GOLD PRICE CLOSED UP $14.40 TO $2175,40
SILVER PRICE UP 78 cents TO $24.17
Gold ACCESS CLOSED 2172.65
Silver ACCESS CLOSED: 24,95
Bitcoin morning price:$73,161 UP 1691 DOLLARS.
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $73,087 UP 1617 dollars
Platinum price closing UP $18.10 AT $942.65
Palladium price; UP 23.70 AT $106.50
END
SHANGHAI GOLD PREMIUM 43 DOLLARS/COMEX GOLD
SHANGHAI GOLD………
SHANGHAI GOLD (USD) FUTURES – QUOTES
Beginning Monday, April 1, 2024, CME Group settlement data will no longer be accessible through ftp.cmegroup.com and will have a delayed publication time of 12:00 a.m. CT on all cmegroup.com web pages. Learn about alternate ways to access the data in our FAQ.
AUTO-REFRESH IS OFF
Last Updated 13 Mar 2024 02:25:03 PM CT.
Market data is delayed by at least 10 minutes.
I will now provide gold in Canadian dollars, British pounds and Euros
4: 15 PM ACCESS
*CANADIAN GOLD: $2,927.00 UP $17.50 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 2,941.47CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//MARCH 11 2024)
*BRITISH GOLD: 1697.30 DOWN 11.81 pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1703.22 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) MARCH 11/2024
*EURO GOLD: 1984.30 UP 10.33 euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 1997.12 EUROS PER OZ//MARCH 11.2024)
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END
EXCHANGE: COMEX
EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: MARCH 2024 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 2,160.400000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 03/12/2024 DELIVERY DATE: 03/14/2024
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
092 C DEUTSCHE BANK 1
363 H WELLS FARGO SEC 476
661 C JP MORGAN 501
737 C ADVANTAGE 28 8
905 C ADM 6
TOTAL: 510 510
MONTH TO DATE: 5,133
JPMorgan stopped 501/510 contracts.
FOR MARCH/2024
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR MAR/2024. CONTRACT: 510 NOTICES FOR 51,000 OZ or 1.586 TONNES
total notices so far: 5133 contracts for 513,300 Oz (15.965 tonnes)
FOR MARCH:
SILVER NOTICES: 31 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 155,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 5111 for 25,555,000 oz
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END
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES//THEY ARE NOW RAIDING GLD AND SLV FOR PHYSICAL
GLD
THE CROOKS ARE STEALING GOLD AND SILVER FROM THE GLD/SLV AND REPLACING THE PHYSICAL WITH PAPER DOLLARS.
WITH GOLD UP $14.40
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ :
NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 815.13 TONNES
INVENTORY RESTS AT 815.13 TONNES
SLV//
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER UP 71 CENTS AT THE SLV//
NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: INVENTORY REMAINS AT 418.872 MILLION OZ/
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 418.872 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 714 CONTRACTS TO 14 AND FURTHER FROM THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS HUGE SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR HUGE LOSS IN PRICE OF $0.31 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON TUESDAY. WE HAD ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AT THE COMEX SESSION WITH AGAIN MAJOR SHORT COVERING DESPITE THE STRONG PRICE LOSS. WE HAD A HUGE 1461 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/GOLD 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 TUESDAY NIGHT: 1461 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 $0.31),BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 386 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE THE STRONG LOSS IN PRICE OF 31 CENTS.
WE MUST HAVE HAD:
A GIGANTIC SIZED 1100 ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 22.270 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE) FOLLOWED BY TODAY,S 0.115 MILLION OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTALS INCREASES TO : 26.895 MILLION OZ
//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 26.895 MILLION OZ
WE HAD:
/ SMALL SIZED COMEX OI LOSS/ GIGANTIC SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) HUGE SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 1461 CONTRACTS)/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL -REMOVED A HUGE 586 CONTRACTS //
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS FEB. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF MARCH
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 9 days, total 13,710 contracts: OR 68.550 MILLION OZ (1523 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 68.550 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: 68.550 MILLION OZ//WILL BE MUCH LARGER THIS MONTH//MAYBE CLOSE TO A RECORD ISSUANCE
RESULT: WE HAD A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 714 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR HUGE LOSS IN PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//TUESDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A GIGANTIC EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 1100 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 23.385 MILLION OZ ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S HUGE 0.155 MILLION OZ QUEUE JUMP
//NEW TOTAL STANDING RISES TO 26.895 MILLION OZ
WE HAVE A FAIR GAIN OF 386 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES WITH THE HUGE LOSS IN PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A HUGE SIZED 1461 CONTRACTS//HUGE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE TUESDAY COMEX SESSION/// WITH MAJOR SHORT COVERING FROM OUR SPEC SHORTS ( EVEN WITH THE PRICE OF SILVER FALLING) THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE TUESDAY NIGHT (1461) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE//PROBABLY TODAY., .
WE HAD 31 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 0.155 MILLION OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A VERY STRONG SIZED 13,417 CONTRACTS TO 516,052 AND FURTHER FROM 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 535 CONTRACTS
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI ( 13,417 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR $21.15 LOSS IN PRICE//TUESDAY. THE BANKERS WERE FORCED TO SUPPLY THE NECESSARY SHORT PAPER TO CONTAIN GOLD’S RISE.WE ALSO HAD A RATHER LARGE INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR MARCH. AT 10.270 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’’S MONSTER QUEUE JUMP OF 58,200 OZ QUEUE JUMP
NEW TOTAL Of INITIAL GOLD STANDING RISES TO: 16.762 TONNES // ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $21.15 LOSS IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO TUESDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 8145 OI CONTRACTS (25.334) PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A STRONG SIZED 5272 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 516,057
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 8145 CONTRACTS WITH 13,417 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A STRONG SIZED 5272 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 8145 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): MEGA MEGA HUMONGOUS SIZED 31,351 CONTRACTS,
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD STRONG SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (5272 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE VERY STRONG SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (13,417) //TOTAL LOSS FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 8145 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 7.502 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S STRONG QUEUE JUMP OF 1.810 TONNES/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 16.762 TONNES.
/ 3) SOME LONG LIQUIDATION // 4) VERY STRONG SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST LOSS/ 5) STRONG ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: MEGA HUMONGOUS T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 31,351 CONTRACTS//SOME SHORT COVERING AGAIN
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023-2024 INCLUDING TODAY
MARCH
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH. :
TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 53,534 CONTRACTS OR 5,353,400 OZ OR 166.51 TONNES IN 9 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 5948 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 9 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 166.51 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 166.51/3550 x 100% TONNES 4.67% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION
ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2021 TO 2023
JANUARY/2021: 265.26 TONNES (RAPIDLY INCREASING AGAIN)
FEB : 171.24 TONNES ( DEFINITELY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN)..
MARCH:. 276.50 TONNES (STRONG AGAIN/
APRIL: 189..44 TONNES ( DRAMATICALLY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN//GOLD IN BACKWARDATION)
MAY: 250.15 TONNES (NOW DRAMATICALLY INCREASING AGAIN)
JUNE: 247.54 TONNES (FINAL)
JULY: 188.73 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST: 217.89 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE.
SEPT 142.12 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE ( LOW ISSUANCE)_
OCT: 141.13 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE (LOW ISSUANCE)
NOV: 312.46 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE//NEW RECORD!! (INCREASING DRAMATICALLY)//SIGN OF REAL STRESS//SURPASSING THE MARCH 2021 RECORD OF 276.50 TONNES OF EFP
DEC. 175.62 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//
TOTALS: 2,578.08 TONNES/2021
JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL
FEB: 196.04 TONNES//FINAL
MARCH/2022: 409.30 TONNES //FINAL( THIS IS NOW A RECORD EFP ISSUANCE FOR MARCH AND FOR ANY MONTH.
APRIL: 169.55 TONNES (FINAL VERY LOW ISSUANCE MONTH)
MAY: 247.44 TONNES FINAL//
JUNE: 238.13 TONNES FINAL
JULY: 378.43 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST: 180.81 TONNES FINAL
SEPT. 193.16 TONNES FINAL
OCT: 177.57 TONNES FINAL ( MUCH SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)
NOV. 223.98 TONNES//FINAL ( MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUS MONTHS//comex running out of physical)
DEC: 185.59 tonnes // FINAL
TOTAL: 2,847,25 TONNES/2022
JAN 2023: 228.49 TONNES FINAL//HUGE AMOUNT OF EFP’S ISSUED THIS MONTH!!
FEB: 151.61 TONNES/FINAL
MARCH: 280.09 TONNES/INITIAL (ANOTHER STRONG MONTH FOR EFP ISSUANCE)
APRIL: 197.42 TONNES
MAY: 236.67 TONNES (A VERY STRONG ISSUANCE FOR THIS MONTH)
JUNE: 172.667 TONNES (WEAKER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)
JULY: 151.69 TONNES (WEAKER THAN LAST MONTH)
AUGUST: 195.28 TONNES (A STRONGER MONTH)//FINAL
SEPT: 254.709 TONNES (WILL BE LARGER THAN LAST MONTH AND A STRONG MONTH)
OCT. 248.09 TONNES. LIKE SILVER, THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE A STRONG E.F.P. ISSUANCE.
NOV. 239.16 TONNES//WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH,
DEC. 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 EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL)
FEB’24: 201.947 TONNES
MARCH 2024: 166.51 TONNES//THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE HUMDINGER OF AN E,F,P. ISSUANCE.
SPREADING OPERATIONS
(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS
SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF 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 (APRIL), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”
WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.
The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.
First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:
1.Today, we had the open interest at the comex, in SILVER FELL BY A HUGE SIZED 714 CONTRACTS OI TO 144,534 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 1100 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MAY 1100 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 1100 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI LOSS OF 128 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 1100 E.FP. ISSUED
WE OBTAIN A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 386 CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 4.860 MILLION OZ
OCCURRED DESPITE OUR HUGE $.31 LOSS IN PRICE …..
END
OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY
1a/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT
(report Harvey)
b, ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe,//GOLD COMMENTARIES
(Peter Schiff)
c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
b. Other gold/silver commentaries
c. Commodity commentaries//
d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
2.ASIAN AFFAIRS//
WEDNESDAY MORNING/TUESDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 12.10 PTS OR 0.40% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 11.39 PTS OR 0.07% / Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 101.94 PTS OR 0.26%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.21% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 7.1929 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.1989 /Oil UP TO 78.64 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 82.97/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN WEAKER
A)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
outline
b) REPORT ON JAPAN/
OUTLINE
3 CHINA
OUTLINE
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
OUTLINE
7. OIL ISSUES
OUTLINE
8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES
9. USA
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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY VERY STRONG SIZED 13,412 CONTRACTS TO 516,052 WITH OUR HUGE LOSS IN PRICE OF $21.15 WITH RESPECT TO TUESDAY TRADING. MOST LIKELY IT WAS THE BANKERS SUPPLYING THE NECESSARY PAPER WITH OUR SHORT PLAYERS EXITING AS FAST AS THEIR FEET COULD CARRY THEM. THE SHORTS HAVE BEEN KILLED LATELY, AS THEY HAVE BEEN LED BY THE NOSE BY OUR BANKER-HIGH FREQUENCY TRADERS. TODAY’S DRIVE BY SHOOTING WAS PREORDAINED TO GET MORE PLAYERS TO GO SHORT. THEY USED THE HUGE AMOUNTS OF T.A.S. ISSUANCE TO ORCHESTRATE THE RAID.
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MARCH..… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A STRONG SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 5272 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : APRIL 5272 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 5272 CONTRACTS
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE LOST THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A STRONG SIZED TOTAL OF 8145 CONTRACTS IN THAT 5272 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 13,417 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $21.15 TUESDAY COMEX. AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR TUESDAY NIGHT WAS A MEGA MEGA HUMONGOUS SIZED 31,351 CONTRACTS,
THROUGHOUT THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, THE BANKERS CONTINUE TO SELL 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//. IT SEEMS THAT OUR CROOKS ARE HAVING A HARD TIME TRYING TO CONTROL THE PRICE OF GOLD AND THUS THE NEED FOR RECORD T.A.S. ISSUANCE.
// WE HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: MARCH (16,762 TONNES) ( NON 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 = 51.707 TONNES
TOTAL 2023 YEAR : 436.546 TONNES
JAN ’24. 22.706 TONNES
FEB. ’24: 66.276 TONNES (INCLUDES 1.723 TONNES EX. FOR RISK)
MARCH: 16.762 TONNES
THE SPECS/HFT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT LOST $21.15 //// AND WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING A FEW SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 8145 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES WITH OUR LOWER PRICE. WE HAD TO HAVE HAD AN EPISODE OF STRONG SHORT ADDITIONS. WE HAD A STRONG T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF TUESDAY’S TRADING . THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON TUESDAY NIGHT, WILL BE “PUT INTO THE BANK” TO BE USED AT A LATER DATE AT THE COLLUSIVE CHOOSING OF OUR BANKERS. THE HIGH T.A.S. ISSUANCE IS MET TO CONTROL THE PRICE OF GOLD AS WELL AS INITIATE A RAID.
WE HAVE LOST A TOTAL OI OF 25.334 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR MARCH. (10.3576 TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S MONSTER 58,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP//NEW STANDING INCREASES TO 16.762 TONNES
ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $21.15
WE HAD -REMOVED 535 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)
NET LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 8145 CONTRACTS OR 814,500 OZ OR 25.334 TONNES.
estimated volume today 331,590 strong
final gold volumes/yesterday 334,172 strong
//speculators have left the gold arena
MARCH 13/ INITIAL MARCH GOLD
/ /// THE MARCH 2024 GOLD CONTRACT
| Gold | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz | nil |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz | 13,279.921 oz ASAHI . |
| Deposit to the Dealer Inventory in oz | nil oz |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz | NIL oz |
| No of oz served (contracts) today | 510 notice(s) 51,000 OZ 1.586 TONNES |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 256 contracts 25600 oz 0.7962 TONNES |
| Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month | 5133 notices 513,300 oz 15.965 TONNES |
| Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month | x |
0 dealer deposits:
total dealer deposits: nil oz
total customer withdrawals: 1
i) Out of ASAHI: 13,279.921 oz
total customer withdrawal: 13,279.921 oz
we had 0 customer deposit
total deposit NIL oz
Adjustments: 2 dealer to customer
i) Out of ASAHI 133,476.272 oz
ii) out of HSBC: 4237.432 oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR MAR.
For the front month of MARCH we have an oi of 766 contracts having LOST 184 contracts. We had 697 contracts filed upon on Tuesday, so we gained a monstrous 582 contracts or an additional 58,200 oz of gold(1.810 tonnes) will stand at the comex in this non active delivery month of March
APRIL LOST 30,916 CONTRACTS FALLING TO 267,887.
MAY EARNED 76 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 620
JUNE INCREASED ITS OI BY 16,854 CONTRACTS UP TO 192,324 CONTRACTS.
We had 510 contracts filed for today representing 51,000 oz
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 0 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 510 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 501 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 (5133 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MARCH. (766 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 510 x 100 oz per contract equals 538,900 OZ OR 16.762 TONNES
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the MARCH. contract month: No of notices filed so far (5133) x 100 oz + (766) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (510) x 100 oz which equals 538,900 oz (16.762 TONNES)
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR MARCH: 16.782 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: 1,333,165.842 41,40 tonnes
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 17,887,532.221 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 7,782,182.341 (242,05 tonnes).
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,092.069.959 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 6,449,017 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 200.59 tonnes/dropping like a stone
END
SILVER/COMEX
MARCH 13/INITIAL
//2024// THE MARCH 2024 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL
| Silver | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory | NIL oz |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory | nil oz . |
| Deposits to the Dealer Inventory | nil OZ |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory | nil oz |
| No of oz served today (contracts) | 31 CONTRACT(S) (155,000 OZ) |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 268 contracts (1.340 MILLION oz) |
| Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) | 5111 Contracts (25.555 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 0 deposits customer account:
total customer deposits nil oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 129.806 million oz/286.496 million or 45.30%
adjustment: 0
Comex withdrawals: 0
total withdrawal: nil oz
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 48.213MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 286.486million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF MARCH /2023 OI: 299 CONTRACTS HAVING LOST 72 CONTRACT(S).
WE HAD 95 NOTICES FILED ON TUESDAY SO GAINED 23 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 115,000 OZ WILL STAND AT THE COMEX
APRIL SAW A LOSS OF 80 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 713
MAY SAW A LOSS OF 1213 CONTRACTS UP TO 113,354.
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 31 for 0.155 MILLION oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 76,973 good
Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 55,216 fair
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 5111 x 5,000 oz = 25,555,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MARCH. (299) and the number of notices served upon today 31 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the MARCH/2024 contract month: 5111 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of MARCH. (299) – number of notices served upon today (31 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the MARCH contract month equates to 26.895 MILLION OZ.
New total standing: 26.895 million oz.
There are 48.213 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!
MARCH 13 WITH GOLD UP $14.40 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:INVENTORY REMAINS AT 815.13 TONNES
MARCH 12 WITH GOLD DOWN $21.15 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:NOT AVAILABLE///LAST VALUE 815.13 TONNES
MARCH 11 WITH GOLD UP $3.20 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD AFTER 7 CONSECUTIVE GOLD PRICE RISES//INVENTORY RESTS AT 815.13 TONNES
MARCH 8 WITH GOLD UP $21.05 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.87 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD AFTER 7 CONSECUTIVE GOLD PRICE RISES//INVENTORY RESTS AT 816.57 TONNES
MARCH 7 WITH GOLD UP $7.20 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4,20 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 817.44 TONNES
MARCH 6 WITH GOLD UP $17.20 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.30 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 821.47 TONNES
MARCH 5 WITH GOLD UP $16.55 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.30 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 821.47 TONNES
MARCH 4 WITH GOLD UP $30.55 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .86 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 823.77 TONNES
MARCH 1 WITH GOLD UP $40.40 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 822.91 TONNES
FEB29/WITH GOLD UP $12.60 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//WITHDRAWAL OF 4.03 TONNES INVENTORY RESTS AT 822.91 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:
GLD INVENTORY: 815.13 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
MARCH 13/WITH SILVER UP 78 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 418.872 MILLION OZ…
MARCH 12/WITH SILVER DOWN 31 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A SMALL WITHDRAWAL OF 0.549 MILLION OZ OF SILVER INTO THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 418.872 MILLION OZ…
MARCH 11/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.147 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 418.323 MILLION OZ…SUCH A MASSIVE FRAUD!
MARCH 8/WITH SILVER DOWN 5 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 4.299 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 420.519 MILLION OZ…SUCH A MASSIVE FRAUD!
MARCH 7/WITH SILVER UP 8 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 4.665 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 424.818 MILLION OZ…SUCH A MASSIVE FRAUD!
MARCH 6/WITH SILVER UP 52 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.378 MILLION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 427,105 MILLION OZ
MARCH 5/WITH SILVER DOWN 2 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.499 MILL;ION OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 429.483 MILLION OZ
MARCH 4/WITH SILVER UP CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: // : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 430.982 MILLION OZ
MARCH 1/WITH SILVER UP 49 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: // : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 430.982 MILLION OZ
FEB 29/WITH SILVER UP 25 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.104 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV//// : SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 430/982 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
CLOSING INVENTORY 418.872 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES
1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey
Student Loan Forgiveness Is Robbing Peter To Pay Paul
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 06:30 AM
With President Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan set to extend more student loan relief to borrowers this summer, the federal government is pretending it can wave a magic wand to make debts disappear. But the truth of student debt “relief” is that they’re simply shifting the burden to everyone else, robbing Peter to pay Paul and funneling more steam into an inflation pressure cooker that’s already set to burst.
