case…) At a minimum, DA Willis and Wade face an increased potential for severe punishment from the Georgia Bar, whether suspension of their law licenses, disbarment, or other sanctions.
Fani Scrambles: Fulton DA Demands Judge Reject Cellphone Evidence
SUNDAY, FEB 25, 2024 – 04:55 PM
Fulton County DA Fani Willis is reeling after evidence was submitted to the court suggesting that she and special prosecutor Nathan Wade lied about when their romantic relationship began.
To recap, Wade and Willis claimed that their relationship began sometime in early 2022 – after Willis hired Wade to help her go after Trump in the Georgia election interference case.
Wade’s cell phone records disprove their official story, however. As The Reactionary notes,
Trump’s attorneys were able to obtain, by subpoena to AT&T, Wade’s cell phone records from 1/1/2021 through 11/30/2021. Wade’s location data was analyzed by an investigator hired by the attorneys – an analytical tool which generated geolocation data that pinpointed Wade’s presence at DA Willis’s South Fulton Condo during that time period.
Here are the highlights:
Wade and Willis exchanged “over 2000 voice calls and just under 12,000 texts messages” from January 1, 2021 through November 30, 2021.
Geolocation data indicates Wade was at DA Willis’s condo “at least 35 occasions”. The data revealed he was “stationary” at the condo “and not in transit.”
Wade’s visits to DA Willis’s condo were corroborated by texts and phone calls. According to the report: On November 29, 2021, “following a call from Ms. Willis at 11:32 PM, while the call continued, [Wade’s] phone left the East Cobb area just after midnight and arrived within the geofence located on the Dogwood address [the condo] at 12:43 AM on November 30, 2021. The phone remained there until 4:55 AM.”
On September 11, 2021, Wade arrived at the condo address at approximately 10:45 PM. He left the address at 3:28 AM and arrived at his Marietta residence at 4:05 AM. He then texted DA Willis at 4:20 AM.
Now, Fani wants the evidence tossed – claiming that some of the data is inadmissible for technical or procedural reasons. Willis argued in a response that the cell phone data fails to “prove anything relevant,” and should be tossed because it contains “both telephone records that have not been admitted into evidence and an affidavit and other documents containing unqualified opinion evidence.”
Because of this, Willis argues that the court should exclude the new information, or at least consider her “rebuttal evidence that demonstrates the unreliability of the unqualified opinion evidence improperly introduced by Defendant Trump.”
She also claims that the new evidence is inadmissible because the defense counsel provided no written notice of its introduction, no summary of the expert’s testimony, and no information as to the expert’s qualifications. And even if he’s legit, the phone records don’t prove anything.
“The records do nothing more than demonstrate that Special Prosecutor Wade’s telephone was located somewhere within a densely populated multiple-mile radius where various residences, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and other businesses are located,” she wrote, adding that the records may have even been obtained illegally.
Trump smacks Fani
In a Saturday post to Truth Social, Trump argued that the new evidence shows that Willis is full of shit and should be disqualified.
“Based on the fact that District Attorney Fani Willis and her Lover were together long prior to the filing date of their Fake Lawsuit against me and many other innocent people, despite their sworn testimony to the contrary, this case must be determined as OVER and, of no further force or effect,” he wrote.
“Among other things, in close coordination and conjunction with the DOJ and White House (numerous 8-hour meetings between the Biden people and them in D.C.!), this case was all about stealing close to $1 Million Dollars for Lover Wade, and Election Interference, whereby a vicious and heinous attack is made on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent.”
end
FANNIGATE 3
Biden Operative Inserted Into Fani Team According To Insider; Jim Jordan Reveals New Whistleblower
MONDAY, FEB 26, 2024 – 01:45 PM
Two stunning reports have emerged that spell trouble for Fulton County DA Fani Willis.
For starters, Breitbart News reports from multiple sources that the Biden administration “planted a Democrat operative in the Fulton County office to target former President Trump,” which according to the report “would present a strong argument that the administration interfered in the 2024 presidential election.”
Breitbart News granted the sources anonymity to discuss the attorney’s office for fear of retribution. The sources have direct knowledge of the environment at the District Attorney’s Office, which they characterized as “corrupt.”
The alleged ‘plant’ in questionf is Jeff DiSantis – the county’s Deputy DA, who not only worked on Willis’s 2020 campaign and was the former Executive Director of the Democrat Party of Georgia, he was the DNC’s deputy director of compliance.
Sources credit DiSantis with colluding with the White House to target Trump. “DiSantis did this,” one source told Breitbart News about the Trump case. “He’s the one. He is the one pulling all the strings. He was the one that walled her [Willis] off. He was in every important meeting. He is the brainchild behind this. That is the connection to the White House.”
One of Breitbart‘s sources said they are “one hundred percent” sure DiSantis was the inside man that the Biden administration planted in the Fulton County office.
