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.

Last Updated 29 Feb 2024 09:17:05 AM CT.

Market data is delayed by at least 10 minutes.

MONTH	LAST	CHANGE	PRIOR SETTLE	OPEN	HIGH	LOW	VOLUME	UPDATED
MAR 2024 SGUH4	–	–	2079.4	–	–	–	0	08:50:01 CT 29 Feb 2024
APR 2024 SGUJ4	2082.5	+3.2 (+0.15%)	2079.3	2080.7	2082.5	2080.1	75	08:50:01 CT 29 Feb 2024
MAY 2024 SGUK4	–	–	2079.2	–	–	–	0	08:50:01 CT 29 Feb 2024
JUN 2024 SGUM4	–	–	2091.2	–	–	–	0	08:50:01 CT 29 Feb 2024
AUG 2024 SGUQ4	–	–	2091.8	–	–	–	0	08:50:01 CT 29 Feb 2024
OCT 2024 SGUV4	–	–	2092.4	–	–	–	0	08:50:01 CT 29 Feb 2024
DEC 2024 SGUZ4	–	–	2093.0	–	–	–	0	08:50:01 CT 29 Feb 2024
FEB 2025 SGUG5	–	–	2093.6	–	–	–	0	08:50:01 CT 29 Feb 2024

About this Report

I will now provide gold in Canadian dollars, British pounds and Euros

4: 15 PM ACCESS

*CANADIAN GOLD: $2,775.75 UP $14.00 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 2,795.90 CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//DEC 1 2023)

*BRITISH GOLD: 1619.45 UP 12.58 pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1655.17 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) OCT 2/2023

*EURO GOLD: 1891.91 UP 14.73 euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 1903.75 EUROS PER OZ//DEC 1.2023)

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EXCHANGE: COMEX

ACCESS MARKET:

EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: MARCH 2024 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 2,033.000000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 02/28/2024 DELIVERY DATE: 03/01/2024
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED

092 C DEUTSCHE BANK 34
190 H BMO CAPITAL 293
323 C HSBC 640 248
363 H WELLS FARGO SEC 149
365 H MAREX CAPITAL M 1
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 379
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 5
661 C JP MORGAN 120 372
686 C STONEX FINANCIA 3
690 C ABN AMRO 7
737 C ADVANTAGE 35
905 C ADM 8

TOTAL: 1,147 1,147
MONTH TO DATE: 1,147

JPMorgan stopped 372/1147 contracts.

FOR FEB/2024

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR MAR/2024. CONTRACT: 1147 NOTICES FOR 114,700 OZ or 3.5676 TONNES

total notices so far: 1147 contracts for 114700 Oz (3.5676 tonnes)

FOR MARCH:

SILVER NOTICES 2858 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 14,290,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 2858 for 14,290,000 oz

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END

BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES//THEY ARE NOW RAIDING GLD AND SLV FOR PHYSICAL

GLD

WITH GOLD UP $12.85//

INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ : HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.03 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD.

INVENTORY RESTS AT 822.91 TONNES

SLV//

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 25 CENTS AT THE SLV//

HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.104 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV/.

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.

CLOSING INVENTORY: 430.982 MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A HUMONGOUS SIZED 2153 CONTRACTS TO 146.515 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS HUGE SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR FALL IN PRICE OF $0.07 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON WEDNESDAY. WE HAD ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AT THE COMEX SESSION WITH AGAIN SOME SHORT COVERING DESPITE THE PRICE OF SILVER FALLNG BY A SMALL AMOUNT. WE HAD A STRONG 709 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 WEDNESDAY NIGHT: 709 CONTRACTS. DESPITE MANY COMPLAINTS THAT THE CROOKS HAVE VIOLATED POSITION LIMITS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE TAS ISSUED HAVE A VALUE OF ZERO (AS TO POSITION LIMITS FOR OUR CROOKED BANKERS). THE PROBLEM OF COURSE IS THAT THE CROOKS DO NOT LIQUIDATE THE TAS TOGETHER BUT SELL THE BUY SIDE FIRST AND THEN LIQUIDATE THE SELL SIDE TWO MONTHS HENCE. IT IS OBVIOUS MANIPULATION TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE BUT IT NATURALLY FELL ON DEAF EARS WITH OUR REGULATORS (OCC) WHEN THEY RECEIVED OUR COMPLAINTS. IT THUS LOOKS LIKE THE FED (GOV’T) IS BEHIND ALL OF THESE TRADES.

WE HAVE NOW SET ANOTHER RECORD LOW AT 114,102 CONTRACTS ///JULY 3.2023// OUR BANKERS WITH THE HELP OF SPECULATORS AND HIGH FREQUENCY TRADERS WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT FELL BY $0.07), BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A TMEGA HUMONGOUS SIZED GAIN OF 2065 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE A LOWER PRICE.

WE MUST HAVE HAD:

A STRONG SIZED 600 ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 22.270 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE)

//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 22.270 MILLION OZ

/ HUGE SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/STRONG SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 709 CONTRACTS)/

I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL -REMOVED A HUGE XXX 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 20 days, total 13,227 contracts: OR 66.135 MILLION OZ (661 CONTRACTS PER DAY)

TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 63,135 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 : 66.135 MILLION OZ./FINAL

MARCH:

RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 2153 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//WEDNESDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A STRONG EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 600 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 MARCH. OF 22.270 MILLION OZ ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.

//NEW TOTAL REMAINS AT 22.270 MILLION OZ

WE HAVE A MEGA HUMONGOUS GAIN OF 2753 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE THE LOSS IN PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A STRONG SIZED 709 CONTRACTS//HUGE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE WEDNESDAY COMEX SESSION/// WITH SOME SHORT COVERING FROM OUR SPEC SHORTS ( WITH PRICE OF SILVER FALLING) . THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE WEDNESDAY NIGHT (709) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE//PROBABLY TODAY., .

WE HAD 2858 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 14.290 MILLION 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 SMALL SIZED 494 CONTRACTS TO 411,289 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 36 CONTRACTS

WE HAD A SMALL SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI ( 494 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR $1.00 LOSS IN PRICE//WEDNESDAY. WE ALSO HAD A RATHER LARGE INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR MARCH. AT 10.270 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE

NEW TOTAL Of INITIAL GOLD STANDING TO: 10.270 TONNES // ALL OF THIS HAPPENED DESPITE OUR $1.00 LOSS IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO WEDNESDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 2025 OI CONTRACTS (10.125) PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A FAIR SIZED 1495 CONTRACTS:

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 411,689

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 1989 CONTRACTS WITH 494 CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR SIZED 1495 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 1989 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): GOOD SIZED 3410 CONTRACTS.

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (1495 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE SMALL SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI (494) //TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 1989 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 MARCH. AT 10.270 TONNES

/ 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION // 4) SMALL SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST GAIN/ 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: STRONG T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 3410 CONTRACTS//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: 64,926 CONTRACTS OR 6,492,600 OZ OR 201.947 TONNES IN 20 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3254 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 20 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 201.947 TONNES

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

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 201.947/3550 x 100% TONNES 5.69% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2021 TO 2023

JANUARY/2021: 265.26 TONNES (RAPIDLY INCREASING AGAIN)

FEB : 171.24 TONNES ( DEFINITELY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN)..

MARCH:. 276.50 TONNES (STRONG AGAIN/

APRIL: 189..44 TONNES ( DRAMATICALLY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN//GOLD IN BACKWARDATION)

MAY: 250.15 TONNES (NOW DRAMATICALLY INCREASING AGAIN)

JUNE: 247.54 TONNES (FINAL)

JULY: 188.73 TONNES FINAL

AUGUST: 217.89 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE.

SEPT 142.12 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE ( LOW ISSUANCE)_

OCT: 141.13 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE (LOW ISSUANCE)

NOV: 312.46 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE//NEW RECORD!! (INCREASING DRAMATICALLY)//SIGN OF REAL STRESS//SURPASSING THE MARCH 2021 RECORD OF 276.50 TONNES OF EFP

DEC. 175.62 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//

TOTALS: 2,578.08 TONNES/2021

JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL

FEB: 196.04 TONNES//FINAL

MARCH/2022: 409.30 TONNES //FINAL( THIS IS NOW A RECORD EFP ISSUANCE FOR MARCH AND FOR ANY MONTH.

APRIL: 169.55 TONNES (FINAL VERY LOW ISSUANCE MONTH)

MAY: 247.44 TONNES FINAL//

JUNE: 238.13 TONNES FINAL

JULY: 378.43 TONNES FINAL

AUGUST: 180.81 TONNES FINAL

SEPT. 193.16 TONNES FINAL

OCT: 177.57 TONNES FINAL ( MUCH SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)

NOV. 223.98 TONNES//FINAL ( MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUS MONTHS//comex running out of physical)

DEC: 185.59 tonnes // FINAL

TOTAL: 2,847,25 TONNES/2022

JAN 2023: 228.49 TONNES FINAL//HUGE AMOUNT OF EFP’S ISSUED THIS MONTH!!

FEB: 151.61 TONNES/FINAL

MARCH: 280.09 TONNES/INITIAL (ANOTHER STRONG MONTH FOR EFP ISSUANCE)

APRIL: 197.42 TONNES

MAY: 236.67 TONNES (A VERY STRONG ISSUANCE FOR THIS MONTH)

JUNE: 172.667 TONNES (WEAKER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)

JULY: 151.69 TONNES (WEAKER THAN LAST MONTH)

AUGUST: 195.28 TONNES (A STRONGER MONTH)//FINAL

SEPT: 254.709 TONNES (WILL BE LARGER THAN LAST MONTH AND A STRONG MONTH)

OCT. 248.09 TONNES. LIKE SILVER, THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE A STRONG E.F.P. ISSUANCE.

NOV. 239.16 TONNES//WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH,

DEC. 213.704 TONNES. A STRONG MONTH//

TOTAL FOR YEAR 2023: 2,569.57 TONNES VS 2578 TONNES LAST YEAR

JAN ’24: 291.76 TONNES (WILL BE MUCH GREATER THAN LAST MONTH.//3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EX FOR PHYSICAL)

FEB’24: 201.947 TONNES (SHOULD BE A WEAKER ISSUANCE MONTH)

MARCH 2024:

SPREADING OPERATIONS

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

SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF FEB. WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF GOLD

HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR ;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB., FOR GOLD: AND MARCH FOR SILVER

YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (FEB), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”

WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.

The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.

First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:

1.Today, we had the open interest at the comex, in SILVER ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED 2153 CONTRACTS OI TO 146,666 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 600 CONTRACTS

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

MAY 600 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 600 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 2153 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 600 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,

WE OBTAIN A HUMONGOUS SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 2753 CONTRACTS

THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 13.765 MILLION OZ

OCCURRED WDESPITE OUR $.07 LOSS IN PRICE …..

END

OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY

1a/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT

(report Harvey)

b, ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe,//GOLD COMMENTARIES

(Peter Schiff)

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

ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries

b. Other gold/silver commentaries

c. Commodity commentaries//

d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC

2.ASIAN AFFAIRS//

THURSDAY MORNING/WEDNESDAY NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 57.32 PTS OR 1.94% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 25.41 PTS OR 0.15% / Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 41.84 PTS OR .11%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.54% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP 7.1950 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED TO 7.2108 /Oil UP TO 78.47 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 82.06/ Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY ALL MIXED// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN STRONGER

A)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA

outline

b) REPORT ON JAPAN/
OUTLINE

3 CHINA
OUTLINE

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE

6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
OUTLINE

7. OIL ISSUES
OUTLINE

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES
9. USA

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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS

GOLD

LET US BEGIN:

THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A SMALL SIZED 494 CONTRACTS TO 411,689 DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $1.00 WITH RESPECT TO WEDNESDAY 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 NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MARCH..… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,

THAT IS 1495 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : APRIL 1495 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 1495 CONTRACTS

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 1989 CONTRACTS IN THAT 1495 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A SMALL SIZED GAIN OF 494 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $1.00 TUESDAY COMEX. AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT WAS A GOOD SIZED 3410 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: MARCH (10.3576 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

NOV: 18.7122 TONNES + 16.2505 EX. FOR RISK = 34.9627 TONNES

DEC. 47.073 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.707TONNES

TOTAL 2023 YEAR : 436.546 TONNES

JAN ’24. 22.706 TONNES

FEB. ’24: 66.276 TONNES (INCLUDES 1.723 TONNES EX. FOR RISK)

MARCH: 10.3576 TONNES

THE SPECS/HFT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT LOST $1.00 //// BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 1989 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR LOWER 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 WEDNESDAY’S TRADING . THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON WEDNESDAY 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 10.125 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR MARCH. (10.3576 TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE

ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $1.00

WE HAD -REMOVED 36 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 1989 CONTRACTS OR 198,900 OZ OR 6.189 TONNES.
estimated volume today 220,556 fair

final gold volumes/yesterday 144,899 poor

//speculators have left the gold arena

FEB 29 INITIAL FEB GOLD

/ /// THE MARCH 2024 GOLD CONTRACT

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory in oz*	nil
Withdrawals from Customer* Inventory in oz*	9530.261 oz ASAHI MALCA INCLUDES 116 kilobars .
Deposit to the Dealer* Inventory in oz*	nil oz
Deposits to the Customer* Inventory, in oz*	89,315.478 oz Loomis
No of oz served (contracts) today	1147 notice(s) 114,700 OZ 3.5676 TONNES
No of oz to be served (notices)	2183 contracts 218,300 oz 6.79000. TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	1147 notices 114700 oz 3.5676 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: 2

i) Out of ASAHI: 5800.528 oz

ii) Out of Malca: 3729.679 oz (116 kilobars)

total withdrawal: 9530.761 oz

we had 0 customer deposit

total deposit nil

Adjustments:

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR FEB.

For the front month of MARCH we have an oi of 3330 contracts having GAINED 124 contracts.

Thus by definition, the initial amount of gold standing for this active delivery month of March is as follows:

3330 notices x 100 oz per notice = 333000 oz or 10.3376 tones

APRIL LOST 174 CONTRACTS RISING TO 316,359.

We had 1147 contracts filed for today representing 114,700 oz

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 120 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 1147 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 372 notice(s) was (were) stopped ( (received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account

To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the MARCH. /2024. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (1147 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MARCH. (3330 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 1147 x 100 oz per contract equals 333,000 OZ OR 10.3576 TONNES

thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the MARCH. contract month: No of notices filed so far (1147) x 100 oz + (3330) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (1147) x 100 oz which equals 333,000 oz (10.3576 TONNES)

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR MARCH: 10.3576 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR A NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION

NEW PLEDGED GOLD:

241,794.285 oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 5.94 TONNES

204,937.290 PLEDGED MANFRA 3.08 TONNES

83,657.582 PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690 tonnes

265,999.054, oz JPM No 2

1,152,376.639 oz pledged Brinks/

Manfra: 33,758.550 oz

Delaware: 193.721 oz

International Delaware:: 11,188.542 oz

total pledged gold: 1,354,385.502 42.127 tonnes

TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 18,250,350.284 OZ

TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 8,088,671.657 (251.59 tonnes).

TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,161,678.647 OZ

REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 6,734,286 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 209.464 tonnes/dropping like a stone

END

SILVER/COMEX

FEB 29/INITIAL

//2024// THE MARCH 2024 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	1024.146 oz Delaware .
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*	nil OZ
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	51,406.400 oz HSBC
No of oz served today (contracts)	2858 CONTRACT(S) (14,290,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	1596 contracts (7.980 MILLION oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	2858 Contracts (14.290 MILLION oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers* inventory this month*	NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer* inventory this month*

i) 0 dealer deposit

total dealer deposit: nil oz

i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal

total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz

We had 1 deposits customer account:

i) Into HSBC 51,406.400 oz

total customer deposits 51,406.400 oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 129.806 million oz/282.126 million or 46.26%

adjustment: customer to dealer/Delaware 9616.544 oz

dealer to customer CNT 1,964,870.620 oz

Comex withdrawals: 1

i)Delaware 1024.146 oz

total withdrawal: 1024.146 oz

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 49.378 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 282.075 million oz

CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:

silver open interest data:

FRONT MONTH OF MARCH /2023 OI: 4454 CONTRACTS HAVING LOST 2100 CONTRACT(S).

THUS BY DEFINITION THE INITIAL AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING IN THIS VERY ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MARCH IS AS FOLLOWS:

4454 NOTICES X 5000 OZ PER NOTICE = 22.270 MILLION OZ

APRIL SAW A GAIN OF 139 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 912

MAY SAW A GAIN OF 559 CONTRACTS UP TO 117.,198.

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 2858 for 14.290 MILLION oz

Comex volumes// est. volume today 53,275 poor

Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 56,181 poor

To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in MARCH. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 2858 x 5,000 oz = 14,290,000 oz

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MARCH. (4454) and the number of notices served upon today 2858 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

Thus the standings for silver for the MARCH/2024 contract month: 2858 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of MARCH. (4454) – number of notices served upon today (2858 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the MARCH contract month equates to 22.270 MILLION OZ.

New total standing: 22.270 million oz.

There are 49.378 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!

FEB29/WITH GOLD UP $12.60 TODAY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD INVENTORY RESTS AT 826.94 TONNES

FEB28/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.00 TODAY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD INVENTORY RESTS AT 826.94 TONNES

FEB27/WITH GOLD UP $4.40 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF .87 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 826.94 TONNES

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

GLD INVENTORY: 826.04 TONNES

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

FEB 29/WITH SILVER UP 25 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 5.123 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.086 MILLION OZ

FEB 28/WITH SILVER DOWN 7 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 5.123 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 433.086 MILLION OZ

FEB 27/WITH SILVER UP 3 CENTS TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.64 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 427.943 MILLION OZ

FEB 26/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 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 433.086 MILLION OZ//

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES

1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey

Peter Schiff: Booming Stock Market Mirrors Dot-Com Bubble

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 11:00 AM

Via SchiffGold.com,

This week Peter covers the highlights of the last few weeks of volatile trading, paying special attention to Nvidia, Wall Street’s favorite AI stock, and Newmont Corporation, a heavy hitter in the gold mining industry.

Both companies’ shares experienced dramatic price action, with NVDA gaining $260 billion in market cap and pulling the market up after an excellent earnings report. Newmont, on the other hand, saw shares fall 7% after a disappointing last quarter.

Peter explains how monetary policy influences the profitability of mining:

“Part of the big problem for Newmont and all the other mining stocks is that it’s so much more expensive to mine gold now … Now why is that? Inflation. Inflation is taking a huge toll on the profits of these companies because the price of gold has not risen as much as the cost of mining it. And that is again why I keep saying gold mining stocks are the ironic victims of inflation.”

Nvidia and the tech sector’s recent surge is reminiscent of the market in the late 1990s, right before the Dot-com bubble popped:

“What’s really significant about today’s situation is that you’ve got 1999-2000 all over again in the stock market, but it’s more like 2008 in terms of the disaster that’s waiting around the corner. We didn’t have a financial crisis in 2001. That didn’t happen until 2008.”

[ZH: Or 1930s…]

This doesn’t mean A.I. technology is doomed to fail. Rather, innovative companies like Nvidia are currently swept up in an overheating economy that will eventually give way to inflationary pressures:

“There’s no doubt that artificial intelligence will be helpful… The markets once again are way ahead of the reality of where all of this is going, and at the same time, they’re overlooking the tremendous economic problems and financial problems that are hiding in plain sight.“

[ZH: It’s different this time…]

Peter also discusses the FOMC minutes that were released this week, which showed Fed officials are still hesitant about cutting interest rates. Gold responded well to this news, as it did last week after higher-than-expected CPI figures were released:

“The gold market kinda shrugged it off, which really shows you the underlying strength in the market. There was a brief sell-off in stocks, but I think investors quickly realized that look, … we’re going to get these cuts… What the markets are focused on is that the hikes are over… We’ve got the wind at our back. The question is… how strong is that wind?”

Recent moves in the price of oil, mortgage rates, and treasury yields suggest these investors are overly optimistic:

“These market indicators are showing that inflation is coming back, that we’ve bottomed out, and we’re just moving higher. And the markets do not expect that this is possible… If they’re wrong, the stock market is going to collapse.”

Markets are expecting rates to fall this spring, but they need to rise:

“If the Fed doesn’t hike rates, it could be even worse— maybe not for the market, but for the dollar, for bonds, and even more bullish for gold… If the Fed doesn’t hike rates, then inflation is just going to run out of control. And in fact, even if the Fed doesn’t cut rates— if it leaves rates where they are— real rates are going down because inflation is going to go up!”

Advocates of rate hikes are wrong when they assert that recent rate hikes constitute “restrictive monetary policy:”

“This is not restrictive monetary policy. Again, less loose doesn’t qualify as tight… What is being restricted? Is the government being restricted? Is there any cutback in government spending? Is the government borrowing less because the Fed has increased the cost of borrowing money? No! The government is borrowing more! In fact, they’re borrowing more to pay the higher interest rates.”

Peter wraps up by discussing a hefty fine leveled against Donald Trump in a New York fraud case. In this case and others, a politicized legal system portends a riskier and increasingly unattractive business environment, both in New York and in the rest of the country:

“One of the reasons that a lot of international money has invested in America over the years is the confidence in our legal system, in the rule of law, in private property— that you can own property, assets, and business here, and you’re protected by the rule of law. It just can’t be arbitrarily taken from you, but what we’re now showing the world is that’s not the case!“

While Wall Street celebrates a record week, Peter’s insights are less optimistic. It is unlikely a handful of tech stocks can perpetually sustain an economy burdened by years of inflation and oppressive government debt. America is addicted to cheap credit, and this addiction will cripple the economy if left unchecked.

end

2.Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens/ CLAUDIO GLASS

END

3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA GOLD COMMENTARIES: daily Dispatches

The questions CFTC and Fed won’t answer expose gold price suppression policy

Submitted by admin on Wed, 2024-02-28 21:24 Section: Daily Dispatches

9:44p ET Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

If mainstream financial news organizations ever work up the courage to report honestly about monetary gold, the commanding heights of the issue will have been mapped out for them by U.S. Rep. Alex X. Mooney, R-West Virginia.

After all, where can investigative journalism start better than with questions that already have been shown to be too politically sensitive for the highest government officials to answer, even when a member of Congress is asking?