Starting July 1st, new rules go into effect that change the discretionary income requirements for their payment plans from 10% to only 5% for undergraduates, leading to lower payments for millions. Some borrowers will even have their owed balances revert to zero.
What the plan doesn’t describe, predictably, is how that burden will be shifted to the rest of the country by stealing value out of their pockets via new taxes or increased inflation, which still simmering well above levels seen in early 2020 before the Fed printed trillions in Covid “stimulus” money. They’re rewarding students who took out loans they can’t afford and punishing those who paid their way or repaid their loans, attending school while living within their means. And they’re stealing from the entire country to finance it.
Biden actually claims that a continuing Covid “emergency” is what gives him the authority to offer student loan forgiveness to begin with. As with any “temporary” measure that gives state power a pretense to grow, or gives them an excuse to collect more revenue (I’m looking at you, federal income tax), COVID-19 continues to be the gift that keeps on giving for power and revenue-hungry politicians even as the CDC reclassifies the virus as a threat similar to the seasonal flu.
The SAVE plan takes the burden of billions of dollars in owed payments away from students and adds it to a national debt that’s already ballooning to the tune of a mind-boggling trillion dollars every 3 months. If all student loan debt were forgiven, according to the Brookings Institution, it would surpass the cumulative totals for the past 20 years for multiple existing tax credits and welfare programs:
“Forgiving all student debt would be a transfer larger than the amounts the nation has spent over the past 20 years on unemployment insurance, larger than the amount it has spent on the Earned Income Tax Credit, and larger than the amount it has spent on food stamps.”
Ironically enough, adding hundreds of billions to the national debt from Biden’s program is likely to cause the most pain to the very demographics the Biden administration claims to be helping with its plan: poor people, anyone who skipped college entirely or paid their loans back, and other already overly-indebted young adults, whose purchasing power is being rapidly eroded by out-of-control government spending and central bank monetary shenanigans. It effectively transfers even more wealth from the poor to the wealthy, a trend that Covid-era measures have taken to new extremes.
As Ron Paul pointed out in a recent op-ed for the Eurasia Review:
“…these loans will be paid off in part by taxpayers who did not go to college, paid their own way through school, or have already paid off their student loans. Since those with college degrees tend to earn more over time than those without them, this program redistributes wealth from lower to higher income Americans.”
Even some progressives are taking aim at the plan, not because it shifts the debt burden to other Americans, but because it will require cutting welfare or sacrificing other expensive social programs promised by Biden such as universal pre-K. For these critics, the issue isn’t so much that spending and debt are totally out of control, but that they’re being funneled into the wrong issues.
Progressive “solutions” always seem to take the form of slogans like “tax the wealthy,” a feel-good bromide that for lawmakers always seems to translate into increased taxes for the middle and lower-upper class. Meanwhile, the .01% continue to avoid taxes through offshore accounts, money laundering trickery dressed up as philanthropy, and general de facto ownership of the system through channels like political donations and aggressive lobbying.
If new waves of college applicants expect loan forgiveness plans to continue, it also encourages schools to continue raising tuition and motivates prospective students to continue with even more irresponsible borrowing.
This puts pressure on the Fed to keep interest rates lower to help accommodate waves of new student loan applicants from sparkly-eyed young borrowers who figure they’ll never really have to pay the money back.
With the Fed already expected to cut rates this year despite inflation not being properly under control, the loan forgiveness scheme is just one of many factors conspiring to cause inflation to start running hotter again, spiraling out of control, as the entire country is forced to pay the hidden tax of price increases for all their basic needs.
end
2.Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens/ SIMON WHITE..//
3. CHRIS POWELL//
We need your help. It costs a lot to fight the crimes committed by the bankers
Please support GATA and myself
thanks….
Chris Powell….
Has GATA earned your support yet?
Submitted by admin on Mon, 2024-03-11 21:20 Section: Daily Dispatches
9:31p ET Monday, March 11, 2024
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Since gold and even silver seem to be enjoying a sustained rally, since government stupidity and corruption are reaching new heights too, and since sentiment in our long-depressed sector may be improving, this may be the time for GATA to ask for your help, which we haven’t done in a long time.
Through thick and thin GATA continues to lead the struggle for free and transparent markets in the monetary metals, painstakingly exposing and documenting the largely surreptitious interventions by central banks and their agents and explaining the timeless virtues of gold and silver as money and savings for people and countries aspiring to be free.
Largely because of GATA’s summary of gold price suppression policy and history —
https://www.gata.org/node/20925
— and our ever-growing documentation archive —
https://www.gata.org/taxonomy/term/21
— few people these days try to deny monetary metals market manipulation anymore. Most people seriously involved in the sector know very well what has been going on and what continues — know very well that the monetary metals are the mortal enemies of overbearing and undemocratic government and that the primary purpose of modern central banks is to prevent the monetary metals from competing freely with their currencies. Most people just still lack the courage to acknowledge what has been going on, since we’re still fighting nearly all the money and power in the world and crossing that money and power can be very bad for business.
But GATA fairly can take credit for informing people and governments around the world who have been in a position to act powerfully on the knowledge we have given them and who do seem to be acting.
Indeed, if not for GATA the day of deliverance — the day of free and transparent markets in the monetary metals and everything else, and the day of transparent and limited government — would be even more distant than it seems.
When GATA was founded 25 years ago, we had little idea of what we were getting into — little idea of how cosmic the issue of gold market manipulation was, and how central it is to human affairs — and thus little idea of how long the struggle against it would take.
We’re not getting any younger but we’re working just as hard, and while the bad guys won’t give up easily, there are signs that they are retreating.
Since this fight is one for truth and freedom, it remains winnable.
And so:
Say not the struggle nought availeth,
The labor and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward — Look! — the land is bright.
If you think we have earned your support and have not already helped us with a contribution, please consider helping us now:
And if you do make one, please let us know your e-mail address so we can thank you properly without having to diminish your contribution by purchasing stationery and postage and making your secretary/treasurer type up a formal letter. (He is the only secretary in the organization.)
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org
end
4. OTHER MAJOR GOLD COMMENTARIES/PODCASTS//LIVE FROM THE VAULT
end
end
5 a. IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES /
5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT
END
6.CRYPTOCURRENCY//DIGITAL CURRENCY// COMMENTARIES/bitcoin
Bitcoin Tops $73,000 After Record-Breaking Billion-Dollar ETF Inflow
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 09:05 AM
After kneejerking lower by over $4,000 after yesterday’s hot CPI print, bitcoin has recovered all those losses and then some, to top a fresh record high of $73,600 this morning…
Source: Bloomberg
“Bitcoin wiped out overleveraged longs, retested the 2021 cycle high & then bounced back to $72,000,” popular trader Jelle summarized on X, adding that the landscape was now “looking good” for upside continuation.
As we noted on X, the rebound buying came after Bitcoin futures were clubbed like a baby seal on the CPI print:
“There it is: dumping of Bitcoin futures to push prices lower and at the same time record buying via bitcoin ETFs at an artificially lower pric…
…every day, rinse repeat.
Blackrock’s ETF just bought the most bitcoin in one day on record.”
This should not be a total shock after BTC ETFs saw a stunning $1.045BN net inflows yesterday (a record 14,706 BTC demand) as insatiable demand for the cryptocurrency continues….
Source: Bloomberg
“The reasons behind the rally are pretty clear. A rampant demand for the physically-backed ETFs amid a low market depth backdrop,” said Manuel Villegas, digital assets analyst at Swiss private bank Julius Baer.
As issuers buy up large piles of Bitcoin to support their ETFs, the token’s overall circulating supply has begun to dwindle.
Bitcoin’s weekly issuance of roughly 6,300 tokens is “utterly dwarfed” when contrasted against the ETFs’ token demand from past weeks, Villegas said, the latter of which is about 40,000 tokens.
BTC ETF net inflows have now topped $11BN since inception…
The two largest ETFs from BlackRock and Fidelity Investments held in excess of 330,000 BTC as of March 13 – five times what miners added.
In BTC terms, IBIT is the big buyer…
For context, it took GLD three years to gather as much AUM as IBIT has done in 8 weeks…
Today’s move in bitcoin pushes it closer to its inflation-adjusted record high…
Source: Bloomberg
Other cryptos were also bid, with Ethereum rebounding from yesterday’s decline, test8ng back up near $4100…
Source: Bloomberg
As Bloomberg reports, using Ethereum, the world’s most commercially successful blockchain ecosystem, is about to get much cheaper after the latest software upgrade of the network on Wednesday.
Referred by developers as Dencun, the update is expected to dramatically lower expenses for so-called Layer 2 networks — dozens of chains like Arbitrum, Polygon and Coinbase Global Inc.’s Base that link to Ethereum. A transaction that might have previously cost $1 to post may now cost one cent; another that used to cost cents would now be a fraction of a cent.
Finally, we note that while Bitcoin has been soaring recently, it is still relatively underperforming its performance ahead of previous ‘halvings’.
As CoinTelegraph reports, Bitcoin is yet to catch up to its growth trajectory from previous halving cycles, according to historical data shared by Ecoinometrics in a March 12 X post:
“If Bitcoin had followed a growth trajectory similar to the past two cycles we would expect one BTC to be worth anywhere between $100,000 to $300,000 per coin.”
Therefore, current price action still has room to run, particularly as the previous all-time high price can now act as the launchpad for more upside before the halving.
Looking ahead, according to a note to clients on Monday, wealth management firm Bernstein expects Bitcoin to break out to around $150,000 following the halving by mid-2025. Bernstein’s analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra now expect the BTC price to “break out” after the halving.
The elevated demand for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has made them “more convinced” about their price target, which they first published in 2023.
“We estimated $10Bn inflows for 2024 and another $60Bn for 2025. In the last 40 trading days since ETF launch on Jan 10, Bitcoin ETF inflows have crossed $9.5Bn already.”
“At this run rate, Bitcoin ETFs would surpass our 2025 inflow estimates within 166 trading days for [the] rest of 2024,” the analysts added.
Bernstein also advised clients to invest in Bitcoin miners, as the recent underperformance “is probably the last window before halving.”
Bitcoin $73K .. like clockwork
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91.7K Views
Bernstein’s price target is modest, however, compared to the expectations of Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, which has “brought forward” its long-term Bitcoin price target of over $1 million.
1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS WEDNESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN 7.1926
OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 7.1989
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 12.10 PPTS OR 0.40%
HANG SENG CLOSED DOWN 11.39 PTS OR 0.07%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 101.54 PTS OR 0.26%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL GREEN
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 102.47 EURO RISES TO 1.0938 UP 12 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +.756 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 147.97/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 UP /JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: DOWN/ OFFSHORE: DOWN
3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA
Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.
3g Oil UP for WTI and UP FOR Brent this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund YIELD UP TO +2.3290***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield UP to 3.593* /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD UP TO 3.132…**
3i Greek 10 year bond yield UP TO 3.148
3j Gold at $2165.60 silver at: 24.33 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 0 AND 10 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 91.68//
3m oil into the 77 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 147.97// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.756% 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 0.8776 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9601 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: 4.169 UP 1 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.326 UP 1 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.609 UP 1 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 32.09…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: UP 8 BASIS PTS AT 4.030
end
2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge
Futures Flat At All-Time High As Bitcoin Surges To Record, Oil Rises
BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 08:15 AM
US futures are trading modestly in positive territory and just shy of all time highs, after swinging between gains and losses as Europe trades higher and Asia closed weaker after US markets shrugged of a higher core CPI print and focused on the more constructive disinflation components (Super core 47bps vs 85bps). As of 7:50am, S&P futures traded +0.1% while Nasdaq futures were modestly red; earlier, Germany’s DAX hit 18K for first time, while EuroStoxx50 hit 5K for first time in 24 years.
Overnight newsflow was relatively quiet outside of early results from Japan’s wage negotiations which showed majority of companies agreeing to unions demands: previously, BOJ’s Ueda said wage negotiations were critical in deciding when to phase out its big stimulus program while Japan PM Kishida noted in Parliament that Japan has not emerged out of deflation, pushing back some expectations of BOJ exiting negative rates next week. UK Jan Industrial Production printed softer, Jan GPD/Manf Production in-line, and EZ Industrial Production printed weaker as well. Donald Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination, setting up a combative election race with President Joe Biden. Elsewhere, US TSY 10Y yields are trading 1bp higher at 4.17% while bond yields across Europe ticked lower; the Bloomberg dollar index is fractionally lower, WTI crude is +$1.05 at $78.65, and bitcoin just hit a new all time high above $73,000.
In premarket trading, Nvidia shares rose again after the chipmaker rallied 7.2% and added $153 billion in market value on Tuesday. Tesla slipped after Wells Fargo downgraded the stock to underweight from equal-weight. Dollar Tree slumped after reporting fourth-quarter sales and profit that missed Wall Street’s expectations. The retailer also announced plans to close about 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of the fiscal year.
- Beauty Health soars 21% after the skin-care company reported fourth-quarter sales that topped consensus estimates. The company named Marla Beck as CEO after a stint as interim CEO that began in November.
- Clover Health rises 9% after the Medicare Advantage insurer reported revenue for the fourth quarter that beat the average analyst estimate.
- Dollar Tree slumps 6% after issuing an annual sales outlook that fell short of the average analyst estimate at the midpoint of the forecast range.
- Eli Lilly rises about 1% after teaming up with Amazon.com Inc. to expand its nascent business of selling weight-loss drugs directly to patients.
- Petco (WOOF) rises 3% after the company reported comparable sales for the fourth quarter that topped the consensus estimate. Petco also said Ron Coughlin has stepped down as CEO/Chairman.
- Tesla (TSLA) falls 2% after Wells Fargo cuts the recommendation on the EV maker’s stock to underweight, saying there are fresh risks to EV volumes as price cuts are not having as much impact as before.
- ZIM Integrated Shipping (ZIM) falls 4% after the marine shipping company reported its fourth-quarter results and gave an outlook.
Traders held onto Fed rate cut bets for this year even after US inflation came in higher than expected on Tuesday. Futures are pricing in nearly 70% odds that the central bank will start easing in June and enact at least three quarter-point cuts over the course of 2024. Policymakers next gather March 19-20, where investors will key into the Federal Open Market Committee’s quarterly forecasts for rates, including whether fresh employment and inflation figures have prompted any changes.
“It’s going to be hard for the Fed not to be hawkish in the next meeting as the fight against inflation clearly isn’t won yet,” said Justin Onuekwusi, chief investment officer at wealth manager St. James’s Place. “That print does make you sit up and be alert of the risk inflation remain stubbornly high and that has massive feed-across right across portfolios. Markets may be underestimating impact of sticky inflation as they are still aggressively pricing a June rate cut.”
European stocks rise with the Stoxx 600 hovering near a record high and the Stoxx 50 breaching 5,000 for the first time in 24 years. Retail shares are leading gains after positive updates from Zalando and Inditex. Utilities and banks also outperform. Here are some of the biggest movers on Wednesday:
- Zalando shares jump as much as 18%, the most in five years, after results that analysts describe as positive, with a beat on adjusted ebit for 2023 and updated targets for growth through 2028. RBC analysts say they are confident in the German company’s ability to capture growth as consumer demand recovers.
- Inditex shares climbed as much as 5.2% to a fresh record high after the Zara parent reported what analysts called strong results thanks to continued robust demand for its clothing collections. The Spanish retailer plans to increase its annual dividend by 28% to €1.54 per share. H&M and the broader retail index also gain.
- BNP Paribas rises as much as 3.4% after the lender forecast higher-than-expected profit and stepped up cost savings measures.
- Balfour Beatty shares gain as much as 10%, its biggest intraday gain since August 2022, after the construction and infrastructure group reported full-year adjusted earnings per share that came ahead of consensus expectations. Additionally, the company announced a share buyback of £100 million for 2024. Liberum noted the strength in the company’s Gammon Construction joint venture, with Jardine Matheson.
- E.On shares jump as much as 7%, most in more than a year, after it reported a positive update according to Jefferies, with outlook ahead of consensus. Company also announced CFO Marc Spieker will assume role of COO and Nadia Jakobi is set to become CFO.
- Keywords Studios shares gain as much as 13%, the most since May 2020, after the company maintained FY goals issued in January, offering reassurance in a video game industry marked by layoffs at bellwethers including Sony and Electronic Arts. Keywords provides external technical support to video-game makers.
- Vallourec shares gain 9.8% after ArcelorMittal said it’s buying a stake in the tubular steel company from Apollo Global Management for about €955 million. Analysts highlight the deal triggers M&A speculation around Vallourec, and Oddo BHF expects ArcelorMittal to launch a takeover bid once the six-month lock-up period expires.
- Adidas shares fall as much as 4.1% as a lack of a full-year guidance upgrade from the sportswear maker disappointed some analysts, even as results were in line with January’s pre-released figures. The focus turns to the German firm’s growth outlook for the first quarter, and whether it will indeed see a pick-up in trading in the second half of the year.
- Solvay drops as much as 5.2% after guidance for lower Ebitda in 2024. Analysts note that the chemicals company’s commitment to a stable or growing divided may offset negatives from falling Ebitda. Investors will focus on the soda ash price assumptions, Morgan Stanley said.
- Geberit falls as much as 4.8% after the Swiss maker of building materials missed earnings estimates. The stock had rallied ahead of the earnings, gaining almost 8% from the start of February through Tuesday.
- Stadler Rail shares fall 3.3% after the Swiss train manufacturer’s sales and operating margins came in lower than estimates. The company’s 2024 outlook also weighs on sentiment, according to Vontobel.
The European Central Bank is also poised to start rate cuts soon, with Governing Council member Martins Kazaks saying on Wednesday reductions could come “within the next few meetings.” Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said borrowing costs may be cut in the spring, with June more likely than April for a first move.
In FX, the Bloomberg Spot Index slips to reverse modest earlier gains while the yen was the weakest of the G-10 currencies, falling 0.2% versus the greenback to 148.05; the krone led G-10 gains. “BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda clearly indicated yesterday that wages were the last piece of information needed before the central bank could decide whether to end its negative interest rate policy next week, said David Forrester, a senior FX strategist at Credit Agricole CIB in Singapore. “So the partial tally of the spring wage negotiations this Friday will be a decisive factor for the BOJ and the JPY in the coming week.” The pound was flat.
In rates, treasuries edged lower, with US 10-year yields rising 1bps to 4.16%. Gilts fall after data showed the UK economy rebounded in January. UK 10-year yields rise 2bps to 3.96%. Gilts lag across core European rates as market digests an offering of 30-year inflation-linked debt and a wave of domestic data. US session includes 30-year bond reopening, following soft reception for Tuesday’s 10-year sale. Treasury auction cycle concludes with $22b 30-year bond reopening after $39b 10-year reopening tailed by 0.9bp, while Monday’s 3-year new issue stopped through by 1.3bp. WI 30-year yield at ~4.320% is roughly 4bp richer than February refunding, which stopped through by 2bp in a strong auction
In commodities, oil advanced after four days of losses as an industry report pointed to shrinking US crude stockpiles, offsetting wavering OPEC cuts. WTI rose 1.5% to trade near $78.70. Spot gold adds 0.2%. and trades near all time highs.
Bitcoin rises 3% to a record high above $73,000 with Ethereum (+2.7%) also catching wind.
To the day ahead now, and data releases include UK GDP and Euro Area industrial production for January. Central bank speakers include the ECB’s Cipollone and Stournaras. And in the US, there’s a 30yr Treasury auction taking place.