“DiSantis is the one pulling the strings on this whole thing,” a second source told the outlet. “Everybody heard Fani testify. It’s no secret that she’s not smart. That is how she sounds and acts every day of the week.”
“Anyone that has common sense knows that the White House has been involved in this prosecution,” a source continued. “This shouldn’t just miraculously happen. Of course, she’s [Willis] not going to prosecute the former president United States without the current administration’s approval.”
According to the sources, DiSantis was deeply involved in selecting grand jurors for the Trump case based on voter registration data.
“Part of why you’re raising money as a candidate is to get money to buy the data about who are your voters. DiSantis, as the former head of the state Democratic Party, he’s going to know you know [the data] in Georgia,” said a source. “There’s not one conservative person on that grand jury.“
Sources also revealed that DiSantis was a member of Willis’s transition team after she won the election in November 2020. DiSantis helped Wade select employees for the new office. “DiSantis was there in the capacity to be a political strategist, hiding in the DA’s office,” a source told Breitbart News.
Meanwhile…
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) came down on Willis with an elbow drop from the top rope, revealing at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that there’s a whistleblower inside of Fani’s office. Whether it’s one of Breitbart‘s sources – we don’t know, though Jordan’s comments suggest it might be Willis’s former friend, Robin Bryant Yeartie, who testified against her about Fani’s relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
“[The whistleblower is] now talking with our office, and we’ll see how that goes. But that’s why we have subpoenaed documents related to this,” Jordan continued.
Over the past several weeks, significant allegations against Ms. Willis and her special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, have emerged, triggering several court motions and hearings during which Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade have testified. The allegations center around the timing of a romantic relationship between the two—the existence of which both have confirmed—and whether Ms. Willis financially benefitted from the arrangement.
Ms. Willis hired Mr. Wade in November 2021 to handle the racketeering and election case against former President Donald Trump and several co-defendants. Late last week, President Trump’s team said they hired a private investigator to use a program to provide data on Mr. Wade’s cellphone, suggesting that Mr. Wade was actively engaged in a relationship many months before they claimed that their relationship started, in 2022, a key claim both made in court earlier this month.
It’s unclear whether Mr. Jordan was referring to Robin Yeartie, a witness in the case who claimed that the two were involved in a relationship in 2019. Ms. Yeartie, who had owned the property where Ms. Willis had lived and was her friend, testified that she was forced to resign from the Fulton County District Attorney’s office several years ago.
However, there have been reports that the whistleblower could be another former employee at the office, Amanda Timpson.
Mr. Jordan sent a letter to Ms. Willis’s office several weeks ago, saying the employee was fired because she was being retaliated against, which he said raises serious concerns about whether the district attorney was appropriately supervising the expenditure of federal grant funding allocated to her office and whether she took actions to conceal her office’s “unlawful use of federal funds.”
As reported by The Washington Free Beacon, Ms. Timpson said troubles within the office started in March 2021 when she stopped an aide to Ms. Willis from allegedly trying to obtain funds from a $488,000 federal grant for an anti-gang violence organization to instead pay for travel, computers, and other items. The report noted that she was fired in early 2022, saying only that she was terminated because of an “employee discharge.”
But Ms. Willis rejected the claims by saying that the ex-employee’s claims are “false allegations” that are “included in baseless litigation filed by a holdover employee from the previous administration who was terminated for cause,” Politico reported. Her office stated that she failed “to meet the standards of the new administration.”
“Any examination of the records of our grant programs will find that they are highly effective and conducted in cooperation with the Department of Justice and in compliance with all Department of Justice requirements,” Ms. Willis said earlier this month.
Story continues below advertisement
New Filing and Response
On Feb. 23, the private investigator hired by the Trump team, Charles Mittelstadt, said he analyzed cellphone location data of Mr. Wade showing that he visited the neighborhood south of Atlanta where Ms. Willis lived at least 35 times during the first 11 months of 2021, adding that he specifically visited the condo in which the district attorney lived. Mr. Wade testified that he had been to Ms. Willis’s condo fewer than 10 times before he was hired as special prosecutor in November 2021.
In their response, Ms. Willis’s team stated that the cellphone records “do nothing more than demonstrate that Special Prosecutor Wade’s telephone was located somewhere within a densely populated multiple-mile radius where various residences, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and other businesses are located.”
The Epoch Times contacted Ms. Willis’s office regarding the allegations but received no response by press time.
Trump Easily Defeats Haley In Her Home State Of South Carolina
SATURDAY, FEB 24, 2024 – 10:45 PM
Former President Donald Trump completely smoked Republican challenger Nikki Haley in her own state of South Carolina.
The Associated Press called the primary for Trump shortly after polls closed at 7 p.m. ET, making Haley the first major-party candidate to loser her home state in the modern primary era, the Epoch Times reports.
With an estimated 80% of the votes counted, Trump led Haley 60% to 39.4%.
“There’s a spirit that I’ve never seen, Trump told supporters at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia shortly after the race was called.