Thanks to Mooney, in 2020 the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was shown refusing to answer whether it has jurisdiction over manipulative trading in the commodity futures markets when such trading is undertaken by or at the behest of the U.S. government:

https://www.gata.org/node/19917

END

E.J. Antoni and Peter St. Onge: Uniparty is only a few steps away from gutting the dollar

Submitted by admin on Wed, 2024-02-28 18:39 Section: Daily Dispatches

By E.J. Antoni and Peter St. Onge
The Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, February 27, 2024

America’s political establishment has less respect for the U.S. dollar than our foreign adversaries.

That was made clear when Tucker Carlson recently interviewed the Russian strongman President Vladimir Putin, who clearly articulated how the uniparty in Washington is destroying America’s greatest strategic and economic asset—her currency.

Last year, led by the chairman and ranking member of the relevant House and Senate committees, a bipartisan and bicameral bill was introduced that would hand another $300 billion to the Ukraine, this time in the form of the confiscated U.S. dollars owned by the Russian central bank and the Russian people.

There are now renewed calls for this measure as both the budget battle at home and the war in the Ukraine drag on.

Not during the Vietnam or Korean wars or at any point during the height of the Cold War did America do this to the Soviet Union. U.S. statesmen understood then, as our adversaries do now, that the dollar’s reserve currency status is among our most important global assets, both economically and strategically.

… For the remainder of the analysis:

https://www.heritage.org/monetary-policy/commentary/the-uniparty-only-few-steps-away-gutting-the-us-dollar

4. OTHER GOLD COMMENTARIES/PODCASTS/

END

5 a. IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES /

END

5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT

END

6.CRYPTOCURRENCY//DIGITAL CURRENCY// COMMENTARIES/

1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS THURSDAY MORNING.7:30 AM

ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED UP 7.1950

OFFSHORE YUAN: UP TO 7.2108

SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 57.32 PPTS OR 1.94%

HANG SENG CLOSED DOWN 25.41 PTS OR 0.15%

2. Nikkei closed DOWN 41.84 PTS OR .11%

3. Europe stocks SO FAR: MOSTLY MIXED

USA dollar INDEX UP TO 103.92 EURO FALLS TO 1.0829 DOWN 8 BASIS PTS

3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +.712 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 149.96/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 UP CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: UP/ OFFSHORE: UP

3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA

Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.

3g Oil UP for WTI and UP FOR Brent this morning

3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund UP TO +2.4995***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield UP to 3.939* /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD UP TO 3.377…**

3i Greek 10 year bond yield UP TO 3.421

3j Gold at $2030.20 silver at: 22.36 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00

3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 0 AND 25 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 90.89//

3m oil into the 78 dollar handle for WTI and 82 handle for Brent/

3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China// huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/

JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 149.96// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.712% 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 0.8803 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9534 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: 4.315 UP 4 BASIS PTS…

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.437 UP 3 BASIS PTS/

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.687 UP 4 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 31.23…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)

GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: UP 6 BASIS PTS AT 4.287

end

2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge

Futures Fall Ahead Of Key PCE Print

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 08:14 AM

For the third day in a row, US equity futures dropped and bonds fell as investors braced for a print of the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation metric, which will help identify the path forward for interest rates. As of 7:45am, futures contracts for the emini S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 both retreated by about 0.2%, off the worst levels of the session. European stocks fluctuated during another crowded day on the earnings calendar, while Asia closed modestly higher. MegaCaps are mixed with NVDA -1.3% and AAPL -0.7%, the largest movers pre-mkt. Bond yields are up 3-6bps as the yield curve bear flattens; the US Dollar is weaker while the yen holds most of the advance spurred by strongest signal yet from Bank of Japan that the end is near for its negative interest-rate policy. The commodity complex is also lower; oil is flat, while bitcoin continues to surge and was last seen around $63,000. Today’s macro data focus includes PCE/Core PCE, jobless claims, and regional activity indicators. While PCE has been de-risked due to the CPI print, there is still potential for volatility given positioning in the bond market. Month-end rebalancing is thought to provide additional pressure on stocks irrespective of PCE.

In premarket trading, cloud software giant Snowflake shares plunge 23% after the company gave a forecast for first-quarter product revenue that is weaker than expected. Analysts noted that the shares were pressured by a combination of CEO Frank Slootman stepping down and a conservative guide. Peers also decline, with MongoDB down 4.2%, and DataDog sliding 3.0%. Elsewhere, WW International, fka as Wight Watchers, shares crasjed 25% after the “health and wellness” company issued full-year revenue guidance that missed expectations. The company also said Oprah Winfrey has decided to not stand for re-election at its annual shareholders meeting in May, having served on the board since 2015. Here are some other notable premarket movers:

C3.ai (AI US) shares jump 17.58% after the software firm’s third-quarter revenue beat estimates, showing that demand remains robust for its artificial intelligence-related products. Analysts highlighted strength in its subscription revenues, and demand from government clients.
CRH (CRH US) shares gain 6.3% in New York premarket trading after the building-materials firm reported “excellent” full-year results, according to Davy, with UBS highlighting the firm’s strong growth prospects in 2024.
Duolingo (DUOL US) shares soar 20% after full-year revenue guidance from the language-learning software company beat expectations, while fourth-quarter earnings per share also surpassed forecasts. A number of analysts lifted their price targets on the stock, noting robust growth in user numbers.
HP Inc. (HPQ US) shares fall 3.4% after the computer hardware company reported first-quarter results that missed expectations on key metrics amid ongoing weakness in the market for personal computers.
Macy’s (M US) shares dip 0.6% after the department store chain was downgraded to market perform from outperform at TD Cowen, which said the company’s restructuring plans will take some time to drive upside to guidance.
Monster Beverage (MNST US) shares advance 5.6% after the energy-drink maker reported fourth-quarter gross margin that beat consensus estimates. Analysts saw the results as solid overall, highlighting the gross margin beat in the quarter, as well as the strong start to the first-quarter.
Okta (OKTA US) shares rise 29% after the application software company reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations. Analysts view the results as a relief in the wake of a recent breach.
Paramount Global (PARA US) shares advance 3.9% after the media company reported results that were seen as mixed, although revenue in its direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming business beat expectations.
Salesforce (CRM US) shares fall 1.8% after the application software company gave a full-year revenue forecast that was weaker than expected, though analysts said it could be conservative. It also initiated a dividend of 40c/share and increased the share buyback authorization by $10b.

Thursday’s core PCE report, where the core print is expected to rise 0.4% MoM and 2.8% YoY, will likely validate recent commentary from Fed officials showing no rush to ease monetary policy and underscore the twists and turns on the route to the central bank’s 2% inflation target. A higher-than-anticipated reading could undermine expectations for three quarter-point rate cuts by year-end.

“The market always needs to focus on something, and with earnings out of the way and the rates outlook priced in, inflation is the next catalyst,” said Beata Manthey, equity strategist at Citigroup Inc. “It’ll depend on how bad or good the print is today, but when we look at the fundamentals, earnings have shown they’re delivering.”

Stocks are rounding off a strong February, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 up more than 4% after excitement around artificial intelligence drove a tech-powered, record-breaking run on Wall Street. MSCI’s global equity index is rising for a fourth month, its longest winning streak since 2021.

For Ulrich Urbahn, head of multi-asset strategy and research at Berenberg, trading on the final day of February is likely to be influenced more by month-end rebalancing than by data, as inflation trends have already been priced into markets following this month’s consumer and producer price reports.

“The focus on PCE ‘because that’s what the Fed cares about’ is valid,” Urbahn said. “But it’s mostly already baked in the cake. Markets will be more affected by some rebalancing flows as equities have hugely outperformed bonds this year.”

New York Fed President John Williams said Wednesday the central bank has “a ways to go,” in its battle against inflation and Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic urged patience in regard to policy tweaks. Meanwhile, traders are currently pricing around 80 basis points of easing by year-end — almost in line with what officials in December indicated as the likeliest outcome. That would equate to three cuts in 2024 — as the Fed moves have historically been increments of 25 basis points. To put things in perspective, swaps were projecting almost 150 basis points of cuts this year at the start of February.

“Fedspeak and economic data so far this week suggest that central bankers remain data-dependent, which raises volatility around key economic data releases, and that inflation seems to be re-accelerating in the short term, which may make it harder to reach the 2% inflation goal,” Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, wrote in a note.

European stocks fluctuated during another crowded day on the earnings calendar as traders reduced bets on how fast and far the European Central Bank will lower interest rates this year after a flurry of inflation readings from the region. Moncler SpA rallied after the Italian luxury company beat profit expectations. Air France-KLM slumped after a fourth-quarter loss. The Stoxx 600 added 0.1% with construction, media and retail shares the best performers. Here are the most notable movers:

Haleon rises as much as 9%, the most since Dec. 2022, after delivering results that were better than feared, following the weak numbers posted by rival Reckitt yesterday
Universal Music Group gains as much as 6.5%, the most since July, after the Amsterdam-listed music and entertainment group impressed with its fourth-quarter earnings
Moncler shares rise as much as 6.3%, to the highest since June, after the Italian luxury company reported results that beat estimates
Eiffage gains as much as 5.4%, the most since March 2022, as Morgan Stanley flags the infrastructure company’s strong cash generation and in-line earnings performance
AMS-Osram shares plunge 45% after a major customer — believed by analysts to be Apple — canceled the Swiss chipmaker’s key project around microLED
Howden Joinery rises as much as 8.5%, the most since Dec. 2020, after 2023 results broadly met estimates
Drax climbs as much as 8.6% after the UK renewable energy company’s results, which analysts say look solid. Morgan Stanley highlights Drax’s long-term guidance and positive impact
Argenx falls as much as 4.5% after it reported full-year results that analysts said weren’t surprising
Beiersdorf shares fall as much as 6.1%, their steepest drop since May 2022, after the Nivea maker reported results that RBC described as “disappointing”
Technip Energies shares reverse an earlier gain to slip as much as 3.6%, after the France-based engineering and technology company posted a 2023 Ebit beat but issued guidance that missed

In FX, the dollar steadied, while the yen was the best-performing G-10 currency, rising 0.4% versus the greenback, the most in more than a week, after Bank of Japan Board Member Hajime Takata sent one of the strongest signals yet that the end is near for its negative interest rate policy.

In rates, Treasury yields rose, with the more policy sensitive two-year note up five basis points. 10-year TSY yields last traded around 4.31% near session high, outperforming gilts by around 3bp in the sector; the UK curve cheaper on the day by as much as 7bp in 5-year sector. Yields in Europe climbed after mixed readings on price pressures from France and Spain, with German inflation coming in on the softer side of expectations (CPI printed 0.4% MoM, vs exp. 0.5%, and 2.5% YoY, vs exp 2.6%). Traders reduced bets on how fast and far the European Central Bank will lower interest rates this year after a flurry of inflation readings from the region – Bloomberg Economics still expect euro-area headline inflation to slow on Friday. Short-end bonds are leading a selloff in European government debt. German two-year yields rise 7bps to 2.99%. IG dollar issuance slate empty so far; seven names priced $14.4b Wednesday, taking weekly volume past $50b; issuers paid about 6bps in new-issue concessions on order books said to be 3.8x oversubscribed. Robust calendar could materialize Thursday if inflation readings are benign. US January personal income and spending data at 8:30am New York time include PCE inflation gauge with potential to alter corresponding outlook for Fed.

In commodities, oil prices are little changed, with WTI trading near $78.50. Spot gold falls 0.2%. Bitcoin jumps ~3% and is above $62,000.

Bitcoin continues to march higher and back above the $62k level, after it was revealed that yesterday’s record volume surge across the ETF sector led to a record net inflows as demand for crypto just won’t slow. Meanwhile, Ether continues to outperform, printing a peak incrementally above USD 3.5k. Elsewhere, Coinbase said all services on Coinbase.com have been restored; after some users reported a zero balance on their accounts.

Looking to the day ahead now, the US economic data calendar includes weekly jobless claims (8:30am), February MNI Chicago PMI (9:45am, three minutes earlier to subscribers), January pending home sales (10am) and February Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity (11am). Fed speakers scheduled include Bostic (10:50am), Goolsbee (11am), Mester (1:15pm, 3:30pm) and Williams (8:10pm). Elsewhere, there’s the February flash CPI inflation prints from Germany and France, along with German unemployment for February, UK mortgage approvals for January, and Canada’s Q4 GDP. From central banks, we’ll hear from the Fed’s Bostic, Goolsbee, Mester and Williams.

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures down 0.3% to 5,065.00
STOXX Europe 600 little changed at 495.04
MXAP up 0.4% to 172.73
MXAPJ up 0.2% to 524.61
Nikkei down 0.1% to 39,166.19
Topix little changed at 2,675.73
Hang Seng Index down 0.2% to 16,511.44
Shanghai Composite up 1.9% to 3,015.17
Sensex little changed at 72,263.43
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.5% to 7,698.70
Kospi down 0.4% to 2,642.36
German 10Y yield little changed at 2.49%
Euro little changed at $1.0847
Brent Futures down 0.4% to $83.32/bbl
Gold spot up 0.0% to $2,035.55
U.S. Dollar Index down 0.16% to 103.81

Top Overnight News

The Supreme Court’s decision to take up Donald Trump’s bid for immunity from criminal prosecution raises the prospect that a trial to hold him accountable for trying to overturn the 2020 election could face a lengthy delay — potentially until after the November election
An Illinois judge barred Trump from appearing on the Republican presidential primary ballot, marking the third state to impose such a ban on the former president for his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan 6.
Ben Bernanke’s global savings glut is drying up. Long-term interest rates worldwide may be heading higher as a result.
China banned a top-performing quant fund from the stock-index futures market and vowed tighter oversight of high-speed trading, expanding a crackdown on computer-driven investment strategies that some have blamed for exacerbating market turmoil
Wall Street traders bracing for key inflation data waded through mixed economic figures and remarks from Federal Reserve speakers for clues on the interest-rate outlook.

Earnings

Covestro (1COV GY) – Q4 (EUR): adj. EBITDA 132mln (exp. 99mln), Revenue 3.35bln (exp. 3.44bln). Decides not to pay a dividend. Expects economic conditions to remain challenging in 2024. Guides Q1 EBITDA 180-280mln (exp. 204mln). Guides initial FY24 EBITDA 1-1.6bln (exp. 1.36bln), Revenue 14-15bln (exp. 14.7bln). Shares +1.8% in European trade
IAG (IAG LN) – FY (EUR): Revenue 29.5bln (exp. 29.4bln), adj. Net 2.66bln (exp. 2.29bln), adj. Operating 3.5bln (exp. 3.5bln). 92% booked for Q1 and 62% for H1. Positive outlook for 2024, expect to generate significant cashflow throughout the year. Shares +1.2% in European trade
MTU Aero (MTX GY) – FY23 (EUR): Adj. Revenue 6.3bln (prev. forecast 6.1-6.3bln), Adj. EBIT 818mln (prev. forecast 800mln), Adj. Net Income 594mln (exp. 600mln). Outlook: FY Revenue 7.3-7.5bln, Adj. EBIT margin 12%. Shares -0.5% in European trade
Snowflake (SNOW) – Q4 2024 (USD): Adj. EPS 0.35 (exp. 0.18), Revenue 774.7mln (exp. 760.4mln); Q1 product revenue view 745-750mln (exp. 769.5mln), FY25 product revenue view 3.25bln (exp. 3.46bln). (Newswires) Shares -22.8% in pre-market trade
Salesforce (CRM) – Shares slipped by 1.6% in afterhours trade as it provided light guidance for the FY. Q4 adj. EPS 2.29 (exp. 2.26), Q4 revenue USD 9.29bln (exp. 9.22bln). Increases share repurchase authorisation by USD 10bln. Initiated a common stock dividend of USD 0.40/shr. Sees Q1 adj. EPS between USD 2.37-2.39 (exp. 2.20), and Q1 revenue between USD 9.12bln-9.19bln (exp. 9.19bln); sees FY25 revenue between USD 37.7bln-38.0bln (exp. 38.6bln). Shares -1.8% in pre-market trade

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks were choppy at month-end after the lacklustre handover from the US ahead of PCE price data. ASX 200 eventually shrugged off the initial indecision and briefly climbed above 7,700 to eke a fresh record high. Nikkei 225 briefly dipped below the 39,000 level amid a firmer currency and hawkish comments from BoJ’s Takata, although the index gradually recovered all of its losses in late trade. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were positive with outperformance in the latter which momentarily reclaimed the 3,000 level amid lower yields and after the PBoC voiced support for Shanghai’s high-level opening up financially, while it was also reported that China is to crack down on illegal activity to maintain market order. Conversely, the gains in Hong Kong were limited with earnings on the radar.

Top Asian News

US limits the sales of Americans’ data to China and other rivals with President Biden signing an executive order restricting the ability of data brokers to sell sensitive information abroad, according to WSJ.
BoJ Board Member Takata said Japan’s economy is at an inflexion point of changing the ‘norm’ that people think wages and prices are not rising, while he added achievement of the price target is coming into sight despite the uncertainty of the economic outlook. Takata also said need to consider taking a flexible response including exit from monetary stimulus and that momentum is rising in this spring’s wage talks with many companies offering higher-than-2023 wage hikes. BoJ Board Member Takata later stated that he would call for a gear shift in policy and not go backwards but added he has not made up his mind yet on a monetary policy decision when asked about whether to end negative interest rates in March or April, while he is not thinking of raising interest rates one after another and said gradual steps will be needed amid mixed circumstances surrounding small firms.
RBNZ Governor Orr said as aggregate demand has slowed, it has been harder to pass on cost increases and he is confident the current level of the OCR is restricting demand, while the inflation outlook is very balanced. Orr said the economy has developed as they expected and the latest data confirmed inflation is slowing, while he added the easing of interest rates won’t happen anytime soon.

European bourses, Stoxx600 (+0.1%) are mixed and trade has remained rangebound throughout the session; the DAX 40 (+0.4%) outperforms, and continues to trade towards/at ATHs. European sectors are mixed; Construction & Materials takes the top spot, lifted by gains in CRH (+7.3%) post-earnings. Tech is found at the bottom of the pile, with many of the chip names continuing to underperform. US Equity Futures (ES -0.3%, NQ -0.3%, RTY +0.1%) are mostly lower, with trade continuing the downbeat price action seen in the prior session. In terms of individual movers, Salesforce (-1.9%) slipped on its results, which although reported strong metrics, its FY25 guidance missed analyst expectations.

Top European News

ECB’s Vasle said the ECB is looking at a rate-cutting phase if there are no big surprises and the timing of cuts depends on inflation.
ECB will continue to put a ‘floor’ underneath market interest rates in the years ahead, though banks will have a greater role in determining how much liquidity they want, via Reuters citing sources.
UK appoints Clare Lombardelli as the the next BoE Deputy Governor for monetary policy; replaces Broadbent who leaves at the end of June.
ECB’s Holzmann says a serious discussion at the ECB on rate reductions is unlikely before June, via Politico [published Feb. 28th]

DXY is a touch softer as a by-product of JPY strength. DXY has ventured to a low of 103.75, stopping shy of the 200DMA at 103.69 and yesterday’s low at 103.60. The fate for the index today will almost certainly be determined by US PCE metrics.
EUR marginally gains vs. the USD amid a slew of EZ data with (on balance) firmer regional CPIs taking focus ahead of tomorrow’s EZ-wide metrics. EUR/USD mounted yesterday’s best at 1.0840.
JPY is the standout outperformer across the majors following “hawkish” BoJ comments overnight. This has given JPY some reprieve with USD/JPY pulling back to a low of 149.62 (matches 21DMA) from a high of 150.69. A hot core PCE release could reverse the pair’s fortunes and bring attention back to the YTD peak at 150.88.
Differing fortunes for the antipodes with AUD/USD back on a 0.65 handle after bottoming out yesterday at 0.6488 post-USD strength. NZD/USD remains above yesterday’s 0.6082 trough but is unable to reclaim 0.61 status.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1036 vs exp. 7.1938 (prev. 7.1075).

Fixed Income

The bearish narrative continues for Bunds; French CPI sparked some initial downside, though further hotter-than-expected releases from Spain and Germany (state), firmly guided the hawkish direction. Bunds have been drifting lower and are now at a fresh YTD low at 131.62, with the 10yr yield above 2.5%.
USTs are driven by EGBs so far but also potentially positioning into the US January PCE data, which will be gauged to see if it conforms to the hotter narrative of other January pricing metrics; currently holds just above 110-00.
Gilt price action conformed with EGBs into the latest BoE mortgage data with no reaction to the numbers despite lending and approvals printing below/above their respective forecast ranges. EGB-driven action has similarly pushed Gilts to a fresh YTD low at 96.83.

Commodities

Crude benchmarks are under modest pressure but are comparably contained when judged against Wednesday’s whipsaw price action; currently holds around the USD 82/bbl mark.
Spot gold is incrementally softer initially benefitting from a weaker Dollar, though now off best levels; USD 2032/oz 50-DMA remains untested with the current low at USD 2034/oz.
Base metals are bid and deriving support from USD downside, the overall European risk tone and strength in China.