Market Snapshot
- S&P 500 futures little changed at 5,176.25
- STOXX Europe 600 little changed at 506.38
- MXAP down 0.3% to 176.21
- MXAPJ down 0.3% to 540.31
- Nikkei down 0.3% to 38,695.97
- Topix down 0.3% to 2,648.51
- Hang Seng Index little changed at 17,082.11
- Shanghai Composite down 0.4% to 3,043.84
- Sensex down 1.0% to 72,924.23
- Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.2% to 7,729.44
- Kospi up 0.4% to 2,693.57
- German 10Y yield little changed at 2.30%
- Euro little changed at $1.0929
- Brent Futures little changed at $81.99/bbl
- Gold spot up 0.0% to $2,158.75
- US Dollar Index little changed at 102.93
Top Overnight News
- US President Biden secured enough votes to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and Donald Trump secured enough delegates to win the Republican nomination, according to Reuters.
- Eli Lilly (LLY) is partnering with Amazon Pharmacy (AMZN) to deliver prescriptions sold through direct-to-consumer website.
- Some of Japan’s biggest companies, including Toyota, Nissan, and Nippon Steel, hand out large wage hikes to their workers (the biggest increases in decades), paving the way for a BOJ rate hike next week. FT
- China is scrapping a string of infrastructure projects in indebted regions as it struggles to reconcile a need to save money with this year’s target for economic growth. FT
- Chinese state media has touted President Xi Jinping as a market-friendly reformer on par with the paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, in an apparent attempt to dispel skepticism over the country’s growth outlook. BBG
- The European Central Bank will lower borrowing costs in the spring, with June more likely than April for a first move, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said. BBG
- Putin says Russia is willing to resolve the Ukraine war “by peaceful means”, but insists Moscow would require security guarantees to do so. BBG
- Donald Trump and Joe Biden have both secured enough delegates to clinch their respective party nominations, cementing a November rematch. The 2024 election is expected to be one of the most expensive on record. BBG
- US crude stockpiles fell by 5.5 million barrels last week, the API is said to have reported, registering the first decline in seven weeks if confirmed by the EIA. Gasoline and distillate supplies also dropped. BBG
- Global dividends hit a record $1.66 trillion last year, according to Janus Henderson. Payouts were up 5%, with almost half the growth coming from the banking sector. It’s the third annual record for dividends and the fund manager expects another all-time high this year. BBG
- Hedge funds are unwinding short Treasury futures bets at a rapid clip, a sign that basis-trade positions are diminishing. This is probably due to asset managers pivoting into investment-grade credit. BBG
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
APAC stocks traded mixed as early momentum from the tech-led gains on Wall St was offset by Chinese developer default concerns and as participants digested Japanese wage hike announcements. ASX 200 was led higher by consumer stocks after China’s MOFCOM released an interim proposal to remove tariffs on Australian wine although the advances in the index were limited by losses in the mining sector as iron ore prices continued to tumble. Nikkei 225 swung between gains and losses with initial strength reversed amid firm wage hike announcements. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were varied and price action was contained within relatively narrow ranges with the Hong Kong benchmark kept afloat by strength in auto names and tech, while the mainland was pressured amid developer default fears and with the US House set to vote later on the TikTok crackdown bill.
Top Asian News
- Country Garden Holdings (2007 HK) onshore bondholders said they have not received a coupon payment due on Tuesday, while the developer said funds for a CNY 96mln coupon payment due on Tuesday were not fully in place and it plans to do its best to raise money for payment within a 30-day grace period, according to Reuters.
- TikTok US executives told headquarters recently that a ban wasn’t an imminent risk, according to WSJ citing sources. However, it was separately reported that the US House plans to vote on the TikTok crackdown bill today at around 10:00EDT (14:00GMT).
European bourses, Stoxx600 (+0.2%), are modestly firmer, though with overall trade rangebound in what has been an uneventful session. The IBEX 35 (+1.3%) outperforms, led higher by post-earning strength in Inditex (+4.2%). European sectors are mixed; Retail outperforms, propped up by gains in Zalando (+13.5%) and Inditex. Autos is found at the foot of the pile, hampered by a poor Volkswagen (-0.8%) update. US equity futures (ES U/C, NQ -0.2%, RTY +0.1%) are trading around the unchanged mark, with slight underperformance in the NQ, paring back some of the strength seen in the prior session.
Top European News
- ECB’s Villeroy noted broad agreement in the ECB to start cutting rates in spring as the battle against inflation is being won, while he noted the risk of waiting too long before loosening monetary policy and unduly hurting the economy is now “at least equal” to acting too soon and letting inflation rebound, according to an interview with Le Figaro; In another batch of comments: Says the ECB is winning the battle against inflation; will remain vigilant on inflation but victory is within sight; Spring rate cut remains probably; more likely to cut rates in June than April.
- ECB’s Kazaks says ECB rate cut decision will come in the next few meetings; uncertainty remains high, and tensions in the labour market is still high.
- Citi expects BoE to start cutting rates in June (vs prev forecast of August).
Japan
- Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi said it is important for wage hikes to spread to mid-sized and small companies, while he added they are seeing strong momentum for wage hikes. It was also reported that Toyota, Nissan, Panasonic, Hitachi & Nippon Steel were among the companies that have responded to unions’ wage hike demands in full.
- Japanese PM Kishida says will call for pay hikes exceeding last year at small and mid-sized firms during the meeting with labour union and management; Japan not yet emerging out of deflation.
- BoJ Governor Ueda says BoJ will consider tweaking negative rates, YCC, and other monetary easing tools if the sustained achievement of price target comes into sight. We must scrutinize whether positive wage-inflation cycle merges in deciding whether conditions for phasing out stimulus are falling into place. This year’s wage talks is critical in deciding timing on exit from stimulus. Unions have demanded higher pay, seeing many corporate management making offers that will stream in today and beyond. Will scrutinize the wage talk outcomes, as well as other data and information from hearings when making policy decisions.
- Japanese PM Adviser Yata says wage hikes this year likely to exceed last year’s; Must continue pay rises next year and thereafter to defeat deflation; must broaden pay hikes to workers nationwide and in every prefecture. When asked if solid wage offers could trigger end to NIRP in march, Yata says government will not meddle with the BoJ’s independent policy-making.
- BoJ is reportedly to mull ending all ETF purchases if price goal is in sight; likely to keep buying bonds to keep market stable and to intervene in the event of sharp yield upside, according to Bloomberg sources.
- Japan’s Business Lobby Keidanren Head Tokura says wage increases indicated in the preliminary survey of big firms’ wage talks are likely to exceed last years levels.
- Early signs of a strong outcome in this year’s annual wage talks have heightened changes the BoJ will end its negative interest rate policy next week, according to Reuters sources; “There seems to be enough factors that justify a March policy shift”.
FX
- Marginal upside for the USD which has seen DXY kiss the 103 mark in quiet trade. If the level is cleared, yesterday’s 103.17 will come into view.
- Uneventful price action for EUR with ECB comments unable to shift the dial. As such, the pair is sticking to a 1.09 handle and within yesterday’s 1.0902-43 range.
- GBP is steady vs. the USD and stuck on a 1.27 handle as in-line GDP metrics failed to inspire price action. For now, yesterday’s 1.2746-1.2823 range holds.
- JPY is marginally softer vs. the USD but with losses tempered by reports that the BoJ could end ETF purchases. Today’s 147.24-89 range sits within yesterday’s 146.62-148.18 parameters. More broadly, focus is on in
- AUD is holding up vs. the USD despite falling iron ore prices, with AUD/USD maintaining 0.66 status and within yesterday’s 0.6596-0.6627 range. Likewise, NZD/USD is unable to break out of yesterday’s 0.6133-6184 range. RBNZ’s Conway later today could help to decide direction.
- PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0930 vs exp. 7.1775 (prev. 7.0963).
Fixed Income
- Gilts are the relative laggards, at lows of 99.68, with the paper unreactive to the UK’s GDP data (which was broadly in-line). The downside can be attributed to Gilts paring some of Tuesday’s outperformance following the labour data and a strong DMO sale.
- USTs are essentially unchanged in a quieter session for the US (on paper) after Tuesday’s marked CPI moves and a soft 10yr auction, despite the marked concession built in by the post-CPI reaction. Currently holds near session lows at 111-04.
- Bunds are slightly firmer after Tuesday’s marked US CPI-induced pressure. Specifics are relatively light thus far, but focus will be on the ECB Operational Framework Review (tentatively due today). Currently, Bunds hold around 133.24, with the peak for today at 133.27.
- Italy sells EUR 7.25bln vs exp. EUR 6-7.25bln 2.95% 2027, 3.50% 2031, 3.25% 2038 BTP Auction and EUR 1.25bln vs exp. EUR 1-1.25bln 4.0% 2031 BTP Green.
- Germany sells EUR 3.738bln vs exp. EUR 4.5bln 2.20% 2034 Bund: b/c 2.29x (prev. 2.10x), average yield 2.31% (prev. 2.38%) & retention 16.9% (prev. 17.5%)
Commodities
- Crude is firmer, taking impetus from Tuesday’s bullish private inventory data, with specifics light in the session thus far; Brent holds near session highs at +1.1%.
- Flat trade in gold and a mild upward bias in silver with the Dollar steady, calendar light, and with the ongoing geopolitical landscape potentially providing a modest underlying bid; XAU trades in a tight USD 2,155.86-2,161.66/oz range.
- Base metals are mixed with copper prices outperforming following reports that top Chinese copper smelters have reportedly reached an agreement to take action to curb falling fees.
- Azerbaijan oil production stood at 476k BPD in Feb (prev. 474k BPD in Jan), according to the Energy Ministry.
- Top Chinese copper smelters have reportedly reached an agreement to take action to curb falling fees, according to Reuters sources; smelters to cut output at loss-making plants.
- BP (BP/ LN) and ADNOC suspend USD 2bln talks to take Israel-based Newmed private, via Bloomberg.
Geopolitics: Middle East
- CIA Director Burns said there is “still a possibility” of a Gaza ceasefire deal but added that many complicated issues are still to be worked through.
- US may urge partners and allies to fund a privately run operation to send aid by sea to Gaza that could begin before a much larger US military effort, according to sources cited by Reuters.
- US Central Command announced that Houthis fired a close-range ballistic missile from Yemen toward USS Laboon in the Red Sea on March 12th but it did not impact the vessel, while CENTCOM forces and a coalition vessel successfully engaged and destroyed two unmanned aerial systems launched from Yemen.
Geopolitics: Other
- Ukrainian Army Chief Syrskyi and Ukraine’s Defence Minister Umerov held a phone call with US Defense Secretary Austin on weapons delivery to Ukraine, according to Reuters.
- A fire at oil refinery in Ryazan region extinguished, according to the governor cited by Reuters.
US event calendar
- 07:00: March MBA Mortgage Applications 7.1%, prior 9.7%
Government Agenda
- 4 p.m: US President Joe Biden delivers remarks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on how his investments are rebuilding communities and creating jobs
- 11.15 a.m: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
Next stop on the global tour is Singapore as I’m about to board the plane from Melbourne here this evening. My vaguely fascinating fact about Singapore is that my grandfather was a civil engineer there in the 1920s and 1930s and helped build much of its rapid development at the time. He was Scottish and met my Dutch grandmother there and got married without speaking each other’s language and being able to understand each other. My wife says she’s done the same thing! His brother owned a very successful industrial company on the island and lost all his wealth and his company after the 1929 stock market crash. My entire family were eventually left penniless after the 1930s crash and then WWII. 90 years later and my kids have had the same impact on me!
I’m looking forward to landing in the pretty standard 35 degree heat that Singapore always seems to have on landing. Talking of the heat, even with another hot US inflation print, risk assets put in another strong performance yesterday, with both the S&P 500 (+1.12%) and Europe’s STOXX 600 (+1.00%) driven by strong tech gains (sound familiar?). The highs in the main indices came despite the latest US CPI report for February, which saw inflation come in strongly for a second month running, and led to growing fears that the last phase of getting inflation back to target would be the hardest. But despite the persistence of inflation, investors were remarkably unphased for the most part, and they continue to see a June rate cut as the most likely outcome.
In terms of the details of the report, headline CPI came in at a 6-month high of +0.44%, which meant the year-on-year measure actually ticked up a bit to +3.2% (vs. +3.1% expected). Alongside that, core CPI was at +0.36%, which also meant annual core CPI was also above expectations at +3.8% (vs. +3.7% expected). Some of the blame was placed on shelter inflation, which was up by a monthly +0.43%. But even if you looked at core CPI excluding shelter, it was still up by +0.30%, so it’s difficult to say that shelter was the whole story behind the ongoing persistence. See our US economists’ reaction to the print here.
For the Fed, there must be some concern even if markets show little of this. For instance, if you look at core CPI on a 3-month annualised basis, it rose to +4.2%, so it’s getting harder to explain this away as just one month of bad data. Bear in mind that this is pretty high by historic standards as well, and apart from the post-Covid inflation, 3m core CPI hasn’t been that high since 1991. Alongside that, there was evidence that the inflation was coming from the stickier categories in the consumer basket. In fact the Atlanta Fed’s sticky CPI series is now up by +5.1% on a 3m annualised basis, the fastest it’s been since April 2023. So the concern for markets will be that inflation is showing some signs of rebounding, or at the very least stabilising at above-target levels.
When it comes to the Fed, the report led investors to dial back the rate cuts priced this year by -6.1bps, and futures now see 85bps of cuts by the December meeting. There was also a bit more doubt creeping into the chance of a cut by June, with 78% now priced in, down from 86% the previous day. But even with this slightly hawkish repricing, June is still considered the most likely timing for the first cut, which helped to support risk assets even though the print was above expectations. For the Fed, the most important question now will be how this affects the PCE measure of inflation, which is what they officially target. We won’t find that out until March 29th (Good Friday), but we should get a bit more info from the PPI report tomorrow, which has several components that feed into PCE.
The report led to a selloff for US Treasuries, with the 2yr yield (+5.0bps) up to 4.59%, whilst the 10yr yield (+5.4bps) rose to 4.15%. The 10yr yield had peaked at 4.17% intra-day shortly after the latest 10yr Treasury auction which saw slightly soft demand, with bonds issued +0.9bps above the pre-sale yield.
The fixed income selloff was echoed in Europe too, even if the overall performance was better there, with yields on 10yr bunds (+2.7bps) and OATs (+1.6bps) rising by a smaller amount. At the same time, markets remain confident of an ECB cut by June (priced at 91% vs 95% the day before). This is consistent with the latest ECB commentary, with Austria’s Holzmann (strong hawk) saying that a June cut was more likely than April, while France’s Villeroy suggested that “there’s a very broad agreement” to cut rates by the June meeting.
Yesterday’s main outperformer in the rates space were 10yr gilts (-2.5bps), which came after the UK labour market data was a bit weaker than expected over the three months to January. Notably, wage growth slowed to an 18-month low of +5.6% (vs. +5.7 expected), and the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9% (vs. 3.8% expected).
Although sovereign bonds struggled yesterday for the most part, there was a much better performance for equities. In the US, the S&P 500 (+1.12%) closed at a new record, with tech stocks and the Magnificent 7 (+2.88%) leading the advance. Nvidia was +7.16% higher. Likewise in Europe, the STOXX 600 (+1.00%) hit an all-time high, and there were new records for the DAX (+1.23%) and the CAC 40 (+0.84%) as well. That said, gains more moderate outside of tech, with the equal-weighted S&P 500 up by +0.26%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 (-0.02%) narrowly lost ground for a 3rd consecutive day.
This backdrop was mostly positive for other risk assets. US HY credit spread fell -6bps, closing just 3bps above their 2-year low reached in late February. Meanwhile, Bitcoin posted a new intra-day high just shy of $73,000, surpassing the market cap of silver. Marion Laboure and Cassidy Ainsworth-Grace’s new report this morning discusses the upcoming halving event’s impact on Bitcoin prices, along with the Dencun upgrade scheduled for Ethereum today (link here).
Asian equity markets are mixed this morning with the Hang Seng (+0.26%) and the KOSPI (+0.11%) edging higher while the Nikkei (-0.36%) continues to drift back from last week’s all time highs. Elsewhere, stocks in mainland China are also seeing losses with the CSI (-0.59%) and the Shanghai Composite (-0.26%) dragged lower by property developers as Country Garden Holdings Co. missed a 96-million-yuan ($13 million) coupon payment on a yuan bond for the first time. Outside of Asia, US stock futures are struggling to gain momentum with those on the S&P 500 (-0.03%) and NASDAQ 100 (-0.06%) flat. In early morning data, the unemployment rate in South Korea unexpectedly dropped to +2.6% in February from January’s 3.0% level (v/s +3.0% consensus expectation).
Although the CPI release was the main data focus yesterday, there was also the NFIB’s small business optimism index from the US. That f ell to a 9-month low in February of 89.4 (vs. 90.5 expected). And there were also further signs of softening in the labour market, as the share planning to increase employment was down to a net +12, the lowest since May 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Likewise, the share of firms with positions they weren’t able to fill hit a three-year low of 37%.
To the day ahead now, and data releases include UK GDP and Euro Area industrial production for January. Central bank speakers include the ECB’s Cipollone and Stournaras. And in the US, there’s a 30yr Treasury auction taking place.
2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)
Equities mixed, JPY lower and Gilts unreactive to the UK’s GDP; ECB speak due – Newsquawk US Market Open
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 06:41 AM
- European bourses are modestly firmer, whilst US equity futures are mixed with slight underperformance in the NQ
- Dollar is incrementally higher and the JPY continues to underperform
- Bonds are mixed with Gilts paring back Tuesday’s gains
- Crude is firmer and near session highs, base metals are mixed but with outperformance in Copper
- Looking ahead, ECB Operational Framework Review, Speech from ECB’s Cipollone & RBNZ’s Conway, Supply from the US
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EUROPEAN TRADE
EQUITIES
- European bourses, Stoxx600 (+0.2%), are modestly firmer, though with overall trade rangebound in what has been an uneventful session. The IBEX 35 (+1.3%) outperforms, led higher by post-earning strength in Inditex (+4.2%).
- European sectors are mixed; Retail outperforms, propped up by gains in Zalando (+13.5%) and Inditex. Autos is found at the foot of the pile, hampered by a poor Volkswagen (-0.8%) update.
- US equity futures (ES U/C, NQ -0.2%, RTY +0.1%) are trading around the unchanged mark, with slight underperformance in the NQ, paring back some of the strength seen in the prior session.
- Click here and here for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow, including earnings.
- Click here for more details.
FX
- Marginal upside for the USD which has seen DXY kiss the 103 mark in quiet trade. If the level is cleared, yesterday’s 103.17 will come into view.
- Uneventful price action for EUR with ECB comments unable to shift the dial. As such, the pair is sticking to a 1.09 handle and within yesterday’s 1.0902-43 range.
- GBP is steady vs. the USD and stuck on a 1.27 handle as in-line GDP metrics failed to inspire price action. For now, yesterday’s 1.2746-1.2823 range holds.
- JPY is marginally softer vs. the USD but with losses tempered by reports that the BoJ could end ETF purchases. Today’s 147.24-89 range sits within yesterday’s 146.62-148.18 parameters. More broadly, focus is on in
- AUD is holding up vs. the USD despite falling iron ore prices, with AUD/USD maintaining 0.66 status and within yesterday’s 0.6596-0.6627 range. Likewise, NZD/USD is unable to break out of yesterday’s 0.6133-6184 range. RBNZ’s Conway later today could help to decide direction.
- PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0930 vs exp. 7.1775 (prev. 7.0963).
- Click here for more details.
FIXED INCOME
- Gilts are the relative laggards, at lows of 99.68, with the paper unreactive to the UK’s GDP data (which was broadly in-line). The downside can be attributed to Gilts paring some of Tuesday’s outperformance following the labour data and a strong DMO sale.
- USTs are essentially unchanged in a quieter session for the US (on paper) after Tuesday’s marked CPI moves and a soft 10yr auction, despite the marked concession built in by the post-CPI reaction. Currently holds near session lows at 111-04.