“I have never seen the Republican party so unified as it is now.”
The crowd erupted in applause, with some screaming “I LOVE YOU!”
“This was a great moment in American history,” said South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who joined Trump on stage, adding “we just hit maximum velocity!“
During the speech, Trump touched on the crisis at the southern border.
“You look outside, and you see all of the horror; you see millions and millions of people coming across the border illegally,” he said, emphasizing his plan to make America “respected again” if he’s reelected.
“Right now, we are a laughing stock around the world. We are going to be respected again, respected like never before.”
Haley not dropping out
Meanwhile, Haley is moving on to Michigan on Sunday despite the staggering and humiliating loss in her home state primary – insisting that regardless of how she does in her own state, she’ll move on to Super Tuesday on March 5.
END
Shutdown Week Kicks Off With Complete Chaos As Friday Deadline Approaches
BY TYLER DURDEN
MONDAY, FEB 26, 2024 – 11:05 AM
With the Senate back in session today from the Presidents Day recess and the House returning on Wednesday, lawmakers will be racing to avoid a partial shutdown by Friday’s funding deadline.
With leadership talks breaking down over the weekend, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blamed House Republicans for the delay. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), however, blamed “new Democrat demands” for the impasse.
“While we had hoped to have legislation ready this weekend that would give ample time for members to review the text, it is clear now that House Republicans need more time to sort themselves out,” Schumer wrote in a Sunday “Dear colleague” letter calling on Johnson to “step up to once again buck the extremists in his caucus and do the right thing.”
Johnson hit back, saying Schumer’s letter was full of “counterproductive rhetoric.”
“Leader Schumer’s letter fails to mention that many of the points still being debated come from new Democrat demands that were not previously included in the Senate bills,” Johnson said. “At a time of divided government, Senate Democrats are attempting at this late stage to spend on priorities that are farther left than what their chamber agreed upon.”
On Tuesday morning, the “big four” leaders – Johnson, Schumer, along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, will convene at the White House with President Biden to discuss the shutdown and lobby Johnson to pass funding for Ukraine, Punchbowl News reports.
Johnson faces the same dilemma which resulted in the ouster of his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) – with the House Freedom Caucus insisting on spending cuts and border security, leaving Johnson with only one option: make a deal with Democrats that risks yet another ouster from the position.
Johnson’s current solution is to try and pass a series of spending bills known as a “minibus,” according to The Hill, which would, if successful, include the four due on Friday.
Punchbowl, which has an excellent track record on inside baseball in DC, suggests that while current disagreements shouldn’t be insurmountable, Johnson – with the House Freedom Caucus at his neck, may be toying with a shutdown to give himself leverage in cutting a deal with Democrats that the Freedom Caucus is willing to accept.
With both sides saying progress was being made last week, congressional leaders had hoped to release text for the first four spending bills by Sunday night. These cover the Agriculture, Energy and Water, MilCon-Va and Transportation-HUD bills, the first tranche of annual appropriations under the “laddered” continuing resolution Johnson demanded last year.
But House GOP conservatives have refused to concede on anything. When Johnson said during a Friday night conference call with members that he wanted to do the first group of bills this week on the floor — meaning he would need Democratic help to pass them under suspension — there was strong pushback from Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and other hardliners. -Punchbowl News
“This is not a time for petty politics,” Johnson said, adding that “the House has worked nonstop, and is continuing to work in good faith, to reach agreement with the Senate on compromise government funding bills in advance of the deadlines.”
KING REPORT//
The King Report February 26, 2024 Issue 7187
Independent View of the News
@C_Barraud: China’s central bank will likely continue to maintain liquidity at a “reasonably sufficient” level through open market operations after the Spring Festival holiday, China Securities Journal reports Friday, citing analysts.
The most important stock in the history of mankind, Nvidia, soared to 807.90 within 8 minutes of the 9:30 ET NYSE opening. The usual suspects heralded the $2T+ valuation. But that was it; NVDA then retreated, taking ESHs and stocks with it. Nvidia turned negative at 11:00 ET. ESHs tumbled from a daily high of 5123.50 at 9:44 ET to a daily low of 5092.00 at 11:10 ET.
After bottoming near 11:10 ET, ESHs advanced on the rally for the 11:30 ET European close. The European close boost transitioned into an A-B-C rally that ended at 13:34 ET. The decline ended when ESHs hit unchanged for the day (14:28 ET). It was time for traders to go long for the Friday afternoon rally and the late manipulation. A 9-handle ESH rally ended at 15:00 ET. After a 9-handle retreat, ESHs spurted 11 handles higher by 15:51 ET. But everyone is long, so ESHs sank 13 handles by 16:01 ET.
@Geiger_Capital: Financial Conditions stopped tightening in Oct 2022. Exactly when stocks bottomed. What a coincidence. The Chicago Fed National Financial Conditions Index is now as loose as it was in December 2021, when the Fed was still running QE and rates were 0%. https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1761076784118804780
@Mayhem4Markets: The percentage of small businesses planning to increase prices is back on the rise, over 30% now, and this metric often leads US CPI higher . . .