Geopolitics

Japan’s top currency diplomat Kanda said using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine must be based on international law and he thinks EU’s proposal is along those lines, while he added that Japan strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the G20 and that the G7 discussed ways to make use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine reconstruction.
Russian President Putin says “don’t they understand there is danger of nuclear conflict?”; on talk of NATO troops in Ukraine, says consequences for the intruders will be more tragic and we have weapon which is able to hit targets on their territory.
Ukraine sees a risk of Russia breaking through its defences by the summer unless allies increase supplies of ammunition, according to Bloomberg sources

US Event Calendar

08:30: Feb. Initial Jobless Claims, est. 210,000, prior 201,000
- Feb. Continuing Claims, est. 1.87m, prior 1.86m
08:30: Jan. Personal Income, est. 0.4%, prior 0.3%
- Jan. Personal Spending, est. 0.2%, prior 0.7%
- Jan. Real Personal Spending, est. -0.1%, prior 0.5%
08:30: Jan. PCE Deflator MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.2%
- Jan. PCE Core Deflator YoY, est. 2.8%, prior 2.9%
- Jan. PCE Core Deflator MoM, est. 0.4%, prior 0.2%
- Jan. PCE Deflator YoY, est. 2.4%, prior 2.6%
09:45: Feb. MNI Chicago PMI, est. 48.0, prior 46.0
10:00: Jan. Pending Home Sales (MoM), est. 1.5%, prior 8.3%
- Jan. Pending Home Sales YoY, est. -4.4%, prior -1.0%
11:00: Feb. Kansas City Fed Manf. Activity, est. -2, prior -9

Central Bank Speakers

10:50: Fed’s Bostic Participates in Fireside Chat
11:00: Fed’s Goolsbee Gives Remarks on Monetary Policy
13:15: Fed’s Mester Speaks on Financial Stability and Regulation
15:30: Fed’s Mester Speaks to Yahoo Finance
20:10: Fed’s Williams Participates in Moderated Discussion

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

Happy February 29. I’m hearing lots about how this day happens every four years, but strictly speaking that’s not true. The rule is it’s a leap year if it’s divisible by 4, unless it’s divisible by 100, but not if it’s also divisible by 400. Make sense? So 1700, 1800 and 1900 weren’t leap years, 2000 was a leap year, but 2100 won’t be one. In other words, you get one every 97/400 years rather than 1/4, as the earth’s rotation around the sun is actually a bit less than 365.25 days. This might seem trivial (and you may be right), but the previous Julian calendar hadn’t adjusted for this and had a leap day every four years, hence the shift to the modern Gregorian calendar from the 16th century onwards. But when countries made the adjustment, it meant the date shifted forward. So in Britain, the recorded date went from 2 September 1752 one day to 14 September 1752 on the next, skipping over the 11 calendar days in the middle.

If we missed the next 11 days right now, we’d skip over an awful lot, including the next US jobs report, an array of US primary elections on Super Tuesday, the ECB’s policy decision, Fed Chair Powell’s congressional testimonies, and the UK budget. But today, the main focus will be on the PCE inflation data from the US, which is the measure of inflation that the Fed officially targets, and is therefore closely watched in markets. Readers will remember that a couple of weeks ago, the CPI and PPI inflation reports both surprised on the upside, and the components that feed into the core PCE reading are pointing to a strong print for January. As a result, o ur US economists are expecting core PCE to come in at +0.36% for the month, which if realised would be the strongest monthly print since another +0.36% reading in February last year. So that’s one to look out for as investors seek to gauge the timing of potential rate cuts from the Fed.

Ahead of that, markets in Asia have put in a mixed performance overnight. Chinese equities have advanced, including the CSI 300 (+1.11%) and the Shanghai Comp (+1.00%), and the Shanghai Comp is currently on track to record its best monthly performance since November 2022. But other indices have been more negative, and the Hang Seng is down -0.02%, the Nikkei is down -0.02%, and the KOSPI (-0.49%) has posted larger declines. Futures have also been subdued, with those on the S&P 500 up just +0.05% after yesterday’s decline.

In Japan, sentiment wasn’t helped by the latest industrial production data, which showed a decline of -7.5% in January (vs. -6.8% expected), which is the biggest monthly decline since May 2020. Nevertheless, investors have continued to grow in confidence that the end of the negative interest rate policy could be near, following comments from the BoJ’s Hajime Takata, who said that “my view is that the price target is finally coming into sight”. That’s helped the Japanese Yen to strengthen +0.44% against the US Dollar overnight, whilst 2yr government bond yields are up +2.3bps to 0.18%, which is their highest level since 2011. Moreover, overnight index swaps are now pricing in a 33% chance of a move away from negative interest rates at the next meeting in April, up from 21% the previous day.

Ahead of that yesterday, markets were mostly in a holding pattern, with the S&P 500 (-0.17%) still experiencing little movement since Nvidia’s earnings last week. The latest decline means the index is still on track for a weekly loss, and there were larger falls for the NASDAQ (-0.55%) and the Magnificent 7 (-0.58%). Meanwhile in Europe, the story was also one of losses yesterday, with the STOXX 600 down -0.35%. That said, the DAX (+0.25%) continued to outperform, posting a 6th consecutive advance and closing at a fresh all-time high.

Over on the rates side, the moves were also modest in scope yesterday, though yields did extend moderate declines during the US session. This came even as central bank speakers continued to echo the recent consensus on policy, suggesting that rate cuts are likely to happen over the coming months, but not yet. For instance, Boston Fed President Collins said that it “will likely become appropriate to begin easing policy later this year”, but also that “I want to see more evidence of a sustained trajectory to price stability”. Separately, New York Fed President Williams said that they still had “a ways to go on the journey to sustained 2% inflation”. Meanwhile at the ECB, we heard from Slovakia’s Kazimir, who said in a Reuters interview that for a rate cut, “June would be my preferred date, April would surprise me and March is a no go”. Lithuania’s Simkus made similar comments, saying that “June is really the month to consider the rate cut”. And later in the evening, Germany’s Nagel said that “we can’t make any mistakes in the final stretch of the journey”, suggesting it would be “fatal” if rates were eased too early only for inflation to rebound.

That backdrop saw expectations for rate cuts tick up a little yesterday. For the Fed, investors still expect that June is the most likely meeting for a cut, with futures pricing in a 77% chance of a cut by June (up from 73% the day before). In turn, that helped yields on 2yr Treasuries fell -5.6bps, while 10yr yields were down -3.9bps to 4.265%. Over in Europe the bond rally was more marginal, with yields on 10yr bunds (-0.6bps), OATs (-1.2bps) and BTPs (-1.8bps) all seeing modest declines.

Although yields were falling yesterday, there were fresh signs of an increase in market expectations for US inflation, with the 2yr breakeven up +2.6bps to 2.77%, which is their highest level since March last year. 2yr zero-coupon inflation swaps were also up +3.9bps to 2.43%, the highest since October, so we’re seeing that across several instruments. That came as Brent crude (+0.04%) closed at its highest level since early November, at $83.68/bbl. Moreover, it’s clear that higher oil prices are filtering through into the real economy, and data from the AAA showed US gasoline prices remained at $3.294 per gallon on Wednesday, in line with their level on Tuesday and their highest level since November.

On the data side, yesterday saw a very modest downgrade to US GDP growth in Q4, with the second estimate coming in at an annualised +3.2% (vs. +3.3% first estimate). The release also showed that core PCE prices grew a bit faster than thought in Q4, at an annualised rate of +2.1% (vs. +2.0% first estimate). However, the revisions still left annual GDP growth for 2023 at +2.5%, in line with the initial estimate.

Finally in US political news, congressional leaders agreed a deal yesterday evening to avoid a partial government shutdown that would have started after March 1. The deal would extend funding to March 8 for several departments, and others to March 22.

To the day ahead now, and data releases from the US include PCE inflation for January, personal income, personal spending and pending home sales for January, the weekly initial jobless claims, and the MNI Chicago PMI for February. Elsewhere, there’s the February flash CPI inflation prints from Germany and France, along with German unemployment for February, UK mortgage approvals for January, and Canada’s Q4 GDP. From central banks, we’ll hear from the Fed’s Bostic, Goolsbee, Mester and Williams.

From Europe

2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)

Equities mixed, Dollar weighed on by JPY, Bonds pressured on European CPIs ahead of US PCE – Newsquawk US Market Open

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 06:05 AM

Equities are mixed, with the Dax 40 continuing to trade near/at ATHs, and as attention remains on US PCE
Dollar is modestly weaker, largely a factor of the strong JPY after hawkish leaning BoJ speak
Bonds are pressured following the hotter-than-expected European CPI data
Crude is pressured with a lack of fresh catalysts; XAU initially benefitted from the weaker Dollar, though now off best levels
Looking ahead, US PCE Price Index, IJC, Chicago PMI, Canadian GDP, Australian PMI, Japanese Unemployment Rate, Comments from Fed’s Bostic, Goolsbee & Mester, Earnings from Bath & Body Works, Best Buy & Hewlett Packard Enterprises

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1. Subscribe to the free premarket movers reports

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EUROPEAN TRADE

EQUITIES

European bourses, Stoxx600 (+0.1%) are mixed and trade has remained rangebound throughout the session; the DAX 40 (+0.4%) outperforms, and continues to trade towards/at ATHs.
European sectors are mixed; Construction & Materials takes the top spot, lifted by gains in CRH (+7.3%) post-earnings. Tech is found at the bottom of the pile, with many of the chip names continuing to underperform.
US Equity Futures (ES -0.3%, NQ -0.3%, RTY +0.1%) are mostly lower, with trade continuing the downbeat price action seen in the prior session. In terms of individual movers, Salesforce (-1.9%) slipped on its results, which although reported strong metrics, its FY25 guidance missed analyst expectations.
Click here and here for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow, including earnings from IAG, Covestro, MTU Aero & more.
Click here for more details.

FX

DXY is a touch softer as a by-product of JPY strength. DXY has ventured to a low of 103.75, stopping shy of the 200DMA at 103.69 and yesterday’s low at 103.60. The fate for the index today will almost certainly be determined by US PCE metrics.
EUR marginally gains vs. the USD amid a slew of EZ data with (on balance) firmer regional CPIs taking focus ahead of tomorrow’s EZ-wide metrics. EUR/USD mounted yesterday’s best at 1.0840.
JPY is the standout outperformer across the majors following “hawkish” BoJ comments overnight. This has given JPY some reprieve with USD/JPY pulling back to a low of 149.62 (matches 21DMA) from a high of 150.69. A hot core PCE release could reverse the pair’s fortunes and bring attention back to the YTD peak at 150.88.
Differing fortunes for the antipodes with AUD/USD back on a 0.65 handle after bottoming out yesterday at 0.6488 post-USD strength. NZD/USD remains above yesterday’s 0.6082 trough but is unable to reclaim 0.61 status.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1036 vs exp. 7.1938 (prev. 7.1075).
Click here for more details.

FIXED INCOME

The bearish narrative continues for Bunds; French CPI sparked some initial downside, though further hotter-than-expected releases from Spain and Germany (state), firmly guided the hawkish direction. Bunds have been drifting lower and are now at a fresh YTD low at 131.62, with the 10yr yield above 2.5%.
USTs are driven by EGBs so far but also potentially positioning into the US January PCE data, which will be gauged to see if it conforms to the hotter narrative of other January pricing metrics; currently holds just above 110-00.
Gilt price action conformed with EGBs into the latest BoE mortgage data with no reaction to the numbers despite lending and approvals printing below/above their respective forecast ranges. EGB-driven action has similarly pushed Gilts to a fresh YTD low at 96.83.
Click here for more details.

COMMODITIES

Crude benchmarks are under modest pressure but are comparably contained when judged against Wednesday’s whipsaw price action; currently holds around the USD 82/bbl mark.
Spot gold is incrementally softer initially benefitting from a weaker Dollar, though now off best levels; USD 2032/oz 50-DMA remains untested with the current low at USD 2034/oz.
Base metals are bid and deriving support from USD downside, the overall European risk tone and strength in China.
Click here for more details.

NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES

ECB’s Vasle said the ECB is looking at a rate-cutting phase if there are no big surprises and the timing of cuts depends on inflation.
ECB will continue to put a ‘floor’ underneath market interest rates in the years ahead, though banks will have a greater role in determining how much liquidity they want, via Reuters citing sources.
UK appoints Clare Lombardelli as the the next BoE Deputy Governor for monetary policy; replaces Broadbent who leaves at the end of June.
ECB’s Holzmann says a serious discussion at the ECB on rate reductions is unlikely before June, via Politico [published Feb. 28th]

DATA RECAP

Inflation data out of Europe has significantly cooled from the prior, but still printed hotter than expectations. Attention will remain on German CPI at 13:00 GMT / 08:00 ET and the EZ-wide figure tomorrow.
French CPI Prelim MM NSA (Feb) 0.8% vs. Exp. 0.7% (Prev. -0.2%); CPI Prelim YY NSA (Feb) 2.9% vs. Exp. 2.7% (Prev. 3.1%); Consumer Spending MM (Jan) -0.3% vs. Exp. -0.2% (Prev. 0.3%); CPI (EU Norm) Prelim YY (Feb) 3.1% vs. Exp. 3.0% (Prev. 3.4%)
French Producer Prices MM (Jan) -1.3% (Prev. 0.1%, Rev. -0.1%); GDP QQ Final (Q4) 0.1%
Spanish HICP Flash YY (Feb) 2.9% vs. Exp. 2.9% (Prev. 3.5%); CPI YY Flash NSA (Feb) 2.8% vs. Exp. 2.7% (Prev. 3.4%); Core 3.4% (prev. 3.6%)
German Unemployment Chg SA (Feb) 11.0k vs. Exp. 7.0k (Prev. -2.0k); Unemployment Rate SA (Feb) 5.9% vs. Exp. 5.8% (Prev. 5.8%); Unemployment Total SA (Feb) 2.713M (Prev. 2.694M); Unemployment Total NSA (Feb) 2.814M (Prev. 2.805M)
German Bavaria State CPI MM (Feb) 0.5% (Prev. 0.2%); Bavaria State CPI YY (Feb) 2.6% (Prev. 2.9%)
German Retail Sales YY Real (Jan) -1.4% vs. Exp. -1.5% (Prev. -1.7%); Retail Sales MM Real (Jan) -0.4% vs. Exp. 0.5% (Prev. -1.6%)
Swiss KOF Indicator (Feb) 101.6 vs. Exp. 102.0 (Prev. 101.5, Rev. 102.5); GDP YY (Q4) 0.6% vs. Exp. 0.7% (Prev. 0.3%, Rev. 0.4%); GDP QQ (Q4) 0.3% vs. Exp. 0.1% (Prev. 0.3%)
Italian Industrial Sales MM SA (Dec) 2.1% (Prev. -1.0%, Rev. -0.9%)
UK Mortgage Approvals (Jan) 55.227k vs. Exp. 52.0k (Prev. 50.459k, Rev. 51.506k); Mortgage Lending (Jan) -1.086B GB vs. Exp. 0.2B GB (Prev. -0.83B GB, Rev. -0.854B GB); BOE Consumer Credit (Jan) 1.877B GB vs. Exp. 1.6B GB (Prev. 1.197B GB, Rev. 1.257B GB); M4 Money Supply (Jan) -0.1% (Prev. 0.5%)
UK Lloyds Business Barometer (Feb) 42 (Prev. 44)
Swedish Retail Sales YY (Jan) -1.2% (Prev. -2.2%); Retail Sales MM (Jan) 0.4% (Prev. -0.2%); GDP Final QQ (Q4) -0.1% vs. Exp. 0.1% (Prev. 0.1%); GDP Final YY (Q4) -0.2% vs. Exp. -0.3%

EARNINGS

Covestro (1COV GY) – Q4 (EUR): adj. EBITDA 132mln (exp. 99mln), Revenue 3.35bln (exp. 3.44bln). Decides not to pay a dividend. Expects economic conditions to remain challenging in 2024. Guides Q1 EBITDA 180-280mln (exp. 204mln). Guides initial FY24 EBITDA 1-1.6bln (exp. 1.36bln), Revenue 14-15bln (exp. 14.7bln). Shares +1.8% in European trade
IAG (IAG LN) – FY (EUR): Revenue 29.5bln (exp. 29.4bln), adj. Net 2.66bln (exp. 2.29bln), adj. Operating 3.5bln (exp. 3.5bln). 92% booked for Q1 and 62% for H1. Positive outlook for 2024, expect to generate significant cashflow throughout the year. Shares +1.2% in European trade
MTU Aero (MTX GY) – FY23 (EUR): Adj. Revenue 6.3bln (prev. forecast 6.1-6.3bln), Adj. EBIT 818mln (prev. forecast 800mln), Adj. Net Income 594mln (exp. 600mln). Outlook: FY Revenue 7.3-7.5bln, Adj. EBIT margin 12%. Shares -0.5% in European trade
Snowflake (SNOW) – Q4 2024 (USD): Adj. EPS 0.35 (exp. 0.18), Revenue 774.7mln (exp. 760.4mln); Q1 product revenue view 745-750mln (exp. 769.5mln), FY25 product revenue view 3.25bln (exp. 3.46bln). (Newswires) Shares -22.8% in pre-market trade
Salesforce (CRM) – Shares slipped by 1.6% in afterhours trade as it provided light guidance for the FY. Q4 adj. EPS 2.29 (exp. 2.26), Q4 revenue USD 9.29bln (exp. 9.22bln). Increases share repurchase authorisation by USD 10bln. Initiated a common stock dividend of USD 0.40/shr. Sees Q1 adj. EPS between USD 2.37-2.39 (exp. 2.20), and Q1 revenue between USD 9.12bln-9.19bln (exp. 9.19bln); sees FY25 revenue between USD 37.7bln-38.0bln (exp. 38.6bln). Shares -1.8% in pre-market trade

NOTABLE US HEADLINES

US Congressional leaders have reached a deal to avoid a March 2nd partial shutdown by providing a week of temporary funding, whilst providing funding for parts of the government through September 30th, according to Bloomberg. However, the rest of the US government still faces a potential shutdown on March 23rd. It was also reported that GOP. Rep. Hern said the House will vote on a continuing resolution this Thursday.
BofA Institute week to Feb 24th: Total Card Spending +0.4%% Y/Y (vs. -0.2% January average); Overall spending growth remained relatively soft but stable in February
WSJ writes Apple (AAPL) investors grow impatient on AI, via WSJ; article adds Co. is expected to release generative AI features at a June developer conference

GEOPOLITICS

Japan’s top currency diplomat Kanda said using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine must be based on international law and he thinks EU’s proposal is along those lines, while he added that Japan strongly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the G20 and that the G7 discussed ways to make use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine reconstruction.
Russian President Putin says “don’t they understand there is danger of nuclear conflict?”; on talk of NATO troops in Ukraine, says consequences for the intruders will be more tragic and we have weapon which is able to hit targets on their territory.
Ukraine sees a risk of Russia breaking through its defences by the summer unless allies increase supplies of ammunition, according to Bloomberg sources

CRYPTO

Bitcoin continues to march higher and back above the USD 62k level. Ethereum continues to outperform, printing a peak incrementally above USD 3.5k.
Coinbase (COIN) says all services on Coinbase.com have been restored; after some users reported a zero balance on their accounts.

APAC TRADE

APAC stocks were choppy at month-end after the lacklustre handover from the US ahead of PCE price data.
ASX 200 eventually shrugged off the initial indecision and briefly climbed above 7,700 to eke a fresh record high.
Nikkei 225 briefly dipped below the 39,000 level amid a firmer currency and hawkish comments from BoJ’s Takata, although the index gradually recovered all of its losses in late trade.
Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were positive with outperformance in the latter which momentarily reclaimed the 3,000 level amid lower yields and after the PBoC voiced support for Shanghai’s high-level opening up financially, while it was also reported that China is to crack down on illegal activity to maintain market order. Conversely, the gains in Hong Kong were limited with earnings on the radar.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

US limits the sales of Americans’ data to China and other rivals with President Biden signing an executive order restricting the ability of data brokers to sell sensitive information abroad, according to WSJ.
BoJ Board Member Takata said Japan’s economy is at an inflexion point of changing the ‘norm’ that people think wages and prices are not rising, while he added achievement of the price target is coming into sight despite the uncertainty of the economic outlook. Takata also said need to consider taking a flexible response including exit from monetary stimulus and that momentum is rising in this spring’s wage talks with many companies offering higher-than-2023 wage hikes. BoJ Board Member Takata later stated that he would call for a gear shift in policy and not go backwards but added he has not made up his mind yet on a monetary policy decision when asked about whether to end negative interest rates in March or April, while he is not thinking of raising interest rates one after another and said gradual steps will be needed amid mixed circumstances surrounding small firms.
RBNZ Governor Orr said as aggregate demand has slowed, it has been harder to pass on cost increases and he is confident the current level of the OCR is restricting demand, while the inflation outlook is very balanced. Orr said the economy has developed as they expected and the latest data confirmed inflation is slowing, while he added the easing of interest rates won’t happen anytime soon.

DATA RECAP

Japanese Industrial Production MM (Jan P) -7.5% vs. Exp. -7.3% (Prev. 1.4%); Retail Sales YY (Jan) 2.3% vs. Exp. 2.3% (Prev. 2.1%, Rev. 2.4%)
Australian Capital Expenditure (Q4) 0.8% vs. Exp. 0.5% (Prev. 0.6%); Retail Sales MM Final (Jan) 1.1% vs. Exp. 1.5% (Prev. -2.7%)
New Zealand ANZ Business Confidence (Feb) 34.7% (Prev. 36.6%); ANZ Activity Outlook (Jan) 29.5 (Prev. 25.6)

2C ASIA AFFAIRS

THURSDAY MORNING/WEDNESDAY NIGHT

2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/

NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA

END

2e) JAPAN

JAPAN

Japan has a huge demographic problem. Live births crash

(zerohedge)

Japan’s Demographic Implosion: Live Births Crash To Record Low, 12 Years Ahead Of Forecast

WEDNESDAY, FEB 28, 2024 – 07:20 PM

When it comes to monetary and fiscal policy, Japan is doomed. Unfortunately it is also doomed demographically.

Extending what has long been the most dismal trend in Japan’s civilizational history, government data showed that the number of babies born in Japan fell for an eighth straight year to a fresh record low in 2023, underscoring the daunting task the country faces in trying to stem depopulation.

The number of births in 2023 fell 5.1% from a year earlier to 758,631, while the number of marriages slid 5.9% to 489,281, the first time in 90 years the number fell below 500,000 – the last time the number was this low the US had just dropped the atom bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki – signaling even greater declines in the population as out-of-wedlock births are rare in Japan.

The drop comes more than a decade earlier than the government’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research forecast, which estimated births would decline to below 760,000 in 2035, according to Kyodo news.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths also hit a record – only in the other direction – rising to 1,590,503, while divorces increased to 187,798, up by 4,695.

As a result, Japan’s population, including foreign residents, fell by 831,872, with deaths outnumbering births by a record 831,872, double where it was just five years ago.

Asked about the latest data, Japan’s top government spokesperson said the government will take “unprecedented steps” to cope with the declining birthrate, such as expanding childcare and promoting wage hikes for younger workers.

None of those measures have led to any perceptive improvement in Japan’s demographic bust in the past.