- Bunds are slightly firmer after Tuesday’s marked US CPI-induced pressure. Specifics are relatively light thus far, but focus will be on the ECB Operational Framework Review (tentatively due today). Currently, Bunds hold around 133.24, with the peak for today at 133.27.
- Italy sells EUR 7.25bln vs exp. EUR 6-7.25bln 2.95% 2027, 3.50% 2031, 3.25% 2038 BTP Auction and EUR 1.25bln vs exp. EUR 1-1.25bln 4.0% 2031 BTP Green.
- Germany sells EUR 3.738bln vs exp. EUR 4.5bln 2.20% 2034 Bund: b/c 2.29x (prev. 2.10x), average yield 2.31% (prev. 2.38%) & retention 16.9% (prev. 17.5%)
- Click here for more details.
COMMODITIES
- Crude is firmer, taking impetus from Tuesday’s bullish private inventory data, with specifics light in the session thus far; Brent holds near session highs at +1.1%.
- Flat trade in gold and a mild upward bias in silver with the Dollar steady, calendar light, and with the ongoing geopolitical landscape potentially providing a modest underlying bid; XAU trades in a tight USD 2,155.86-2,161.66/oz range.
- Base metals are mixed with copper prices outperforming following reports that top Chinese copper smelters have reportedly reached an agreement to take action to curb falling fees.
- Azerbaijan oil production stood at 476k BPD in Feb (prev. 474k BPD in Jan), according to the Energy Ministry.
- Top Chinese copper smelters have reportedly reached an agreement to take action to curb falling fees, according to Reuters sources; smelters to cut output at loss-making plants.
- BP (BP/ LN) and ADNOC suspend USD 2bln talks to take Israel-based Newmed private, via Bloomberg.
- Click here for more details.
NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES
- ECB’s Villeroy noted broad agreement in the ECB to start cutting rates in spring as the battle against inflation is being won, while he noted the risk of waiting too long before loosening monetary policy and unduly hurting the economy is now “at least equal” to acting too soon and letting inflation rebound, according to an interview with Le Figaro; In another batch of comments: Says the ECB is winning the battle against inflation; will remain vigilant on inflation but victory is within sight; Spring rate cut remains probably; more likely to cut rates in June than April.
- ECB’s Kazaks says ECB rate cut decision will come in the next few meetings; uncertainty remains high, and tensions in the labour market is still high.
- Citi expects BoE to start cutting rates in June (vs prev forecast of August).
DATA RECAP
- UK GDP Estimate YY (Jan) -0.30% vs. Exp. -0.30% (Prev. 0.00%); GDP Estimate MM (Jan) 0.20% vs. Exp. 0.20% (Prev. -0.10%); GDP Est 3M/3M (Jan) -0.10% vs. Exp. -0.10% (Prev. -0.30%)
- UK Services YY (Jan) -0.50% vs. Exp. -0.50% (Prev. 0.10%); Services MM (Jan) 0.20% vs. Exp. 0.20% (Prev. -0.10%)
- UK Construction O/P Vol YY (Jan) 0.7% vs. Exp. -0.5% (Prev. -3.2%); Construction O/P Vol MM (Jan) 1.1% vs. Exp. -0.1% (Prev. -0.5%)
- UK Manufacturing Output YY (Jan) 2.0% vs. Exp. 2.0% (Prev. 2.3%); Manufacturing Output MM (Jan) 0.0% vs. Exp. 0.0% (Prev. 0.8%)
- UK Goods Trade Balance GBP (Jan) -14.515B GB vs. Exp. -15.0B GB (Prev. -13.989B GB, Rev. -13.989B GB)
- UK Goods Trade Bal. Non-EU (Jan) -3.421B GB (Prev. -3.319B GB, Rev. -3.319B GB)
- UK Industrial Output MM (Jan) -0.2% vs Exp. 0.0% (Prev. 0.6%); Industrial Output YY (Jan) 0.5% vs. Exp. 0.7% (Prev. 0.6%)
- German Wholesale Price Index YY (Feb) -3.0% (Prev. -2.7%); Wholesale Price Index MM (Feb) -0.1% (Prev. 0.1%)
- EU Industrial Production MM (Jan) -3.2% vs. Exp. -1.5% (Prev. 2.6%, Rev. 1.6%); Industrial Production YY (Jan) -6.7% vs. Exp. -2.9% (Prev. 1.2%, Rev. 0.2%)
NOTABLE US HEADLINES
- US President Biden secured enough votes to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and Donald Trump secured enough delegates to win the Republican nomination, according to Reuters.
- Eli Lilly (LLY) is partnering with Amazon Pharmacy (AMZN) to deliver prescriptions sold through direct-to-consumer website.
- Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) Q4 2023 (USD): adj. EPS 2.55 (exp. 2.65), Revenue 8.632bln (exp. 8.67bln). Shares -7.1% in pre-market trade.
GEOPOLITICS
MIDDLE EAST
- CIA Director Burns said there is “still a possibility” of a Gaza ceasefire deal but added that many complicated issues are still to be worked through.
- US may urge partners and allies to fund a privately run operation to send aid by sea to Gaza that could begin before a much larger US military effort, according to sources cited by Reuters.
- US Central Command announced that Houthis fired a close-range ballistic missile from Yemen toward USS Laboon in the Red Sea on March 12th but it did not impact the vessel, while CENTCOM forces and a coalition vessel successfully engaged and destroyed two unmanned aerial systems launched from Yemen.
OTHER
- Ukrainian Army Chief Syrskyi and Ukraine’s Defence Minister Umerov held a phone call with US Defense Secretary Austin on weapons delivery to Ukraine, according to Reuters.
- A fire at oil refinery in Ryazan region extinguished, according to the governor cited by Reuters.
CRYPTO
- Bitcoin is back on a firmer footing and soaring past USD 73k, with Ethereum (+2.7%) also catching wind.
APAC TRADE
- APAC stocks traded mixed as early momentum from the tech-led gains on Wall St was offset by Chinese developer default concerns and as participants digested Japanese wage hike announcements.
- ASX 200 was led higher by consumer stocks after China’s MOFCOM released an interim proposal to remove tariffs on Australian wine although the advances in the index were limited by losses in the mining sector as iron ore prices continued to tumble.
- Nikkei 225 swung between gains and losses with initial strength reversed amid firm wage hike announcements.
- Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were varied and price action was contained within relatively narrow ranges with the Hong Kong benchmark kept afloat by strength in auto names and tech, while the mainland was pressured amid developer default fears and with the US House set to vote later on the TikTok crackdown bill.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
- Country Garden Holdings (2007 HK) onshore bondholders said they have not received a coupon payment due on Tuesday, while the developer said funds for a CNY 96mln coupon payment due on Tuesday were not fully in place and it plans to do its best to raise money for payment within a 30-day grace period, according to Reuters.
- TikTok US executives told headquarters recently that a ban wasn’t an imminent risk, according to WSJ citing sources. However, it was separately reported that the US House plans to vote on the TikTok crackdown bill today at around 10:00EDT (14:00GMT).
Japan
- Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi said it is important for wage hikes to spread to mid-sized and small companies, while he added they are seeing strong momentum for wage hikes. It was also reported that Toyota, Nissan, Panasonic, Hitachi & Nippon Steel were among the companies that have responded to unions’ wage hike demands in full.
- Japanese PM Kishida says will call for pay hikes exceeding last year at small and mid-sized firms during the meeting with labour union and management; Japan not yet emerging out of deflation.
- BoJ Governor Ueda says BoJ will consider tweaking negative rates, YCC, and other monetary easing tools if the sustained achievement of price target comes into sight. We must scrutinize whether positive wage-inflation cycle merges in deciding whether conditions for phasing out stimulus are falling into place. This year’s wage talks is critical in deciding timing on exit from stimulus. Unions have demanded higher pay, seeing many corporate management making offers that will stream in today and beyond. Will scrutinize the wage talk outcomes, as well as other data and information from hearings when making policy decisions.
- Japanese PM Adviser Yata says wage hikes this year likely to exceed last year’s; Must continue pay rises next year and thereafter to defeat deflation; must broaden pay hikes to workers nationwide and in every prefecture. When asked if solid wage offers could trigger end to NIRP in march, Yata says government will not meddle with the BoJ’s independent policy-making.
- BoJ is reportedly to mull ending all ETF purchases if price goal is in sight; likely to keep buying bonds to keep market stable and to intervene in the event of sharp yield upside, according to Bloomberg sources.
- Japan’s Business Lobby Keidanren Head Tokura says wage increases indicated in the preliminary survey of big firms’ wage talks are likely to exceed last years levels.
- Early signs of a strong outcome in this year’s annual wage talks have heightened changes the BoJ will end its negative interest rate policy next week, according to Reuters sources; “There seems to be enough factors that justify a March policy shift”.
2C ASIA AFFAIRS
WEDNESDAY MORNING/TUESDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 12.10 PTS OR 0.40% //Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 11.39 PTS OR 0.07% / Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 101.94 PTS OR 0.26%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.21% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 7.1929 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.1989 /Oil UP TO 78.64 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 82.97/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN WEAKER
2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
END
2e) JAPAN
JAPAN
Wage increases galore and this will force the B of J to raise rates. This will cause the 10 yr to lower in value as the rate increases. The Yen will falter and that will cause problems for its stock market
(zerohedge)
The BOJ “Has Made Up Its Mind To Hike Rates” After Union Wage Negotiations Lead To Surge In Pay
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 10:45 AM
After a decade of NIRP and unlimited bond buying to keep the Japanese bond market – and economy – from disintegrating, the BOJ may have no choice but to hike rates as soon as next week. The reason: inflation in “deflationary” Japan is now not only on par with the US, but wage growth is surging and threatening to spark a wage-price spiral even as the clueless, cartoonish central bank is keeping rates negative, buying bonds and stocks to prop up the market, and generally doing everything in its power to unleash hyperinflation and currency collapse.
So with all attention on the Japanese labor union wage requests, overnight companies including Toyota, Honda, Nippon Steel and ANA Holdings all granted workers their biggest pay rise in more than three decades, underlining the inflationary trend and bolstering the case for the Bank of Japan to begin raising interest rates. Indeed, with the peak day arriving today for major companies to respond to union wage hike increases, media outlets have reported that most companies had already agreed to the full amount or more than labor unions wage hike requests without waiting for the March 13 deadline.
As the FT reports, galvanized by the sharp rise in living costs and a deepening labour shortage, the country’s trade unions have negotiated an increase in wages that is certain to exceed the rate of inflation, marking a milestone in a country where real wages have stagnated since the late 1990s.
With the shunto spring wage negotiations largely concluding on Wednesday, economists expect large companies to give their unionized workers an average wage increase of more than 4%, compared with 3.6% last year. That would be the biggest rise since 1992.
Perhaps the most iconic Japanese company of all, and the one which serves as an example for the rest of corporate Japan, Toyota said it had fully accepted its labor union’s request for a monthly pay increase of up to ¥28,440 ($193), the largest amount since comparable figures were first made available in 1999.
“We wanted to firmly cover for the impact from rising prices,” said Takanori Azuma, Toyota’s chief human resources officer, adding that the increases in monthly salary and bonus payments were at a record level.
Others went even further:
- Nippon Steel agreed to an 11.8% increase in base salary, exceeding its trade union’s request for the biggest jump in monthly pay since 1979.
- ANA gave its workers an average wage increase of 5.6% on Monday, the highest for the airline since 1991.
- Honda last month agreed to a 5.6% annual pay bump, the highest since 1989.
- NEC granted a 4.3% rise in base pay, the highest ever since the current wage negotiation system began in 1998.
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries agreed to an 8.3% annual pay hike, its highest since 2005.
Combined with strong government pressure, the sharp rise in prices caused by the war in Ukraine and the global energy crisis had already led to large gains in wages during last year’s negotiations. But trade unions had failed to secure pay rises that would cover accelerating inflation while the gains did not spread evenly to small and medium-sized enterprises, which employ about 70 per cent of Japan’s workforce.
The wage negotiations had been closely followed by investors this year as solid wage growth is crucial for the Bank of Japan to muster enough confidence to begin unwinding its ultra-loose monetary policy measures. And despite recent weak economic data, which saw Japan’s economy enter a recession last month (only to be revised right back out yesterday) analysts believe the strong shunto results should allow the central bank to end its negative interest rate policy as soon as next week or April at the latest.
“It was extremely hard to demand higher wages when prices were not going up,” said Akihiko Matsuura, president of UA Zensen, one of the country’s largest trade unions with more than 1.8mn members in retail, food, chemicals and other sectors. “We need to bring 30 years of wage stagnation to an end.”
The union, which represents mostly workers at small and medium-sized businesses, has called for a 6% total wage increase, roughly double the rate of headline inflation, including 4% in base salary. Ahead of Wednesday, retailer Aeon agreed with the union to raise the hourly wage for roughly 400,000 of its part-time employees by an average of 7 per cent this spring in a sign that wage increases were trickling down to society at large.
“The big test is next year as to whether companies will fully respond to the demands of unions even when prices will not rise very much,” said Matsuura. Headline inflation averaged 3.2% last year but has slowed to 2.2% in January on the back of a decline in the imported cost of energy.
But even as inflation pressure declines, companies are still likely to face demands to raise wages as they struggle to find younger workers, further empowering the unions. Japanese workers rarely take to the streets to demand higher wages or better working conditions, but several strikes have occurred this year as companies have failed to meet the demands of unions.
Commenting on the upcoming BOJ actions, Bank of America said that “despite hand-wringing over March vs April”, the BOJ has “effectively made up its mind to move by the end of the spring” and expects that “even if the BOJ ends up holding in March, it will send a much more explicit signal that it is thinking of moving at its next policy meeting” on April 25-26. The bank also expects:
- Hike in the current policy rate of -0.1% to a range of 0 to 0.1%, and a removal of the commitment to keep long-term rates at 0.1%.
- removal of yield curve control.
- removal of the commitment to keep expanding the monetary base.
- formal end to risk asset purchases (mostly equity ETFs, it is unlikely the BOJ can ever stop backstopping the bond market)
Going back to the coming wave of higher wages, the Goldman exhibit below shows a list of companies with relatively large labor union memberships and for which wage hikes can be calculated based on media reports up to 5pm JST on March 13 (list includes some companies that have not announced a wage agreement yet).
Since many companies agreed to the full requested amount, the weighted average of the list broadly comes in line with the collected request data by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO) announced on March 7, calling for base pay rise of 4.3%, and headline wage hike of 5.9% including scheduled wage growth (weighted average basis). As noted above, they far surpass the 2023 final agreed wage hike of 2.1% and 3.6% respectively.
JTUC-RENGO will collect today’s agreement and release the aggregate initial wage hike data on the evening of March 15. Last year, many companies agreed to the full base pay rise request (+2.8%) on the peak reply day, but the initial aggregate data released by JTUC-RENGO came in at +2.33%. It could be the case that companies who could not meet the unions’ request or smaller companies were not covered in media reports on the peak reply day.
That said, this year’s wage agreement is undoubtedly strong, and the first impression from responses on March 13 is that there could be considerable upside to Goldman’s shunto forecasts (base pay rise: 2.5%, headline shunto wage growth: 4.1%). The ultimate agreement on base pay rise could settle above 3%, and truly supercharge Japanese inflation.
Here Goldman joins BofA and notes that with the strong wage agreement, “we see even stronger likelihood of BOJ removing NIRP at the March or April meeting, although this does not necessarily point to higher probability for the March meeting” although Goldman warns that signals by the BOJ are not sufficiently strong to suggest a March hike, and will continue to closely monitor communications by the BOJ. Either way, a rate hike is now just a matter of time.
More in the full notes from BofA and Goldman available to pro subs.
3 CHINA
CHINA/
END
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
EU/HUNGARY
The EU folks are psychopaths. They are trying to destroy Hungary./ Hungary knows socialism/communism and they are trying lead their country as capitalists only to be shot down by the EU.
EU Parliament To Sue EU Commission For Releasing Funds To Hungary
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 03:30 AM
On Monday evening, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) decided whether to refer the European Commission to the Court of Justice of the European Union for unblocking previously frozen funds for Hungary.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen smiles before the start of the EPP Congress in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
The result of the committee’s vote was a recommendation that the case be referred to the EU’s top court. However, the decision to do so must be ratified by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
Should Metsola not agree with the proposal, it will go to the Conference of Presidents, i.e., the leaders of the parliament’s political groups.
However, this means that a delicate situation would arise within the European People’s Party (EPP), which has become increasingly entrenched in the liberal mainstream over the past few years. During the campaign period, it was up to the EPP president to decide whether the institution led by the EPP’s top candidate, Ursula von der Leyen, should be brought before the courts.
Fidesz MEP Ernő Schaller-Baross told Magyar Nemzet the situation was becoming farcical.
“What the European Parliament is doing is nonsense from a legal point of view, since it is nothing more than a case of going to the European Court of Justice to legally impose its own political demands, without regard for legal limits.
“It expects the Court of Justice to annul the Commission’s decision on the EU funds due to Hungary because it did not take sufficient account of the parliament’s political arguments,” he said.
Putting the developments into context, the MEP added that the dangers of the disempowerment of democracy and politics, as well as the political bias in the functioning of the EU that filters into legal procedures, are dangerous.
“It is telling that the European Parliament’s Legal Service is unable or does not dare to give an opinion on the legal action, as there is no legal basis for such a lawsuit, which clearly shows that it is a political dispute,” he added.
Schaller-Baross said that the upcoming EU elections will be an opportunity for the electorate to voice its demand for a better democracy: “With less than a hundred days to go until the European elections, European voters will have their say on the functioning of the EU institutions in the spirit of their demand for a better democracy. Change is needed in Brussels. We hope that political forces that want to build a Europe of nations and respect our EU treaties will win a majority in the EP elections in June.”
end
5. RUSSIA AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS.
ISRAEL HAMAS/
Supposedly a hostage deal is in the making. Let us see how this plays out
(Jerusalem Post)
Gaza hostage deal: Hamas agrees to US proposal for Gaza ceasefire – report
The White House urged Hamas terrorists in Gaza to release women, elderly and wounded hostages and accept a temporary ceasefire.
By TOVAH LAZAROFF, HANNAH SARISOHN, REUTERSMARCH 12, 2024 21:26Updated: MARCH 12, 2024 23:32
Hamas and Israel must “stay at the table,” United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday while stressing that a deal was still possible for the release of 40 hostages in exchange for a six-week pause to the fighting.
“We will stay at it. We are determined to try to generate a ceasefire with the hostages coming out and then build on it for something more enduring,” Sullivan said.
“We have encouraged Israel to stay at the table, stay engaged because we believe there still is scope for this deal to get done” even though the Ramadan period has begun, Sullivan said.
“As we press particularly on our friends in Israel to do their part, to help deliver this ceasefire fire, it is incumbent for voices around the world to call on Hamas to step up to do their part to release innocent women, wounded and elderly hostages as a first step and then we can move from there,” he said.
Sullivan said all the top US officials are engaged in making this happen, explaining that US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Middle East envoy Brett McGurk, and CIA Director William Burns have all been heavily involved in this effort.
On Tuesday night, Al Arabiya reported that Hamas could agree to a modified US proposal for a second hostage deal and planned to send a delegation to Cairo to finalize the arrangement in the coming days.Sullivan said he had not heard that Hamas was amenable to a deal.
“If there is an offer from Hamas to start releasing prisoners as part of a ceasefire, that would be welcome news,” he said.
He charged that a “ceasefire is on the table today,” but the hang-up was Hamas, which could make a deal happen if it would just “simply release women, children and elderly.”