United Airlines said Friday it is increasing checked bag fees on all flights in North America, joining other carriers that have recently boosted such charges. https://t.co/FriuFytmUD
Donuts, ham and ice cream. Food inflation is making daily groceries a lucrative target for thieveshttps://t.co/NBMOLxacco
With the PBoC, Fed, and US Treasury supplying beaucoup juice – and US stocks bubbling up while inflation is rebounding, various and sundry pundits are clamoring for the Fed to cut rates!
Bank CEOs celebrate pay raises while junior bankers face another year of stingy bonuses Winter’s total compensation surged to roughly $9.9 million last year — a jump from $8.1 million in 2022 –despite Standard Chartered’s overall bonus pool falling 1%, to $1.57 billion, in 2023… Citibank chief Jane Fraser received a 6% pay bump, to $26 million, while its bonus pool tumbled about 20% in 2023… Fraser’s payout came as Citi’s profits plummeted 38% year-over-year at the bank in 2023… Among peers on Wall Street, Morgan Stanley’s former CEO James Gorman got a pay bump of 17% in his final year heading up the bank — which also slashed the size of its bonus pool. Morgan Stanley’s rank-and-file received payouts that were slashed by as much as 15% from 2022 to 2023, Financial News reported… Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon was another bank boss to get a pay bump despite lagging profits. Solomon’s pay rose 24%, even though the firm posted a 24% decline in net profit last year as Goldman suffered from a slowdown in investment banking activity that led to thousands of job cuts…Goldman’s over bonus pool, meanwhile, was cut a whopping 40%… https://t.co/obmvKVZqpM
We are old enough to remember when partners at Wall Street firms would divert part of their partnership payouts to employees that they deemed to desire higher bonuses.
@TheWuhanClan: Dimon, Bezos, Zuck, how many other CEOs think it’s good to take profits?
@moneyacademyKE: The Walton family just sold $4.5 billion worth of Walmart
A recession is likely to hit the US economy in 2024, per the economist David Rosenberg Rosenberg’s economic indicator, referred to as the “full model,” indicates an 85% likelihood of a recession occurring within the next 12 months. This is the model’s highest reading since the 2008 Great Financial Crisis. The model, based on a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, incorporates financial conditions indexes, the debt-service ratio, foreign term spreads, and the level of the yield curve… (Chart at second link below) https://unusualwhales.com/news/a-recession-is-likely-to-hit-the-us-economy-in-2024-per-the-economist-david-rosenberg https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1761002213537878027
@KobeissiLetter: While everyone was busy watching Nvidia, the US borrowed another $260 BILLION last month. On an annualized basis, this puts the US on track to borrow ~$3.1 trillion in 2024. Total US debt now stands at a record $34.33 trillion, or 2.8 TIMES the market cap of the Magnificent 7. Over the last 4 years alone, total US debt is officially up $11 trillion and counting. At the current rate, we will see $40 trillion in US debt by 2026 and that assumes a “soft landing.” Just imagine what would happen if we entered a recession.https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1761457131562102840?s=02
Positive aspects of previous session Equities rallied again; Bonds rallied sharply; WTI Oil and Gasoline declined sharply
Negative aspects of previous session Bonds rallied and commodities declined on recession angst Gold rallied sharply while industrial commodities sank
Ambiguous aspects of previous session How profound will the consequences of the AI bubble be after it bursts?
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]: 5073.42 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 5111.06; 5081.46
The huge money is made over time by adroitly playing the rotation from paper assets to real assets and vice versa while being in cash or short-term debt vehicles during what can be violent transitions – due to interest rate hikes that can deflate everything.
In the ‘70s inflation, the Forbes 500 and similar ‘wealthiest individuals’ lists were punctuated with real estate moguls and energy titans. After the treacherous transition to financial assets in the early ‘80s, thanks to Volcker, paper asset owners replaced the real asset owners.
After the Great US Stock Bubble of 1998-1999 burst, gold, oil, and other commodities began secular bull markets. Gold hit a multi-generational low of 251.95 (per BBG) on 8/25/1999. WTI Oil hit a low of 10.35 (per BBG) on 12/21/98.
New report: 60% of OpenAI model’s responses contain plagiarism The New York Times lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI claims that their AI systems’ “widescale copying” constitutes copyright infringement… https://www.axios.com/2024/02/22/copyleaks-openai-chatgpt-plagiarism
‘Woke’ Google Gemini refuses to say pedophilia is wrong after ‘diverse’ historical images debacle: ‘Individuals cannot control who they are attracted to’https://t.co/ilMR2hx0cr
GOP Rep. @mattgaetz: OpenAI won’t show an image of an “undocumented migrant” in New York. But they’ll tell illegals exactly where to go to get your money. The list of states won’t surprise you. https://twitter.com/mattgaetz/status/1761479747496738874
Marc Andreessen @pmarca: Big Tech AI systems are not the way they are due to accidents, mistakes, surprises, or bad training data. They are the way they are because that is the clear, stated, unambiguous intention of the people who are building them. They are working as designed.