The fast pace of decline in the number of newborns has been attributed to late marriages and people staying single. The administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called the period leading up to 2030 “the last chance” to reverse the trend; all Japan has to do is divert the millions of illegal immigrants entering the US every month through the southern border – with the expectation they will all become diligent Democratic voters – and give them a red carpet welcome.

“The declining birthrate is in a critical situation,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters. “The next six years or so until 2030, when the number of young people will rapidly decline, will be the last chance to reverse the trend.”

A fall in the number of marriages is clearly followed by a drop in births, said Kanako Amano, a senior researcher at the NLI Research Institute. In order to increase the number of marriages, the government must conduct labor reforms, such as increasing wages in rural areas and eliminating the gender gap, Amano said.

The government is planning on submitting related legislation, including a bill on boosting child allowances to combat the declining birthrate, to the current session of parliament.

The number of births has been on a downward trend after hitting a peak in 1973 at around 2.09 million babies. It fell below 1 million in 2016.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is set to release possibly in June population data excluding foreign residents. The revised figure for 2022 showed births falling to 770,747, down about 30,000 from the preliminary figure. If a similar trend continues in 2023, the number of births excluding foreign residents is likely to total around 730,000.

Mindful of the potential social and economic impact, and the strains on public finances, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has called the trend the “gravest crisis our country faces”, and unveiled a range of steps to support child-bearing households late last year.

Japan’s population will likely decline by about 30% to 87 million by 2070, with four out of every 10 people aged 65 or older, according to estimates by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

END

3 CHINA

CHINA/USA

4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS

POLAND

end

5 RUSSIA//UKRAINE AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

ISRAEL HAMAS/GAZ CITY/USA

IDF attack kills 25 in Nuseirat camp in Gaza – report

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF FEBRUARY 29, 2024 06:05Updated: FEBRUARY 29, 2024 07:03

IDF kills 25 in Nuseirat camp in Gaza strip according to Arab media

Some 25 people were killed in an IDF attack on the Nuseirat camp in the center of the Gaza Strip, according to Arab media sources.

This is a developing story.

END

ISRAEL/GAZA/

(GATESTONE)

There Can Be No Ceasefire In Gaza With Hamas In Power

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 02:00 AM

Authored by Con Coughlin via The Gatestone Institute,

For all the various efforts world leaders are investing in arranging a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, they must understand there will be no genuine prospect of peace so long as Hamas terrorists retain control of Gaza.

The Israeli people, irrespective of their political differences, will never accept any long-term deal that allows the terrorist masterminds of Hamas to remain in control of Gaza. Yahya Sinwar leader of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, shakes hands with a masked member of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza City on December 14, 2022. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)

Numerous options have been explored in recent weeks, ranging from the Biden administration’s wide-ranging plan to address numerous regional issues, from the threat posed by Iran to reopening negotiations on Palestinian statehood, to the recent attempt by Arab nations, led by Algeria, to pass a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which was vetoed by Washington.

US President Joe Biden’s plan for a long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians is certainly the most comprehensive effort that has been undertaken to bring an end to the fighting in Gaza, which erupted after Hamas terrorists, on October 7, 2023, launched the most devastating terrorist attack Israel has suffered since its foundation in 1948.

In an initiative that the White House hopes could help to define Biden’s foreign policy legacy, US officials have been working on a so-called “grand bargain,” whereby a diplomatic rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be implemented in return for the Israelis and Saudis working together to resolve the long-running Palestinian issue.

In return for Saudi Arabia agreeing to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel, thereby continuing a normalisation process initiated by the Trump administration in negotiating the Abraham Accords, Riyadh would sign a new defence pact with Washington, as well as US technical assistance on developing a domestic nuclear energy sector.

Securing agreement for the deal from Arab leaders has been the key priority of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his recent shuttle diplomacy mission to the Middle East.

After the Biden administration’s decidedly underwhelming performance in world affairs to date, on issues such as the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the failure of its efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, its absence in confronting Chinese Communist Party aggression and its constant dithering on the Ukraine conflict, it is understandable that Biden should want a genuine foreign policy breakthrough as he launches his campaign for re-election.

This has led US diplomats to intensify their efforts to implement a deal before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan commences next month.

Indeed, the Biden administration’s proposals have won widespread international backing, with many Western leaders and Arab allies supporting efforts to implement a ceasefire before the commencement of Ramadan, which is due to start on March 10.

Despite the growing international clamour for a ceasefire, which has resulted in anti-Israel demonstrations taking place in many European capitals, the prospects of lasting peace taking hold in Gaza remain as remote as ever so long as the Palestinians’ Hamas terrorist movement retains control over the territory.

Having provoked the Gaza conflict in the first place with its murderous assault on Israel on October 7, Hamas’s terrorist leadership shows no sign of backing down in their confrontation with Israel.

On the contrary, Hamas is using the remaining 136 Israeli hostages it still has — of whom at least 32 have been killed — since the October 7 attacks to blackmail Israel into making a number of outrageous concessions, such as requiring Israel to release 1,500 Palestinian prisoners — with one-third of those serving life sentences and many who have been convicted of horrendous acts of terrorism — in return for releasing the hostages.

Even Biden was forced to concede that Hamas’s demands were a “little over the top” when they first emerged earlier this month. But that has not deterred his administration’s officials from pressing on regardless with their plans to impose a ceasefire, even if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains totally opposed to the terms of the ceasefire deal currently being presented to the Israeli cabinet.

The Israeli PM is instead concentrating his efforts on launching Israel’s long-awaited military offensive against the Hamas-controlled Rafah area of Gaza, where many of the Hamas terrorists accused of masterminding the October 7 attacks are believed still to be hiding, possibly with many of the hostages.

In anticipation of the offensive, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have presented Israel’s war cabinet with details of its plan to evacuate Rafah’s civilian population from Gaza.

Israel’s determination to persist with its campaign to achieve “total victory” — to use Netanyahu’s term — against Hamas has been strengthened following the IDF’s recent discoveries about the true extent of the terrorist infrastructure that Hamas, with the backing of Iran and Qatar, has managed to establish in Gaza.

Although Netanyahu recently confirmed that 75 percent of Hamas battalions in Gaza had been destroyed during the past four months of military action, IDF commanders remain concerned that the remaining battalions are hiding within Gaza’s civilian Palestinian population.

With Hamas still posing a significant terrorist threat to Israel’s security, no Israeli government will be prepared to tolerate a ceasefire agreement that allows Hamas to retain any form of presence in Gaza, a fundamental point that the Biden administration needs to take on board as it intensifies the pressure on Netanyahu’s government to accept the US ceasefire plan.

A short, temporary ceasefire might be achievable, so long as it requires Hamas to release all of the remaining Israeli hostages it is holding.

The Israeli people, irrespective of their political differences, will never accept any long-term deal that allows the terrorist masterminds of Hamas to remain in control of Gaza.

END

ISRAEL/GAZA/

IDF says dozens hurt in aid stampede; says it fired at legs of Gazans in 2nd incident; Hamas claims 104 dead

IDF probe: Majority of casualties in northern Gaza crowd crush are result of trampling, being run over

By EMANUEL FABIAN

Aerial footage showing crowds rushing aid trucks in northern Gaza, released on February 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

According to an initial IDF probe of the crowd crush in northern Gaza this morning, the vast majority of the casualties were a result of trampling and being struck by the aid trucks.

The incident began at around 4 a.m., when some 30 trucks carrying humanitarian aid arrived at the coast of Gaza City, to deliver food to Palestinians in the Rimal neighborhood.

Thousands of Palestinians rushed the trucks after they passed an IDF checkpoint in central Gaza, leading to a stampede in which dozens of Palestinians were wounded and killed, some after being run over by the trucks, according to the probe.

The IDF’s initial investigation finds that some of the trucks managed to continue further north, where armed men reportedly opened fire at the convoy near Rimal and looted it.

Dozens of Palestinians who rushed the last truck in the convoy began to move toward an IDF tank and troops stationed at the military’s checkpoint, the investigation finds.

An officer stationed in the area ordered to fire warning shots in the air as the Palestinians were within a few dozen meters, as well as gunfire at the legs of those who continued to move toward the troops, the probe says.

The IDF has coordinated several aid deliveries to northern Gaza in recent weeks, although this one was larger than usual, and it will now look to finding a solution to prevent such incidents from happening again.

END

IDF: 450 Hamas terrorists killed in last few days, over 13,000 in total

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFFEBRUARY 29, 2024 20:59Updated: FEBRUARY 29, 2024 21:01

IDF spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari announced that the IDF had killed over 450 Hamas terrorists in Gaza in the past few days and over 13,000 in total during a press conference on Thursday.

He also announced that security forces have neutralized over 3,400 terrorists in the West Bank, with 1,500 of them belonging to Hamas.

Regarding the aggression in the north, he announced that the IDF had killed over 220 Hezbollah terrorists, including Three Brigade commanders

ISRAEL/HAMAS/WEST BANK

2 critically wounded in suspected terror attack near West Bank settlement of Eli

By EMANUEL FABIAN

Two people are critically wounded in a suspected terror shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Eli, medics say.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says both victims are unconscious.

At least one gunman was shot at the scene by security forces, according to footage and first responders.

The attack takes place at a gas station near Eli, the location of a deadly terror assault last summer, in which four Israelis were killed.

END

Rabbi, teen hitchhiker killed in terror shooting at West Bank gas station

Yitzhak Zeiger, 57-year-old father of 3, slain while pumping gas near settlement of Eli, along with Uria Hartum, 16; gunman, named as PA cop, shot dead at scene by restaurateur

By EMANUEL FABIAN FOLLOWToday, 6:47 pm

Updated at 8:17

Medics respond to a deadly shooting terror attack near the West Bank settlement of Eli, February 29, 2024. (MDA); Inset: Undated photos of Uria Hartum (L), 16, and Yitzhak Zeiger, 57, who were killed in the attack. (Courtesy)

Two Israelis were killed when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at a gas station in the West Bank on Thursday afternoon before being shot and killed by the proprietor of a nearby business on leave from fighting in Gaza, the military and medics said.

The attack, the second deadly shooting at the spot outside the settlement of Eli since June, comes as security tensions around the West Bank have risen ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, even as the military remains focused on fighting in Gaza and escalating skirmishes on the northern border.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said two men were found shot dead at the gas station shortly after 5 p.m. one on the side of the road and one in a car.

The victims were named as Rabbi Yitzhak Zeiger, 57, a father of three and a resident of Shavei Shomron in the West Bank, and Uria Hartum, a 16-year-old high school student from the settlement of Dolev who had been hitching a ride with Zeiger.

Zeiger, a volunteer with paramedic and rescue services organizations, was filling the car with gasoline when he was shot and killed, though he attempted to return fire, according to local authorities.

Hartum was killed as he sat inside the car.

An undated photo of Uria Hartum, 16, who was killed on February 29, 2024 in a terror attack outside the settlement of Eli. (Courtesy)

An undated photo of Yitzhak Zeiger, 57, who was killed on February 29, 2024 in a terror attack outside the settlement of Eli. (Courtesy)

The Israel Defense Forces said the assailant, later identified as a Palestinian Authority policeman, was shot dead at the scene by the owner of a nearby hummus restaurant.

Aviad Gazbar, who said he had recently returned from reserve duty in the Gaza Strip, told media at the scene that he “heard shots” while visiting the hummus restaurant.

“I fired a bullet so that the terrorist would know I was here. I saw that he saw me, and he started charging towards me, I took him down and continued scanning,” he added.

Images showed that the terrorist was armed with an assault rifle.

The Shin Bet security agency identified the assailant as Muhammad Manasra, 31, an officer in the Palestinian Authority’s police, from the West Bank’s Qalandiya refugee camp near Jerusalem.

According to the Shin Bet, Manasra was jailed between 2018 and 2019 for weapons offenses.

Suspected infiltration alarms sounded in Eli following the terror attack, amid fears of additional gunmen in the area. Residents were ordered to remain in their homes for about half an hour before an all-clear was given.

“The troops are blocking roads and conducting a pursuit after additional suspects in the area,” the IDF said initially.

The attack took place at the same location as a deadly terror assault in June in which four Israelis were killed.

The scene of a deadly shooting terror attack near the West Bank settlement of Eli, February 29, 2024. Two people were killed in the attack. (MDA)

Tensions in Israel and the West Bank have been high since October 7, when some 3,000 terrorists burst through the Gaza border into Israel in a Hamas-led attack, killing at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seizing 253 hostages.

Israel responded with an aerial campaign and subsequent ground operation with the goal of destroying Hamas and ending its 16-year rule over Gaza and securing the release of the hostages.

Security officials have expressed fears that the security situation in the West Bank could deteriorate around Ramadan, which is set to begin around March 10.

Even before October 7, tensions had been raised in the West Bank, with Israeli forces carrying out nightly raids in the northern West Bank against increasingly emboldened Palestinian terror groups.

The Israeli campaign has ramped up following October 7, with airstrikes and heavy gunbattles becoming increasingly common.

Since October 7, the IDF has said troops have arrested some 3,400 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,500 affiliated with Hamas.

USA/HOUTHIS/

UKRAINE VS RUSSIA/

Moscow accuses Zelensky of lying on Ukrainian deaths

(zerohedge)

Moscow Accuses Zelensky Of Lying After Issuing ‘Very Low’ Ukraine Troop Death Count

WEDNESDAY, FEB 28, 2024 – 11:20 PM

Just after the Russia-Ukraine war hit the two-year mark this past weekend, entering a third year and with no end in sight, President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly disclosed Ukraine’s official troop death count for the first time. However it immediately resulted in skepticism among even Western pundits, and charges that he’s ‘lying’.

“31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died in this war. Not 300,000 or 150,000, or whatever Putin and his lying circle are saying. But each of these losses is a great loss for us,” he said.

Both sides have kept their casualty count a closely guarded secret, with each country’s media regularly making claims of an immense death toll only on the other side, given it’s an important part of wartime propaganda to keep the enemy in the dark and not let them perceive they could be ‘winning’.

Zelensky’s claim that Ukrainian troop deaths are in the low tens of thousands, and not in the hundreds of thousands, elicited fierce pushback from Moscow. It marks a rare moment that either side is actually talking specific figures, and really for most outside observers the whole ‘debate’ is grim.

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a briefing before his top generals on Tuesday that Ukraine has actually lost 444,000 servicemen since the war’s start. This is an astounding figure which far surpasses any and all prior speculation by pundits. He said according to a translation by NBC:

“As a result of the decisive and active actions of our military personnel, the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces is decreasing. On average, since the beginning of the year, the enemy has been losing more than 800 personnel and 120 units of various weapons, including foreign-made ones, every day,” Shoigu claimed.

“After the collapse of the counteroffensive, the military command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is trying to use the remaining reserves to stabilize the situation and prevent the collapse of the front,” Shoigu added.

Pentagon officials have recently issued their own estimation of Moscow’s losses, saying that US intelligence believes that some 315,000 Russian troops have been killed.

What is clear is that Ukrainian forces are currently in rapid retreat, and lack manpower and enough weaponry to keep up resistance along the front line. Ukraine’s military has admitted retreating from several area villages after its collapse in Avdiiivka earlier this month:

“The Armed Forces have indeed withdrawn from the village of Lastochkyne, which is located immediately west of Avdiivka. There are difficult terrain conditions there, a cascade of small water reservoirs, and this qualifies as stabilizing the defence line, levelling it out to some extent. The enemy continues to attempt offensive actions towards the settlement of Orlivka, conducting them from three fronts, but they are unsuccessful.”

Meanwhile, there’s been no official progress related to potential ceasefire talks. Zelensky has continued touring Europe, and is even now in Saudi Arabia, trying to get large arms flowing into Kiev again.

While Russia’s claims are anything but confirmed and are likely exaggerated (as all governments in a time of war tend to do when it comes to enemy losses), some pundits have found it much more credible that Zelensky’s 31,000 figure:

@KimDotcom

Zelenskyy lied to his people about the casualty numbers of Ukrainian troops. Russian Defence Minister Shoigu disclosed today that Ukraine lost 444k soldiers so far. Currently 800 Ukrainian soldiers die every day. Obituary data from Ukraine confirms this. https://twitter.com/elenasalex/status/1762443091502395478/video/1…

7:36 AM · Feb 27, 2024

546.6K Views

Zelensky is sticking by Ukraine’s own peace formula, which would require that Russia leave all occupied territory, and even give up claims to Crimea. This of course remains a non-starter for Moscow, which remains at an immense advantage both in manpower, artillery, and advanced arms.

END

6.Global Issues//

COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES

GLOBAL ISSUES

MARK CRISPIN MILLER

DR PAUL ALEXANDER

MASSIVE BOOM ruling! This affects all Commonwealth nations e.g. Canada, Caribbean, UK etc. law under the British Westminister system (precedence): UNLAWFUL, hear that! UN-fucking-lawful! Australia:

Mandatory COVID Vaccines for Police, Nurses Unlawful: The Queensland Supreme Court;The Queensland Supreme Court has found mandatory COVID vaccination for police officers and nurses ‘UNLAWFUL’; LIONESS

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERFEB 28

READ IN APP

Exposing The Darkness

Australia: Mandatory COVID Vaccines for Police and Nurses Unlawful – The Queensland Supreme Court

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 Queensland Supreme Court has found mandatory COVID vaccination for police officers and nurses was unlawful and in breach of their human rights…

10 hours ago · 55 likes · 16 comments · Lioness of Judah Ministry

LIONESS OF JUDAH MINISTRY (support them):

‘Australia: Mandatory COVID Vaccines for Police and Nurses Unlawful – The Queensland Supreme Court

The Queensland Supreme Court has found mandatory COVID vaccination for police officers and nurses was unlawful and in breach of their human rights.

LIONESS OF JUDAH MINISTRY

end

Shocking results from Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) research on nurses in Canada & why they were hesitant to take the mRNA technology vaccines & why many did not take it; “You had to get

them to keep your job,” Vaccines were “developed in a matter of a couple of months and handed out like candy,”; “I have a family and a mortgage”, “I am concerned about long-term side effects”

DR. PAUL ALEXANDERFEB 29

READ IN APP

Vax Unpopular With Nurses

A large number of health care workers including most nurses surveyed were reluctant to take Covid shots over fear of side effects, says in-house Public Health Agency research. “Many critical questions remain,” said the first-ever study of vaccine hesitancy among Canadian medical staff.

“Fifty-nine percent of health care workers reported some degree of hesitancy in their decision to get vaccinated,” said the report. Almost a third of doctors, 31 percent, and 54 percent of nurses admitted “some level of hesitancy.”

Alexander COVID News_PCR created fake COVID pandemic is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscribed

“You had to get them to keep your job,” researchers quoted one health care worker. Vaccines were “developed in a matter of a couple of months and handed out like candy,” said another. The report quoted a third: “I have a family and a mortgage it was like, what would I be able to do to make the same amount of money?”

Researchers found 89 percent of health care workers were vaccinated despite reluctance, largely due to fears of job loss. “Vaccine mandates were one of the most commonly reported reasons for getting vaccinated among respondents with a high proportion of nurses indicating it was the sole reason for vaccination,” said the report National Cross-Sectional Survey Of Health Workers Perceptions Of Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness.

Findings were based on questionnaires with 5,372 health care workers nationwide and 33 focus groups. The Health Agency paid Ipsos $295,580 for the study.

Perceptions found eight percent of health are workers refused Covid vaccination outright. Asked why, they replied:

• “I have concerns about the long term side effects” (87 percent);
• “I reject being mandated to get vaccinated” (72 percent);
• “I lack confidence in Canada’s regulatory system” (64 percent);
• “The impact of Covid infection is greatly exaggerated” (52 percent);
• “I have religious or spiritual reasons” (45 percent);
• “I am planning to become pregnant” (20 percent).

“The prospect of losing their employment played a role in their decision to get vaccinated or not,” said Perceptions. “They expressed significant hesitation towards Covid-19 vaccines due to the speed of vaccine development and their perception of the potential for side effects.”

Asked why they took Covid shots, 53 percent of vaccinated health care workers replied: “It was required to maintain my job.” Researchers found “concerns about the safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines were among the largest factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy.”

Most health care workers, 82 percent, said they became infected with Covid. “The proportion of self-reported infection did not vary significantly based on vaccination status,” said the report

The Public Health Agency called the findings significant. “Evaluating the real-world Covid-19 vaccine uptake and performance among health care workers is critical for understanding these behavioural and attitudinal decisions,” wrote researchers.