Sullivan stressed that the “fact that they will not do so says a lot to me about Hamas’s [lack of] regard for innocent Palestinian civilians.” As the US pushed for a deal, it also increased its efforts to bring humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
US is to build a temporary pier for humanitarian aid in Gaza
Three US Army vessels departed to the Gaza coast on Tuesday to begin the process of building a temporary pier to ramp up humanitarian assistance, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday afternoon. The Pentagon has not yet said specifically where the pier will be established.
The ships are “carrying the equipment and supplies needed to support this mission. Once in theater, these vessels and their crews will establish a roll-on-roll-off pier capability that allows ship-to-shore humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen Pat Ryder said during a news briefing.
Ryder indicated that the Pentagon’s only efforts in the region will be assisting in the delivery of humanitarian aid.The United Nations used a new land route on Tuesday to deliver food to northern Gaza for the first time in three weeks.
Jamie McGoldrick, UN aid coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told Reuters that a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy had used an Israeli military road that runs alongside the Gaza border fence to reach the enclave’s north.WFP spokesperson Shaza Moghraby said enough food for 25,000 people was delivered to Gaza City in the early hours of Tuesday. It was WFP’s first delivery to the north since Feb. 20 and “proves that moving food by road is possible.”
“We are hoping to scale up, and we need regular and consistent access, especially with people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine,” said Moghraby. We need entry points directly to the north.”
The UN has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – one-quarter of the population – are on the brink of famine.Sullivan said the US was working with Israel to increase the amount of aid “by ground both through Kerem Shalom and through a new crossing, where we had the first trucks get in last night, and we need to see more where that came from.”
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the WFP convoy’s use of the military road.Limited aid via land has been reaching southern Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt and Kerem Shalom from Israel.
“Life-saving relief for Palestinians in Gaza is coming in trickles – if it comes at all,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday that the UN and aid groups were “working to deliver desperately needed assistance, despite ongoing fighting and Israeli bombardment, as well as insecurity, frequent border closures and access constraints that continue to impede safe and efficient aid operations.”
The UN had been pushing Israel for weeks to allow aid convoys – once inspected in the south – to use the military road along the Gaza border fence road, McGoldrick said last week. The plan was for trucks to cross into Gaza from the Israeli village of Beeri.
The United States, Jordan, and others have conducted airdrops of aid in Gaza, and on Tuesday, a ship carrying 200 tonnes of aid left Cyprus in a pilot project to open a sea corridor to deliver supplies. While UN officials have welcomed new aid routes, they stress there is no substitute for land access.
Yael Halfon contributed to this report.
END
ISRAEL/SYRIA/HEZBOLLAH
IDF targets Syrian army infrastructure used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah
(Jerusalem Post)
IDF targets Syrian army infrastructure used by Hezbollah
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFMARCH 12, 2024 20:55
Updated:
MARCH 12, 2024 21:07
The IDF struck infrastructures belonging to the Syrian army used by Hezbollah, the military announced on Tuesday.
The military said it carried out the attack following intelligence gathering, which led to the incrimination of these infrastructures.
The IDF further said it “considers the Syrian regime responsible for everything that happens on its territory and will not allow attempts that will lead to the establishment of the terrorist organization Hezbollah on its front.”
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-791639
https://player.jpost.com/public/player.html?player=jpost&media=3680994&url=www.jpost.comIDF strikes Syrian infrastructure used by Hezbollah. March 12, 2024. (Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit).
END
ISRAEL HAMAS/GAZA/CYPRUS
Initial aid ship departs Cyprus to Israel. However no clear unloading plan. Stupid Biden and his elk never thought of this only Israel.
(Zerohedge)
Initial Aid Ship Departs Cyprus To Gaza, But There’s No Clear Unloading Plan
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 02:45 AM
At a moment the White House is openly clashing with Israel over Gaza policy, there have been rapid developments regarding the risky venture of shipping humanitarian aid by sea to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and its over 2 million residents.
On Tuesday the Spanish NGO ‘Open Arms’ has sent the first chartered ship loaded with 200 tons of humanitarian aid toward the Strip. It set sail from Larnaca, Cyprus on a voyage of some 370km. The group said on X, “the maritime humanitarian corridor to the Strip is opened, in a highly complex mission that we trust will be the first of many.”
The mission is happening under the aegis of an EU humanitarian corridor at a moment Palestinians are facing famine conditions in the Gaza Strip. Open Arms is also partnering with the World Central Kitchen.
Open Arms spokeswoman Laura Lanuza said the aid ship contains “mainly water and food: rice, pasta, flour, canned food, tins of tuna … Basic necessities.” She described that “When we first arrived in Cyprus, we thought it would be mission impossible.”
The government of Cyprus has been key in setting up the EU maritime aid corridor. “Our goal is to establish a maritime highway of boats and barges stocked with millions of meals continuously headed towards Gaza,” a statement by the World Central Kitchen said. The initiative is funded in part by the UAE.
At this early stage the needed infrastructure for offloading the aid supplies is still very much in question…
.
“Operation Safeena”, (boat,vessel) on its way! First trip to the shores of Gaza, learning. At the same time as
is moving, construction of the Jetty is well underway….we may fail, but the biggest failure will be not trying! Thank you to all that made it possible….we could bring millions of meals a day…The people of the north will be fed! Let’s this moment at the beginning of Ramadan be a good omen, for peace in the middle east…#ChefsForGaza
وزارة الموارد البشرية والتوطين and 3 others
·
58.3K Views
Israel has approved the idea of the maritime corridor so long as vessels undergo the proper security checks, which Tel Aviv is coordinating with Cypriot authorities on implementing.
But even as the Open Arms vessel which is towing a barge loaded flour, rice and protein makes its way toward Gaza for the expected at least two-day trip, international reports say there’s as yet “no clear unloading plan”.
“Once the barge nears Gaza, two smaller vessels will tow it to the jetty being built by WCK, which operates 65 kitchens across the territory,” writes Canadian broadcaster CBC. “The organization plans to distribute the food in northern Gaza.”
A separate but parallel effort is underway by the Pentagon upon Biden administration orders. A US support and logistics ship, the General Frank S Besson, departed a naval base in Virginia on Saturday.
It is carrying equipment for US soldiers to construct a large temporary pier off Gaza’s coast to transport food from ships, with the plan being for Israel to provide security.
US officials have predicted that the project could take up to 60 days before the pier is up and running. Some 1,000 US troops working from aboard naval vessels in the Mediterranean will construct the pier.
END
ISRAEL/HAMAS/TYRE LEBANON
Hamas terrorist behind global attack plots killed in strike near Tyre, Israel says
IDF calls Hadi Mustafa a ‘central figure’ who organized terror activity against Israelis and Jews, but Hamas source claims he was not a senior operative; Syrian passerby also killed
By EMANUEL FABIAN FOLLOW
and AGENCIESToday, 2:24 p
Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon’s southern area of Tyre on March 13, 2024. (AFP)
An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near the Lebanese city of Tyre Wednesday killed two people, including a Hamas operative Israel said had a been a central figure in planning terror attacks on Israelis and Jews worldwide.
The attack on a car outside a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon was the latest Israeli sortie deep inside Lebanon and came a day after the restive border region between the two countries saw massive barrages of Hezbollah rockets fired into Israel.
The broad daylight strike, which also killed a passerby, turned a vehicle near Rashidieh, on the outskirts of Tyre, into a mangled, flaming wreck. An AFP photographer reported seeing rescue workers collecting human remains at the scene.
Hamas identified one of the victims as Hadi Mustafa, who was a member of the terrorist organization.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had targeted Mustafa, describing him as a “central operative” in the terror group and a “leading figure” in a Hamas unit in Lebanon headed by Samir Fandi, who was assassinated in Beirut along with Hamas deputy leader Salah al-Arouri in January.
“Hadi was involved in directing terror squads and in terror activities on the ground, including advancing attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets in various countries throughout the world,” the IDF said in a statement.
Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon’s southern area of Tyre on March 13, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
However, a source from the terror group told Reuters that Mustafa was not a senior figure.
Two security sources said a Syrian man who was passing by on his motorcycle was also killed in the strike.
All three sources said the drone hovered in the air above the site of the strike for several minutes after it was carried out.
Israel later released a video showing the strike, apparently taken from the drone.
Timesofisrael.com/hamas-terrorist-behind-global-attack-plots-killed-in-strike-near-tyre-israel-says/
The attack threatened to push already-raised tensions to new heights, with Israel repeatedly warning that it would be forced to launch a military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon if diplomatic efforts to end the attacks and push the terror group away from Israel’s border were not successful.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah that it launched “more than 100 Katyusha rockets” at two military bases in the Golan Heights. There were no reports of damage or injuries from the Hezbollah rockets, with footage showing some of the projectiles being intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.
Hezbollah said the attacks were a response to an Israeli strike Monday night near Baalbek, a Hezbollah bastion deep inside Lebanon bordering Syria to the east. The IDF said it had targeted facilities belonging to Hezbollah’s “aerial unit.” The terrorist organization claimed one civilian was killed in the strike.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war against the Hamas terror group.
The strikes have drawn daily Israeli responses. Most of the skirmishes, however, have been contained to areas near the border.
Wednesday morning saw fresh rocket launches against northern Israel, setting off sirens in the northern kibbutz of Hanita. One rocket fell short in Lebanese territory, while two landed in open fields in the Golan Heights and caused no injuries.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for a January 2 strike in southern Beirut that killed Arouri and Fandi, but on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that it was behind it, saying in a public statement that Israel had taken out the terror group’s fourth highest-ranking figure, and would come after its other leaders as well.
People walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli airstrike on the city of Baalbek in east central Lebanon on March 12, 2024 (AFP)
War in Gaza between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7 with the terror group’s unprecedented attack on Israel’s south in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 253.
Israel has hit more than 4,500 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, the IDF said on Tuesday.
According to the IDF’s estimates, more than 300 Hezbollah operatives have been killed, including five senior commanders, and 750 have been wounded by Israeli strikes across five months of daily skirmishes along the border. Hezbollah has claimed 244 members were killed.
Another 40 operatives from other terror groups have also been killed in strikes on southern Lebanon, as well as a Lebanese soldier and at least 30 civilians, three of whom were journalists.
The near-daily exchange of fire along the shared Israel-Lebanon border has caused seven civilian deaths on the Israeli side as well as the deaths of 10 IDF soldiers and reservists.
end
ISRAEL/.LEBANON/HEZBOLLAH /
This is very important as to how the iDF is tracking drones through radar and then they blast their drone warehouse
(Jerusalem Post)
A look at the IDF radar that helps Israel carry out attacks deep into Lebanon
Indications from the IDF were that it traced back multiple drones that attacked Israel on Monday to the drone base in question.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBMARCH 13, 2024 15:26
Updated: MARCH 13, 2024 15:32
Putting together IDF statements, an analysis of the think tank ALMA, and other reports, it appears that the IDF recently struck a Hezbollah drone base and a base where it held long-range rockets, both around 100 kilometers away near Baalbeck.
Indications from the IDF were that it traced back multiple drones that attacked Israel on Monday to the drone base in question.
But how did Israel track these drones to that location?
Although the IDF virtually never wants to reveal its most classified tricks, chances are the special radar of the IDF 611th Battalion of the 282nd Firepower Brigade was involved.
The Jerusalem Post recently had the opportunity to visit the radar near the northern border, in a location that cannot be disclosed.
Generally, the radar is used to assist Iron Dome in tracking and shooting down rockets and to assist artillery in accurately hitting nearby engaging Hezbollah and Hamas forces.
IDF sources have said that the unit is involved in every rocket fire and artillery attack, moving seamlessly from the Golani brigade to the Givati brigade to the Nahal brigade and assisting a myriad of units from IDF Divisions 98, 99, 162, 36, and 143, covering the northern and southern borders.
But in this case, the radar may have been used to track drones around 100 kilometers away.
Of course, there are other ways the IDF can also track enemy assets far off its borders, whether special aircraft with long-distance tracking capabilities, drones, or human spies on the ground.
But this radar has special capabilities beyond some of those other choices.
According to Israel Aerospace Industries’ publications, the ELM-2084 is a mobile S-Band Multi-MissionRadar(MMR) Family featuring an advanced 3D Active Electronically Steered Array (AESA) for Air Defense and Artillery Weapon Location (WLR) Missions.
In the Air Defense mode, the radar detects and classifies all types of airborne targets and generates a real-time Air Situation Picture (ASP).
That is on paper.
Up close, one can see there are multiple pieces to the radar unit.
One piece has a large black antenna propped up by a large green structure, which is the heart of the radar operation, all of which have special defensive measures around to protect from attack or even more generic damage by outdoor elements.
A special generator connects to the radar antenna apparatus, which also has protective measures.
Dozens of meters away is the command center from which the IDF radar unit controls the antenna and passes on the data to a wide variety of Israeli air attack, air defense, and land forces.
Generally, the unit is staffed by a mere four to five soldiers at a time, some of whom are officers. Each soldier had their own high-speed computer, along with one newly installed plasma screen to provide a wider regional perspective.
On a tactical level, I saw the forces spring into action while I was present in the command center. There had been an anti-tank missile attack.
Quickly and with no ceremony, but a short surge of intensity in the air, the IDF monitors conveyed to the relevant IDF forces both the coordinates from which the missile was fired and the location where it landed.
This was designed to enable the forces to immediately counterstrike the missile firing squad before it could escape.
At a strategic level, translating all of the radar’s capabilities into concrete comparative advantages versus the F-35’s spying capabilities, or those of the Oron aircraft, IDF sources noted aircraft cannot stay in the air permanently. In contrast, the radar can be tracking the enemy as long as it takes to defeat that enemy, and does not tire, given the ability to simply switch shifts on the ground.
This kind of radar on the ground is also less impacted by the time of day or the weather, though aspects of the operation can require maintenance from time to time, coping with the intense winter winds in the North.
Also, the radar is said to give more exact data than aircraft and radar operators commented that just because aircraft have a potential view of up to 100 kilometers or some other number, does not mean they have the same utility, especially taking into account changing topography and maritime areas.
Nearby the hardware which makes up the radar are two large trucks which can move the radar at a moment’s notice. There are a variety of other vehicles also present for less complex transportation purposes.
In fact, the radar was rushed down South on October 8 and, according to IDF sources, was even placed in harm’s way temporarily to get close enough to the front to maximize results, something which would normally be against regulations for risking such expensive hardware and highly trained technicians.
Situation in the north
In the North, the unit also has dozens of other soldiers to perform security and logistics functions and a variety of temporary quarters for being able to live at the position for an extended period.
Only shortly before the Post visited the unit did they receive a more solid bathroom and showing apparatus, until then having to deal with more makeshift options.
The unit receives regular food and other resupply deliveries as well as inspections by IDF Maj. “D” (whose full name is classified) to ensure that everything is functioning as it should.
D, from Givatayim, accompanied the Post throughout the tour, explaining all of the technical and strategic considerations relating to the radar. He has been in the IDF since 2015, and has commanded the specific radar unit for around one-and-a-half years, and will remain at that post until winter 2024, after which he is expected to take on a different mission into 2025.
Both D and other IDF sources said that the radar unit had substantially improved its capabilities at tracking drones, given the jump in drone attacks from Hezbollah during the war as compared to pre-war when Hezbollah drone attacks were an extremely rare event.
IDF sources and D said that radar monitors had gotten much more used to the “feel” of how drones move and maneuver as opposed to the standard trajectory of the arch-like Hezbollah rockets.
The unit has also faced nearby attacks, though unlike the IDF Air Force base on Meron and the IDF Northern Command, it has not yet suffered direct hits or lost soldiers.
Lt. “M,” of Hadera, previously served as a soldier-monitor for two years, was D’s sub-commander of the current radar shift.
D was very authoritative and moved around the base at a focused speed. M mixed together significant humility along with a quick switch to being highly focused and in control.
Both D and M seemed even more focused that day on shooting down rockets and issuing warnings for other attacks, with facilitating counterstrikes for their unit being secondary. There are other radar units in the North and the South, and each unit may have slightly different focuses, even as all of the units are involved in both offense and defense.
M said that besides intermittent visits by their unit commander, Lt. Col. “B,” their highest ranking visitor was by the Artillery and Firepower Command Chief Brig. Gen. Yair Natnas.
When Natnas visited, M said that they presented him with a classified report which was also shown to the Post which fully detailed the enormous volume of attacks which the radar has facilitated.
Part of what is impressive about the radar unit is how much it adjusts.
D and IDF sources said that until recently, it did not give home front or special IDF frontline rocket warnings, but that recently, it has saved units under attack around 70 times.
IDF sources suggested that the radar was a critical part of a web of technology that slowly but surely defeated the Hamas rocket threat after over a decade of being in Hamas’s crosshairs.
With the radar working overtime both in close and long range battles, likely including the recent IDF strikes in Baalbeck, the question is whether and when there will be a successful security outcome on the northern border facing a much tougher adversary.
end
WESTBANK/JERUSALEM
Police thwart a terrorism plot in Jerusalem area.
(Jerusalem Post)
Three Palestinians killed as police thwart terrorism in Jerusalem area
During this evening’s riots, a 12-year-old suspect who endangered the forces by firing fireworks at them was shot by a security personnel, the police said.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFMARCH 12, 2024 21:24Updated:
MARCH 13, 2024 00:20
Three Palestinians were killed and three others were injured in two separate incidents of terrorist activity and rioting in the Jerusalem area on Tuesday evening, according to Israel Police and medics.
In the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, violent riots broke out on Tuesday evening, Israel Police said.
During the riots, suspects threw Molotov cocktails and launched fireworks toward security forces, whose presence has been reinforced in the area following rioting in the area on Monday evening, according to the police.
During the riots on Tuesday evening, a 12-year-old suspect who endangered the forces by firing fireworks at them was shot by a Border Police officer.
The suspect was subsequently arrested and evacuated for further medical treatment, police added. The riot was dispersed, and no injuries were reported to the forces, the police concluded.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-791643
Teen dies from wounds
Later on Tuesday, the 12-year-old died from his wounds, according to police.
“We strongly condemn the exploitation of Ramadan by lawbreakers, rioters, and violent disruptors who attempt to harm security forces or civilians,” said Israel Police.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote in a post on X, “I back the fighters who shot at a terrorist who endangered their lives! Any terrorist who tries to harm the security forces is playing with fire!”
Border Police thwart terrorists throwing Molotov cocktails at drivers
Later in the evening, the Border Police said they thwarted five terrorists who were trying to throw Molotov cocktails at vehicles driving between Ramot and Givat Ze’ev on Road 436.
The terrorists threw Molotov cocktails at the road on Monday night, so Israeli forces conducted a covert operation along the road on Tuesday night, catching the terrorists in the act. Border Police officers opened fire at the terrorists, apprehending them and transferring them for medical treatment.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that two Palestinians were killed and another three were injured in the incident.
END
HOUTHIS/USA
Centcom reports that the Houthis fired ballistic missile at a USA destroy in the Red Sea as Biden, the Magnificent looks dazed as to what to do
(Reuters/Times Of Israel)
CENTCOM says Houthis fired ballistic missile at US destroyer in Red Sea
By REUTERS
Today, 3:50 am
In this April 29, 2015 US Navy handout photo, the guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon (DDG 58) arrives in Souda Bay, Greece on April 29, 2015 for a scheduled port visit. (US Navy/AFP, File)
The US Central Command says the Iran-aligned Houthis fired one close-range ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon in the Red Sea, but it did not hit the vessel and there were no injuries or damage reported.
“United States Central Command and a coalition vessel successfully engaged and destroyed two unmanned aerial systems (UAS) launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen,” CENTCOM adds in a statement early on Wednesday.
END
/RUSSIA/UKRAINE/
In a hopeless venture, the Ukraine paramilitary groups launch another cross border raid into Russia
(zerohedge)
Ukraine Paramilitary Groups Launch Another Cross-Border Raid Into Russia
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 04:15 AM
On Tuesday Russia said it has “thwarted” another significant attempt at a ground invasion of the Russian border region of Belgorod consisting of Ukraine-backed “sabotage and reconnaissance groups.”