Despite all the hype, AI does what it is programmed to do. It doesn’t think or reason on its own.
Biden’s cheat sheets at fundraisers worry donors – Axios President Biden has been using notecards in closed-door fundraisers, calling on prescreened donors and then consulting his notes to provide detailed answers, according to people familiar with the routine. Biden’s reliance on notecards to help explain his own policy positions — on questions he knows are coming — is raising concerns among some donors about Biden’s age…donors have noticed he’s also using notecards in private events. ..(It’s obvious to everyone that Joe is addled!) https://www.axios.com/2024/02/23/biden-notecards-fundraisers-donors-age
@ClayTravis: Italian TV is mocking Joe Biden more ruthlessly than any American comedians are. This is what the world thinks of Biden, they’re all laughing at us. This is what SNL would be doing if they weren’t Democrat propagandists: https://t.co/3VdtrvofWa
Biden approval plummets to near Carter level: Gallup (False headline! Carter at 53% in Feb 1980) Biden’s job approval rating stands at 38%, just one point above his all-time low and far below the 50% rating typical of presidents who are re-elected, according to a new Gallup survey… https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-approval-plummets-carter-level-gallup
Democrats Concerned Biden May Be Too Old to Finish Destroying Countryhttps://buff.ly/4bJmnCT
Israel’s West Bank settlements are illegal, ‘weakens’ Jewish state’s security, Blinken sayshttps://trib.al/iTX3rvO
@OptimisticCon: Sheez, Blinken went there. Just bursts out off the cuff, reversing US policy, which has never actually been that Judea/Samaria settlements are “illegal.” Trump actually affirmed they are NOT illegal. Clown show destabilizing the situation.
@sentdefender: Footage has been released showing Russian Forces including Mechanized Infantry having entered the Center of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia Region, as Ukrainian Defenders have now reportedly Withdrawn from a Majority of Town as well as several Communities to the East in order to Secure a Fortified Defensive Line to the North against Relentless Attacks by the Russian Armed Forces. https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1761446540785201338
After 2 years of war, questions abound on whether Kyiv can sustain the fight against Russia The future looks bleak for war-weary Ukraine: It is beset by shortages in soldiers and ammunition, as well as doubts about the supply of Western aid. Ukrainian forces also face a Russian enemy that has recently seized the initiative on the battlefield… Triumphs have turned to attrition for Ukraine along the snaking front line in the country’s east… questions abound about whether Kyiv can keep going… https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/after-2-years-war-questions-abound-kyiv-sustain-107511068
Biden is trying to pin the looming Ukraine defeat on House Republicans for not giving even more money to Ukraine. Who will take the political hit for the hundreds of billions of dollars the US wasted and the hundreds of thousands of casualties suffered by Ukraine?Biden implemented a Vietnam War-like strategy for Ukraine: Refused to fully arm/engage, which squandered beaucoup lives.
@Sentimentrader: The S&P’s 2.1% rally Thursday came with less than 60% of stocks on the NYSE advancing. The mismatch was seen just three other times in the past 60 years – 1987, 2008 and 2020.
Today – We opined that if Nivida reported great results, stocks would soar, but it could generate some type of equity peak. Stocks are not just soaring; they are bubbling up. This makes forecasting and trading a crapshoot. No one, except for maybe Nancy Pelosi, knows how high or for how long the bubble will last. So, don’t play unless you must; wait and watch for developments.
Expected Economic Data: Jan New Home Sales 684k; Feb Dallas Fed Mfg. Activity -27.4 prior
ESUs are -11.75; NQHs (Naz 100) are -53.75 and USHs are +14/32 at 20:20 ET.