Vax Unpopular With Nurses

SLAY NEWS

The latest reports from Slay News

Top Climate Scientist: ‘Global Warming Emergency’ Is a ‘Lie’One of the world’s most prominent and highly respected climate scientists has just dropped the hammer on the entire “global warming” fearmongering narrative by warning the public that it is all a “lie.”READ MORE

Supreme Court Rules Australian Vaccine Mandate Was Unlawful A Supreme Court in Australia has just ruled that draconian Covid vaccine mandates issued against emergency responders were unlawful.READ MORE

Texas Nuclear Weapons Plant Forced to Shut Down Due to Massive Wildfires As wildfires rip through Texas, a nuclear power plant was forced to shut down due to a massive blaze.READ MORE

San Francisco Issues Formal ‘Apology’ on Behalf of Residents for City’s ‘Institutional Racism’Democrat officials in San Francisco have voted to issue a formal apology on behalf of the California city’s residents for decades of “institutional racism.”READ MORE

Indiana’s Ban on Gender Treatments for Minors Is Enforceable, Federal Court Rules A federal court has backed Indiana’s efforts to protect children in the state by ruling that officials can now legally enforce bans on gender “transition” treatments for minors.READ MORE

Bill Clinton Comments Denouncing Illegal Immigration Resurface Former President Bill Clinton’s comments denouncing illegal immigration have resurfaced as Democrat policies have triggered an unprecedented crisis at the Southern Border.READ MORE

Marjorie Taylor Greene Accuses Biden DOJ of Seeking ‘Death Sentence’ against Trump Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has raised the alarm over the attempts by the weaponized Department of Justice (DOJ) to target the political enemies of President Joe Biden, the Democrats, and the Uniparty establishment.READ MORE

Biden Admin Issues Legal Challenge to Block Kroger-Albertsons Merger Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration has initiated legal proceedings to block the proposed merger of supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons.READ MORE

California Softball Team Kneels for National Anthem in Louisiana, Gets Brutal Response from Patriotic Crowd: ‘Liberal Wokeness!’Players for the University of California, Berkley softball team got a rude awakening when they took a knee for the national anthem during a game in Louisiana.READ MORE

Russia Claims to Have Thwarted Ukrainian Assassination Attempt on Tucker Carlson Russia claims to have apprehended a would-be assassin who had been sent to Moscow to kill Tucker Carlson by Ukraine.READ MORE

Sen Kennedy Slams ‘Bidenomics’: ‘Cancer on the American Dream’Outspoken Republican Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) has blasted Democrat President Joe Biden’s so-called “Bidenomics” economic policies.READ MORE

House GOP Subpoenas DOJ for Materials on Special Counsel Hur’s Interview with Biden House Republicans have issued a subpoena against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to obtain materials related to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with Democrat President Joe Biden.READ MORE

U.S Army Slashes Force by 24,000 amid Recruitment Struggles The United States Army has announced that it is cutting the size of its force by a whopping 24,000 personnel as the military service struggles with recruitment.READ MORE

EVOL NEWS:

NEWS ADDICT

LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES

Bill Gates Demands Governments Mandate His ‘Global Digital ID’Billionaire globalist Bill Gates is demanding that governments around the world overrule the best interests of their citizens by mandating his “global digital ID” system.READ THE FULL REPORT

Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Claims: ‘Nominating Trump Is Like Suicide for Our Country’Former South Carolina Governor and presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who recently faced defeat in her home state’s primary, contends that nominating former President Donald Trump “is like suicide” for the United States, pointing to Trump’s various legal cases. During an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Haley declined to pledge her support for Trump as the eventual nominee, stating, “What …READ THE FULL REPORT

Canadian Doctor Faces Prison for Warning of Covid Shot Side Effects A prominent Canadian doctor is due to soon go on trial and faces a lengthy prison sentence for speaking publicly about the damage he has witnessed in his patients who have received Covid mRNA shots.READ THE FULL REPORT

State Department Briefing Erupts in Laughter as Bien Admin Jokes about US Invasion State Department reporters burst into laughter when the topic of the U.S. intervening in other nations was brought up during the press briefing.READ THE FULL REPORT

NY Attorney General TAUNTS Trump After Corrupt Ruling New York Attorney General Letitia James, who campaigned on the promise of holding President Donald Trump accountable, has been publicly discussing the $354.8 million penalty imposed on him ever since her victory in court two weeks ago.READ THE FULL REPORT

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

We Are Supposed To Be In A “Restrictive Phase Of Monetary Policy” So What The Hell Is Going On

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 01:20 PM

By Michael Every of Rabobank

Enjoy your cup of digital cocoa

For many in markets, today is all about US weekly initial jobless claims and the core personal consumption expenditure deflator, neither of which are likely to reassure that inflation is on track for a rapid, sustained return to 2%. After all, the former is expected at a low 210K, and the latter at 0.4% m-o-m, up from 0.2%, and 3.6% annualized, even if base effects mean the y-o-y rate would ease a tick from 2.9% to 2.8%. If only that was all that was going on though.

In geopolitics, what about Australia’s spy service revealing a plot by a retired politician to introduce a prime minister’s family to foreign spies? Or the leak of (old) Russian defence files showing when it would consider the use of tactical nukes, including an invasion by China? Or Germany’s navy shooting down two Houthi missiles, and missing a *US* drone? Or Germany and Italy shooting down an EU supply-chain law aimed at China? Or Transnistria, the breakaway region of Moldova, officially asking for Russian “protection”? Or Singapore’s Defence Minister stating, “I have reversed my assessment for today’s generation in Singapore and elsewhere. The risk of regional and even global conflict in the next decade has become non-zero. I do not make this assessment lightly”?

In geoeconomics, how about Russia, which said there wouldn’t be a common BRICS currency yet, proposing a financial system “independent of politics,” and, “an alternative banking structure to secure trade operations that are politically autonomous,” based on digital and blockchain principles – which sounds like a bifurcation of the global economy into Eurodollars and ‘BRICScoin’? (Two blocs, one of which doesn’t produce enough, but wants to, and one which doesn’t have balanced internal demand for what it makes: @Brad_Setser rightly points out an imbalance I was stressing in 2017’s ‘The Great Game of Global Trade’, as well as more recent pieces on ‘Why Bretton Woods 3 Won’t Work’.) Or a Taiwan lawmaker stirring the pot to argue Hong-Kong dollars should not be exchangeable for Taiwan dollars because the HKD might become worthless if the US were to withdraw HK’s special economic privileges?

In politics, how about Mitch McConnell stepping down as Republican Senate leader at 82 after several recent public freezes? Or US President Biden, 81, passing his annual physical without a cognitive test (because he “passes a cognitive test every day,” according to his press secretary) after special counsel Hur dropped charges of mishandling classified documents against him on account of his being an elderly man with “diminished capacities,” including memory loss?

Or the US Supreme Court, later than it could have done, placing a stay on former President Trump’s January 6 court case to hear “the arguments of whether and if so to what extent a former President enjoys presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve acts during his tenure in office” on 22 April? Given the constitutional importance, a decision is likely to take months, so presuming the trial continues, fitting it in alongside that in Georgia (where D.A. Willis is in focus), and Florida (where Trump has his own contentious defense on handling classified documents) may prove difficult ahead of the US election. In short, Biden vs. Trump 2 looks more likely. Even so, Trump may be a lot poorer by then given a New York judge just refused his appeal to pay only part of the $453m fine imposed for him having exaggerated the value of a commercial property as part of a bank loan which the lender undertook their own valuation on was, where the loan was repaid in full, and with the lender willing to continue the banking relationship afterwards – which has worried some in the New York CRE industry.

But all of that is exceeded by what we see in markets. We are, after all, supposed to be in a restrictive phase of monetary policy, globally. We are at levels of nominal and real interest rates which were thought unthinkable a few years ago, and which many prefer not to think about now. (“Stay alive ‘till 25!” is still the mantra in some places.)

How, then, are we seeing Nvidia explode higher? Yes, the practical applications of AI are obvious – but so is the fact that AI is also a practical joke. (Which China has now reportedly joined: an AI there was said to have given a politically incorrect answer on the economic outlook, and was summarily shut down: in the West it’s the one asking the incorrect questions who is shut down.)

How, then, are we seeing Bitcoin at $61,000 when it was $51,000 weeks ago, and $25,000 months ago? Yes, we now have an approved Bitcoin ETF, so asset managers can make tiny portfolio allocations into it, pushing it higher. However, Bitcoin is now even less usable as alternative *money* given nobody will be able to transact when everyone is HODL-ing and a can of soda costs 0.00000984: put that on the shelves and watch US retail get (even more) post-Soviet. Indeed, linking back to Russia’s proposed ‘BRICScoin’ for practical upstream trade commodity financing within an impractical ‘bloc’, Bitcoin is trading like ‘digital cocoa’ that can’t be eaten: on which, this RaboResearch podcast covers the outlook for sugar, dairy, and cocoa, chocolate lovers. In short, Bitcoin is another asset showing there’s still silly liquidity available for silly things –just different silly things than before, like CRE– with an added ironic nanocoating of concern about inflation.

(And as an aside, it is somewhat entertaining to see some gold bugs so bugged by everyone suddenly shifting away from that metal into Bitcoin: “Can’t you see we are the real threat to the US system? You’re just splittist wannabes! You’ll be back when the bubble bursts!” It’s surprisingly Marxist in its internecine conflict.)

It’s true few in markets, and very few in central banks, are looking at all of the intersecting geopolitical, geoeconomic, and political factors above, or even any of them. Indeed, while the RBNZ held rates yesterday –showing there is a very high bar to anyone tightening policy further, even if cuts have been pushed back– it flagged inflation risks flowing from the Red Sea crisis would be resolved “in a calendar year”. That analysis does not seem to be based on Kiwi-specific geopolitical insider knowledge of the Middle East as much as simply possessing a calendar.

By contrast, I suspect quite a few in markets, and many in central banks, are looking at AI stocks and Bitcoin as a (very) simple metric of the looseness or tightness of financial conditions, as one of the factors that lies behind inflation. And they might need a nice up of cocoa to help them sleep at night in either case.

END

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

LNG cargoes bound for China avoid the Red Sea which is killing Egypt’s income.

(OilPrice.com)

Russia’s LNG Cargoes Bound For China Avoid The Red Sea

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 05:00 AM

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

Russia has started diverting its LNG cargoes away from the Suez Canal and is using the longer route to China via the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, amid a higher risk of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters on Wednesday.

The longer route from Russia’s Yamal LNG project to China via Africa instead of the Suez Canal adds around 10 days to the travel time for LNG cargoes to reach their destinations in China and return to Russia, tying up more LNG tankers for longer periods at sea.

This adds to recent struggles of Russia’s top LNG exporter, Novatek, which has yet to begin shipments from its new export project, Arctic 2 LNG, due to a lack of ships amid tightened U.S. sanctions on the project.

Two of the world’s biggest LNG exporters, the United States and Qatar halted shipments via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal earlier this year. Qatar paused LNG cargo journeys through the Suez Canal in the middle of January, but it assured customers and the market that its LNG output is uninterrupted and Europe should expect longer delivery times.

“While the ongoing developments in the Red Sea area may impact the scheduling of some deliveries as they take alternative routes, LNG shipments from Qatar are being managed with our valued buyers,” QatarEnergysaid in January.

Now Russia is also avoiding the Red Sea, per LSEG data quoted by Reuters. Several tankers have already used the longer route to China, while vessels that delivered in December LNG to China from Yamal via the Suez Canal are now heading back to Russia via the Cape of Good Hope, according to the data.

Last month, some tankers transporting Russian fuels started to avoid the Suez Canal route to Asia as ship-tracking data showed operators of vessels carrying Russian oil products may have reached the risk tolerance for passing close to Houthi missiles in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

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 THURSDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING

EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0829 DOWN .0008

USA/ YEN 149.96 DOWN 0.694 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//

GBP/USA 1.2648 DOWN .0013

USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3588 UP .0011 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 11 BASIS PTS)

Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 57.37 PTS OR 1.94%

Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 25.41 POINTS OR 0.15%

AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.54% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: MOSTLY ALL MIXED

Trading from Europe and ASIA

I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: MOSTLY ALL MIXED

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED DOWN 25.41 PTS OR 0.15%

/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 57.32 PTS OR 1.94%

AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.54%

(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 41.84 PTS OR .11%

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 2029.00

silver:$22.34

USA dollar index early THURSDAY morning: 103.92 UP 11 BASIS POINTS FROM WEDNESDAY’s CLOSE.

THURSDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS

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And now your closing THURSDAY NUMBERS 1: 30 AM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 3.046% DOWN 5 in basis point(s) yield

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.706% UP 1 AND 3//100 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.286 DOWN 6 in basis points yield

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.839 DOWN 6 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.4146 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS

END

IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR THURSDAY

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

Euro/USA 1.0804 DOWN 0.0034 or 34 basis points

USA/Japan: 149,95 DOWN 0.719 OR YEN UP 72 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.2627 DOWN .0035 OR 35 BASIS POINTS //

Canadian dollar UP .0009 OR 9 BASIS pts to 1.3569

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED UP AT 7.1887

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)…. (7.2079)

TURKISH LIRA: 31.24 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.706…

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 6 in basis points from WEDNESDAY at 4.239% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic

USA 30 yr bond yield 4.365 DOWN 7 in basis points /12.00 PM

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.623 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS.

GOLD AT 10;30 AM 2045.45

SILVER AT 10;30: 22.41

Your 12:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: THURSDAY CLOSING TIME 12:00 PM//

London: CLOSED UP 5.04 PTS OR 0.07%

German Dax : CLOSED UP 76.97 PTS OR 0.44%

Paris CAC CLOSED DOWN 26.96 PTS OR 0.34%

Spain IBEX CLOSED DOWN 67.30PTS OR 0.67%

Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 37.02 PTS OR 0.11%

WTI Oil price 79.13 12: EST/

Brent Oil: 82.73 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 91.15; ROUBLE UP 0 AND 0//100

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.4115 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS

UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.1670 DOWN 6 BASIS POINTS

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

Euro vs USA: 1.08055 DOWN .0033 OR 33 BASIS POINTS

British Pound: 1.2624 DOWN .0037 or 37 basis pts

BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.160 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS//

JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 0.707%

USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 149.96 DOWN 0.702//YEN UP 70 BASIS PTS//

USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3581 UP .0003 CDN dollar DOWN 3 basis pts)

West Texas intermediate oil: 78.31

Brent OIL: 81.98

USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 3 BASIS pts to 4.251%

USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 3 BASIS PTS to 4.378%

USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 3 PTS AT 4.623%

USA dollar index: 104.08 UP 17 BASIS POINTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 31.23 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/

USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 91.15 UP 0 AND 0/100 roubles

GOLD 2043.60 3:30 PM

SILVER: 22.67 3:30 PM

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 47.37 PTS OR 0.12%

NASDAQ UP 169.35 PTS OR 0.95%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 13.40 DOWN 0.44 PTS OR 3.18%

GLD: $189.31 UP 0.97 OR 0.53%

SLV/ $20.73 UP .18 OR 0.88%

end

USA AFFAIRS

TODAY’S TRADING IN GRAPH FORM

Leap-Of-Faith: Feb Favored Bitcoin-Bulls, Bond-Bears, AI-Advancers, & Anti-Obesity Advocates

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 04:00 PM

Overall February was great for crypto, good for stocks, bad for bonds, and ugly for rate-cut doves.

Endlessly hawkish FedSpeak (confirmed by the FOMC Minutes), and troublingly sticky inflation prints (hard and soft) sent 2024 rate-cut expectations reeling from over 6 cuts (154bps) at the start of the month to less than 4 cuts (84bps) at the end, as better-than-soft-landing data spoiled the “rescue-me” fantasy so many had for The Fed…

Source: Bloomberg

…and expectations for the start of rate-cuts is getting pushed further back with July now moist likely. Quite shift in February from 60% odds of a March-cut to basically 0 and a May-cut fully priced to just 18% now…

Source: Bloomberg

The market is suddenly aware that this disinflationary path may not be as easy as the world and their pet rabbit was hyping at the start of the year. Breakevens have soared higher this year with February pushing 5Y BEs back up near their highest since April 2023…

Source: Bloomberg

And small businesses are obviously price-gouging (well, that’s what President Biden told us anyway)…

We are not amused…

But stocks didn’t care…

Source: Bloomberg

Inflation and AI (well CPI and NVDA) were all that mattered really… All the US Majors were higher in February, led by Nasdaq and S&P as The Dow lagged (but still closed Feb to the upside).

Source: Bloomberg

The algos did everything they could to close the Nasdaq Composite above 16,057 – its prior record closing high…

Fun fact:

When you’re hot, you’re hot. Barring a 0.5% drop in the last 10 minutes of the trading day, this will be the first time in 10 years that the last trading day of February will be an up day for the S&P. It will also be the first positive Leap Day since the year 2000…

3:49 PM · Feb 29, 2024

6,234 Views

Consumer Discretionary and Industrial outperformed in February while Utes lagged (but closed higher on the month)…

Source: Bloomberg

But as Goldman’s Chris Hussey explained, there is some heavy-lifting ahead if stocks are to withstand this:

“For now, markets have sided in favor of the better growth over the higher rates when considering stock valuations — a product perhaps of just how much skepticism in the US growth trajectory remained a month-plus into 2024.

But as we move forward, the ability of this better growth narrative to continue to surprise to the upside may be critical to keeping stocks working (at least from a top-down standpoint)”

Anti-Obesity drug-related stocks massively outperformed In Feb…

Source: Bloomberg

And while AI-related stocks also outperformed, they lagged the GLP-1 Analogs…

Source: Bloomberg

But AI didn’t float all boats as while NVDA rose 29% in Feb, GOOGL dropped 2% as Gemini’s launch was a massive woke embarrassment. AAPL was alos down 2% in Feb (abandoned its EV car idea after decades)…

Source: Bloomberg

MAG7 stocks overall were up over 7% on the month but really have gone nowhere since the initial thrust into the month…

Source: Bloomberg

MSFT overtook AAPL and remains the only $3TN market cap name while NVDA over took GOOGL and AMZN right up against $2TN market cap…

Source: Bloomberg

And all that exuberantly-added market cap means stocks are anything but cheap…

Source: Bloomberg

As rate-cut expectations fell and better-than-soft-landing data showed up (and stickier than expected inflation data), so bonds were battered in February with the short-end monkey-hammered over 40bps higher in yield while the long-end rose around 20bps…

Source: Bloomberg

Which means the yield curve (2s30s) is bear-flattening significantly…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar was up for the second straight month in a row in Feb

Source: Bloomberg

It was a big month for crypto with Ethereum outperforming Bitcoin (+49% vs +45%)…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin traded just shy of $64,000…

Source: Bloomberg

And Ethereum traded just shy of $3500…

Source: Bloomberg

Flows into Bitcoin ETFs soared in February (+$5.9BN) with IBIT inflows dominating…

Source: Bloomberg

…and overall since inception, Bitcoin ETFs have seen +$7.4BN flows while Gold ETFs have seen $2.9BN outflows…

But, despite the outflows, gold managed to end February unchanged. Oil was up while NatGas was ugly…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil prices bounced off January’s close four times this month, with WTI testing up to $79…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, the better-than-expected macro data in February should not have been a surprise as we had been warning about the renaissance of ‘animal spirits 2.0’ due to the lagged effect of the massive loosening of financial conditions that occurred in Q4…

Source: Bloomberg

But, be careful, as that tailwind is set to run out right as the Ides of March strike, which would line up rather ominously with the dot-com peak analog…

Source: Bloomberg

Will The Fed allow a market crash in an election year? Or close to the election will The Fed wait for its first (completely apolitical) cut?

AFTERNOON TRADING/

II USA DATA

Supercore inflation soars in January and services also re accelerate

(zerohedge)

SuperCore Inflation Soars In January, Services Costs Re-Accelerate

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 08:45 AM

GOOD NEWS… One of The Fed’s favorite inflation indicators – Core PCE Deflator – dropped to +2.8% YoY in January (as expected) – the lowest since March 2021.

Headline PCE Deflator rose 0.3% MoM as expected, down at +2.4% YoY in January …

Source: Bloomberg

BUT… Services soared on a MoM basis…

However, shorter-term signals are less encouraging:

Core PCE 3M annualized rate 2.8% from 2.0%
Core PCE 6M annualized rate 2.6% from 2.2%

On a core basis, services costs jumped even more and Durable Goods costs flipped from deflation…

Even more focused, from The Fed’s perspective, is Services inflation ex-Shelter, and the PCE-equivalent actually ticked up on a YoY basis to 3.45%, thanks to a large 0.6% MoM jump, considerably bigger than the last few months increases…

Source: Bloomberg

Under the hood, the SuperCore, every sub-element rose MoM…

Source: Bloomberg

Income and Spending both increased with the former soaring 1.0% MoM (+0.4% exp) but the latter up only 0.2% (in line)…

Source: Bloomberg

Most notably, spending is now rising at a slower pace than incomes on a YoY basis (spending growth at the lowest since Feb 2021)…

Source: Bloomberg

January savings rate rose to 3.8% (from 3.7%)…

Finally, while the markets are exuberant at the headline disinflation, we do note that it’s not all sunshine and unicorns. The vast majority of the reduction in inflation has been ‘cyclical’…

Source: Bloomberg

Acyclical Core PCE inflation remains extremely high, although it has fallen from its highs.

Is The (apolitical) Fed really going to cut rates 4 times this year with a background of strong growth (GDP) and still high Acyclical inflation?

TUCKER CARLSON

Tucker Carlson on Russia/Ukraine vs USA

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/tucker-carlson-gives-wide-ranging-reflection-putin-interview-americans-are-being-lied

“Americans Are Being Lied To About Ukraine” – Tucker Carlson Reflects On Putin, Zelensky, Navalny & Nuclear War

WEDNESDAY, FEB 28, 2024 – 08:40 PM

The international attacks on Tucker Carlson, especially from within US mainstream media and NATO-connected circles, have only increased following his hugely controversial eight day visit to Russia earlier this month where he interviewed President Vladimir Putin. Russian state media has even this week claimed authorities uncovered an “assassination plot” – rumored to have been backed by Kiev.

This week the former FOX prime time host was interviewed about his trip and the whole Putin interview experience in three-hour podcast hosted by Lex Fridman. Tucker Carlson revealed more about what motivated him to do the televised Putin segment, and further discussed his personal take on the Russia-Ukraine war and where it could go from here, now having entered its third year. Interestingly, Carlson’s main critique of the war focused not on Putin or the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine, which of course are not under his control or influence, but on the impact to America.

Carlson explained that the West’s escalation of the conflict long ago into a full-blown proxy war has not only resulted in more needless Ukrainian deaths, but it has been devastating for the United States. “I reject the whole premise of the war in Ukraine from the American perspective,” Carlson told Fridman. “There’s a war going on that is wrecking the US economy in a way and at a scale that people do not understand.” He also generally characterized the response of the US political class to the conflict, along with the American public which has uncritically followed, as naive.

Carlson emphasized that what would be a cautiously realist approach was utterly abandoned by Washington from the start, as has been typical of the past decades of US interventionism abroad. “It doesn’t even matter what I want to happen… that’s a distortion of what is happening,” Carlson explained, and pointed to Russia having 100 million more people and more defense industry might “than all of NATO combined.”

He described that a big part of the rationale behind the Putin interview was to bring “more information” to the West so that “people could make their own decisions about whether” escalation of weapons to Kiev and jingoistic rhetoric from Western capitals is a good idea.

Ultimately, he said, Americans are being lied to:

“Just to be clear, I have no plans to move to Russia. I think I would probably be arrested if I moved to Russia. Ed Snowden, who is the most famous openness, transparency, advocate in the world, I would say along with Assange, doesn’t want to live in Russia. He’s had problems with the Putin government. He’s attacked Putin. They don’t like it. I get it. I get it. I’m just saying, what are the lessons for us?