Ukraine-based groups identifying themselves as the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Siberian Battalion posted a message on Telegram acknowledged they launched a raid with an aim to “take our land away from the [Putin] regime, centimeter by centimeter” and additionally urged all Russians to boycott the national presidential election. Another group calling itelf the Russian Volunteer Corps also claimed responsibility.
They claimed to have gained control of a Russian border village. “The settlement of Tyotkino in the Kursk region is entirely under the control of Russian liberation forces,” a statement said.
The Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) has responded by saying the ‘terror’ attack was beaten back. “Around 3:00 a.m. Moscow time, after intense shelling of civilian structures, Ukrainian terrorist groups, using tanks and armored vehicles, attempted to invade the territory of the Russian Federation,” the MoD wrote. “All the attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were repelled by the selfless actions of the Russian military. The enemy was hit by aircraft, rocket troops and artillery,” the statement added.
According to CNN’s description of the groups involved in the assault:
The group, comprising a few hundred battle-hardened, anti-Kremlin Russian volunteers fighting as part of Ukraine’s armed forces, also said it had destroyed an armored personnel carrier inside Russia.
A separate pro-Ukrainian group of Russian fighters, the Siberian Battalion, wrote Tuesday on Telegram: “Well, we’re home at last. As promised, we are bringing freedom and justice to our Russian land.”
So in essence this was an attempted incursion by units of Ukraine’s national military, and not for the first time. Last year there were several such cross-border raids by some of the same groups, with the biggest happening on May 22, 2023.
At that time it was the largest such cross-border ground incursion, and even involved anti-Kremlin fighters utilizing American equipment including Humvees. Washington at the time distanced itself from the attack which briefly resulted in the pro-Ukraine groups holding territory and causing Russian civilians to flee.
As for this fresh Tuesday attack, Russia’s military further described that five tanks were “eliminated” in Nekhoteevka and Spodariushino, along with a personnel carrier. The MoD also said Russian forces killed 60 Ukrainian soldiers near Odnorobovka who were attempting to cross into Russia.
Russian state media released footage of what it described as a failed attempt to attack Russian territory…
The Russian Ministry of Defense published footage of destroyed equipment of Ukrainian sabotage groups near Nekhoteyevka (Russia’s Belgorod region).
·
3,797 Views
Like with prior cross-border ground incursions, this seems a desperate act meant to generate headlines, likely with an aim of Kiev showing the West it is still “in the fight” and not yet defeated.
President Zelensky has been desperately trying to attract more weaponry and funding from a reluctant West. He’s been up against an avalanche of inconvenient mainstream media reporting and acknowledgement that Ukraine forces are being steadily beaten back.
Meanwhile, Russia on Tuesday is touting that it has taken out a US-produced HIMARS multiple rocket launcher. While a precise location for the alleged strike wasn’t given, Russian media released video…
The White House has been trying to signal it won’t back down from backing Kiev, and has newly announced it is sending Ukraine $300 million more in immediate aid for ‘pressing’ needs.
At a moment the House has continued to block the much larger billions Biden has sought, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced Tuesday, “Today, on behalf of President Biden, I’m announcing an emergency package of security assistance and $300 billion worth of weapons and equipment to address some of Ukraine’s pressing needs.”
end
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES
COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES//DRUG ISSUES
A major measles outbreak is due to the vaccine use
(zerohedge)
“Major Measles Outbreak” Reported In US As Migrant Shelters Become Infectious Disease Breeding Grounds
TUESDAY, MAR 12, 2024 – 10:40 PM
The radical progressives in the Biden administration are responsible for the greatest migrant invasion this nation has ever seen but also an emerging public health crisis, as millions of unvaccinated and undocumented illegals (some with infectious diseases) are being piled into migrant shelters nationwide like cattle.
Daily Mail reports the US is on the verge of a “major measles outbreak,” with cases in the first two months of the year nearly eclipsing those in the previous year.
” … as doctors warn many young physicians have never even seen a patient infected with the virus. Hundreds of people are already feared to be infected in California and Arizona after cases were confirmed in people in the states who visited local hospitals,” the media outlet said.
It’s important to recognize that migrant shelters are becoming breeding grounds for the spread of infectious diseases. Notably, it’s the Democrats, often referred to as the ‘party of science,’ who are enabling this public health crisis to materialize while the pharma-industrial complex secretly cheers as the next crisis will need more vaccines.
Earlier on Tuesday, Elon Musk responded to Fox News’ Bill Melugin’s post on X. The billionaire said “!” in response to a CNN report that a measles outbreak in a Chicago migrant shelter is quickly worsening.
NEW: CNN reports the CDC is arriving in Chicago today to help the city with its first measles cases since 2019. Five cases have been identified in this outbreak so far, four of which are adults and children inside of a migrant shelter in the city. https://cnn.com/2024/03/11/health/cdc-chicago-measles/index.html…
·
108K Views
New data from the CDC shows 45 measles cases were recorded in the first two months across 17 states, nearly surpassing the 58 cases recorded in the full year of 2023.
Besides corporate media blaming a low vaccination rate, maybe – just maybe – overcrowded shelters with migrants from third-world countries are the most likely root cause of the public health crisis. None of these migrants were screened at the border for contagious diseases – and were able to walk right over – some were even flown in on airplanes, and others were bussed into sanctuary cities by a shadowy network of taxpayer-funded governmental organizations. Besides future Democrat voters, you’ll never guess the reason why migrants were shipped in by the millions (that answer is found here: “Shadowy Network Of NGOs Supplies …”).
The open southern border is a major national security crisis that is quite literally a ticking time bomb about to go off. It’s also quickly morphing into a public health crisis.
Just wait until Democrats start pushing measles vaccines.
Or Stephen Colbert gets another advertising deal from big pharma.
Sigh.
GLOBAL ISSUES
MARK CRISPIN MILLER
DR PAUL ALEXANDER
SLAY NEWS
| EVOL NEWS: |
NEWS ADDICT
| LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIESWEF Planning to ‘Relaunch’ Covid Pandemic, Insider WarnsA bioweapons industry insider has blown the whistle to warn the public that the World Economic Forum (WEF) is planning to “relaunch” the Covid pandemic in order to finalize its “Great Reset” agenda.READ THE FULL REPORTBill Gates’ Genetically Modified Mosquitos Are Creating Powerful Disease Mutations, Top Biologist WarnsExperts are now raising the alarm after the genetically modified mosquitos released into the wild by Bill Gates have begun to cause power disease mutations to develop.READ THE FULL REPORTALERT: Democrats Consider REFUSING To Certify Trump’s VictoryA disturbing new plot has emerged from the Democrats that seeks to rig the 2024 election.READ THE FULL REPORTMelania Trump STUNS Supporters During Big EventMelania Trump, the former First Lady, enjoyed a successful career as a top fashion model for many years.READ THE FULL REPORTThis City Just BANNED Pride FlagsVoters in Huntington Beach, California made a decision on Thursday to approve a measure that limits the flags allowed to be flown on government property.READ THE FULL REPORT |
end
MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK
Like George Costanza, Central Banks Are Doing The Exact Opposite Of What Their Inner Voice Tells Them To Do
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 01:45 PM
By Michael Every of Rabobank
Sein-tral Banking
As a regular Global Daily reader recently commented to me, “In Canada, we have a new comedy show that has launched over the past few months: The Bank of Canada’s Policy Rate Announcement Press Conferences. Journalists basically ask, “When rate cuts?” in a myriad of creative ways, and the Governor, smirking and rolling his eyes along with his Senior Deputy for all to see, responds with equally creative iterations of the punchline “not telling ya!””
My response is that this comedy show seems to be widely franchised, like Seinfeld – and is like Seinfeld. It’s “about nothing” the more you listen. More importantly, it remains to be seen if it’s “no rate cuts for you!” or if we are “cuts worthy” and get “serenity now!” in a Festivus for the Rest of Us – which is being accompanied by global airing of grievances and feats of strength already.
On the latest data, US CPI was 0.3% m-o-m headline, 0.4% core, so 3.2% y-o-y headline, 3.8% core, and 3.9% core services, up from 3.6% the previous month…. and yet the punchline didn’t change: “stock traders bracing for worst brush off hot CPI“, as Bloomberg put it.
New Zealand inflation today were also not friendly across the board. Food prices were down, but fuel and rent both up; that’s with the economy likely in recession. Markets were again little moved. After all, rate cuts are still starting in June regardless say central banks (which is why it’s “about nothing”) – though note our Fed watcher Philip Marey says the risks are increasingly toward later, not sooner.
For now, central banks, like the Seinfeld cast, are competing to hold back from indulging their natural urges – in this case, to cut rates. They know services inflation is still too high, and that they can’t rely on permanent goods deflation. They know cutting too soon could cement inflation above 2%, meaning even more loss of reputation. So, like the king of no reputation, George Costanza, they are doing the exact opposite of what their inner voice tells them to do, and holding firm a bit longer.
But they also know that this risks tipping the economy into a deep downturn – and they must not double dip! Doing so risks them then crying, “You’re killing independent George!”
For now, they may think they can cut once or twice and then wait and see with no harm done. However, they don’t want an economy that thinks sustained high rates are as ridiculous as Jerry’s puffy shirt to fall over as a result. And they forget markets and rate cuts are like Kramer and Kenny Rogers chicken: once they start, they can’t stop; one or two promised cuts rapidly becomes seven priced in, easing policy far too much.
As such, central banks are having difficulty meaning what they appear to say and saying what they appear to mean. As with Jerry and the pen:
JERRY: What kind of pen is that?
JACK: This pen?
JERRY: Yeah.
JACK: This is an astronaut pen. It writes upside down. They use this in space.
JERRY: Wow! That’s the astronaut pen. I heard about that. Where did you get it?
JACK: Oh it was a gift.
JERRY: Cause sometimes I write in bed and I have to turn and lean on my elbow to make the pen works.
JACK: Take the pen.
JERRY: Oh no.
JACK: Go ahead.
JERRY: I couldn’t
JACK: Come on, take the pen!
JERRY: I can’t take it.
JACK: Do me a personal favor!
JERRY: No, I’m not…
JACK: Take the pen!
JERRY: I cannot take it!
JACK: Take the pen!
JERRY: Are you sure?
JACK: Positive! Take the pen!
JERRY: O.K. Thank you very much. Thank you. Gee, boy!
HELEN: Jack, what are you doing?
JACK: Stop it!
JERRY: Thanks again.
JACK: Come on! (Leaving)
HELEN: (as soon as the door’s closed) What did you take his pen for?
JERRY: What, he gave it to me!
HELEN: You didn’t have to take it.
MORTY: Oh my God! She’s gotta make a big deal out of everything.
JERRY: He offered it to me.
HELEN: Because you made such a big fuss about it.
JERRY: I liked it. Should I have said I didn’t like it?
HELEN: You shouldn’t have said anything. What did you expect him to do?
JERRY: He could have said: “Thank you, I like it too” and put it back in his pocket.
HELEN: He loves that pen.
MORTY: Oh come on!
HELEN: He talks about it all the time. Every time he takes it out he goes on and on about how it writes upside down, how the astronauts use it.
JERRY: If he likes it so much, he never should have offered it.
HELEN: He didn’t think you’d accept.
JERRY: Well, he was wrong.
That kind of conversation now happens after every rate decision and press conference. Did they say what they mean? Did they mean what they say? Should we accept what they are offering? Should we return it?
And meanwhile, the airing of grievances and feats of strength are upon us:
The annual US intelligence threat assessment talks of an “increasingly fragile world order”; yet the latest Pentagon budget includes real terms spending cuts, a sharp rise in civilian bureaucrats in the Navy, a drop in active sailors, and a cut in submarine production that undermines the AUKUS treaty supposed to anchor security for Australia.
McKinsey, who might lose US government contracts for helping China with its state-capitalism, just won a deal to help US Air Force strategy: because management consultants know all about defense. Will it involve selling off US planes and letting China or Mexico fly them instead?
Mercedes Benz’s CEO is lobbying against proposed EU tariffs on Chinese EVs produced by mercantilist state capitalism, because he favors “free trade” (and selling cars in China).
BRICS+ buddies India and China just saw the former send 10,000 more troops to their contested mountain border and dare Beijing to “bat an eyelid”.
And dissident Russian troops have invaded Russia. That’s twice it’s now invaded itself, if you include the Prigozhin episode.
END
7//OIL ISSUES//NATURAL GAS ISSUES//ELECTRICAL GRID ISSUES// RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES//USA AND GLOBE//GLOBAL SHIPPING
END
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//
END
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS WEDNESDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0938 UP .0012
USA/ YEN 147.97 UP 0.323 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//
GBP/USA 1.2799 UP .0005
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3489 DOWN .0004 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 4 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 12.10 PTS OR 0.40%
Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 11.39 POINTS OR 0.07%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.21% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL GREEN
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL GREEN
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED DOWN 11,39 PTS OR 0.07%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 12.10 PTS OR 0.40%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.21%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 101.54 PTS OR 0.21%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN
Gold very early morning trading: 2163.15
silver:$24.30
USA dollar index early WEDNESDAY morning: 102.47 DCWN 7 BASIS POINTS FROM TUESDAY’s CLOSE.
WEDNESDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
And now your closing WEDNESDAY NUMBERS 1: 30 AM
Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 2.973% DOWN 1//2 in basis point(s) yield
JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.757% DOWN 0 AND 5//100 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/
SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.145 UP 1/2 in basis points yield
ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.584 DOWN 4 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.3435 UP 1 BASIS PTS
END
IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR WEDNESDAY
Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM
Euro/USA 1.0960 UP 0.0018 or 18 basis points
USA/Japan: 147.73 UP 0.133 OR YEN IS DOWN 13 BASIS PTS
Great Britain/USA 1.2798 UP .0004 OR 4 BASIS POINTS //
Canadian dollar UP .0028 OR 28 BASIS pts to 1.3465
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED DOWN AT 7.1887
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)…. (7.1820)
TURKISH LIRA: 32.10 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.757…
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 2 in basis points from TUESDAY at 4.174% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.3430 UP 3 in basis points /12.00 PM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.601 UP 1 BASIS PTS.
GOLD AT 11;30 AM 2171.00
SILVER AT 11;30: 24.65
Your 12:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: WEDNESDAY CLOSING TIME 12:00 PM//
London: CLOSED UP 32.41 PTS OR 0.42%
German Dax : CLOSED UP 7.80 PTS OR 0.04%
Paris CAC CLOSED UP 57.87 PTS OR 0.72%
Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 177.30 PTS OR 1.71%
Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 175.75 PTS OR 0.52%
WTI Oil price 79.18 12: EST/
Brent Oil: 83.36 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 91.43; ROUBLE UP 0 AND 36/100
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.3435 UP 1 BASIS PTS
UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.038 UP 6 BASIS POINTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA: 1.0950 UP .0023 OR 23 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2794 DOWN .0001 or 01 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.0510 UP 8 BASIS PTS//
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 0.758%
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 147.83 UP 0.211//YEN DOWN 21 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3473 DOWN .0020 CDN dollar UP 20 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 79.85
Brent OIL: 84.10
USA 10 yr bond yield UP 4 BASIS pts to 4.196%
USA 30 yr bond yield UP 4 BASIS PTS to 4.351%
USA 2 YR BOND: UP 3 PTS AT 4.628%
USA dollar index: 102.42 DOWN 13 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 32.09 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 91.50 UP 0 AND 28/100 roubles
GOLD 2173.90 3:30 PM
SILVER: 24.99 3:30 PM
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 38.68 PTS OR 0.10%
NASDAQ UP 267.42 PTS OR 1.49%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 13.96 DOWN 1.26 PTS OR 8.28%
GLD: $199.79 DOWN 2.21 OR 1.09%
SLV/ $22,09 DOWN 0,26 OR 1.16%
end
USA AFFAIRS
TODAY’S TRADING IN GRAPH FORM
Bitcoin, Bullion, & Black Gold ‘Hot’; Bonds, Banks, & Big-Tech ‘Not’
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 04:00 PM
Higher rates didn’t matter to long-duration (tech) stocks yesterday, but apparently, absent macro data today, it does (bond prices and stock prices fell together)…
Source: Bloomberg
Mid-week, mid-month, and mid-way between earnings meant a pause in the euphoria today with Small Caps leading and Nasdaq lagging…until about 30 minutes before the close when a massive sell-program hit (ahead of tomorrow’s PPI and Retail Sales?). The Dow and Small Caps managed to bounce back to modest gains while Nasdaq and S&P ended red…
The sell program that suddenly hit at around 1525ET was the largest in over three weeks…
Source: Bloomberg
While the S&P 500 was down today, it has now been 266 days without a 2% daily drop…
Source: Bloomberg
Nasdaq reversed yesterday’s relative outperformance to Small Caps…
Source: Bloomberg
A peak under the hood of the market today does reveal a more dynamic picture… Pro-cyclical sectors like Energy and Materials are outperforming today, while Tech is the worst performing subsector.
Source: Bloomberg
Notably, 5 of the Magnificent 7 are underperforming today and while they recovered from their lows, the Mag7 basket was lower on the day, finding resistance at the post-payrolls print open…
Source: Bloomberg
NVDA continues to lead in March and TSLA lag…
Source: Bloomberg
‘Most Shorted’ stocks were insta-squeezed up to Friday’s close at today’s open, then faded back…
Source: Bloomberg
Bank stocks opened ‘hot’ but ended ‘not’… on the day that The Fed’s BTFP expires…
Source: Bloomberg
Treasury yields were higher across the curve once again (all up uniformly around 4bps), continuing the recent weakness…
Source: Bloomberg
One of today’s biggest stories was the record net inflow into BTC ETFs yesterday – above $1BN for the first time since inception…
Source: Bloomberg
And that helped send Bitcoin to new record highs above $73,000, bouncing back hard from yesterday’s CPI-driven dive…
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin $73K .. like clockwork
·
286.3K Views
Gold also rallied today, erasing yesterday’s losses…
Source: Bloomberg
Oil prices also surged back today, up to Friday’s pre-payrolls highs…
Source: Bloomberg
And worse still for President Biden, wholesale gasoline prices are soaring (another big draw today), which means pump prices are going to start rising very soon…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, we’re sorry but this doesn’t get old…
Source: Bloomberg
There’s only one way this ends… and it won’t be with ‘happy tissues‘…
END
MORNING TRADING/
AFTERNOON TRADING/
II USA DATA/
END
TUCKER CARLSON….
III USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES
US Spent More Than Double What It Collected In February, As 2024 Deficit Is Second Highest Ever… And Debt Explodes
TUESDAY, MAR 12, 2024 – 06:40 PM
Earlier today, CNBC’s Brian Sullivan took a horse dose of Red Pills when, about six months after our readers, he learned that the US is issuing $1 trillion in debt every 100 days, which prompted him to rage tweet, (or rageX, not sure what the proper term is here) the following:
We’ve added 60% to national debt since 2018. Germany – a country with major economic woes – added ‘just’ 32%.
Maybe it will never matter. Maybe MMT is real. Maybe we just cancel or inflate it out. Maybe career real estate borrowers or career politicians aren’t the answer.
I have no idea. Only time will tell. But it’s going to be fascinating to watch it play out.
He is right: it will be fascinating, and the latest budget deficit data simply confirmed that the day of reckoning will come very soon, certainly sooner than the two years that One River’s Eric Peters predicted this weekend for the coming “US debt sustainability crisis.”
According to the US Treasury, in February, the US collected $271 billion in various tax receipts, and spent $567 billion, more than double what it collected.