S&P Index 50-day MA: 4849; 100-day MA: 4621; 150-day MA: 4565; 200-day MA: 4504 DJIA 50-day MA: 37,941; 100-day MA: 36,122; 150-day MA: 35,659, 200-day MA: 35,199 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope)
S&P 500 Index (5088.80 close) – Trender BBG 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 4805.35 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4942.99 triggers a sell signal Hourly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5031.93 triggers a sell signal
Joe Biden announces 500 sanctions on Russia for Ukraine war, Alexei Navalny death Biden said the United States would also impose new export restrictions on nearly 100 entities “for providing back-door support for Russia’s war machine.”…https://t.co/DIyyoriiLL
Hunter Biden-linked Russian oligarchs spared in latest 500-name sanctions list Two Russian billionaire pals of Hunter Biden were again spared from being hit by financial sanctions as President Biden announced his latest round of penalties on numerous Vladimir Putin-connected figures Friday, the Post has learned… (Imagine the MSM & Dem outrage if this were DJT and a son!) https://nypost.com/2024/02/23/us-news/hunter-biden-linked-russian-oligarchs-spared-in-latest-500-name-sanctions-list/
NYP’s @mirandadevine: Bombshell jailhouse testimony today to impeachment inquiry from ex-Hunter Biden partner Jason Galanis. Speakerphone calls w. Joe Biden, incl. w. Russian oligarch Elena Baturina.Plans for Joe to join Chinese firm Harvest board. Golf course biz chat w Joe… Galanis says he offered to provide prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York evidence of the alleged involvement of Hunter Biden and Devon Archer in the Burnham fraud. “The offer was rejected… My attorney at the time told me the rejection was highly irregular… because I was not asking for any reduction in the charges or sentence.” Galanis is serving 14 years in jail after pleading guilty to securities fraud over $60 million in fraudulent bonds for a tribal entity in South Dakota. Archer has been sentenced to a year’s jail and two other Burnham Financial Group executives were convicted over the scheme. Hunter was vice chairman of Burnham and earned up to $200,000, but he was deemed not to have been involved and was not charged. Archer was not asked one question about Hunter by SDNY prosecutors. Galanis makes serious allegations in his testimony: “I realized the prosecutors in the SDNY had gone lightly on Devon Archer and had not indicted Hunter Biden at all, despite then-available documentation that we were partners… I believe the SDNY’s prosecution strategy was intended to protect Hunter Biden, and ultimately Vice President Biden.”… On June 9, 2023, the Bureau of Prisons in California approved Galanis to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement. On June 13, one day after the House Oversight Committee announced it would subpoena Devon Archer, Galanis home confinement approval was reversed. “I understand from a former high-ranking Bureau of Prison official that SDNY prosecutors aggressively weighed in with the Bureau of Prisons staff to oppose my release. As a result of this DOJ intervention, I was denied home confinement,” Galanis testified today… https://twitter.com/mirandadevine/status/1761200763018051636
Chinese Control Over U.S. Oil and Gas At Heart Of Biden Family Influence Peddling, New Whistleblower Reveals – New testimony by a former business partner to Hunter Biden confirms that investors in China, Mexico, And Kazakhstan were buying political influence with President Joe Biden https://public.substack.com/p/chinese-control-over-us-oil-and-gas
@ByronYork: Alexander Smirnov was arrested and charged. DOJ wanted him jailed. Judge said no.DOJ asked to stay Smirnov’s release. Judge said no. Smirnov went free 2/20. On morning of 2/22, as Smirnov met with lawyers, DOJ arrested him again. https://t.co/0RFKHwypK1
Why is the DoJ so determined to jail Smirnov? Is the FBI/DoJ intimidating other Biden witnesses?
WSJ ‘s Kim Strassel: Sifting the FBI’s Garbage Alexander Smirnov’s indictment tells us nothing good about the bureau. If you are going to lie to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, make sure it’s a lie the FBI wants to hear… The FBI enabled the “dossier” hoax by swallowing a compilation of fabulist claims presented to it by “confidential human source” Christopher Steele. It was aware Mr. Steele was working for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign… House Oversight Committee Republicans say the FBI told Congress their source had worked for the bureau since 2010, had been paid roughly $200,000 for information, and was deemed “highly credible.” The FBI affirmed Mr. Smirnov’s credibility so long as it was useful to do so… The FBI’s “highly credible” source is now presented as a brazen liar, a boaster, a profiteer who played a double game with the bureau, and a partisan who had it in for Joe Biden. If this is true, it ought to be massive story that the FBI for 13 years relied on a man who prosecutors now worry has troubling and “extensive” ties to Russian intelligence. Instead, the media in its desire to embarrass Republicans is working to absolve the FBI… https://www.wsj.com/articles/sifting-fbi-garbage-alexander-smirnov-indictment-says-nothing-good-about-bureau-b4302f22?st=orlt06kzd9rpma5
@MZHemingway: Democrats: The worst thing in the history of the world — punishable perhaps by death — is not voting to certify an election. Also Democrats: We are conspiring right now to not certify the next election if our opponent wins.
@seanmdav: Democrats are currently imprisoning thousands of people for supporting in 2020 what Democrats are planning to do in 2024 if Donald Trump wins the election.