The main lesson is we are being lied to in a way that’s bewildering and very upsetting. I was mad about it all eight days I was there because I feel like I’m better informed than most people because it’s my job to be informed. I’m skeptical of everything and yet I was completely hoodwinked by it.”

Topics highlighted throughout the long-ranging conversion included Carlson’s personal take on being one-on-one with a seemingly “nervous” Putin, the question of ending the war in Ukraine, the role of the CIA and Western intelligence services, the prospect that the crisis could spiral into nuclear confrontation with the West, the Alexei Navalny saga, as well as a foray into the Israel-Palestine conflict near the end. Watch the full Carlson-Fridman interview below…

https://youtube.com/watch?v=f_lRdkH_QoY%3Fsi%3DsNdqpyu1rCkijfj4

The following are some key excerpts of Tucker Carlson’s words from the interview, selected by ZeroHedge [emphasis ours]…

* * *

Carlson On Putin. “I want to know who this guy is.”

I thought he seemed nervous, and I was very surprised by that. And I thought he seemed like someone who’d overthought it a little bit, who had a plan, and I don’t think that’s the right way to go into any interview. My strong sense, having done a lot of them for a long time, is that it’s better to know what you think, to say as much as you can honestly, so you don’t get confused by your own lies, and just to be yourself. And I thought that he went into it like an over-prepared student, and I kept thinking, “Why is he nervous?” But I guess because he thought a lot of people were going to see it…

I mean, I asked him as I usually do the most obvious dumbest question ever, which is, “Why’d you do this?” And he had said in a speech that I think is worth reading. I don’t speak Russian, so I haven’t heard it in the original, but he had said at the moment of the beginning of the war, he had given this address to Russians, in which he explained to the fullest extent we have seen so far why he was doing this. And he said in that speech, “I fear that NATO the West, the United States, the Biden administration will preemptively attack us.” And I thought, “Well, that’s interesting.” I can’t evaluate whether that’s a fear rooted in reality or one rooted in paranoia. But I thought, “Well, that’s an answer right there.”

And so I alluded to that in my question and rather than answering it, he went off on this long from my perspective, kind of tiresome, sort of greatest hits of Russian history. And the implication I thought was, “Well, Ukraine is ours, or Eastern Ukraine is ours already.”…

I want to know who this guy is. I think a western audience, a global audience, has a right to know more about the guy, and so just let him talk. Because I don’t feel like my reputation’s on the line. People have already drawn conclusions about me, I suppose to the extent they have. I’m not interested really in those conclusions anyway, so just let him talk. And so I calmed down and just let him talk. And in retrospect, I thought that was really, really interesting. Whether you agree with it or not, or whether you think it’s relevant to the war in Ukraine or not, that was his answer. And so it’s inherently significant.

American falsehoods & the Ukraine war

I mean, I guess I reject the whole premise of the war in Ukraine from the American perspective, which is a tiny group of dumb people in Washington has decided to do this for reasons they won’t really explain. And you don’t have a role in it at all as an American citizen, as the person who’s paying for it, whose children might be drafted to fight it. To shut up and obey, I just reject that completely. I think, I guess I’m a child of a different era. I’m a child of participatory democracy to some extent, where your opinion as a citizen is not irrelevant. And I guess the level of lying about it was starting to drive me crazy.

The idea that Ukraine would inevitably win this war. Now victory was never, as it never is, defined precisely. Nothing’s ever defined precisely, which is always to tell that there’s deception at the heart of the claim. But Ukraine’s on the verge of winning. Well, I don’t know. I mean, I’m hardly a tactician or military expert. For the fifth time, I’m not an expert on Russia or Ukraine. I just looked at Wikipedia. Russia has a hundred million more people than Ukraine, a hundred million.

It has much deeper industrial capacity, war material capacity than all of NATO combined. For example, Russia is turning out artillery shells, which are significant in a ground war at a ratio of seven to one compared to all NATO countries combined. That’s all of Europe. Russia is producing seven times the artillery shells as all of Europe combined. What? That’s an amazing fact, and it turns out to be a really significant fact. In fact, the significant fact. But if you ask your average person in this country, even a fairly well-informed person of good faith who’s just trying to understand what’s going on, who’s going to win this war? Well, Ukraine’s going to win. They’re on the right side.

…And I raised that question in my previous job, and I was denounced as of course a traitor or something. But okay, great, I’m a traitor. What’s the answer? What’s the answer? [Vic]Toria Nuland, who I know, not dumb, hasn’t helped the US in any way, an architect of the Iraq war, architect of this disaster, one of the people who destroyed the US dollar. Okay, fine, but you’re not stupid. So you’re trying to get a war by acting that way, what’s the other explanation? By the way, NATO didn’t want Ukraine because it didn’t meet the criteria for admission. So why would you say that? Because you want a war, that’s why. And that war has enriched a lot of people to the tune of billions. So I don’t care if I sound like some kind of left-wing conspiracy nut, because I’m neither left-wing nor a conspiracy nut. Tell me how I’m wrong.

On feeling sorry for Zelensky

If I’m a Russian or a Ukrainian, let’s just be sovereign countries now. We’re not run by the U.S. State Department. We’re just our own countries. I believe in sovereignty, okay? So that’s my view. I also want to say one thing about Zelensky. I attacked him before because I was so offended by his cavalier talk about nuclear exchange because it would kill my family. So I’m really offended by that. Anyone who talks that way I’m offended by. But I do feel for Zelensky. I do. He didn’t run for president to have this happen.

I think Zelensky’s been completely misused by the State Department, by Toria Nuland, by our Secretary of State, by the policymakers in the U.S. who’ve used Ukraine as a vessel for their ambitions, their geopolitical ambitions, but also the many American businesses who’ve used Ukraine as a way to fleece the American taxpayer, and then by just independent ghouls like Boris Johnson who are hoping to get rich from interviews on it. The whole thing, Zelensky is at the center of this. He’s not driving history. NATO and the United States is driving history. Putin is driving history. There’s this guy, Zelensky. So I do feel for him, and I think he’s in a perilous place.

The prospect of nuclear war

Well it’s been what, 80 years? Not even 80 years, 79. And so we haven’t had a world war in 79 years. But one nuclear exchange would of course kill more people than all wars in human history combined.

I am counting. Because I think it obviously, it’s completely demonic and everyone pretends like it’s great. Nuclear weapons are evil.

The use of them is evil, and the technology itself is evil. And in my opinion, I mean, it’s like if you can’t, that’s just so obvious. And what I’m saying is I’m not against all technology. I took a shower this morning. It was powered by an electric pump, heated by a water heater. I loved it. I sat in an electric sauna. I’m not against all technology, obviously, but the mindless worship of technology?

The possibility of Russia-Ukraine Peace: Putin “wants a settlement”

He [Putin] wants a settlement, he wants a settlement. He doesn’t want to fight with them rhetorically and he just wants to get this done. He made a bunch of offers at the peace deal. We wouldn’t even know this happened if the Israelis hadn’t told us. I’m so grateful that they did that, that Johnson was dispatched by the State Department to stop it. I mean, I think Boris Johnson is a husk of a man. But imagine if you were Boris Johnson and you spend your whole life with Ukraine flag, “I’m for Ukraine,” and then all those kids died because of what you did, and the lines haven’t really moved. It hasn’t been a victory for Ukraine. It’s not going to be a victory for Ukraine. It’s like, how do you feel about yourself if you did that? I mean, I’ve done a lot of shitty things in my life, I feel bad about them, but I’ve never extended a war for no reason. That’s a pretty grave sin in my opinion.

Well, the U.S. government’s not allowing negotiations. So that for me is the most upsetting part. It’s like in the end, what Russia does, I’m not implicated in that. What Ukraine does, I’m not implicated in that. I’m not Russian or Ukrainian. I’m an American who grew up really believing in my country. I’m supporting my country through my tax dollars. It’s like I really care about what the U.S. government does because they’re doing it in my name, and I care a lot because I’m American. We are the impediment to peace, which is another way of saying we are responsible for all these innocent people getting dragooned out of public parks in Kiev and sent to go die. What? That is not good. I’m ashamed of it.

On the Alexey Navalny saga

Well, it’s awful. I mean, imagine dying in prison. I’ve thought about it a lot. I’ve known a lot of people in prison a lot, including some very good friends of mine. So I felt instantly sad about it. From a geopolitical perspective, I don’t know any more than that. And I laugh at and sort of resent, but mostly find amusing the claims by American politicians, who really are the dumbest politicians in the world actually, “This happened and here’s what it means.” And it’s like, “Actually as a factual matter, we don’t know what happened. We don’t know what happened.” We have no freaking idea what happened. We can say, and I did say, and I will say again, I don’t think you should put opposition figures in prison. I really don’t. I don’t, period. It happens a lot around the world, happens in this country, as you know, and I’m against all of it.

But do we know how we died? The short answer? No, we don’t. Now, if I had to guess, I would say killing Navalny during the Munich Security Conference in the middle of a debate over $60 billion in Ukraine funding, maybe the Russians are dumb. I didn’t get that vibe at all. I don’t see it. But maybe they killed him. I mean, they certainly put him in prison, which I’m against. But here’s what I do know is that we don’t know. And so when Chuck Schumer stands up and… Joe Biden reads some card in front of him with lines about Navalny, it’s like, I’m allowed to laugh at that because it’s absurd. You don’t know.

An interesting CIA anecdote

I was like, live in foreign countries, see history happen. I’m for that. I applied to the Operations Directorate. They turned me down on the basis of drug use actually. True. But anyway, whatever. I was unsuited for it so I’m glad they turned me down. But the point is I didn’t see CIA as a threat, partly because I was bathing in propaganda about CIA and I didn’t really understand what it was and didn’t want to know. But second, because my impression at the time was it was outwardly focused. It was focused on our enemies. I don’t have a problem with that as much. The fact that CIA is playing in domestic politics and actually has for a long time, was involved in the Kennedy assassination, that’s not speculation. That’s a fact. And I confirmed that from someone who had read their documents that are still not public, it’s shocking.

You can’t have that. And the reason I’m so mad is I really believe in the idea of representative government. Acknowledging its imperfections, but I should have some say, I live here, I’m a citizen. I pay all your freaking taxes. So the fact that they would be tampering with American democracy is so outrageous to me. And I don’t know why Morning Joe is not outraged. This parade of dummies, highly credentialed dummies they have on Morning Joe every day. That doesn’t bother them at all. How could that not bother you? Why is only Glenn Greenwald mad about it? I mean, it’s confirmed. It’s not like a fever dream. It’s real. They played in the last election domestically, and I guess it shows how dumb I am because they’ve been doing that for many years. I mean, the guy who took out Mosaddegh lived on my street. One of the Roosevelt’s, CIA officer.

Carlson on the Israel-Palestine conflict

I mean, it’s not a topic that I get into a lot because I’m a non-expert and because I’m not… Unlike every other American, I’m not emotionally invested in other countries just in general. I mean, I admire them or not, and I love visiting them. I love Jerusalem, probably my favorite city in the world, but I don’t have an emotional attachment to it. So maybe I’ve got more clarity. I don’t know, maybe less. Here’s my view. I believe in sovereignty as mentioned, and I think each country has to make decisions based on its own interest, but also with reference to its own capabilities and its own long-term interest.

And it’s very unwise for… I’m not a huge fan of treaties. Some are fine, too many bad. But I think US aid, military aid to Israel and the implied security guarantees, some explicit, but many implied, security guarantees of the United States to Israel probably haven’t helped Israel that much long-term. It’s a rich country with a highly capable population. Like every other country, it’s probably best if it makes its decisions based on what it can do by itself. So I would definitely be concerned if I lived in Israel because I think fair or unfair-

But now it’s not possible. If you had a coalition of countries against Israel, I know Israel has nuclear weapons and has a capable military and all that and the backing of the United States, but it’s a small country, I think I’d be very worried. So there’s that. I don’t see any advantage to the United States. I mean, I think it’s important for each country to make its own decisions.

* * *

This week there’s been a curious story to emerge in Russian state media sources involving a bizarre ‘assassination plot’ linked to Kiev, which allegedly was supposed to target Carlson while he was in Russia. Interestingly, the allegations have been picked up in major Indian media outlets, among some other international outlets, though it warrants a high degree of skepticism…

A man has been arrested by security services here in Moscow for plotting an assassination attempt on Tucker Carlson The man is from Podolsk and says he was acting on instructions from Ukraines SBU. He claims he was promised $4,000 for “successfully completing the task” (bombing Tuckers car) Tucker also claimed the NSA bugged his email and phone

0:13

2:19 PM · Feb 26, 2024

29.2K View Twitter.com/BowesChay/status/1762195806075883571

AKING: Russian Counter-Terrorism Unit Thwarts Assassination Attempt on

@TuckerCarlson

A Moscow man was arrested for allegedly accepting payment from Ukrainian intelligence to plant an explosive on Tucker Carlson’s vehicle, targeting the American journalist during his interview with Putin. “In November 2023, I was recruited by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. “I was trained in working with special communications, collecting, and detonating explosive devices.” “On January 31, I received a task from the curator to pick up an explosive device from a hiding place and use it to blow up a car.” What was promised to you? “Four thousand dollars.” Where was the explosive device supposed to be used? “In the underground parking of the Four Seasons hotel in Moscow. I was supposed to pick up the explosive device from a hiding place and place it under the car.” Who was it targeting? “I wasn’t told.” Do you know who the target was now? “Yes. American journalist Tucker Carlson.” What went wrong? “I was detained at the preparation stage.” Sources below.

3:21 PM · Feb 26, 2024

4.1M Views https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1762211208827199542

III USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES

Panic in New York and for that matter, the entire CRE as top Canadian Pension fund sells its premier Manhattan office tower for the grand sum of $1.00 (assumes huge debt) and that sparks a firesale panic

(zerohedge)

“Who Could Be Next”: Top Canadian Pension Fund Sells Manhattan Office Tower For $1, Sparking Firesale Panic

WEDNESDAY, FEB 28, 2024 – 10:40 PM

New York during the inflationary surge of the late 70s and early 80s was a mythical place where one could purchase a Park avenue penthouse for $1 (while assuming the copious debt, of course). Now, thanks to the brutal bear hug of the highest interest rates in 40 years and the ongoing CRE crisis, those legendary days have made a comeback to the Big Apple, if only in the realm of commercial real estate for now.

According to Bloomberg, Canadian pension funds – which until recently had been among the world’s most prolific buyers of real estate, starting a revolution that inspired retirement plans around the globe to emulate them because, in the immortal words of Ben Bernanke, Canadian real estate prices never go down…

… are finally realizing that gravity does exist . And so, the largest one among them is taking steps to limit its exposure to the most-beleaguered commercial property type — office buildings.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has recently done three deals at deeply discounted prices, selling its interests in a pair of Vancouver towers, and a business park in Southern California, but it was its Manhattan office tower redevelopment project that shocked the industry: the Canadian asset manager sold its stake for just $1. The worry now is that such firesales will set an example for other major investors seeking a way out of the turmoil too, forcing a wholesale crash in the Manhattan real estate market which until now had managed to avoid real price discovery.

Indeed, as Goldman wrote earlier this week, while office vacancy rates are expected to keep rising well into the next decade..

… the average price of many nonviable offices has fallen only 11% to $307/sqft since 2019 (left side of Exhibit 6). The bank goes on to note that in the hardest-hit cities, as many as 14-16% of offices may no longer be viable, and their average transaction prices have already declined by 15-35%. However, because of lack of liquidity in this market, these recent transaction prices have not yet started to reflect the current values of many existing offices. Goldman ominously concludes that “alternative valuation methods, like those that are based on repeat-sales and appraisal values, suggest that actual office values may be far lower than the average transaction price.” Well, a $1 dollar price would certainly confirm that actual office values are far, far lower (more in the full Goldman note available to professional subscribers).

And going back to the historic firesale, at the end of last year the Canadian fund sold its 29% stake in Manhattan’s 360 Park Avenue South for $1 to one of its partners, Boston Properties, which also agreed to assume CPPIB’s share of the project’s debt. The investors, along with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte., bought the 20-story building in 2021 with plans to redevelop it into a modern workspace.

“It’s the opposite of a vote of confidence for office,” said John Kim, an analyst tracking real estate companies for BMO Capital Markets. “My question is, who could be next?”

As office building anxiety has swept the financial world, as the persistence of both remote work and higher borrowing costs undercuts the economic fundamentals that made the properties good investments in the first place, a wave of banks from New York to Tokyo recently conceded that loans they made against offices may never be fully repaid, sending their share prices plunging and prompting fears of a broader credit crunch.

But the real test will be what price office buildings actually trade for – especially once the hundreds of billions of loan backing the properties mature….

…. and until now there have been precious few examples since interest rates started rising. That’s why industry-watchers see such shocking liquidations like CPPIB’s as a very ominous sign for the market.

The Manhattan firesale isn’t the pension fund’s first sale: last month, CPPIB sold its 45% stake in Santa Monica Business Park, which the fund also owned with Boston Properties, for $38 million. That’s a discount of almost 75% to what CPPIB paid for its share of the property in 2018. The deal came just after the landlords signed a lease with social media company Snap that required they spend additional capital to improve the campus, Boston Properties Chief Executive Officer Owen Thomas said on a conference call.

Peter Ballon, CPPIB’s global head of real estate, declined to comment on the recent deals, but said the fund has continued to invest in office buildings, including a recently completed, 37-story tower in Vancouver.

“Selling is an integral part of our investment process,” Ballon said in an emailed statement. “We exit when the asset has maximized its value and we are able to redeploy proceeds into higher and better returns in other assets, sectors and markets, including office buildings.”

As Bloomberg notes, the pension fund isn’t actively backing away from offices, but it’s not looking to increase its office holdings either. And where a property requires additional investment, CPPIB might simply look to sell so it can put that cash somewhere it can get higher returns instead, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.

CPPIB’s C$590.8 billion ($436.9 billion) fund is one of the world’s largest pools of capital, and its C$41.4 billion portfolio of real estate — stretching from Stockholm to Bengaluru — includes almost every property type, from warehouses, to life sciences complexes, to apartment blocks.

While that scale would mitigate any potential losses from individual transactions, it also means even a small shift in CPPIB’s office appetite has the power to cause ripple effects in the market.

While the 360 Park liquidation may be shocking, it’s just the first of many: with hybrid work schedules set to depress demand for office space in the long term, and higher interest rates increasing the cost of the constant upgrades needed to attract and keep tenants, even the best office buildings may not be able to compete with investment opportunities elsewhere.

“To get even better returns in your office investment you’re going to have to modernize, you’re going to have to put a lot more money into that office,” said Matt Hershey, a partner at real estate capital advisory firm Hodes Weill & Associates. “Sometimes it’s better to just take your losses and reinvest in something that’s going to perform much better.”

END

Goldman Says Office Tower Prices Must Plunge 50% For Housing Conversion To Make Sense

WEDNESDAY, FEB 28, 2024 – 09:20 PM

As office tower vacancies continue to rise nationwide, many of these buildings are becoming economically nonviable workspaces, raising the question of what can be done with millions of square feet of underutilized space. Simultaneously, the US housing market faces a severe shortage, leaving investors and lawmakers to ponder whether underutilized office space can be transformed into multifamily buildings.

Goldman analyst Jan Hatzius uses a discounted cash flow model to show that the current acquisition costs of office towers are still too high for conversion to multifamily buildings, indicating that offices will likely remain underutilized in the medium term.

Hatzius pointed out that the viable point where office tower conversions would make financial sense would be a further price decline of 50%.

About 4% of the nation’s office buildings could be slated for conversion projects into housing, with the share expected to jump as the office vacancy rate is forecasted to reach 18% in 2033 from about 14% this year.

Many of these nonviable towers are still overvalued and not cheap enough for conversion because of financing costs. Even with San Francisco’s office industry in a meltdown and prices having already tumbled 35% since 2019, these levels are still too high.

Goldman’s definition of a nonviable office tower is that it must be located in a suburban area or central business district and built before 1990 but has not been renovated since 2000. Each tower must have a vacancy rate above 30%.

Based on Goldman’s model, Hatzius’ team suggests “that converting a nonviable office that is priced at the average current level will result in a $164 loss” per square foot, adding, “This means that current office prices would need to fall by that much, to around $154 per [square foot] or by 50%, for the cost to be fully covered by the stream of discounted future revenues.”

With that in mind, a structural downshift in office demand has occurred in recent years because of the widespread adoption of hybrid work, among other factors, including an exodus of cities by companies whose employees no longer feel safe in imploding progressive-controlled metro areas.

The CRE crisis is far from over (read prior GS report on “heightened CRE risks“). And remember the dominoes began falling last month.

END

Elon Musk ringing the alarm bell on the flood of illegals crushing the country

(zerohedge)

“I’m Ringing The Alarm Bell, Because Flood Of Illegals Is Crushing The Country!”

WEDNESDAY, FEB 28, 2024 – 08:44 PM

Ahead of President Biden’s visit to the southern border on Thursday, with former President Trump planning to visit simultaneously to slam the radicals in the White House for sparking the worst migrant invasion this nation has ever seen, a new graphic released by Bloomberg shows the locations of where illegals have ended up after being bussed through the nation via a shadowy network of taxpayer-funded non-governmental organizations.

The latest figure from the US Customs and Border Protection shows a whopping 7.3 million illegals have flooded this nation under Biden’s first term.

It was already evident that illegals were being transported by bus to major Democratic cities such as New York City, Detroit, Los Angeles, Denver, and other urban centers. Now, according to Bloomberg data based on immigration court records, the cities listed above are, in fact, where these folks are being shipped:

Much of the angst around the impact of newly arrived migrants to the US has focused on the biggest cities in New York, Illinois and Colorado, and immigration court records suggest that those states are indeed among the most affected by the surge. The data also signal that Texas and Florida, which have long complained about the costs of absorbing newcomers, are still among the top destinations of migrants.

NYCB Re-Crashes After Finding “Material Weaknesses” In Internal Controls, Delays Filing

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 04:51 PM

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the regional bank waters…

Remember New York Community Bank – the embattled bank that made the surprise decision to slash its dividend to stockpile cash (in case commercial real estate loans go bad) amid mounting pressure from a top US watchdog (read here, here, and here)?

Well theeeyyyy’re back!

According to a regulatory filing this evening, NYCB disclosed that it identified material weaknesses in its internal controls related to internal loan review as part of an assessment.