The two charts below show the divergence in US tax receipts which have flatlined (on a trailing 6M basis) since the covid pandemic in 2020 (with occasional stimmy-driven surges)…
… and spending which is about 50% higher compared to where it was in 2020.
The end result is that in February, the budget deficit rose to $296.3 billion, up 12.9% from a year prior, and the second highest February deficit on record.
And the punchline: on a cumulative basis, the budget deficit in fiscal 2024 which began on October 1, 2023 is now $828 billion, the second largest cumulative deficit through February on record, surpassed only by the peak covid year of 2021.
But wait there’s more: because in a world where the US is spending more than twice what it is collecting, the endgame is clear: debt collapse, and while it won’t be tomorrow, or the week after, it is coming… and it’s also why the US is now selling $1 trillion in debt every 100 days just to keep operating (and absorbing all those millions of illegal immigrants who will keep voting democrat to preserve the socialist system of the US, so beloved by the Soros clan).
And it gets even worse, because we are now in the ponzi finance stage of the Minsky cycle, with total interest on the debt annualizing well above $1 trillion, and rising every day
… having already surpassed total US defense spending and soon to surpass total health spending and, finally all social security spending, the largest spending category of all, which means that US debt will now rise exponentially higher until the inevitable moment when the US dollar loses its reserve status and it all comes crashing down.
We conclude with another observation by CNBC’s Brian Sullivan, who quotes an email by a DC strategist…
.. which lays out the proposed Biden budget as follows:
The budget deficit will growth another $16 TRILLION over next 10 years. Thats *with* the proposed massive tax hikes.
Without them the deficit will grow $19 trillion.
That’s why you will hear the “deficit is being reduced by $3 trillion” over the decade.
No family budget or business could exist with this kind of math.
Of course, in the long run, neither can the US… and since neither party will ever cut the spending which everyone by now is so addicted to, the best anyone can do is start planning for the endgame.
end
USA/HAITI
Haiti is a disastrous country. This will be very troublesome to the USA as Haitian citizens try and escape to the USA
(zerohedge)
Hannibal Run: Biden Admin Warns Florida May Get Swamped By “Mass Migration” Wave From Haiti
TUESDAY, MAR 12, 2024 – 10:00 PM
If only someone had given the Clintons a few more billion to vaporize as they “fixed” Haiti using a criminal combo of toxic construction, failed investments and the promotion of deadend macroeconomic policies before its president was assassinated in broad daylight, and before the whole island turned into a anarchic, warlord ridden, Mad Max wasteland of cannibals, maybe things could have turned out different. Or maybe not.
With the world still shocked at the whirlwind events taking place in the formerly quaint Caribbean island, on Tuesday Department of Defense officials testifying in Congress discussed the possibility of a “mass migration” into Florida as conditions in Haiti continue to deteriorate. Call it a… Hannibal Run?
Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz said during the House Armed Services Committee hearing that he was “deeply concerned” about the possibility of a large number of Haitian migrants amid the chaos in the Caribbean, coming to the Sunshine State “as a Florida man.”
At Tuesday’s hearing, Gaetz asked what President Joe Biden’s administration was doing to prepare for a “wave” of migrants fleeing Haiti, prompting DoD official Rebecca Zimmerman to say that preparations were being made for a potential increase in refugees.
“Congressman, we’re doing a number of things to ensure that we’re keeping track of the situation and we’re prepared,” said Zimmerman. “At the moment, we have not yet seen large numbers—what we would characterize as a maritime mass migration.”
Gaetz then interjected: “Do you anticipate a mass migration, though?”
“We are alert to that possibility,” Zimmerman responded. “I think you’re right that the driving conditions in Haiti could very well press more people. So, we’ve recently approved some additional assistance that we can provide to the Coast Guard.”
Gaetz then asked Army General Laura Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command, whether the government should “activate the authorities, anticipating a mass migration.”
“I think that we need to be postured appropriately for that,” Richardson said. “I have put in a request for increase capability to do exactly that. And we are ready if we need to deal with a mass migration.”
Conditions in Haiti have been becoming increasingly dire in recent months due to widespread gang violence and civil unrest. Armed gangs now reportedly control around 80% of Port-au-Prince, with Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announcing his resignation on Tuesday.
While the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince remains open, some personnel have recently been evacuated from the facility due to the ongoing violence in the Haitian capital.
The embassy said in a release on Monday that “the U.S. military conducted an operation” to bolster security, allow “operations to continue,” and help “non-essential personnel to depart.”
Last week, the embassy warned U.S. citizens to “depart Haiti as soon as possible by commercial or other privately available transportation options, in light of the current security situation and infrastructure challenges.”
While the resignation of Henry had been demanded by the gangs occupying Port-au-Prince, it is unclear whether the situation will soon improve in Haiti as a result of the resignation being announced.
Henry said that he would leave office following the formation of a transitional council, although concerns remain that the gang leaders may reject a new interim leader chosen by the council and demand they control the government instead.
As for anyone expecting the Biden admin to actually do something – for once – about the next migration flood of cannibals undocumented carnivores, don’t hold your breath for the following simple reason…
BREAKING: Biden admin. officials testify they’re preparing for a massive surge of Haitian migrants after thousands of inmates escaped the country’s prisons It’s an invasion
·
803.1K Views
END
HAITI/USA
Anarchy!
US Urgently Deploys Elite Counterterror Marines To Haiti To Protect Americans
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 11:45 AM
The Pentagon has confirmed it is urgently deploying an elite counter-terror task force to bolster the American embassy in Haiti after armed gangs have taken over much of the capital of Port-au-Prince and the long-simmering situation is now boiling over, with violence spreading, also in the wake of embattled Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation Tuesday. Further there’s a threat of a “mass migration” wave potentially inundating US coastal communities in places like Florida as a result.
US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced Wednesday that at the request of the State Department the elite Marine Fleet-Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) has been deployed to the destabilized country to assist in embassy security.
Already for months there has been rising concern for US citizens still in the country, who have been urged by the embassy to immediately depart the Caribbean island-nation, as an utter state of lawlessness reins overseen by criminal warlords. The past years have witnessed a handful of kidnappings targeting Americans, including aid workers, and other foreign citizens.
“U.S. Southern Command is prepared with a wide range of contingency plans to ensure the safety and security of U.S. Citizens in Haiti,” SOUTHCOM said in its statement. Not only will the FAST team assist the Marine embassy guard already in place to better secure the embassy in a scenario where it could come under attack, but it will reportedly help in the evacuation of non-essential American personnel.
The US military statement continued, “This week, the Department of Defense doubled our funding for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, and we are working with Haitian, Kenyan, and other partners to expedite its deployment to support the Haitian National Police and to restore security in Haiti.”
The Haitian government recently approved the deployment of Kenyan peacekeeping troops as part of a UN-sponsored mission, but there are reports the plan is still stalled. This has been a long time in coming after the US and other countries refused to spearhead such an operation, given this have not gone well for US-led peacekeeping missions in Haiti in the recent past.
The FAST team deployment is typically the next logical step when an embassy comes under potential threat due to destabilizing and chaotic factors within a country. Warlords and rival gangs are not only fighting the police, but often each other as well, resulting in dangerous city ‘no go zones’ for the civilian population.
Interestingly, the State Department urgent request for the elite group comes immediately on the heels of a tense Congressional hearing wherein Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida grilled SOUTHCOM chief Gen, Laura Richardson yesterday.
Gaetz had asked Richardson whether the US government should “activate the authorities, anticipating a mass migration.” She responded: “I think that we need to be postured appropriately for that. I have put in a request for increase capability to do exactly that. And we are ready if we need to deal with a mass migration.”
However, if mass migratory throngs are unleashed and all hell breaks loose even further, the US government is going to need much more than a small detachment of security Marines to do the job.
@MarioNawfalU.S. WARNS: MASS HAITIAN MIGRATION COMING SOON DoD officials reportedly are on high alert for a significant maritime movement of Haitians heading toward the U.S. UN warns Haiti is on the brink, as violence and lack of essential services push the population to desperation. Haiti faces an unprecedented crisis: mass jailbreaks, criminals flooding the streets, no elected officials, gang violence led by “Barbecue” wreaking havoc, and widespread hunger. Source: Disclose TV, Human Rights Watch, UN Photos: Archived
·
31.6K Views
Conditions in Haiti have been becoming increasingly dire in recent months due to widespread gang violence and civil unrest. Armed gangs now reportedly control around 80% of Port-au-Prince, and likely this is now growing by the day.
CHINA/USA
This is awful: the crook Loretta Lynch lobbied on behalf of China over USA drone blacklist
(zerohedge)
Obama’s Attorney General Secretly Lobbied On Behalf Of China Over US Drone Blacklist
TUESDAY, MAR 12, 2024 – 08:00 PM
Former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch tried to quietly push the Department of Defense to remove Chinese drone maker SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd from a list of Chinese military companies, a damning Reuters report has revealed.
The Obama-era official lobbied the DoD on behalf of the firm when it came under US government scrutiny over ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army. The Shenzhen-based company turned to Lynch as well as former Assistant United States Attorney Michael Gertzman and Associate White House Counsel in the Obama administration Roberto Gonzalez.
The Pentagon starting in 2021 named DJI as constituting a potential threat to US national security for its military ties. A DoD statement at the time made clear that “The Department of Defense (DOD) position is that systems produced by Da Jiang Innovations (DJI) pose potential threats to national security.”
And further, “Existing DOD policy and practices associated with the use of these systems by U.S. government entities and forces working with US military services remain unchanged contrary to any written reports not approved for release by the DOD.” Of big concern was that some of Chinese company’s products were making their way into highly sensitive military programs, including used by special forces.
Lynch’s efforts have been described as technically legal, as they fall within a “loophole” inherent in The Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. The decades-old law requires that current and former US officials publicly disclose work, especially lobbying efforts, done on behalf of foreign entities and governments. But there’s also a not insignificant list of exemptions which is increasingly coming under scrutiny.
Congressional leaders are outraged, and some have vowed to end the type of loopholes which allow former officials like Lynch to secretly work on behalf of China:
Almost a dozen critics of FARA told Reuters the law’s loopholes have allowed less transparency for other companies with alleged ties to China’s military, including surveillance technology firm Hikvision and biotech firm WuXi AppTec.
Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says reforms to the law are needed, given the blurry lines between many Chinese companies and the Chinese government, and to keep former members of the U.S. government from effectively lobbying on their behalf.
Risch said: “It is appalling that former senior U.S. officials use their connections to serve the interests of U.S. adversaries.”
While it might be easy to dismiss this as the usual D.C. beltway revolving door of foreign interests and willing US politicians and K Street operatives lining their pockets… that a US Attorney General has been engaged in these kinds of top level and hidden dealings with China is a massive scandal in and of itself.
Lynch has previously simply claimed that because the Chinese drones in question were already in “wide use” in the US, the company’s “threat to national security” designation should be dropped.
China’s State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun meets US Attorney General Loretta Lynch in Washington on Wednesday.
end
Dollar tree
This says a lot….Dollar tree deals with the lower class and they are having trouble spending
(zerohedge)
Dollar Tree Shares Plunge After Earnings Miss, Plans 600 Store Closure Amid Customer Spending Pullback
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 09:45 AM
Shares of Dollar Tree Inc. are sliding Wednesday premarket. The discount retailer missed fourth-quarter profit expectations and offered a dismal outlook for the first quarter as shoppers spend less. The retailer plans to shutter more than 600 stores.
Dollar Tree posted adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter of $2.55 per share on revenue of $8.63 billion. Analysts polled by Bloomberg had anticipated $2.66 per share on revenue of $8.67 billion.
Here’s a snapshot of the fourth quarter (courtesy of Bloomberg):
- Adjusted EPS $2.55, estimate $2.66
- Loss per share $7.85 vs. EPS $2.04 y/y
- Net sales $8.63 billion, +12% y/y, estimate $8.67 billion
- Dollar Tree net sales $4.96 billion, +15% y/y, estimate $4.91 billion
- Family Dollar net sales $3.67 billion, +7.4% y/y, estimate $3.73 billion
- Gross profit margin 32.1% vs. 30.9% y/y, estimate 32.1%
- Dollar Tree gross margin 39% vs. 36.7% y/y, estimate 37.7%
- Family Dollar gross margin 22.8% vs. 23.6% y/y, estimate 24.7%
- Total location count 16,774, +2.7% y/y, estimate 16,793
- Dollar Tree Locations 8,415, +3.5% y/y, estimate 8,391
- Family Dollar locations 8,359, +1.9% y/y, estimate 8,368
While same-store sales increased by 3%, beating estimates of 2.8%, the retailer said the average ticket size declined by 1.5%, indicating consumers are pulling back on spending in the era of failed Bidenomics.
As of last quarter, Dollar Tree operated 16,770 stores across 48 states and Canada. In the previous quarter, it “initiated a comprehensive store portfolio optimization review which involved identifying stores for closure, relocation, or re-bannering based on an evaluation of current market conditions and individual store performance, among other factors.”
The store optimization strategy will result in the closure of 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of this year. Additionally, 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores will close over the next several years at the end of each store’s current lease term.
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Jennifer Bartashus and Jibril Lawal wrote in a note that store closures appear to be “a prudent decision, but echoes the move to close 400 stores in 2019.”
The analysts added: “Nearly $2 billion in assorted impairment charges suggests widespread efforts to improve operations have had mixed results and that the right formula remains elusive.”
Shares of Dollar Tree are down nearly 7% in premarket trading in New York.
Looking ahead, the company expects first-quarter sales earnings per share between $1.33 and $1.48, well below analysts surveyed by Bloomberg of $1.70.
end
Would you expect anything different from the left?
(zerohedge)
Two Thirds Of Liberals Would Dispute Election If Trump Wins; New Poll Finds
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 10:05 AM
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
After over three years of complaining about Donald Trump contesting the 2020 election, a Rasmussen poll has found that a majority of Democrat voters oppose certifying the 2024 election should Trump emerge victorious.
The survey found that should Trump win the election in November, and at this point it is difficult to bet against it, fifty seven percent of Democrat voters would oppose certifying the result, and close to two thirds of voters who identify as ‘liberal’ would oppose the result.
That’s not very Democratic is it?
The poll asked the question “Some Democrats in Congress have said that if Trump wins this year’s election, they will vote against certifying the election results because of Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots. Do you support or oppose Democrats refusing to certify the election results if Trump wins?”
The majority of Democrat voters said they would support the move.
Incredibly, in the same poll, just 24 percent of Democrat voters said Republicans should have objected to the 2020 results if they believed they were fraudulent.
It’s literally the same thing.
In perhaps a more telling revelation, however, the poll found that overall, only 35 percent of all voters would support opposing certifying a Trump victory.
The survey also found that among those voters who strongly support Biden, close to three quarters disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision to prevent states from removing Trump from ballots.
In other words Biden loyalists want to see his opponent unconstitutionally removed from the ballot.
Again, not very Democratic.
But as Democrats like to continuously remind Americans, it’s OK when they do it.
Meanwhile, a further ABC/Ipsos poll has revealed that more Americans trust Trump to lead the country than Biden on all the top voter issues.
Trump crushes Biden on all key issues. ABC/IPSOS Poll
·
197 Views
Trump polled higher than Biden on all issues except abortion and climate change.
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end
The Folly Of Rent Control In New York City (Again)
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 12:05 PM
Authored by Douglas French via The Mises Institute,
One would guess the folly of rent control regulations needn’t be explained any further.
If rents are held in place by government edict, landlords have no incentive to maintain apartment units to attract renters, the housing stock ultimately deteriorates, and homelessness increases.
But, as Bloomberg reports, “Tougher rent control, returning worldwide, destroys $75 billion in property value. Cash-strapped tenants cheer as they maintain a foothold in the city.”
That was the article’s subtitle. The title of the piece authored by Patrick Clark and Prashant Gopal screams that New York City apartment values have been cut in half. In 2019, alarmed about the decline in affordable housing, New York State lawmakers made rent control laws tougher. They sharply reduced how much landlords could raise rents after renovations, and worse yet, the units no longer leave the program when rents rise high enough.
The difference between rent-stabilized unit values and market rent unit values since the 2019 change is startling. Last year, the price of New York buildings with at least one rent-stabilized unit sold for prices that were 34 percent lower than in 2019. By contrast, the price of nonregulated apartments rose 23 percent during the same timeframe.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation unloaded $15 billion in loans backed primarily by New York rent-stabilized apartments in December at a 40 percent discount. And the charges New York Community Bank took for its exposure to rent-stabilized projects is well known.
“A lot of owners I’m speaking with want to walk away from buildings,” Lazer Sternhell, chief executive officer of Cignature Realty told Bloomberg. Douglas Peterson, who bought more than forty properties for $300 million over twenty years, is behind on his mortgage payments and fresh out of money for repairs.
“My career is over,” Peterson says.
“Now it’s just a question of: What’s my legacy going to be? Is it going to be that I abandoned the ship when it was sinking, or that I stayed and fought?”
“The politicians are defunding these buildings,” Lewis Barbanel told Bloomberg.
“They’re trying to create a situation where the owners fail.” Mr. Barbanel is taking his investment dollars to New Jersey.
Sounding like Wesley Mouch in Atlas Shrugged, Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator of Housing Justice for All, said defiantly, “We weren’t being very secret that we were trying to change the rules, nor were the lawmakers in Albany,” Weaver said. “I don’t know if it was hubris or not, but laws change, and that impacts markets.”
What’s happening in New York City hasn’t stayed in the Big Apple. Oregon and California have instituted rent stabilization statewide, and two dozen states last year considered rent caps, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.
Canada, India, and Sweden all have rent control. Denmark’s government placed a two-year cap on rents last year, while Berlin froze rents for five years in 2020 until courts overturned the measure.
Chris Herbert, managing director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, says the rental market in large cities is a market failure, citing scarce land and zoning laws. He is forgetting or ignoring that one government intervention leads to others, as Ludwig von Mises explained.
New York has sixteen thousand units under rent control and a million units under rent stabilization. Before the 2019 changes, property owners could raise rents by 20 percent each time a tenant moved out. Past a certain threshold, they could set their own rents. Owners could also raise monthly rents by one dollar for every forty dollars in renovations. Landlords have taken their case against the 2019 rent laws to the US Supreme Court with no success.
Clark and Gopal write, “In one of the strange twists of rent regulation that worry economists, [Douglas] Peterson is among the landlords leaving apartments empty because it doesn’t make sense to repair and rent them out at current rates. Thousands of apartments are vacant, according to government and industry estimates.”
A strange twist?
It’s just simple economics.
end
Lara Trump: Preventing Cheating In November Is Top RNC Priority
BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 12:25 PM
RNC co-chair Lara Trump says that “protecting the vote” in the upcoming November election is the most critical task for the committee.
“We have three pillars that we need to focus on at the RNC to ensure victory on November 5, turn out the vote, protect the vote, and raise money,” she told Fox news‘ “Sunday Morning Futures” on March 10.
“But I would argue that maybe the most important of those three is protecting the vote, election integrity,” she added.
Lara Trump says the RNC will devote ‘massive resources’ to election integrity before soliciting the audience for volunteer lawyers
·https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1767732626847048076
509.7K Views
Trump was asked by host Maria Bartiromo about her opinion of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s speech earlier this month in which he suggested that it’s racist not to allow the least secure methods of casting a vote in America.
On March 3, Mr. Garland said the U.S. Department of Justice was “fighting back” against “efforts by states and jurisdictions to implement discriminatory, burdensome, and unnecessary restrictions on access to the ballot, including those related to mail-in voting, the use of drop boxes, and voter ID requirements.” -Epoch Times
“We have to ensure that, when people go vote, they feel like their vote counts, that they are inspired to go vote. We can never allow what happened in 2020 and the questions surrounding that election to ever happen again,” said Trump.