Prosecution of Far-Right But Not Antifa for Same Riots ‘Constitutionally Impermissible’: Judge U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney of southern California therefore dismissed charges against two men from the “white nationalist” Rise Above Movement (RAM) who violently clashed with members of the far-left group Antifa at three southern California pro-Trump events in 2017. In his 35-page order, the judge stressed the importance of equal protection under the law. He said that although the two men may have been involved in violent acts, prosecutors were wrong to exclusively target them without also pursuing charges against Antifa members implicated in similar violent actions at political events… https://www.zerohedge.com/political/prosecution-far-right-not-antifa-same-riots-constitutionally-impermissible-judge
Joe Biden dog Commander bit Secret Service agents at least 24 times (in 10 months!) At least 24 biting incidents took place between October 2022 and July 2023 … The documents do not necessarily record all biting incidents related to Commander, as they only cover the Secret Service and not others that work in the White House or staff at Camp David… The Biden family’s pet left the White House in October last year, one week after a Secret Service agent required medical treatment for a severe bite… Another dog owned by the family, Major, injured a Secret Service agent in 2021 and was sent away to live in Delaware. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68366306
Narcissistic, self-absorbed, inconsiderate, everything’s about me seems to be the DNA of most pols.
@Techno_Fog: Trump’s attorneys have Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade’s cell phone data – At least 35 visits to Fani Willis’s condo before the “relationship” started. 2,000 calls and 12K texts between Wade/Willis in 2021. Late night hook-ups after calls from Willis. Bad news for Willis. There were multiple “romantic” late nights at Willis’s condo in 2021. Each is corroborated by Wade’s location and texts/calls between Wade and Willis. The records disprove Willis’s testimony. (Perjury) They aren’t just disqualifying – they are a threat to Willis’s career. https://twitter.com/Techno_Fog/status/1761045542627324061
@megynkelly: Stunning that Team Trump got their hands on this in the Fani Willis case. More evidence that these two prosecutors lied, under oath. They’re looking at perjury charges and worse. Discipline from the Bar. And there is zero chance they can stay on this case. It’s DONE.
@CollinRugg: Rep. Jim Jordan says a whistleblower has come forward against Fulton County DA Fani Willis… and claims she was escorted by seven police officers after she confronted Willis about inappropriate use of “grant dollars.” “Fani Willis had seven police escort her out when she fired this lady because this lady raised the concern that Ms. Willis was not spending… grant dollars in the appropriate manner.” “She raised this concern and then Fani Willis has fired her. She’s now talking with our office.”
CNBC: Billionaire-backed Koch network halts Nikki Haley campaign funding after South Carolinaloss (Despite her vows to continue, the end for Nikki is nigh. She spent/wasted a reported $76.4m.)
@AliBradleyTV: Multiple DHS sources confirm the suspect in UGA student, Laken Riley’s murder—José Antonio Ibarra is here illegally from Venezuela. CBP documents show he crossed in September of 2022 into El Paso, Texas and was released due to lack of detention space. The 26 year old from Venezuela was arrested today by ICE-ERO Atlanta. He is being charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another— According to UGA Police Chief Jeffrey L. Clark. Officials say Riley went for a run on the University of Georgia’s Athens campus yesterday and was later found dead. DHS sources confirm that Jose Antonio Ibarra was arrested 5 months ago in New York. Records show he was arrested on 9/14/23 in Queens, NY for injury to child less than 17 and no license.
@RepJimBanks: An illegal immigrant released by the Biden admin brutally murdered a young college student in Georgia. How many more Americans must die before Joe Biden will secure the border?
Brother of UGA student Laken Riley’s suspected killer Jose Ibarra charged with having fake green cardhttps://trib.al/dG80r3O
GOP Rep. (GA) @mtgreenee: Athens, Georgia is a sanctuary city which gives illegal aliens safe harbor. There should be no sanctuary cities in the state of Georgia! I’m calling on our Republican-controlled state legislature and our Governor Brian Kemp to end sanctuary cities in GA.
@FoxNews: MIGRANT MAYHEM: A wave of violent crimes across America has been linked to Venezuelan migrants, but the U.S. government cannot deport any of them, as the South American country will not take any of its citizens back. https://t.co/KLTdtFXnsd
@RealAmVoice: “Most of the violent crimes in these cities are committed by a small handful of dangerous repeat offenders. Many of whom have been set loose by Marxist prosecutors.” – Trump. https://t.co/M513JlKBRP
Highlighting Kate Steinle’s murder at the hands of an illegal immigrant propelled Trump from near the bottom of the list of GOP Presidential Candidates in 2015 to the top of the list after the 1st GOP Debate. Illegal immigration and crime are even bigger issues now.
Illegal immigration has been the #1 issue with voters for the past few months. The GOP and Trump should and will exploit escalating illegal immigrant violent crime.
@SpeakerJohnson: Every parent, and every American, is saddened—and outraged—to hear about the loss of University of Georgia student Laken Riley. Our prayers are with her family and friends as they mourn this tragedy. The brutal murderer who took the life of Laken was one of the millions of illegal aliens that the Biden Administration simply released and unleashed upon our country. For Laken, and the countless many others lost to this border catastrophe, House Republicans will continue to fight tooth and nail for a return to law and order. Mr. President, use your existing statutory authority and CLOSE THE BORDER!