“Management identified material weaknesses in the company’s internal controls related to internal loan review, resulting from ineffective oversight, risk assessment and monitoring activities,” the bank said in the filing.

Due to this, the bank will delay its annual report.

“‘NYCB’ has determined that it is unable to file, without unreasonable effort or expense, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023

NYCB also took a $2.4 BN hit to 4Q and annual net (loss) income, as GAAP accounting required a “goodwill impairment” charge for the quarter and fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2023.

Additionally, Alessandro DiNello will be chief executive officer, succeeding Thomas Cangemi, it said in a statement late Thursday.

DiNello was appointed as executive chairman earlier this month to help the bank improve its operations. He joined the company following its acquisition of Flagstar Bancorp Inc. in December 2022. He had been Flagstar’s president and CEO.

Cangemi remains on the board.

NYCB Shares are down over 10% in the after-market, having stabilized (albeit at lower levels) after early Feb’s debacle (that wiped over 50% of the bank’s value away)…

Full filing details below:

On January 31, 2024, NYCB filed a Current Report on Form 8-K furnishing under Items 2.02 and 9.01 the Company’s press release announcing its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 (the “Original Filing”). The full text of the press release was included as Exhibit 99.1 to the Original Filing.

On February 29, 2024, NYCB filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) an Amendment (the “Amendment”) to the Original Filing to reflect, among other things, (a) an adjustment related to a goodwill impairment with respect to 2007 and prior transactions, as more fully described therein, (b) certain measurement period adjustments impacting the Company’s bargain purchase gain from the Company’s acquisition of certain assets and liabilities of the former Signature Bank through a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation facilitated transaction and (c) an adjustment for a type 1 subsequent event (as more fully described in the Amendment). Each of these adjustments were identified by NYCB’s management after the date of the Original Filing and as part of the Company’s customary procedures to finalize its financial statements for inclusion in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 (the “2023 Form 10-K”).

Separately, as part of management’s assessment of the Company’s internal controls, management identified material weaknesses in the Company’s internal controls related to internal loan review, resulting from ineffective oversight, risk assessment and monitoring activities. Although assessment of the Company’s internal controls is not yet complete, the Company expects to disclose in the 2023 Form 10-K that its disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting were not effective as of December 31, 2023. The Company’s remediation plan with respect to such material weaknesses is expected to be described in the 2023 Form 10-K.

The Company has been working diligently to finalize the 2023 Form 10-K; however, the Company must complete its work related to the evaluation and planning for remediation of the material weaknesses described above and other items included in the Amendment. Accordingly, the Company has determined that it is unable to file, without unreasonable effort or expense, the 2023 Form 10-K by the prescribed due date.

The Company expects to file its 2023 Form 10-K within the fifteen calendar day grace period provided by Form 12b-25. The Company does not currently anticipate that its statement of operations contained in the 2023 Form 10-K will differ materially from those reported for the full fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, in the Amendment dated February 29, 2024.

Does anyone trust any of the valuations in the loan book after this?

end

Banks Increase Car Loan Rejections Over $1,000 Monthly Payment Concerns

BY TYLER DURDEN

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 02:20 PM

As borrowers struggle with making their $1,000 monthly car payments, banks with auto financing units are swiftly adjusting to stricter credit conditions by turning down many prospective buyers, further complicating the process for consumers to secure auto loans.

According to Bloomberg, “That’s freezing out buyers with lower credit scores who can’t afford a large down payment, while Americans with healthy finances are having more trouble than usual securing loans.”

New data from Cox Automotive shows access to auto credit has tumbled to the lowest level since August 2020. The approval rate for loans is down 1.6% year-over-year.

Meanwhile, data from the New York Federal Reserve shows the percentage of auto loans 90 days or more delinquent rose above pre-pandemic levels to 2.66% in the fourth quarter of 2023. That compares to 2.37% at the beginning of 2020 and a 15-year average of 2.16%.

“What people are struggling with is the level of inflation causing them to have to juggle expenses and try to stay current on their loans,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for Cox Automotive.

Smoke continued: “It’s produced some very alarming statistics that indicate risk has grown in an environment in which lenders have become more risk-averse.”

This is why banks have a very cautious view of the consumer as the era of Bidenomics fails.

And this also comes as a recent Edmunds report showed the number of consumers with auto loans “underwater” or “negative equity” hit levels not seen since April 2020.

“It’s a precarious spot for many Americans, coming after a twin surge in car buying and interest rates has strained finances and fueled an uptick in automobile repossessions,” Bloomberg recently explained. The average rate for a new auto loan with a 60-month term via Bankrate data nears the 8% mark, or the highest level since the Dot Com bust.

Last year, when discussing the “perfect storm” hitting the US auto market, we showed that according to Fitch, “More Americans Can’t Afford Their Car Payments Than During The Peak Of Financial Crisis“… The average new car loan has reached a record high of $40,000.

And weeks ago, we penned a note showing how some dealers put consumers with likely poor credit into vehicles with payments comparable to mortgage payments of a small home.

The auto financing market is preparing for a downturn as low-tier consumers increasingly struggle with $1,000 monthly payments.

In the end-of-day market round-up on Wednesday, we shared with readers the Credit Managers’ survey that shows the rate of rejections for credit applications and the number of accounts moved to ‘collections’ is surging back to near GFC levels…

… and about that ‘strong consumer’ narrative the Biden administration keeps pushing in corporate media.

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

END

Get a load of this; Biden’s labour department sparks confusion explaining January CPI spike

(zerohedge)

Biden’s Labor Department Sparks Confusion With Email “Explaining” January CPI Spike

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 07:45 AM

There was a collective gasp of surprise two weeks ago when not only did CPI and core CPI both come in far hotter than expected, but the closely watched sticky Super Core inflation – Core CPI Services Ex-Shelter index – soared 0.7% MoM (the biggest jump since Sept 2022…

… and while we correctly warned that the inflation print would come in red hot (see “CPI Preview: “There’s A Genuine Risk” Inflation Will Come In Hotter Than Expected“) most on Wall Street did not, and were scrambling to come up with justifications for why they were again collectively wrong, with Goldman being of particular note, as the bank attributed the spike to what it called a “January effect” and then assured its clients that “while some of the OER strength could persist if driven by the rebound in the single-family market, we continue to expect inflation in non-housing services to normalize in February and March now that the start-of-year price increases have been implemented.“

Now the reason why Goldman, and so many others, scrambled to goalseek a narrative that sees the Fed cutting rates in March… or May…. or June (as Goldman now does, after previously forecasting both the former months as the start date of the Fed’s easing cycle)… or whenever, is because that’s the only thing that will validate the very bullish year-end S&P price targets by various banks which have been aggressively raised in recent weeks as the Wall Street lemming crew chased the momentum ignition sparked by a few AI-linked companies. But there is another reason why the Fed needs to cut: if it does not the odds of the market maintaining its upward glidepath into the November election, not to mention the so-called “strength” Bidenomics, are as dead as the dodo.

In other words, the real shock is not that inflation printed high – everyone knows how high prices are and in which direction they are moving – it is that Biden’s Department of Labor Statistics admitted to this fact. So two weeks later, the BLS has realized precisely the error that it made, and as Bloomberg reported today, the US Labor Department’s statistical agency “sowed confusion” on Wall Street this week with an email about a key factor behind the jump in January’s CPI index

A Tuesday email to a group of data “super users”, seen by Bloomberg, suggested a surge in a measure of rental inflation — which left analysts puzzled — was caused by an adjustment to how subcomponents of the index are weighted.

Adding to the speculation that the data has been rigged and we are witnessing yet another conspiracy in action, one recipient said the BLS Statistics tried to retract it and that they were told to disregard its contents.

As we explained at the time, the spike in owners’ equivalent rent was a major factor behind the strength of the overall January CPI figure given its outsize weight in the index. Specifically, while Rent inflation rose 0.36% MoM, Owner-Equivalent rent jumped 0.56% and shelter inflation surged 0.63% sequentially, the biggest increase since February 2023. Whatever the reason, the cascade from the higher-than-expected CPI numbers eventually led Fed officials to warn there would be a delay to widely anticipated interest-rate cuts.

Which, however, is bad news for Biden as explained above, hence the following bizarre email sent out by the BLS:

It wasn’t immediately clear who or what is a BLS “super user”, but it was obvious that the BLS is now in damage control mode, trying to “justify” why it allowed the January CPI print to come in red hot. The implication is simple: now that the BLS knows what “caused” the spike it won’t allow the same mistake twice.

The BLS is “currently looking into this data, and we may have additional communication regarding the rent and OER data soon,” an economist at the agency told Bloomberg in an emailed statement.

As Bloomberg explains, an increase in the weighting of single-family homes within the OER measure relative to multifamily units would tend to give it a temporary boost because supply of single-family homes has been restrained, keeping prices elevated, whereas multifamily supply has surged in recent years.

Furthermore, the acceleration in OER puzzled analysts because the rate of increase in a similar, though smaller, CPI component known as rent of primary residence continued to decelerate in January. The two typically move up and down together, and some suggested the larger OER move should be seen as a fluke.

Putting the puzzles pieces together, Pantheon Macro economist Ian Shepherdson wrote in a note to clients that if the weighting explanation proves correct, it could keep OER inflation readings elevated for the next several months.

“Prudence suggests” that “we should expect OER to rise at the January pace for the next five months, at which point it should revert to the rate of increase of primary rent,” he said.

Alternatively, if the BLS purposefully adjusted a weighting factor in an adverse way early in the year, it would then have many months in which it would be able to smooth out the negative January impact, allowing the monthly CPI print to come in well below where it would otherwise be. Of course, such an explanation would be rather conspiratorial and would suggest that the BLS is in cahoots with the Biden admin as it seeks to mitigate any potential upside price shocks in the months leading to the November election. Almost as conspiratorial as the BLS “accidentally” sending out an email to its “super users”, and the promptly seeking to retract it….

END

Pending Home Sales Puked In January, Back Near Record Lows

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 10:13 AM

Pending home sales puked in January, tumbling 4.9% MoM (vs +1.5% MoM exp). This was made worse by a large downward revision for December (from +8.3% MoM to +5.7% MoM)…

Source: Bloomberg

That was the biggest MoM decline since August and dragged the YoY sales decline to -6.82%, tumbling back near record lows…

Source: Bloomberg

Realtors gonna realtor…

“This combination of economic conditions is favorable for home buying,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.

“However, consumers are showing extra sensitivity to changes in mortgage rates in the current cycle, and that’s impacting home sales.”

WTF are you talking about Larry?

Earlier this week, a gauge of US mortgage applications for home purchases fell for a fifth week, nearing its lowest level since 1995.

Who could have seen that coming? As rates surged once again…

Source: Bloomberg

The pending-home sales report is a leading indicator of existing-home sales given houses typically go under contract a month or two before they’re sold.

The index of contract signings decreased 7.3% in the South, the nation’s biggest housing market.

Pending sales also fell 7.6% in the Midwest, but climbed 0.8% in the Northeast and 0.5% in the West.

“Southern states and those in the Rocky Mountain time zone experienced faster job growth compared to the rest of the country,” Yun said.

“As a result, long-term housing demand is increasing more significantly in these regions. However, the timing and number of purchases will largely depend on the prevailing mortgage rates and inventory availability.”

Overall sales are expected to increase 13% this year, according to NAR’s economic outlook, but as the chart above shows, unless rates start tumbling soon, that ain’t gonna happen.

END

this is bad: prices paid accelerates as Chicago PMI plunges

(zerohedge)

Survey-Based Sentiment Slump Continues As Prices Paid Accelerates in Plunging Chicago PMI

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024 – 10:00 AM

The trend for ‘soft’ survey data is very much not the friend of the ‘soft-landing’ or ‘goldilocks’ narrative peddlers as it slumps from extreme optimism to disappointed pessimism (even as hard data has improved)…

Source: Bloomberg

And today saw more of the same as the Chicago MNI tumbled further off the ‘weird’ spike in November, deeper into contraction at 44 (from 46 and well below the expected bounce to 48)…

Source: Bloomberg

That was below all analysts’ estimates and 3 standard deviations less than expected…

Source: Bloomberg

Under the hood was even more problematic:

New orders fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction
Employment fell at a faster pace; signaling contraction
Inventories fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction
Supplier deliveries fell and the direction reversed; signaling contraction
Production fell at a faster pace; signaling contraction
Order backlogs fell at a slower pace; signaling contraction

Worse still, Prices paid rose at a faster pace…

So, in summary: slower growth, declining production, shrinking orders, falling employment… and accelerating inflation – is it any wonder that ‘soft survey’ data is disappointing – not exactly election-winning headlines.

END

FREIGHT ISSUES/USA

END

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

END

SWAMP STORIES

Illinois Judge Removes Trump From Primary Ballot

WEDNESDAY, FEB 28, 2024 – 09:59 PM

By Catherine Yang of Epoch Times

Ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on whether former President Donald Trump can be disqualified as a candidate by individual states under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, an Illinois judge ruled President Trump ineligible for the ballot.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Tracie Porter, following other jurisdictions, stayed her order to remove the former president pending an appeal which he has, and which the Supreme Court has said it will hear. The ruling came a week after the judge heard arguments regarding Illinois statutes.

“This Order is stayed until March 1, 2024 in anticipation of an appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, or the Illinois Supreme Court. This Order is further stayed if the United States Supreme Court in Anderson v. Griswold enters a decision inconsistent with this Order,” the ruling reads.

On Feb. 8, the day the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding Colorado’s disqualification of President Trump, mail-in ballots were sent out in Illinois with President Trump’s name on them. This puts the state in a position to potentially have to not count votes cast for him.

If the order is not stayed and reversed, the state elections board will be tasked with removing “Donald J. Trump from the ballot for the General Primary Election on March 19, 2024, or cause any votes cast for him to be suppressed, according to the procedures within their administrative authority.”

Much of the judge’s opinion and order dealt with state law and whether the state elections board had the jurisdiction to rule on this matter.

The judge found that Illinois law allowed petitioners to bring this kind of a challenge and that President Trump was “disqualified by engaging in insurrection,” noting that this finding was echoed by the hearing officer of the state election board and the Colorado Supreme Court.

“This Court shares the Colorado Supreme Court’s sentiments that did not reach its conclusions lightly. This Court also realizes the magnitude of this decision and it (sic) impact on the upcoming primary Illinois elections,” the order reads.

Both of those jurisdictions based the “insurrection” conclusion on records that plaintiffs presented drawn largely from the controversial Jan. 6 Select Committee report.

Judge Porter determined that Section 3 was self-executing, applied to presidents, and could be applied by individual states even in the event of a national election.

These legal issues are all currently before the Supreme Court, which on Feb. 8 questioned attorneys representing President Trump and six petitioners from Colorado on the ramifications of states applying Section 3 at length and spent little time discussing whether an insurrection occurred.

Petitioners

The challenge was brought by five Illinois voters, represented by the activist group “Free Speech for People.”

Earlier, the bipartisan Illinois State Board of Elections unanimously voted to keep President Trump on the ballot after determining that the board did not have the authority to analyze constitutional issues. The board unanimously voted to keep President Joe Biden on the ballot for similar reasons, in response to two separate challenges brought against the sitting president.

The challenge to President Trump’s eligibility was then appealed in circuit court, and the parties have indicated that whatever the ruling, it would be appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Free Speech for People Legal Director Ron Fein declared it a “historic victory.”

Continue reading at Epoch Times

END

In Blow To Special Counsel Smith, SCOTUS Agrees To Hear Trump Immunity Appeal

WEDNESDAY, FEB 28, 2024 – 06:40 PM

The Supreme Court granted certiorari of former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity claim in the federal criminal case charging him for actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

The presidential immunity defense has stalled the case for nearly three months and will miss the originally scheduled March 4 trial date.

The high court’s decision automatically stays lower courts from moving forward in the case.

As Catherine Yang reports at The Epoch Times, the court also granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request that President Trump’s petition for a stay be treated as a petition for review.

“The case will be set for oral argument during the week of April 22,” the order reads.

The parties have been instructed to limit arguments to the question:

“Whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.”

The Supreme Court’s framing combines the various questions the former president and special counsel had presented to the court.

Prosecutors argued that presidents enjoy no immunity from criminal prosecution, while defense attorneys argued that official acts of a president during his tenure are protected by presidential immunity.

Read the full one-page order from SCOTUS below:

President Trump had originally filed a motion to dismiss the case based on presidential immunity last year.

When U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected the motion in December, the defense took the case to appeals court, putting the pretrial schedule in limbo.

A federal appeals court panel rejected this defense on Feb. 6, and in an atypical order withheld its mandate on the condition that President Trump take his case to the Supreme Court by Feb. 12.

Normally, the appellants would be allowed to petition for a rehearing with the whole bench of the appeals court, which might have drawn out the process for a few more months. The appeals panels expressly ordered that a rehearing petition would not stay the case.

President Trump’s attorneys then asked the high court to stay all lower court proceedings in a petition to the Chief Justice, and prosecutors responded by asking that the Supreme Court reject the petition for a stay.

Prosecutors had argued the court was unlikely to grant certiorari, as they declined to hear this same case last year when the special counsel petitioned the high court last year when the motion was appealed.

They also asked the court to schedule a hearing in March if it did grant certiorari, or review of a lower court’s actions.

The Supreme Court has dismissed the application for a stay as moot because granting certiorari would effectively halt lower court proceedings.

“Without expressing a view on the merits, this Court directs the Court of Appeals to continue withholding issuance of the mandate until the sending down of the judgment of this Court,” the new order reads.

President Trump’s briefs and any amicus curiae briefs need to be filed by March 19, and prosecutors have until April 8 to respond. President Trump can then file a reply brief by April 15, and arguments will be heard the week of April 22. A specific date for the hearing was not set.

This is the second case President Trump has brought before the Supreme Court this year.

The high court is also set to rule on whether President Trump is eligible to appear on the ballot after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled he was disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, finding the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach an “insurrection.”

Jonathan Turley said on X that “the order setting argument on immunity for April 22 is a blow to Smith on the calendar.”

“Rather than granting a stay, it has constructively created such a stay by scheduling the argument. Keep in mind, even if Smith prevails, pre-trial work must wait for the return of the mandate…

…Even if the Court issues a decision before June in favor of the government, the trial court must hash out discovery and other motions. That would push the trial closer to the November election in tension with existing DOJ policies.”

The mainstream media is distraught…

Andrew Fisher

@acpandy

the tone in MSNBC and Andrew Weissmann is like end of the world

5:40 PM · Feb 28, 2024

6,279 Views

Epoch Times’ Catherine Tang notes that the concept of presidential immunity was defined by the Supreme Court in a 1982 case where a fired military contractor sued former President Richard Nixon after he lost his job.

The high court ruled a president’s immunity from civil suit was “absolute” and that it extended to the “outer perimeter” of his office.

President Trump’s attorneys argue that his actions on Jan. 6 were part of his official duties as president, pointing to his record of taking election integrity seriously.

Prosecutors argue that President Trump has no immunity in this case because it is a criminal case.

The Supreme Court has never addressed whether presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution, making the issue untested legal territory.

President Trump’s attorneys say that to open presidents up to criminal prosecution in this way will only invite partisan retaliation by opposing administrations and opens up former presidents to prosecution for official acts.

They argued in court filings that criminal prosecutions have never been pursued against presidents in or out of office because it was understood to “dimish” the office the way a civil suit would. They added that the court has said that the proper redress would be through impeachment.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argue that no criminal prosecutions have been brought against other presidents because Jan. 6 was unique, but a case could have been brought against President Nixon, who was pardoned.