Lara, the daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump, suggested that Democrats are against voter ID because they seek to expand their voter base with illegal immigrants.
“Democrats are bleeding and hemorrhaging voters. They understand that they cannot fool people in this country any longer so they have to import people,” she said. “The only reason you wouldn’t want voter ID is if you want people who cannot vote to vote in these elections. It is insane.”
Roughly 81% of Americans support voter ID, according to a February poll by Pew Research. Along party lines, however, 95% favor the concept, while 69% of Democrats – still a majority, support it.
According to Lara Trump, the RNC has established an “election integrity division” and devoted “vast resources dedicated solely to this cause,” which include a “nationwide network of volunteers,” such as poll workers and poll watchers.
To those who might cheat in the upcoming election, “We will go after you [and] you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Trump said.
Legal Ballot Harvesting
As the Epoch Times notes further, Trump also told Ms. Bartiromo that the RNC would use legal ballot harvesting in this election cycle. “It is already underway, and we will expand it again,” she said.
Last week, Ms. Trump and Michael Whatley, chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, were elected to lead the RNC to replace Ronna McDaniel. Both were endorsed by President Trump last month.
The leadership overhaul comes just days after President Trump dominated the Republican presidential primaries on Super Tuesday on March 5, solidifying his hold on the Republican nomination and the party itself.
Last month, Ms. Trump also told The Epoch Times in an exclusive interview that she would mount a ballot-harvesting campaign in this election, something Republicans have been averse to in the past.
“We need to have the biggest legal ballot harvesting operation this country has ever seen,” Ms. Trump said. “It feels, for a long time, like the Democrats have been playing chess, and we’ve been playing checkers,” she said. Her goal is for the Republican Party “to be the opposite, to be steps ahead of them, and on our toes, and ahead of the game, and facing forward the whole time.”
Ballot harvesting, legal in some states, allows people to deliver absentee or mail-in ballots to drop-off points on behalf of other voters. Republicans have been skeptical of the procedure, fearing it would lead to election fraud. Democrats have been much more willing to use the strategy.
“Whether or not [Democrats] do it legally, that’s up for discussion,” Ms. Trump said, adding that it’s time for Republicans to start “attacking the game differently.”
She also suggested that the RNC embrace early voting for the upcoming election. “The truth is, if we want to compete with the Democrats, we cannot wait until election day,” she said. “If we want to compete, we must embrace early voting.
IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM/WOKISM…
iiiC USA COVID //VACCINE ISSUES
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FREIGHT ISSUES/USA
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VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
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SWAMP STORIES
Georgia Judge Dismisses Several Counts In Trump Election Interference Case
WEDNESDAY, MAR 13, 2024 – 11:05 AM
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed six charges out of the 40-count indictment in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants, including three of the counts against Trump.
The ruling, which is not linked to Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s (D) relationship with a special prosecutor she hired on the case – however McAfee is expected to rule on that later this week as well.
The tossed charges do not impact the RICO charge that serves as the foundation for this unprecedented prosecution.
Each of the tossed charges related to alleged efforts by Trump and some of his co-defendants, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, to solicit Georgia officials to violate their oaths of office.
The judge ruled that while the charges do contain the “essential” elements of each crime, they fail to provide enough detail for the defendants to mount their defenses. Under the current charges, McAfee said, the defendants could have violated the law in “dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.” -The Hill
“The Court’s concern is less that the State has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the Defendants – in fact it has alleged an abundance,” McAfee wrote. “However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned’s opinion, fatal.”
McAfee also emphasized that his ruling “does not mean the entire indictment is dismissed,” and preserved Fulton County’s ability to seek new indictments once they supplement the charges to his satisfaction.
He also gave the state a six-month extension to resubmit the charges to a grand jury, even if the statute of limitations expires, and that he would “likely grant” a request to appeal.
KING REPORT
| The King Report March 13, 2024 Issue 7199 | Independent View of the News |
| February CPI is 0.4% m/m as expected; but 3.2% y/y with 3.1% y/y expected. Core CPI is 0.4% m/m and 3.8% y/y; 0.3% m/m and 3.7% y/y consensus. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf Energy -1.9% y/y with Energy Commodities -4.2% y/y. Energy inflation should rise in coming months. How is Medical Care Services only +1.1% y/y? Transportation services +9.9% on insurance inflation. @SpeakerJohnson: President Biden’s reckless, out-of-control spending has fueled rising inflation. For the second straight month in 2024, basic necessities like food and energy costs have risen. Bidenomics continues to fail, hurting hard working Americans. CNBC: Homebuyers need to earn 80% more than in 2020 to afford a house in this market. It’s not just due to high mortgage rates – The number of new housing units built throughout the years has been declining, and the low supply is rooted in restrictive land-use and zoning regulations, according to experts… https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/12/why-homebuyers-need-to-earn-more-to-afford-a-home-in-2024.html Why did stocks rally after the ‘bad’ February CPI Report? It’s Expiration Week! The usual suspects are playing for the upward manipulation! Plus, if there is inflation and the Fed does nothing about it, and the market believes the Fed won’t hike rates, stocks rally. The Fed should be tilted to hiking rates given inflation, the stock market surge, the AI Bubble, and $3.6+ trillion of reserves in the system. However, it is an election year, and the Fed teems with Obamaites that want to aid & abet Biden. Bonds tanked, as they should when the Fed won’t arrest inflation. Auction of $39B of US 10-year notes: 4.166% vs. 4.157% WI; 2.51 bid-to-cover, lowest since November CME: How Did a Second Hot CPI Report Impact Fed Rate Cut Odds? The odds of no cut in March are now 99.0% up from 98.0 percent yesterday. The expectations for no cut in May were 81.7 percent yesterday and 86.1 percent today. The odds of at least one cut in June were 71.6 percent yesterday and 68.3 percent today… in November the expectations of higher for longer rose by 8 basis points, and in December another 12 basis points, for a total of 20 basis points… https://twitter.com/MishGEA/status/1767692152648216838 ESHs rallied from the Nikkei opening until they peaked at 4:05 ET. After a a15-handle decline, ESHs traded sideways until the release of the February CPI Report. ESHs initially plunged on the release of the CPI Report, hitting a daily low of 5176.50 at 8:28 ET, two minutes before the official release of the report. Then, someone jazzed ESHs to 5221.00 at 8:45 ET. Aggressive selling drove ESHs down to 5180.00 at 9:48 ET. But someone was determined to drive ESHs higher. ESH surged to5237.75 at 10:51 ET. After hitting a daily high of 5238.50 at 11:16 ET, ESHs sank to 5207.50 at 12:43 ET. Did we mention that someone was determined to drive ESHs higher? ESHs then jumped to a new daily high of 5241.00 at 14:37 ET. ESHs then plodded to a high of 5246.75 at 15:56 ET. FAA Audit of Boeing’s 737 Max Production Found Dozens of Issues – NYT 10:25 ET The company failed 33 of 89 audits during an examination conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines jet in January… https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/us/politics/faa-audit-boeing-737-max.html U.S. airlines warn of more Boeing delivery delays due to safety crisisU.S. airline shares fall in morning tradeSouthwest says 2024 capacity could take a hitSouthwest adds no MAX 7 deliveries expected this yearAlaska says 2024 capacity plans in “flux”https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/southwest-cuts-delivery-forecast-boeing-2024-03-12/ Southwest Falls Most in Four Years on Boeing Woes – BBG Southwest Airlines sinks as much as 15%, the most intraday since March 2020, after the carrier said it plans to reduce capacity by a least 1 percentage point this year, citing Boeing’s continued challenges and a fluid delivery schedule… United Tells Boeing to Stop Making Its Long Delayed Max 10s – BBG 11:17 ETPlanemaker has agreed to build Max 9s instead, CEO Kirby saysAirline confirms it’s in talks to substitute some Airbus A321shttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-12/southwest-plans-to-cut-2024-capacity-citing-boeing-challenges-lto8zfrx Boeing whistleblower John Barnett found dead days after testifying against company The whistleblower who publicly raised doubts about Boeing’s production standards was found dead… The Charleston County Coroner’s Office told Fox News Digital that John Barnett, 62, died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Saturday… https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/boeing-whistleblower-john-barnett-found-dead-days-testifying-against-company The lawyer who represented the Boeing whistleblower who was found dead in his own truck has heavily cast doubts over the coroner’s report that claims the fatal gunshot wound was ‘self-inflicted.‘ – Daily Mail @zerohedge: In February the US spent $567.4BN and collected $271.1BN, resulting in a deficit of $296.34BN which was 110% bigger than all tax collections. IBM tells employees it’s cutting jobs in marketing and communications: CNBC Taco Bell restaurants close dining rooms in Oakland as crime grips city https://trib.al/Apnjiti Positive aspects of previous session Stocks rallied despite a worse-than-expected February CPI report The S&P 500 closed at all-time high The Mag 7 and trading sardines soared on feverish trader buying Negative aspects of previous session USHs declined as much as 29/32 Ambiguous aspects of previous session Will the Fed have the integrity to arrest inflation and the stock bubble? First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Up; Last Hour: Up Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 5156.54 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 5179.87; 5114.48 Coup Plot: Biden’s Intel Agencies ‘Expect’ Protests to Topple Netanyahu for ‘Moderate’ Leader The claim emerged in the latest “Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community,” and was published by both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times Monday evening, suggesting a coordinated leak to the media… Most important, there is no sign of division among the right-wing parties forming Netanyahu’s coalition… The next elections are scheduled for 2026, if the current government completes its allotted four-year term in office… Many observers have long suspected the Biden administration of working to bring down the Netanyahu government through a “color revolution.” A State Department-funded group was at the core of opposition to Netanyahu’s judicial reform, and then-Ambassador Tom Nides was described as the “arsonist-in-chief,” as he openly supported the Israeli opposition movement and the protests. President Biden also froze Netanyahu out, refusing to meet him for months… https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/11/coup-plot-bidens-intel-agencies-expect-protests-to-topple-netanyahu-for-moderate-leader/ @Breaking911: Biden admin. officials testify they’re preparing for a massive surge of Haitian migrants after thousands of inmates escaped the country’s prisons. It’s an invasion. https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1767626430341402998 Biden Says He’s “Counting on The Border Action Happening by Itself” “When is a border executive action coming?” a reporter asked Biden. “I’m counting on the border action happening by itself,” Biden responded… https://modernity.news/2024/03/12/biden-says-hes-counting-on-the-border-action-happening-by-itself/ Today – With the February CPI Report out of the way, and a rally despite the poor report, the usual suspects will try to force stocks higher. This is future and options Expiry Week! Traders will play for the Weird Wednesday upward manipulation that squeezes expiring March call options. @AlmanacTrader: March Quarterly Option Expiration Weeks have been quite bullish. S&P 500 has been up 27 times in the last 41 years while NASDAQ has advanced 25 times. More recently, S&P 500 and NASDAQ have both advanced 12 times in the last 16 weeks. https://twitter.com/AlmanacTrader/status/1767664336040874275 Equity euphoria will continue until it exhausts itself or the Fed halts it. Because it’s an election year and the Fed teems with pro-Biden leftists, the odds are extremely high that the stock market will rise until it is totally exhausted. ESUs are +-1.50; NQHs are -15.50; USHs are +5/32 at 20:50 ET. S&P Index 50-day MA: 4939; 100-day MA: 4716; 150-day MA: 4610; 200-day MA: 4562 DJIA 50-day MA: 38,315; 100-day MA: 36,763; 150-day MA: 35,939, 200-day MA: 35,534 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope) S&P 500 Index (5117.94) – Trender BBG trading model and MACD for key time frames Monthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4455.17 triggers a sell signal Weekly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 4901.55 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 5037.46 triggers a sell signal Hourly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5131.97 triggers a sell signal @alx: Special Counsel Robert Hur: “We identified evidence that President Biden willfully retained classified materials after the end of his Vice Presidency, when he was a private citizen.” https://twitter.com/alx/status/1767567104801157387?s=02 @RNCResearch: SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR: “The evidence — and the president himself — put his memory squarely at issue.” https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1767561914849112248 Special counsel pushes back on White House, insists Biden ‘willfully retained’ classified memos “We obtained evidence President Biden willfully retained classified information,” Hur said in his opening statement. The evidence includes recorded conversations with his ghostwriter where he shared classified information. However, Hur concluded the information was not enough to prove any violations beyond a reasonable doubt… (WTF? Who at the DoJ intervened?) https://justthenews.com/government/congress/watch-live-special-counsel-hur-testifies-house-judiciary-biden-classified Hur says he ‘did not exonerate’ Biden over his handling of classified documents “You exonerated him,” Jayapal (Dem Rep.) said. “I did not exonerate him,” Hur shot back. “That word does not appear in the report, Congresswoman.” https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/special-counsel-robert-hur-testimony-joe-biden-classified-documents? @RNCResearch; Classified documents were found… At the Penn Biden Center? “That’s correct.” In President Biden’s garage? “Yes.” And in his basement den? “Yes.” And his main floor office? “Correct.” And his third floor den? “Correct.” At the University of Delaware? “Correct.” And at the Biden Institute? “Correct.” https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1767564847619637296?s=02 @JennPellegrino: “Joe Biden had eight million reasons to break the rules.” -Rep Jim Jordan to Special Counsel Robert Hur on Biden’s motivation to retain classified docs. @jakejakeny: Jim Jordan is grilling Hur now on how Biden wanted to illegally take classified files so he could have material for his book, for which he was paid $8 million. The American people need to know why politicians get so much money for books that are very rarely profitable: 1) In short, it’s money laundering. Much of the money provided to the ex-politicians is a payoff, & I suspect the publishers aren’t even handing over their own money in these deals. Thus, they get paid without having to deal with the limits on campaign financing. 2) The books are often a platform for future campaign narratives for future races these often only temporarily retired politicians plan to join. Thus, they get paid to do their initial campaign work without having to deal with the limits on campaign financing. 3) The publishers & their shareholders are legally buying influence with either the “author” of the book him/herself, or his or her party or favored successors… again, without having to deal with the limits on campaign financing. @RNCResearch: Q: Did the Biden White House attempt to have your report changed before it was publicly released? SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR: Yes. https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1767587002461938010 @JudiciaryGOP: Joe Biden’s White House pressured Robert Hur to change aspects of his report surrounding the President’s memory. This is a major scandal. @tolmanbrett: The Hur report is incredibly damning to both Joe Biden and DOJ. For Biden it exposes purposeful, illegal retention and dissemination of classified materials which contained information important to national security. For DOJ it exposes their hypocrisy and protection of one side. @StephenM: The wildest fact about the Hur report is that it documents extensive and pervasive criminality by Joe Biden and yet he is being let off the hook by DOJ completely. @tolmanbrett reveals that Robert Hur was most likely forced politically to say that Joe Biden will not be charged in the classified documents case: “I think this reads as an individual that was told no matter what you do we need to not recommend charges against Joe Biden.” https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1767633283339141313 GOP Rep. @RepFitzgerald: Special Counsel Hur found that Joe Biden’s “memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with [the Special Counsel’s] office in 2023.” That’s the President of the United States. If this were Trump or a Republican instead of Biden, you can imagine the MSM outrage! @Dylan_Housman: Joe Biden literally said “My Corvette go BRRRRR” while Robert Hur pleaded with him to answer actual questions. https://twitter.com/Dylan_Housman/status/1767538541230272741 @KatiePavlich: Democrats trying very hard to justify charges for former President Trump, who had declassification authority, while Biden gets away with willfully withholding classified information as a private citizen. @RNCResearch: Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin, delusional liar and conspiracy theorist, says Biden’s classified documents scandal is actually about aid for Ukraine https://t.co/yPQnLf6PVa @paulsperry_: Biden told Hur he knew more about Afghanistan than Obama and was a “premiere member of the foreign policy establishment,” but Fur found a number of folders labeled “Afganastan” in his files in his handwriting. Biden had been misspelling Afghanistan as “Afganastan” since 1980 Special Counsel Hur just revealed that “a damage assessment is under way” by the intelligence agencies to determine if Biden’s decades-long breaches of Top Secret “national defense information” exposed “sources and methods” and caused “grave damage to national security.” House GOP opens probe into Democrat J6 panel ‘collusion’ with Atlanta prosecutor pursuing Trump – Investigators have located a letter in which Willis in 2021 asked for the House Democrats to send her evidence that would further her prosecution of Trump. https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/house-gop-opens-probe-democrat-j6-panel-collusion-atlanta GOP Rep. Loudermilk: ‘Many unanswered questions’ surrounding Jan. 6 pipe bombs, no update from FBI on probe – “Today, they have declined to participate in our hearing,” he added… (WHY?) “Their investigation into the pipe bomb was basically non-existent,” he said… https://justthenews.com/government/congress/loudermilk-many-unanswered-questions-surrounding-jan-6-pipe-bombs-no-update-fbi White House chief of staff ripped after dismissing harassment claims against ‘Jill Biden’s work husband’ without investigation – Former aides to President Biden say they’re outraged that White House chief of staff Jeff Zients dismissed their allegations of bullying and verbal sexual harassment against first lady Jill Biden’s top aide Anthony Bernal — with Zients declaring them “unfounded attacks” without investigating… https://nypost.com/2024/03/12/us-news/white-house-chief-of-staff-jeff-zients-ripped-after-dismissing-harassment-claims-against-jill-bidens-work-husband/ @DA_Stockman: Donald Trump has proved once again that he is a blithering idiot—stupid beyond measure. Former Congressman Mike Rogers is a card-carrying Deep State neocon warmonger who spent years in the Washington Swamp fueling the Never Trump campaign. Now the Donald has endorsed him for the Senate from Michigan against a real America First conservative, Justin Amash. Fortunately, Rand Paul has called a spade a spade: “Donald Trump just endorsed the worst Deep State candidate this cycle. @MikeRogersForMI is a never Trumper, and a card carrying member of the spy state that seeks to destroy Trump. You have to ask yourself who gives Trump this awful advice? Who’s next, John Bolton?” Paul tweeted. “If he’s good with Mike Rogers (R-Deep State), maybe he should pick Liz Cheney for VP?” Paul quipped in another post. @charliekirk11: Republican Rep. Ken Buck from Colorado’s 4th District is resigning and will depart “at the end of next week.” Republicans are literally one heartbeat away from a split House. Why is he not waiting until November?! (To spite the GOP? Plus, Buck was virulently anti-Trump) WaPo: Buck has clashed with the majority of the Republican conference in recent months, notably for opposing his party’s launch of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden… Buck expressed disappointment that many fellow Republicans continue to push the “big lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen… https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/12/ken-buck-leaving-congress/ Ken Buck says he’s a solid ‘no’ on Mayorkas impeachment https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4442952-ken-buck-mayorkas-impeachment/ @Peoples_Pundit: Ken Buck is *the* guy, isn’t he? Sure looks like it. Think voters would be horrified to learn how many members are vulnerable to blackmail from their bad behavior. It’s being cashed in to try to prevent Trump electors if/when he wins. Former US official’s work for Chinese client stirs concern over disclosure loopholes When a Chinese drone company came under U.S. government scrutiny over its alleged ties to China’s military, the company turned to one of America’s pre-eminent lawyers: Loretta Lynch, a former attorney general in the Obama administration… https://www.reuters.com/world/us/former-us-officials-work-chinese-client-stirs-concern-over-disclosure-loopholes-2024-03-11/ Writer Ridiculed for Asking “Where Are the Black People?” in Ancient Japan Samurai Show A writer for lefty woke outlet Medium is facing ridicule for penning an article complaining about the lack of black actors in a new TV show about Samurai warriors in Japan in the year 1600… https://www.zerohedge.com/political/writer-ridiculed-asking-where-are-black-people-ancient-japan-samurai-show | |
GREG HUNTER
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