@paulsperry_: Georgia turned purple in 2020, but look for the state to turn back red in 2024 in the wake of the grisly murder of an Athens coed by one of Biden’s illegal migrants, coupled with the naked corruption of anti-Trump Atlanta prosecutor Fani Willis
@EpochTimes: Senator Marshall Raises Alarm Over Spike in Chinese Illegal Migrants The Kansas senator warns that a majority of Chinese migrants are single adults, with some of them having ties to the People’s Liberation Army.
Fox: Migrants mass-released in San Diego as (CA Gov.) Newsom heads to White House
@FoxNews: California budget crisis worse than Newsom projected, as state watchdog warns deficit could reach record $73B
Dems and Team Obama-Biden realize that Americans are getting increasing irate at the illegal immigration and the corresponding crime wave. So, they are trying to divert blame to the GOP. LMAO!
@WhiteHouse: For years, House Republicans have said they want to secure the border. President Biden reached a bipartisan agreement with a group of Senators to secure the border. Speaker Johnson said no. And now, the House is in the middle of a two-week recess. (No one is buying this, WH toadies! Everyone knows the bill legalized about 2 million illegal immigrant entries per year!)
Democratic Panic Grows Over Biden’s Invasion of the Illegals – John Kass The Biden White House is playing a stupid game for stupid people, for idiot clowns. He doesn’t need “the power.”…All he has to do is immediately rewrite the hideous executive orders that he wrote when he came into office… When terrorism strikes—and it’s inevitable that it will… Biden and his loyal Democrat stooges in corrupt corporate media will try to shift the blame and point fingers at Republicans. When black Democrats in Chicago get angry and threaten to run off the political plantation, that’s when white political panic sets in. Because without black voters misled by political pimps and old white guys playing the race card, there is no Democrat Party… The most important presidential election in our lifetimes–one that determines if we remain a republic or if we slouch like apes toward complete Marxism–is just a few months away. https://johnkassnews.com/democratic-panic-over-bidens-illegals-grows-at-white-house-and-other-sanctuaries/
@CWBChicago: Prosecutors asked a judge to keep a man in jail after he allegedly fired a gun six times on the Division Blue Line platform this week. She said “no.” https://t.co/5ITO24RXJo 20 years for a man who shot and killed a 15-year-old while on electronic monitoring for a gun case. https://t.co/KyOSYwSqOi
@TuckerCarlson: What’s Barack Obama up to these days? Working to make people hate each other, as usual. (racist films produced for Netflix) https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1761438768488198437 https://twitter.com/TonySeruga/status/1761440995814846819 @CortesSteve: Super important points here. As Obama took office, race relations reached an optimal peak in America. Racial strife was receding, and nearly gone. Then…rather than become a historic unifier, he stoked nothing but division — and continues that race-baiting to this day.
Reuters’ @idreesali114: The U.S. Air Force confirms that an active-duty airman was involved in the self immolation incident outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC today. (Yelled “Free Palestine”)
Pro-Palestine protesters shut down Tower Bridge: Activists let off flares and disrupt traffic as iconic London landmark is closed https://t.co/qXmZzOmAKH
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (Saturday Night Post)
Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner has been warning of a huge war and financial cycle, and it is clear both continue to build. The war cycle will continue to amplify until World War III breaks out. Meanwhile, unpayable debt will continue to explode until another Great Depression hits America again. Standing in the gap is gold, and the wait for a bull market is about over. Nenner explains, “The dollar’s buying power could possibly be cut in half. . . . That’s the reason why we expect a super bull market in gold and silver when the cycle bottoms. You remember I came on and said coming, coming, but not yet? I say it was too early . . . but, now, we are getting very close to a bull market. . . . Gold could still have one more down move because the cycles are still down.”
On Bitcoin, Nenner says, “We had a high of $54,000, and we said if it hit $52,000, we would sell. I do not believe this story that Bitcoin will hit $100,000 based on my work. It has been proven that NASDAQ and Bitcoin go up and down together because it is based on nothing, and people are buying out of greed. Because we think we are at a top in the NASDAQ, then we don’t think the outlook for Bitcoin is too positive.”
Nenner thinks the DOW is also topping, and he is telling clients to lighten up on the risk. Nenner sees a second Great Depression playing out again in 2026 or 2027.
Nenner thinks the “War Cycle” will continue to build in 2024, but all bets are off in 2025.
Nenner says his wealthy clients see dark days ahead for the world and have actual bunkers to go along with a bunker mentality. Nenner think domestic terror and even war is coming to America in a big way. Nenner is still forecasting “2 billion will die in the next global war, and the only way we get a body count that high is with nuclear weapons.”
Nenner sees an election coming in 2024 and still thinks Trump can win. Nenner warns that problems in America are too big for any one person to actually fix. Nenner still thinks if you know winter is coming, you cannot stop it, but you can get a winter coat. Again, Nenner thinks “Trump is the winter coat.”
There is much more in the 32-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with renowned cycle analyst and financial expert Charles Nenner for 2.24.24.
Exposing The Darkness
harveyorganblog.com 