KING REPORT//

The King Report February 29, 2024 Issue 7190

Independent View of the News

More Bidenomics on Wednesday, Q4 GDP was revised to 3.2% from 3.3%; the GDP Price Index was revised to 1.6% from 1.5%; the Core PCE Price Index was revised to 2.1% from 2.0%; and Consumption was revised to 3.0% from 2.7%. Government Spending grew 4.2%; the BEA initially reported government spending growth at 3.3%. Bidenomics! The BEA: Current-dollar personal income increased $219.5 billion in the fourth quarter, a downward revision of $5.4 billion from the previous estimate… Disposable personal income increased $202.5 billion, or 4.0 percent, in the fourth quarter, a downward revision of $9.2 billion from the previous estimate. Real disposable personal income increased 2.2 percent, a downward revision of 0.3 percentage point. Personal saving was $809.2 billion in the fourth quarter, a downward revision of $22.4 billion from the previous estimate… Bidenomics! Percent Contributions to GDP (Table 2): Government 0.73 (State & Local 0.58): Healthcare 0.64; Food Services 0.38 (Inflation); Fixed Investment 0.43; Net Exports 0.32: the hokey Intellectual Property 0.18 Full tables and report at: https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2024-02/gdp4q23-2nd.pdf US (Nominal) GDP “Grew” $334 Billion In Q4…. That Growth Cost $834 Billion In DebtIt cost $834.2 billion in debt during Q3 to grow the US economy by $334.5 billion, or exactly $2.5 in debt for every $1 in GDP “growth.” https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-gdp-grew-334-billion-q4-growth-cost-834-billion-debt Bitcoin hit $63,968; it’s highest price since 11/21. The cyber artifact is perceived and marketed as ‘store of value’ and ‘exchange medium’ alternative to the dollar and other fiat currencies. It’s ‘Fools’ Gold.’ BBG @business: As Bitcoin surged past $60,000 and on toward a new record, investors pumped a record $520 million into BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF in a single day. @EricBalchunas: The trading explosion is spilling into the bitcoin futures ETFs as well, check out BITX, the 2x btc futures smashing its volume record w 3hrs to go still.. BITO and BITI also headed towards record days. All told Nine btc ETFs in Top 100 most active, totaling $6.7b. For context, Apple has traded $4.5b. @biancoresearch: Following on @EricBalchunas comments …. The orange line shows that all 10 Spot BTC ETFs had 241k trades yesterday. For the second day in a row, they collectively exceeded the number of trades is $SPY (blue) and $QQQ (green)…https://twitter.com/biancoresearch/status/1762791405380857886 Bitcoin’s price performance can largely be attributed to the market anticipation surrounding the upcoming halving event, which historically leads to increased buying activity, according to Bryan Legend, investor and CEO of Hectic Labs. He told Cointelegraph: “Investors expect a reduction in supply to drive up prices. This is better known as the ‘Pre-Halving rally’ which contributes to a new bull market with a refreshed bullish sentiment. This is exactly what we are seeing today.”…https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-breaches-60-000 Halvings reduce the rate at which new coins are created and thus lower the available amount of new supply… https://www.investopedia.com/bitcoin-halving-4843769 With retail speculators pouring into cyber currencies, Fangs and other trading sardines declined. Google sank as much as 2.5% on fear that its wokeness will harm its bottom line. Google CEO Blasts ‘Unacceptable’ Gemini Image Generation Failure (Go woke, go broke!) Sundar Pichai emails employees, saying ‘we got it wrong’ Global firms are staking out a lead in hotly-contested AI raceAlphabet Inc.’s Sundar Pichai emailed staff on Tuesday to address the problematic responses from Google’s Gemini AI engine, describing them as “completely unacceptable.”… Stressing the need for the company to deliver unbiased and accurate information, the chief executive officer of both Alphabet and Google said structural changes will be made to prevent similar incidents…https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/google-ceo-slams-completely-unacceptable-100500014.html @shellenberger: Google says it’s politically neutral, but it’s not. It got out the vote for Clinton, donated 90% to Democrats, and fired an engineer for criticizing DEI. And now we’ve discovered that its CEO promised to use AI to counter “fake news,” racism, and populism in response to Trump. Google CEO Pledged to Use AI To Counter “Fake News,” Racism, and Populism After Trump Victory – And the partisan bias of Google was expressed a few days after voters elected Donald Trump as president during an “all hands” employee meeting. “It’s been an extraordinarily stressful time for many of you,” Pichai said to Google employees. “I certainly find this election deeply offensive,” said Google cofounder Sergey Brin, “and I know many of you do too.”…https://public.substack.com/p/google-ceo-pledged-to-use-ai-to-counter @CNNThisMorning (Wed.): Congress and President Biden have three days left to hammer out a compromise to avert a government shutdown Perhaps Bitcoin is soaring because everyone knows that deals ‘to avert a government shutdown’ always increase US debt meaningfully. ESHs traded sideways, but mostly negative, from the Nikkei opening until they broke lower after China’s 2 ET close. The decline accelerated after the European opening. ESHs hit a daily low of 5063.25 at 4:47 ET. After an 11-handle rebound ESHs trade sideways but formed a megaphone near 8 ET. A 2^nd Hour Reversal propelled ESHs to 5087.50 at 11:05 ET. ESHs then sank, rebounded, and sank again, creating a huge ‘W’ pattern. Instead of an afternoon rally, ESHs sank after 14:00 ET. ESHs hit 5071.00 at 14:51 ET; buying for the expected last-hour rally began. ESHs jumped to 5082.00 at 15:03 ET but quickly reversed. After a 7-handle dip, ESHs traded sideways into the close. Ny Fed President Williams’ speech at Long Island Association Regional Economic Briefing, Garden City, New York (Great links golf course there – nothing new, down the middle of the fairway speech)https://www.newyorkfed.org/newsevents/speeches/2024/wil240228 The most important and insightful comment from a Fed official in many moons:Fed’s Collins: BANK RESERVES ARE STILL HIGHLY ELEVATED – BBG 12:50 ET We’ve been harping about the ‘highly elevated’ Bank Reserves at the Fed for months. It proves that the system is saturated with liquidity. US judge in Texas rules congressional passage of 2022 spending bill unconstitutionalThe judge, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, called the scope of his ruling “limited,” and said it did not block all of the spending law. Texas had only sought to block two provisions ultimately. Hendrix blocked one provision, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, from being enforced against the state after finding the bill was wrongly passed. That law requires employers to provide pregnant workers with reasonable accommodations…https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-texas-rules-congressional-passage-2022-spending-bill-unconstitutional-2024-02-27/ Federal judge rules $1.7 trillion spending bill passed by Congress in 2022 is unconstitutionalThe bill was approved, but the legal minimum was not present for the vote as required under the Constitution’s quorum clause https://t.co/dDNp1L7W4o Biden says he’s making unannounced visit to Walter Reed for physical exam – Fox News 9:24 ETTraveling to Walter Reed to undergo his annual physical examination, the White House said Wednesday. Fox’s @ChadPergram: A) GOP WI Sen Johnson on Fox Business: I’m sympathetic with the people of Ukraine. I think Vladimir Putin is an evil war criminal, but I haven’t seen a any kind of strategy for Ukraine to actually win. (Team Biden’s Vietnam-like strategy won’t provide necessary weaponry!) B) Johnson: And I’ve been making the point that there’s no way that Vladimir Putin will lose. So, what are we spending $60 billion on it?… BBG: McConnell to Step Down as Senate Republican Leader Post Election Father time remains undefeated… It’s time for the next generation of leadership.”… Up for reelection in 2026… Some reporters opined that McConnell’s pending exit as GOP Senate Leader hurts Biden. @ggreenwald: McConnell was easily Biden’s most important ally in trying to get as many billions of dollars as possible to Ukraine. He’s also a steadfast supporter of Biden’s other key foreign policies: financing Israel’s war, bombing Middle East sites, and encircling China. @seanmdav: Why won’t McConnell resign his leadership position now? Because he wants to use his power to sabotage Trump, keep the border open, and funnel money to Ukraine for the next 8 months.Why is McConnell planning to resign in November and not when the new Congress is sworn in? He doesn’t want newly elected senators having any say in who his replacement is. McConnell is corrupt to his core. He needs to resign now. Senate insiders tell me McConnell’s surprise announcement is a desperate move to retain his grip on power, as his support within the conference is cratering following his disastrous attempt to rubber stamp Biden’s open borders amnesty policy. Rather than face a formal vote of removal, McConnell announced his plan to resign the leadership post in November. Career Senate staff tell me momentum was building within the Senate GOP to formally oust McConnell as leader. “Even a growing number of moderates were angry at the chaos he was sowing in the conference,” one senior Senate GOP aide told me. An open rebellion against McConnell was in the works due to his “repeated sabotage of Republican priorities and border inaction,” the aide said. Others told me McConnell’s move was entirely cynical, and an attempt to cling to power for another 8 months. He’s just trying to get ahead of “a possible defenestration,” one aide said. @foxnewspolitics: (Speaker) Johnson ‘unchanged’ on Ukraine, border crisis despite pressure at ‘intense’ White House meeting Positive aspects of previous sessionBonds rallied moderatelyGasoline and oil declined sharply on large inventory builds Negative aspects of previous sessionStocks declined as speculative activity scurried to cyber currenciesNo February performance gaming rally Ambiguous aspects of previous sessionWhich way will the S&P 500 Index break? First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Down; Last Hour: Up Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 5068.50Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 5077.37; 5058.35 @MacroEdgeRes: The delinquency rate for multi-family housing is now higher than the GFC, per Trahan Macro Research. Luckily we will all be able to live inside NVDA chips.https://twitter.com/MacroEdgeRes/status/1762707944032870477 @ABC: Wendy’s is pushing back on reports that the fast-food chain will be increasing prices after announcing it would invest in menu boards that… have the ability to introduce dynamic or surge pricing. Kellogg’s CEO faces backlash after suggesting people should eat cereal for dinner to save moneyAnother suggested that Kellogg’s initative was capitalizing on the struggles of Americans who, according to data from the Agriculture Department, gave up 11.4% of their disposable income to buy food in 2022 — the most since 1999. According to the USDA, food-at-home prices increased another 5% last year compared to 2022 — or double the historical average rate at which retail food price inflation rose per year between 2003 and 2022. “Anything @KelloggsUS can do to make more money off people during times of crisis. I wonder what their CEO is having for dinner? Smh… Price hiking all day without a care. Shame shame,” another user wrote to X…. https://t.co/P1ugMgXUB6 Once upon a time most affluent Americans eschewed flaunting their wealth. A change began in the ‘80s with the popularity of the TV show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” Obviously, the gap between the ‘Rich & Famous’ and the average American has widened considerably since then, as has the hubris of some of the ‘Rich & Famous.’ Given the religious-like fervor that leftists and the MSM have stoked hate and envy over the past few decades, it would be very prudent to keep a low profile now. China Expands State-Secrets Law, Highlighting Risks for Foreign Businesses – WSJNew provision covering ‘work secrets’ could vastly expand scope of restricted informationChina revised its law on state secrets on Tuesday to encompass sensitive information that didn’t previously fall under its scope, potentially adding to foreign businesses’ concerns over the risks of operating in the country. The changes, the first to the law since 2010… are the latest sign of Beijing’s heightened vigilance around potential national-security threats, following the passage of a strict information-security law and the rewriting of a law against espionage last year to expand the scope of state control of information… (Paywall) https://t.co/oQrkIb5OAh Tucker Carlson received legal counsel warning he could be arrested for interviewing Putinhttps://theleadingreport.com/tucker-carlson-received-legal-counsel-warning-he-could-be-arrested-for-interviewing-putin/ After the close, Snowflake reported Q4 ESP of .25, .18 expected and revenue of $738.1m, $723.3m expected; but it reduced Q1 product revenue guidance to $745m to $750m from $769.5m. The NY Fang+ Index stock/trading sardine sank as much as 24% in after-hour trading. Speaker Mike Johnson strikes deal with Democrats for short-term funding extensionThe deal will push two looming government shutdown deadlines later into the month of March… Top lawmakers have wrapped up negotiations on Agriculture-FDA, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA, Transportation-HUD, Interior-Environment and Commerce-Justice-Science bills…Funding for the other six agencies would expire on March 22… (Yet another CR!)https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13136697/Speaker-Mike-Johnson-government-funding-continuing-resolution.html Attorney General James Sues World’s Largest Beef Producer for Misrepresenting Environmental Impact of Their Products (Another great reason to move your business out of NY!)https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2024/attorney-general-james-sues-worlds-largest-beef-producer-misrepresenting Leftists and greenies might cheer the idiotic James’ latest fascism foray. However, a trial with evidence from non-leftist scientists regarding climate change could be very enlightening. Today – The lackluster action that appeared on Monday and Tuesday continued Wednesday. AI euphoria has been replaced by cyber currency euphoria. The usual performance gaming on the penultimate session of the month did not appear. So, the narrow S&P 500 range for the week was not breached. The widely anticipated January PCE data should break the S&P 500 Index out of its range. Plus, the usual suspects want to push their holding higher to game February performance. Expected Economic Data: Jan Personal Income 0.4%, Spending 0.2%, PCE Deflator 0.3% m/m & 2.4% y/y; PCE Core 0.4% & 2.8% y/y; Initial Jobless Claims 210k, Continuing Claims 1.864m; Feb Chicago PMI 48; Jan Pending Home Sales 1.5% m/m & -4.4% y/y; Feb KC Fed Mfg. Activity -2; Atlanta Fed Pres Bostic 10:50 ET, Chicago Fed Pres Goolsbee 11:00 ET, Cleveland Fed Pres Mester 13:15 ET & 15:30 ET ESUs are 4.00; NQHs (Naz 100) are -21.50 (on Snowflake) and USHs are +1/32 at 20:20 ET. S&P Index 50-day MA: 4871; 100-day MA: 4645; 150-day MA: 4575; 200-day MA: 4518DJIA 50-day MA: 38,062; 100-day MA: 36,297; 150-day MA: 35,731, 200-day MA: 35,282(Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope) S&P 500 Index (5069.76) – Trender BBG trading model and MACD for key time framesMonthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4314.46 triggers a sell signalWeekly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4805.35 triggers a sell signalDaily: Trender and MACD arepositive – a close below 4964.57 triggers a sell signalHourly: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 5079.85 triggers a buy signal Gallup: Immigration Surges to Top of Most Important Problem ListSignificantly more Americans name immigration as the most important problem facing the U.S. (28%) than did a month ago (20%). Immigration has now passed the government as the most often cited problem, after the two issues tied for the top position the past two months. The government ranked first each month from January through November 2023… (Economy 12%, Inflation 11%)https://news.gallup.com/poll/611135/immigration-surges-top-important-problem-list.aspx Immigration is both a crime and an economic issue. These are almost always top issues. Ex-DJT Sr. Advisor @StephenM: A migrant crime wave is gripping the nation. Biden’s invasion has landed in our cities and the destruction is fully underway. @foxnewspolitics: White House calls for sanctuary cities to cooperate with ICE, amid furor over illegal immigrant crimes House Homeland GOP demands info from Biden admin on Georgia murder suspectIllegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra charged with murdering nursing student Laken Rileyhttps://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-homeland-gop-demands-info-biden-admin-georgia-murder-suspect Salvadoran illegal immigrant arrested in connection to Maryland murder of 2-year-old boy https://t.co/e6M6e8f6NO Fox’s @BillMelugin_: Can’t keep up w/ these stories at this point. Now media in Louisiana are reporting an illegal alien from Honduras has been arrested for the rape of a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint and stabbing another man repeatedly during a robbery. ICE detainer lodged.https://t.co/WF4HQKVSLy @FoxNews: NO ESCAPE: The husband of an American woman shot and killed by a Mexican cartel at a popular resort is speaking out after her tragic death and sounding the alarm on the rising crime in Los Angeles. https://trib.al/3GrExOY NYC taxpayers fleeced for millions on rushed, overpriced no-bid contracts for migrant services, audit finds – New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said Mayor Eric Adams’ current no-bid contract practice for migrant services is ‘a recipe for fiscal waste’https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/nyc-taxpayers-fleeced-millions-contracts-migrant-services-audit Scrutiny of Georgia county ramps up after student murder, Republicans question sanctuary statusThe killing of a University of Georgia student last week at the hands of an illegal immigrant has sparked outrage. It has also raised questions over Athens-Clarke County’s illegal immigrant policies, which may violate the spirit of state law… “[If] this border was secure, and Athens not a sanctuary city, Laken Riley would be alive,” (GOP Rep.) Collins posted to X last week…https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/scrutiny-athens-clarke-county-ramps-after-murder-republicans-question-sanctuary-status @CollinRugg: Mayor of Athens, Georgia Kelly Girtz says the death of Laken Riley is “not connected” to illegal immigration and points the finger at Trump for being ‘mean’ to illegals. Your country is controlled by m*rons. Riley was killed by an illegal immigrant but Girtz is confident that her death is not connected to illegal immigration. (“I caution against conflating immigration and crime. The data demonstrates that the two are not connected.”) After gaslighting his people, Kelly was interrupted by angry locals who blamed him for her death. https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1762867817035211008 @EndWokeness: Illegals demanding MORE free housing shut down a Seattle City Council meetinghttps://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1762953333814280537 @RNCResearch: Biden — whose party spent years pushing to literally defund police departments — now claims “public safety and crime reduction is a top priority.” Meanwhile, Democrat-run cities are being overrun by crime, theft, and rampant drug use. https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1762916306909544542 Hunter Biden tells Congress: ‘I did not involve my father in my business’ – Hunter Biden also acknowledged what he called his “mistakes,” but said that he was fully to blame, not his father.https://justthenews.com/government/congress/hunter-biden-tells-congress-i-did-not-involve-my-father-my-business @GOPoversight: Following Hunter Biden’s deposition, Chairman Comer announces the next phase is a public hearing. “I think this was a great deposition for us. It proved several bits of our evidence that we’ve been conducting throughout this investigation. “But there were also some contradictory statements that I think need further review. “So, this impeachment inquiry will now go to the next phase, which will be a public hearing. “And that’s something that I think everyone in the media has been asking a lot of questions about, something that I know that Mr. Biden and his attorney both demanded. “Just as I said when we said we were going to do the deposition first, we will have a public hearing next. “So, I think that the public hearing hopefully will clear up some discrepancies between some of the statements that were made between some of the associates and what we heard today. “I look forward to releasing the transcript as soon as both sides agree to that. “Hopefully that’ll be within the next two or three days.” Panera Bread exempt from California’s $20 minimum wage law after owner donated to Gov. Newsom: report https://trib.al/tACvPO6 SUPREME COURT TO WEIGH TRUMP IMMUNITY, KEEPS DC TRIAL ON HOLD – BBG @TomFitton: In a massive loss for Biden regime/Jack Smith and the rabid anti-Trump DC courts, Supreme Court GRANTS Trump request to pause proceedings so it can decide whether a former president can be prosecuted for official acts: SCOTUS order:“… The case will be set for oral argument during the week of April 22, 2024. Petitioner’s brief on the merits, and any amicus curiae briefs in support or in support of neither party, are to be filed on or before Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Respondent’s brief on the merits, and any amicus curiae briefs in support, are to be filed on or before Monday, April 8, 2024. The reply brief, if any, is to be filed on or before 5 p.m., Monday, April 15, 2024.”https://twitter.com/EpochofDorman/status/1762966245320573339/photo/1 3rd Pipe Bomb Camera Deliberately Turned Away from DNC Headquarters on J6https://www.zerohedge.com/political/3rd-pipe-bomb-camera-deliberately-turned-away-dnc-headquarters-j6 Cook County judge (Dem) orders Donald Trump to be removed from primary ballot in Illinois.Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie R. Porter issued the ruling Wednesday – but stayed the ruling until in anticipation of an appeal to the Illinois Appellate or Supreme Court… (Symbolic political gesture that should force impeachment,)https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/judge-orders-former-president-trump-removed-illinois-primary-ballot/ Cook County mail in ballots have already been sent and some returned! The primary is March 19. There is no way to print new ballots and mail them out in time. What a sick farce! @JonathanTurley: Cook County Judge Tracie Porter just added Illinois to the two other states stripping Trump from the ballot. While wildly popular with people in Cook County (where I was raised), it is also wildly at odds with our democratic values… Rather than wait for the Court to rule, Porter wanted to claim this distinction while giving Trump’s counsel just a couple days to appeal. As you know, on a personal level, we don’t care for Trump; but if you are not horrified and outraged by the egregious and Stalinist lawfare being conducted against him…

GREG HUNTER

SEE YOU ON FRIDAY

SHANGHAI GOLD (USD) FUTURES – QUOTES

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR MAR/2024. CONTRACT: 1147 NOTICES FOR 114,700 OZ or 3.5676 TONNES

total notices so far: 1147 contracts for 114700 Oz (3.5676 tonnes)

FOR MARCH:

SILVER NOTICES 2858 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 14,290,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 2858 for 14,290,000 oz

Peter Schiff: Booming Stock Market Mirrors Dot-Com Bubble

The questions CFTC and Fed won’t answer expose gold price suppression policy

END

E.J. Antoni and Peter St. Onge: Uniparty is only a few steps away from gutting the dollar

4. OTHER GOLD COMMENTARIES/PODCASTS/

Futures Fall Ahead Of Key PCE Print

Equities mixed, Dollar weighed on by JPY, Bonds pressured on European CPIs ahead of US PCE – Newsquawk US Market Open

EUROPEAN TRADE

EQUITIES

FX

FIXED INCOME

COMMODITIES

GEOPOLITICS

CRYPTO

APAC TRADE

Japan’s Demographic Implosion: Live Births Crash To Record Low, 12 Years Ahead Of Forecast

IDF attack kills 25 in Nuseirat camp in Gaza – report

There Can Be No Ceasefire In Gaza With Hamas In Power

IDF probe: Majority of casualties in northern Gaza crowd crush are result of trampling, being run over

IDF: 450 Hamas terrorists killed in last few days, over 13,000 in total

2 critically wounded in suspected terror attack near West Bank settlement of Eli

Rabbi, teen hitchhiker killed in terror shooting at West Bank gas station

Yitzhak Zeiger, 57-year-old father of 3, slain while pumping gas near settlement of Eli, along with Uria Hartum, 16; gunman, named as PA cop, shot dead at scene by restaurateur

Moscow Accuses Zelensky Of Lying After Issuing ‘Very Low’ Ukraine Troop Death Count

MASSIVE BOOM ruling! This affects all Commonwealth nations e.g. Canada, Caribbean, UK etc. law under the British Westminister system (precedence): UNLAWFUL, hear that! UN-fucking-lawful! Australia:

Mandatory COVID Vaccines for Police, Nurses Unlawful: The Queensland Supreme Court;The Queensland Supreme Court has found mandatory COVID vaccination for police officers and nurses ‘UNLAWFUL’; LIONESS

‘Australia: Mandatory COVID Vaccines for Police and Nurses Unlawful – The Queensland Supreme Court

The Queensland Supreme Court has found mandatory COVID vaccination for police officers and nurses was unlawful and in breach of their human rights.

Shocking results from Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) research on nurses in Canada & why they were hesitant to take the mRNA technology vaccines & why many did not take it; “You had to get

them to keep your job,” Vaccines were “developed in a matter of a couple of months and handed out like candy,”; “I have a family and a mortgage”, “I am concerned about long-term side effects”

Vax Unpopular With Nurses

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

We Are Supposed To Be In A “Restrictive Phase Of Monetary Policy” So What The Hell Is Going On

Enjoy your cup of digital cocoa

Russia’s LNG Cargoes Bound For China Avoid The Red Sea

Leap-Of-Faith: Feb Favored Bitcoin-Bulls, Bond-Bears, AI-Advancers, & Anti-Obesity Advocates

SuperCore Inflation Soars In January, Services Costs Re-Accelerate

“Americans Are Being Lied To About Ukraine” – Tucker Carlson Reflects On Putin, Zelensky, Navalny & Nuclear War

“Who Could Be Next”: Top Canadian Pension Fund Sells Manhattan Office Tower For $1, Sparking Firesale Panic

Goldman Says Office Tower Prices Must Plunge 50% For Housing Conversion To Make Sense

“I’m Ringing The Alarm Bell, Because Flood Of Illegals Is Crushing The Country!”

NYCB Re-Crashes After Finding “Material Weaknesses” In Internal Controls, Delays Filing

Banks Increase Car Loan Rejections Over $1,000 Monthly Payment Concerns

Biden’s Labor Department Sparks Confusion With Email “Explaining” January CPI Spike

Pending Home Sales Puked In January, Back Near Record Lows

Survey-Based Sentiment Slump Continues As Prices Paid Accelerates in Plunging Chicago PMI

Illinois Judge Removes Trump From Primary Ballot

Petitioners

In Blow To Special Counsel Smith, SCOTUS Agrees To Hear Trump Immunity Appeal

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